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Generative Energy: Protecting and Restoring the Wholeness of Life
This book tries to show, in clear language, that many of the problems we face seem more difficult than they really are, largely because our culture hasn't assimilated the scientific achievements of the last hundred years. Practical issues of health, education, and creativity are often considered as though science had nothing to offer beyond certain concrete facts. Holistic and coherent views emerge from many areas of science, illuminating questions such as: Longevity: Brain improvement: Biological regeneration: Ecological restoration: The meaning of stress: A solution for obesity: Fertility.
151 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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1432 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 11, 2016
As little as one or two spoonfuls of coconut oil per day appears to have strong protective effect against obesity and cancer.
The physiology of aging (especially reproductive aging) overlaps the physiology of stress.
Both the intensity and the efficiency of respiratory energy production in the brain increase with evolutionary level and with the degree of alertness.
"The basis of life is the search for truth, and the real task is to tell this truth without any retreats." - Vernadsky
In the 1920's an economist, S.G. Strumilin, showed that money spent on education gave a 27-fold return. J.K. Galbraith said that the return is about 100 times the investment.
The useful part of education is that which stimulates imagination. The useful part of knowledge is that which expands human possibilities.
The ideal therapy is one which restores the cellular energy thoroughly, so the organism regains its full capacity to adapt, and seeks appropriate stimulation.
Besides fasting, or chronic protein deficiency, the common causes of hypothyroidism are excessive stress or "aerobic" (i.e., anaerobic) exercise, and diets containing beans, lentils, nuts, unsaturated fats (including carotene), and undercooked broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or mustard greens. Many health conscious people become hypothyroid with a synergistic program of undercooked vegetables, legumes instead of animal proteins, oils instead of butter, carotene instead of vitamin A, and breathless exercise instead of a stimulating life.
Avoiding excessive intake of unsaturated fatty acids and iron will decrease the damage caused by unavoidable stress (including darkness).
The things which sustain fertility, in its simple sense, also are the things which optimize the life of the child.
"As the true method of knowledge is experiment, the true faculty of knowing must be the faculty which experiences."
W. Blake
There are now many people who argue that a low metabolic rate, a low body temperature and slow heart beat indicate that you should live a long time: "your heart can beat only so many times." Most of these people also advocate "conditioning exercise," and they point out that trained runners tend to have a slow heart rate. (Incidentally, running elevates adrenalin, which causes increased clumping of platelets and accelerated blood clotting. Hypothyroidism--whether pre-existing or induced by running--slows the heart, raises the production of adrenalin, and is strongly associated with heart disease, as well as with high cholesterol.)
Grain-based diet of the United States and Europe which suppresses brain metabolism, in the same way that the "normal" animal diets suppress metabolism (and decrease longevity).
Low thyroid function, relative over-feeding, and the presence of unsaturated oils in the diet are known to accelerate sexual maturity.
Early sexual maturity was associated with a shorter life-span.
Progesterone, closely reflects the quality of environmental support and is intimately involved in realizing and sustaining our most characteristically human evolutionary features,
High adaptability and low aggressiveness are characteristic human and primate traits.
If we optimize the known factors which improve energy production (red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, and pregnenolone, for example), to the extent that our metabolism resembles that of a ten year old child, I don't think there is any reason to suppose that we wouldn't have the regenerative, healing abilities which are common at that age. I suspect that both brain growth and remodeling might proceed indefinitely.
More life and more energy can solve many of the basic problems of life.
A person's vitality is drawn forward by meaningful work, that is, we grow to meet the demands of an important opportunity.
Deep involvement in the problem, investment of some of your life in the work, reveals that the truth is everywhere, and is clarified and arranged through the technical actions of the worker.
Our intelligence develops as we grow into the world, such as it is, and our world includes things that we learn about, and the people that we learn from.
Giving maximum meaning to our lives should be one of the basic things that we demand of our work.
"Rather than look for more beautiful melodies, everyone's purpose should be to find blind spots." - Keith Jarrett
Some people put great energy and concentration into their hobbies, because they find the activity intrinsically interesting. Such intrinsic value and interest is what should be demanded of our work. But for many people, free time is routinized too. To them, Jarrett's suggestion sounds like nothing but hard work. This is where the whole person has been affected by a certain approach to work, and work is seen as something to avoid--the idle rich seem to have found the only satisfactory life.
We are not defined by an "occupation" or "profession," but by the work we have achieved, and the problems we have confronted.
The physiology of aging (especially reproductive aging) overlaps the physiology of stress.
Both the intensity and the efficiency of respiratory energy production in the brain increase with evolutionary level and with the degree of alertness.
"The basis of life is the search for truth, and the real task is to tell this truth without any retreats." - Vernadsky
In the 1920's an economist, S.G. Strumilin, showed that money spent on education gave a 27-fold return. J.K. Galbraith said that the return is about 100 times the investment.
The useful part of education is that which stimulates imagination. The useful part of knowledge is that which expands human possibilities.
The ideal therapy is one which restores the cellular energy thoroughly, so the organism regains its full capacity to adapt, and seeks appropriate stimulation.
Besides fasting, or chronic protein deficiency, the common causes of hypothyroidism are excessive stress or "aerobic" (i.e., anaerobic) exercise, and diets containing beans, lentils, nuts, unsaturated fats (including carotene), and undercooked broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, or mustard greens. Many health conscious people become hypothyroid with a synergistic program of undercooked vegetables, legumes instead of animal proteins, oils instead of butter, carotene instead of vitamin A, and breathless exercise instead of a stimulating life.
Avoiding excessive intake of unsaturated fatty acids and iron will decrease the damage caused by unavoidable stress (including darkness).
The things which sustain fertility, in its simple sense, also are the things which optimize the life of the child.
"As the true method of knowledge is experiment, the true faculty of knowing must be the faculty which experiences."
W. Blake
There are now many people who argue that a low metabolic rate, a low body temperature and slow heart beat indicate that you should live a long time: "your heart can beat only so many times." Most of these people also advocate "conditioning exercise," and they point out that trained runners tend to have a slow heart rate. (Incidentally, running elevates adrenalin, which causes increased clumping of platelets and accelerated blood clotting. Hypothyroidism--whether pre-existing or induced by running--slows the heart, raises the production of adrenalin, and is strongly associated with heart disease, as well as with high cholesterol.)
Grain-based diet of the United States and Europe which suppresses brain metabolism, in the same way that the "normal" animal diets suppress metabolism (and decrease longevity).
Low thyroid function, relative over-feeding, and the presence of unsaturated oils in the diet are known to accelerate sexual maturity.
Early sexual maturity was associated with a shorter life-span.
Progesterone, closely reflects the quality of environmental support and is intimately involved in realizing and sustaining our most characteristically human evolutionary features,
High adaptability and low aggressiveness are characteristic human and primate traits.
If we optimize the known factors which improve energy production (red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, and pregnenolone, for example), to the extent that our metabolism resembles that of a ten year old child, I don't think there is any reason to suppose that we wouldn't have the regenerative, healing abilities which are common at that age. I suspect that both brain growth and remodeling might proceed indefinitely.
More life and more energy can solve many of the basic problems of life.
A person's vitality is drawn forward by meaningful work, that is, we grow to meet the demands of an important opportunity.
Deep involvement in the problem, investment of some of your life in the work, reveals that the truth is everywhere, and is clarified and arranged through the technical actions of the worker.
Our intelligence develops as we grow into the world, such as it is, and our world includes things that we learn about, and the people that we learn from.
Giving maximum meaning to our lives should be one of the basic things that we demand of our work.
"Rather than look for more beautiful melodies, everyone's purpose should be to find blind spots." - Keith Jarrett
Some people put great energy and concentration into their hobbies, because they find the activity intrinsically interesting. Such intrinsic value and interest is what should be demanded of our work. But for many people, free time is routinized too. To them, Jarrett's suggestion sounds like nothing but hard work. This is where the whole person has been affected by a certain approach to work, and work is seen as something to avoid--the idle rich seem to have found the only satisfactory life.
We are not defined by an "occupation" or "profession," but by the work we have achieved, and the problems we have confronted.
December 17, 2023
Illuminating, and has been a consistent reference of continuing research for several years now. One should return to the work of Peat as frequently as their pineal gland secretes melatonin.
An overall intuitive exploration of the human hormonal terrain; coconuts, estrogen, sugar, stress, carrots, and more - verging on philosophy from cover to cover. If you have a thyroid - don't skip Peat's research.
May God rest your soul, Ray. Thank you for reading my letters.
An overall intuitive exploration of the human hormonal terrain; coconuts, estrogen, sugar, stress, carrots, and more - verging on philosophy from cover to cover. If you have a thyroid - don't skip Peat's research.
May God rest your soul, Ray. Thank you for reading my letters.
June 8, 2019
A well-written book from a prominent person in the field of biochemistry and nutritional medicine. An alternative viewpoint that is in contrast to all the dietary "knowledge" we have been forced fed. If you want to understand health, Ray Peat is an essential read!
January 27, 2026
Fascinating read, but poorly put together. As it is self published it makes sense for the errors and interesting formatting, but the lack of sources is something that annoyed me. There are sources in this book for some of the claims made but other times there are none whatsoever. This book probably needs to double its length in sources alone, leading the reader to become a researcher themselves. Which is fine, some claims do seem to be against the mainstream narrative and so doing your own research is probably best, but at times it seems he was pulling information out of thin air or the reader shoudl have known this before, etc. I look forward to revisiting this book and digging into the claims more.
August 11, 2015
This is more a collection of essays than a comprehensive book. Despite being written in rather plain language there is little time wasted on basics. Therefore some knowledge on endocrine system, especially thyroid gland is crucial for entering this arguments. However, these are more than interesting and a number of interesting topics are being discussed, but all of them concern maximizing energy efficiency (and breathing) on the level of cells, organs and organisms. Along those lines the author adds some thoughts on philosophy, politics, and general state of science now. Certainly one worth reading.
April 11, 2025
I’m admittedly a complete novice to hard sciences as a whole, never taking science classes beyond gen ed in college. That being said, Generative Energy is written in a very approachable fashion and I think anybody can take away interesting ideas spanning various fields from this book.
I would recommend it to anybody interested in Raymond Peat’s work, William Blake’s thought or positive scientific worldviews in general.
I would recommend it to anybody interested in Raymond Peat’s work, William Blake’s thought or positive scientific worldviews in general.
November 4, 2025
Yuppp this is absolutely incredible. I've been getting into bioenergetics and the work of Ray Peat as I've taken my health more seriously. I still need to read up on the science because his writings are quite dense. I'll likely keep coming back to his writings as I work through the practical aspects of his philosophy and nutrition suggestions.
It's such a hopeful, holistic approach to life. It's also very philosophically solid.
It's such a hopeful, holistic approach to life. It's also very philosophically solid.
January 21, 2026
Feminist literature
June 23, 2022
Ray Peat has a beautiful mind. I'm really looking forward to understand more of his work.
February 8, 2026
3.5/5. Often I think nonfiction books are overwritten and should be shorter, but this is one that should've been longer.
I love Peat's holistic approach to things, rejection of academic "consensuses" that are often financially motivated, and willingness to push into theoretical territory. It was mostly a pleasure to read.
The book is separated into spaced out "chunks" and written with simple grammar, but there is a barrage of medical terms and concepts that he often doesn't bother to explain. Nearly every page has something you'd need to stop and look up to fully understand which makes this a treasure trove of information, but without heavy supplementation much of it goes over the average reader's head.
I would've loved this to be a more comprehensive work with a short introduction to these various subjects, but I admit that may have lost even more accessibility unless done very, very well. It does have good academic citations.
Towards the end he delves into philosophy, to include some brief mentions of politics that have very poor framing, such as praising the burst of energy amidst the Cuban Revolution and praising men like Marx. I think Peat's poor framing was mostly innocent, but some better political tie-ins would've made this book nuclear.
Though it does have some insight, it not as much an implementable blueprint for daily life as I hoped. It's mostly describing his concept of "energy" and encouraging people to push outside of scientific norms when it comes to... well, everything. For that, I think it's very valuable, but I'm not going adopt an entire Peater personality quite yet, and this book could have been improved.
I love Peat's holistic approach to things, rejection of academic "consensuses" that are often financially motivated, and willingness to push into theoretical territory. It was mostly a pleasure to read.
The book is separated into spaced out "chunks" and written with simple grammar, but there is a barrage of medical terms and concepts that he often doesn't bother to explain. Nearly every page has something you'd need to stop and look up to fully understand which makes this a treasure trove of information, but without heavy supplementation much of it goes over the average reader's head.
I would've loved this to be a more comprehensive work with a short introduction to these various subjects, but I admit that may have lost even more accessibility unless done very, very well. It does have good academic citations.
Towards the end he delves into philosophy, to include some brief mentions of politics that have very poor framing, such as praising the burst of energy amidst the Cuban Revolution and praising men like Marx. I think Peat's poor framing was mostly innocent, but some better political tie-ins would've made this book nuclear.
Though it does have some insight, it not as much an implementable blueprint for daily life as I hoped. It's mostly describing his concept of "energy" and encouraging people to push outside of scientific norms when it comes to... well, everything. For that, I think it's very valuable, but I'm not going adopt an entire Peater personality quite yet, and this book could have been improved.
May 19, 2022
Not coming from a scientific background, I found the bulk of the book to be Greek. My eye was just waiting for the tidbits of advice ("eat a carrot once a day" after 3 full pages of chemicals I've never heard of). Unfortunately, Ray here is a product of his time (the 70s), and there are silly Tower of Babel-esque notions of "advancing the species" and "creating a new Earth" which is very kitschy now, but his general ideas about the body seem sound and the cult following online makes sense. A few chapters are absolutely irrelevant to my eye. Besides all this... great synthesis of William Blake-informed views of physiology leading to new perceptions of "health" as energy and youth. Great change of mindset from current health trends.
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March 4, 2025Borrowing from Verandsky, William Blake and others - "Sugar Ray" emphasises creativity and the human striving towards expansion and infinity.
Key takeaways: Avoiding stress, PUFAs, darkness, cortisol, estrogen and oxidation
Maximising the ability to use energy through the consumption of Vitamins A and E, fruits and protein-rich foods, coconut oil and other sources of saturated fat, cholesterol and most importantly, progesterone, in which he finds a cure for several illnesses including arthritis, aging-induced ailments, toxicity and infertility. Peat also stresses the importance of optimal thyroid function.
The work asks many right questions, yet further study is necessary.
Key takeaways: Avoiding stress, PUFAs, darkness, cortisol, estrogen and oxidation
Maximising the ability to use energy through the consumption of Vitamins A and E, fruits and protein-rich foods, coconut oil and other sources of saturated fat, cholesterol and most importantly, progesterone, in which he finds a cure for several illnesses including arthritis, aging-induced ailments, toxicity and infertility. Peat also stresses the importance of optimal thyroid function.
The work asks many right questions, yet further study is necessary.
December 2, 2024
أهم فكرة فيه بالنسبة لي : طريقته في النظر الشمولي لتوحيد الاستنتاج و التطبيق بين حقول المعرفة في تفادي الاختزالية التي تطوّق المتخصصين كلٌ في حقله: حتى صارت مآالات تقريراتهم كما يقول ريموند مقطّعة مجزّأة يتمكن السوق من خلال ثغرها هذا من إعادة إنتاجها كل مرة.وضرب لذلك عدة تجارب و أكثلة عن احتيارات العلماء في عقائدهم العلمية حول النتائج المغايرة.أيضا تجربته حول هرمون البرجنينولون شيقة. ريموند بيت يمكن اختزاله في الأيض و تحديدا في الميتوكوندريا و البروجسترون. العجيب أنه يؤسس لتقريراته بمقدمات فلسفية و تطورية و فيزيائئة حتى تصل إلى اقتراحات تغذوية في نهاية الفصل! . هذا والسلام.
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July 3, 2024I’ve been mindlessly hopping on Peat’s biochemistry theorizations and medicinal observations on twitter after the saddening passing of user God Emperor Peatler (RIP). Nevertheless, I heard too much about thyroid and progesterone (as well as aspirin overconsumption, if there’s such a thing,,, now that I know so) to not dig in more, and honestly, it was kind of mind-blowing even if drastically too complicated for me. Just got to use wikipedia every two words haha
September 30, 2025
Somewhat unfocused, for example the transitions from hormone treatments to Soviet views on work could have been smoother. The book remains true to Peat's summary - of creating a holistic approach to science.
I enjoyed many of the philosophical takes. The critiques of modern science hit particularly well in this day and age.
I enjoyed many of the philosophical takes. The critiques of modern science hit particularly well in this day and age.
April 20, 2022
I had to listed to this book two times because it is so dense with information that I feared I missed out on details. The approach is almost philosophical, but surprisingly easy to go through. I recommend it easily as an entry point to Ray Peat's opinions on nutrition.
January 7, 2026
The nutrition advice itself is great but Ray Peat is one of many whose correct criticism of modernity and the state of science has led to adapting Marxist ideals due to a lack of metaphysical/religious grounding.
Want to read
June 6, 2024where can one access this book without pay $5,000?
September 5, 2024
I found this book interesting more for the over-arching theory rather than the specific biological details.
April 30, 2025
Very enjoyable read.
Want to read
July 11, 2025recommendation: [Marin von Zhelezov I](https://www.facebook.com/katxiowoods/...)
October 15, 2025
to give credit to Ray, he will change how you view science and life.
January 11, 2026
Interesting hypotheses, some contrary to curent science books (ie SuperAgers). Definitively interesting.
January 16, 2026
For a book so health focused it was way more of a philosophy that expanded my view for what’s even possibly in terms thriving health. Energy has a whole is way more abundant than I thought.
January 28, 2026
After reading this book, my view on estrogen has changed drastically.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews