That means, according to the doctors, perhaps what happened did not happen. “There aren’t really any dietary things that can change the functioning of your thyroid,” says. Salila Kurra, MD, clinical chief in endocrinology and associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “The treatment for these things is usually surgical for cortisol dysfunction and hormone therapy for thyroid dysfunction. There aren’t diets that change that.”
Not all of Tevonian’s peat-inspired self-experimentation has gone well. He believes he developed hyperthyroidism due to taking high doses of thyroid hormone, which resulted in excessive excitement while driving, muscle tension in his neck, and increased heart rate. He says, “Ray Peet would probably have recommended a few micrograms of thyroid hormone, but then I would take 60 micrograms of thyroid hormone to see how fast I could increase my metabolism.” But for Tevonians, finding what works for you personally through self-experimentation is the essence of Pietism “Understand, Think, Act.”
According to Dr. Kurra, most people don’t need to boost their thyroid function at all. “Most people don’t have dysfunction of cortisol production or dysfunction of thyroid hormone production,” she says. In fact, excessive or unnecessary supplementation can be extremely dangerous. Dr. Kurra says an overactive thyroid can cause muscle breakdown, weak bones and dangerous heart rhythm arrhythmias.
It evolved as so-called Pete Twitter evolved. Says Veronica Hoffman, whose account, @celestialbe1ng, introduced Robertson to Peet in 2024. Peeters was no longer just a “science-obsessed, N-1 experimenting guy” but also “Beverly Hills-like girls who should make their own salads.” “Improvement is taking place.”
Hoffman and other posters have been successful in molding Pete’s in-depth writings into digestible lifestyle advice and marketable products. Last February, Hoffman was mocked online for getting lip fillers, which she did not have at the time. (She has since gotten them.) She responded, “You’re trying to increase my cortisol and make me less beautiful,” a phrase that quickly went viral. Hoffman’s Skin Care Company Now sells hats Embellished with it.
Hoffman says she became interested in Pete after struggling with the complications of an eating disorder. He claims that a Pete-inspired diet based on milky coffee, orange juice, gelatin, cheesecake, oysters and liver helped restore his normal periods, recover his memory, and reduce chronic fatigue. (I couldn’t find any medical advice recommending such a diet for any symptoms, especially because it’s devoid of vegetables.) Hoffman has noticed that many people in the community discovered Pete after dealing with serious health problems. In my conversations with Nine Peters I heard many similar stories. Hoffman’s theory is that a certain amount of desperation is required for a person to dig deep enough to find peat. Van der Linden agrees. “There’s a segment of the population that is exploited because they usually have some kind of chronic condition. They have a health problem and conventional medicine isn’t fixing it, so they’re Googling for alternative diets,” he says, noting that they’re particularly likely to fall into the trap of anecdotal stories of cures.
