An audio version of this post is available here.

It’s been a bit over a year since my last update. I’ve been holding off on posting a new one because I wanted to get to the four-year point with my diet. The four-year anniversary date is Aug 11, 2018. But, things are starting to move along faster readership-wise. Last year I had five subscribers, and now I am up to ten. So, I’m clearly on a roll, and thus I am posting this a bit early to catch the wave.

An inexpensive fluoroscope

Dan from Chicago has shared a great tip. Rather than using a geology fluoroscope to inspect his skin for areas of high concentration of retinoids, he’s determined that you can use an automotive leak detection light. He’s used this ~ $15 kit.

He’s also shared some photos of his skin under this light.

And then using the test light on that same area you can see the florescence.

The Eye Exam

I finally got around to getting a comprehensive eye exam done. The results were all good. No glaucoma, no macular degeneration. The vision tests, both near and far, were a clear pass. The pressure test was fine. No need for reading glasses, and no need for driving glasses. I do still have a trace remnant of a cataract in the left eye. So, overall, my eye health and vision are excellent and of course, vastly improved compared to four years ago. But, the kicker was, as I was finishing up with the exam, the eye doc sat back in his chair, looked a little perplexed, and said: “I don’t understand how you could have gotten to be this age (58) and still have such good eye health and vision”. That was a completely unprompted remark, and I did not say a word about my peculiar diet. Then I asked: “what about the vascularization?”. He replied, “that’s normal, don’t worry about it.”  Of course, I don’t think it’s really normal. Rather that it’s now just so common in people around my age that it appears to be normal.

Anyways, the claim that vitamin A is needed to maintain human vision is now officially debunked, at least as far as I am concerned. My night vision remains very good too. The one vision change I do notice now is that colour yellow is just richer. It’s like the difference between seeing a dull looking egg yolk and one that’s much deeper brighter yellow. It’s not a problem; it’s just different than before.

Oh, I know there will be the skeptics and the naysayers who’ll claim that I’ve just not waited long enough for the great vitamin A deficiency to swoop down and take me out. No worries, I plan on maintaining my zero vitamin A diet at least for another five years, and I’ll let them know the moment that it catches up to me.

Overall Health

Other areas of my health remain good too. I still have a good energy level and no concerns what-so-ever about my health. My weight has remained the same, and almost regardless of how many calories I take in. My BMI remains steady at 26.

But, there are a few areas that are still showing improvements. One is that my skin is progressively getting smoother, almost everywhere. It was also quite smooth a year ago too, but strangely it’s just getting smoother and nicer as time goes on. Even the skin on my heals is becoming smooth. Likewise, the same goes for my fingernails. They are now very nice and smooth too, and they no longer have the longitudinal ridges in them.

My bones and teeth are feeling stronger too. My blood pressure is at the “suggested optimal” values, usually at ~ 120/80, and my cholesterol levels are like perfect too.

	mg/dl	mmol/L
Cholesterol	126.6	3.28
HDL Cholesterol	57.5	1.49
LDL Cholesterol	56.4	1.46
NON-HDL Cholesterol	69.1	1.79
TRIGLYCERIDES	63.7	0.72

These cholesterol numbers are good even for children that are less than nine years of age. These low numbers are not surprising because one of the pathways for the breakdown of vitamin A is for it to convert into cholesterol. Additionally, my platelet count is down to 134 (the normal range is 150-400). I’m guessing that’s because I no longer need a bunch of sticky platelets constantly trying to repair damage to my blood vessels.

I’m also finding that I need somewhat less sleep and food than I did a few years ago and I still maintain a good energy level throughout the day. However, regardless of whether I need it or not, I do try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a day.  Somewhat related, five years back, after waking up in the morning, I seriously needed my coffee. So much so, that anyone standing between me and my first coffee was in some danger. Then after the coffee, I needed a shower to fully wake up. I used to joke that I was not even human until after I had my coffee and morning shower. Now, that’s no longer the case. All joking aside, I am just much more alert and clear thinking upon first waking. I really don’t need coffee anymore at all, and I am finding it less appealing too.

The Diet

A few people have asked me how could I eat such a limited diet. I usually explain that it is super easy.  First, I put the rice in a bowl, and then I add some beans, then I add the cooked bison, add hot water and a pinch of salt to turn it into a soup, and then I eat it. But, seriously, it is super easy and fast. I just take the previously cooked rice, bison, and beans out of the fridge, add hot water, and I’m done. That’s it. I do the same for lunch. I just put it in a container and take it to work with me. The only downside is that it’s a bit boring. But, I’ll take boring over having my skin burn off again. There are other things you should know about this diet. Firstly, I probably get most of my calories from rice, not the bison. I have tons of energy on this diet, and I almost never feel hungry. Of course, it’s been well known in Asia for centuries now, but rice is an amazing energy super food. I can’t say enough good about it. The same somewhat categorization applies to the beans.  Of course, both rice and beans are very low cost too. But, do not for one second believe that you can live on rice and beans alone. I believe adequate animal meat is very important too. Even with the beef/bison added, this is still a very inexpensive diet, and that’s a bonus. After all, fruits and vegetables are quite expensive too. They also represent a huge amount of industrial waste because of spoilage.

Next, this brings up another question people are probably wondering about, and that is: do the beans increase gas and flatulence.  Firstly, here’s a little bit of trivia for you. Did you know that regular “healthy” people pass gas an average of 13 to 21 times per day? So, if you work in an office with say 50 people per floor that’s one heck of a lot of stinky methane seeping into the air that you are breathing.  Naturally, you sure don’t want to be over contributing to that with the added beans in your diet. Well, the surprising good news is that even with the beans, on this diet the number of times you’ll have flatulence in a day will be right around zero. At night, and while you sleep? Zero too. And, it’s probably around zero times per month too. That’s right, amazingly, nothing, perfect. Bowel movements are also perfect. My simple diet is just such a civilized one to adopt on that aspect of it alone. Additionally, just the amount of money you’ll save on toilet paper will somewhat offset for the amount of money you’ll spend on beef.

Kidney Disease

One of the topics I only touched on a bit in my e-books was my early diagnosis of kidney disease.  I was given this diagnosis in late 2006. My nephrologist told me that I still had a good amount of time left, but that I should get my affairs in order. He told me that there is no known definitive cause and no medication, and of course no cure, for CKD. The longer-term prognosis was that I’d be finished by 2013. Although my nephrologist was so incredibly accurate in that prediction, it did not turn out to be precisely correct. I just had a checkup done. My kidney function is now back to normal. I no longer have leaking protein, and my creatinine and GFR numbers are perfect too. Go figure?

Twisted Bones

Way back, a long, long time ago, when I had read Darwin’s Origin of the Species, I was quite surprised at just how confused and wrongly modern biology was interpreting his work. Darwin clearly knew that the concept of random mutations could only possibly account for just the tiniest little fraction of the forces driving evolution. What he stated, and he stated it over and over, if anyone bothered carefully reading his book, that it was natural breeding selection that was truly the biggest driving force behind the rate of evolutionary change. Just as importantly, it was that he fully understood, and he also stated it multiple times too, that the mother’s life experiences were somehow actually programming the outcome of the offspring. Yet, what’s taught in schools today is a grand distortion of what Darwin had discovered. Evolution is not the process of random mutations, but rather it is the process of purposefully built adaptations, both in real-time and over generations. Thus, Darwin had discovered epigenetics some 150 years ago. But, there is a secondary distortion that I want to highlight regarding Darwin’s story, and that is the shape of his own skull.

Upon Darwin’s return from his famous Beagle voyage, and having suffered from severe and chronic eczema during those years, Darwin’s father had noted that the shape of Darwin’s skull had changed! Yes, Darwin who was regularly eating organ meats, had the shape of his skull changed. Now, isn’t that fascinating?

Over the last few years, I’ve had quite a few people contact me who had taken Accutane as an acne treatment. One surprising consistent theme from their stories is the time-frame.  It’s usual to hear that they had taken the drug over ten years ago, and are still suffering from it.  The second surprising comment was that several of them reported that the “drug” had twisted their bones!

Then, about three years ago I had exchanged some messages with a woman, who’s about 40 years old. She had severe rosacea and a condition called TMJ. This condition is that of a twisted jaw bone. She had a very noticeable crooked smile and damaged teeth because of it. The rosacea was bad enough, but the twisted jaw was causing her a tremendous amount of chronic pain. She had shopped the nation for surgeons to treat the condition. What they offered sounded horrific, and none of them were guaranteeing any long-term successes either. Of course, the proposed surgeries came with substantial risks and guaranteed facial scarring too. The only thing that stopped her from going ahead with the surgeries was the cost. The needed surgery was quoted at between $50,000 and $100,000 US. When I talked to her, she told me that herself and her husband had added liver as an almost bi-weekly staple food in their diets a few years earlier. She had read in some fashion magazine that liver was the new health food. Her husband had developed severe gout at about the same time she had first developed rosacea. She had read my blog posts, and was extremely doubtful and very skeptical that the additional vitamin A consumption could have caused her conditions. Nonetheless, to be on the safe side, she stopped eating liver and very reluctantly adopted a low vitamin A diet too (but not totally zero).  Now, three years later, her jaw has straightened back out. Her rosacea is completely gone too. She’s also much happier and calmer now. But, I’m disappointed to say that she’s not fully convinced that the low vitamin‑A diet was responsible for the remarkable recovery. She cannot bring herself to believe that a “vitamin” could have caused it, or that medical “science” has gotten it wrong.

Well, there’s only so much I can say, other than that the highest authority in science is that which is demonstrated in nature.

Next, for my own twisted bone story. For well over a decade, and maybe more like for about the last two decades, I’ve had two bulging vertebrates in my lower back. They are about 2/3rds the way down. They never really bothered me too much. Even though I could only see them by using a mirror, I really needed two opposing mirrors to see them effectively. Thus, it was no big deal kind of thing, and I only had a single mirror in my bathroom, so I was fine. Then, a few months ago, I was in a washroom with multiple mirrors, and lo and behold, I noticed that those two bulging vertebrates are almost not visible anymore. They have straightened out, and are now almost completely back in alignment with the rest of my spine.  I never, not in a hundred years, could have imagined that to happen.

So, in addition to all the other horrible things this so-called vitamin can do to us, it’s even causing the twisting of our bones! How remarkable is that?

Breast Cancer

You might be surprised to learn how much more pain and misery, and death this so-called vitamin is inflicting on the women of the world. That’s the topic of my next e-book. It should be ready in the next few days.