Quote from tim on December 29, 2019, 7:56 pm

@ggenereux2014

Thanks Grant, have you had your ferritin levels tested in the last few years?

Quote from ggenereux on December 30, 2019, 5:54 am

Hi @tim-2,

Here are my numbers:

	2014	2018	2019	Units
FERRITIN	246	215	175	ug/L

The 2014 number is before I started on my vA elimination diet. So, even with my increased beef/bison consumption, my ferritin numbers have gone down.

Grant

Quote from John on December 30, 2019, 12:43 pm

Wow those numbers are decreasing while on your diet.  There’s something good definitely going on there with the low A.   

I’ve been off my low A diet and have been going back the opposite direction with my health. I was feeling better while on it but there are a number of other factors in the equation as well. 

I may have to go back on it to see...

Quote from Sarah4 on December 30, 2019, 2:40 pm

Quote from ggenereux on December 29, 2019, 6:29 pm

 

My beef consumption is also lower from when I first started my diet. I now average about 6-8 oz./day. Whereas, when I first started it was about 12 oz./day.

@ggenereux2014

Hi Grant, can I ask about your current diet?  I'm wondering how many calories approximately, and what foods make up your diet currently. I'm needing to eat over 1 lb of steak and at least 1.25 cup of rice (dry weight) every day. I am still pretty thin.  May I ask how you meet daily calorie needs?  Thanks! 

Quote from tim on December 30, 2019, 4:50 pm

@ggenereux2014

Hi Grant,

Thanks for sharing that with us. Was the 2019 number from before you started donating?

Were you taking Vitamin C with meals during much of this time?

Quote from ggenereux on December 30, 2019, 7:56 pm

Quote from Sarah4 on December 30, 2019, 2:40 pm

Hi Grant, can I ask about your current diet? 

Hi @sarah4,

My diet has shifted a bit over the last five years. When I first started I was needing two cups (dry measure) of rice per day, and ~ 12 oz. of beef/bison. I’ve also dropped a few items from my early diet (such as the red kidney beans, pineapple) and have experimented with other items (bread)  too. So, it has not been super consistent.

But, around the 4 yr point, something changed, and I noticed that I was just needing less food per day. I don’t know if this is because my body is more efficient, or because I’ve gotten older. However, my weight has remained the same for about the last 4 yrs; it fluctuates +-3 lbs.

The primary goal of my current diet is to try to achieve a 0.0 vA serum test this July. So, that’s my big motivation in sticking to this bland and boring routine. In other words, I don’t want to at all recommend that other people need to follow this same diet.

As for my daily standard diet, it’s:

• 1 cup black beans - usually half that at lunch, and the other half in the evening.
• 1 cup (measured dry) white or brown rice. A lot of days I’ll have a bit of rice leftover. So, realistically, I’m probably closer to 0.8 - 0.9 cups/day. I have brown rice about 3 days per week.
• 6-8 oz beef or bison. It’s a mix of ground, steak, and roasts. When I cook a roast, it is in a slow cooker with only water.
• If I cook ground it's always in a pre-made 6 oz. patty and I cook that in olive oil. If I cook a patty, I usually have half in the morning and the other half at lunch. Same for steak days.
• 1 cup of black coffee. Although I’ve mostly lost my appetite for coffee, I usually still have it in the morning to help get the bile flowing. 
• 1-2 oz. of macadamia nuts, sometimes it's almonds, occasionally sunflower seeds
• I usually have a pinch of salt in my rice at lunch and evenings

About 3-4  times per week I’ll have a peeled apple.

I have a standard routine for taking my lunch to work; I dry mix the rice + beans+ beef in a glass container, and then I add hot water at lunchtime to make it into a kind of quick soup. I never add spices other than salt.

I think this diet puts me at about 2200 calories/day. My daily physical exercise is mostly limited to my bike commute of 15KM/day. I’ve also noticed that my bike commute has gotten a bit easier over the last few years.

Thanks

Grant

 

 

Quote from ggenereux on December 30, 2019, 8:03 pm

Quote from tim on December 30, 2019, 4:50 pm

@ggenereux2014

Hi Grant,

Thanks for sharing that with us. Was the 2019 number from before you started donating?

Were you taking Vitamin C with meals during much of this time?

Hi @tim-2,

I made one donation before that 2019 number.

No, I wasn't aking vitamin C with meals, and I've pretty much have stopped supplementing with it. I just felt it was not doing much for me.

Thanks

Grant

Quote from Sarah4 on January 2, 2020, 7:43 pm

Thank you, Grant! 

@ggenereux2014

Quote from John on January 14, 2020, 8:50 pm

I’m just learning Vitamin A also increase iron absorption.  I can’t see what else it could have been now that got me so sick in less than a 10 month span.  

- tons of vitamin C 

- tons of sweet potato

- tons of beef and beans 

- chronic hepatitis 

the perfect storm

also makes sense with my increased EMF sensitivity:  suspected linked to iron overload