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Andrew's Progress Log
I think us heath nuts tend to find something new to worry about! Garrett Smith is a pro at that! (and leveraging that worry into sales) I think it is mostly genetic, my grandpa had thick black hair most of his life and he worked in a Ford factory and had type 2 diabetes, lots of sugar free stuff on the menu. He did eventually go grey but never completely white and died in his late 80's. My husband's grandma still had a lot of brown hair when she died in her 80's, and his mom still has mostly black hair in her mid 60s!!!! and for sure she's had just as much heavy metal exposure as all of us. I'm thankful I don't have many greys at 40, but in entering perimenopause a few are popping up. We all just have to accept it.
36 MONTH UPDATE SUMMARY
Hi everyone,
I have been doing low "vitamin-A" / vA depletion for 36 months now as of tomorrow - Jul 1 2026 (3 year mark reached).
My diet has recently been mostly beef, beef tallow and rice - plus some white bread, bananas, white-fleshed potatoes, and sugar.
There is unfortunately still nothing really to report since the last update summary posts. I have seen no observable changes or improvements to symptoms (once again... quite frustrating).
Recently, I have been trying the whole low-nickel thing as noted in recent posts - I haven't felt much of anything from it just yet, but let's see.
As before, I will do some blood tests in Aug / Sept 2026 and will post them here - with particular notes for me being serum retinol, thyroid autoimmunity, iron panels etc. . It will be interesting to see what they show.
Cheers all.
Thanks for letting us know. I am late to this forum, and late to vA toxicity, and still very early in my journey (about seven weeks from enormously cutting back my intake). It is interesting to hear the results (good, bad or indifferent), from others who have been on the journey longer.
I had serum retinol tested at the beginning of June 2026 and it was at 74 mcg/dl. Pretty much over-range by most labs, except Quest—incidentally, I used an online lab that USES Quest to do the blood draws AND the lab results, so Quest said my results were In Range, but the online lab said they were Out Of Range.
Go figure.
I JUST had labs re-run this morning to see what my lower vA diet has done for me in 30 days. Maybe/probably not much, but I hope to have those results back in a couple of days and I will update my Progress Report.
PS: As I have mentioned, I am not aiming for zero vA intake because 1) I get awful side effects under 50 mcg, and 2) I need a diet that I can LIVE and not backslide on, but I am trying to keep it my intake sub-250 mcg most days, and on average, I am probably around 143 mcg according to cronometer. I eat a range of foods, but tend to be more vegetarian-pesca-flexitarian, but I am not averse to meat (it's just not something I generally like to eat all that regularly).
Hi @bruce
How do you do - nice to meet you.
I just read your intro in your progress log and it sounds like you're on the right track. But I will say - it's a long road, not a quick one. I came in rather bushy-tailed three years ago thinking that I could see improvements within 6 months and be flying high by the 2 year mark. This has not happened for me. It's been a long road, and I don't know if I'll ever get better. But I'm still trying.
RE: nickel - the main drop for me was black beans. I have never tolerated oats very well (they make my hair fall out and my tummy doesn't feel great with them), so I only ever ate them in passing / or occasionally. I always used black beans as my main fibre source, which is a food that is very high in nickel. I have since dropped these for now, and am trying another fibre source (apple pectin).
But yes, you're right - it's not easy to find viable foods, and may not even be the correct approach. It seems like literally everything is bad for us in some kind of way according to someone somewhere...
Hi @andrew2 … so my question is, if it's not working well for you, do you have any idea what might work better? I sometimes wonder if vA is the root of my issues as well. Many of my symptoms line up, but many do not—I think this stuff affected my bones and joints, but I do not hear many people discuss that.
I went through a documented B6 toxicity a few years ago, and that was horrible. Simply horrible. I did eventually get better, but it took about a year. I am in this vA detox for the long haul, but I do wonder if my low is low enough. I cannot do a super-restricted diet for very long as it is just not sustainable for me, but I am more than capable of cutting out the obvious high-vA offenders.
Also, it seems many people here came and went. Not sure if that was because they all got better and moved on, or the 'civil war' that looked like happened (I have been reading some pretty wild stuff) maybe turned people off, but I this is kinda like the only resource and community of its kind. There are a couple of Reddit forums, but they do not seem to be high-traffic.
I am just rambling and this does not require a response unless you just feel like chatting.
@bruce - RE: the first question: In a word - no.
Have you read Grant's books yet? I believe bones and joints are most definitely affected by vA - arthritis, spurs, osteoporosis, generalized pain etc. are mentioned in those I believe, as well as in a number of ND livestreams I think.
Sad to hear about the B6 toxicity - but I'm glad you're out the other side of that. It seems very tough... I would very much like to recover from my issues in the space of one year though haha.
I can't speak for anyone else regarding whether they've gotten better and moved on, or if they've given up, or if they moved away to other paradigms...
But personally, when I first came here, I observed that there weren't many posts of detailed labs, and really laying out all symptoms and objectively measuring what's improved and what hasn't etc. through the journey. I understand why people wouldn't - labs are expensive, and health symptoms can be very personal. However, for me, I wanted to really lay it all out and hopefully show what vA depletion can do.
Unfortunately, even after three years, I don't think I'm depleted yet...
Yes. I have read both books … sadly some of it is a bit more scientific than my understanding allows.
I just meant here on this forum, it doesn’t seem to be many people reporting bone and joint issues?
Most everything I’ve read here seems to be how vA affects emotional health issues (which also afflicts me) and skin issues like rosacea and eczema.
Sorry for the delay folks - I haven't done my 3 year mark blood tests just yet. I'm struggling with making up enough calories on the diet, am trying to do too many things at once, and haven't really had things in order so well for the last 3 months.
I am working to find something that works and get back on it, and will do bloods in the next couple of months.
Apologies for the wait. Cheers.
I will add some context around the above, just to be fully open. I really wanted this log to really lay everything out in truth, and not hide anything. So to that end:
I started the whole "low nickel" thing around 3 months ago - I haven't really noticed any major benefits, but I was quite convinced about nickel and its association with early greying, vitiligo, and other stuff, so I thought I would try it and am sticking to it.
This mostly meant dropping the beans, breads and the occasional oats I was having - which in turn meant that my main meals are basically beef and rice.
I am aware that a fibre is important, and have been experimenting with some things, but not found anything that fully works on that front. Seeing as nickel is excreted primarily from the kidneys (urine), I figured I could probably be okay without a soluble fiber (at least in the short term) as long as I had adequate fat from the beef.
Unofrtunately, I was really struggling to make up the calories on such a limited diet, and had started to sneak in additional things. I started adding small amounts of cheese, with an aim of adding less than 1000IU of vA (not ideal, but still maybe "okay") and getting in some calcium (which I have probably been deficient in).
Unfortunately, cheese backs me up pretty bad, which I remembered shortly thereafter its introduction (I think it's the proteins), so I then foolishly swapped it out for ice cream...
Because I was struggling to get in enough calories, I ended up eating quite a bit of extra ice cream to make up the deficit. Sometimes even up to 400g per day (a small pot). Google seems to suggest that this is approximately 1600IU of vA per day, which is certainly too high... but I sorta justified it to myself by saying that:
- "the low nickel diet is temporary, maybe only a few months, then we can go back to something without the dairy, and replace the calories back again with something low vA."
- "it's only 1600IU of vA, that's only half the RDA. Whilst I may be stalling my depletion, I shouldn't be accumulating any more..."
So I have effectively spent the last 90 days having on average c. 1000IU of vA from dairy every day... I was not craving this food specifically, and certainly don't see this as a craving for vA (a note to any detractors). But I was wasting away - I have gone from 181lbs (tbh carrying a little extra fat than I'd like, my six pack was disappearing) down to 168 lbs , and I did that in about the 4-6 weeks in July / August... and that's WITH the ice cream included... I have been using the ice cream to add more calories since I just can't stomach all the rice, and too much meat makes my hair shed and fall out (as I have mentioned before, I still don't know why this might be).
More generally, I am struggling quite a lot. I am 36 now, my sexual function is completely in the dirt and has been since I started this 3+ years ago , which has been extremely distressing and is putting my life hopes on hold.
I am having varicocele pain quite frequently on the left side, which has been very difficult... not debilitating, but extremely difficult to stay motivated to continue living. One good thing, I have noticed quite recently that the varicocele pain is way worse the morning after a day of high sodium intake... this makes sense, increased blood pressure could certainly make this problem worse.
As such, I have tried to completely cut out sodium salt use, and tried t stay away from any foods with added sodium salt in them. I have also been thinking about supplementing potassium in much larger amounts, since I have been aware for some time about imbalances / deficiencies in macro minerals sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium,and how common they are in today's world. This article was very interesting for me, not sure if his protocol is necessarily the most optimal, but his points are interesting:
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/salud/salud_potassium.htm
I will also say, when I wake up with varicocele pain on my left side, I can also feel it in my left lower back. I am wondering if this is a kidney issue (and that the varicocele is a downstream symptom of kidney issues, rather than directly from liver problems). For those unaware, the veins leaving the testes go up to the kidneys before entering the main portal veins etc. in the centre of the body.
I am also wondering if I have kidney blockages, possibly from the 20 liver flushes I did 18 months ago. Andreas Moritz does recommend kidney cleanses too (mostly drinks / concoctions) and I have read a little about chanca piedra...
Life has been so full-on, that I haven't had the time to get blood tests done (also a bit scared of what I'll see), and I certainly haven't had my kidneys checked for stones / CKD...
Pretty rough time, and pretty sad that I am still in this state after 3+ years of trying this (barring the 3 month hiccup recently). I really hope I can fix myself, and am fighting to keep going - I don't want to give up.
All that said, I am actually pretty pleased with the weight loss. Looking pretty muscular and lean now, which is good - just a shame about what's under the hood! 😉
Anyways, beg pardon for the doom rant. I hope people are improving and feeling well.
Cheers all.