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Day one... eek!
Hi All..
I've been following Matt Stone for about 4 years, but it's taken me a while to dive into the VA thing.
I've had food issues my whole life and so the idea of another fad diet was repelling me against anymore food research. In the past 18months I've been on a food plan which must have naturally taken my VA lower because I felt the best I have in ages.. though very hard not to fall off the wagon and it seems not low enough.
I never go anywhere near a doctor, so I have no idea about my numbers. I just know I'm not well. Chronic fatigue, brain fog, chronic sinus infections, fungal infections, PMS (although that improves with B6), weight gain..
I am a small holder (homesteader in US), so really into producing our own food: goat milk, veggies, eggs.. all the really high VA stuff, which is why I was so apposed when my dad was bollocking on about the carnivore diet. I though 'yeah, right we'll see how long this lasts..'
Then yesterday - in the midst of a chronic sinus infection and feeling totally fed up and incapable of doing any of the things I love - I started reading Matt's latest email. I then read some of the blog iheal.me and now I have devoured all of Grant's blog and PFP. I am sold.
Obviously the carnivore diet is another version of no VA. I don't want to do that though, I can see me not lasting long. I the sound of how Grant does it.
does anyone know the quantities they have eg 4oz of rice to 4oz of beef 4oz beans? I just wondering because being used to a plan helps me to track what my body needs.. I don't want to over or under eat. I'm in the habit of weighing my food (mostly) so if I gain weight I'll reduce a bit.
Anyway, sorry for the essay.. it's great to be here. Have loved reading through the forum!
Lindsey 🙂
If you go Grant style (very restricted diet), I doubt you have to count anything. I would go by intuition. It is tough to overeat on such a restricted diet.
Thanks.. yeah I think you might be right there. At lunch I had my normal portion sizes but had two protein portions (beef and beans) instead of a veg and I couldn't finish it!
@lindsey Welcome! 🙂 I’m glad you’re here. It’s so wonderful to read stories like Anika’s (and DWL’s and YH’s progress reports here on the forum, too). I hope you’ll see more positive changes before too many months, starting with your poor sinuses eh?
Are you planning to include any vitamin C containing foods? I know Grant has mentioned that vitamin C can be beneficial during this process.
thanks for replying puddleduck. Yeah I was thinking that I would buy some ascorbic acid and just take that. Aside from fruits that are really high in VA I'm not sure what else has vitamin C. Still very new on all this and taking it all in. It's mad that one day you think you have it sussed and then the next day you learn that everything you thought you knew is all total rubbish. I cannot tell you how many times this has happened to me!
It's been almost a year since I started researching on nutrition and health. When you dive deep enough on multiple subjects like fats, salt, sugar, animal products and wheat, you can actually find the two sides. Some are vilifying it while others advocate it.
I continue to read from various sources, but I do not take anything I read at face value. I have started an intuitive journey of trying to connect with my body to truly learn what it needs. We are not clone of each other, we all have different genetics and history that make us unique. Why would one diet be ideal for everyone?
I've been researching for about 15yrs! It's one big ass rabbit hole.. Whilst I agree that we are all unique I can't help but feel that actually there is a rough sketch of what all people will do well on with some minor deviations based on environmental stressors or past disruptors.. I think this site, Grant's and so many others' experiences are a testament to that..
The keto diet as an example.. most people do really well on this to begin with, but inevitably things start to take a nose dive after a while. They fool themselves into thinking that they can get it back to how it was, but for some reason it just doesn't work. This was mine and many people I know's experience and it is pretty much the same with every other diet. The problem is when people get so rooted in a belief system that to hear anything contrary to that they just refuse to believe, probably because it's not the answer they want it to be.
Although my health has been far from perfect in these last 18months, it has massively improved. The one thing I have done differently to the previous 5 years is I have lowered my VA (unbeknown to me), not very low, but significantly lower than it has been. And when I look back on the few times in my life where I have been my best it has always coincided with a lower VA diet. The problem was I was always trying to be the 'healthiest' I could be (dammit, the curse of the orthorexia!!!!). Anecdotal this may be, but to me the proof is in the pudding.
That’s what I noticed too Lindsey. My best health has been when I wasn’t concerned with nutrition at all and my worst health definitely coincided with eating lots of A, taking A supplements and using retin-a. I’m almost 50 and I can see that pattern strongly over the last 30 years. I started retin-a for mild acne at 20 years old. I’m glad you’re here. Bella
@lindsey That’s what I ended up doing to fill any gaps (got the powdered kind so I could adjust the dose easily). Cauliflower, rutabaga, turnip, and potato are pretty low VA and contain some vitamin C. 👍 Strawberries and pineapple have lots of vitamin C, and aren’t super high in VA. 🍓🍍As an added bennefit, raw pinapple contains bromelain, which Dr. Smith thinks may help detox VA.
Haha oh can I ever relate to all of the twists and turns of the orthorerxic mind searching for answers. 🙂 Similar to Bella’s experience, I found that giving up on finding the “perfect diet” in favour of eating what appealed to my tastebuds was a huge step forward for me in terms of health, which fortunately isn’t entirely contradictory to this low-VA plan (my favourite foods are rice and porridge anyway, and I’m rather uninterested in carrots, for example, though I do miss butter and cream cheese jalapeno poppers sometimes so it’s not 100% 😝).
Quote from Lindsey on February 4, 2019, 3:28 pmI've been researching for about 15yrs! It's one big ass rabbit hole.. Whilst I agree that we are all unique I can't help but feel that actually there is a rough sketch of what all people will do well on with some minor deviations based on environmental stressors or past disruptors.. I think this site, Grant's and so many others' experiences are a testament to that..
The keto diet as an example.. most people do really well on this to begin with, but inevitably things start to take a nose dive after a while. They fool themselves into thinking that they can get it back to how it was, but for some reason it just doesn't work. This was mine and many people I know's experience and it is pretty much the same with every other diet. The problem is when people get so rooted in a belief system that to hear anything contrary to that they just refuse to believe, probably because it's not the answer they want it to be.
Although my health has been far from perfect in these last 18months, it has massively improved. The one thing I have done differently to the previous 5 years is I have lowered my VA (unbeknown to me), not very low, but significantly lower than it has been. And when I look back on the few times in my life where I have been my best it has always coincided with a lower VA diet. The problem was I was always trying to be the 'healthiest' I could be (dammit, the curse of the orthorexia!!!!). Anecdotal this may be, but to me the proof is in the pudding.
@lindsey how are you doing lately? Any update on your progress?