Quote from Jiří on July 20, 2020, 4:20 am

@joel low fat and low calories will lower your sex hormones for sure. How much calories and how much grams of fat are you eating? On low vit A diet you want some fats from beef and some coconut/ olive oil. At least like 50g ideally 100g of fat a day.. The main source of energy should be carbs. Proteins and fats only for rebuilding tissues, hormones, enzymes etc.. I think calorie ratio 50% carbs, 25-30% protein and 25-20% fats is ideal for most people. Inactive male around 30yo should eat at lest 2500kcal. If you have manual labor job, doing sports etc.. Calorie requirements go up really quickly.. I will burn a lot of calories in the work 8 hours a day + 15km bike ride to the work and 15km from the work 5 days a week. + some calisthenics. I need to figure out diet plan that will not destroy my digestion, but at the same time will give me at least 3500kcal every day from good clean foods. Which is not easy heh..

Quote from Joel on July 20, 2020, 4:32 am

@jiri

I can't tell you exactly, I eat around 500-600 grams of rice a day, 250-350 grams of beans and 200-300 grams of rump steak/turkey. But always do it on the grill, so practically no extra oil at all. Maybe that's the mistake? I will add vitamin E supplement from rice oil 2 times a week, maybe this oil content already improves it?  I noticed that I tolerate meat on the grill better as oil in a pan. Or I add a little oil to the food separately? I also take minerals, vitamins C, B, D supplements and I take a protein complex and some single amino acids. So it can really only be due to fat, or to the detoxification itself, if it has something to do with nutrition. And as edge info because of my chronic illness I'm not active, so 2500kcal should be enough.

Have you ever tried high doses of glutamine powder for digestion? 

Quote from salt on July 20, 2020, 4:34 am

VA activates the CYP17A1 enzyme, which is responsible for converting cholesterol into pregnenolone (which converts into testosterone). Some people think VA is required for this conversion to happen but from what I've read it doesn't seem like the science is fully settled. I feel like low VA dieting lowers my androgen levels as well but I don't have the testing to prove it. I wish Grant would post sex hormone blood tests. 

If you're eating very low fat that could be a reason, low fat diets lower testosterone. Stearic acid and palmitic acid are especially effective at increasing androgen levels, coincidentally these are also the fatty acids that can cause VA toxicity symptoms...

Quote from Jiří on July 20, 2020, 4:44 am

@joel Eating 200-300g of meat for protein(from animal sources) is not a lot. But 250-350g of beans(before cooking?) is a lot. No digestive issues from them? You need to add fats not vit E. You can take here and there vit E, but if you eat almsot no PUFA fats. You don't need vit E that much.. Yes add oil on your rice for example. I cook everything in water. No grill or oils.. From single amino acids I would take only here and there some taurine. That's it. Eat protein from food. Egg whites are good. Easy to digest protein source high in B2. Try to add to your diet like 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of coconut oil. You can make egg white omelet  in coconut oil and olive oil on top of rice or I just eat that oil alone before the meal. This way it gives me no issues and it is also good before first meal after you drink some water. It is like "mini liver flush".. People in Italy, Greece etc.. also drink shot of olive oil every morning.. Yes I was taking glutamin during my bodybuilding days for muscle recovery. I was taking a lot like 50g with no issues. But when I tried glutamine like 10g a day like 2 years a go. I had crazy mental issues from that. Like panic attacks. I would cry for no reason etc.. I think it has to do something with glutamate..

Quote from Jiří on July 20, 2020, 4:50 am

@salt I have more and more discolored hair on low vit A diet. People say vit A is needed for ceruloplasmin. So hopefully I will not lower my ceruloplasmin with no vit A to zero and die from aneurysm or something due to low bioavailable copper lol.. I really want to see Grants blood work for steroid hormones and ceruloplasmin...

Quote from lil chick on July 20, 2020, 7:07 am

Personally it appears to me that lately women have more testosterone than they should (leading to things like facial hair) and men have more estrogen than they should (leading to things like man-boobs).  You see this even in teenagers now.   Our hormones are all messed up and probably will take quite a while to untangle even if a person is on a perfect diet.

Still and all this is an interesting question to ask:  is VA needed to make testosterone.

Unless you have depleted your VA, (which I don't think you believe) you still have some and it would be there to make testosterone...

Quote from tim on July 20, 2020, 7:17 am

As we age mens vA stores go up and testosterone drops. Im convinced lowering vA will slow the aging process however going too far and becoming vA deficient will promote hypothyroidism, thyroid homone resistance and all manner of issues IMO. I also strongly recommend consuming a normal balanced diet.

Quote from Jiří on July 20, 2020, 8:16 am

@tim-2 But when we know we should start eating more vit A and what amount? Btw I am sure that it is not just vit A that is doing all kinds of bad things as we age. You can say the same for all toxins from heavy metals, pesticides, BPA etc.. From essential micronutrients also iron overload is very damaging. Same with PUFA fats etc..

Quote from tim on July 20, 2020, 12:49 pm

@jiri

Yep monitoring vA and iron levels and keeping them within optimal ranges should be basic health science education yet neither are done... It's optimal for ferritin to be at about 50, Im guessing we want serum retinol around 30-40 mcg/dL, just above deficiency ranges. I think you should start eating more vA once you deplete serum retinol down to 20-30. At that point you can add eggs and some butter back as well as medium carotene foods you like.