Quote from Fred on April 30, 2021, 12:49 pm

Hi @ggenereux2014,

Since Vitamin A is fat soluble, is it possible that fruits consumed with no fats can pass through the digestive system without any Vitamin A being absorbed by the body?  Thanks.

Quote from ggenereux on April 30, 2021, 1:50 pm

Hi @fred,

RE: is it possible that fruits consumed with no fats can pass through the digestive system without any Vitamin A being absorbed by the body

Yes, I think that's the case.

Also, going on a low protein diet will in the short term likely result in the liver releasing a lot less vA into serum via the RBPs. However, in  the longer term, a low protein diet will almost certainly cause trouble too.

The trick appears to be finding the right combination and balance that allows people to safely detoxify. 

 

 

 

 

Quote from Fred on April 30, 2021, 2:25 pm

Hi @michele,

Since you have been eating primarily fruits and vegetables for 1.5 years, have you had any blood work done?  If so, are all your lab results normal?  Thanks.

Quote from Jenny on May 1, 2021, 1:06 am

I see these ‘extreme’ diets (no offence intended to anyone eating a very limited diet but I couldn’t think of a better all encompassing term) that exclude many types of food as ‘healing’ diets. That is - for short term use to get the body back to a well running state of health so someone can return to tolerating many foods again. In nutritional therapy limited diets are thought of in this way, not as a way of eating for life, as this can run into trouble, but as a way of returning to balance. 

I am very cautious of any diet that means long term exclusion of many food types. This doesn’t seem to be truly healing to me. The true test of any ‘healing’ diet is true healing and being well enough to tolerate an omnivorous diet again. (I know that Grant is pursuing his prolonged low vA diet for scientific reasons). This is just my way of looking at it from a nutritional therapist point of view. Of course if complete healing cannot be achieved then a limited diet maybe the answer for quality of life, however, I would worry about long term exclusion of food groups. 

Quote from rockarolla on May 1, 2021, 3:24 am

I was on zero A diet for a total of about 5..6 years(with a few years between). Back then I was not aware of anything, including A and its influence on the immune system and its toxic effects on our cells so I was just trying a total illumination diet to treat food intolerances. That diet appeared to be 100% carnivore since I react equally badly to all foods except meat. 

So .. what about the results then? I can admit that the diet cured me of all intolerances and now I can/could eat all junk food again like a normal human being without setbacks or terrible immune reactions like histamines release, etc.

Did it cure me from chronic inflammation? Unfortunately no, so now I'm trying MP(mpkb.org) with antibiotics, plus a carnivore diet aka "vitamin-less diet" but now with some rice to stay out of ketosis since I stopped trusting ketones due to their immunomodulation(for example ketones were used as a medicine to treat epilepsy before certain drugs replaced them) properties:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5981249/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4352123/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6361831/

Also I'm avoiding beans due to their oxalates/lectins/fiber/polyphenols content and thinking about trying some gut cleaning protocol as @tim-2 outlined over here:

https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/beans/?part=4
(FC Cidal, Candibactin BR/AR, Dysbiocide, etc)

.. since I suspect a part of my problems could be a chronic toxin leaking from gut - maybe due to initial A damage leading to so called "leaky gut" .. who knows? I consumed a ton of dairy as a kid ;(

Quote from michele on May 1, 2021, 7:40 am

@fred

The last blood test I had was about 6 months into the fruit-based diet.

 

Quick background - The reason I stopped my low VA experiment about 4 or 5 months in was due to concerning blood test results and an eye exam in which my doctor discovered a small cataract (I was 36). At the time, I was seeing my eye doctor every month because I was on disability and it was required for my case to be approved, so I know the cataract had not been there before.  With regards to my blood test, my bilirubin was 1.5 mg/dL (the high end of the normal range for bilirubin is 1.2 mg/dL). In addition, my ANA titer increased. Perhaps some of you will say this was "detox" and I should have continued to push on, but every bone in my body told me something was not right.  

 

Fast forward to 6 months into my fruit-based diet. The only number out of range on my blood test was my BUN which was 4 and flagged "low". BUN is tied to protein consumption, and my diet is low in protein, so I expected this (and plan to keep it this way). A high BUN can be a sign that your kidneys or liver may not be functioning properly. My bilirubin was back in the normal range at 0.8 mg/dL - it was basically cut in half. And my ANA test was negative. These are definitely positive signs to me, although I've learned not to get too hung up on blood testing.  

Quote from michele on May 1, 2021, 7:50 am

Quote from ggenereux on April 30, 2021, 1:50 pm

Also, going on a low protein diet will in the short term likely result in the liver releasing a lot less vA into serum via the RBPs. However, in  the longer term, a low protein diet will almost certainly cause trouble too.

The trick appears to be finding the right combination and balance that allows people to safely detoxify. 

 

@ggenereux2014

 

I understand your concern about protein. That was my immediate concern when I first learned about a fruit-based diet. After all, protein, protein, protein is constantly drilled in our heads. I am therefore curious your thoughts on the following.

 

The composition of human breast milk is about 1-2% protein (here's a study which quotes 1% but I've seen up to 2% https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/392766/).  A baby more or less triples in size in its first year of life and drinks primarily mother's milk. In my opinion, given that we never grow this quickly at any other stage in our life, this is likely the time we require the MOST protein. Why would we require so much more protein once we are fully grown? I would imagine human breast milk is something we haven't totally screwed up just yet...and this is pretty convincing evidence to me that perhaps what we've been led to believe about needing lots of protein is simply untrue (I'd wager that the meat and dairy industries are a driving force behind this). 

 

For reference, human breast milk contains about 7x more sugar than protein (in the form of lactose), which is why the true carnivore diet with zero carbs scares me quite a bit. In my opinion, sugar is absolutely essential to thrive long-term.

 

Also, as mentioned in an earlier post, most of the protein that our body uses as its building blocks is recycled protein.  Millions of cells are broken down and die every day, and these amino acids simply get reused. It seems possible that high amounts of protein do not need to be ingested as there is already plenty of protein inside the body.  I'm not arguing protein isn't important - it's essential - but perhaps not the way in which we think?

 

Quote from Fred on May 1, 2021, 8:42 am

Hi @michele,

You probably have this information.  Attached are two websites that list fruits and vegetables that are high in protein.

https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/fruits-high-in-protein.php

https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/vegetables-high-in-protein.php

Quote from ggenereux on May 2, 2021, 9:35 am

Hi @michele,

My concern about getting enough protein is not just based on the basic science on it. It’s also based on the botched study my nephrologist was involved with here in Canada ~ 2005-2006.

I mentioned this before in my blog post: https://ggenereux.blog/2019/02/05/protein-synthesis-and-setbacks/

The basics of the study was that they put a large number of kidney patients on a ZERO protein diet (not a zero meat diet as far as I know)  to test the theory that protein was somehow taxing / damaging the kidneys. This is still a commonly held view in nephrology. Anyways, the result was that many of the patients quickly died, and the study was terminated early. 

So, yes, agreed, protein is essential. How much is needed? I have no idea.  I think that getting too much protein might be harmful too. And, as reported in a few case studies, adopting a higher protein diet when coming from a low protein diet can cause a surge in the liver releasing a lot more RBPs back into circulation.