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Fats on low A diet: anecdotes & experiences
It seems to be common for people to respond badly to fats when following a low vitamin a diet.
A coherent picture of which fats are appropriate (in this context) doesn't seem to have emerged yet, so I thought it might be helpful to try to get everyone's experiences on this subject together in one place to see if a pattern emerges.
If anyone would like to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated!
I'll start:
- I don't seem to have a problem with coconut oil, but I use refined coconut oil - there could be a distinction here. Coconut milk is also fine.
- Small amounts of butter doesn't seem to cause me an issue.
- Dark chocolate makes me feel bad within seconds of eating it
- Macadamia nuts, or other nuts seem fine
I still don't have much to report so I will leave links here for now:
https://nutritionrestored.com/forum/topic/stearic-acid-aka-stearate/
From the second link girl is reacting to virgin coconut oil but not to refined coconut oil.
I seem to do okay with a little olive oil. I sometimes use 1/2 teaspoon of butter on potatoes with no ill response.
i tried coconut oil, but felt poorly afterwards; prior to the low Vitamin A diet, it was my main oil.
DS
Thanks DWL.
Was it extra virgin coconut oil, or refined/deodorised?
I know Dr Smith has found that stearic acid and palmitic acid can aggravate vitamin A detox symptoms. I think even free fatty acids and short chain fatty acids as well. Can cause a flare up during the detox I think.
I'm guessing that certain fatty acids that have a greater affinity to the fatty acid binding proteins kick off the retinoids that currently bind to it or some mechanism where the retinoids are displaced from the binding protein and thus causing retinoid symptoms or flare-ups.
I also wonder if it's saturated fatty acids in general that cause flare-ups on the low vitamin A diet, but maybe certain saturated fatty acids displace retinoids better than the others. Coconut, cacao, palm, butter, ground beef, egg yolk, cashews all have somewhat higher percentages of saturated fatty acids... lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, etc.
All just guesses though.
Harry, the oil I use is Bertolli, Extra Light Tasting, high heat cooking olive oil. The ingredient list says it's made from refined oilive oil and virgin olive oil. I generally only use oil for sautéing potatoes, and use a very scant amount. amount.
When I did a low vitamin a diet for a short amount of time, I used high saturated fats like, butter and beef tallow. Could use as much as I wanted...but again I didn't do the diet for long. Beef tallow has zero fat souble vitamins in it and I think would be ideal(doesn't taste great though).
^ Also, to add on to this, I've been focusing more on eating a low sulfur diet since it helps my sibo. I use to eat a lot of coconut oil...but im thinking it might be high in sulfur. Never reacted well to either virgin or refined, less so to refined(I think that might have something to do with sulfur content). I just stick to butter now-a-days. Just wanted to add a different perspective here, thanks.
My daughter (1yr) has had moderate to severe eczema (among other symptoms) since she was 3 months old (exclusively breastfed). The inflammation, itching, hives, and swelling became so bad (before low A) that she needed a trip to the ER.
Since beginning low A diet about a month ago, many of her symptoms have significantly decreased. I have fewer over symptoms of toxicity. She still breastfeeds along with eating low A so I look to her for indications of overall progress.
I have noticed she does not tolerate meat (especially fatty meats) or dairy at all. So I myself eat lean beef and turkey, and I do not offer it to her. I was still eating butter, but her eczema would become very inflamed if breastfeeding after I ate butter also. Interestingly, without the butter she tends to quickly show signs of constipation. I am not affected in this way by any of the various combinations of meat/oils. I mainly only experience constipation with vit A fruits and veggies which I avoid.
Has anyone else experienced the same reaction to butter (with and without) that my daughter does? What fats do you find your body better tolerates?
Trista