Quote from Bella on June 17, 2024, 4:05 pm

@puddleduck and @inger, thanks for being interested in my personal experience! 
I think I got into a rut/holding pattern with my diet in early 2020 when covid came on the scene because of my work in respiratory. I believe now I was over the main vA toxicity within the first 2 years and I shouldn’t have stayed muscle meat carnivore for so long. I know lots of people do well on it and I did digestion wise but I developed cracked fingernails and a tendency to bruise easily so there were signs of some deficiencies but I couldn’t ever seem to fix them with supplements alone and my lifestyle wasn’t conducive to a radical dietary shift until now. I do think in the end the cracked fingernails were probably low b2 related because I finally resolved them with R-5-p earlier this year. The bruising went away whenever I’d eat more carbs and I’ve read a small percentage of kids on a therapeutic ketogenic diet for seizures bruise easily due to the fatty acid changes in their cell membranes fwiw. 
My experiment thus far has been to get to as close to 100% of all my nutrients from food. I’m able to get to about 95% because my sodium is purposefully below the RDI and my vitamin D comes from sunlight. Only good things have happened so far. My nails are growing faster and I feel like I have a healthy glow. Other than just generally feeling better overall though there is really nothing else to report. Neither retinol or carotenes give me any negative reactions. My slight improvements probably have nothing to do with one nutrient specifically but just increasing my overall diet quality. I’m happy with my current diet which includes meat, fish, eggs, plain Greek yogurt, a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and a few nuts and seeds. It’s all minimally processed with no fortification or additives. I’m eating lower fat as in the only fat I get is what naturally occurs in the food I eat. I feel more energized eating this way. At the end of the week I’ll probably not keep pushing to get 100% of the RDI for vA just because of what I’ve learned from being low for so many years. I’m pretty sure it’s best for me to neither push too low for ideological/hypothetical reasons or to strive for a certain number that’s based on questionable science. I will of course be on the lookout for anything concerning. When I put the foods I most enjoy into cronometer my vA comes to about 50% which I suspect is probably adequate for me. Since it’s fat soluble I’m not worried if I get it everyday.

I will always remain a supporter of people who need to do a low vA diet because it really helped me after my years of misguided over use of vA and retin-a. If anything earth shattering happens in the next 5 days when my experiment ends I’ll certainly report back! 

Quote from Bella on June 24, 2024, 6:18 pm

I made it through the experiment just fine. I still haven’t come to any conclusions that I’m 100% convinced of other than I noticed zero issues from eating at 100% or greater of the RDI of vA per cronometer for a month. Other than what I mentioned last week of generally feeling better from an overall much higher diet quality score (which could or could not be related to the vA) I’m doing exactly the same. Same weight, same blood sugar, same blood pressure…

I’m just going to stick with my current diet for the next 6 months and see how things go. Nothing happens quick at 54 after all. 
I looked back and in 2022 my diet quality was only about 35% (now at 96) so I think it matters for overall well being and optimal aging to keep that higher. That’s where I’m currently placing my focus. I no longer want to live from a fear based mentality of restriction but one of an abundance of minimally processed foods that supply nutrients in a form my body recognizes as actual food. I’m continuing to stay off all vitamin/mineral supplements. That may be another reason I feel better. I do use 1mg of iodine in my water a couple times per week because I don’t use added salt but that’s it.

I’m pretty sure I originally got myself in this mess via supplements (not limited to vA) leading to imbalances. Now that I know I’m capable of getting everything I need from food I’m hoping I won’t be tempted to relapse into the supplement vortex again! 
I’m still working towards becoming more anti-fragile by doing things smarter. I’m getting way too old to make extreme wrong choices so I will be eating well, resting well, exercising enough (but not too much) and just generally trying to enjoy my family life. 

Take care everyone and remember first and foremost to listen to your own body!