I needed to disable self sign-ups because I’ve been getting too many spam-type accounts. Thanks.
First 100 days
That’s fantastic DS.
DS, also the main reason I decided to be very liberal with my diet instead of sticking to only a couple foods was because of two people whose opinions I generally respect thought Grant’s success might have been due to eating a hypoallergenic diet. I figured the best test for me to confirm that the problem actually is A and not allergens would be to not exclude any food other than those with A or carotenoids.
I’m probably going to cut back on the coconut products for now and I just added back butter a couple days ago. I’m using salted French butter and so far it’s going well. I didn’t seem to tolerate butter early on.
Just curious, how do they explain Grant reaction to lutein (do they know about it?) and that he is still fine after over 4 years of avoiding vit A?
Matrixik, I didn't bring up lutein. I'm not sure if I was that far into reading his books when I asked them for their opinions.
I don't think either one has actually read the books but I could be wrong. One is somewhat of an advocate for using vitamin A supplements and eating liver and simply dismissed the idea as due to beef and rice being free of common allergens.
The other person cautions against using vitamin A supplements and fortified foods. She was a bit more receptive to the fact that A could potentially cause problems in certain scenarios but also thought it more likely to be a matter of reducing allergenic foods.
Bella, I understand your reasoning on eating in a manner that would dispel the allergen theory. I had had similar thoughts. I, like you, have researched extensively for several years, and have tried sooooo many diets and treatments. I think Grant has hit the nail squarely on the head with his Vitamin A toxicity theory!
Detoxing, especially in the first few weeks of low/zero Vitamin A, was extremely painful for me. One of my toxicity symptoms was chronic bone pain. One evening after I'd been on low/zero Vitamin A for about two weeks, I had an onset of bone pain in my right hip that was excruciating--to a degree that I'd never felt before. After a very restless night, I awakened to NO pain! Interestingly, similar severe pain traveled to several other areas. Ultimately, each time, the pain subsided. leaving me at an improved level of health. DS
That’s fantastic about your pain DS!
I have had hip pain off and on for over 4 years. In hindsight it happened shortly after I really started getting serious about eating and supplementing A.
So many people are getting hip replacements these days that it makes me wonder if that too is related to the amount of A people are consuming.
Bella, you may be right about the hip replacement/Vitamin A correlation!!
Early in the diet when my detox symptoms were so severe, I thought that zero Vitamin A might not be good for me; I was tempted to quit Zero Vitamin A; fortunately, I'd made a promise (to me) to try the diet for at least ONE YEAR. Time is flying by and my health is improving; I suspect that my major health issues will improve. but that may be ever so slowly.
I am thankful for this discussion forum and am encouraged with each positive post.
I will try to sign in one more time!!
DS
Hi DS,
So pleased to hear about your success with this approach. What other detox symptoms did you experience?
I've been trying to eat a low vitamin A diet for about 2 months, without much improvement. However, about 3 days ago I started to get a very hard heartbeat in the evenings and some strange chest pain. I also got a very short lived blister/hive/rash on my arm, and have had some itchiness generally. Oh, and I had a period of very intense, weird pain around my rib cage.
It's either 'detox' or i'm just slowly disintegrating...
Harry, approximately ten weeks into eating low Vitamin A, I developed a raspy voice. The strange voice lasted for several weeks. I thought I might be imagining what developed after my voice cleared; I asked my husband if he noticed anything different about my voice; ha said what I knew--that i now have a deeper voice (more pleasant). Who would have thought that this could/would happen!!
Another detox symptom that I was eager to have subside was forgetfulness. I was embarrassed with several days of not recalling some well known facts, even well known friends' names. I've NEVER had this happen. Now, at four months on the diet, I'm somewhat amazed at the sharpness of my recall. Out of the blue, some things of interest that have long been tucked away, come clearly to mind.
Night sweats came on very early in the diet, lasted a couple of weeks and have not returned.
Heart palpitations were noticed for a couple of days.
I plan on adding the vinegar drink and the charcoal supplement that Grant mentioned. Maybe they will speed things up a bit.
DS
Wow. It’s a fascinating thing, these detox reactions. Perhaps my symptoms were detox? Time will tell