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First 2-3 months
Acne survivor here, male, 40s, still unable to log in to the site, hence my guest status. I started to eat very low vit-A about 2 and a half months ago. I kind of cured my acne in the past 2 decades by avoiding foods that I observed to cause breakouts. It is very hard to nail them down since unlike in eczema it takes days for a cystic acne to develop. So I was 90% percent cured but the remaining 10% gave me enough headache, never knowing exactly when my skin would erupt and why. By the way, let's say I had a horrible meal or a couple days or horrible meals (for me) such as loads of butter and other dairy and eggs hidden in the form of a heavy cake or something. That little binge would cause WEEKS of awful skin. Takes ages for the cystic acne to heal properly and they usually leave a scar. Still I am kind of grateful for this disease because I would rather have this than one on a hidden organ. This way I get an almost instant feedback from my body, like: Hey, buddy, you are poisoning me, stop it you idiot.
Progress so far: inflammation is way down. Skin is amazing, mostly. Areas where there is no acne also seem a healthier color. Did have a few smaller breakouts but then again I do consume some vit-A (see below) plus who know how much I still have in organs. Hairloss has stopped almost completely, although this took more time to happen then the skin improvement.
Side-effects: my eyes are disintegrating. Just kidding. My eyes are perfect, look and function as nature intended. I had a few surprising 'side-effects'. Muscle tone: I tend to to deflate between gym sessions. Not any more. I stay kind of pumped all the time. Muscle definition is much, much better and has been from the start. Very unexpected. Sleep: I always slept well but I have started to dream EVERY night. No exceptions. Every night. And I love it. Mental clarity: I thought I have perfect mental clarity but still, I have been unusually sharp mentally. Things I used to procastrinate, I now do with ease. Concentration, communication skills have improved mainly because I can somehow stay better focused on things I do or people I talk to.
Diet:
Porridge oats with honey
Beef, minced or steak (or chicken, lamb, turkey, whatever, when beef is not available)
Potato
Rice
Cauliflower
Bread
Some hummus
Drinks: water and coffee (with a splash of milk)
As you see, I do ingest some vit-A with the splashes of milk. I have switched to low-fat now but I would not do that in North America. Sometimes I do binge on Snickers bar and I am sure that too has vit-A and some of the chicken I eat also has some. But I have managed to avoid cheese, butter, egg yolks.
I have to say eating low vit-A has been very, very easy for me. Maybe because for decades I had to watch what I eat and drink and it was always hard to decide between food choices or dream up a dinner that will not ruin my skin for weeks. Now, all that weight has been lifted from my shoulders. This 'diet' is a walk in the park for me. No more contemplating what to eat. I guess people who have used foods and drink as a source of pleasure might have a harder time to eat low vit-A. They are probably the ones who will request a long list of no vit-A foods that qualify. But for me, as long as I have the above few foods, I am fine.
I have to say thanks to Grant for doing an amazing job of research and making his findings public. Let's not forget he could have kept his observations to himself and just heal quietly. Instead, he shared what he found, for free. Thank you for that.
Good to see your progress!
Question: What type of bread are you eating? I've hesitated to eat commercially made bread; I'm thinking it might contain Vitamin A, but would certainly like to find zero Vitamin A bread.
Thanks,
DS
I live in Europe. In my country, wheat is fortified by a few vitamins. Luckily, vitamin A is not among them, or I would probably be dead by now, or seriously sick.
So I seem to able to eat any bread, even the prepackaged toast breads that I used to look down upon. However, as Grant and others have mentioned gluten or some other molecule in wheat might cause adverse reactions even if you eat no or low vit A. Maybe Grant can elaborate. There is a wholewheat morning cereal that makes me extremely sleepy (it is made of wheat only). White bread does not. My big favourite, white sourdough bread is also fine for me. So what I have done is just keep my few slices of bread daily as a side source for calories. My main calories still come from oats, rice and potato. There are many days when I do not have any wheat.
If you are eating very low or no vit A already, it is quite easy to see if bread gives bad reactions and you can adjust accordingly. After the first 2 or 3 weeks, I tended to go way to heavy on raisins and almond butter. No idea why but they did not make me feel good, so I removed them almost completely and I was back on track.
Hope you will have good results and can keep your beloved bread 🙂