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Low / No vitA food list
Hi Grant, just want to say I have been reading through your blog and pdfs and find your work fantastic. I'm now getting to the practical side of things and am trying to compile a list of low / no vitamin A foods. I've done some research of my own but wanted to see if you found any other foods that work for you.
You mention in your post on Darwin that you believe there are only 5 foods that are truly free of Vitamin A - can you list what those are? I am guessing beef, rice and raisins (not golden) make that list. What are the other 2?
I have been trying to find foods that even if are not completely free of vitamin A, at least have a very low content. So far I believe mushrooms, potatoes, a few types of nuts (almonds, cashews) and even wheat are very low, but I don't know how reliable the nutrient databases are, as they may not be accurate, and / or only list retinol and possibly don't test for retinoic acid.
Have you (or anyone else) tried these or other foods and found success / flare ups? I don't mind so much being on a restricted diet, but my wife (who has far more symptoms of Vitamin A issues than I do) is a harder sell. I can see a beef, mushroom, cashews and rice combo for instance being easy to make and include (it's quite tasty), and a few variations wouldn't go astray.
Well, firstly, I don’t think people need to get too concerned about getting down to absolutely zero intake. Just getting to a very low intake is probably much more attainable, and sustainable.
As for some additional zero vitamin A foods I’ve used: I find cauliflower is great, and sometimes have sauerkraut.
Oatmeal is zero, or nearly so. But, you need to be careful because even some oatmeal brands might include some supplemented vit A. You could also include even some breads, if you are OK with the gluten. But, then there’s the concern with glyphosate too. Your call. White onions might work for you too. There are some other foods, such as candy and junk foods…. but we have enough health troubles, so why take the extra risk?
I’ve recently dropped red kidney beans from my diet, but I continue with the black beans.
I hope this helps.
Thanks Grant. Agreed, I'm not overly concerned about getting to zero intake, but the more foods we can find that have very little to no vitamin a helps us to come up with more variety.
I live in Australia so we have less to be concerned about with fortification - our labelling laws require that any additives are listed in the packaging. No hidden ingredients thankfully.
I have been looking at those foods you listed also. It appears (logically) that most white plant foods seem to be a good bet.
Thanks for your speedy response.
Grant - because I would like to try and feed my kids low Vit A diet and the list in here is a bit too restrictive - could you point out a few more low Vit A foods. For breads - which ones?
Not Grant, and I hope this is okay to post here.
http://180degreehealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Vitamin-A-Content-of-Foods-6-28-18.docx
This is my first post here, so I just want to say first: Thank you Grant for sharing! I find your ebook fascinating and it all makes a lot of sense to me! Since three days I am on the elimination diet, and I don't mind it not being made up of lots of foods but I have to say I have trouble staying full. I am hypothyroid and did a test recently where I was told to not being so good at processing carbs, so what I kind of really miss is fat. Butter and dairy I understand why they are left out, coconut oil you mentioned, too, but what about lard? I found online that is has zero Vitamin A? Is there a point I am missing why fat (except the olive oil, which I am not to keen on) is left out? Or to put it differently, why did you say beware of hamburgers since it might contain pork fat? I am sorry if it is obvious and I am missing it.
My other question would be if you can recommend a good source for checking vitamin A content? Or maybe the name the one you used? Maybe this could help the other people in this discussion, too. Thank you so much!
The reason I raised that concern about pork fat, and lard, is that the retinoids collect in the adipose tissues of the animal, as it does in us humans.
As for checking the vitamin A levels in foods I just usually google “vitamin A in x"
Mr. Genereux,
First off, here you say that we do not need to be worried about small amounts. Is that because unless symptoms are severe, ones liver can deal with the vitamin A over time?
Also, must one stick to a low A diet forever, or after the storage of VA decreases one can eat normally (with the avoidance of Vitamin A supplements and perhaps the highest A foods like liver)?
Thanks so much.
Guest,
Whether or not you have to stay on a low vA diet for the rest of your life might have to do with many factors including if your body is able to make enough RBP which is at least partly dependent on adequate amounts of zinc, amino acids and probably other nutrients. Avoid glyphosate and exercise - this will help to either keep vA less active and get rid of vA faster. Read nutritionrestored.com by Doc Smith for more info. Things are complicated and Dr. Smith is making progress at making sense of all the details and interactions, etc... Grant is a genius for figuring that vA is causing so many problems in the first place, why it isn't a nutrient, etc... He could have kept this to himself but took the time to write the books and make this site - can't thank him enough!
need to clarify that one should avoid glyphosate and make sure to exercise (don't avoid exercise, which wasn't clear in my previous post). Exercise helps to get rid of the vA faster.