I needed to disable self sign-ups because I’ve been getting too many spam-type accounts. Thanks.
New to low vitamin A diet(Tobacco)
I want to share my current situation with you—what I’m eating and get your thoughts on it.
Over the past month, I’ve completely given up dairy and eggs, including bright colored fruit and vegetables.
I was never a big fan of carrots, sweet potatoes, or spinach, they were never a regular part of my diet, though I occasionally ate them at family dinners.
I did enjoyed hot chilly peppers and tomatoes though.
Giving up dairy and eggs hasn’t been difficult for me.
Here’s what my current diet looks like:
Rice
White potatoes
Oats (occasionally)
Chickpeas and navy beans (occasionally)
Apples, bananas, grapes(I peel the apples)
Honey
Some homemade cookies with dates
Bread
A little olive oil
Black coffee
Beef or chicken
That’s pretty much it. I don’t drink alcohol.
However, I do smoke tobacco (American Spirit). That’s my Achilles heel—I really enjoy smoking.
I smoke about 10 hand-rolled cigarettes a day. I know it’s too much.
Has anyone here managed to cut back or quit smoking while following this diet? What was your experience?
Any thoughts about the diet? I think it's pretty basic.
I train four times a week—weightlifting and sprinting—and I use bicycle for commuting.
I'm 31 years of age.
It’s a start. Thank you
Hello! Welcome to the forum! Do you suspect you are vitamin A overloaded?
@chilik Hi why you think you have vit A toxicity? What are your health issues and symptoms? Or you are perfectly healthy and you just think that vit A is a toxin and your diet should be low vit A? If that is the case I would stick to the diet you were on if it worked for you. Eating some dairy and especially eggs that are loaded with B vitamin and choline are not that big of a deal for most people. The problem is when people on top of that eat liver, take all kinds of supplements like cod liver oil, retinol palmytate or eve took accutane etc. I did all of that for decade + and I had clear vit A overload. But it is not the case for most people..
Hey,
I don't think I'm vitamin A overloaded, I'm feeling good(🙏)
but I just wanted to give it a try because the theory makes sense to me.
It also seems more manageable in terms of food prepping and buying groceries, as the food list is much smaller.
I want to build good habits before something could happen (though it doesn't quite work with my tobacco consumption yet)
@chilik Trust me. There is nothing worst than when people stop doing what works and start to do stuff to be even more healthy. That's where problems starts.. Dairy is the best source of calcium. Egg yolks are the best source of choline(critical for liver function) and biotin. I mean I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't do. I am just telling my opinion. Knowing that vit A can accumulate and cause issues is great. So not consuming liver, not drinking carrot juices etc. is probably a good thing. Because most people who are trying to eat "healthy" really do end up ingesting insane amounts if plant and animal vit A sometimes even 3-5-10 times RDA which will caues issues over time. But that is not your case. Simply making sure that you have balanced diet with zinc, B vitamins, protein, vit D from the sun and if you keep your vit A intake lets say under RDA from sources like dairy, some eggs and some green veggies or fruit not consuming foods that are know to be insanely high in vit A or beta carotene like liver and carrots and crazy amounts of water melons, sweet potatoes etc. + not taking supplements with vit A. You really don't have to worry about it. As a male I would worry more about excess of iron which does accumulate over time in the body if you don't bleed regularly. The more heme iron from red meat you eat the faster you will accumulate iron. Keeping feritin ideally around 50 or under is a good idea for longevity and good health.. That's where dairy and eggs come into play because they are great sources of protein that don't have heme iron in amounts like meat + they even inhibit iron absorption. So you eliminating those protein sources and eating more meat thinking you are doing something good in a long term. I think it is the exact opposite.. I deal with this diet bullshit for decades. It is more complex than you think..
Thank you, Jiri — a lot of food for thought.
I'm sure it's more complex than I think.
Without any background in nutrition science or anything related, I’ve just been trying to go by intuition and avoid the main sources that might cause problems.
For example, with dairy, my assumption was that it might be contributing to the nasal congestion I experience in the spring — particularly in March-April-May, when my nose often feels blocked and I can’t breathe normally.
It’s not constant, but it’s definitely annoying.
Lately, it seems to have improved, although not completely, and I’m not sure I can attribute that solely to cutting out dairy.
@chilik I would love to eat dairy. But every time I try I feel like dog shit after some time. So I don't eat it, but not because it has vit A in it.. So you can try stop eating it and if you feel better like less congested in your case then it is legit reason to avoid dairy. I am also congested(more mucus) from dairy 100%. + casein gives me cystic acne... Which makes sense since I have issues with gluten as well. THey are very similar protein structures that are hard to break down and can leak into the blood..
Thank you, Jiri and Jalee — Balanced and reasonable approaches.
I'll take it one step at a time and observe the effects.
I suppose your thoughts would be similar regarding tobacco? Maybe trying to cut it down gradually.
I do feel cognitively better when I smoke — but have you ever heard of a smoker who doesn’t say that?
Perhaps in this case, the body’s desire is tricking me.
My P.E. teacher in high school is a great example — he’s 80 years old, in excellent shape, and still very active.
He once told me that he limits himself: he only smokes when he has coffee. No coffee, no cigarette.
That ends up being around three cigarettes a day for him.
@chilik I would quit smoking ASAP for sure. Coffee is not that harmful (in moderate amounts) but still it is not ideal. All those things are unhealthy tools to deal with stress of modern life. I get it. The question is if there are not better ways? I think there are. Replacing them with healthy habits and ideally reducing your stress from daily life so you don't need them. Just because 99% of people are doing something in their lives doesn't mean that that is the goal we should all strive for.. For example exercise. You should exercise to feel better and to have more energy. Guess what is doing majority of people. They are burning all their remaining energy with pointless/useless exercise. Complete opposite.. Anyways with this smoking. We all know it is horrible thing to do to your body. I am not saying don't smoke some nice cigar with your friends on some special occasion or whatever. Same with alcohol, but smoking cigarettes daily it is just horrible stuff. I watching my mom killing herself with smoking and it breaks my heart. If she was not smoking she would be in amazing health now in her 60s. But due to smoking he is constantly breathing like she was running and she coughs a mucus constantly. Her skin is horrible, has fucked up cardiovascular system. Had small stroke recently. I mean ruining her life for what.. And she has great genetics. No other issues. She would live very healthy life like to 90 at least.. If you don't quit smoking now you never will and you will regret it later for sure..
Switch to less damaging version of nicotine. Zyn, gum, patch etc.
Burnt plant debris in the lungs is a bad idea.
Nicotin is far smaller problem than smoking. There has been a bunch of recent studies showing benefits for some diseases. Some get good effect for long covid using the patches.