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Please answer these 5 questions
Hello,
- Can you please answer the following 5 questions (with minimal comment or discussions please)? Please be VERY HONEST in your answers and ponder well if it is really true at the best of your knowledge.
- Have you taken "A" in synthetic form such as accutane etc.?
- Has your diet been rich in foods with added (synthetic) "A"?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with plant-derived "A" such as carotenes etc.?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with animal-based "A"?
- What was basically your staple food(s) before having health problems?
Thank you in advance.
I will start the topic as honestly and as far as I know:
- never took synthetic A in any form, never took added A in foods, never eaten much plant-based foods, ate mainly animal foods, staple foods in order: milk, eggs, meat almost exclusively when child then mainly milk and meat with quite often potatoes/fries and tropical fruits such as banana and mango. Beef & rice approx 50/50 from begining 2019 to test the A thing. I have no health problem of any sort as far as I am aware of and do all of this to help a few family members friends and people in general.
Quote from Dino on July 15, 2019, 1:07 pmHello,
- Can you please answer the following 5 questions (with minimal comment or discussions please)? Please be VERY HONEST in your answers and ponder well if it is really true at the best of your knowledge.
- Have you taken "A" in synthetic form such as accutane etc.?
- Has your diet been rich in foods with added (synthetic) "A"?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with plant-derived "A" such as carotenes etc.?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with animal-based "A"?
- What was basically your staple food(s) before having health problems?
Thank you in advance.
1. Yes-retin -a
2. Yes- fortified dairy Ray Peat style
3.&4. Equal-I have eaten lots of colorful vegetables, fruits, liver, dairy, cod liver oil in my life.
5. I started having health problems as a child and ate the standard american diet of the 70’s. Canned food, fast foods, convenience foods and mom forced liver regularly.
A in drugs? skin drugs...no (I don't think). yes on cod liver oil and fermented cod liver oil. (don't know if you consider those drugs).
A added to foods? yes, for as many years as it has been added here in the US
carotenes? yes -- I've been a veggie gardener since childhood. high intake of butternut squash, tomatoes, carrots
animal based? yes - high intake of eggs, butter, cheese, milk,
staple foods: butter, milk, cheese, beef, chicken, pork, wheat, vegetables , seafoods, fish, rice, potatoes, sugar, chocolate, fruit, cream, coffee, wine, beer, nuts. low-medium intake of liver--none as a child. In general, there was no real time when health problems began. Just a slow glide toward more "mysterious ailments" that began about age 12.
comments: I live next to a farm that uses chemicals.
Quote from Dino on July 15, 2019, 1:07 pmHello,
- Can you please answer the following 5 questions (with minimal comment or discussions please)? Please be VERY HONEST in your answers and ponder well if it is really true at the best of your knowledge.
- Have you taken "A" in synthetic form such as accutane etc.?
- Has your diet been rich in foods with added (synthetic) "A"?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with plant-derived "A" such as carotenes etc.?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with animal-based "A"?
- What was basically your staple food(s) before having health problems?
Thank you in advance.
yes, I took supplements
yes, If almond milk counts
possibly, ate sweet potatoes daily for 2 months before supplementing
No
I'll list the foods i ate daily with high VA: Spirulina, 2 cups almond milk, 3 eggs, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, kale, and an 8000 IU va supplement
Quote from Dino on July 15, 2019, 1:07 pmHello,
- Can you please answer the following 5 questions (with minimal comment or discussions please)? Please be VERY HONEST in your answers and ponder well if it is really true at the best of your knowledge.
- Have you taken "A" in synthetic form such as accutane etc.?
- Has your diet been rich in foods with added (synthetic) "A"?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with plant-derived "A" such as carotenes etc.?
- Have you poisoned yourself mainly with animal-based "A"?
- What was basically your staple food(s) before having health problems?
Thank you in advance.
- No Accutane
- Been drinking fortified low-fat milk my whole life up until my early 20s, then I moved to a country without fortification, minimum one quart a day even as a kid
- Large raw carrot daily for several years, prior to that I used to eat a pound of spinach every day for several years, and even outside those years I regularly ate large quantities of spinach. During that same period also had around 200g of boiled carrots and boiled broccoli per day. Always drank lots of orange juice even as a kid but in the past 7 years its probably been at least a quart of OJ per day.
- Ate 4 eggs daily for 5-6 years, for around 18 months in total ate about 250-300g of dairy fat per day, ate about 250g of beef liver weekly for at least 1 year. For a number of years I also ate probably at least a pound of chicken liver pate every christmas. I've always had at least 1 quart of milk and often 2 quarts per day, half of it as whole milk and half as semi-skimmed. In my country (Sweden) there is also a type of pork liver spread that is almost as popular as butter to put on your sandwich here, I don't even remember how much of that I would have eaten as a kid. Lastly I took cod liver oil daily for a couple of months.
- In the past 4 years before starting this I had a pretty relaxed and "unhealthy" diet, but I estimate my VA intake was still averaging around 6000 IU per day due to OJ, milk and tomato sauces. But I suspect I've had health issues related to VA excess my whole life. Even as a kid I had this oddly enlarged and swollen "balloon" stomach that I think was mainly due to liver enlargement.
No accutane.
Lots of plant A: Lots of sweet potato, spinach, carrots, pumpkin.
Lots of animal A: Large amounts of butter, eggs, liver. Took CLO for years, sometimes tablespoon doses.
For a period of many years, based on Cronometer, on an average day I would have been consuming about 30,000 IU per day.
topical prescription retin A 30 years ago that may be lasted 3 months, maybe more but used only once a week the longer I tried it because my skin only seemed worse. Over the counter a few years ago for 6 to 12 months.
I haven't eaten cereal for a long time but awhile ago I ate some (10 to 15 years and before I probably ate .5 to 1 servings cereal once a day or every other day). I haven't eaten much processed food since then.
Other than the last 9 months, I had been trying to eat many more colorful vegetables for about 4 years on advice from a naturopath. Many sweet potatoes that I don't even like, carrots, micro greens, swiss chard, etc..... Also thought pineapple and mango, tropical fruits (thanks to a 180degree reference) were the bomb health wise. At least I thought the fruits tasted good.
I took a fish derived vitamin A supplement (at least some of the time it was fish derived, not sure if always) and desicated liver supplement for 4 years again recommended by naturopath. The A supplement had I took, averaged 10,000 units a day, and not sure about the dessicated liver. Also ate 2 pastured eggs a day. Not much dairy for me - maybe half an ounce of cheese a day or every other day though don't remember and didn't keep track. No milk except for a bit of half and half in my coffee.
I've had health problems my whole life going back as far as I can remember but they got super bad after trying to be extra healthy thanks to naturopath recommendations.
No accutane. Multivitamin in my early 20s contained some A.
In Canada most milk products are fortified.
I didn't grow up there as a kid but got acne in my teenage years. I loved steak and fries but ate a lot of chocolate which included dairy ect. Cheese and ham sandwiches ect. I didn't eat eggs too often.
By 21 I had simplified my diet to 3 small meals a day and cut out a lot of the dairy +cardio bodybuilding. Acne is gone and no issues at all.
Started more intense bodybuilding diet. More meals more calories. A lot of whey protein. Still no problems. Started a version of keto tailored toward bodybuilders called the 'anabolic diet'. Basically, keto during weekdays and mass sweet potatoes on weekdays to carb up lol. On weekends I would have a big salad with tons of cheese and meat. This lasted for close to 8 month. I dropped it to a normal bodybuilding diet. No issues to report yet. I am 23-24.
Staples included eggs, dairy but mostly cottage cheese and maybe a cup of milk and tons of whey, sweet potatoes but not daily and also kale. Few more years later and first sign of Rosacea appeared. I cut out dairy and reduced eggs from 4 to 3 and a day off with none. Rosacea became very mild and barely noticeable. Later I would replace sweet potato with quinoa. At this point I am pretty much in my best health.
I completely forget about skin issue. Add back dairy. Add back more eggs. Go carnivore with raw cheese liver and dozen raw eggs a day. Seb derm starts and I pretty much double down. Cut out all plants and fiber. Boom I have a new skin disease. I try different approaches unfortunately they all involve liver as a superfood...
In my experience the beta carotene was much less problematic for me but maybe it has all to do with intake because it's much easier to gulp milk and eat a liver or even drink eggs than to eat an equivalent dose kale salad.
Right now i have included back a lot of veggies and fruits but all relatively low or at worst modest amounts of A. I think asparagus might be the highest. I think they have important minerals, fiber, phytonutrient, vitamin c and E that I believe are protective.
I did take antibiotics many times as a kid. Also, in my teenage years few times. And a few cycles a few years ago before everything went to shit. Not sure if related. Side note my brothers took same amounts if not more+ accutane yet they don't have any skin issues. My parents also used to take antibiotic like its a piece of candy yet no health issue. So I am not sure I am buying that it's that catastrophic. I think the gut bacteria can bounce back fairly easily with the right food and prebiotic fibers.