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Serious start:11 September 2019
I am still not totally sure if vitamin A is my problem. I feel well most of the time, have no skin issues, no peeling lips, etc. My symptoms that I would like to resolve are:
- Hashiomotos thyroditis
- The area around my eyes is very visibly yellow and looks like xanthelasma painted yellow
- My palms have yellow area when stretched
- My skin has always had a yellowish hue
- Excessive hunger controlled by willpower
- receding gums (the recesses increased on the Carnivore diet)
- constant need for supplemental Vitamin C (poor redox)
- loss of intestinal mobility and the need to resort to enemas
- angina on exertion probably to do stiffness of the anterior septum (but I noticed that my thyroid drugs make it worse)
I did 21 months of the Carnivore diet, 5 of which were very high fat (80/20% fat to proteins) and 400 g of liver per week. This did not end well and after moving on and introducing some vegetables, I also introduced 1 duck egg yolk daily. Xanthelasma happened after the 5 months of high fat diet. The egg yolks painted it yellow after about 3 months of daily consumption.
Subsequently I got interested in Dr. Ray Peat's inspired diet but soon realized that perhaps its high vitamin A content was not to my benefit. I still follow some of his recommendations but they to not clash with my intended way of eating.
Over the past 2 months I have tried several times to start the vitamin A depleted diet. I got it to a low level and the only item that has been difficult to quit was cheese. Still, I have been eating foods very low or free of vitamin A and my total vitamin A ingestion has been much lower than ever before.
Today I am mentally and physically ready to embark on the very low Vitamin A diet.
I am a female, 54 years old, 5'3" and 127lbs.
The ingredients that I am including in my diet are:
- beef, lamb
- white rice, potatoes
- parsnip, celeriac, black beans
- home made apple sauce, apple juice
- coconut oil, olive oil
- coffee, cocoa,
- sugar, honey, salt
I will be taking very few selective supplements as well:
- Magnesium
- Calcium (egg shells)
- Thyroid glandulars and liothyronine
- Aspirin
- Progesterone and pregnenolone
- Vitamin K
- Methylene blue in the future
- Vitamin C
My blood test for Retinol is 2.01 (1.05 - 2.80umol/L)
Diet looks great. Good luck and please report back on your progress!
Thank you. I certainly will. I am so curious as to the benefits of this experiment. When I managed to resist cheese in the past and eat extremely low vitamin A foods, I noticed that the sensation of hunger diminished. I hope this will be the case as I have been fighting this my entire life and keeping my weight at a normal level has always been a terrible struggle.
My husband and I are at odds about this diet and the weight thing. It is counter-intuitive sometimes to eat this "meat and potatoes" diet and expect that you won't blimp out! haha
However, I've been eating whenever I feel like, and whatever I feel like (trying to get back in touch with my inner needs) as long as it is within bounds of my "less A" diet.
In 4 months, without trying, I have gone from 114 to 108. Of course, that is frustrating to my husband haha!
Husband, because of his ideas about "healthy eating" is eating many more carotenes than me. My cheats are definitely in the "animal" food categories. NOT carotenes. He has not lost any weight! HOWEVER I do feel that his liver area looks less bloated. I also think his face looks less jowly. His brows and mustache are also slightly darker.
I think that I'm not really the type to put on fat in order to store A. I think that is why I was actually more miserable than hubs. Hubs has the typical A-storage fat, and I think it will go over time.
Lil chick, amazing how different people deal differently with vitamin A excess. Your impressive weight loss without even trying is something to keep in mind, especially for those who always struggled with keeping the weight in a descent range (yours truly including). The journey continues...
I am becoming more aware of the vitamin A content of foods. For instance, lean beef will have very little of it while fatty beef will have much more. I do like fatty meats so I need to be more aware of this and buy only lean cuts. I love the ox tail for its gelatin content but it can be very fatty, especially the larger pieces. So, lean meat and powdered gelatine should be a good substitute- I think.
I noticed that my ferocious appetite seems to be...less ferocious. This is really really nice.
I am not missing cheese and my very plain diet is satisfying and sufficient.
I am still taking some supplements but I might lose them in time. I am interested in the Methylene Blue and tried it briefly. I am curious as to its effects and will get on it in the future.
I started to wake up with the numbness in my hands, especially the middle finger area. I used to have it in the past and I wonder why it is reappearing. I read that it can be related to vitamin A toxicity.
Today I feel totally dizzy and nauseous. I crave charcoal. I think this could be some detox symptoms. Not fun but I am ready.
Edit: it was not a detox. It was the change in weather. Yesterday - the peek of the summer, today - late autumn. I do react to the changes in weather...
Wow Beata, I get the tingling fingers and suspect I have tunnel problems (ulnar or carpal tunnel). This is fixed for me with a little bit of raw whole milk daily. This is why I cheat that particular food into my program. I drink about a half gallon per week.
I've known for many years that this food fixes this symptom for me. I spent a while at first drinking skim milk, but my tingling fingers came back.
Vertigo is one of the reasons I'm here and I THINK mine is lessening (it was always pretty low level, only to the point where I was just a very bad traveller!)
Lil chic. I am glad to hear that milk did it for you! It is always such a success to get rid of an annoying symptom.
I would love to be able to drink milk. I have tried several times to reintroduce it, drinking only small quantity. I tried the a2 milk, goat’s sheep’s and even camel. I seem to be able to handle only 60 ml per day; any more and I get chest obstruction with sick mucus (sorry if TMI). I will carry on with my vitamin A depleted diet. I love it! Today managed 25IU.
For the last 3 days I have had rice, beef and apples. Tortilla and coffee as a snack.
I cook 2 cups of rice (organic Thai as it has the least amount of pollutants) in 8 cups of water for about 2 hours. I cool it and store it in a glass container in the fridge.
I prepare a large piece of beef - usually just boil it until very soft. Lovely broth is a bonus.
Preparing a meal takes no time at all. I warm up the rice, broth and meat. The end result is a Chinese style soup called congee. It is so delicious I could have it forever (I think:).
I make apple sauce from peeled apples from my apple tree and have it as a desert with a touch of tonka seeds and cinnamon (just few shavings for scent more than flavour).
Sometimes when I need something crunchy, I have a nixtamalized white corn tortilla fried in coconut oil and sprinkled with salt.
I have been steadily losing weight which I acquired on the Carnivore, even though I am eating the same amount of calories. I do not feel hungry for good 4 -5 hours. This in itself is amazing as hunger has been my constant companion.
I don't have any specific detox symptoms. I do seem to feel tired a little more but my sleep has not been fantastic lately. Perhaps this is a detox symptom after all. I did not have the numbness in my hands today. Yesterday I had a session of the back massage on my massage chair. Connection? Perhaps.
- Excessive hunger controlled by willpower
What is the connection between appetite and vitamin A??