tankasnowgod
Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2014
- Messages
- 8,131
How many and for how long? So far it's working for a few people on forums, most of whom have a history of food intolerance, orthorexia, crazy supplementation or restrictive eating. It is a high carb, high protein diet based on meat. Lean muscle meat is easy to digest and non-allergenic for most people, no revelations here. if you eat like Grant you get:
Everything is covered except for calcium and ADEK. These are either stored or can be made in your body so you can live without eating them for a while on an extremely restricted and boring diet.
- over 100g of high quality protein along with minerals and good amount of B vitamins
- no problematic protein sources like milk, eggs or grains
- low sugars meaning fewer problems with malabsorption/fermentation, overburdened liver, uric acid and so on
- rice as a relatively clean source of carbs, almost like pure glucose without antinutrients found commonly in plants
I don't think it has much to do with Vit A. Many people could probably replace beef with seafood or pork, if they can digest the fats, and still be good. Possibly organ meats as well, some could even add pickled veggies for taste. And that would be much like some traditional asian diets. Rice, meats, no dairy, low sucrose. People who struggle with milk or simple sugars and suffered on Ray Peat inspired diets will think it's the best thing ever. That is also why low carb diets work for some people, especially those who handle long chain fats well. They restrict sugars, wheat or fiber, or whatever it is that interferes with proper digestion and utilization of protein, and have great results.
As to this point, one of the ways this diet may work is as an intervention diet, similiar to the ketogenic diet for epilepsy, or Kempner's rice diet. Some of the studies Grant posted showed people getting vision issues after 1-2 years, and them resolving in a couple weeks after adding A back to the diet. I believe some with epilepsy saw their symptoms disappear with depletion, and after adding A back, the symptoms themselves did not return.
Grant has been doing this diet for a bit over 4 years. While he doesn't have any financial incentive, he may wish for his work to be highly regarded, so his self reporting should be viewed with some skepticism. Most others, less than a year, probably around 3-6 months or so.