Low Toxin Testimonials Low Vitamin A Diet Testimonials

[Blossom]

I'm starting this thread for people to write about their experiences both good and bad on a low vitamin A/Carotene diet. I will attempt to move the existing testimonies to this thread over the next couple of days but in the meantime feel free to share your experiences.

Disclaimer: This is a non-Peat topic in the sense that Peat has never advised a low A diet at least not to my knowledge. This topic was suggested by numerous members and inspired originally by Grant Genereux's research on vitamin A and curing his own autoimmune and chronic kidney disease.
Enjoy

 

[Blossom]

Yes and for me a better life. I'm a week short of being 69 years on this earth and I have lived a very unconventional life. At the age of 20, I started trying to improve my health. I eventually owned a health supplement store in Seattle WA and was also teaching full time martial arts. My health in terms of energy was sketchy, up an down, joint pain, stamina etc not where I wanted it. While owning the store I found that the supplement industry has some honest players but over all is ruled by greed and ignorance and fads.

I have tried many diet and supplement experiments and the no A diet has really helped more than any subtraction or addition or change that I can recall.

For months now I've been working physically hard for 8 to 12 hours a day. Sometimes 7 days a week. I could not do that before I began this experiment. I still get joint pain but no allergy symptoms and for me that's a big deal. The biggest thing is the energy increase. I have never been over weight but I still lost fat on this diet. Yes I have abs! I don't eat 3 times a day... I eat when I'm hungry. The pot of rice and beef is available to me all day long. So it works out to small meals 4 or 5 times a day. I used to try energy drinks like Monster or Rock Star and they would knock me down hard. Not now.

I wonder if a simple diet makes it easier for the body to combat the bacteria within us? Perhaps having less types of bacteria is easier to deal with and I am suggesting that because of the simple diet a lot of competing bugs might not be there. Warfare, (even between bugs), does seem to muck up the environment...IE increased endotoxins..

I wonder if the body uses Vitamin A for many of the processes that researchers suggest Vitamin A is needed for, because it's there. There and maybe blocking other ways the body has of getting things done. I'm theorizing that the body may be able to use other factors for the same functions now attributed to V A. And perhaps the body prefers using other substances rather than A.

And I wonder if perhaps we actually need V A but in tiny amounts. Amounts almost impossible to not receive in most menus, even very low A menus.

Other benefits that I might attribute to lowering my stores of A: I can do the fastest 2 hand roll on Conga drums in my whole life. I can usually type faster. My memory of street directions is better.

Maybe the benefits will disappear tomorrow but I doubt it. I feel good....
I'm glad this new thread is here!
Thanks!!
Brother John

 

[Blossom]

, I know that my personal anecdote does not prove anything, per se, but I will add that I found this theory very compelling and so I gave it a try, and I could give much more detail, but the short version of my experience is: I completely dropped my previous Peat-inspired diet and went on a minimal vitamin A diet and within about 3 and a half months it has essentially cured my chronic fatigue and depression as well as improved or eliminated a myriad of other symptoms. I'm not saying I'm feeling perfect but it has been a dramatic reversal. I feel like my health was taking a dive for a decade — going into a steeper nosedive with each passing year — and it wasn't until trying this elimination diet that I've been able to "pull up" and start gaining altitude, to start genuinely healing.

I have been experimenting with diet and supplements and hormones for almost a decade now, trying to reverse my declining health, and I have never had a dramatic healing experience like this. And the amazing part is, I didn't add anything, I only subtracted things. I stopped taking thyroid, stopped any hormones, pretty much stopped all supplements (except for some infrequent B and K vitamins and some minerals).

All I did was stop everything else and just eat a vitamin A elimination diet — which in practice for me mostly meant: no more orange juice, no more dairy, no eggs, no pork. I mostly just ate beef and rice / bread / potatoes and coconut oil and some apple juice — and some other minimal vitamin A flavorings like onions, garlic, olive oil vinaigrettes, etc. Also less often I ate other low-retinol meats like chicken and tilapia.

I may write up my personal experience in more detail later, but for now I'm just trying to urge people to read Genereux's material and I am hoping to get some discussion going on his research and his vitamin A toxicity theory. Thanks for reading.

 

[Blossom]

Last time I was posting I was suffering from breathing issues brought on from taking larger doses of vitamin D (20k IU). I continued to have these problems through December. I eventually went to a doctor who prescribed Prilosec and an inhaler. The prilosec got rid of the breathing issues, but obviously I did not want to take it unless there was a breathing emergency. I had one in December, and then another in January when I did some traveling where I had to take it for a few days to get through.

As the breathing thing became worse, I started to ditch everything and anything I was on. I threw out the electrolytes, brocolli extract...really anything I was taking. I was really trying to get to the bottom. I researched hernias, LPR, regular reflux...anything. I also decided to start the low vitamin A diet. I figured that vitamin D was so powerful in lowering the amount of insulin I needed, along with some other awesome benefits, maybe I could get those same benefits in a roundabout way by going low vitamin A.

The low vitamin A diet works. All the benefits that others have mentioned I experienced.
•Better sleep. Restless leg is completely gone.
•I have gone from taking 36 units of long acting insulin a day to 22 units! Vitamin D dropped me to 26-28 units, the low vitamin A diet dropped me the rest of the way.
•I have been steadily losing weight: in the low 190s, without really trying. Lowest in years.
•Inflammation has dropped, and that has felt odd. I have been sick several times. Colds and sore throats. When I think back to when I started eating liver under Peat...I got sick very rarely, if ever. I wonder if the vitamin A was causing inflammation which was keeping sickness at bay. In some ways I feel fragile, but am strengthening. I also am less emotional, less angry, less aggressive, and more peaceful. All from the drop in inflammation. I have had some thoughts about this. Inflammation probably is a motivator for many people. It makes you feel like something is wrong and you need to get out there and solve it. Losing that all at once is very strange.

At the moment, the breathing thing can come back, but it is slowly leaving. I have not had problems for the last couple weeks. WAlking in the sun without sun glasses seems to help a lot, and staring at a screen seems to hurt. I think a probiotic I tried is helping too, although I know it's tuurrribblee. I think for autoimmune, the low vitamin A diet is the way to go. The coimbra high vitamin D path is fraught with risks. In between the Coimbra facebook group's hugging each other and talking about how right it all is, there are people who discuss problems with these high vitamin D dosages. I even found another guy who was having breathing problems similar to mine. Adding something is always more risky then taking something away. I wish I had never tried higher doses of vitamin D, but then I would not have the knowledge and be able to share it (Yeah Burt, you jerk).

The other idea I had was that part of why I was having breathing issues even after getting off the vitamin D was because my body is dealing with the vitamin A and getting rid of it. The vitamin D accelerated that process, but the diet continues it. I dunno, just thinking.

I think the low vitamin A diet is the truth. Something feels different than any other experiment I have tried. Something feels right. Hard to explain. Feels like a chapter in my life is in the rear view and I can start living.

 

[Blossom]

Here is mine that I can think of at the moment:
Skin-resolved redness, sensitivity.

Nails -beau’s lines growing out.

Hair-smoother, less shedding.

Energy-can work 12 hours on my feet in critical care easily now.

Mood-no depression/sad/irritability.

Bowels-regular 2x per day.

Hormones-menopause symptoms and thyroid significantly improved.

Sleep -uninterrupted most nights-I also sleep inclined.

Inflammation- seem to have none remaining.

Joint pain- hip, knees and neck/shoulder pain resolved.

Edema-mainly in upper arms is gone.

Blood pressure (started at 135/90 and now 110/75)

Cholesterol greatly improved (total from 260 down to 180)

Tolerate more foods without any nausea, cramping.

Memory/cognitive function improved- passed state boards on the first try (test has a 50% pass rate)

Vision clearer consistently- I still use reading glasses though.

More resilient to stress- mental and physical. I can go without eating for many hours if necessary without getting weak. Things that would have felt overwhelming before do not impact me nearly as intensely.

Resolved hirsutism- although probably a mild-moderate case I still didn't like it at all. I now have less than 5 softer lighter hairs that grow gradually and are easily managed versus having to inspect my chin and upper lip for new thick dark (manly) hairs multiple times daily.

 

[Blossom]

I am a two round accutane user. I am 4 months into the zero vitamin A diet, and seeing improvements in all my PAS symptoms.

It is not clear at this time, but I will recommend doing zero vitamin A diet for starts. It could take upwards to two years on zero vitamin A diet to deplete to baseline and reverse all symptoms. I will be reporting at 6 months, 12 months and 2 years. I am testing this long term, tried every replete and deplete diet there is, and this is showing the most promise.

 

[Dolomite]

I gradually removed OJ and raw carrot from my diet over a week. It has only been three weeks since starting to lower all vitamin A and carotene foods. My intestines are so much calmer, my face is smoother and I don’t need any added moisturizer even though I use salicylic acid soap. My sinuses feel less inflamed. I thought I was getting rosacea but I don’t think I will now. I am 63 and like many have tried many diets but continued to feel more inflamed no matter what. I was informed I have a cataract in one eye last fall. I thought it might be from excessive lactose free milk consumption and too much galactose. But now I wonder if it was from Vitamin A added to the low fat milk. Removing gluten from my diet in 2010 helped in many ways but this has been better for my gut.

 

[Blossom]

@Dolomite, congratulations. Grant wrote about improvements in his cataracts. I hope that happens for you too. I'm personally enjoying the dramatically lower inflammation.

 

[Mountain]

You should go out on the streets and collect any random person's testimony because most people actually eat ***t all vitamin A. Seriously, put a normal person's diet into cronometer and have a look at the pitiful amounts of vitamin A that they consume. And yet they all suffer from rheumatism of some kind eventually.

These noted benefits are probably from people who have a dairy allergy.

 

[Dolomite]

@Blossom Thank you. I do hope this arrests the cataract development or makes it go away. It was disturbing to find out when I thought I was doing everything right.

@Mountain I suppose it could be an allergy to milk but my husband who never consumed milk except in the form of a half cup of yogurt at the most is also feeling better. I do have true allergies to mollusks in the form of bivalves like clams and oysters and to poison ivy. I was able to eat clams until I was a teenager so I was able to observe the big reaction. I am uncertain how a milk allergy can muddle along without causing obvious effects for 63 years.

 

[RobertJM]

@Dolomite, congratulations. Grant wrote about improvements in his cataracts. I hope that happens for you too. I'm personally enjoying the dramatically lower inflammation.

What has been eliminated from your diet to avoid vitamin A? Eggs, liver, dairy and OJ could be causing anyone ongoing problems without them even realising, and elimination could make them feel like a new person. Even the carrot salad is quite harsh as it slides through the gut (I find, anyway).

 

[Blossom]

What has been eliminated from your diet to avoid vitamin A? Eggs, liver, dairy and OJ could be causing anyone ongoing problems without them even realising, and elimination could make them feel like a new person. Even the carrot salad is quite harsh as it slides through the gut (I find, anyway).

Mine or Dolomite’s?

 

[somuch4food]

You should go out on the streets and collect any random person's testimony because most people actually eat ***t all vitamin A. Seriously, put a normal person's diet into cronometer and have a look at the pitiful amounts of vitamin A that they consume. And yet they all suffer from rheumatism of some kind eventually.

It's hidden in many ways in processed foods as milk and egg ingredients, natural food coloring, herbs and spices. It should not be forgotten that milk and flour is fortified with it in the US.

It could also be that retinol receptors are overactivated since they have many agonists beside vit A.

Even Ray mentions that hypothyroid people don't require much A. So, it could be that A makes a healthy person stronger and sick person weaker.

 

[RobertJM]

Mine or Dolomite’s?

Sorry I meant yours. I know you’ve been at this game a while (Peat) so just wondering how you see it.

 

[Blossom]

Sorry I meant yours. I know you’ve been at this game a while (Peat) so just wondering how you see it.

Well it was difficult to consider that it might be true for me since I had apparently misunderstood what I’d read from Peat and thought I needed to pay attention to getting abundant Vitamin A as a building block for my hormones. In all fairness to myself I was very sick when I learned about Peat so I can see where I wasn’t understanding the nuances in his writing fully. It’s on me that I made that mistake.

I personally think that vitamin A supplements should be approached with great caution and fortified foods should avoided if at all possible by nearly everyone.

Most people who haven’t over done it with vitamin A and have good health and thyroid function shouldn’t need to be concerned with eating foods that naturally have some vitamin A and beta carotene. For people that have mysterious, nagging health issues that they can’t seem to make headway with it’s probably not a bad idea to consider if they are getting too much of it. Ultimately each person has to figure that out for themselves though.

ETA: To answer your original question- I stopped dairy, liver, carrots, OJ and supplements.

 

[InChristAlone]

Some have disproven the dairy allergy. For others maybe it could be factor. But what causes an allergy? A messed up immune system that is recognizing the proteins in dairy to be bad. What causes immune system problems? Maybe if we answered that question we wouldn't just write it off.

 

[Blossom]

Some have disproven the dairy allergy. For others maybe it could be factor. But what causes an allergy? A messed up immune system that is recognizing the proteins in dairy to be bad. What causes immune system problems? Maybe if we answered that question we wouldn't just write it off.

When you really stop and think about things it's apparent that many people have problems with dairy and other foods these days. Most of what is available in the U.S. doesn't even resemble the foods our grandparents consumed. Sure people had issues in the past but I think the 1970's with implementation of fortifying dairy and the increase in the use of glyphosate really took things to a whole new level. Gradually foods that people ate fine for hundreds and even thousands of years are now sadly a problem for lots of people. I don't think people have changed much but our food certainly has.

 

[InChristAlone]

When you really stop and think about things it's apparent that many people have problems with dairy and other foods these days. Most of what is available in the U.S. doesn't even resemble the foods our grandparents consumed. Sure people had issues in the past but I think the 1970's with implementation of fortifying dairy and the increase in the use of glyphosate really took things to a whole new level. Gradually foods that people ate fine for hundreds and even thousands of years are now sadly a problem for lots of people. I don't think people have changed much but our food certainly has.

Yeah our environment and food supply has changed drastically in 100 years. Not to mention the number of vaccines people are getting now. Eggs are another common allergy and it could be because of vaccines! And also the amount of soy in the diets of chickens, cows and pigs.

 

[Blossom]

Yeah our environment and food supply has changed drastically in 100 years. Not to mention the number of vaccines people are getting now. Eggs are another common allergy and it could be because of vaccines! And also the amount of soy in the diets of chickens, cows and pigs.

So true! What a mess. I don't believe natural is always best but when you consider the impact of fortification, vaccines, supplements, medications and farming practices the synergy of it all combined seems to have caused some problems for quite a few people who otherwise most likely would have been fine.

 

[charlie]

From one of the Ray Peat Facebook pages:

"I promised to report back on our low/no A (retinol and beta carotene) results. We’ve been restricting A for nearly 4 months. My husband and I are still seeing gradual improvement. My fibromyalgia has greatly improved. We have both had colds for a few weeks, which is likely nature’s way of depleting too much circulating retinol. My daughter is also doing low A. She is seeing great improvement in her skin, and her fussy baby is also seeing improvement. Probably the most dramatic improvement has been my niece’s toddler. She has always been clingy, bashful, never smiling, always whiny. I saw her a few days ago, and she was a different child. She was happy, interacting with everyone with smiles and giggles, and I never saw her on her mom’s lap even once! I’m going to continue low A for at least a year. The older you are and the more fish oil and other high A foods you’ve consumed, the longer it takes to bring the levels back down to safe amounts. Make no mistake...circulating retinol (retinoic acid - think Accutane) WILL wreak havoc in your body. Your liver will protect you from it until it reaches capacity, then the suffering begins. (PS. We’ve been Peating for seven years.)"