Orange Skin

[A. squamosa]

Hey,

So when I ate one carrot salad a day (one grated and rinsed carrot, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar) after a couple of months the skin of my face started going orange. Left it, tried it again, still happened. And then a third time after that it happened!

I understand that my liver isn't processing the beta-carotene properly, but I just don't understand why.
I have egg, cheese, milk and gelatin everyday, and meat or seafood a few times a week. I drink alcohol very irregularly. I have plenty of sugar. I certainly don't have a perfect diet (don't have the $$ or time - I'm a full-time student who works), but I do have a lot of good stuff in there.

So what's going on? Any ideas?

 

[tara]

Possibilities:
Low in vit-B12?
Lowish thyroid function?
Have you had a go at measuring your body temps and resting heart rate for DIY thyroid function data (make sure to leave thermometer in for several minutes to let it stabilise)?

 

[A. squamosa]

I don't know how to measure for B12, but I do allow my bare skin to see the sun relatively frequently. I definitely have lowish thyroid function, and I would say it got much better when I dropped grains for three months, but tbh that's too difficult to maintain with my lifestyle at current (study/work) - because grains are filling and cheap*, basically.

*edit: and quick!

 

[Richiebogie]

Grains are cheap but OJ, bananas and desiccated coconut are ok priced and provide good fruit sugar and saturated fat calories to replace the grains. Blend them together for a tasty drink.

Meanwhile try halving your carrot component.

 

[tara]

I think Peat has said low thyroid function can make it harder to convert the carotene to the useful vit-A. IIUC, B12 is also needed for this conversion.
It's possible that addressing the lowish thyroid function might make a difference to that and other things. In the meantime, I guess it's down to not overdoing the orange veges, including carrots.

If you haven't already, maybe you can replace some of the grains/refined sugar with fruit/juice to supply some more useful minerals?

 

[paymanz]

I agree with Tara, but how much carrot did you eat? Maybe simply it were too much.

 

[A. squamosa]

Actually, come to think of it, even dropping grains and definitely having an overall improvement my skin still went orange. I'll do my best to cut down. I thought bananas were high in tryptophan? I suppose they're still better than grains anyway. With the desiccated coconut, you just put it in drinks or other things too?

I don't think I was having too much carrot, it was only one a day.

With juice, is fresh best or is it okay to do a mixture of fresh + store bought?

 

[A. squamosa]

Would upping my actual Vit A via something like liver help? I have it pretty irregularly because I tend to get quite a bit of inflammation from it.

 

[EIRE24]

Would upping my actual Vit A via something like liver help? I have it pretty irregularly because I tend to get quite a bit of inflammation from it.

Inflammation from liver?

 

[TubZy]

It's from the beta carotene which is a carenoid. Astaxanthin does the same thing except it's a more of lighter reddish type glow look and helps balance out the beta carotene.

I actually make sure I eat carrots and some small amounts of other vegetables like kale and spinach to balance out the tone of the carenoids. It gives me a nice skin tone especially during the winter/fall timeframe.

I don't necessarily think your liver is not processing it correctly I think you just could be at saturation quicker which is not a particular bad thing IMO just need to cut down on dosage if you don't like the skin color . Try getting more carenoid rich vegetables to balance out the orange one pigment or just cut your carrot salad portion in half and maybe add something like some kale leaves?

I rememver last year I used to take 50mg of beta carotene with 12mg of astaxanthin, it was the middle of winter and my skin was glowing and looked like I had a nice healthy tan. When I took beta carotene alone at 50mg my skin looked more orange looking so I think 30mg was the sweet balanced spot along with other natural carenoids.

 

[TubZy]

Ah here is exactly what I'm talking about and the study

How To Get Great Looking Skin Without Tanning – The Former Fat Kid

 

[Richiebogie]

With the desiccated coconut, you just put it in drinks or other things too?

I just blend up:
500ml OJ
25g desiccated coconut
4 ripe bananas

You can add mango or raspberries if you like. (I buy frozen mango and frozen raspberries and let them thaw in the fridge overnight).

If you let it sit for 15 minutes after blending then the desiccated coconut will rehydrate!

I buy freshly squeezed OJ (not from concentrate) because it has not been dehydrated and then rehydrated with town water.

 

[Rivka]

Have you tried grating and rinsing the carrot fibers. This will remove most of the betacarotene.

 

[A. squamosa]

Hey ya'll, thanks for the responses. Thanks TubZy for the link, so interesting!
Richie, I might try an altered version of you recipe, if I drank that much in one go I would burst!
Yep, liver inflames me. It does have a lot of inflammatory proteins, and as someone who is prone to inflammation I react to it quite strongly. If I have it with HEAPS of gelatin the inflammation is only mild, though.
Yep, I grate and rinse the carrot. What's strange to me is that it takes a few months for it to happen too.

 

[Entropy]

I think a light orange glow is attractive