Zero Carb Keto
Nutrient Testing
On the request of my friend, I got some nutrient blood panels done. I received my results yesterday. I was tested for vitamin B12, Folate, A, D, Coenzyme Q10, C, Zinc, Magnesium, and Selenium.
All of my results were good except vitamin C showed zero! That was a bit surprising, since the canned beef actually lists vitamin C on the nutrition label, and I had some beef liver and heart just days before the blood draw. I have read that zero carb / strict carnivores do not need to worry about vitamin C as long as they are eating fresh meat and fish. Although I have been using canned meat since going plastic-free, I have been buying fresh fish at least once a week, and eating some fresh beef here and there too.
Vitamin D and A were on the low side but still above deficiency level. B12 and CoQ10 were considered high. Everything else was within the optimal range.
I used to get vitamin C by eating beef sweetbreads (pancreas and thymus) regularly. But they are really hard to get, and they come in plastic. However, I think maybe I should make more of an effort to get more vitamin C daily.
I checked the US nutrition database and also the Canadian, French, Slovak, Finnish, Norwegian, and Italian databases. The best meat sources for vitamin C are sweetbreads of lamb or beef; poultry, beef, calf or pork liver; beef or lamb kidney; snails (interesting!); and fresh clams, mussels, and oysters (according to the US one only). Also beef spleen and lungs, but those are very hard to get. I tried making spleen once, and it was too tough to eat.
Last night I stopped at the fish counter and bought fresh mussels and had them put in one of my compostable BioBags. They were really delicious! Clams are higher in vitamin C than mussels, but were far too expensive. The mussels were pretty expensive too.
I decided that maybe instead I will buy chicken or turkey liver. The liver comes in plastic tubs, and I think even have plastic seals too, which is not good. The tubs are recyclable (although that just means downcycled really). So it is not a great alternative, but it is affordable.
Another option is to special order beef sweetbreads as I used to do. They are afprdable, but will come in nonrecyclable plastic, and are not 100% grassfed (however neither is the turkey or chicken for liver, they are fed grains too!). The liver supplies retinol though, which is good, but it is higher in omega 6s. I really enjoy the sweetbreads, but they require some legwork to do the ordering. That supports a local farmer though, which I like to do.
Maybe I will try both. I think I will make a point of trying to eat some meat item containing vitamin C every day!
As a last resort, I could try eating cooked bell peppers, which are some of the highest foods in vitamin C. But I they have caused me gut issues in the past. However, they are available without plastic, which is something to consider.
Comments
Post a Comment