If you are going to eat dried sweet potatoes, I would eat them very sparingly, and pay close attention to how they make you feel.  In general, carbs are not at all healthy when dried, unlike fat/meat.  I don't hold out much hope for sweet potatoes being healthy when dried.

What about AGEs and protein


http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2001/07/14/insulin-part-one.aspx

...

Whether those so-called applopatic genes developed as a means to prevent cancer or not is open to speculation, but it is a good theory. We know that all cancer cells have turned off the mechanisms for apoptosis, which is the medical term for chemical suicide. So we know that it plays a role.

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and what about people who eat fruit (for hydration ) and AGEs?

Nicola

good point. I do not have any that I know of. So far digestion has been going good so I will just let nature take its course for now. I am going to be eating mainly muscle meat, fat and organ. I will probably do egg and fruit in the morning for the start more out of habit and for comfort than anything. What else is recommended to add in, cod liver oil? Also do any of you ever eat green tripe?

Nicotinic acid (but not nicotinamide) given in drug dosage improves the blood cholesterol profile, and has been used to clear the body of organic poisons, such as certain insecticides. People report more mental alertness when this vitamin is in sufficient supply.

Deficiency of vitamin B3

A deficiency may cause pellagra, the classic niacin deficiency disease, and is characterized by bilateral dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia.

A shortage of niacin may be indicated with symptoms such as canker sores, depression, diarrhea, dizziness, fatigue, halitosis, headaches, indigestion, insomnia, limb pains, loss of appetite, low blood sugar, muscular weakness, skin eruptions, and inflammation.

Dosage

The dosage underneath is the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), but be aware that this dosage is the minimum that you require per day, to ward off serious deficiency of this particular nutrient. In the therapeutic use of this nutrient, the dosage is usually increased considerably, but the toxicity level must be kept in mind.

Male 18 mg per day and female 13 mg per day although 100 mg is mostly used in supplementation.

Large doses given to lower cholesterol may produce hyperuricemia, and hepatic abnormalities. These effects are reversed if the drug is reduced in amount or discontinued.

Toxicity and symptoms of high intake

Nicotinic acid, but not nicotinamide in doses larger than 200 mg causes flushing by dilating the blood vessels, which can also cause the blood pressure to drop.

These flushes are normally harmless. Large dosages can also cause itching, elevated blood glucose, peptic ulcers and liver damage

Best used with

Niacin is best taken with the B group vitamins and vitamin C.

When more may be required

Consuming alcohol and not having enough protein in your diet may increase your need for niacin.

People with diabetes, glaucoma, any liver disease or peptic ulcers should be careful of niacin supplementation.

Enemy of vitamin B3

Niacin is lost readily when food is cooked in water.

Other interesting points

Nicotinamide is under investigation for helping to prevent and control diabetes.

Food sources of vitamin B3

Liver, lean meat, poultry, fish, rabbit, nuts, peanut yeast, meats including

Now this is the really important part – Niacinamide does NOT trigger the switch in the pathways. It’ll stop you from getting Pellagra, sure. But it won’t flip the switch to say “hey, you’ve got enough Niacin – let’s start making Serotonin instead.”

So your body will carry on trying to convert Tryptophan into Niacin, and use it all up, leaving you with a somewhat lower amount of Serotonin in your system (and Vitamin B6, as this is used up in the conversion process).

How do you get around this?

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/24/2/153.pdf (The Nicotinic Acid Content of Meat, W.J. Dann, P.J. Handler, April 16 1942, The Journal of Nutrition)

The first paper discusses how typical cooking methods cause nicotinic acid to be lost in the process when cooking fresh and canned fruits and vegetables. This can be – especially if you don’t use the cooking water elsewhere in your cooking – anywhere up to 41% of the amount of Vitamin B3 in the food – and we’re talking about typical portions of about 3.5oz here, which typically contain only about .5mg to begin with. (Although if you want a boost, go for peas and asparagus).

The second paper discusses how cooking meat affects the same thing; the result here is that while a lot of meats have more nicotinic acid in them than veggies, they typically lose over half of it during cooking. That, and the best sources for your are chicken breast, chicken liver and other kinds of liver. But, of course, you still lose up to 50% of the nicotinic acid in the food by cooking it.
Simple. Start taking the nicotinic acid form, along with Tryptophan. This works much better than St. John’s Wort or a prescription SSRI (at least, in my experience).

Why does it work better?

Your body can regulate the conversion process. It can limit the amount of serotonin in your system, and target the results. What’s more, your brain directly uses the higher amount of Tryptophan and converts it to Serotonin inside your brain. Which is much better than SSRIs which can have nasty effects on the Serotonin producing cells in your gut.

(Your gut has its own, entirely separate brain to control digestion, a medical fact that was almost lost for about 100 years, but that’s a story for another time).

What about 5-HTP? Why not just use that?

5-HTP is an intermediate step in the production of Serotonin.

But your body doesn’t regulate its conversion to Serotonin. It’s not limited, other than by the amount of 5-HTP decarboxylase in your system.

This means that you can get Serotonin overload. What’s more, most of the conversion will happen in your body – not your brain. Before you even get close to a therapeutic amount, you’ll start getting the shakes, and will probably vomit. Sure, some of it will make it into the brain – but it’ll also be floating around your body. (And that can cause heart issues, so don’t do it!).

So What Should I Take?

Before I go to bed, I personally am taking 1500mg of L-Tryptophan, along with 300mg of Nicotinic Acid. (Be VERY careful to get the Nicotinic acid form of Niacin – it’s often hard to tell, and the most clearly labeled form is SolarRay’s brand). I also take about 250mg of B6 (which in some studies helps the brain convert the Tryptophan into Serotonin, which is confusing, as B6 is involved in the synthesis of Niacin), and 100mg of B1 (because I drink occasionally, and eat a lot of sugary foods).

The effects come on within about 15 minutes, and I’m no longer depressed or anxious at all, and get a very good night’s sleep.

I occasionally try this mix during the day, and it works well then too. There’s some flushing that occurs (skin redness & itching), but that goes away over time and lessens over the course of a few weeks.

If you try this out, be careful NOT to take more than 1500mg of Niacin per day. For safety’s sake, keep it below 1000mg. And DON’T mix it with SSRIs, or you risk getting too much Serotonin – which is also bad.

A Call for Research

And here’s the important thing:

Can we please do a study to lock down the exact mechanism of the switching pathway to determine exactly how Nicotinic acid supplementation switches production of Niacin to production of Serotonin in the body?

If we do this study, we can probably help the millions of people around the world with depression by mandating a switch from Niacinamide fortification of foods to Nicotinic Acid supplementation (or a 50-50 mix) in foods.

We beat Pellagra. We can beat depression too.

Disclaimer: As ever, I’m not a medical doctor, and don’t claim to be one. Use this information at your own risk, and consult your physician before proceeding. I can’t be held responsible for any bad side effects you may experience by following this advice. Nutritional supplements are effectively drugs, and should be treated as such.

that was also a consideration and i hope it is so as then I could eat liver every day! I love it.

This is a potentially serious problem. It usually occurs by taking more that 50,000-250,000 IU per day for more than 3 months. It can lead to dry skin, mouth sores, vomiting, and poor appetite. Eventually, it can cause increased pressure within the brain, headaches, and problems thinking clearly. It may also lead to an enlarged liver or to liver failure.

Please note that it is extremely important to obtain an accurate diagnosis before trying to find a cure.  Many diseases and conditions share common symptoms: if you treat yourself for the wrong illness or a specific symptom of a complex disease, you may delay legitimate treatment of a serious underlying problem.  In other words, the greatest danger in self-treatment may be self-diagnosis. If you do not know what you really have, you can not treat it!

Knowing how difficult it is to weed out misinformation and piece together countless facts in order to see the "big picture", we now provide simple online access to The Analyst™.  Used by doctors and patients alike, The Analyst™ is a computerized diagnostic tool that sits on a vast accumulation of knowledge and research.  By combining thousands of connections between signs, symptoms, risk factors, conditions and treatments, The Analyst™ will help to build an accurate picture of your current health status, the risks you are running and courses of action (including appropriate lab testing) that should be considered.  Full information is available here.

Vitamin A is normally a fat-soluble vitamin. It occurs in nature as preformed vitamin A and provitamin A (primarily beta carotene). The carotenes are converted into vitamin A in the intestines. Fat-soluble vitamin A can accumulate in the liver, causing side-effects, but consuming too much carotene will not result in vitamin A toxicity. Thyroxine, zinc and vitamin E enhance the conversion of carotene to vitamin A. Water-soluble vitamin A results in higher blood levels, with less accumulation in the liver, and, though hard to find, can be used safely in much higher doses.

Laboratory tests appear unreliable for monitoring toxicity, since serum vitamin A levels correlate poorly with toxicity, and SGOT and SGPT are elevated only in symptomatic patients. More importantly, there is concern about the teratogenicity of massive dosages of vitamin A. Women of child-bearing age should use effective birth control during treatment and for at least one month after discontinuation.

Some may take too much vitamin A at once, absorbed via overdose (or by doing something stupid such as eating polar bear liver!) This can cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, and difficulty sleeping.

Signs & Symptoms
Chapped lips and dry skin, which may be early symptoms, will generally occur in the majority of patients, particularly in dry weather. The first significant toxic symptom is usually headache followed by fatigue, emotional lability, and muscle and joint pain.

Signs, symptoms & indicators of Vitamin A Toxicity:
   
Symptoms - General     Constant fatigue

Symptoms - Head - Mouth/Oral   
  Chapped lips
    Chapped lips and dry skin, which may be early symptoms, will generally occur in the majority of patients, particularly in dry weather.

Symptoms - Mind - Emotional   
  Emotional instability

Symptoms - Skeletal   
  Joint pain/swelling/stiffness

Conditions that suggest Vitamin A Toxicity:
         
Metabolic     Migraine/Tension Headaches

Musculo-Skeletal   
  Muscle Pains (Myalgia)

Skin-Hair-Nails   
  Dry skin
    Chapped lips and dry skin, which may be early symptoms, will occur in a majority of patients with vitamin A toxicity, particularly in dry weather.

  Male Hair Loss
    Vitamin A toxicity symptoms include skin that has a rough and dry appearance, hair loss and brittle nails.

  Female Hair Loss
    Vitamin A toxicity symptoms include skin that has a rough and dry appearance, hair loss and brittle nails.

  Night Sweats

Okay, they were actually very nice... but *very* hard to get open for a little piece of meat in each one. It's a couple of hours later and I feel great, so a good experience this time anyway. I still have a nice salty taste in my mouth... I'm not sure if I'll do them again though.

when there is shortage of any sort of animal fat

that's rather beneficial when you're in hot region such as Spain

 I considered it to be politically correct nonsense but who knows.