Focus:
Moving the body gently and in new ways.
Repetition:
I am connected to all life around me, I am a part of earth, I am made of soil, the creatures and plants are sharing this journey with me, I am connected to the heavenly beings.
I belong to community. I am never alone.
I feel the life and love all around me.
Testing, Deficiencies and Toxicity
We will be sharing an intense load of information for the next few months! We want to share what tests you can purchase and begin to look at the nuances you may need to address in your journey. We also want to offer self-discovery methods, explaining what deficiency and toxicity actually look like.
Please note that people with chronic illness, nervous system disorders, generational deficiencies, genetic disorders, mental illness of any kind, vegans, vegetarians, and those eating a standard American diet are all going to be deficient on a cellular level in some way. Some of the “at risk” groups are noted below with specific deficiencies, but not all of them — think more in terms of this: if you have not been eating an ancestral diet (meat, fat, and seasonal, species-appropriate plants) and spending real time in nature, you have deficiencies and toxicity. Always remember this is not your fault. We were never taught this! And you are learning to remedy it now, for your ancestors and for your future generations.
I personally take three times the RDA of a food or supplement, at least for a deficiency. It’s good to always start with a small amount of a supplement and move up slowly, knowing that a paradox reaction can happen with some supplements and often means the body is very deficient. Multivitamins and complexes are not recommended. It’s best to introduce or wean off a supplement one at a time, and watch for the reversal of the symptoms you’re targeting, or a recurrence of symptoms if you remove it.
Tests Available
An intracellular test will tell you your actual cellular deficiencies — remember that blood and serum tests simply are not accurate for this.
A GI map can help you see what microbes may be causing you issues, so you can research what the antagonist might be. It can also show you what helminths you may have.
We’ll post in the future about how to do cleanses for parasites and metals — it’s a bit early for that now.
If you need cytokine testing, we have a suggestion available, and an HTMA is a great option if you want to see how your minerals and metals look.
A note about mercury toxicity: never do a cleanse alone if you are being affected by mercury. It can cause a desire for suicide.
Labs
(If a link below is broken by the time you read this, search for a similar test online.)
Intracellular, GI Map, and Cytokine Testing: Rupa Health storefront
HTMA: Dr. Cabral HTMA
Vitamin A
Vitamin A does a lot for you — it’s essential for vision, immune defence, skin health, and cell growth. When you’re not getting enough, or not absorbing it well, the first thing you’ll usually notice is trouble seeing in low light, sometimes progressing toward more serious eye issues like dry eyes, foamy white patches on the eye (Bitot’s spots), or, in severe and prolonged cases, softening of the cornea that can threaten your vision permanently.
Beyond your eyes, low vitamin A shows up as dry, rough, scaly skin, and small hard bumps on the arms, thighs, or back, where hair follicles get clogged with keratin because the skin can’t renew itself. Wounds heal slower, your immune system weakens (more respiratory and digestive infections), and your mouth and throat can feel dry too, since vitamin A supports mucous membranes. Deficiency also affects fertility and pregnancy, raising the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, and developmental issues, stunts growth in children, and can show up as anaemia, appetite loss, and trouble concentrating or with mood.
The people most at risk are infants and young children, pregnant women, anyone with a malabsorption condition like coeliac or Crohn’s, people without access to nutrient-dense food, and vegetarians and vegans — the plant form of vitamin A just doesn’t convert well in the body compared to the preformed retinol found in animal foods like liver, fish, dairy, and eggs. Liver disease matters here too, since vitamin A is stored in your liver. For supplementing, we like DaVinci ADK, and the Green Pastures fermented cod liver oil and butter oil combo.
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Thiamine is central to how your body turns carbohydrates into energy, and to healthy nerve function. Severe, classic thiamine deficiency is called beriberi, and it comes in two forms: wet beriberi affects your heart, causing swelling, a racing heart, shortness of breath, and eventually heart failure; dry beriberi affects your nerves, causing muscle weakness, wasting, numbness, and difficulty walking. In the most severe, chronic cases (often seen in alcoholics) you can end up with Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome — confusion, loss of coordination, abnormal eye movements, and eventually serious memory problems, including confabulation, where the brain fills memory gaps with made-up stories because it genuinely cannot recall what happened.
More everyday signs of low thiamine are fatigue and weakness, brain fog and trouble concentrating, tingling or numbness in the hands and feet, digestive upset, a racing heart or shortness of breath, fluid retention, and irritability or mood swings. Chronic alcoholics, people with malabsorption issues, nervous system disorders, the elderly, and pregnant or breastfeeding women are especially at risk — but honestly, most modern humans running on a highly refined diet are deficient to some degree.
For reversing a deep, cellular thiamine deficiency, we like Benfotiamine at a high dose, taken with fat (saturated fats help it absorb). If you have or have had a nervous system disorder, it’s worth staying on a lower maintenance dose, around 250mg, for life, and increasing it again in times of difficulty. We always start with B1 and B2 before adding any other B vitamin, and we never recommend B-complexes. Pork and fish are your best food sources.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
Riboflavin keeps your energy production running, and it’s essential for healthy skin, eyes, and nerves. When you’re deficient, the classic pattern shows up as a sore throat, cracked and sore corners of the mouth, and a swollen, sore, purplish tongue. You may also notice greasy, scaly patches on your skin, especially your scalp, face, and around your nose, along with eyes that are light-sensitive, red, dry, or burning.
Other signs include tingling or weakness in your hands and feet, ongoing fatigue, anaemia, frequent headaches or migraines, and a weaker immune system that leaves you catching colds and infections more easily. People eating a poor diet, chronic alcohol users, infants on unfortified formula, anyone with malabsorption issues, the elderly, and people with nervous system disorders are most at risk. Good food sources are dairy, meat (beef, pork, lamb), and eggs. As with B1, riboflavin supplements are available, but again, start with B1 and B2 before other Bs, and skip the B-complex.
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)
Niacin is essential for turning food into energy, for DNA repair, and for healthy skin, nerves, and digestion. Severe niacin deficiency causes a disease called pellagra, remembered by the “4 D’s”: dermatitis, diarrhoea, dementia, and death. The skin changes look like a bad sunburn in sun-exposed areas, eventually thickening and peeling. Digestive symptoms include chronic diarrhoea, nausea, cramping, and a sore mouth and tongue. On the mental and neurological side, deficiency can bring depression, irritability, confusion, memory loss, and in severe cases, hallucinations or psychosis. You’ll also commonly see fatigue, insomnia, headaches, and appetite and weight loss, and in children, growth delays and behavioural changes.
People at higher risk include alcoholics, those with mental illness or eating disorders, anyone with a nervous system disorder, people eating low-protein diets (your body converts the amino acid tryptophan into niacin, so low protein means low niacin), and, historically, populations eating a lot of corn that wasn’t nixtamalized. Digestive disorders like Crohn’s, certain medications like isoniazid, and rare genetic conditions like Hartnup disease can also interfere with niacin.
Good food sources are meat and poultry (especially liver, chicken, and turkey), fish like salmon, and dairy and eggs. For mild deficiency, oral niacin supplements work well; nicotinamide is generally preferred because it doesn’t cause the flushing that nicotinic acid does. For pellagra or a severe deficiency, a high dose of nicotinamide or nicotinic acid, usually around 5,000 mg per day, paired with a protein-rich diet, is the standard approach.
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)
Pantothenic acid is a building block of coenzyme A, which your body needs for hundreds of metabolic processes: breaking down fat, making energy, producing cholesterol and hormones, and healing wounds. True deficiency is rare because it’s so widespread in food, but it does show up with severe malnutrition, chronic illness, alcoholism, or long-term IV nutrition without proper supplementation.
When it happens, you’ll typically feel persistently exhausted, and you may develop a strange burning, tingling sensation in your feet that gets worse at night. Mood takes a hit too — irritability, anxiety, restlessness, and trouble sleeping are common, along with muscle weakness and cramping, digestive upset, headaches, brain fog, and skin or hair changes like dryness or premature graying. People who are severely malnourished, chronic alcohol users, those with chronic digestive disease, burn victims, and anyone on long-term parenteral nutrition are most at risk.
Pantothenic acid is genuinely everywhere in food — its name actually comes from the Greek word for “from everywhere.” You’ll find it richly in liver and kidney, egg yolks, chicken, beef, turkey, mushrooms, avocados, and dairy. For a mild deficiency, increasing dietary intake plus around 500mg a day of supplementation is generally enough; for more severe cases, higher doses around 1,000mg a day are used.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
B6, in its active form (P-5-P), acts as a coenzyme in over a hundred reactions in your body: protein metabolism, making neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, forming haemoglobin, supporting immune function, and regulating homocysteine alongside B12 and folate. Deficiency is more common than people think, especially in older adults, people with alcoholism or kidney disease, and anyone on certain medications, including isoniazid, hydralazine, penicillamine, oral contraceptives, or anti-seizure drugs like phenytoin.
Low B6 tends to show up as irritability, anxiety, low mood, brain fog, and trouble concentrating, along with tingling, numbness, or burning in the hands and feet, and, in more severe or infant cases, seizures. You may also notice a scaly rash around your nose, eyes, and mouth, cracked corners of the mouth, a swollen tongue, and a type of anaemia that leaves you tired, pale, and dizzy. It weakens immune function, slows wound healing, and in women can worsen PMS symptoms like breast tenderness and irritability.
People with kidney disease or on dialysis, alcohol-dependent individuals, those with liver disorders, pregnant or breastfeeding women, the elderly, and anyone with malabsorption issues are all more vulnerable. Good sources are poultry, fish, and organ meats — keep in mind B6 is heat sensitive. For a mild deficiency, 50mg a day for six weeks to three months is a typical protocol; don’t take it longer than that without guidance, since too much B6 for too long can actually cause neuropathy. If your symptoms point more toward low immune function or low neurotransmitter or hormone production, the active P-5-P form may serve you better than plain B6.
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)
Biotin supports the breakdown of fats, carbs, and protein, and it’s important for healthy skin, hair, nails, your nervous system, and gene regulation. True deficiency is rare in healthy people, but it can happen with a genetic condition called biotinidase deficiency, from eating a lot of raw egg whites without the yolks (the whites contain avidin, which binds biotin and blocks its absorption), from malabsorption conditions, long-term IV nutrition, chronic alcohol use, certain medications like anticonvulsants, antibiotics, or isotretinoin, or during pregnancy, when biotin turnover increases.
The most recognizable sign is hair thinning or loss, on your scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or elsewhere on your body, along with a scaly, reddish rash around your eyes, nose, mouth, or genitals. Please note here: hair shedding, even a noticeable amount, is completely normal as part of your healing journey and will stop on its own — that’s different from a true biotin-driven hair loss pattern. Other signs of deficiency include depression, lethargy, muscle pain or cramping, tingling or numbness, loss of coordination, and in severe or genetic cases, seizures, along with eye irritation and a sore, swollen tongue or cracked mouth corners.
Good dietary sources include egg yolks, liver and other organ meats, cauliflower, and salmon and sardines, and your own gut microbes actually make some of your biotin, if they’re present and healthy. The good news is biotin has no known toxicity, even at very high supplemental doses (5,000 to 10,000 mg a day), so it’s a fairly forgiving one to work with.
Vitamin B9 (Folate)
Folate is essential for DNA and RNA synthesis, cell division, making red and white blood cells, converting homocysteine to methionine, and foetal neural tube development, which is why it matters so much in pregnancy and early growth. Deficiency can come from a poor diet, malabsorption (coeliac, Crohn’s), nervous system disorders, increased need such as pregnancy, rapid growth, or certain cancers and anemias, chronic alcoholism, or medications like methotrexate, phenytoin, sulfasalazine, trimethoprim, oral contraceptives, or certain chemotherapy drugs.
The hallmark is megaloblastic anaemia — fatigue, paleness, shortness of breath, weakness, and dizziness, from red blood cells that grow large but can’t divide properly. You’ll also often see digestive symptoms like appetite loss, nausea, diarrhoea, and weight loss, and mood or cognitive changes like irritability, depression, and forgetfulness, though, unlike B12 deficiency, folate deficiency doesn’t typically cause peripheral neuropathy. In pregnancy, deficiency in the first three to four weeks, often before a woman even knows she’s pregnant, raises the risk of neural tube defects like spina bifida. Long-term, low folate also raises homocysteine, which increases cardiovascular risk.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with malabsorption issues or nervous system disorders, chronic alcoholics, dialysis patients, and infants fed goat milk, which is naturally low in folate, are all at higher risk. Good natural sources include beef liver, broccoli, brussels sprouts, oranges and other citrus, avocados, and beets. If you supplement, use the methylfolate form and never folic acid — a dose of 1,000 to 5,000 mcg a day is typical, and it should be taken alongside B12. If you get a paradox reaction, just scale back and increase more slowly. It’s worth ruling out a B12 deficiency alongside folate testing too, since low B12 can mask and worsen the picture.
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)
B12 is crucial for DNA synthesis, red blood cell production, forming the myelin sheath that protects your nerves, and your methylation cycle. It’s stored in your liver, and your body can run on reserves for years, which means by the time symptoms show up, the deficiency may already be significant. B12 is found naturally only in animal foods, so vegetarians and vegans are especially susceptible. Malabsorption is another major cause — from pernicious anaemia, an autoimmune issue with the protein needed to absorb B12, low stomach acid, which is common with age, gastric surgery, chronic H. pylori infection, coeliac or Crohn’s disease, or long-term use of acid blockers or metformin.
Like folate deficiency, low B12 causes megaloblastic anaemia — fatigue, paleness, shortness of breath, weakness, and a sore, smooth, beefy-red tongue — but it adds a distinct layer of neurological symptoms: numbness and tingling, burning sensations, unsteady balance, muscle weakness, frequent falls, and in advanced cases, degeneration of the spinal cord and vision changes. It also affects mental health and cognition — memory loss, depression, irritability, confusion, and dementia-like symptoms, especially in older adults. In infants, it can cause developmental delays, poor feeding, low muscle tone, and seizures, generally reversible if caught early.
Vegans and vegetarians, the elderly, people with GI surgery or disorders, alcoholics, anyone with a nervous system disorder or chronic illness, people on long-term acid blockers or metformin, and breastfed infants of vegan mothers are the groups most at risk. When you’re supplementing B12 alongside folate, it’s generally dosed in that same 1,000 to 5,000 mcg range — start low if you notice a paradox reaction, same as with folate.
Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and a cofactor your body needs for collagen production, wound healing, iron absorption, and immune defence. Most modern humans have actually lost the ability to make their own vitamin C, because we’re missing the microbes that used to do it for us, but that doesn’t automatically mean you’re deficient. It’s still worth knowing the signs.
Deficiency can come from a poor diet lacking fruits and vegetables, alcoholism, smoking (which depletes vitamin C fast), malabsorption conditions like Crohn’s or coeliac, dialysis, or nervous system disorders and chronic illness. Early signs are fatigue, malaise, weakness, and irritability. Left unaddressed for a few months, it progresses to true scurvy: bleeding gums, tooth loss, small red or purple spots around the hair follicles, corkscrew-shaped hairs, easy bruising, poor wound healing, joint pain and swelling, anaemia, and dry, rough skin. In infants, it can look like irritability, painful limbs, and bleeding, swollen gums. It also weakens the immune system and can affect mood and cognition, showing up as depression or brain fog.
The elderly, especially those living alone or in care, alcoholics, smokers, people with malabsorptive disorders, dialysis patients, and anyone with mental illness or a developmental disorder that limits their diet to a narrow list of “safe foods,” are most at risk. For supplementing, we recommend a tapioca-based vitamin C, since it doesn’t convert into oxalates in the body the way ascorbic acid can — we don’t recommend taking ascorbic acid internally, though it’s fine to use in a bath. Cold-pressed hibiscus, pine needle, or rose hip tea, along with lemon or lime, are great gentle ways to get more in. If you’re low in ferritin or anaemic, pair your vitamin C with the beef spleen we’ve suggested before, since it helps with iron absorption. And like B6, vitamin C is heat sensitive, so raw or lightly prepared sources matter.