Best Low Nickel Food List (Free Printable PDF)

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This Best Low Nickel Food List helps you to detoxify your body of a metal that’s behind many health conditions, not just contact dermatitis. The reason this food list is superior to other low nickel lists is:

• Many Low Nickel food lists are inaccurate. Nickel content varies in foods based on the soil the foods grow in — so it’s inaccurate and unwise to include certain foods that can be low to moderate in some regions but quite high in others.
• We also reduce other toxic metals at the same time for a more complete wellness approach, specifically copper, arsenic and manganese.
• I include information about optional binders in this article to help safely excrete nickel from the body as it detoxes.
• This post links to Low Nickel recipes.
• I share what our family eats on a low nickel diet.
• Feel free to ask any questions in the Comments section below.
• In addition to storing heavy metals to protect us from them, the liver and other tissues also store excess vitamin A, which is detoxed on the same pathways the body detoxes alcohol and drugs. This dietary approach (and list) reduces vitamin A for a more complete detox. (Read more here.)

How much nickel per day

For best results: A low nickel diet averages about 70 micrograms of nickel per day, about half of what most people consume — although some people have high nickel diets about four times the ideal intake.

Vegan and vegetarian diets tend to be high nickel.

Nickel detox symptoms

When you reduce your intake significantly, expect your body to begin dumping this toxic metal quickly. That’s why it’s important to go slowly, and to use binders.

Be prepared for a variety of detox symptoms including headache, hormone changes that can change one’s cycle (women), mood swings, GI digestion changes include bloating and more.

The symptom challenges that often accompany nickel detox don’t mean we should abandon the detox process. Rather, we do what we can to reduce symptoms and look forward to a rather quick overall detox duration.

Usually lasting between 3 months and one year (longer for weight loss goals associated with nickel toxicity), the body clearly wants to be rid of this toxic metal, so the overall time frame is really fast compared to other detox time frames.

Support during your nickel detox

I highly recommend my doctor, Dr. Garrett Smith, for support during your detox process. Find his videos on YouTube, or join his Love Your Liver program, where thousands of like-minded journeyers help each other through the same or similar detox processes.

What to avoid on a low nickel diet

On a low nickel diet, it’s important to heavily restrict “hyper-accumulator” foods that pull nickel from the soil, including:

• organ meats,
• whole grains (such as oats, buckwheat and whole wheat),
• legumes (beans, lentils, peas, peanuts and soy),
• nuts, seeds,
• licorice
• and chocolate.

Most multivitamins contain sources of nickel.

Other foods to avoid

Many plant foods are high in nickel, including these veggies:

• leafy greens (spinach, kale, lettuce),
• cruciferous veggies (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower),
• asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, artichokes and bean sprouts
• and canned vegetables.

Avoid all sources of inulin, including chicory.

While tomatoes, red bell peppers and eggplant are not high in nickel, they are all nightshades that cause inflammation over time. I recommend avoiding these while on a low nickel diet. (Tomatoes and red bell peppers are also very high in vitamin A.)

Avoid these fruits:

• raspberries, blackberries,
• figs, dates, plums,
• bright produce like mangoes, pineapple, apricots,
• most dried fruits
• and canned fruits.

Avoid using lemon juice or vinegar with anything metal, especially stainless steel.

Beverages to avoid:

• tea, and limit coffee to 1 cup,
• coconut water,
• beer, wine
• and tap water. (Instead use distilled or reverse osmosis. This includes one’s use of water for cooking pasta or rice.)

Other things

Stainless steel pots and pans are a significant source of nickel.

Try these pots and pans (I have them, and they’re good, plus a great value) instead, or these glass pots.

Consider switching to a glass water bottle (we have this one), instead of stainless steel.

Low Nickel Food List with Free Printable PDF

Print the Low Nickel Food List PDF here.

Low Nickel (Low Toxin) Meats and Protein Sources

• Beef, chicken, turkey, buffalo, lamb, venison, elk (or similar game)
• To a lesser extent but still okay occasionally: egg whites

Avoid pork and seafood which have other toxins.

Low Nickel Vegetables

• Peeled zucchini, peeled cucumbers, peeled Russet potatoes, white hominy, white corn
• To a lesser extent but still okay: peeled white carrots, peeled white beets (I grow both of these.), small amounts of lightly colored lettuces

Occasional onion powder may be fine, occasional onions.

Low Nickel Fruits

• Apples (best fruit choice), white peaches, strawberries, green grapes, honeydew melon or white melon
• To a lesser extent but still okay: pears, applesauce, occasional blueberries

Low Nickel Beverages

• Reverse osmosis or distilled water
• This Japanese Barley Tea (we drink this daily), peppermint tea, ginger tea
• “Clean” rice milk (no vitamins added), in moderation
• Juices from the “allowed” fruits

It’s okay to keep 1 cup of coffee in your diet per day, but be careful what cooking vessel you use: No stainless steel. Consider using glass (like this or this).

Miscellaneous Low Nickel Foods and Baking

• White organic flour that’s unfortified (like this)
• Organic white rice (Lotus foods is tested and lowest in arsenic), white rice flour
• White masa flour (be sure it only has one ingredient/that it’s not fortified, like this heirloom product)
• Tapioca pearls, tapioca flour, arrowroot
• 1-Ingredient Semolina (durum wheat) pasta from Italy (here‘s an inexpensive one), or Lotus foods white rice noodles (here and here)
• Clean or homemade sourdough breads (brands include Izzio and The Essential Baking Company, found at Costco)
• Refined olive oil, refined avocado oil, small amount of butter if tolerated
• Cane sugar, agave nectar, honey — in moderation, occasional
• Baking soda, cream of tartar (Mix these two to create baking powder, if needed.)
• Quality low toxin white salt (like this)

What do I eat personally

I thought it would helpful to tell you what I eat each day! My husband, our 8-year-old daughter and I all do a low nickel diet. We eat (always choose organic):

• Lots of beef (mostly ground meat and stew meat), chicken, occasional lamb, turkey, “clean” deli meats and “clean” sausages
• Occasional egg whites — in baked goods, to make fried rice or for a quick protein source
• White rice, white rice noodles; white rice flour and sticky “sweet” rice flour (I bake with these.)
• Semolina pasta from Italy (Be sure yours has just one ingredient, no fortifications.)
• Sourdough bread for sandwiches; and homemade sourdough baked goods (I use King Arthur white flour.) — I make sourdough pancakes and muffins often.
• White masa and related: porridge, tortillas for tacos, posole, hominy in soups and stews
• Lots of apples for snacks, occasional bananas (not more than one per day), pears, strawberries
  • Note: If you like apples, it’s recommended to eat even two to three daily, as they’re also a great source of soluble fiber, which is important when detoxing, to keep up regular daily bowel movements.
• Cucumbers for snacking and sandwiches, white corn for soups and stews, occasional lettuces (like one piece on a sandwich), occasional peeled zucchini
• Condiments: refined avocado oil, refined olive oil, all-fruit strawberry jam made in France, occasional ginger, baking soda, quality salt, dill weed, small amounts of agave nectar or pale honey
• Drinks: this barley tea, homemade lemonade/limeade (very occasionally)

At breakfast, we always start with a big serving of meat, about one third pound each. Then we enjoy toast or pancakes with hot tea.

For lunch, we most often do sandwiches, fried up sausages, wraps or leftovers.

For dinner, I make lots of: rice bowls, pasta with meat, tacos and soups or stews.

Include dietary calcium source

I really enjoy and emphasize sources of white masa/hominy in our diet because it’s one of the only sources of dietary calcium on a low nickel diet.

Alternately, if dairy agrees with you, you may wish to include a small amount of low fat organic dairy (be sure no vitamin A or vitamin D are added), such as mozzarella cheese or non fat yogurt (I like Nancy’s brand best for low toxicity and ease of digestibility. Avoid any yogurt with streptococcus thermophilus, labeled: s. thermophilus. A2A2 would be fine also, but the products all use the s. thermophilus probiotic that creates more retinoic acid in the body. To make your own yogurt use this one strain, or this one.) We avoid dairy altogether at this stage in our diet because it’s a significant source of vitamin A. 

For additional supplemental needs on a low nickel diet, please read this article (coming very soon …)

Low nickel recipes

Here are some low nickel recipes to get you started:

• Rice Flour Banana Muffins
• Healthy Masa Porridge
• Rice Flour Porridge
• Crispy Beef from Stew Meat
• Healthiest Congee Recipe (Choose the white rice option.)
• Carrot and Beef Savory Pie (Use white carrots.)

Pin the Low Nickel Food List here:

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