Vitamin A is very helpful in preventing and reducing infectious disease. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps the immune system, reproduction, heart, lungs, thyroid, kidneys and other organs. It even works together with Vitamin D to help protect against autoimmune disease. Kim Schuette, CN taught us that Vitamin A is essential for detoxification. “It is now estimated that improving the vitamin A status of all deficient children worldwide would prevent 1-3 million childhood deaths annually.” Ok, I’ve made my point, this vitamin is incredibly important! “How do I get enough Vitamin A?” you ask.
When Dr. Weston A. Price traveled the world in the early 1900’s studying different people groups to find what diets produced dental decay and physical degeneration, he discovered that the diets of healthy people groups contained at least ten times as much vitamin A as the American diet of his day. He also learned that Vitamin A is one of several fat-soluble activators that are necessary for the assimilation of minerals in the diet and present only in animal fats.
It’s a common misconception that Vitamin A can be found in plant foods. Vegetables are a wonderful source of beta-carotene. But beta-carotene is only useful to humans as it’s broken down and converted in the body to Vitamin A using the body’s own Vitamin A stores. Only animal fats contain Vitamin A. Vitamin A is present in large amounts only when the animals have a source of carotenes or Vitamin A in their diet – good sources include green pasture, insects, or fish meal.
Vitamin A stores rapidly deplete during exercise, fever and periods of stress. It’s important to fuel with adequate amounts of Vitamin A to keep our bodies healthy and strong. We can get Vitamin A from foods like pastured and wild meats, cod liver oil, organ meats, pastured butter, pastured eggs, grass-fed unprocessed/raw whole milk, and cream (pasteurization kills Vitamin A).
I usually don’t like to pick apart foods and only discuss specific nutrients. Also, Vitamin A from animal foods seems to be frowned upon in the U.S. – a popular trend is concentrating on “plant-based” diets. While plants are incredibly important, I’ve learned it’s also very important to make sure we consume plenty of Vitamin A so all the wonderful nutrients in our vegetables can be used properly in our bodies.
I like to serve my family lots of dishes with eggs, butter, raw/unprocessed milk and cream at breakfast. We love the classic fried or scrambled egg, but sometimes I like to change it up a bit. Eggs Florentine is a nice way to change things up and get in some healthy Vitamin A to start our day.
Serves 2
You can prepare the spinach mixture ahead and time and then reheat in the morning, crack the eggs and bake. The dish can be served with or without the hollandaise sauce.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 8 cups baby spinach
- 1 teaspoon coconut flour
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup shredded Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 4 large pastured eggs
- I used this recipe for the hollandaise sauce and added 3/4 of Celtic sea salt to the sauce to get just the right flavor
- Dash of Cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees F and adjust rack to middle position.
- Melt butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat.
- Add shallot and cook, stirring frequently until soft, about 3 minutes.
- Add spinach and cook until wilted and spinach has released it's moisture, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add coconut flour and stir constantly for 1 minute.
- Slowly pour in milk while constantly stirring. Cook for about 2 minutes until thick.
- Remove from the heat and stir in cheese, dry mustard and salt.
- At this point, you can divide the spinach mixture between two individual pans, or you can make 4 small wells using the back of a spoon and crack the 4 eggs into those wells.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes, just until whites are set.
- Serve alone or with hollandaise sauce and a dash of cayenne pepper.
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