As you know from my “3 Tenets of Low Nickel Diet Success” & “Recommended Approaches” pages, it’s important to keep your nickel intake below at least 150 mcg a day. I (and many research articles) recommend keeping things as simple as possible for yourself and sticking with a meat-focused diet with very low nickel veggies you tolerate for at least a few months.

These lists are not exhaustive, nor should they be considered 100% accurate; That frankly could never exist due to the variance of nickel content in produce and products. It can vary widely depending on the soil, the processing, or the time of year and age it was picked.

Also be aware that many food types have yet to be measured for nickel and won’t be available in apps or in my lists. For some ingredients without data, I have shared the experiences of myself, my clients, and people in the Facebook groups I have interacted with. You will ultimately have to experiment on yourself to be certain what works for you.

This information was drawn from a variety of peer-reviewed sources including the recent FDA Total Diet Study Results which are current as of 07/15/2022 as well as the Rebelytics App, which uses over 70 international sources of nickel measurements.

Below are high nickel foods to make sure to AVOID or eat incredibly sparingly especially at first.

Meat & Fish

High: Highly processed and canned meats, long-cooked bone broths, shark cartilage, crab.

Dairy

High: Highly processed dairy, blue cheeses, smoked cheeses, cheese whiz, velveeta.

Vegetables

High: Canned & highly processed veggies, spirulina.

Fruits

High: Dried fruits, raisins, figs, apricots, pineapple, pears, raspberries.

Beverages

High: Unfiltered water, kona coffee, tea: black, chamomile, green, herbal teas from seeds.

Grains

High: Oats, amaranth, vanilla liquid & powder, cocoa everything, gelatin, buckwheat.

Herbs & Spices

High: Cinnamon, cloves, cocoa, cumin, juniper, & nutmeg.

Legumes, Nuts, & Seeds

High: Legumes: Soy, peanuts, peas, white beans, mung beans, lentils, chocolate. Nuts: coconut, sunflower and all seeds and oils derived from legumes, soy, seeds, & oils.

For more tips on how to approach the low nickel diet, check out the cookbook, The recommended approaches graphic, and the Low Nickel Food Lists