Anastacia healed bulimia on a carnivore diet

This is a glance of my life story, particularly around my history of disordered eating. I am grateful to have found this meat heals site, and think this is the right place to share in hopes of inspiring another to give this WOE a try. As someone who suffered throughout childhood and most of my adult life with body image issues and eating disorders— at my junior prom I weighed in at 140 lbs at 5’10″…

I did chronic cardio every single day, played basketball, ran hurdles, and either was restricting calories or losing complete control with food purges/binges. I became bulimic in HS and turned into an overexercising, punishing machine to get myself thinner and thinner. I grew up on processed foods, and became addicted to sugar/carbs early, and often felt alone with my struggle to find a WOE that would offer me greater hormonal balance, satiety and freedom from addiction. 

From age 15 – 39 I worked to find self love, nurturing and food freedom. In 2007 I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. This painful (at the time event) PUSHED me to change and seek out true health on all fronts (mind, body and spirit). I quit a corp. job, returned to school and graduated with a MS in Physiology. I spent years working as a Personal Trainer and at the same time opened my own Corp Wellness Coaching business.

In 2012 I found Paleo WOE and made the changes overnight. Immediately I felt the benefits in my health, cravings, energy and mindset. Especially because I went to only protein, fat and veggies (low carb). But as I aged into my 30s I began to feel the pains in my joints (severe Back Facet Joint/Hip arthritis) from my overexercising habits and years of binging on garbage foods. I was tired of fighting to stay sober (for me this meant avoiding all sugar/carbs and anything not from the earth), and working so hard to avoid a relapse despite having better lifestyle practices in place and greater health.

I would go months eating big, fat ass salads and meat, then I’d binge again. Then repeat over and over. The cycle seemed impossible to break. I felt destined to never feel true food freedom. In 2016 I tried strict Keto and felt like I was desperately trying to fill myself with fat filling mini meals/snacks. I never felt true satiety (it never felt like a MEAL to me) eating a high fat diet, moderate protein and I knew it was not a good fit within a week. Esp. with a past littered with food obsessions and dieting. 

This was not sustainable so I returned to LC Paleo. Last year, December 2017 I was traveling with my husband and had terrible IBS, fatigue and a flare up of joint back pain. There was one meal during our trip (eggs and bacon) that I noticed gave me no IBS symptoms and tons of energy.

I vowed to go carnivore (not knowing it was a thing) when we got home, and I did. Today, I eat two things: anything with a face (No Dairy- as this is a trigger food for me and highly addictive), but mostly beef, black coffee and an occasional piece of 100% dark chocolate. The chocolate really helps me adhere to the carnivore diet for the long haul.

I really don’t feel the need to venture off because I have no more cravings, no urges to binge (also because I am eating til satiety), my hunger hormones are working correctly for the first time, and I my joint inflammation is way down, almost not noticeable. My mood is so much lighter. Im less reactive and PMS is less scary for me and everyone else. My energy is off the charts. It was good before starting this WOE, but now I almost have too much…if this is possible. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with all of it! 🙂 Luckily I am a health coach so I can share this inspiring energy with my clients. Finally my sleep is just as good as it was on Paleo. 

When I started I would wake 30mins earlier than normal but that no longer happens. I sleep 7-8 hrs per night. I rarely have times that I struggle with cravings for foods. If I do it is quickly passes by eating more meat or just ignoring that person in my head. I found that I do need to eat a bit more with my high activity levels and to maintain my muscle mass.

I also fall into a time restricted eating pattern most days but not necessarily purposely. If I wake hungry I would eat but usually I would rather stay fasting until Im really feeling the urge. I eat around 2.5lbs per day, and WO with weights 4x p/wk with daily long walks. I go to infrared sauna 5x week for 30-40mins to reduce DOMS and help with any joint tenderness. I am 158lb and 22% bf. Before CV I weighed 166 and 25% bf. 

Overall this WOE, plus a ton of growth self exploration, drive to improve and knowledge seeking, living my purpose with total acceptance and love of self and others has healed me…FINALLY. I can be my best and thrive at my life’s work as a health coach. When stress gets worse I have tools to stay present and know the emotions will pass. Binge eating is not an attractive option. I did so much work to get here and heal, it has little appeal to ever go back.

I don’t isolate myself like I did, instead I have dedicated my life to helping others achieve their personal wellness/fitness goals. I practice and share the gifts of mediation/self love/nurturing/journaling/real food nutrition/movement/mindfulness. I only surround myself with positive, loving, inspirational people.

I eat big, train hard for a 43 year old woman, play/travel often and am living my purposes. But, most of all, I have unconditional self love, appreciation and acceptance, which makes it possible for me to circulate this out to other living beings and things! I have gained much by my struggles, more than I’ve lost. 

If you would like to contact me, please feel free. I would love to see if there could be research on how this WOE could help people with binge eating and bulimia. I am also open to sharing more of my story and the ways this WOE has saved a girl from her dark passenger – a carb/sugar addiction. 😉 Thanks for offering this safe place to share.

Anastacia