Digestion

Real People, Real Results​

Gina manages IBS, anemia, joint pain, migraines, anxiety, and mood on the carnivore diet

I’m Gina. I’m a 52 year old wife, mom and dental hygienist. I had my two oldest when I was in my early 20s and became very physically active when they were little to stay in shape. I lifted weights and even worked at a gym as a trainer. In my 30s I was involved in karate, and in my 40s and 50s I was running. In the 90s, the “fat makes you fat” idea was in full swing. You could eat all the Snack Well cookies you wanted, just stay away from butter. I followed that but eventually transitioned into more of a mainstream diet most of my life. I also figured I had wiggle room due to being active so I never turned down chips, cookies, cake, etc.

In 2019 I was 49 and had been running several years doing everything from 5ks all the way to ultramarathons. I was looking ahead to 2020 when I would be turning 50 and decided to celebrate by signing up for a 50 mile race. It was a good training year until end of summer, early fall. I started to experience trouble running. I would get very winded and unable to continue. I’d go for a 6 mile run and quit in the first mile or two. My legs felt like they were stuck in wet cement. Severe fatigue, numbness and tingling followed. MS was suspected so I had MRIs, tests and a spinal tap. All came back fine, and I had no diagnosis for the illness.

I quit running for six months, but was desperate to feel better. I began to think about my diet. My best friend and running partner is vegan. Everywhere you turn, vegan is promoted as the healthiest diet. I decided to give it a try. I watched all the documentaries. I liked Game Changers because it was about athletes. I was whole food, plant based for 18 months. At first things went well. I began running again, and it felt good to have such a “healthy” diet. I even got my certification in plant based nutrition. I was gearing up for possibly health coaching.

As time went by, my health began to decline. But I had no idea it was diet related. I had gallbladder pain and an ultrasound revealed a polyp. I had my gallbladder removed. I had IBS for about 10 years, it was mostly manageable but suddenly was becoming really bad. It was interfering with my work. It got so bad at one point it I almost had to quit my job. My cycle became extremely heavy and painful. I had a hysterectomy. Then one night I woke with my heart pounding and I was panting. A trip to the ER revealed severe anemia. They wanted to give me a transfusion, but I managed to hold them off and got 4 weekly iron infusions. My bones and joints began to ache really badly. I was Googling bone cancer. Brain fog and some cognitive issues began to arise. I was sure I was dying from something.

I quit veganism in early 2022, not because I thought the diet was the problem, but because I figured, what’s the point in eating well if I’m just going to feel like garbage anyway. I spent about 6 months alternating between a terrible diet and trying to get back to veganism, but I just was over it. I gained 20 pounds. I felt like my health was in freefall.

Then I read a blog post by The Peasant’s Daughter called “Why I Am No Longer Vegan”. It was the first time the idea that the diet may have been behind my health troubles. Down the rabbit hole I went, consuming everything I could and eventually landed on the countless stories of carnivores.

I transitioned slowly because I wasn’t completely sure it was a good idea. I took things out of my diet like vegetables, kept things like oatmeal, and increased meat. For 2 months I worked toward carnivore, which I think helped me transition because I never got the keto flu. Mid December I was pretty much full carnivore.

I lost the 20 pounds I gained. My joint and bone pain disappeared. My migraines were about 90% gone. Brain fog gone. Energy soared. But the biggest, most wonderful thing has been that my IBS is gone. To live life like a normal person and not have a brain completely consumed with going to the bathroom or holding in gas. Just a feeling of nothing going on in my gut. It is unreal.

I want to learn and devour everything I can about this way of life. I no longer think about food all day. I know that this way of eating could stave off Alzheimer’s which I am at great risk of developing. I’m lifting again and feel better, stronger, more energetic than I have in years. I’m even beginning to talk with my dental patients about this diet. Everyday I see patients trapped in bad metabolic health. My hope is more people can heal like I did.

James recovers from veganism on the carnivore diet

James is from Bermuda and is recovering from a vegan diet. He grew up eating the SAD diet and says, “I was a pretty chunky kid.”

University Diet

James gained a lot of weight at university “from drinking and eating the wrong things.” He became a vegetarian after contracting a Salmonella infection from eating chicken at a restaurant.

Vegan Conversion

When James graduated and moved back home to Bermuda in 2014, he met the woman who is now his wife. She suggested they follow a vegan diet, which they did. They both saw their health improve initially, which James now believes was because “I got off all the processed garbage that I had been eating.”

James and his wife watched all the vegan propaganda movies, and “bought into the whole agenda… we were very strict.” But, the good times would end soon: “It was about the fifth year my health went off the cliff.”

Symptoms of Veganism

James began experiencing brain fog and body pain; a lot of fibromyalgia, and his gums were bleeding profusely. He developed severe anxiety and depression and found his memory getting worse.

He says he was “Was losing weight rapidly, and got down to 127 pounds, at 6’ 2” which is severely emaciated.”

Skin, Nails, and Hair Damage While Losing Blood

“My condition deteriorated. I started to notice my skin was cracking, my nails were cracking, and my hair was falling out. I got severe constipation and ended up with blood in my stools right before the pandemic.”

The End of the Road

James lost his job because the company knew he couldn’t work any longer. “So, I had no job, no insurance, I was bleeding every time I went to the bathroom, I was severely depressed and anxious, and… had no idea how to get out.”

James doubled down on his vegan diet, making smoothies with chia seeds, kale, spinach, and fruit three times a day. He started passing out, had more blood in his stool and ended up in the ER.


Fighting Evolution

He began questioning if plants were harming him and then found Joe Rogan’s podcast with Dr. Baker. He says, “We as humans evolved eating meat, and I’ve got to put this behind me and realize that I had been duped.”

 

Keto to Carnivore

James “began to go the keto route,” lowering his oxalate consumption and slowly working his way toward being a carnivore.

 

Results

“My brain fog started to lift after a couple of days… It wasn’t until I went fully carnivore…that I saw the full benefits.” All of his symptoms, except some of his tinnitus, cleared up on the carnivore diet. He is regaining weight and rebuilding muscle.

“Now with this diet, my stools have never been better; I’m satiated; I don’t feel like I need to snack at all; the food I’m eating is sustaining me, and I can fast if I need to. Unbelievable difference!”

James urges, “If you’re vegan, please realize that it will catch up with you.”

Coach Amanda B heals from migraines, gastroparesis, IBS, gastritis, anxiety, and SIBO

Amanda is located near Eugene, Oregon, and has an amazing healing story.

Becoming Sick

In 2011, Amanda began experiencing intermittent episodes of symptoms. She says, “I was getting intermittent bouts of flu-type symptoms where it was like every three or four months. I just started getting nausea, vomiting, dizziness, lightheadedness, brain fog.” This lasted from 2011 to 2015.”

Her symptoms would continue, worsening over a four year and three doctor period, with no answers or relief.

Daily Illness

“I was having severe diarrhea, vomiting every morning, dry heaving; it just was exhausting. Then to try to go to work after multiple hours of being sick.”

Fecal Block

In 2018, she ended up in the ER, and “they found a fecal block in my small intestine.”

“I had to go through 14 days of a water fast, with two bowel preps, to clear the fecal block in my small intestine.” Amanda had a colonoscopy, which found nothing.

Normal Tests

All of her tests in 2018 were normal. “They never talked to me about diet.”

SIBO!

“At the end of 2019, my sister-in-law said ‘have you ever heard of SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth?” Amanda would learn she did have SIBO, and started following a keto diet. Keto would help a little, but she still had the same symptoms.

Migraine and Seizure

In November 2020, Amanda had a “massive migraine with a seizure, brought on by sugar, that left me with stroke-like symptoms.” She had to stay in her bed, with all the windows covered and silent, and could not walk or dress herself.

Because of visual symptoms, she saw an optometrist, who sent her to a neurologist for an MRI. She was still “completely non-functional.” The neurologist saw something wrong with her optic nerve and some swelling of her cranial arteries and started her on Topamax, which didn’t help at all.

More Meds

She was prescribed hormones and anti-anxiety medications, which only helped a little. Amanda could only look at screens for 15 minutes before going temporarily blind. 2022

By the end of 2021, Amanda still had the same symptoms. A friend suggested that she had idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and Amanda found a carnivore YouTuber who had healed from it.

Carnivore

On February 5, 2022, Amanda started her carnivore diet. “Within 12 days, my visuals were almost completely gone… My head pressure was gone.” Her next MRI would show that the arteries in her head were back to normal.

“By August of last year, I would say that I was about 80 percent better.”

Normal

At this point, Amanda’s eyes have returned to normal. Her neurologist continued to say that she shouldn’t be on a carnivore diet (despite witnessing her progress) while her primary care supported her choice since it helped. Her optometrist is now also following a carnivore diet, as is her father.

She is back to working and is also now a carnivore and fasting coach.

 

Rory improved Joint Pain, Skin problems, Gut Health, and aches On The Carnivore Diet

Rory is from Brisbane, Australia, and says, “I’ve had health problems my whole life; diagnosed at four as an asthmatic. I had tonsils taken out… From that point I’ve had a lot of health issues; mainly asthma, gut related stuff, food intolerances, and then acne as I became a teenager. As an adult, I was a vegetarian when I was 19, to impress this chick on MySpace. Then I was like, hey, this sounds pretty good and I kept going.”

Vegan Phase Fails

“I found out about veganism, and it aligned with my values at the time. I think everyone who goes into it has good intentions.” Rory was originally plant-based, out of “a desire to improve my health.”

“I found that within six months, I had low energy, fatigue, and joint pain, and I started seeing doctors who had no idea how to help me.”

Heart Worries

Rory was also having heart palpitations and “heavy left arm pain” and was worried because he has a strong family history of heart disease.

Adding Meat

Rory slowly started adding some animal products to his diet, and “It helped a little bit, having meat, but I was still on a whole foods diet. I still had low energy, fatigue, candida, brain fog, but the main thing was low energy and joint pain.”

Carnivore Commitment

“One day last year, after seeing all this stuff online about carnivore, I decided to give it a crack because I’m like, I was sick and tired of feeling like crap. I felt like I could eat basically anything, without having a reaction. My skin breaking out and joint pain. I’d eat a bowl of rice, and immediately be inflamed and have joint pain.”

“I found that the only thing I could eat was basically meat, and yeah, it made sense to just go into carnivore.”

Adjustment Issues?

Rory didn’t have too many problems adjusting to a carnivore diet: “There were moments within the first 30 days where I was like, man I’m really sick of this.”

“Week three or week four into it and the cravings…I just adjusted…I started adding in lamb and meat stock for the gut, which was really helpful for me.”

Rory found that his bowel movements reduced to one every two or three days, which he found “weird when I was used to big ones, once a day.” He also had some “keto flu” around day 18 and was bedridden for three days, with four days of diarrhea, but then felt much better afterward.

Improvements

He reports that his gut and digestion are normal now, without any of his old issues. About brain fog, Rory says “it’s helped tremendously, 100%.” He says that “eating this way has given me more mental focus and clarity… I’m able to work longer, harder.” Rory says the changes have also helped with his son, saying, “I’m a better father, because I’ve got myself sorted in this way, and I can really be there for him.”

Denise improves digestion and mental health and loses weight on the carnivore diet

I am a Covid ventilator survivor and started the carnivore diet a few months after release from the hospital in January 2022. Prior to my illness, I was at least 50 pounds over weight.

In early November 2021, I unfortunately contracted Covid and was not getting better after 10 days. Under a doctors supervision, I took Ivermectin and Z-pac, but I could not get Hydroxyclorequin in pill form at that time. It must have been too late to take those protocols as Covid had already done it’s damage and I only got worse. My oxygen started dropping daily, I became very incoherent and on Nov. 24, I had a friend take me to the ER when my oxygen dropped to 67. I had no idea how sick I really was, why it hit me so hard and what terrible things were about to transpire.

At the ER, I was hypoxic and had a pulmonary embolism in my right lung. I was admitted into the hospital and from that day forward my nightmare began. After 10 days of quarantine, on Dec. 4, I was awakened in the early am and was told that I needed to be put on a ventilator. I felt ok and thought I was getting better and was going to be released after my quarantine period so I was shocked to hear that. I was very much against that and was petrified of being put on a vent but was told that I would die if I did not go on one. It all happened so fast and was chaotic that you really do not have a chance to even think about it. Faced with death, you just say ok. By some miracle, I was taken off the vent after 15 days and survived. I had no recollection of any of it and only realized I had been through all of that when told a few days after I got off the vent. Even then I had a difficult time understanding it all and my brain could not comprehend what had taken place.

I had to learn to breathe on my own again, learn to stand, learn to walk and had a difficult time doing simple, normal tasks, like going to the bathroom. By the grace of God I improved and after 37 days in the hospital, I was released on Jan 1, 2022. I had lost approximately 50 pounds while in the hospital and came home at 164 pounds. I also lost most of my hair and had trouble talking and swallowing due to vocal chord damage that thankfully healed. I recuperated a few months with family and at the beginning of March, I started to eat Carnivore to help with my recuperation and healing and to not gain any of the prior weight back.

Prior to my illness, I was at least 50 pounds overweight, at 214 pounds give or take. I am 5’6 ½ inches tall so I carried that much weight pretty well, or so I thought. All blood tests always came back great, except my Cholesterol was a little high from 250-280 and Triglycerides from 256-270. I am 60 years old and I have never been on prescription drugs most of my life except for currently on Eliquis due to my blood clot from Covid. As of my last scan in September my lungs were clear and no more blood clot thank God. I will be getting off of the meds soon. I have never smoked and I never took statin drugs as I wanted to cure myself naturally by losing weight. I exercised and for the most part ate very clean, organic food but ate a lot of fruits, veggies and huge salads, thinking those were so healthy for me. I sometimes ate pasta, pizza and I loved bread but never felt good afterwards. I took good supplements and drank a little wine or a margarita here and there.

I did not feel good after drinking alcohol, had bad brain fog and could not lose any weight no matter what I tried. I started having stomach issues, bloating and felt sick after eating even the smallest of meals. I had days of depression and mood swings. After eating I always felt a vibrating feeling between my belly button and my breast bone and that scared me. I had some joint pain in my shoulder, right wrist, and foot pain. I just felt off and not good and wanted to get to the bottom of why I felt so bad so I went to see a rheumatologist. I thought I must have an auto-immune disease. All tests came back fine and I was told there was nothing wrong with me other than needing to lose some weight.

My friend Al told me about your videos and Dr. Berry and I had been watching them all for a while and was very excited to start the diet. The only apprehension I had was if the diet was safe while being on blood thinners and after all I had been through. I found no evidence that it would not be safe. I have been taking Eliquis since I left the hospital. I could not ask my GP if it was ok to start the diet while on blood thinners because she was always trying to get me to take a Statin drug for my cholesterol. She would tell me I was crazy to do such a diet as she had always recommended the SAD diet. I would like to know your thoughts on taking blood thinners while on the diet as I have not seen any Carnivore podcasts on that subject yet.

I have been on the diet now for 11 months and have kept off any weight gain since I came home from the hospital. All of my brain fog is gone and I have never felt so clear and alert. Definitely improved mood and mental clarity. I have more energy and no more issues with my stomach or bloating. My skin looks great and my hair is growing back nicely. My A1C test in August 2022 was 5.2. My last A1C test before that one was in 2017 and was 5.8 so I was very happy with that result.

I have not had any alcohol and surprisingly that was the easiest thing to give up. Prior to my illness, I loved my wine and margaritas but I do not miss drinking at all. The hardest thing for me when starting the diet was not having any sweets or breads. I never had a real bad sweet tooth but I did enjoy some sweet snacks here and there. I had some really bad cravings for pizza, bread and chocolate cake for whatever reason. I even had dreams about chocolate cake, lol!! Those were tough and lasted for weeks but I fought through it. I soon lost all cravings for the junk food and started craving a steak, my ground beef, bacon and eggs. My appetite shrank so much and most days I only do OMAD, one meal a day. My hunger is manageable and I only eat when I start to feel hungry. I primarily drink water and sparkling waters and occasional home brewed unsweetened iced tea. The only thing I could not give up was my morning coffee. Hey, we have to at least have one vice!! I drink 2 cups a day with a little coconut oil or a low carb 4g non GMO coconut creamer.

The only negative thing so far that I experienced with this diet early on and still occasionally has been some constipation. Not sure why that is, could it be the coffee or creamer? I mostly have very regular bowel movements once a day.

Unfortunately, losing the weight I did so traumatically, I also lost most of my muscle mass which has been really hard to see. I had great leg, calf and arm muscles which is now all gone. I am going to be starting a workout routine with weights to slowly gain back that muscle that was lost. I know that being on the carnivore diet will help my body/muscles to get back to where they were before. I am feeling stronger every day and look forward to my healthier, better life going forward. I would love to hear your advice on the best ways to regain lost muscle mass. I know that muscle has memory as my leg function came back pretty quickly thank God. What a rollercoaster this all has been.

Thank you, Dr. Baker, for all you do and for your never ending inspiration.

Coach Aaron B healed from Lymphocytic Colitis and Ankylosing Spondylitis on the carnivore diet

Coach Aaron lives in Waco, Texas, where he is a licensed massage therapist as well as an instructor and personal trainer. As a child, he grew up always hearing from his mother that fat and meat were bad, Aaron’s mom was an herbalist and always taught him as a kid that fat and meat were bad. His father was more animal-based. He brought home chicharrones and cow tongue from his job at a tortilla factory.

Becoming A Massage Therapist

Aaron decided to become a massage therapist after receiving assistance from one following a back injury.

Colitis

When Aaron developed colon problems later, the symptoms were severe. “Upset stomach; urgency to get up and go to the restroom first thing when I wake up. I had runny stools, and I was just cramping and bloating with some nausea.”

He was diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis in 2010 and had to take medication to control the symptoms. “I was on Asacol, which is a medicine that I was told I was gonna have to take for the rest of my life. I haven’t been taking it, so it’s been years.”

 

Green Smoothies?

Aaron used his mom’s treatment philosophy and was doing shakes and smoothies with kale, broccoli, and spinach but was still having a lot of problems. He was told he would need to be medicated for the rest of his life.

Ankylosing Spondylitis

In 2016, Aaron was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and autoimmune arthritis. He saw four rheumatologists and was told he had the gene for this disease. He went on biologic drugs, Humira infusions, costing $6000/month.

Keto Woes

In 2019, Aaron’s family were all doing ketogenic diets. His wife was baking a lot of keto-compliant sweetened cheesecakes and baking with nut flours. She used a lot of erythritol and other non-nutritive sweeteners, which can be very inflammatory to some individuals. Aaron continued to have severe problems.

Carnivore Diet Wins

In 2020, his wife suggested a carnivore diet for Aaron and his son. “In 2019, we were all doing keto, and with the colitis I had going I was still suffering because of the nut flours, the digestive inhibitors that are in almonds and stuff…in 2020… I thought ‘really? A carnivore diet? I don’t know about that-I don’t know if I want to go all animal-based. I don’t think that’s sustainable.”

Aaron looked for information about the diet and found the Joe Rogan interview with Dr. Shawn Baker. When he watched it, he thought “Wow this is something I’m going to have to commit to.” Aaron then went on the carnivore diet and it solved all the problems he was having!

He has been off Humira for over a year since then, with no problems. Aaron finds that his dental health has improved, as well as a chronic foot and toe infection. Even his sense of smell is better, and a long-term anxiety issue is also solved. He is now committed to this way of eating!

Allison cleared alpha-gal symptoms on a carnivore diet

Allison lives near the Appalachian mountains in western Maryland. She had heard of the meat-based elimination diet about six months before trying it, but was “super resistant to it. I was like, ‘there’s no way, I can’t eat this way, boring’ but when I hit rock bottom, what I felt like, I said ‘I’ve tried everything else; I’m gonna do it.”

In The Beginning

Allison was always used to being “on the go, on the move” despite having been “sickly” since an early age. She says that “in high school, it really flared up; I never made it through a single year without getting a medical waiver because I’d missed more than the allotted days.”

Allison went through college “with a box of tissues all the time” as she was always feeling congested. “No one could ever tell me why I was always sick like this.”

Menses and Cysts

After she started getting her menstrual cycle, Allison also developed golf-ball to baseball-sized chronic cysts on her ovaries. She later learned that refined sugars would trigger the cysts.

Medicines for the cysts caused her anxiety, leading to more medications.

Acne

Allison had cystic acne her whole life and assumed that this spectrum of problems was normal for women.

The Vegetarian Years

As a teenager, Allison gave in to peer pressure and became a vegetarian for about seven years. After becoming a paramedic, she was exposed to different peer pressure: “luckily in my first year there, the guys kind of shamed me into eating some steak and bacon, and I thank them to this day for that.”

Weight Issues

“I gained weight as a woman. I’m entering my 20’s and I’m starting to gain weight…low-fat everything, skim milk, whole wheat pasta, ground chicken instead of ground beef, and I got nowhere. I couldn’t understand; I was eating low-fat everything and working out really hard.”

Despite cooking all of her own food, using fermented foods and sprouted grains, and freshly baked bread, Allison continued to have trouble maintaining her weight and avoiding symptoms. She began developing rashes and low-grade fevers, and her acne got worse as well as her gut function. Her doctors tried eight different antibiotics, plus steroids, over just one year.

Alpha-Gal

In 2021, she was also diagnosed with Alpha-Gal, which causes a red meat allergy.

From Chocolate to Carnivore

After a chocolate binge and weeks of suffering in 2022, Allison decided to commit to following a carnivore diet, though she initially ate only chicken and turkey because of the Alpha-Gal. After three months, she no longer tested positive for the allergy and began adding red meat.

“I have a healthy three-day cycle with no pain, no bloating, no acne. No doctor ever told me that my cycle wasn’t supposed to be hell week once a month.” She sleeps better and has better energy, and her weight is stabilized.

“I’m addicted to feeling good now. I don’t eat for social or emotional or addiction reasons anymore. I eat just to nourish my body, and that’s it!”

Irina overcame candida infection, vitamin D deficiency, and vasculitis on a carnivore diet

Years of Chronic Illnesses

Irina struggled with many different ailments before she found the carnivore diet diet. She had Candida, IBS, a vitamin D deficiency since birth, bleeding gums, vasculitis that manifested when she was a teenager, PCOS, chronic inflammation, and exercise induced asthma. Her doctors told her, “this is just how it is, some people are just affected with these things.” Irina was in her mid-20’s and didn’t want to accept this, so she tried to approach her problems with nutrition.

Before starting her carnivore diet, Irina tried vegetarian, pescatarian, a veggie and meat combination diet, and keto. The keto diet caused her to gain weight and have digestive problems. She thinks now that it was because she ate too many nuts and nut products and veggies with fiber. All that fiber gave her painful bloating. Also, she never felt satisfied and had to eat constantly throughout the day.

None of these diets helped her various ailments. She continued to have IBS, joint pain from inflammation (swollen ankles or knees) and asthma with lots of coughing when she exercised, a cyst on her ovary, Candida flares, chronically low vitamin D, gums that bled when she flossed, and vasculitis.

Fed Up Taking Medications

Dealing with her candida flares, the PCOS, and her other conditions came to a head when Irina was 31. She became “fed up with doctors just trying to give me medication.”

She believes that the body is designed to be healthy and she was doing something that prevented it from working properly. “I just wanted to find what it was.” At this point she decided to try the carnivore diet because she “was already kind of a hot mess.”

Her Husband Introduces Irina to the Diet

About two months before she did, Irina’s husband started the diet. She saw his eczema clear up, and this made an impression. In May of 2020 her husband showed her Dr. Baker’s podcast with Joe Rogan and she thought, “I have to try this. I have nothing to lose.”

Life After the New Way of Eating

Irina says she gets full and eats less than before. She enjoys eggs and bacon or natural sausage for lunch and various meats for dinner—pork, cheaper cuts of beef for slow-cooking, lamb, liver once a week, and sometimes chicken thighs. She enjoys the simplicity of the carnivore diet because there are few ingredients and meals are easy to prepare.

Irina now exercises about four days per week doing weight training and high intensity workouts without asthma, joint pain or swelling, and with faster recovery.

An ultrasound at the end of 2020 revealed that the cyst on her ovary was gone. There are no signs of inflamed capillaries from vasculitis, she doesn’t have IBS, no Candida flares, her dentist told her she has healthy gums—they never bleed anymore—and a blood test showed normal vitamin D levels, without any supplementation.

Since going on her carnivore diet she “hasn’t had a single recurrence of any of this stuff. It’s like a magic cure.”

Tracy improved SIBO/IBS, menopausal symptoms, A1C, brain fog, and energy on carnivore diet

Tracy is a fitness and nutrition coach, who lives in Frisco, Texas. She is a cancer survivor that has overcome a number of health problems with the help of a meat-based elimination diet.

 

History of Issues

She grew up eating the standard American diet, and contracted mononucleosis at age 17. This resulted in a number of chronic immune issues. Tracy ate a “whole food plant-based diet” for 15 years, which resulted in gut problems that her doctor said were irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Tracy says this diagnosis wasn’t helpful, because it “was a code word for ‘we have no idea what the hell is wrong with you!”

She became a fitness trainer and nutrition coach, and “did cleanses” but still experienced lots of bloating, constipation, and fatigue.

Tracy’s symptoms were so severe that she went to ER several times, “looking eight months pregnant and they would say, ‘oh you know, drink some Metamucil, eat more fiber, eat low fat.” She would later realize that fiber was causing her to bloat and damaging her intestines.

Cancer Diagnosis

“10 years after I had some of those digestive problems I had my appendix out, and then 10 years later I ended up being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and I was the poster child of health and fitness.”

“I did all the ‘right’ things and I still got cancer.”

She endured 28 chemo and radiation sessions, and had to wait to heal because she was irradiated so badly. “I ended up having to have a permanent colostomy bag, so that was devastating.”

Still Problems; SIBO

Tracy still experienced symptoms and discomfort after her cancer treatment. She did get some improvement from fasting but found her gut health never really improved completely.

“So I was diagnosed then with SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth, which they say about 80% of ‘IBS’ sufferers have SIBO, right?”

Health at Last

Tracy found a protocol that included the first two weeks being on a carnivore diet. She found that she didn’t know how to cook a steak, but started following the protocol. The results happened quickly: “I’ll tell you what, I felt amazing…I have never felt so clear-minded. I think it was so many years that I didn’t even know I was suffering with brain fog, but all of a sudden it was like the veil came down and I felt like I could see things so much clearer. A lot of my inflammation was gone, I felt leaner, my stomach felt better, and that was 2019.”

Since her body is now burning ketones for fuel, she has found that her energy is much more stable. Tracy practices intermittent fasting, and eats eggs, avocado, raw cheese, steak or burgers at night. “I really love a ribeye!”

“I just feel better when I stick to an animal-based diet…my energy is better and…when I’m eating that way I’m able to function at a higher level.”

Martin improves ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis on the carnivore diet

A Rough Start

Early in life, Martin developed psoriasis, and by age 16 was at about 85% coverage, with cracking joints as well. He gained weight to 215 pounds after school, and continued trying different diets. He also developed IBS, and was told “you’re going to have to deal with it,” and was given medications that didn’t help much.

Martin even tried to go vegan, after watching a “documentary” about sports teams and vegan diets. “I started doing the smoothies, and all of that stuff, kale and spinach. “I lasted probably a week, and my IBS completely disintegrated me and I couldn’t keep anything down, and I felt completely like crap.” It also made his skin condition worse.

Over time, his psoriasis progressed to psoriatic arthritis, and while his skin looked a bit better, his joints hurt far worse.

After experiencing some acute back pain, “my body went into full inflammation… there was barely a joint or part of my body that didn’t hurt. The fire in my skin over parts of my body raged for days and then weeks. It didn’t matter if I was moving or staying still, I just hurt all the time.”

More Diagnoses

Martin was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis and fibromyalgia. “I tested positive for HLA B27. In the next few weeks, I got the next diagnosis of fibromyalgia.”

They suggested Mycophenolate which is an immunosuppressant medication and a high dose of vitamin K.

Martin researched both diagnoses and the prescribed medication. His thoughts turned dark: “Your dreams of retirement holidays, playing hockey or riding my motorcycle… all seem impossible now. I might be able to postpone the main event of the diagnosis but this might be the best I am.”

Michaela Peterson and Friends

“I stumbled upon a TedX talk about a woman that had her knee and hip replaced by age seventeen because of an autoimmune illness. At around 20ish she tried the ‘carnivore’ diet and within a relatively short period of time, she recovered from a lot of the pain and joint discomfort. I listened to Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Ken Barry, Dr. Anthony Chaffee, and Dr. Paul Saladino.

Began Carnivore Diet

Martin considered the immunosuppressant medications that were recommended and looked up the side effects. This made him decide to try the carnivore diet. “March 3rd, I went all in.”

On the 18th day, he woke up without his IBS and joint pain raging. “I woke up and my system was quiet. Nothing, no pressure to go. No heartburn… it was eerie.”

Later, Martin’s pain level dropped further to a 4/5. After 90 days, Martin had: “No more IBS. Suffered for 40+ years. Cleared 95% of my psoriasis which I had since 10. Lost 35lbs. Played my first hockey game!”

220 Days In

Martin continues to heal his IBS, psoriasis, and weight. He has noticed more resistance to sunburn, reduced body odor, a better sense of smell, and far better athletic endurance when weightlifting. He is off of all medications.

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