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Real People, Real Results

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

March 22, 2023 No Comments

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.”

Allison cleared alpha-gal symptoms on a carnivore diet

February 6, 2023 No Comments

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!”

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

January 19, 2023 No Comments

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.”

Daniel and Ed thrive on a carnivore diet

January 19, 2023 No Comments

Ed started a keto diet as a way to improve his focus and productivity, and noticed that it provided more consistent energy. His father had been working on losing weight, and had lost weight and found productivity and mood improved on a carnivore diet.

Ed wanted these gains for himself, so he started the diet also. “I was like, damn this is crazy so let me hop on this carnivore thing and try it out. I tried it out and that’s exactly what I saw for myself as well.”

Dan Needed Help

Dan was working with a different set of circumstances, and needed more than optimization-he needed help!

Ed and Dan followed the “Typical bodybuilding advice; eat high carb, take protein powders, all that and yeah it worked really well for building muscle but my skin got absolutely terrible” reports Dan. That wasn’t the only problem this diet caused, however.

Dan said “I have a bit of a history with depression, and I just felt like garbage all the time, and then my skin got to the point where I had these massive cysts on my skin, like huge volcanoes, and even have a scar where I had to have surgery on one of them. It was awful!”

Prescription Drugs Didn’t Work

“I went to the doctors…they chucked me on this pill called Accutane…man, that pill is evil, dangerous. Although it did make my acne go away, it literally destroyed my whole body. I got shin splints on it the entire time, tore both my labrums in my shoulders, and then was in bed for six months with debilitating pain before starting carnivore. The doctors said it was all in my head and the drug didn’t cause it. I got ADHD and depression; they said there’s no cure for ADHD. They chucked me on Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin, all this stuff and I was on so many drugs and I’ve seen all my friends play sports, and I’m just like, ‘this isn’t really the life I want to live. I feel pretty hopeless.”

Dan gained weight, and had to drop out of university because of his pain. His doctors told him that he would be this way for the rest of his life, which drove him to research more, looking for answers. He found the diet, and “life wasn’t even worth living at that point, so I went all in.”

Carnivore Diet Wins

Dan lost 30 kilos in five months (66 pounds), cured his depression, and reduced his chronic pain to the point that now he’s working on rebuilding strength. He eats mostly meat, and finds that he has to avoid fruit or he feels worse and develops cravings. “I fully got my life back!”

Ed also benefited, optimizing his sleep, improving his sprint speed, and finding more energy and focus. He does eat a little fruit and has no problems with portion control.

These two young men have both optimized their health through a carnivore diet!

Chana heals from NAFLD, skin issues, digestive issues, and pre-diabetes on a carnivore diet

January 10, 2023 No Comments

Chana is located in Israel and has been on a carnivore diet for nine months. Her career was in music education, and she had been teaching as an orchestra director in New York and Pennsylvania since 1973. She also taught string instruments privately and in groups.

Vegan Misadventures

She always thought of herself as “into health,” and in 1982, “I decided to become a vegetarian, thinking that was a great way to go with my health because I gained a little weight after my first child, and then a year later I became a vegan and, um, way too restrictive! I actually felt okay for a while, then in the 90’s…couldn’t pinpoint it but I wasn’t feeling as well. When I get into these things, I’m very strict. Very little protein, and even less fat. You’d spread a little oil on the pan to saute some kind of vegetable and that’s about the amount of fat you got.”

Every time some health problem would arise, Chana would try to further tweak her diet. She now knows that she should have tweaked it by “getting rid of the diet, adding some protein and fat, get rid of the carbs.”

Raw Foods?

Then Chana started eating more raw foods, and “then I really wasn’t feeling so good,” and she realized this diet tweak didn’t help at all.

Paleo

Chana tried Paleo “which helped a little bit but not enough to be ketogenic.” She found out about carnivore from a friend who was doing it. She thought about it for several months, but her friend wasn’t doing it anymore.

Fatty Liver and PBC

She was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Chana also had reflux problems for a long time.

Carnivore Wins

Chana started the carnivore diet on her birthday last year. She had problems with her adrenals and hypothyroid, “along with some yo-yo dieting things from the past where I was eating too many carbs.”

She has been able to minimize the level of bio identical hormones she takes, and after six weeks on the diet, her liver enzymes began to normalize. Chana experienced other changes in her blood work, with “cholesterol has gone up to 322, my HDL is 114, LDL is 197. Triglycerides are 53.” These values reflect some very healthy ratios, such as a triglyceride to HDL ratio well below 1.0. Her reflux completely vanished after six weeks on the diet.

Chana has also seen a big improvement in her energy levels: “I get much more accomplished. Before carnivore I was in bed a lot; I was exhausted.”

Her weight also went from 154 down to 125 in about six weeks!

As far as Revero goes, Chana feels “it has been a major source of help and camaraderie and community, and it’s really a wonderful platform to be part of because there’s so much support.” She is now a coach on the platform!

Alan improved training recovery and marathon time by 28.5 minutes in one year on the carnivore diet

December 17, 2022 No Comments

Alan is a 61-year-old runner who has been eating carnivore for approximately 8 months. The diet changed everything for him. “I call it the Fountain of Youth,” he quips.

Always Counting Calories

Alan battled with his weight all his life. At 6 ft tall, he was his heaviest at 305 pounds.

About 5 years ago he decided to lose weight because he was metabolically ill. He describes his weight loss as 7 months of starving himself. “I was cold and tired and hungry all the time.” He got down to 195 pounds.

Alan started running and then began training for marathons. He says he had a hard time figuring out what to eat to give him energy and keep his weight down. He wanted to stay lean so he could run faster and ate a lot of chicken and broccoli and counted calories. The high fiber veggies gave him gas and made him bloat.

He describes feeling cold, tired, hungry, and exhausted with a lot of muscle aches. Plus, he had no muscle mass.

Although he felt better after his weight loss, he says that “ it really wasn’t sustainable.”

Alan wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon and started searching for something to help him have better energy when he trained.

Exploring Diets

Searching for a way to improve his performance, he discovered how saturated fats may be good for you.

Alan started keto about a year ago. He ate lean meats, such as chicken breasts, along with lots of low-carb veggies. Keto helped with his recovery but not his muscle mass.

About 7 months ago, Alan challenged a family member to start eating the “beef, bacon, and eggs diet.” His carnivore journey had begun.

Immediate Results

Alan’s digestive issues completely resolved. Overall he “trained more, felt better, got more sleep, and had constant energy.”

The biggest change for him was his recovery. He went from training 5 days per week to 6 and increased his miles from 45 to 65 per week.

Body Transformation

Alan started with a few pushups and squats—no weights—and within a month he was getting abs.

He gained an inch on his quads, gluts, and arms. Currently he’s up to 100 push-ups and 100 squats.

Alan qualified for the Boston Marathon with a time of 3:43. After carnivore he improved his marathon time by 11 percent. He says he doesn’t need carbs to train and trains fasted every morning.

No Cravings

Alan says that carnivore has eliminated his carb and sugar addictions and he’s satiated after a meal.

He eats a lot of beef and eggs, salts his food, and uses electrolytes because he sweats so much. He eats a 20 ounce ribeye, a few slices of bacon, and 4 or 5 eggs for breakfast and another ribeye or 1.5 pounds of very fatty ground beef at dinner.

Loves People

Alan wants to help people get healthier and tells everyone he can about his success eating carnivore.

Coach Evan reverses ankylosing spondylitis on a carnivore diet

November 30, 2022 No Comments

Ever since Evan was young, he had an insatiable hunger that caused him binge eat, in addition to his other daily struggles of ADHD, OCD, brain fog and fatigue. When he turned eleven—embarrassed by his heavy frame—he decided to go on a diet. Following the conventional wisdom at the time, he started eating a low-calorie/low-fat diet, full of lots of “healthy” whole grains, seed oils and tofu. He lost 30 pounds, but describes his body composition as “skinny fat ” at the time. He also couldn’t help noticing that he was a lot weaker than his fellow classmates. Using sheer willpower alone, Evan struggled with yo-yo dieting and calorie counting throughout high school, but it wasn’t until he entered college that the real trouble began.

“Out of nowhere,” Evan says, “I became incredibly depressed, anxious and suicidal.” He tried exercising daily to combat his negative feelings, but saw zero improvement. Exasperated, he turned his focus to his diet, and in his research experienced the cognitive dissonance that goes along with learning that animal fat is an important part of the human diet, while also simultaneously being the main driver of heart attacks and cancer. In the end, the “experts” won out, and Evan persisted in following their low-fat/high carb recommendations—to no avail. “I just felt worse and worse—I wasn’t getting better at all.”

After years of declining health, a defeated Evan began binge drinking and eating candy to deal with his frustrations. He eventually was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis—an autoimmune condition that runs in his family that affects the spine. He would go on to gain 40 pounds, and when hospitalized with bruises all over his body, nausea, diarrhea and night sweats, his doctors told him that his symptoms were most likely psychosomatic.

Finally, in 2020, one of his friends—who happened to be on the carnivore diet—invited him over for a steak. After eating it, Evan was surprised by how satiated he felt, and ended up not eating for the rest of the day. He woke up the next morning still feeling full, so he decided to give the carnivore diet a try. After the first week, Evan had lost ten pounds, and while he didn’t feel great—he didn’t feel terrible either. “Within the next two weeks, all of a sudden my depression and my anxiety had vanished, my Ankylosing Spondylitis had gotten 90% better, the numbness in my hands was gone, my bruising started going away, my asthma went away, my heartburn went away, my digestive issues went away…my libido came back—pretty much everything you can think of went away within two or three weeks.” He also noticed a remarkable improvement in his ADHD and OCD symptoms. “My whole outlook on life is a lot different: I’m a lot more motivated, a lot more friendly, outgoing, happy. So, pretty much, everything for me has changed.” His friends and family all agree. “I’m not the same beaten down person that I was before.”

Darby manages graves’ disease and type 1 diabetes on low-carb diet

November 26, 2022 No Comments

Darby grew up being plagued by every kind of allergy imaginable. At 5 years old, he was diagnosed with hundreds—from trees to weeds to bee stings and everything in between. At 11, he needed reconstructive sinus surgery due to the many sinus infections over the years, and later had to have his tonsils out as well. As the years passed, the allergy shots helped a bit, but his health problems inhibited his ability to engage in the sports he loved. Fast forward to 2013, and Darby begins to experience heart palpitations, which are dismissed by doctors, as they advised him simply to “stay away from caffeine.”

In 2015, he was hospitalized with a heart attack, and two weeks later with another one again. This time, his doctor was wise enough to check his thyroid panel. He was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, and was given more medication to manage yet another health condition. He was able to feel a bit better and add a few pounds to his underweight frame, but in January of this year there was even more crushing news. Darby was diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes. In his mid-thirties, his mind was filled with dread as to what could possibly come next. In a moment of sheer desperation, he prayed for an answer. Not long after, he found Shawn Baker and the Revero community.

“Behold, I was messing around YouTube and I stumbled upon you and Dr. Ken Berry initially, so I started watching video after video…and realized that maybe my issue had been plant material this entire time. What is it that is causing my body to attack itself? Is it the oxalates? Is it the lectins?”

In March, Darby slowly transitioned to the carnivore diet, and after two weeks, he didn’t need to take insulin anymore. By mid-April, he was able to come off his Graves’ disease medication, and this past October his labs revealed his thyroid hormone levels were completely normal. Now, he’s able to do things he’s only dreamed of; running, lifting weights, and carrying his daughter on his shoulders for hours at Disney World. He’s also free from the allergies and sinus infections that have haunted him his whole life.

“It’s absolutely amazing. It completely blew my mind, and—it’s strangely satisfying. I do not have a craving to eat anything but meat anymore.”

Darby started off doing a strict version of the carnivore diet—his meals consisting of red meat, salt and water. He has since branched out to add pork, eggs, and chicken, but he’s planning to go back to a stricter approach soon, as he believes that was one of the reasons for his rapid recovery.

“I can’t say how truly thankful I am—from the bottom of my heart—for what [Shawn Baker] and people like Ken Berry and Anthony Chaffee do on a daily basis to try and help people, because it really, truly is amazing. It’s a miracle—like nothing I’ve ever seen. I was told that, you can’t cure this. This is what you’re going to be for the rest of your life… If it wasn’t for you…I would have never known. I would have just stayed being sick on the SAD diet and getting sicker.”

As far as Darby’s concerned, he has a new lease on life, and when asked whether this diet is worth the risks, he says “Bring it on!”

Bradley improved fat loss, muscle gain, sciatica, cognition, and athletic performance

November 15, 2022 No Comments

When Bradley joined the army straight out of college, he never really gave much thought about nutrition. “I think—like a lot of young soldiers—I just ate whatever I wanted with the expectation that I was going to burn off all the pizza and beer.” It slowly caught up with him, however, and by the time his four years in the army were over, he had gained twenty pounds and was experiencing lower back pain. Shortly after leaving active duty, he was diagnosed with bulging disks around his L5-S1. A back surgery in 2018 mostly solved the issue, but there was still lingering stiffness in his lower back and leg.

As the years rolled on, Bradley continued to try to better his health with limited success. Then, when he got deployed overseas in 2020 with the Army Reserve, a friend recommended the ketogenic diet. “I was calorie restricting, I was running 20 to 30 miles a week…I was just exhausting myself…and I just wasn’t seeing any real positive results.” Thinking a military base would be an ideal environment for a controlled dietary experiment, he took the plunge and overnight cut out processed foods, sugars and sodas, while loading up his plate with all the protein and fat he could find.

“Some people talk about switching to low carb and seeing positive effects in a couple of days or weeks—but for me—it took about 20 minutes…I couldn’t finish that plate of food. This was really my first introduction to satiety.” After that, Bradley was off to the races. He lost 30 pounds over a six week period, and eighteen months later is happy to report that he is the healthiest he’s ever been. “I look better, my skin feels healthier, I’m stronger than I was before I injured myself—and the pain that was lingering after the surgery vanished in a matter of weeks…This was such a perspective shift for me—showing how quickly you can turn around your health just by putting proper fuel in your body.”

His Achilles heel—an insatiable sweet tooth—also disappeared within a matter of days. “In the past, if there was an Oreo in front of me, I’d have eat the whole box…and now…I just have no desire for it.” About to turn 33, Bradley now confidently lifts heavy weights at the gym without fear of injury, or experiencing any soreness the next day. “I just compare that to running five days a week in the past, and I would wake up and my shins would be on fire.” He’s also been able to attain greater mental clarity and concentration, something he found particularly useful when pursuing his Master’s degree.

“The surprising thing to me about the carnivore diet, was really how little effort it took. You know, it’s not about discipline—everybody thinks it is—but it’s really not. I didn’t lack for discipline running 30 miles a week, but then I couldn’t control myself in front of candy. So, it wasn’t a discipline issue, it was about ‘How is your brain wired to think about food?’ and ‘What kind of food are you putting in it?’”

Christina Manages Hypoglycemia And Is Headed To The World Masters Athletics Championships

November 7, 2022 No Comments

An avid athlete, Christina grew up on red meat and casseroles. When she got to college, however, she swapped out the red meat for a “healthier” diet of grilled chicken, salad, protein shakes and Special K cereal—the low-fat / high-carb diet recommended to athletes the world over.

Initially a soccer player, she got recruited to run track her sophomore year of college, when the track coach attended a game and noticed her speed. Happy to avoid future injury on the soccer field, Christina agreed to try out—the coach suggesting she run the 400 meter dash. “The first time I ran it collegiately—I didn’t even know how to come out of blocks—I ran 58 seconds. So, he was like, ‘Oh, we’re keeping you in track!’”

Christina would go on to become a two-time All-American, but behind the scenes of her athletic success, she was struggling to manage severe hypoglycemia. Even though she would make sure to load up on carbs before every race, it still wasn’t enough to help her avoid a crash—sometimes leading to her passing out. As she neared graduation, she started to experience painful gut issues as well, and although she had Olympic dreams—with her health problems persisting—she decided to hang up her cleats.

After college, Christina became a teacher and track coach in rural Nebraska. She also went on to get married and start a family, and was blessed with two beautiful daughters. On her 30th birthday, she came down with a terrible case of the flu. While miserable and sick in bed, she discovered Dr. Ken Berry’s book, Lies My Doctor Told Me. After reading it, she decided to incorporate red meat back into her diet, and within a month—she felt drastically different.

Christina’s bloating and stomach distress completely disappeared. Her hypoglycemia went away, and since going on the carnivore diet, she hasn’t had a single hypoglycemic episode in four and a half years! Her passion for running was also reignited, and she began training with a coach again, who encouraged her to compete at the Masters level. She also has a six-pack and more muscle now in her mid-thirties than she had in her twenties.

Christina’s athletic goals took a slight detour after she became pregnant with her son. She continued to eat a carnivore diet throughout all 9 months of her pregnancy, joking, “I built this child on steak and eggs!” She observed that she experienced much less fatigued with her third pregnancy than her previous two—and her body bounced back so quickly—she was able to return to training only seven weeks giving the birth!

A little over a decade after she kissed her athletic aspirations goodbye, Christina is now an 800 meter specialist running world class times. Over the last two years, she has won 4 National Titles in the 800m and the 1500m, and is currently training for her first World Team event in Toruń, Poland in March of 2023. She beams with joy as she says, “I’m super excited—it’ll be my first Team USA uniform.”