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Marcel manages psoriatic arthritis on the carnivore diet

January 6, 2023 No Comments

Marcel is working on completing his Advanced Nurse Practitioner training, and was focused on health. But, health was something that was eluding him. Perhaps his health challenges were one of the things that made him decide to be a healthcare provider as well.

Psoriasis Worsening-Marcel Develops Psoriatic Arthritis

Marcel had been struggling with psoriasis for 17 years, and the condition had worsened as it gradually covered his hands and his torso almost completely. Because psoriasis is an autoimmune condition, it can lead to other tissues being attacked, including the joints. Marcel developed psoriatic arthritis five years ago.

The progression of Marcel’s health problems accelerated, as he found himself experiencing sleep apnea and a vitamin B12 deficiency, as well as problems with lactic acid accumulation in his muscles.

Immune System Blocking Medication

Four years ago, Marcel began taking medications for the psoriasis. The drug was an immune system blocker, known as a TNF blocker. This resulted in some control of his psoriasis, and eliminated the inflammation in his joints. However, it left Marcel “Always tired, with muscle cramps. Just struggling with the symptoms of an autoimmune disease.”

Sometimes bad things can force us to make good changes, and Marcel was about to experience this paradox. His son became ill, and Marcel had to work from home so that he could take care of his son. “That week, I felt just fine, and that week I took my psoriatic arthritis medication.”

Illness Forces a Quest for Better Answers

One of the problems with immune-system blocking medication is that it can leave you very vulnerable to other infections that the immune system would normally protect you from.

The result was quite severe for Marcel: “The next day I became ill, I got a fever and a sore throat. I got a throat infection, and as a result a huge psoriasis flare up. I was covered from my scalp to the bottom of my feet. Feeling utterly hopeless and tired of being sick, I just went searching for possible solutions. Being an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Training, being sick does not compute with the way I want to live.”

As many of us have, Marcel began a desperate search for answers online. He found the now-famous Joe Rogan podcast, where he was interviewing Dr. Shawn Baker. He wondered if the carnivore diet could be the solution.

30-Day Commitment Leads to Success

Marcel talked it over with his girlfriend, and they decided he should commit to trying carnivore for one month, staying very strict. The results were very promising, and his psoriasis began to vanish! Marcel’s joint pain eased as well, and for the first time he began to have hope. He continued on the diet.

Experiencing some inflammatory flare-ups because of two “cheat days” around Christmas, Marcel found his body was not forgiving about his diet. Nine weeks after starting his carnivore journey, his psoriasis is completely gone! He still has some scarring from the lesions, but perhaps these will fade over time. Marcel is now a carnivore diet believer!

Larry reversed diabetes on carnivore diet

December 2, 2019 5 Comments

Hello, my name is Larry. I am a U. S. Army Veteran Sgt., GI Bill College graduate, and a retired aerospace engineer.

 

I died, for real

 

I had a heart attack and died while riding my bicycle 10 miles from my home. A truck drive broke several of my ribs reviving me. Two weeks later, I woke up in a commercial hospital staring at a blue wall. I was then transferred to the VA hospital where I got a triple bypass heart surgery done. My VA primary care doctor failed to notice any symptoms previous to my heart attack. My type 2 diabetes got worse. I got a fatty liver, fatty pancreas, and stage 3 kidney disease. He had me on 14 drugs many which were statins, and he told me to eat a high carbohydrate, low fat diet, with lots of vegetables, and very little salt. I decided to eliminate salt completely from my diet, because it was so bad for my health. This resulted in muscle spasms and vomiting. Then I got congestive heart failure. My neighbors took me to their hospital emergency. The hospital removed 20 pounds of water from my legs.   My VA primary care continued the medications. I had brain fog so bad that someone thought I had alzheimer’s disease and took advantage of me. That is when I decided to take charge of my own health.

 

I had brain fog so bad that someone thought I had alzheimer’s disease and took advantage of me. That is when I decided to take charge of my own health.

 

My own research

 

I started searching the internet for answers. I found an 1863 weight loss diet by William Banting (LCHF). I finally put together a low carbohydrate/high fat diet of my own. I have since then transitioned to a ketogenic diet that resulted in me going through Sugar Addiction Withdrawal which gave me an itchy rash for 2 weeks. I am finally on a carnivore diet that I patterned after neurobiologist and clinical researcher, Dr. Zsófia Clemens recommendations. I am 4 pounds away from my high school football weight. I am walking, and lifting weights again. In a recent appointment, Cardiology could not find anything wrong with me. This resulted in me giving 3 extemporaneous lectures. The last one included a professor from UCLA. I sent her a pdf file of my experiences and research. Meanwhile, I was able to convince my Primary Care to include a fasting insulin in my lab test. My Homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) is 0.50!

 

I am 4 pounds away from my high school football weight. I am walking, and lifting weights again

 

By the way, I am 81.

 

Best of regards, Larry

Nathan improves back pain, joint pain, and sleep on a carnivore diet

October 31, 2019 No Comments

I am 38 years of age, live in the UK and have always been involved in sports and fitness. I have been fortunate enough to run my own business for the past 15 years, training both members of the public and potential/elite sportsmen at my own small facility. During this time I have also been able to enjoy my chosen sport of surfing along with the support of international companies.

For the past ten years my surfing has very much moved in the direction of searching for and riding larger sized waves in cold water locations around remote parts of my local coastline. I have always trained for my health as well as my sport and I’ve always taken pride in “eating well” and avoiding the foods commonly considered bad for us.

Although the sport certainly offers up it’s fair share of minor injuries, my knowledge of sports therapy and rehabilitation methods always meant I could recover appropriately and move forward without long lasting effects and I always implemented training approaches to promote injury prevention.

This all seemed to turn a corner around three years ago. My body basically felt like it was rebelling against everything I attempted. Even the lowest level training sessions resulted in days of muscle soreness, particularly in the Hip Adductors and Rotators and muscles of the Thoracic area.

Surfing in any conditions above completely benign also caused intense soreness but more frustratingly severe joint immobility. This soreness would not alleviate with any conventional approaches, the only slight relief I would get was from heavy doses of transdermal magnesium, oral iodine supplementation and trigger point release, but I emphasise the word slight.

I also found that despite my very best efforts my weight and body fat were slowly increasing. One interesting dynamic that occurred was that every bit of exercise I undertook resulted in intense hunger, particularly for high carbohydrate food.

I put most of this down to the fact that I was an athlete in my mid-thirties and this was essentially the start of the end as far as my pursuit of a decent level of human performance. It didn’t feel right as I genuinely felt that so many facets of my performance were still improving, my endurance seemed to get stronger every year but over the past few years I had pretty much resigned myself to surfing less and training at a reduced workload.

It was around 18 months ago that I discovered the Maffetone method and the premise of “Carbohydrate Intolerance”. So much of what Phil Maffetone said made sense to me and echoed my experiences. I implemented both the training approach as well as the recommended eating programme and I have to admit the initial results were pretty good.

However I attribute most of this to the extremely low level of intensity and the associated low impact on the body. I also found that the prescribed re introduction of carbs really messed me up and affected both my muscular integrity as well as my gut health.

I also continued to suffer from a very strange phenomenon that was both frustrating and also a bit worrying. Every time I attempted to stretch, regardless of the methodology I adopted (from yoga to PNF) it actually caused my hips, glutes, hamstrings and upper back to effectively lock up. I couldn’t get any sensation of relief or mobilisation despite spending hours on foam rollers and stretching. The postures actually felt like they were damaging and shortening my range of motion.

I was surfing so infrequently it was shocking, even the act of sitting astride my surfboard would result in cramping in the water and days of discomfort. Not exactly the best of situations when amongst icy water and fairly severe ocean conditions.

Because I felt a positive effect on the very low carb Maff test I began researching different approaches to food. The Keto approach made sense but something prevented me from giving it a go. It was during this time that I first discovered Dr Shawn Baker and his advocation of the carnivore way of eating.

I initially though this was crazy, but I have always had a pretty open mind when it comes to essentially waving a middle finger at conventional “medicine” and the fact that Dr Baker was coming from a traditional medical background really intrigued me.

The further I researched, the more I nodded in agreement. After a lot of reading and listening I took the plunge around three months ago and adopted a true carnivore approach, eating when I am hungry and not being restricted by traditional meal times.I had almost immediate success. Within three weeks my weight and body fat levels were back to the levels I would consider my optimum.

I also found that my sleep patterns and energy levels improved dramatically. This actually coincided with me relocating my business premises and undertaking both demolition and construction work on top of my usual workload, which I anticipated would result in high levels of fatigue.

My first couple of training sessions were pretty humbling experiences, I suffered intense muscle cramps while performing low intensity movements on the Skierg and light barbell work. Interestingly though these weren’t in the normal hips/glutes/mid back but felt more like deep in the bellies of the quads, hamstrings and the abdominals. Since those sessions however I have experienced a really positive step forward.

My strength levels and lean muscle mass have improved and functional exercises have become so much easier. I feel like I am still enduring the adaptation phase regarding cardiovascular training however I am now feeling real progress.

The thing that has truly blown my mind however is the progress related to the muscle/joint pain phenomenon I was experiencing. I no longer wake up with hips that refuse to articulate properly and a thoracic spine that I could only describe as an iron bar. I now find trigger point therapy and stretching bring such a feeling of relief and release that it is euphoric!

My ROM after a good session feels incredible and my brain/body connection seems to be re-learning movements I have been incapable of for a long time. I am now so optimistic that I can restore correct movement patterns with a combination of hard work and the carnivore diet.

They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and there was definitely some pudding consumed this past Friday. The perfect combination of swell, wind and tide combined for one of my favourite surf spots to light up for a few hours of good sized waves in the cold Atlantic Ocean. The spot demands a substantial cliff descent and long paddle out through masses of white water and currents and even the first move off the beach is a test of strength and endurance. The wave itself requires you to be on top of your game as the conditions are testing at the best of times with very little let up.

Medical/nutritional experts would advise that a person consuming a 100% meat diet would potentially have compromised their wellbeing by attempting this. Well, not only did I get through it, I felt amazing! My strength and endurance were great and most importantly my body remained supple and responsive throughout, resulting in an awesome session.

My post surf experience was phenomenal. No soreness, no fatigue, I just felt energised and strong. A hot bath, a plate of steak and a light stretch that evening felt incredible and the feeling of recovery was such a welcome sensation!

It was after this session that I felt inclined to contact Dr Baker and say thank you for tuning me into this Way of Life.

All the best,
Nathan

Yuri improved his skin, pain and sleep with a carnivore diet

November 1, 2018 No Comments

Name: Yuri 

Message: MY EXPERIENCE WITH RAW MEAT AND RAW FISH DIET
– This article was renewed and edited on May 29, 2018 –


11 May, 2018

The mainly raw meat and raw fish zero carb diet (MFZC) is the last diet I tested. I have been testing and using it from April 2016 to the present time. Before MFZC I have tested: raw meat/fish and fruits diet; raw meat/fish, fruits and green vegetable juices diet; raw vegan diet and some other diets. I have tested these diets for at least 1 year each except the raw vegan diet. The raw vegan diet had bad influence on my health and I stopped it in the half year.

Adaptation

The MFZC diet may have a period of adaptation like other ZC diets. Information about some symptoms you may experience during the adaptation can be read here: https://zerocarbzen.com/adaptation/. My adaptation lasted 3-4 months. I had night muscle cramps, brain fog and diarrhea that lasted about two months (up to 4-6 times a day at the beginning).

I have stopped the diarrhea by drinking a glass of cranberry juice daily during the 2 days (one quarter glass frozen cranberry and 3 quarters with water – all blended together in a powerful blender). The diarrhea has stopped completely but returned after about a week for a few days. The diarrhea was gone without using the cranberry juice again and I didn’t have it during a very long time.

Changes made by using the MFZC diet

After the adaptation, my overall health have been improving gradually. I have started to have mostly a good mood, feeling more alive, better sleep, good lightness in the body, my memory stopped diminishing and improved, increasing clearness of my mind. My mind became more organised and my mental and physical reactions became faster. I don’t have any headaches or diseases anymore! For long periods of time I can be around people who have the cold or flu and yet stay healthy and not contaminated.

My back pain (lasting a few days), that I usually had after lifting something very heavy, has stopped to appear after half a year of the diet. With the MFZC diet your muscles may start to grow and adjust according to your genetically predisposed type of the body even if you are not active or do not exercise (If you exercise the shape of your body, it can change according to your chosen plan).

My joints don’t have any pain anymore and they have become more flexible without any exercise. Small red spots and pimples on my body, face and shingles (usually I often had a few small) have disappeared. My skin became better and stopped to produce new related to aging brown (liver) spots on the body and new small keratomas on my head (part of them disappeared later). On my face I had a big thick flat grey wart, after about year being on the MFZC diet, the wart has started to crack and fell off. Small white lipomas under the lower eyelids have disappeared.

The process of balding on my head has stopped and my hair stopped greying. The feeling of permanent thirsty, frequent visits to washroom, hot feeling inside the body after eating sweet fruits – all went away. My past frequent constipations and diarrheas do not appear anymore and I have normal bowel movement mostly every day.

My gums and remained teeth became clean, healthy and strong. I brush my teeth only with water and use dental floss. My breath is always fresh. I do not know how long I will have my great healthy condition but may compare it with some conditions of wild animals. In the wild, if animals eat genetically proper raw food for them, they age significantly less visible than people do. The animals keep their health, energy and all kinds of activity until they die from natural reasons.

Condition of teeth

Long time ago I had many teeth removed with treated root canals (dead teeth), all amalgam fillings have been removed and changed to cement fillings. Actually keeping these dentist’s “treatments” slowly poison and harm you. You may find lots of information about it in the internet.

What kind of meat and fish were used

While mostly on the MFZC diet, I use and test the Costco fatty beef and frozen wild salmon. The beef is mainly whole strip sirloin (5-7 kg pieces), I weight and cut it into daily portions. 2-3 of the portions I put in the fridge and eat in the first days. Leftovers are kept in the freezer for later use.

I eat two times a day – one third of the daily portion in the morning and two thirds in the evening (if the portion is frozen I put it in the fridge in the evening for the next day). The evening portion I return to the fridge until evening. The wild salmon I usually eat 2-3 times a week in the morning.

Distilled water

I use pure distilled water. The water I make is in a 4 liter home distiller. I drink 2-3 liters a day and have been drinking distilled water since 2007 (I changed my drinking water to distilled water gradually during a few months). Many people living in dry areas or in the North drink water that is equal to distilled water (rainwater or water made from melted snow).

They don’t have any specific health problems related with water. People living in other areas with water having high level of mineralization often have more hardened blood vessels and may have related health problems. More information about the distilled water is here: http://aquariusthewaterbearer.com/doctors-and-experts/

Advantages of raw food

Why the raw MFZC diet is better than the cooked ZC diets? – Raw food breaks itself easily, has an ability of autolysis and digests faster. Actually genetically we aren’t designed for cooked food and many years of evolution did not adopt us to cooked food completely. For more information you can read here: https://rawdiets.wordpress.com/article/, https://rawdiets.wordpress.com/raw-food-is-self-destructive/ , https://rawdiets.wordpress.com/the-pottenger-experiments/.

If you are afraid of parasite contamination, you may eat defrosted meat and fish (naturally parasites prefer to stay and live inside people who eat cooked and processed food). More information is here: https://rawdiets.wordpress.com/parasites-do-not-like-raw-food/

SOME SIMPLE TESTS ON THE MFZC DIET

After using the raw MFZC diet for about one year a sensitivity to different food products increase. It becomes easier to determine more exactly what is good or bad for your body and brain. Actually the body and brain are the most excellent testing devices if they are not suppressed and tricked by eating the wrong food. You may use them instead of many medical tests. I have tested some products in addition to the MFZC diet and every used food product was tested separately. Results of some tests can be different for other people due to their genetic, quality and kinds of meat or fish. But methods to determine quantity of every product and what products are good or bad for you stay same and can be used by everybody.

Test on butter

This test was during April 2018. I have added organic butter to the MFZC diet. After about 2 weeks I started to have some changes. The noticeable changes were: increasing feeling of thirsty and dryness in the mouth, increasing feeling of tiredness and decreasing clearness of mind. Genetically we aren’t designed to consume milk and dairy products after about 1-5 years of breastfeeding. Most people continue to use milk and dairy products during all their life and don’t pay attention to some of the negative side effects. (https://nomilk.com/) Conclusion: it’s better to not eat butter.

Test on eggs

This test was during February 2018. I have added organic eggs to the MFZC diet. After about 1-2 weeks I started to have some changes. The noticeable changes were: more dry skin on soles and lips and decreasing clearness of the mind. Eggs have some powerful enzymes and hormones that initiate and start the process of the chicken’s growing. What kind of processes the eggs can initiate and start inside our bodies especially in the old age? We still don’t know. Also eggs are a seasonal food and genetically we aren’t designed to consume them at least all year. Conclusion: in general it’s better to not eat eggs.

Testing the regulation of the body weight on the MFZC diet

The test was during the last 3 months 2017. I tested a case to regulate my weight (I’m quite slim). I increased my daily portion of meat to 1200g (400g morning and 800g evening portions). In a few months my weight was significantly increased. My body started to look more fat than slim. I definitely didn’t like it and decreased the amount of meat gradually to 600g (200g morning and 400g evening portions). My weight has been returned to my normal (slim). I didn’t test the quantity of the fish. Also I didn’t test different fat/protein ratios but always buy more fat pieces of beef. The noticeable changes when I was on the 1200g portion were: increasing the body weight, decreasing speed of physical and mental reactions, increasing the desire to sleep after eating and a more lazy condition during the day. Conclusion: it’s quite easy to regulate weight on the MFZC diet, it’s better to not overeat even if you are on a very healthy diet.

Test on amount of the fish on MFZC diet.

This test was during September 2017. I tested eating fish every morning instead of the meat. After about 1 week I started to have some changes. The noticeable changes were: feeling more hungry (in spite of eating quite big portions of the fish) all day before the evening meat meal, decreasing the clearness of mind. Conclusion: big amounts of fish (maybe influence of mercury?) are not good on the MFZC diet. Small amount of fish (moderate portions of fish 2-3 times a week) gives some additional nutritions and microelements making the diet more stable and able to satisfy better (https://rawdiets.wordpress.com/article/).

Test on salt

The Himalayan salt was tested for 2 weeks on August 2017. I have added 2-4 g salt to my evening portion of meat. The noticeable changes were: feeling of heaviness in the body and head, feeling of kidneys (usually you don’t feel your inner organs if they are healthy), increased thirst and light brain fog. Conclusion: it’s better to not use salt.

Testing the size of meat pieces for eating

The test was during spring 2017. It was tested with ground beef that I am used to eating before I did the test, the meat that was cut into half inch pieces (I have started to eat this meat after the test). I made 2 piles of meat – one was from ground meat, the other was from cut meat.

On the top of the piles I made cavities and poured some water into them. In the cut meat pile all the water soaked in immediately. In the ground meat pile, the soaking in took up to 40 sec. The ground meat behaves as a piece of clay. In the stomach the ground meat can delay digestion. In it the meat and fat particles stick together into a big piece and interrupt fast soaking of the stomach acid.

After this test I use only cut meat. Usually I cut meat and its fat into half inch pieces and eat the fat first. If some pieces are difficult to chew, just swallow them. They digest very good and meat and fat doesn’t need to be chewed for a long time. The noticeable changes were: feeling of heaviness in the stomach after eating becomes much lighter, meat digests faster and the bowel movements are more regular, the desire to sleep after eating is less.

Conclusion: it’s better to not eat ground meat. It’s interesting that same conclusion had Dr. H. L. Newbold and his patients (https://zerocarbzen.com/2015/05/04/dr-h-l-newbold-on-ground-meat/). He had other and opposite explanation about the harmful influence of the cooked ground meat (that it digests faster). It’s possible to check precisely which explanation is more right but is it worth to do if the conclusion is same?

Testing the necessity of fish in the MFZC diet

The test was during the winter months 2017. I tested the MFZC diet without the fish. For about a month I didn’t feel any difference if compared with the full MFZC diet. Later I started to have some changes. The noticeable changes were: craving to eat other products, feeling that something is missing, feeling not satisfied and decreasing the good lightness in the body. Conclusion: It’s better to keep fish in the MFZC diet.

M. G. treated celiac, Crohn’s disease, carpal tunnel, TMJ on carnivore diet

November 1, 2018 No Comments

As a kid, I had a sensitive digestive tract. I carry a lot of stress gastrointestinally, and my childhood was characterized by physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; I carried that inside in so many ways. I dealt with excruciating gas cramps, constipation that made appendicitis seem like a dream, etc. I was suicidal throughout my teenage years. Also notably, my family has a hefty and vibrant history of bipolar disorder, ADD, alcoholism, and addictions.

I went to college, and I became a vegan. This was over a decade ago, before it was “cool” to be a vegan. I was a college athlete (cross country, track). But really, I was bloated and injured all the freaking time. Somehow I managed to piece together some surprisingly decent seasons in between injuries, but I now wonder how amazingly I would have done if I at the very least had not been vegan, much less been all-meat. My complexion was total shit, my depression was intense, and I thought I was eating in a way that was good for the environment.

After college, I became an elite athlete in another endurance sport, and I thought, “F#$k it!” for veganism. It did not matter how much I supplemented with iron, B vitamins, etc., I was anemic ALL THE TIME! I began eating oysters and other fish, game meats, then beef. I also began to suspect some major sensitivities to gluten and sugar, but it was tough to remove those from my diet as I was also quite accustomed to emotional eating, food addictions, and binging.

I went to graduate school for a biomedical PhD and at the same time managed to remove gluten and grains from my diet. I got married, and early in my marriage, I became pregnant. I experienced hyperemesis gravidarum in my pregnancy (severe excessive vomiting of pregnancy). My doctors begged me to eat, and my non-gluten, non-sugar ways went out the window as I struggled to survive. Chocolate ice cream got me through pregnancy. After my daughter was born (healthy weight for her, btw!), it was a long haul to re-remove gluten and sugar. And, as a result, my mood was unstable, my hands hurt like freakin’ crazy (I was doing hand-intensive laboratory work), and I overall felt like a zombie.

My gastrointestinal health deteriorated. My doctors tried to determine whether I had Celiac disease. They weren’t in agreement, but I stopped eating gluten again anyways. It helped, though I was in a shit marriage, and my ex-husband would do things that would contaminate my food with gluten sometimes, and it was really awful.

After I was done breastfeeding, I was diagnosed with ADD. I am quite sensitive to most pharmacological agents, and most ADD medications resulted in suicidal ideation. I would take very, VERY small doses of amphetamine salts, and that helped me focus enough to finish my dissertation.

I finished my PhD, got a job, and moved to a new state to start the position. One night, I ate some pork loin that I had roasted earlier that day and asked my ex-husband to put in the fridge when I was at work. That loin sat on the counter for 9+ hours, unbeknownst to me. I ate it for dinner that night. I got food poisoning like you would not believe (15 vomits in under 12 hours, muscle aches that were paralyzing and unlike anything I have ever experienced, thank all things good in the Universe that my daughter didn’t try any of that spoiled food).

Six weeks after that food poisoning, I had gastrointestinal pain like nothing I had ever experienced before. I was in so much pain that I was delirious. At that point, I had moved forward with divorce proceedings, but I didn’t know who to turn to for help. So my ex-husband gave me a ride to an ER. I was wearing a robe and jammies and looked like shit, and they thought I was a crazy homeless lady, and they kicked me out when I couldn’t stay in a wheelchair in the lobby but instead collapsed onto the floor from the pain. I installed Uber on my phone and got a ride home (weirdest Uber ride ever, probably).

At home, I tried to manage the pain with a hot bath. I collapsed getting out of the bathtub. My daughter called 9-1-1. My ex and I were still under the same roof, and he helped me get jammies on before the paramedics came. I was wheeled into the ER and barely had enough strength to whisper, “Someone, please, help me.” They gave me morphine, and OMG it worked and after 14+ hours of horrifying pain, I just lay there, going in and out of consciousness. A CT scan revealed that a long chunk of my intestines was so inflamed that it was totally and completely closed. No thru traffic. The surgeon came in and held my hand and told me that he was going to let me rest for 6 hours and then would be operating to remove part of my intestines. It was around 1 AM. I didn’t really care. I was glad he held my hand (all the doctors held my hand that first 24 hours. I don’t know why they did, but holy crap that was soothing).

I got wheeled up to a room in the hospital and sort of passed out (remember, the morphine). Several hours later when the surgeon came by, miracle of miracles my intestines had opened. Still, I was kept in the hospital for 3 days before being released.

The rest is a story of struggling to get reasonable or useful or any sort of information from GI docs as my new life with Crohn’s unfolded. On my own, I began eliminating entire food groups. First to go were dairy and grains, and I felt better. Then alcohol and all fruits, and I felt better. Then alliums (garlic, onions, leeks), cruciferous vegetables, and nightshades, and I felt better. Then I went keto-low-FODMAP-AIP, and I felt better (basically, meat+olives+coconut stuff+avocado). Then one day I ate hearts of palm, which are high in fiber. To say it felt like a scouring pad through my intestines is an understatement. After that flare-up, I went all-meat.

I still struggle sometimes with relapsing into a binge if I am stressed (a beloved family member died in the fall, and I ate a lot of chocolate and cheese, for example). And it’s been a process to figure out what works for me (anything from pig now gives me nocturnal diarrhea, and rendered fat and too much fat makes me feel super nauseated). I also recommend for anyone with Crohn’s NEVER trying to “re-introduce” plant foods. I ate a couple of those nut-based “Perfect bars” 6 weeks ago and had a HUGE and painful flare-up.

I am now in my mid-30s. I exercise regularly (CrossFit, yoga, hiking, running, lifting, etc). People confuse me for someone in her 20s. Here’s what has improved or been cured since going all-meat:

  • Crohn’s disease (hugely improved)
  • Severe carpal tunnel syndrome (cured)
  • TMJ (cured)
  • Hidradenitis suppurativa (cured)
  • Depression (hugely improved)
  • Complexion (hugely improved)
  • These weird and sudden stabbing abdominal cramps that are sudden and knock me to me knees for about 30 seconds… WTF were those? (cured)
  • ADD (cured, and I do also meditate daily)

I didn’t go all-meat because of you, Dr. Baker, but I sure am glad you are around to lead this and help it build momentum. And the momentum is gaining. To wit, I work in biomedical consulting, and one of my new hires for my company is a young man also with a biomedical PhD. As we got to know each other better, he said, “You should try an all-meat diet.” I freakin’ loved it.

Thanks,
MG

Lucie improved migraines on a carnivore diet

November 1, 2018 2 Comments

My 5-year old daughter who had suffered from constipation her entire life (yep we were dealing with that as well) is NOW HAVING REGULAR BM WITHOUT ANY SUPPORT

Hi, I’m Lucy. I have been on a carnivore diet for just over 6 months now and I have experienced great results and still improving. My weight has ranged from 132lbs – 145lbs, height 5’9”. I could be grouped as someone with “skinny fat.” so I got into the carnivore diet to improve my wellbeing and healthier longevity.

Bad diet, bad migraines

First, let me start with a little background about my healing journey. For majority of my life, I had been on “SAD” or no good diet at all— ate loaves of bread, cookies, and sweets. Maybe raw cherry tomatoes here and there. My main meals comprised of skipping meals and then downing a bag of chips or granola bars esp during school years. I always stayed away from saturated fats (had only low fat yogurt, low-fat milk, low-fat anything…). During this time, I suffered from frequent migraines. Yes, migraines not merely headaches. I’d induce vomiting just to have some relief— yes, gross. And that’s after popping several NSAIDs and/or acetaminophens. During the time I first met my husband when I was 22, the first thing he said was “gurl, ur hair is falling off…”. That was when we were taking a shower together… Ok, that’s that.

Depressed with a temper

Then I also had temper tantrums to everything. Any little thing would cause me to spark, lose it and go into fits! My face was ridden with hideous acne. I had amenorrhea here and there too. Shortness of breath, painful restless legs at night, and depressive symptoms of low in the day…

Boyfriend to the resque

Well, it turns out my boyfriend then (husband now) was into health-related themes and topics. In fact, I was shocked when I saw so many supplements in his refrigerator the first time I visited him in his apartment. My first impression was: “ok, he’s a drug addict, what have I gotten myself into…” But then he caught my awe-looking expressions and said: “oh, those…well, foods nowadays are insuffient in nutrients that keep us strong…”

Doing all the diets

An alarm went off my head with that statement— the cause of my gloom and doom? That began my diet experiment, our diet experiments. This was back in 2010. I went vegetarian for a few months, did juicing and slurpep cups of smoothie made out of plant-based protein powders; then transitioned into Paleo diet for a long while, and finally did keto diet in 2017 for a little over a year before going carnivore diet last year, 2018.

My keto experience

I’m 32 years old now. I had some minor health improvements on Keto such as mental clarity and focus, clear skin, and healthier hair. But there were things that didn’t improve on the keto and there were symptoms that got worse esp later on with the diet. For instance, my food sensitivities got out of hand and I reacted to almost anything. I had frequent joint pains, depressive symptoms, anger/impatience, migraines again, and spots of acne here and there. I also had frequent bouts of coldness or chills with Keto. While most would walk around in short sleeves, I would dawn thick sweaters and overalls. Further, I had HUGE cravings for the so-called keto treats, mostly made out of almond or coconut flour, berries, etc. I started bloating a lot on eating lots of vegetables on Keto. When I did my blood work, my values were within “normal” range except for total and LDL cholesterols (of course a questionable measure of what’s normal).

In comes Dr. Baker

Then, thankfully my hubby (always seeking new information) found interviews with Dr. Shawn Baker… and we decided to give the diet a shot. Since then, my family eats primarily beef with occasional lamb. We don’t react well to pork. We don’t eat chicken as I feel completely turned off by the thought of it. We only drink water.

First four weeks of our transition to carnivore diet in Fall of 2018 was not easy. I experienced some bowel abnormalities, some indigestion, postnasal dripping, and fatigue but have since then balanced out. My migraines are gone. My feelings of low are mostly gone, and I just feel overall calmer, more composed. My digestion improved tremendously and I am no longer bloated. My feelings of cold are gone for the most part as well, although sometimes they come but I guess that it will take more time to heal completely. I have generally more energy and feel more productive and motivated to follow through things.

Helping our daughter

Also, my 5-year old daughter who had suffered from constipation her entire life (yep we were dealing with that as well) is NOW HAVING REGULAR BM WITHOUT ANY SUPPORT (Yes, I was loud so aloud because that’s our biggest achievement in dietary life). Part of what helped us stay on a meat-only diet was to subliminally remind ourselves of the benefits, the many testimonies, and the common sense. We wrote a lot of motivational statements and phrases and would paste them on our refrigerator doors and in our cars. We even stapled paper on our shirts to remind ourselves not to eat that keto cookie or drink that raw milk, “yet”. This was especially during the early phases into the carnivorous diet.

Inspired to help others

Feeling successful esp with my daughter and I, #carnivorediet #meatheals inspired me and my hubby so much that we decided to launch an online store with carnivore-inspired shirts and accessories. We used some of the words and statements that kept us going on the shirt designs to help motivate others in their dietary journeys. People can “wear their own diet” (our slogan, #wearyourowndiet), say no to garbage (#ZeroGarbs), and be proud of their food ideologies and achievements.

Speaking out

We are so grateful for this diet and for the people that were brave enough to talk openly about this diet such as Dr. Shawn Baker, Mikhaila Peterson, and Charlene Andersen, among others! Thank you all!

Lucie & Dozie (from ZeroGarbs.com)
www.zerogarbs.com

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