Jan spent much of her childhood and teen years eating a Standard American Diet. Like many adults who grew up in the 1990s, Jan often ate Poptarts and Dunkaroos and considered a trip to Mcdonald’s with her family a treat. However, Jan suffered from debilitating anxiety as a child and was diagnosed with selective mutism. Jan also suffered from intense constipation and issues with her stomach.
As a teen, Jan’s symptoms did not improve. Her digestion got worse, she developed severe acne, and her anxiety and depression continued to control her life. When Jan began college, she was diagnosed with social anxiety. Her doctors tried to get her to take antidepressants and other medications for her anxiety, but Jan wondered if there could be another way to suppress the issues she had with her mental health.
She began studying nutrition and took several classes to learn all she could about food and how it affects the body. Unfortunately, many courses she took followed nutritional standards that do not emphasize meat. Jan found herself eating an abundance of lettuce and popcorn, thinking she was doing something beneficial for her health.
Her symptoms did not improve, and in 2012 Jan was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. She asked her doctor at the time if there were any specific foods she should eat or not eat, to which her doctor told her that her diet would not change her symptoms. Jan had to wait almost a year for a colonoscopy to confirm her diagnosis, so Jan decided to do some research on her own while she waited. There, she learned about the paleo diet, which excludes grains, legumes, and dairy.
Jan followed the paleo diet for a year and began to see some improvements. By the time she was able to get a colonoscopy, her symptoms were mild, but her doctors still shrugged off her way of eating as not having any effect on her ulcerative colitis. Jan followed the paleo diet and dabbled with the Autoimmune Protocol Diet (AIP) until she had an ulcerative colitis flare-up which caused her to struggle even to stand up straight. She was confused about why her body would flare up when she ate so healthily.
Jan continued researching diet and nutrition and stumbled upon Jordan Peterson, an advocate for the carnivore diet. Jan says she couldn’t imagine only eating meat as it went against most of what she had been taught about nutrition. It wasn’t until Jan saw an episode of “The Doctors,” a popular television talk show based in America, where Dr. Paul Saladino, who wrote the book “The Carnivore Code,” talked about the carnivore diet. Jan says she felt sorry for Dr. Saladino as the other doctors were not very kind to him, and she decided to try the diet to see if the other doctors were wrong.
Jan has been following the carnivore diet since February 2020 and says her symptoms have slowly improved. Though she struggled with her energy initially as she learned to adjust her fat intake, Jan says her ulcerative colitis, anxiety, and depression have all improved. She also says she has experienced some surprising effects of the carnivore diet. Her skin is clear, her hair grows very quickly, and her focus and drive have also improved because of the diet.
Jan says a typical day for her consists of eating egg yolks, Keifer, steak, butter, liver, and sometimes seafood. She’s even found a new love for beef tongue. Jan has committed to becoming a health coach because she wants to help others feel their best. She says she “believes everyone is different and what works for her might not work for everyone else,” but as a coach, she wants to focus on relationships. She feels passionate about helping her clients mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and she hopes she can help others live their best life.
