Hello dear reader, my name is Jennifer and I want to tell you my story of healing my eczema on a carnivore diet.
Clueless Doctor
“Your health is great, but you’re still considered obese. But if you keep doing what you’re doing, the weight will come off in no time.” The doctor told me this when I went for my annual physical after a year of having a physical trainer at a 24-hour gym, 45 minutes of cardio daily, and eating a diet of whole grains, chicken, fish, fruits, and tons of vegetables and margarine, and yet still weighing 185 lbs.
For as long as I can remember, I have always been heavy and depressed. I managed to lose a good bit of weight when I was an endurance runner (averaged 40 miles a week), but I never got below 160 lbs.
A knee injury landed me on the couch and stern warnings to not do anything more strenuous than walking. Running had been a big stress reliever in my life, so without it, I lost motivation to stay healthy and proceeded to gain all the weight back plus more. At my heaviest of 225 lbs, my 5’4″ frame was slowly breaking down. My breaking point was at a doctor’s visit where the nurse warned me that my heavy weight and history of diabetes and heart disease was a recipe for a heart attack before I was 30 years old.
Fighting My Family History
I can only describe the first three years of my weight loss journey as a cycle. I would become harmfully critical of my body and sink more into depression, my panic would motivate me to build a detailed work out and eating plan, I would stick to it rigorously for a while, beat myself up when I failed, lose motivation to become healthy, make excuses for why I couldn’t lose weight, then start all over again. I honestly believed that it was impossible for me to lose weight without torturing myself with starvation and grueling workouts.
I knew part of my issues were genetic on top of my sugar binges. My family on both sides have a history of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, muscular degeneration, hormone imbalance, PCOS, digestive problems, and chronic inflammation that resulted in a lot of my family members struggling with obesity.
Medicine Made It Worse
After four years, I had come to accept my 40 extra pounds, and I simply did my best to stay physically fit and manage my mood disorder. My experience with anti-depressants actually worsened my symptoms, and the only stress relief I could find was walking for miles at a time. Sometimes, I would walk until my knees would begin to lock and blisters would sprout on my feet.
On the days when my “bad” knee would be too inflammed to exercise, I would comfort eat. I hated myself every time I gave into the binges, but it really was the only time I felt totally relaxed and enjoying the moment.
Finding Hope
I’m forever thankful for my beloved husband, who is actually the one who found the carnivore diet. He sent me a link to a Joe Rogan podcast featuring Mikhaila Peterson. I was stunned and found myself rewinding and rewatching bits of the interview, because I couldn’t believe there was someone out there with problems similar to mine and overcame ALL of them.
Diving In Before My Wedding
I researched for days everything I could about carnivorism. I watched Joe Rogan, listened more podcasts, watched more interviews, read blogs and testimonials, found Meat Heals, and found so many supporters like the Peterson family, Shawn Baker, the Andersons, Georgia Ede, Amber O’Hearn, Kelly Hogan, Dr Ken Berry, Paul Saladino, and so many others who were speaking out about the physical and mental benefits. So, one month before our wedding day, my husband and I decided we would try the Carnivore Diet together for 30 days to see what would happen.
A Tiny Dress
We ended up having to buy our clothes for the wedding the week before, because we both had lost over 20 lbs in less than a month. The day before the wedding, my mother, bless her, was still making adjustments because my dress was too loose. I went from a size 18 to a size 10.
On my wedding day, I was joyous for three reasons: for marrying the love of my life, not having any symptoms of depression, and being the smallest I had been since early in high school.
After another month of only steak and eggs, my depression and anxiety lifted, I lost more weight, and even my chronic skin rashes and joint pain went away.
After another month of only steak and eggs, my depression and anxiety lifted, I lost more weight, and even my chronic skin rashes and joint pain went away.
Those Devilish Carbs
On our honeymoon, we pigged out on sandwiches, fast food, and leftover wedding snacks. The weight began to creep back on, but I was far more concerned about my depression and anxiety coming back with a vengeance. I tried returning to a keto diet off and on, because I wasn’t quite ready to give up foods all together. Plus, people don’t realize how intense sugar cravings can become when you’re used to binge eating your sadness away. After trying and failing keto, low carb paleo, and whole foods, I gave up and decided to go full carnivore. After another month of only steak and eggs, my depression and anxiety lifted, I lost more weight, and even my chronic skin rashes and joint pain went away. I decided that if I truly was meant to only eat this way, then I could have at least one more big binge before I said goodbye to all my favorite foods. That was on a Friday. On Monday, I was hit with the worst bought of depression I had ever felt. I had multiple panic attacks, intrusive thoughts until I wanted to scratch my brains out, fatigue like you wouldn’t believe, stomach cramps, gas, and even a spell of hypochondria and obsessive cleaning that I never experienced before.
Eliminating Bad Moods
That was the last time I ever ate “normal” food on April 5th, 2019. Since then, I have eaten exclusively animal products. It’s been a tough ride, but the fear of repeating that depressive bought has kept me from cheating.
As my body began to heal, I was surprised when my body started rejected some other foods like cheese, dairy, eggs, chicken, and seasonings. It wasn’t that I severely reacted, but my mood was eons better with each thing that I eliminated.
I did have an angry tantrum when I discovered the salt I had been using contained dextrose. Who puts corn sugar in salt!?!? Since eliminating that Morton’s brand iodized salt, my mood has improved even more. Today marks my 6-month anniversary of being carnivore, and two weeks of being only beef and (sugar-free) salt.
The carnivore diet hasn’t healed me, it’s made me the person I am supposed to be. These really are the best days of my life, and I look forward to how else my life is just going to get better.
The carnivore diet hasn't healed me, it's made me the person I am supposed to be. These really are the best days of my life, and I look forward to how else my life is just going to get better.
The Carnivore I’m Supposed To Be
To say that I’m happier wouldn’t be enough to described my new perspective in life. I’m a better wife, a stronger person, a more joyful woman, physically fit person, and I even run when the mood hits me without any joint pain. I want to jump around and play with my niece and nephews, jog with our dog, and even started playing silly little pranks on my husband, something I would have been too terrified and shy to do two years ago.
The carnivore diet hasn’t healed me, it’s made me the person I am supposed to be. These really are the best days of my life, and I look forward to how else my life is just going to get better.
Carnivore Diet Has Healed My…
- Obesity (225 lbs to 148 lbs)
- Stubborn body fat
- Yo yo weight loss
- Knee pain
- Back pain
- Panic disorder
- Bloating
- Distended belly fat
- Sleep quality
- Abscesses
- Mouth sores
- Social anxiety
- Skin tags
- Feeling of doom and despair
- Lack of motivation
- Handle criticism better
- Acne
- Chronic vaginal infections
- Energy levels
- Binge compulsions
- Eczema
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Intrusive thoughts
- Vertigo
- Period cramps
- Irregular periods
- Reactions when off carnivore…
- Hallucinations
- Intrusive thoughts
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Sense of doom
- Rushing heart beat
- Stomach cramps
- Eczema and itching
- Acne
- Vague joint pain in knees and back
- Headaches and neck pain
1 thought on “Jenni healed from eczema on a carnivore diet”
The https://carnivore.diet website is one of the best we have found,
and the Jenni lost weight and improved eczema on a carnivore diet article is very well written and
useful!
I want to share with you a link that also helped me a lot in cooking: https://bit.ly/easy-fat-burning-recipes
Thanks and kisses! 🙂