John is sixty-three years old and says he has weighed over three hundred pounds twice in his lifetime. John says for many years, he didn’t eat well. In 2001, he entered a competition that required him to lose weight. While preparing for the competition, John followed a vegan diet and lost sixty pounds. John says he received many compliments from the people around him for his weight loss, but he felt like garbage. The vegan diet had him eating a lot of tofu and plants, which his body did not tolerate.
John goes on to describe that while the vegan diet did little for his health, it did teach him discipline. He had to learn how to go to restaurants and social gatherings and find foods that suited his diet. John then started a new job that had him working and thus eating late at night. He says his new eating schedule wreaked havoc on his metabolism and caused him to regain forty-five pounds in nine months.
Paleo and Ketogenic Diet: Improvements in Sleep and Health Issues
In 2014, John had hip replacement surgery. John then developed spinal stenosis and had back surgery a few years later. When John had his back surgery, he weighed 296 pounds. Around this time, he started learning more about foods and their connection to inflammation. John began following the paleo diet, which then turned to the ketogenic diet.
John lost twenty-four pounds between the two diets without any exercise. During this time, his sleep also improved, and some other health issues he had been having, such as an elevated A1C, became normal. However, John was still struggling with his digestion.
Discovering the Carnivore Diet: Significant Improvements in Digestion and Energy
John had been listening to Mikhaila Peterson, a carnivore diet advocate, and she referenced Dr. Shawn Baker. John began looking into Dr. Baker’s work and found his interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. John was intrigued by the carnivore diet and began following it in September 2019.
John says initially, his version of the carnivore diet was a variety of meat, eggs, and lots of butter, avocados, and olives. John describes eating a lot of fat and says one would assume his cholesterol would have been through the roof. However, when he saw his doctor two months later, his cholesterol had improved.
John also started to see significant improvements in his digestion in just a few short weeks– something that he couldn’t accomplish with the paleo and keto diets. He also noticed his energy improved, as well as his mobility.
John’s Current Carnivore Diet: Mainly Beef, Butter, and Aged Hard Cheeses
Today John says he eats three meals a day. His day includes one-and-half to two pounds of beef per day– mainly hamburger patties. He also eats tri-tip steak, bacon, and butter. On his carnivore journey, John learned that eggs affect his digestion, so he no longer eats them. After listening to Judy Cho, a nutritionist specializing in the carnivore diet, John decided to try adding aged hard cheeses to his diet, which has been going well.
John is a member of Carnivore.Diet and loves the platform because the people “are true and honest.” John says he is grateful he can heal his body with nutrition, not medication– something you often don’t see with someone his age. John plans to continue following the carnivore diet because “what’s strong survives.”
