My name is Kade. I live in a small town in the middle of Wyoming, born and raised. A thirty year old with hunting, fishing, and the outdoors deeply ingrained in my way of life. Before this way of eating all started over a year ago, I ate a SAD (Standard American Diet) and really enjoyed my beer (what’s more American than that?!).
Statins on my 26th
By the age of 26, I had racked up a bill of health issues that were still lying dormant. I quit my job 5 years ago, and that’s when I had my first lipid panel pulled up for a screening for a new job. They couldn’t even wait until the results came back before they told me I had something seriously wrong with my blood, putting my head in instant fear for my life… I got to the doctor that same week and was given the balanced diet bit and got thrown on statins (again, what could be more American). My triglycerides were over 1200 mg/ dL and cholesterol not really traceable because my trigs were so high. And the newfound stress for my health. I lived this way for a couple years. The statins gave me several bout of joint pain and really made daily activity a thing of the past. I was just tired and lifeless 24/7.
Intermittend Fasting
I told my brother what was going on and he told me to eat meat… so… I love meat, but that can’t be good for me. That’s all he eats and always looks super healthy. He introduced me to a zero carb reddit, where I could read up on it. Within a week, I had given up all sugar and was pretty into IF (intermittent fasting), eating only once a day.
triglycerides doubled
I gave my beer up for vodka, and I was on my way to health! I’m feeling much better, with energy up the wall and 60 lbs lighter on the scale. Three months into the zero carb lifestyle and I wanted to see what my blood was doing so I went in and got tested. 2400 mg/ dL my trigs raised to! I’d also like to add that I quit those stinking statins without docs approval so here I am again in the same boat horrible numbers and stressed, so back to a plant based diet , fish, skinless chicken breast and everything I didn’t like eating.
Dropping the alcohol
Pretty much giving up over the next 6 months and gaining almost all my weight back even though I was pretty much starving myself, I didn’t understand… finally a bell rang, maybe it was the vodka! So I did a bunch more research and decided to contact Charles Washington via a Facebook message, and a response almost immediately saying drop the vodka and my numbers would plummet! Well here I sit, 5 AM… no coffee, wide awake, and just want people to know that this way of life is really something special. No pain, no stress, tons of energy off my 7 hours of sleep and ready to make today mine!
six months in
I waited until 6 months in on this woe [ed: way of eating] and my trigs are down below 800 mg/ dL now and I’m sure still dropping, excited to see what a year of no plants does to my health! My trigs never really got below 1000 even while on statins… so it’s better. All joint pain is gone… I also forgot to add that I no longer do intermittent fasting and I usually eat between 2 and 5 pounds of meat a day, whenever I’m hungry but usually just 2 meals. I’m 6’1” and used to weigh right around 290 lbs in the beginning. I now weigh around 215 lbs and have been there since July, went from 31% body fat down to around 15% that I am completely happy with. I am never hungry like I used to be, all I used to think about was food. We’ll food and alcohol… haha.
Quitting addictions
Also I don’t know if this way of life makes it easier to quit bad habits but both times I have been on it I have successfully quit my nicotine addiction! I was a chewer and a smoker as well for 10 years, feels so good to be free!If you would have asked me before I started this way of eating where I honestly saw myself in five years I probably would have at least had the thought that I would be dead.
Looking to the future
I’m very grateful and excited to see what the rest of my life brings! I’m almost 30 years old and still got a ton of life left to live. If this gets posted anywhere, I’d like to make sure to give Charles Washington a huge thanks for being stern and believing in what you’re doing and Kelly Williams Hogan for being such a huge inspiration and getting all this helpful info out there. Also a huge thanks to you, Shawn, for trying to spread the word and make people healthy again! Our whole way of looking at nutrition as a world is so messed up.
