Karen is no longer on blood pressure and cholesterol medicines on a Carnivore lifestyle

Karen’s High-Carbohydrate Italian Diet and Health Issues

Karen’s grandparents are from Italy, and she says the traditional high-carbohydrate Italian foods have always been a big part of her life. She says growing up, and even into adulthood, her diet consisted of pasta, sandwiches, bagels, pizza, and french toast– to name a few. She said she would occasionally eat some eggs, bacon, or another type of meat with her carb-loaded meals, but her diet didn’t revolve around meat. She says she snacked a lot, especially on candy and other high-carb treats.

Low-Carb Diets: Atkins and Keto

Karen is a physical education teacher for children from grades kindergarten to fifth grade, so she says she has always been somewhat active. However, she began noticing her diet was causing health issues that she could not ignore. She had high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and she found her knees and ankles had a lot of inflammation and would completely ache.

Karen started to notice that eating carbohydrates caused her body to become inflamed. One of Karen’s doctors suggested she try a low-carb diet. Karen said she was familiar with low-carb from the Atkins diet she tried around twenty years prior. She succeeded with the Adkins diet twenty years ago but slowly regained her old habits. However, because of her previous experience, she knew eating low-carb would help her.

She decided to try a low-carb diet and jumped into the ketogenic diet. Karen says she noticed many health benefits from following the keto diet. Her ailments began to improve and she felt better. However, her knees and ankles continued to ache, even while on the keto diet.

Discovering the Carnivore Diet through Dr. Ken Berry and Kelly Hogan

She came across Dr. Ken Berry, an advocate for the carnivore diet. She said at first the idea of only eating meat sounded crazy, but after listening to him more and to Kelly Hogan, another advocate, she decided to try it.

Karen initially struggled with gut issues when she transitioned from the keto to the carnivore diet; eventually, her body worked itself out. Karen says the carnivore diet kicked her health “up a notch.”

The Benefits of the Carnivore Diet for Karen: No More Pain and Increased Energy

While on keto, she was still experiencing pain in her knees and ankle, but now that she is a carnivore follower, that pain is gone. Karen says at sixty-one years of age, she hasn’t felt better. She has regained energy and even lost a little bit of weight.

Karen’s Simple Meat-Based Diet and Active Lifestyle

Karen says she eats two to three meals daily and listens to her body. She is very active these days and is even a member of a local group of women who call themselves the “Yak-Yak Sisters.” She says the group started as a kayaking group for several gal friends but has now evolved into the women hiking, playing pickleball, and other activities.

Karen’s Carnivore Role Models: Dr. Shawn Baker and Judy Cho

Karen loves learning from the carnivore community and follows Dr. Shawn Baker and Judy Cho. Karen was also recently interviewed by Kelly Hogan on her podcast. She even says this way of eating has introduced her to several friends. She is very grateful for all that she has gained through the carnivore community, and she says she is “never going back.”