My health journey began in my early 20s when I had just come home from college. I had often wondered why I had more gas and reacted worse to certain foods than some people, but it was one day when I experienced unexpected and random, severe stomach cramps that I decided to make a change.
My grandmother had recently tried a gluten- and dairy-free diet, so I decided to do the same. This quickly led me to try the Paleo diet and Whole 30. I yo-yoed between these three diets for four or five years. They helped with my stomach issues quite a bit, but I had a crippling sugar addiction that even a Whole 30 cleanse couldn’t seem to fix completely. Finally, in late 2017 or early 2018, I heard whispers of this guy, Shawn Baker, who only ate meat! At first, I was skeptical, thinking that you would miss out on nutrients without vegetables. But the more I researched, the more it made sense. Eventually, I decided to go all out. I followed the Keto diet for about two weeks and then transitioned straight to Carnivore. For a while, I didn’t even include cheese, though fortunately, I was able to reintroduce it after about 6 months. I didn’t lose a significant amount of weight because I was already at a relatively healthy weight, but I did drop 15 pounds, which I appreciated. My sleep, hearing, sense of smell, brain fog, nausea, occasional sinus issues, and other minor problems all improved. But most importantly, the lingering depression, which had somewhat improved on a gluten-free diet, completely disappeared within a few weeks. I strictly followed the carnivore diet for about a year and a half. My skin looked great, my weight was healthy, and I felt amazing all the time.
Then everything changed in 2020. I decided to use the excessive time at home to experiment. Around this time, many people in online carnivore circles were starting to reintroduce things like fruit, raw honey, sourdough bread, and other carbs that fell within the Paleo diet or a Weston A Price-style diet. Although I was feeling really great on Carnivore, I started craving some variety. I attempted to reintroduce carbs. I mostly stuck to wholesome foods like organic fruits, raw honey, and sourdough bread. Occasionally, I would have some takeout, but even then, I tried to choose wholesome foods such as sushi or high-quality Mexican food, not McDonald’s or anything like that. Even when I eventually reduced all takeout to a minimum, the wholesome carbs still just didn’t work for me. With the carbs—even though they were wholesome carbs—I continued to gain a lot of fat very quickly, felt a lot worse than I did on Carnivore, and my liver health sharply declined, even though it had been perfect on strict Carnivore.
After experimenting for far too long, I finally began to transition back to a low-carb diet. I am now working towards a more Carnivore diet again, although I have some low-carb and keto days. Honestly, the closer I stick to a good carnivore diet, the better I feel. At this point, my plan is to stay low carb, keto, and/or Carnivore—no more foolish experiments with carbs which only make me feel worse. In summary, Carnivore worked the first time and worked the second time. Carbs simply did not.
