Marti’s Journey: From Cancer Diagnosis to a Carnivore Diet
In 1998, Marti was on active duty in the US Navy. Two years after her son was born, she “came down with a very rare form of back cancer. “I was five foot four, and 228 pounds, and they told me my cancer was so rare they didn’t know how to treat it, and they had to send it to three different universities to figure out how to treat it…The doctor said ‘one of the reasons is probably because you’re fat’ literally. And I loved her for that, because straight out of the gate…she said ‘obesity has a big deal to do with cancer.”
Struggling with Nutrition During Cancer Treatment
Marti had been exercising and restricting her diet, following her doctor’s orders. “After nine months of excruciating surgeries, chemo, and radiation, they put me on a low-fat PUFA diet, you know, those polyunsaturated fatty acid BS oils.”
From Weight Watchers to a Ketogenic Carnivore Diet
Marti’s body, however, had other nutritional plans. “When I got home, all I wanted was meat. I couldn’t get enough protein, I couldn’t get enough fat. When I went in for a two-week checkup, he’s ‘oh no no no, no red meat, fat’ so I went back to calories in/out restriction, and exercise.”
She worked very hard and lost 100 pounds, but found her weight creeping back up because she was basically eating the standard American diet. “By the time I get out of the Navy, I’m back up to about 175-180 pounds.”
Because the cancer surgeries had left her with very little muscle in her left low back, Marti can’t remain standing straight, so she had some constant pain from having to “stand crooked.”
Marti got a job as a Weight Watchers instructor, but as she studied more about nutrition, she found she wasn’t a good fit because “I’m getting reprimanded by Weight Watchers because I’m telling them, ‘don’t use canola oil…don’t eat low fat, eat butter, sour cream, everything full fat’ so needless to say I quit before I got fired.”
Marti went from doing Weight Watchers to Paleo to Whole30, and found herself “constantly inflamed, with horrible stomach pains after eating,” though she did feel a little better than she had with her Navy diet.
Dealing with Leaky Gut and Finding the Right Supplements
She came across Dr. Ken Berry online, talking about a ketogenic carnivore diet, and found it interesting. “The next day, I jumped in, all hands on deck. That’s all I was doing was carnivore!” She followed the diet for three years but still had some issues, and she finally learned she still had leaky gut.
Marti learned which supplements to take by working with a functional doctor, and then she was ready to continue without those problems.
Thriving on a Carnivore Diet: Marti’s Current Lifestyle
Marti currently eats a variety of meats, cycling between different types as she gets a meat aversion if she doesn’t keep changing it. She also added back in some avocado and coconut oil, which she found also helped.
Marti continues to thrive on her carnivore diet today!
