I spent my life yo-yo-ing between a Standard American Diet (SAD) and a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet.
My Journey with Diets and Mental Health
I went to my first weight watchers meeting in 6th grade. In high school, I was an athlete, and that helped me thin out, despite eating mainly junk food 24/7. After gaining the freshman 15 (more like 40 for me) in college, I went back to Weight Watchers and managed to lose a good amount of weight. It was around this time that I also got my first depression and anxiety diagnosis and prescription antidepressant at age 20.
Fast forward through life, gaining, losing and gaining weight over and over through getting married, pregnancies, and two kids. Along with the weight issues, my pattern from my 20s to age 35 was that I’d start a new depression med and stay on for a couple of years or so, feel my anxiety and depression lift, then eventually go off of the med only to spiral downward into a depression and panic attacks in a matter of months.
Weight Loss and Medication
At one time or another, I was on Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and even Xanax for depression, sleep, and acute panic episodes. By the time my youngest was a year and a half old, I found myself morbidly obese, pre-diabetic with high blood pressure, on two prescriptions for depression and anxiety, and physically miserable.
In 2016, I started keto to lose the weight. Learning that I did not have to be afraid of red meat and fat was a revelation to me. I dropped 50lbs right away. After about a year and a half of meat-heavy keto, I was able to (under the care of my psychiatrist) wean off my Zoloft and Xanax. I have been med free since the summer of 2018. In the past, I could only last a few months before I was bedridden with a major depressive episode, however, this time has been completely different.
The Revelation of Keto and Meat-Based Diet
In Jan 2019, I joined World Carnivore Month and have been mostly meat ever since. This year, I have lost an additional 25lbs for a total of 75lbs down since 2016. But more than that, my mental health has been the best it’s been in my entire adult life. I am thankful every day that I have been able to (dare I say) cure the depression and anxiety by something as simple as changing the way I fed myself. Though I enjoy foods that are “not carnivore” from time to time, I will never, ever, EVER go back to low fat or the SAD. Meat has truly healed my brain and body.
The Impact of Carnivore Diet on Mental Health
I’m so excited to share about this way of eating because it has alleviated so many symptoms that I thought I was just stuck with for life: anxiety, depression, and prescriptions to treat them; high blood pressure, insulin resistance and pre-diabetes, acanthosis nigricans (skin discoloration and thickening common in pre/diabetics), heavy, irregular and miserable periods, and horrible cystic acne.
The Benefits of Meat-Based Diet: Beyond Weight Loss
I will never ever go back to a standard American diet heavy in sugars, grains and seed oils or worse, a low fat diet with boneless skinless chicken breast, egg whites, and ground turkey. I was on the road to a lifetime of medications and being another victim of the disease management system, and now I’m free. Plus I get to eat delicious food every day (unless I chose to fast that is). Can’t beat that! #meatheals
