It was in 2015 that my food journey began.
As a personal trainer, I am used to waking up early for clients. But over a period of a few months in 2015, a fatigue slowly built. I was working long hours, was also a competitive athlete and was under a lot of stress. It was the sort of tiredness where sunlight felt too bright and breathing seemed too much effort. This was when I started to see digestive problems appear – severe bloating, stomach pain. I didn’t know at the time but this was my body telling me that I had triggered an autoimmune condition, due to the combination of poor gut health and stress.
One evening, the stomach pain grew so bad that I ended up in A&E. But after a 7-hour wait, mostly spent curled up in the foetal position on the floor, I got given a saline drip, had a stomach scan, blood tests, got told nothing was wrong and got told that I should go home.
The next week, my GP told me that I simply had IBS. The pain was ‘in my head’ and I should simply be following a low FODMAP diet. Although feeling that my GP was just trying to pass me over to someone else, I followed his advice. Nothing changed. The fatigue worsened; if I ate anything, I had to immediately sleep.
Over the next year, I visited multiple doctors, who tested for Chrons, performed endoscopies, and ultimately found nothing. Repeated food intolerance tests were inconsistent. Naturopathic remedies were useless. My symptoms continued to grow. My skin started to burn, and I became breathless after walking up a simple flight of stairs. My legs permanently felt like lead and the energy I had to train my clients was non-existent. This is just naming a few.
In March 2018, I signed up to a third GP and thankfully this doctor actually listened. New blood tests and ultrasounds were ordered. A referral to a gastroenterologist was made. Even though there was a 4-6 month waiting list, I felt relieved that someone else thought it wasn’t all ‘in my head’.
While waiting for the gastro referral, I sought out a private nutritionist. This was the start of the ‘up’… and I can’t thank this man enough.
With his help, I began taking Betaine HCL. He suggested avoiding dairy, gluten and no sugars except certain fruits. Around this time, after consulting with the NHS gastroenterologist and subsequent rheumatologist, I got diagnosed informally with rheumatoid arthritis and potential fibromyalgia. After hearing this, my nutritionist recommended that I explore the ketogenic diet.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to keep seeing the nutritionist but I delved into reading as much as I could about keto and eventually started in July 2018. Though I began to feel marginally better, I still wasn’t where I wanted to be so I reached out to Stephanie Pearson. After chatting with Stephanie, it really hit home that the path that I was on still needed to change. She suggested that I should cut out all plants; I thought this was ridiculous at first – How can plants be bad for you? – but I really had nothing to lose.
After just three days on carnivore, I felt my mood lift. It was such a freeing moment – three days! And over the next 3 years, 99% of all of my symptoms have reversed.
Since starting the carnivore diet, I have still been seen by a range of specialists. It’s a shame of their distrust of the diet and will probably always recommend me to have medication. Though my auto immune condition was never fully confirmed, I’ll always be on their books as having a rheumatoid and fibro diagnosis and nutrition isn’t their first consideration. But all of my inflammation markers are now normal. My joint pain is now non-existent, all scans are clear.
More recently, I have consulted with Zsofia Clemens at Paleomedicina and adopting a higher fat PKD approach to carnivore means my energy is growing again, and I truly feel like myself.
I am truly grateful for what this way of eating has given me – I sincerely hope that in the future it can support others in their journey of gaining true health!
Tash
