Tracey's Health Journey
When she turned 40, Tracey had been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and she took an interest in low-carbohydrate diets. She would follow the low-carb ways and then a ketogenic diet for the next six years.
Low-carbohydrate Diet and Ketogenic Diet
Tracey had been following Dr. Shawn Baker, and she also had some clients that were curious about the carnivore diet lifestyle, so she had been “watching and reading” about it for some time. She had clients who had heard about Dr. Baker and the carnivore diet, though most of them were quite predictably very skeptical. “Some had heard about Shawn after he was on the Joe Rogan podcast, and they did the whole ‘What? Only eat meat? How ridiculous; can’t be, can’t work, blah blah.”
Learning About the Carnivore Diet
She had issues getting comfortable for sleeping: “I’d go to bed every night, and I would just have this intense heat in my body; my sleep leading up, a couple of years, was just really average. I had muscle soreness, but it was really the heat and the tiredness that was the issue.” These symptoms turned out to be symptoms of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, however.
Hashimoto's Diagnosis and Transition to Carnivore
Tracey was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s at age 46, after believing that her hot flashes were a sign of menopause. Seeing the reality validated on her lab reports was very surprising, though she immediately knew what she would do about it. Her diagnosis “was a bit of a shock. I knew straight away I was going to do carnivore to help heal the condition.”
Transition to Carnivore With Guidance
Tracey transitioned to carnivore with the guidance of a naturopathic physician. She had been eating the “standard ketogenic diet, so it was quite high in dairy, high in oxalate, and high in lectins. I took everything out. I even took eggs out, which turned out to be an issue for me. For three months, none of it except for meat… with a little bit of trial and error.”
Challenges and Adaptation
She did experience some adaptation issues, saying, “It took my gut a good ten to twelve weeks to right itself; pretty amazing, isn’t that? I had no idea it would take that long…I knew, like any diet, it would take the time to transition and I just had to stick with it and it would right itself.”
Food Allergies and Hot Flashes
Tracey learned the role of food allergies: “I was getting what I thought were hot flashes, but were actually heat from the food allergies, really!”
Tracy did keep many people’s favorite plant-based beverage: “I did keep in coffee, so my naturopath was quite happy that coffee wasn’t going to be an issue, so I had to get used to black because I was so used to having cream in my coffee.”
Reintroducing Foods and Thriving
After three months, Tracey started adding back “just a few little things” like eggs and minimal dairy. This continued for six months, when Tracey was “pure carnivore.”
Thyroid stability and Feeling Fantastic
She is now seeing thyroid stability, saying, “My thyroid panel has totally normalized. I sleep really well; I have no heat; I’m eating eggs now, after reintroducing them slowly…I feel fantastic and thriving.”
