Travis is in Calgary, Canada, and was born with coarctation of the aorta, also nearly three months premature. He says there were “lots of complications because of that.” Travis explains, “I’ve had eight heart operations, and two gastrointestinal because my aorta was actually plumbed to my stomach artery. Because that got infected… it was a very complex issue that had to be corrected.”
Travis also didn’t have any femoral arteries in his legs, so “I was definitely not able to do a lot of physical activities.” Growing up, he experienced muscle fatigue and other symptoms due to poor circulation. Travis says, “I had a lot of migraines, almost daily, and my mom was always pulling me out of school because I had a headache.” He also had high blood pressure due to his arterial malformations.
The years of antibiotics and worry about health took a toll, and Travis says, “I started to have severe mental health issues, with OCD, anxiety, and depression. Skin disorders, like eczema and psoriasis.”
The antibiotics were needed because Travis had an aortic graft, which presented a risk of infection, so he was on antibiotics continually. Despite this, he has had “two heart infections that were pretty bad.” Graft infections carry a 50% mortality rate, so they can’t be ignored. The constant threat likely contributed to his stress.
When he considered that the way doctors would look for infection was by using radioactive-tagged glucose, he decided, “If they use glucose to find an infection, then wouldn’t it be best for someone who has a high risk of infection to be on a low glycemic diet?” The strategy worked, and instead of taking an antibiotic daily, Travis can take one every few weeks.
“I started with Paleo, because I thought that was the best way to go.” Then later, he decided “maybe keto was the best way, because I hear a lot of people with mental health issues doing keto and kind of putting that in remission.”
Travis learned that plants were not his friend: “I found out that as I excluded more and more plants, I felt better.” Worried that eating only meat wasn’t a sustainable diet, Travis researched online, where he found many people who had been eating only meat for years. He decided to give it a go and see how it went!
Travis finds that dairy products are a “no-go, otherwise, psoriasis and eczema will flare up.”
His doctors discouraged exercise, but Travis has found that regular exercise now improves his aerobic ability and circulation, saying, “even my femoral arteries have increased in size since I started working out.”
Travis no longer suffers from his skin issues and finds that his brain and mind are functioning better as well. “I don’t have any OCD symptoms with it; my anxiety is far down, and I’m able to cope with a lot of stressors in life because of this. It’s a lifesaver.”
