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Kiki is healing from weakness, low thyroid, inflammation on carnivore diet

October 18, 2020 No Comments

My name is Kiki.

I have been eating a carnivore diet of 90% beef since March 2018.

I eat 2 meals a day of 1 lb. of beef each meal.

I usually eat my meals at 11am and 6pm.

I eat when hungry. I always eat to satiety. I do not limit meal size or calories.

I supplement with salt.

I do not test ketones, use a food app, or weigh myself.

I was a 35-year vegetarian and during that time often vegan.

I was very attached to my vegetarian way of life and the belief system that I was eating the ideal health diet while contributing to a better planet and global future having been inspired by many popular vegetarian and vegan books of that time.

I have been involved in Yoga since I was 19 years old, for nearly 40 years now. This dedicated practice as well as decades of Yoga teaching – with more than a dozen study trips to vegetarian South India over a 20-year period – kept me tied to vegetarianism as part of a spiritual belief system and the supposed foundation for luminous health. Simultaneously I embraced a strongly pushed vegetarian propaganda that meat eating and animal farming were causes of global disease and global destruction. These are ideas that most vegetarians accept without question and sacrificing all logic.

I have always been highly physically active – from a competitive runner in high school, professional dancer and actress and an intensely dedicated yoga practitioner – waking at 3am and doing 2-3 hours of intense and advanced yoga asanas for decades while running a yoga school, directing yoga programs and teaching world wide and with a roster of celebrity clients as well as creating yoga programming for individuals and communities with MS, Spinal Cord Injury, disabilities, and vets with PTSD.

From the age of my late 30’s, I began to develop more and more digestive problems (swinging from constipation to loose stools) and kept trying to address this through shifting how I ate a vegetarian diet – from cooked, to raw, to Ayurvedic to macrobiotic to vegan. As well as adding herbs, superfoods, supplements etc. I also developed increasing chemical sensitivities to paint, chemicals, and cologne leading to rashes, flushed skin, and stomach upset.

From being uniquely strong and high energy, I began to develop more and more body pain and stiffness. When I would travel to India – for the first ten years, I would always become more strong and flexible and focussed. But this eventually changed. Rather I would almost instantly have more pain and terrible inflammation. I thought it was due to the intensify of yoga practices, along with so called “over use syndrome” – but now in retrospect I see it was legumes, cereal grains, and toxic plant compounds. I cannot tolerate these at all today.

My health continued to plummet with B12 anaemia that included visual and auditory hallucinations, fainting, intense brain fog, and extreme exhaustion I was also extremely deficient in most B vitamins and vitamin D (and yes, I supplemented with B12 for decades)

For nearly 10 years leading up to my carnivore diet change, I needed to soak in a hot bath everyday to begin to move. I got weekly massages as well as weekly acupuncture and was usually getting an additional kind of therapeutic healing like fascial release sessions, chiropractics, Somatics, barefoot movement and the list goes on. All this to manage 24-hour pain and to just get through my week.

A looming crisis of faith along with my determination to beat these health concerns and a belief that we can heal ourselves (and that I could reverse my situation and thrive) with food choices led me to deeply research Weston A. Price, bone broth, Ketogenics, paleo, zero carb and I found my way to the Low Carb Down Under, Ancestral Health and other presentations where I learned from Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Georgia Ede, Sally K. Norton, and so many others whose research I embraced to completely heal. Several Facebook groups like Principia Carnivora, Women’s Carnivore Tribe and Vegan and Vegetarian Recovery offered a great deal of community support. I also listened to every Human Outliers Podcast for a year.

I am so grateful to this Carnivore community and to all those that are participating in research and spreading the word on Carnivore, ultra low carb, zero carb and plant-free lifestyles.

Today I have more vitality than I could have imagined. I feel that I have turned back the clock 20 years (years that were lost to me due to pain and exhaustion). Just a few months ago I registered a Guinness Book of World Records for the Longest Held Downward Dog Pose at 1 hour and 20 seconds. I have taken up kettle bells as well as other athletic and optimal development practices.

My hair and nails are thick and growing. My skin is smooth and my body is lean and toned. I am strong and energetic. I recently moved onto my sailboat and am living a sailing life (this would have been physically impossible 2 years ago).

All the health concerns listed below have disappeared except for some remaining tinnitus, occasional insomnia as well as sensitivity with minor rashes and some low back pain when I eat off plan (which includes a few animal foods I cannot tolerate like pork, dairy and eggs).

The List:

20 years of intensifying body aches

24-hour pain

Very cold hands and feet all year around

Cold all the time.

Intense exhaustion

Injuries not healing

Rashes

Chemical sensitivities

Weakness, extreme stiffness

Difficulty in walking – hip inflammation – sciatica like pain

Tinnitus

Swollen and seeping ears

B12 anaemia (hallucinations, fearfulness, fainting)

Anxiety (I did not know I had this until it was gone) I had accepted this mind state as normal.

Superstitious

Paranoid

Sadness / very emotional

Low thyroid (I took a medication which I no longer need)

Weak nails

Slow growing hair

Some hair receding

Extreme tinnitus

Insomnia

Racing thoughts and sleeplessness

Digestive concerns – constipation to loose stools

Some weight gain that I could not control with accompanied inflammation and sudden cellulite and skin dimpling (2 years prior and leading up to Carnivore change)

Non-motivated to exercise

Constant need to nap

Wanting to sleep all the time

Brain fog

Uninspired

Gnawing hunger

An all encompassing fear of losing my community and being judged.

More about me at KikiFlynn.com, Kiki Says on YouTube and Kiki_Says on Instagram

Jason improved Ankylosing Spondylitis and lost weight on carnivore diet

October 11, 2020 1 Comment

I don’t normally do this, but my experience so far with carnivore has been so powerful and LIFE CHANGING that maybe this could be inspiring towards others.

I started this diet as a 30 day challenge on 1/1/20 after reading The Carnivore Diet in late 2019. Around the same time, I did a food allergy test and it blew up with all kinds of super high sensitivities to all kinds of mostly VEGGIES! Also lots of trees nuts and legumes, I was in disbelief at how many things I needed to eliminate that were considered “healthy”.

I also have suffered from an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which is kin to RA but targets the spine and lower back with more intensity. I’ve learned in the past that diet is huuuuge with this disease and it has led me to some pretty extreme diets over the years.

I’m done looking!! Like I said I started this diet as a personal 30 day challenge on Jan 1st this year. First and foremost as an elimination diet and then to put the theories I had read about to the test. Guys this diet has SAVED MY LIFE. Totally transformed me and has allowed my body to heal and grow muscle/burn fat. I feel the best I have since I was a teenager and inflammation is at an all-time low. In my case this diet is so easy and the rewards are so huge that I will never go back to ANY other diet, plus I absolutely love eating meat and get excited every day knowing I don’t have to choke down something disgusting lol.

First pic: 1/1/20 clocking in at 229.7 lbs, 38” waist, bloated and highly inflamed

2nd pic: 10/9/20 weight 196.0 lbs, 32” waist, lean and almost zero inflammation

I hope this is as inspiring to someone else as it has been to me. I am incredibly grateful and thankful that I stumbled upon this diet and took the leap of faith to start it. Too good not to share! Not done yet!

Dave reversed multiple inflammatory conditions on a carnivore diet

September 14, 2020 2 Comments

My name is Dave, also known as Cursing Carnivore on Instagram. I came to the carnivore lifestyle January of this year, after being on the weight rollercoaster my entire life. I had always done well with low carb/keto, but I always stalled out after a while, and would always manage to overindulge or have too many cheat meals, or something hugely emotional would happen to me and I would go off the rails again. Last June my mother passed away at 61 years old of kidney failure, and I bottomed out. I went back to my emotional eating habits and gained back a lot of the weight I had lost going keto 2 years before. I decided after listening to Joe Rogans Podcast about his dalliance with carnivore, I would try it. I knew the Petersons had been advocating this for years but I always thought it was crazy, as much as I love the idea of eating steak and bacon every day. I knew this was going to be the time, I wasn’t going to go back to old habits, I wasn’t going to fail again, I’m a married man with 3 sons at home, I needed to do this not only for me, but for them. I didn’t ever want them to feel the way we all felt losing my mom. So I channeled John Wick, a man of unceasing focus and determination, and I have lost more than 115 lbs since then, reversed multiple inflammatory conditions, and improved my mental health vastly. I have attached some photos of me, some were prior to lymphedema surgery 4 years ago.

Listen to Dave’s success story on the MeatRx.com podcast below:

Ren is healing from chronic pain, migraines, depression a carnivore diet

September 5, 2020 1 Comment

The story, in pictures: 1. I’m six years old. My father is starting to put on weight, started to feel sick. He was a physician’s assistant. Didn’t he know how to be healthy? Mother wants to do something about it.

She started cooking low fat, adding swiss chard and spinach, ordering organic vegetables, potatoes, and tofu instead of beef. She ground wheat at home and made all our bread from fresh whole grains. Basically a leptin, oxalate, and phytate nightmare.

As a growing child I was often so hungry that I learned to forage for food. In-season fruit trees, sneaking out to the icecream truck, whatever. I was a sugar junkie, sneaking candy just like my father.

By 11 years old my knees hurt so badly that some days I could hardly stand. I was pale, with dark shadows under my eyes, and easily exhausted. My father’s diet wasn’t working for him or for the family.

Ironically my health improved when I was old enough to run to McDonald’s for burgers. My sisters and I competed for who could eat the most meat, but it wasn’t enough to counteract the milkshakes and french fries.

When I got my period, it hurt. Every month was pure torture that I can say was worse than having a nail stabbed straight through my foot. It seemed like every year added more problems.

Asthma, bad eyesight, iron deficiency, low vitamin D, burning easily in the sun, painful walking, restless legs and muscle spasms.

I had ear infections and yeast infections in highschool, where I prepared to go to medical school. I wanted to find answers. I wanted to fix my body. I felt so terrible going into college that I didn’t care about my diet and ate whatever I wanted, still mostly bread, cheese, and potatoes but also salads, chicken, and some beef. Then I had a stroke at the college and couldn’t pass tests anymore. My brain just would not work. My dreams of becoming a doctor died that day. And my father died shortly after. He was 43 years old. We learned that he ate a candybar and had a 20oz Coke every day, in spite of my mother trying to restrict his calories. Diets don’t work.

I went to work at McDonald’s, but that didn’t last long. Soon the pain in my legs became so bad I couldn’t stand. I suffered from gut pain, gallbladder pain, migraines, dizzy spells and depression. I thought the answer was to go vegetarian and start working a desk job, since eating fat triggered gall bladder attacks of intense pain. I was low-oil vegan for 2 years, then lacto-ovo vegetarian. This at first made me feel better, but the honeymoon phase didn’t last long.

Soon enough for the first time, I started putting on weight. Until then I was a fairly thin girl, but lack of exercise due to the pain packed the pounds on. I avoided red meat for 15 years.

When I turned 35 the leg pain came back with a vengeance. It was so bad that this time, I got a walker, a scooter, and a permanent disability certificate. I quit dancing. I became even more depressed. I got asthma, arthritis, and severe allergies. Nobody could figure out why I was in so much pain. My oldest sister died. She was 43. I realized that I had 8 years left to live, and I did not want to live any longer. I was suffering, and I wanted it to stop. Every moment, pain. I needed a larger chart and colored pencils to show my therapist all the pain spots. I even had social problems because of the gas and burping that my slow gallbladder fomented. It was bad. I even started to experience heartburn after eating. I tried fermenting, kombucha, sauerkraut, beet kvass, greens, juicing, CICO, etc. I took a DNA test and started towards a more Paleo approach to eating that reflected my Scandinavian heritage.

Finally, I turned 43. I weighed 183 lbs, 5’7″ and I was a size 16/18. Well, I thought, this is the year that I die.

But then a co-worker told me about Dr Ken Berry. Just watch the videos, she said. Just watch. The revelations started coming fast. I started with the Low-oxalate diet, to start healing my gut and give my gallbladder a chance to come out of it’s coma. I took ox bile pills so that I could eat fat without having painful spasms. Eventually my gallbladder woke up and ejected a large amount of sandy particles. Now I’m proud to own a fully functional carnivore gut, but it was a long and slow journey.

When I felt ready, I moved slowly into the keto diet. And I do mean slowly. It took 90 days of ramping down carbs and ramping up fat to get all the way into the low-carb macros. My husband did it with me, every step of the way.

I was still doing a vegetable heavy keto when I discovered Dr. Shawn Baker and Mikhaila Peterson and I knew, this was the answer.

My husband and I switched to carnivore after 4 months of slow ramp-down keto. By then, I had already lost 30lbs. He’d lost 40. We never cheated. Not even once. We knew what was at stake. It was life or death. From then on, the story reads in reverse. I started being in less pain. Less migraines, less depression, less allergies, less asthma, less medicine, less leg pain…More life. It’s just that simple. I started dancing again. It’s not a miracle. It’s meat.

Listen to Ren’s interview on the MeatRx.com podcast below:

John improved hypothyroidism and inflammation on a carnivore diet

July 6, 2020 4 Comments

It’s 18 months to the day that I’ve been doing the Carnivore diet and I’ve never felt better! Here are before and after pics which you can clearly see a difference! I’ve lost about 30 pounds between these pictures.

More than that though, I have had many other health benefits! For about 12 years I have taken two sets of thyroid medicine for hypothyroidism. I have eliminated one of those pills and decreased the other by over 50% since being Carnivore! That baffles my Vegan Endocrinologist haha! I also used to get 2-3 dry spots a year on my body called psoriasis rosea which is a lesser form of eczema. I have not had a single dry spot on my skin the last 18 months! I also used to have these dry little bumps on the back of my triceps from dry skin and no matter how much lotion i used they would always be there. I haven’t had those either in 18 months! I used to take 400-800 mg of ibuprofen nearly daily due to back and neck pain and join pain in my knees or elbows from my workouts and two knee surgeries. I now take no pain meds at all and never feel any of those pains since being on Carnivore! Inflammation is down as well and i only get inflammation when i cheat and eat any sweets.

This has been the best for me in so many ways! Also I have had 4 full blood panel physicals and nothing abnormal. My total cholesterol ratio is actually better than pre-carnivore! I take no supplements and people are surprised when they ask me what other supplements or vitamins I take when I say I taken nothing! The only reason you need a supplement is because you are deficient somewhere. No deficiency when eating meat!!

Thanks Dr Baker you are an inspiration and your book is amazing!

Dawn reversed her osteoarthritis and menopause symptoms on a carnivore diet

June 22, 2020 7 Comments

I have always struggled with my weight. At aged nine I was put on a 1000 calories a day diet; the first
of many attempts to be a healthy weight. In my twenties I was told I had a binge eating disorder and
that I should never try to restrict what I ate as this would lead to more bingeing. Apart from a brief
period when I was about 30 years old I had weighed between 210lbs and 270lbs.

In 2013, at the age of 42, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both my feet. Six months later it had
also started in both hands. I questioned how ‘wear and tear’ could start simultaneously in both hands
and both feet, but I saw three consultants who all confirmed that I had osteoarthritis and not
rheumatoid arthritis. Over the next few months I was given cortisol injections and an increasing
number of pain killers. By October 2014 I was on 8 Paracetamol, 8 Tramadol and 6 Naproxen a day
and Amitriptyline at night to help me sleep. I had to stop taking the Naproxen after two years as it
caused a stomach ulcer so they changed me onto Gabapentin instead (9 a day). Despite all of these
pain killers I could barely walk a hundred metres with a stick and I needed special cutlery as I
couldn’t grip.

The first step on my journey to health came in September 2017 when my partner decided to go ‘gluten
free’ to help his stomach problems. For convenience I did the same, not expecting any difference in
my own health. Within a couple of weeks I noticed that the food cravings, which I had always had,
seemed to have ceased. I was amazed as I had always believed that it was part of me.

At the beginning of 2018 we saw Jordan Peterson being interviewed. I bought his book for my
partner’s birthday and we read about Mikhaila’s health conditions and how they had been helped by
an elimination diet. Then I saw both Jordan and Mikhaila on Joe Rogan’s podcast. The before and
after pictures of Mikhaila were staggering. I also found other carnivores on YouTube such as Amber
O’Hearn and Dr Shawn Baker. Their videos showed me that this diet was sustainable long term and
that I would not be alone on my journey. I had nothing to lose so I decided to give it a go, not
expecting any change in my own health as mine was not the same type of arthritis as Mikhaila’s.

At first I started on meat, eggs and green veg before dropping the veg and just having meat and eggs. I
went fully carnivore on 12 th June 2018. On 1 st July my mother in law had a party for her 80 th birthday
and, for the first time in five years, I left my stick at home. A few days later we had a day out in
Whitby and I walked much farther than I could have done before. By the middle of July I was walking
several miles without any pain. I bought a pair of hiking boots at the beginning of August and we
were able to return to our old hobby of hiking on the coast near where we live. We have a route of
about six miles which we started doing almost every morning. The first week in September we had a
walking holiday in the Lake District in northwest England. I was able to hike all day just like I did
before I got the arthritis. It felt like an absolute miracle.

During that summer, I started to wean myself off the pain killers. This was awful!! I had been taking
the Tramadol for almost five years and coming off them was not a pleasant experience. I couldn’t
sleep and my whole body twitched terribly. I probably weaned myself off too quickly, but they were
capsules so I could cut them in half. Not too bad when you go from 8 a day to 7, but when you go
from 3 to 2 it’s a big jump. I took it a little more slowly coming off the Gabapentin (and I hadn’t been

on them so long) so that was a little easier. Finally I came off the Paracetamol and by the end of
September I was finally on no medication. When I told my doctor that I no longer needed my repeat
prescription because I was no longer in pain she was astounded; saying that she had “never heard of
such a thing”. Strangely she didn’t really seem very interested in how I had done this nor did she think
I should return to see the consultant who had diagnosed the arthritis.

One of the most striking side effects of the diet was my weight loss. Between May 2018 when I
started the elimination diet and December 2018 I lost 70lbs. I am a mature student and started the diet
while on my summer vacation from university. When I went back in September, people I knew
literally walked past me without recognising me. The two photographs I have included were taken in
July and December 2018 (just 5 months apart!).

Before starting on the carnivore diet I had also been suffering from menopausal symptoms, including
hot flushes and tinnitus. These started around the same time as my arthritis and I do believe that there
may be some link between the menopause and osteoarthritis. I have found books from the 1950s
which refer to menopausal arthritis and Dr Blake Donaldson’s book Strong Medicine describes how
he used a low card/carnivore diet to treat menopausal arthritis. I had tried several different hormone
replacement therapies but to no avail. Since going carnivore I have had no menopausal symptoms at
all; the hot flushes disappeared and after a few weeks I noticed that I didn’t have tinnitus any more.

I have had one or two ‘flare ups’ of pain and inflammation over the past two years. These have been
when I’ve eaten something other than eggs, meat, cheese or heavy whipping cream. For instance, on
Christmas Day I had some Christmas Pudding and Brandy sauce which left me in pain for a couple of
days. Recently I used a spray weed killer and that too seemed to cause inflammation despite me
wearing gloves when I used it. Other than that I have been pain free for almost two years and I never
intend to go back to my previous life.

More recently I have been experimenting with fasting. When you eat a meat only diet you don’t need
to eat as often so fasting became easy. I have always had a large appetite, but after a concerted period
of fasting (2 or 3 40 hour fasts per week over 6 weeks) I have noticed that I have started to feel full on
less food. I had never really had that ‘full’ feeling before so it felt very strange!

I hope that my experiences will encourage others to change their lives. I will be 50 this week and I
have never felt fitter or healthier in my life. I hike, swim and exercise regularly and am looking
forward to a more energetic, pain free future.

Trudy improved sleep, fitness, and pain on a carnivore fasting lifestyle

May 31, 2020 2 Comments

Hi my name is Trudy, 59 years old, 5’7″ and weigh around 125 lbs. At one point in my life not that long ago, I weighed over 160 lbs, was sluggish, full of inflammation, stressed and strung out.

I have been a Fasting Carnivore since September 2019, and have experimented fasting off and on most of my life. I have tried many different avenues over the years including Weight Watchers, Nutri-system, Body for Life, Protein Drinks, Elimination Diets, Whole 30, whole food juicing, Paleo, then Keto. Before Keto, I couldn’t make a weight loss stick, ever. During my Keto journey, I was learning and growing from listening to several podcasts of Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Ken Berry, Dr. Jason Fung. I also found some women carnivores that inspired me, including Dr. Lisa Wiedeman, Laura Spath, Kelly Hogan, and the Strong Sistas, to try Carnivore. I wanted to see if I could heal my back pain.

The health struggles I have had in the past include: food & environmental allergies, disordered eating, aggressive cataracts, L4-L5 compression, stenosis, sciatic pain, high blood pressure, anemia, food addictions, yo-yo weight gains, brain fog, inflammation, joint pain, oily skin, stringy hair, weak nails, and much more.

Most of my issues have resolved or significantly reduced since transitioning into the Fasting Carnivore lifestyle. A recent visit to the eye doctor was a report that my aggressive cataracts had not grown since last year. My skin, hair and nails are SO much healthier & stronger. My environmental allergies are gone. I even have my daughter’s cat living with me for the summer & haven’t had one itchy eye or sneeze and I have had him for over a month. I have been told I don’t look or act 59 years old. I love adventure and working out. I may not be a competitive athlete anymore (ok, I do dabble in running, biking, and triathlons but I don’t consider myself fast). Even so, I love how strong & active I am today. My grandkids and my daughters will always have my example to look back on some day. I am SO thankful for this lifestyle and Dr. Baker’s leadership to help change people’s lives for the better.

My most recent success was a 21 day fast that I completed. It was an experiment to reset my body and to research the effects of autophagy to see if I could improve the level of pain in my lower back. You see I kept waking up at night to the point I could barely roll over.

So, the 21 days included 3 day water fasting only, then the other 18 days I followed a fasting mimicking fat fast where I only ate up to 500 calories daily of bone broth and/or raw beef suet. I had heard coaches Niti and Raymond discussing Niti’s experience with such a fast. I had never heard of such a thing as getting to eat while fasting!! The timing with the world pandemic going on around me and the fact that I love being my own experiment, well it was just the challenge I needed. I learned something new for sure and I found out how long and how hard I could go. I even lost 16 pounds over the course of the 21 days.

By about day 8 I was sleeping better and through out most of these 21 days my energy was out the roof. I got SO much $^&#% done and ran, biked, or walked daily. I had an interesting experience of a huge clean out on about day 9 which seemed crazy. It must have been an oxalate dumping for I had not ingested enough food for what cleaned out of me. Whatever my body was holding onto, I was glad that this experiment helped recycle some old and damaged cells out of my body. The only downer was I got a huge suet aversion by about day 18 which made the last few days tough to complete. I substituted pork belly and more beef bone broth instead of the suet.

I biked 4 times (34-61 km each time), ran 7 times (5-12 km each time), and walked daily (2-5 km) in the fasted state. I also did push ups and tri-cep dips on run days. So, I lost weight, got some lower back pain relief, and a peace & calm came over me that quieted the old addictive behaviour tendencies that I had struggled with in the past. Eating fat definitely is something I learned my body wanted me to do and I operated efficiently. I feel amazing, sleep soundly (and don’t need as much sleep) and am happier, healthier and calmer than ever before. At the end of the 21 days, I knew I was done for my energy levels were becoming depleted and I found my workouts were harder to do and I was just feeling fatigued.

Overall, would I do it again? Maybe, and with a daily check in with a coach, I might. Raymond helped me daily on the after noon social call, I was able to check in and bounce my experience off him daily which was a huge help & encouragement.

The Radical Fasting Carnivore,

Trudy

Lara improved her malabsorption on a fasting, carnivore lifestyle

May 11, 2020 4 Comments

Hi there,

My name is Lara. Dawn Leighton is a good friend of mine and I have been doing carnivore on fish and eggs for almost 2 years now. I gave up dairy (except butter) and caffeine, coffee and tea January 1st. My original plan was to go keto with my mom but it quickly went to Carnivore due to Dawn convincing me how much easier it was not needing to count anything. Well shortly after that I started experimenting with fasting. I have been obese my entire life. I went to fat camp at 12 years old and was ruthlessly picked on at school, especially middle school. Honestly, I tried everything from diet pills (fen-phen), weight watchers, Jenny Craig, gastric bypass, to juice fasting. Nothing I did worked and I kept gaining weight. I felt like a broken human being. I had lost a lot with my Roux-n-Y surgery which I got 18 years ago just after meeting my now husband. After the 3 kids and not figuring out why I got obese to begin with, I steadily gained quite a bit of weight back over the years. I even had gestational diabetes with my first born. I was headed down a terrible road. So, once I found carnivore and fasting I finally understood the role that high insulin played in particularly my obesity. My main focus since I started has been keeping ketones high and glucose low in order to have the healthiest metabolism. I check both my blood glucose and blood ketones regularly to know myself from the inside out. Since January 1st, I have made the most progress I have ever seen in my body. Giving up dairy and caffeine was a part of that but I also do a lot of fasting both extended and intermittent. When I feed, I eat a lot and I only eat nutrient dense food. High fat is vital to me too in order to keep me satiated. I am happy to be able to say now that I weigh a lot less than when I was at fat camp when I was 12 years old. I have honestly never seen my body look like this before. I keep walking by the mirror to check to make sure I am not dreaming. For the longest time, I wished to live in someone else’s body because I was so disconnected from my own. My legs finally have shape instead of being tree trunks.

Now, I say what, when and how often I eat are instrumental to my success. Fasting is just as important as what I feast on. Fasting lowers my insulin like nothing else and keeps me metabolically healthy. I was so damaged from all the dieting I did in the past. If I eat too many days in a row, my blood sugars start to creep up. I can also feel that my body is now craving a fasting day here and there.

I am now almost to my ultimate goal. I expect to be there by the end of June. I get my blood checked every 6 months due to malabsorption issues I no longer have. I take no supplements nor medication. The plan, once I get to the final goal, will be to continue fasting 2 days a week, both combined and spread out, to keep my blood sugars stable and insulin low. This will be the first time in my life that fat loss will no longer be a goal. Fasting for me, is a sustainable and vital part of my health journey. It is my mindset. I am furious that I had been lied to and brainwashed my entire childhood on faulty, unproven science. Once I figured out the insulin was the problem I have been unstoppable. The first half of my life was filled with pain and self doubt, but the last half will be medication, inflammation and disease free.

The bottom picture was me as a teen vs me now. It has been an amazing journey for sure.

Watch or listen to Lara’s interview on the MeatRx.com podcast below:

Krissy improved digestion, chronic pain, and cravings on carnivore diet

March 28, 2020 1 Comment

Krissy’s Background: I always had an interest in health from the time I was young when I worked as a lifeguard, swam, and was very active. I originally wanted to become a doctor to help others with their health so my first degree was in Biology.

I discovered the importance of nutrition for health in my last year of my biology degree and took a nutrition course. I fell in love with nutrition science and physiology and decided to go back to school to study nutrition. I got my Bachelors of Science in Applied Human Nutrition and became registered as a Dietitian in 2009. I was also a certified personal trainer and started my own private practice/private training studio after this where I worked with clients looking for fat loss and building muscle, as well as fitness athletes.

Why Vegan: I was always considered healthy, fit, and active. I followed the recommended “balanced diet” with lots of variety and the common nutritious foods but had to make modifications due to having IBS such as cutting out dairy and gluten. I was very conscious of making healthy choices based on the nutrition guidelines I learned in school.

My husband Dwayne and I love learning about health so one day he started watching the documentary “Forks Over Knives” and decided he wanted to give a plant-based diet a try. I was not convinced at first because a plant-based diet was not a common practice when I studied nutrition and I wanted to be objective. Then we watched “Vegucated” and “Earthlings” and like many others I was terrified into believing animal products were bad for long-term health. I did some research at that time based on the resources provided in these documentaries and decided to join Dwayne. I didn’t realize at the time how one sided this research was however. I took a course in plant-based nutrition and was determined to prove it was possible to thrive on a vegan diet.

The health decline: I felt great in my first year as a vegan. We now know this as the “vegan honeymoon phase”. Maybe it’s because I thought I was doing the best thing for my health, the environment and the animals. But it was after my first year that my health started to decline.

I discovered I had low iron and vitamin D. I also developed chronic fatigue and chronic pain, was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis started to get skin issues and eczema patches for the first time in my life, my hormones were out of whack which was affecting my mood and cycles, my digestion was awful even though I wasn’t consuming gluten and I soaked everything, and I developed anxiety and mild depression. I also slowly started to gain weight when I had never struggled with my weight in the past.

I started to see a naturopath who prescribed me natural supplements in addition to the iron and vitamin D I was now taking. I also took B12, a multivitamin, and plant-based omega-3 oil all while following a balanced whole foods plant-based diet. Of course all of the vegans tell me “I didn’t do it right” but if anyone researched hard enough on how to it was me! After-all I was determined to make it work because I also coaching vegan clients and made a whole business around plant-based diets and challenges. I was known as an expert in the industry and has a big social media following so of course I wanted to make this work.

I didn’t eat processed vegan foods or junk. I ate a lot of avocados, chickpeas, lentils, vegetables, low sugar fruits, nuts and seeds, gluten-free whole grains, coconut oil, nutritional yeast, and drank only water and tea. I did not restrict calories and I prepared all of my meals at home. I also tried a variety of different eating protocols including high carb low fat, lower carb higher fat, I tried supplementing with pea and rice protein in my green smoothie. I even used a vegan coach to help me. I felt like I was constantly eating in order to make sure I was meeting my needs.

Yes to meat: It was after my 2nd year as a vegan my naturopath suggested I add in some animal products so I tried adding eggs back in and did this for another year, then tried adding fish back in a did this for another year, and finally dairy back in for my 3rd year as a vegetarian. So just to be clear I was vegan for 2 years and vegetarian for 3 more for 5 years total. At this point I was still supplementing and ate vegan meals weekly because I still believed it was the healthiest choice and I was determined to go back to veganism after my deficiencies resolved.

Unfortunately they did not and my symptoms kept getting worse and worse to the point I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I couldn’t work out anymore and I had to stop coaching clients during this time because I didn’t know how I was going to help others if I couldn’t help myself. One summer evening 2 years ago Dwayne was grilling burgers (he only lasted 6 weeks as a vegan by the way) and I had the overwhelming feeling to eat one for the first time in years, so I did. I felt so amazing afterwards and had so much energy I decided to add meat back into my diet because I knew my body was telling me something. It only took a few months for my iron levels to shoot up and I stopped supplementing. My digestion also got a lot better.

Why carnivore: While many of my symptoms had improved once I added meat back into my diet I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and interstitial cystitis after seeking answers and treatment from literally every alternative health practitioner out there. I did several elimination diets after getting my diagnosis and kept discovering more and more triggers that would flare up my symptoms. We have done keto diets in the past and I was determined to lose the 30lbs I had slowly put on over the past few years so in January last year I decided to try a clean keto diet with intermittent fasting (basically fatty meat & veggies). After 3 months my symptoms started to get better (mainly my energy) and I lost 20 lbs.

During this time Dwayne started doing the carnivore diet and I thought he was nuts. He kept sending me videos and research though and told me it was basically the most extreme (and accurate) elimination diet out there. I watched him do it for a few months while I kept eating my veggies and he was seeing amazing results. I decided I couldn’t say anything against it until I tried it myself and had the goal of doing it for 1 month as an elimination diet and adding foods back in.

Within a few weeks my brain fog totally went away, my stomach was no longer bloated, and I had amazing energy. After the month my chronic pain was 95% gone and my eczema disappeared. I did try to add foods back in one at a time starting with avocados and then sauerkraut and my homemade sugar-free coconut yogurt but all of my symptoms came back. I was feeling so good on carnivore I decided to keep doing it until I felt like it was time to play around again. I lost 10 more lbs by the time summer came and looked and felt 10 years younger.

I’ve tried playing around with adding some things back in like blueberries and some other low-sugar fruits and vegetables here and there but symptoms always come back. I’ve now been carnivore since May 2019 and feel like it’s the easiest WOE I’ve ever followed. I have zero cravings and am happy with eating fatty ribeyes every night.

Dwayne and I have joined forces and started a social media account called @ourinfinitehealth dedicated to helping others interested in the carnivore WOE. Follow us for free content for us and other successful carnivores.

Benefits Krissy’s seen from the Carnivore WOE:

– Fibromyalgia and chronic pain symptoms 95% gone (still have a little chronic neck pain)

– Chronic fatigue gone

– Interstitial cystitis gone

– Eczema gone

– IBS gone

– Anxiety & depression gone

– Stress levels and mood stabilized

– Hormones (cycles) balanced

– Food cravings & addictions gone

– Body weight & fat stabilized (lost 20 lbs and at my happy spot)

– Able to workout again

Why I resigned as a dietitian: In our extensive research of the keto and carnivore WOE we’ve learned a lot about anti-nutrients and their role in chronic inflammation and autoimmune conditions. I was also shocked to learn about the history of nutrition recommendations by following the research of Nina Teicolz & Gary Taubes, and how there is a huge plant-based agenda behind our current recommendations from listening to the experience of Gary Fettke and Tim Noakes. As someone who saw the negative effects of making more plant-based choices first hand I just could not recommend the new food guide that prioritized carbohydrates and does not emphasize the importance of fat or animal foods.

I also felt very limited in sharing my story as a dietitian in fear of getting reprimanded even though a high saturated fat keto and carnivore diet has literally changed my and Dwayne’s lives and reversed disease in many others. I wasn’t currently practicing as a dietitian anyway and didn’t feel like my registration was serving me anymore so I decided to resign. Afterall I’ve still had 10 years of nutritional coaching experience with clients and all of my knowledge or my nutrition degree couldn’t be taken away.

Looking back there were so many things I didn’t understand. I remember doing a clinical case study in school and I was marked down for the meal plan I made for my patient because it was “too healthy” in fear that he wouldn’t comply. This patient was sick and in the hospital with a serious condition clearly caused by a poor diet. Of course I didn’t want to question my instructor though because she was the “expert”. My father, a type 2 diabetic, was in the hospital for a month recently and they kept serving his juice and high carbohydrate foods even though he expressed his concern. I understand that we can’t expect people to change overnight but it doesn’t help when we mislead people into believing their comfort foods are healthy and even serve them in the hospital. Instead “a balanced diet” is always promoted and everything is moderation but that is the most confusing term for people. It basically teaches people they can have anything they want as long as it’s not all the time. But does that mean you can still have it daily?

What if some of us need to be a little more extreme with our diets because we have extreme conditions and don’t want to resort to something even more extreme like taking medication long-term, surgery, or suffering in misery.

If you look at Health Canada’s guidelines even artificial sweeteners are still considered safe and we are still taught to limit saturated fats even though the new research shows there actually isn’t enough science to prove this. Nutrition science is largely based on epidemiological studies (food records) which we know are unreliable, but Dieticians cannot recommend anything that does not have any studies backing it, so it’s very difficult to go against the grain. I’ve always been very objective in my beliefs and would rather experience for myself then wait for new guidelines to come out that I now know are driven by a corporate agenda or for research years later.

Heath improved blood pressure, tendinitis, and hemorrhoids on carnivore diet

February 21, 2020 3 Comments

Dr. Baker,

I follow you on YouTube and Facebook and want to thank you for promoting this life changing way of eating.

I started a keto diet 16 months ago at 57 years old with the last 6 months or so primarily carnivore.

I previously was pre-diabetic with metabolic syndrome. High blood pressure , severe tendinitis in my arm, dandruff and even hemorrhoids. I generally felt like sh-t!

Within 5 months i lost 65 lbs and have maintained my weight loss while gaining lean mass until now.

All of my health issues have reversed ! My blood sugar and pressure are normal. My post prandial sugar level two hours after eating dinner is 84!

I started working out again, lifting heavier than ever and am continuing to build lean mass. I genuinely am in better shape and feel better at 58 than 28! My energy levels are insane and no longer even need an alarm clock to awaken in the AM. Here is a pic of me at 28, in 2015, 2018 and 2020.

Keep the videos coming and continue to spread the good word – god bless!

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