Meat And Fat Helped Me Heal

This article reflects my passion as it reflects a major transformation in my life.

Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

Some of the diets surprisingly and regrettably damaged my health. Therefore, this is one of the most compelling cases in my life. Removing plants, dairy, and eggs left me with only meat and fat to survive and thrive. First time in my life, I felt wonderful physically, mentally, and emotionally. My performance skyrocket.

Throughout my life, I tried many diets. None of the diets or dietary approaches on mainstream nutritional advice worked for me. They all left some damaging havoc which I had to fill in a costly way. Only with self-experimentation, curiosity, and courage, I discovered the optimal diet for my fitness, excellent health, life satisfaction, and high performance. This is my true story hoping it may provide insights and useful perspectives to others who might have suffered like me unknowingly with misinformation.

Let’s take the fruitarian diet as an example. I ignorantly followed a fruitarian diet for a few months. Unfortunately, it caused me to lose one of my teeth in the third month. I was only 28 years old. Even though this inappropriate diet for me felt great in the beginning, after a few months just eating fruits turned to be dangerous for my health. It was energising and exciting, but my blood markers were all over the place. I learnt that it was not a sustainable diet hence gave up after three months.

Then I tried a vegetarian diet, thinking that it was the healthiest diet touted in the media during that time. Alas! It was another big mistake for me. With due respect to vegetarian and vegan friends, it was one of the worst diets for me. Being a vegetarian for four years made an awful impact on my health, emotional stability, mental clarity, and performance.

There could have been many reasons for this; however, one key piece of information was that my genetic makeup did not support being a vegetarian.

As soon as I started eating a bit of meat, I immediately started feeling better, and my health turned to average. However, I was still not satisfied with my overall performance.

Then I heard some commercial diets where they deliver food to our home. The amount of food is small, as their diet is based on portion control. I was starving all night, and hunger feelings were driving me crazy. I was visiting the fridge several times at night but forcing my willpower to overcome the hunger feelings.

It was painful, and the wrong choice for me. Yes, this portion-controlled diet worked a bit at helping me lose a few kilos, but it did not do anything worth mentioning here. My physical, mental, and emotional performance suffered.

Discovering an unusual lifestyle

Why would I call this “unusual lifestyle”?

My primary reason is that the lifestyle I mentioned in this article is not mainstream yet. This lifesytle has perceived side effects such as causing high cholesterol and potentially linked to cardiovascular risks even to cancer. Scary, isn’t it? However, fear does not rule my life. I choose to be brave to manifest the best version of myself.

My unusual lifestyle is also [hypothetically] associated with cancer. My family, friends, and colleagues were so concerned about my diet that they encouraged to stop my unusual diet. I refused all offers with due respect.

I intuitavely knew there was magic in this new lifestyle.

When I started researching the topic (carnivore diet) using my favourite PubMed site, I noticed that the cholesterol and cardiovascular risk claims were only based on epidemiological studies.

For example, I did not find any empirical study on just eating meat, causing cancer. Other factors seemed to be the culprit for the associated claims, e.g. smoking, sedentary lifestyle, and bad cooking practices such as burning meat.

I used to believe the perceptions floating in the media, several sources on the Internet and even some in non-rigorous scientific publications or fake studies.

However, when I started to review the medical and nutrition literature, there was hardly any evidence for these unsubstantiated claims. They were all referring that more research required. With my acquired new knowledge and growing curiosity, my confidence in transitioning to this diet became very easy.

My aim here is not to keep a side for a new type of diet or blame other diets; instead, I aim to reveal how this unusual diet became beneficial for me and how it resolved my debilitating issues almost like a panacea.

I have no association with any dietary group, association, or people. My only concern, related to this issue, is my health, performance, and happiness.

It is essential to highlight that this diet made one of the most significant impacts on my health for improving my overall performance.

Let me briefly explain this journey and how it manifested smoothly.

The transition from Keto to Carnivore Diet

After trying many other diets, mentioned earlier, it was serendipitous to come across with the Ketogenic (Keto) diet. The most significant contribution of the Keto diet for me was that it helped me become fat-adapted. This was the foundation for my successful transition to my unusual diet. However, it was not the panacea!

Several years I tried Keto and enjoyed it immensely. I never felt hungry or moody on this lifestyle as my insulin was under control, and my blood sugar was at optimal steady levels.

Initially, I had minor keto flu symptoms, but as soon as I learnt the importance of dietary salt and minerals and took actions, the symptoms quickly disappeared.

Having an average of 1.5 nmol ketone levels floating in my bloodstream, I felt clear in my thinking, and my inflammation symptoms considerably reduced. This was a massive win in my sensible biohacking journey!

As the Keto diet made me fat-adapted, I felt naturally ready to try the Carnivore diet. During that time (over five years ago) I did not know the name Carnivore, as it only appeared around two years ago in the media. Still, I called it an all animal-based diet excluding dairy and eggs — in other words, an all-meat diet including organ meat and bone broth.

I removed the plants (vegetables and fruits) from my Keto diet.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Revealing this to my family and friends created substantial concerns. However, my fat intake was still high, but the source was only animal fat. When I was following the Keto diet, I drank a few spoons of olive oil every day and ate several spoons of butter. I stop drinking oil or eating butter, but I am still in optimal ketosis without bloating.

With this background, let’s reveal this lifestyle choice.

Embracing Carnivore Lifestyle: Experiencing panacea first time in my life

Moving from Keto to Carnivore was very easy, almost effortless for me. The main change was cutting the plant sources from my diet. This included plant fats such as olive oil, seed oils, and nut oils. My fat source became only from animal fat. I enjoy staying in ketosis.

In the beginning, I was eating eggs and dairy in butter and kefir format. I used to love drinking homemade kefir. One day, I decided to remove eggs and dairy as well as my favourite kefir too. It was hard to give up kefir though.

I believed in kefir’s health benefits religiously, especially for gut health and immunity however later experimentally I learned that dairy was not aligned with my genetic makeup, so I sadly said goodbye to my beloved kefir. I still remember the heavenly taste, though.

Removing plants, dairy and eggs left me with only meat sources to survive and thrive. First time in my life, I felt terrific physically, mentally, and emotionally. My performance was skyrocketing. I found the panacea!

What do I eat in this diet?

Let me explain what I eat on this unusual diet to survive and thrive.

I eat 100% animal meat, animal organs, animal fat, animal bones, fish, and seafood. That’s it!

My main diet in this lifestyle includes mainly meat, bone, fat, and organs from cows and sheep. I consume fish and seafood three times a week.

I learnt how to create a variety of dishes by using a combination of these food types. Like many others, I thought it might be boring, but the choices were more than I expected.

Never dull moments in Carnivore lifestyle for me.

As a side effect, I feel fully satisfied. My binge eating habits naturally, and effortlessly disappeared. It turned to a wonderful life! The carnivore diet has been the best tool for adding real meaning to my life. Wish I knew it when I was younger!

The main organs I include in my diet are liver, brain, kidneys, heart, and bone marrow. Eating these organ meats helped me get all the essential nutrition, minerals, and vitamins lacking in the muscle meat. Liver provided enough vitamin C and I did not experience C deficiency so far.

Recently I am pleased that some leading doctors on the Internet support eating organ meats. For example, one of my favourite medical doctors online (Dr Paul Saladino) calls this diet “eating an animal from nose to tail”. I found his messages about a carnivore diet on the Internet potent and an excellent confirmation of my unusual diet.

I am so glad that there is a name for my unusual diet now and many people are trying it and gaining benefits from it. It is called the Carnivore diet. However, there are some confusions by using this name.

In addition to eating meat, I boil cow or lamb bones in a slow ceramic cooker for 24 hours and drink a few cups of bone broth every day.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Drinking homemade bone broth every day provided several health benefits. The significant advantages are improving my digestion and sleep quality due to balancing my glycine content. I seemed to be lacking glycine in my previous diets, even in the Keto diet.

Lack of glycine was causing sleeping issues in the Keto diet. A well-formulated carnivore diet resolved my sleeping issues naturally.

Boiling bones for 24 hours in the slow cooker also makes the bones very soft and crushable. I put the soft bones in a food processor like Nutri Bullet, which turns them into tiny pieces like flour. Crushed bones provide my daily natural calcium intake. I supplement vitamin D3 in winter. I love moderate sun bathing in summer.

My childhood arthritis disappeared to the surprise of my rheumatologist, who told me that arthritis never got better. My conventional medicine belief was a bit shattered; therefore, I started taking any traditional advice with a pinch of salt.

It was possibly immune triggering ingredients in vegetables, especially in spinach and kale, which I used to eat and even stupidly drink these vegetables' juice excessivly, thinking that conventional health practitioners still recommend vegetable juices as healthiest drink.

I didn’t know oxalates could be harmful to my sensitive genetic makeup. Paradoxically, my favourite vegetables like spinach and kale made me suffer the worst.

By the way, adding crushed bones to a bone broth soup also makes it creamy and delicious when processed in a Nutri Bullet. Alternatively, I sometimes add a spoon of bone meal powder, which can be purchased from a health shop, if I run out of soft bones at home.

I eat fish three to five times a week. The main fish I eat is wild cut salmon. Occasionally, I eat other fish such as mackerel and sardines.

My primary sources of seafood are prawns. Prawns are low-calorie food but provide complete high protein when I want to increase my protein intake on the fish and seafood days.

Despite my belief in the quality and comprehensiveness of this diet, I still have a few supplements. One essential supplement I have, especially on the days I do not eat fish, is a few fish or krill oil tablets.

I know the critical benefits of omega-three fatty acids on our brains and reducing inflammation in our bodies.

What do I refrain from in this diet?

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

Even though there is hype on bacon benefits as a carnivore meal, I do not eat any processed meat. Some people love it as it can be delicious. I respect their choice.

I am also meticulous not to overcook or burn meat, as overcooked or burnt meat's side effects are well documented. I usually cook my meat in an electric oven for 15–20 minutes. I love my stake raw to medium and love eating my fresh salmon raw at home or blue in a restaurant.

Apart from harmful effects, overcooked meat or burnt barbecued meat is a turn off for me. My favourite cooking methods for all meat types are raw to medium, especially for steaks and salmon in an oven.

As mentioned earlier in my elimination diet regimen, I also don’t eat any plant additives, spices, eggs, or dairy. I even stopped my favourite tea and coffee. I was enjoying black and green tea so much but know my body has no desire for it. It is same for fantastic smelling coffee. Giving up tea and coffee naturally happened by my body intelligence, I did not make any additional effort.

Let me share the benefits I gained in my diet.

Just eating meat, organ meat, fish, and prawns helped me experience a better version of myself. Never has any diet or lifestyle choices made this much difference in my life. Therefore, I am determined to continue it until I notice any negative implications. I haven't noticed any side effects after several years. I believe it is the most sustainable life choice for me.

So far, I haven’t experienced any adverse effects. Far from adverse effects, all my blood markers turned to an optimal state, my well being improved, and my performance in all domains substantially grew.

In summary, the key benefits of the Carnivore diet for me have been digestive comfort, mental clarity, reduced-fat percentage, increased lean muscle mass, reduced inflammation, and reduced pain in muscles, joints and ligaments.

In terms of digestive comfort, the most significant contributor was losing bloating. It is great to have a flat stomach. First time in my life, after a half-century, I clearly noticed my six-packs with the help of the carnivore lifestyle.

Based on the benefits and transformational changes in my health, I have no intention of adding plants, dairy, or eggs to my diet as long as I can keep this version of myself making me happy, joyful, stoic, high performing, and satisfied.

Overall, I did not experience any discomfort so far. However, one minor point I work on is to address any potential excessive urea in the blood, which may be caused by extra protein intake now and then; if my meat is not fatty.

As I usually eat fatty meat and organ meats, it is not common for me to over-consume protein. My body knows when to stop as far as protein is concerned. It creates noticeable satiety.

As my parents imposed in my childhood, I usually don’t leave any food on my plate. In the carnivore lifestyle, ironically, there were times I had to stop and leave some of my favourite rib-eye steaks due to reaching a physically noticeable satiety point before finishing my meal. I don’t throw out my leftover rib-eye, as it is costly in Australia. I warm it up a little and eat it at my next meal.

However, as a precaution, I add three grams of citrulline malate to my water if I think I have overdosed on protein. Citrulline is an amino acid component of the urea cycle in the liver and removes the urea. A few times, I tried ornithine and arginine, but they did not make any difference. I prefer citrulline, as the sour taste is appealing to me.

To verify, I tested for urea multiple times and noticed that urea in my blood was healthy. I believe the daily intake of citrulline malate maintains it well. As a pleasant side effect, this unique amino acid has a tremendous impact on my performance in other domains that I don’t want to detail in this article.

I love eating animal fats. My butcher thinks that I may die from cholesterol as he gives kilos of animal fat to me instead of tossing them into the rubbish bins. It is free because no one wants to buy animal fat due to fear of cholesterol. There is still a massive fear of cholesterol in society.

I learnt that some of the studies on cholesterol were fake and out of context. It is a controversial and significant topic.

I have no fear of cholesterol; instead, I embrace it. Every cell in our body needs cholesterol. Our body produces extra cholesterol when there is no cholesterol covering food intake. It is a natural process.

I learnt by experimenting that eating cholesterol may not possibly increase my cholesterol.

After losing the fear of cholesterol, my testosterone levels doubled even after chronologically aging additional years.

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash

Salt is critical in this lifestyle.

I didn’t know how important salt was for our body, mostly when I was in ketosis. Learning about the importance of salt and increasing my salt intake was a lifesaver for me. Salt helped me to overcome my keto flu and become fat-adapted in a very short time.

After increasing my salt intake, some muscular pain, especially in the early mornings, after 12 hours of fasting, disappeared.

Minor headaches disappeared after sipping a glass of saltwater with one teaspoon of Himalayan Pink Salt, Sea Salt, or Redmond Real Salt.

I learnt to take salt after sweating, especially in the sauna or after HIIT type of cardio or weight training. It is a habit for me to carry salt in my emergency bag.

My blood pressure is normal, at the low end. For any reason, whenever my blood pressure goes down, I drink a glass of saltwater, and it helps to turn my blood pressure back

Conclusion

This is my first article on the carnivore lifestyle.

I don't recommend anything to any one in my articles. I simply share my experience and experiements.

May aim is to explore and share emerging scientific studies on the carnivore lifestyle. There is not much historical and established research on the carnivore lifestyle; however, some visionary scientists started fascinating studies to reflect glimpses and raise awareness.

I don’t focus on political, hype, condemning, judging others, or having trivial political arguments on the carnivore lifestyle. Instead, my vision is to explore the potential benefits and opportunities for health, fitness, performance, and overall life satisfaction with an open mind, experimentation, and scientific findings.

As a practising carnivore, I have empathy, compassion, and full respect for all other dietary and lifestyle choices. My premise is we are different. Everyone is unique, and nothing fits all.

When people start attacking each other for their diet and lifestyle choices, I remind them a lion and rabit in nature. How bizarre would it be if a lion critizes a rabit for being vegeterian and a rabit critizes a lion for being carnivore.

There are so many unknowns in life and the plethora of misinformation in our society. I had to unlearn 90% of what I learned to reinvent myself and live my life with joy, happiness, and meaning.

Sharing knowledge, gaining new insights, broadening perspectives for new opportunities can create synergy.

Let me refer you to Paul Saladino — MD, who articulates his personal carnivore experience compellingly in this Youtube video.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.

If you enjoy this article you may also check my other articles on News Break.

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