Pure Carnivore Testimonial

Lynne, Florida, USA

finding the fountain of youth

In 1973, I was 18 and had just gotten out of high school when I was in a car accident that put me in a wheel chair for 5 months. I had broken my pelvic bone, lost some teeth, and was bruised and battered. While in the wheel chair, I gained about 35 lbs.

I had never been a heavy person, my weight was always proportionate with my height so weight never was an issue until I ended up in a wheel chair and eating anything and everything.

A co-worker loaned me her Dr. Atkins Revolutionary Diet book in October 1973. It was the talk of the nation, how you could drink alcohol and still lose weight. I went on the diet and lost 30 lbs in 3 months. I was also 18 and my metabolism was young and healthy.. I would make eggs and bacon for breakfast, drinking black caffeinated coffee. For lunch, I would eat a salad with cooked chicken breast, or a cheeseburger without the bun. For dinner, I would have a couple of pork chops, or lamb chops, or beef, with another bowl of salad. Salad dressing was homemade bleu cheese dressing, or O&V.. I would eat nothing but zero carbohydrate during the week, and then on weekends, I would go out for brunch and eat pretty much anything I felt like, and would drink alcoholic beverages. Get back on the zero carbohydrate wagon during the week.

I kept it off until I had my first child at age 28, in 1983. First thing I asked my doctor was how I could get off the weight and she said, "chicken wings." So, back onto Atkins I went and dropped the weight. My second baby came in 1992, leaving me with another 40 lbs to lose.. I did my Atkins thing and lost all the weight again. I led a very active life for many years with no weight problems.

This was the heaviest I had ever gotten and heavier than any of my pregnancies.

And then in 1999, I met someone that I ended up being in a relationship with for 6 yrs. During those 6 yrs, I drank alcohol like it was water, drank every concoction that was delicious and sweet and got me drunk.. I ballooned from 140 to 197 in a matter of months and kept the weight on for the duration of the 6 yrs.. We would drink a bottle of wine at dinner and on weekends, we would drink martini's, cosmo's, Irish coffee's.. For meals we ate a lot of pasta, breads, lots of vegetables and very little protein. A lot of turkey burgers and chicken breasts. This was the heaviest I had ever gotten and heavier than any of my pregnancies.

When the relationship ended, I was sitting at 190-97 lbs, fat, sweaty, bloated, on anti depressants, anti anxiety drugs, sleeping pills.. I had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, pre-diabetic. My health was terrible. My PMS was so bad that I was diagnosed with PMDD (Premenstrual Disphoric Diagnosis). My gums were receding, my dentist told me I needed gum work, bone grafting, new posts and new crowns.. My health was going downhill and it was going to cost me a ton of money to stay on prescription drugs and to continue to see doctors....

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes came out as a book on facts - on why our diet is so unhealthy. I bought me the book and settled down with a yellow marker and read that book from cover to cover, twice, marking important sentences.. Whenever I went to the doctors office for my visits, I would take my book and read and study and memorize. My doctor sent me to a nutritionist and asked me to follow her guidelines to get healthy. I couldn't believe that she was pushing grains, cereals and low fat products on me.. I ignored her suggestions and nodded my head in agreement with her.

In 2006 I gave up grains. In 2007 I gave up fruits, veggies, low carb snack foods, dairy, and caffeine. I began playing with zero carbohydrate eating.. I was following Gary Taubes suggestions and dug further into the internet looking for some kind of data about eating meat and not worrying about carbohydrates and fiber. I began reading about the Carnivore and how healthy these people were. They really didn't need fiber, supplements, vegetables, fruits, grains.. We need fat, saturated fat, in order to get healthier.

I went back and forth all through 2007. I would eat meat and drink water for months, and then back slide and eat salads, vegetables, a fruit here and there.. I still didn't feel totally right.

When the word "recession" hit the media, I was looking at how I could cut my cost of living and began looking at my all meat diet.. I thought it was more expensive than a vegetable/fruit intake diet.. I began slowing the meat eating and upping the salads and raw veggies... Unfortunately, I ended up in the emergency room at the hospital with a bout of diverticulitis. I was buckled over in pain and didn't know why.. It wasn't until the ER doc started asking me my history and my food, my stress and finally he asked me "Why on earth did you change your diet?" My only answer was, "recession."

He told me that fiber was a fairy tale and to believe what I've been reading in Good Calories, Bad Calories.

He told me to go back on the healthy diet and forget rabbit food. He told me that fiber was a fairy tale and to believe what I've been reading in Good Calories, Bad Calories. And I did just that.. I returned to my meat and fat eating. That was in the fall of 2007. I was eating zero carbohydrates but still drinking alcohol. I would easily drink a bottle of red wine a night, by myself...

The weight wasn't coming off. But my body had started to change. I began thinning down. The bloat was disappearing, my pant size and blouse size shrunk. Yet I was still not losing weight.

I seemed to be quite content with this and left it alone. Still drinking, eating meat and fat, and not losing weight, but getting skinnier..

Finally in December of 2008, I decided to get serious. I stopped going out for beers, drinking bottles of wine. I stopped thinking that I needed vegetables and fiber. I stopped thinking that I needed to count my carbohydrate intake, my protein intake, take vitamins... all of this stopped. I stopped the crazy madness of counting, freaking out, wishing I didn't have that much to eat, wishing I was content with my food intake, wishing I was satisfied so that I wouldn't think of snacking....

I went meat and water, stopped drinking alcohol, stopped vitamins and supplements, stopped all the craziness. I just went with eating when hungry, stopping when not hungry any longer.. I started tracking my meal times and space between meals.. I noticed that the space between meals was expansive... 8 to 10 hours between daytime meals and 15-20 hours between overnight and morning meal... It was like a fasting that was happening. I wasn't hungry, my body was digesting and healing, I was happy and the thought of snacking never had entered into my head. When hunger hits, I eat. Simple as that.

And then something happened.. The weight began to drop effortlessly. The more meat I ate, the thinner I got. Clothes began to fall off me, my belly smoothed, no stretch marks. My body has absolutely no cellulite. My head is clear, no brain fog, I know where I throw my keys when I come home. My gums have completely healed. I no longer need any dental work. My eyesight is improving. My skin is supple and tight and doesn't show my age.. my hair and nails grow crazy fast and thick and strong. I sleep very soundly, I have no arthritis or joint pain, I heal from strenuous exercise more quickly. I have no PMS symptoms. I never know when my period is going to come because I no longer have any cramping, crying, boob swell, headaches, sleepiness, I am a normal gal with no PMS symptoms.. I can handle stress better, people better... my life is 400% better than it was 2 yrs ago.

I don't have a target weight for any end result... With my Carnivore way of eating, you don't worry about that.. Your body will adjust to where it's supposed to be. Effortlessly. I don't snack, so when it's time to finally eat, nothing sounds better than a beautiful piece of MR meat, full of juicy goodness and wonderful fat... And it tastes better at each meal... If I'm not hungry, I wouldn't think of eating. I would venture to say that I eat about 60-70% fat, 30-40% protein. I do consume decaffeinated coffee, heavy whipping cream, some herbs, spices, very little alcohol, some dairy, and seaweed. I'm pretty diciplined when it comes to steering clear of sugar and gluten.

At 55 yrs of age, I find that I am at peace with myself for the first time.

At 55 yrs of age, I find that I am at peace with myself for the first time. I am pleased with what I have accomplished, where I have been, where I am going. I have also learned that food has become such an obsession, that it turned me into an addict. Having a forum where like minded people come and post their trials and tribulations has helped me to conquer most of my food demons. But all in all, I am truly blessed that I discovered the proper way to eat, and that I will continue to live this way because after all, who wants arthritis? This has given me and my family a new lease on life. I can keep up with my kids, run with my kids, travel with my kids and nothing is stopping me now!!!!