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A Pure, Yet Dirty Carnivore Testimonial

Satya, Texas, USA

from a sad start to a fitness future

I had a basic dietary upbringing. I ate SAD with lots of candy as a kid. We did have home cooked meals with some organ meats, which was a plus. My parents smoked and I think I was addicted to cigarettes before I ever started smoking at age 11. By the age of 15 I got caught up in the aerobics and low fat health craze that was sweeping the nation. I quit smoking at that age and started taking aerobics and running in my teens. I watched calories and fat, and weighed 100 lbs at 5'3".I started teaching aerobics at age 17 and my weight climbed 20 lbs in one year, yet all my clothes still fit me. I had amassed lean muscle and bone, obviously. I was okay with the increase and I was lean and strong as a result of it.

I had children in my 20s and weight became an issue for me for the first time. Yo yo weight between about 125-150s continued on in my 30s. I began practicing yoga in the 1990s, and soon adopted a vegetarian diet because of yoga philosophy. At that time, the vegetarian diet, while somewhat fringe, had taken on this aura of a healthy diet. I eventually tried veganism, but it was a difficult diet to uphold. My weight began increasing, and I felt inflammation everywhere. The only good thing about veganism was it got me off of dairy, and I did notice some health improvements when I was in the vegan diet. But after several years, I was a wreck. I needed naps in the daytime. I have since found that I am gluten intolerant, so I was just destroying my health eating all this wheat-based fake meat food.

bottoming out in raw veganism

The internet abounds with health and diet ideas. I joined a discussion group for raw vegans, and it was probably the best move I could have made for my long term, overall health. (Not because it was a sound diet for me, but it pushed me over the edge to craving animal foods.) I tried the raw vegan diet, but that was a tough one indeed. Finally, at the beginning of 2004, I decided I would do this thing once and for all. Well, within 2 weeks I had the most severe brain fog. And I got the most bizarre cravings for sardines and eggs! Believe me, after about 8 years eating a basic vegetarian diet, these cravings induced feelings of guilt in me. Regardless, these cravings were extremely powerful and I gave into them. I turned my back on that unsustainable way of eating right then and there. Surely I must have been suffering nutritional deficiencies that were only exacerbated by the raw veganism. The photo above at the far left was taken nearly at the end of the vegetarian experiment. Note the puffiness of my body.

I turned to learn more about healthy omnivorous diets and found the Weston A. Price Foundation. Over the course of the next few years I learned so much about sound nutrition on a few native diet discussion groups, other websites and books. I finally ditched the gluten for good, then turned to low carbing, then a low carb paleo diet. I was finally feeling good enough to embark on some serious exercise, and so I began martial arts training 4 years ago, achieving black belt 1 year ago. I got back down to a size 8. However, those last stubborn pounds would not budge so easily.

carnivory

After hearing of many people trying a zero carb diet, I went 4.5 months on this plan from April through about the beginning of September 2009. I lost about 9 pounds and got into a comfortable size 6. I felt great for a couple of months, and my traditional foods nutrition never left - I ate whole animal foods raised on their natural diets, including organ meats and seafoods. However, I increasingly felt a tightness of muscles - not cramps, but like my muscles were in a perpetual state of semi-contraction. My energy to workout was fine, but the tightness was not a good thing. I researched on google books Inuit diet in anthropology and ecology books. I found that muscular tetany was common in them and can be caused by a deficiency of calcium. I also discovered that some native (inland) Inuit developed osteoporosis rapidly after age 40.

I am not saying I had this tetany, but I obviously had something like it. Again, I do not want to be nutritionally deficient on any diet, no matter how great I look! I went to Panu blog and loved Dr. Harris and his slams on dietary dogma taken too far. So I started having salads again. And some cooked veg. Instant abatement of my muscle symptoms was experienced. Nuts and dairy creeped eventually in, and not so good results. Thus, as I continue the learning process, I feel like a highly carnivorous diet really is the best for me. Time will tell and I will tweak as needed. I will follow my intuition, sound reasoning and will reject arbitrary dictates from on high. Picture right is from September, 2010.

I eat over 95% of calories from the animal kingdom on average. I enjoy sea foods, beef, lamb, poultry, pork, eggs and the organs and bone-based broths from some of these animals. I also compliment these foods on occasion with herbs, spices, seaweed, lemon, tea and an occasional glass of red wine. Also I supplement sometimes with whey protein, biotin, vitamin D, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. I have found that it is very important to get adequate protein on such a plan. And if I don't eat carbs directly, my body will sacrifice some protein to make the glucose necessary for the tissues that require it directly. Thus, I do include a few select carbs - those that happen to contain the nutrients missing on a pure carnivore plan. Since I was never obese, I find this to be a perfect plan for me at present.

Probably the biggest problem for me in terms of food is dairy and coffee. I believe I may be casein intolerant, but most dairy seems to cause symptoms of estrogen dominance in me. Since I gave up coffee and all dairy consumption, the symptoms of estrogen dominance have completely disappeared. Coffee seems to mess with my blood sugar, as Dr. Atkins had noted in his books that it does to some people. It's important for me to continue experimenting in order to find the optimal plan for my needs.

Coffee is probably cross reactive with gluten for me. I now notice joint pain if I drink any coffee, either regular or decaf. So I drink tea instead. Obviously, I have experimented enough over the years to realize that I really feel best on a paleo carnivore plan.

the importance of training for me

I believe that exercise is necessary for my good health long term. And I just love it. I cannot tell you how good it feels to have been training consistently for over 30 years. I achieved a 1st Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo in 2008. Currently I strength train, run, play racquetball, practice some ballet and swim. The strength training has helped me to recently achieve a body fat of 20%, since increased muscle mass raises the resting metabolic rate. It's a positive feedback loop to eat and train in healthy ways. Picture below from March, 2011 at about 23% body fat.