Hi there! My name is Esmée La Fleur, and this is my best friend and soulmate “Sasha” The German Shepherd Dog.
ESMÉE’S STORY…
I started experiencing gastrointestinal and other health problems in my late teens after a trip to India, where I contracted a mild gastrointestinal infection that lasted a few weeks. After it resolved itself, I didn’t really think much about it, but I believe it was at this point that my Celiac genes were turned on. Celiac Disease is a genetic autoimmune illness, but a trigger is needed to for the genes to express themselves. My first symptom was actually the skin version of Celiac, known as Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH). This is an extremely itchy autoimmune skin rash, which is separate and distinct from intestinal Celiac Disease, and is very rare. Only 10% of people with intestinal Celiac also have the skin Celiac DH rash. It took me 8 years to figure out what it was and eliminate gluten from my diet. Within 3 weeks of removing gluten from my diet, the skin rash went away. I have since learned that this was a very unusual response, as many people never experience a complete resolution of their rash no matter how strictly they avoid gluten. However, gluten is not the only thing that triggers an outbreak of the DH rash. Oddly enough, iodine also triggers it. So if I eat foods high in iodine, like eggs or wild salmon, I will break out within 24 hours.
From my late teens on, my health began a steady downhill decline no matter what I ate. I was a vegan for 13 years, then a lacto-vegetarian for most of the next 12 years. In spite of my health problems, I managed to get a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts where I studied Anthropology. I was particularly interested the diets and health profiles of Hunter-Gatherers. What I was learning, in combination with my own failing health, caused me to rethink everything I thought I knew about what constituted a healthy diet. I tentatively began to experiment with adding meat back into my own diet. When I finally had the courage to eat my first steak, I could not believe how satisfied I felt in both body and brain for many hours afterwards. It was a profound, almost spiritual, experience. As a vegan and vegetarian, I had been hungry pretty much all the time, needing to eat all day long in order to not to have a blood sugar crash. I had no idea it was my food choice that was the cause of that problem.
I was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) by Dr. Paul Cheney and Postural Orthostatic Hypotension Syndrome (POHS) by Dr. Peter Rowe, both in 1996 at the age of 26. That was a largely unrecognized illness at the time and many doctors did not even consider it a legitimate diagnosis. During the second semester of my junior year in college, I became too sick to get out of bed. I took a medical leave of absence, hoping to return, but never felt well enough to resume my studies and finish my degree. My life has been extremely difficult ever since, both physically and financially, being too sick to work. I was completely bedridden for the next 10 years.
I gradually developed more and more food sensitivities over the ensuing years, until I was confined to an extremely limited diet. I went to more doctors than I can count seeking help, mostly alternative practitioners, and none of them were able to tell me what was wrong or provide any treatment that was remotely helpful. Sometimes my reactions to food were so bad that I could not eat anything and would have to fast for weeks at a time before the inflammation in my gastrointestinal tract would subside enough to allow me to resume eating the few foods I was still tolerating. To this day, water-only fasting remains my best tool for managing my autoimmune illness, in combination with a carnivore diet.
In 2005, at the age of 35, I was in very bad shape and weighed only 87 lbs at 5′ 6″ in height. My normal, healthy weight is 120 lbs, which is what I weigh today after 9 years on a carnivore diet. However, I did not know about the carnivore diet in 2005, so I was floundering around trying to figure what to eat and after praying to a Saint John Maximovich of San Francisco, a great contemporary, local saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, I was able to eat goat milk yogurt and raspberries. I ate these two foods 5 times a day for two full years and it literally saved my life. As an Orthodox Christian, I feel very strongly that this was a miracle of God, granted to me through the intercessions of St. John.
By 2007, my body was getting tired of the yogurt and it was becoming less and less satisfying to me. I started to experiment with meat again and moved to a diet of raw ground beef, olive oil, and lettuce. I ate that 3 times a day for the next 2 years. Then I encounter some major personal stress in my life and I started reacting to that food. In hindsight, I now realized I was reacting primarily to the olive oil, but I didn’t understand that at the time. I then stupidly made the decision to try the 80/10/10 fruitarian diet which I stuck with for the next two years. I think that diet almost did me in! There were a few more unsuccessful dietary experiments after that, but most lasted only 6 months or less. Before I stumbled upon the carnivore diet, I have been living entirely on celery and lettuce juice for 3 months because I could not find anything else that would work. When I finally found the carnivore diet, I was pretty desperate and figured I had nothing to lose.
January 1, 2015 was the beginning of my carnivore adventure. It was Charlene Andersen’s incredible healing story which I learned about from her husband Joe through a Facebook group that first encouraged me to try it. My own carnivore journey has been anything but easy, unfortunately. I will say right up front that I am not a poster child for this diet. I have not experienced a major healing of my health problems since deciding to adopt a carnivore diet. But that does not mean the diet has been a failure either. Far from it. If it was not for the discovery of the carnivore diet, I probably would not be alive today. I have been very ill for 25 years, but I have only recently found some of the answers as to what is actually amiss in my body.
In 2019, I was finally sent to a rheumatologist who diagnosed me with autoimmune illness, something besides Celiac Disease. I have a high ANA, SSA, and SSB. The second two autoantibodies are most commonly associated with Sjögren’s, but they can also be present in Systemic Lupus and other major autoimmune illnesses. However, gastrointestinal complications are extremely common in Sjögren’s, so this diagnosis remains the current front runner. My last gastroenterologist diagnosed me with Gastrointestinal Dysmotility (abnormally slow peristalsis), which is apparently extremely common in people with autoimmune illnesses, with periodic episodes of Chronic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction (CIPO), a very rare condition in which peristalsis stops altogether mimicking an obstruction. Because food takes so long to move through my gastrointestinal track, I can only eat one meal per day in the evening or I feel utterly miserable. I also have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) and concomitant histamine intolerance, both of which make the carnivore diet a challenge.
When I first began the carnivore diet, I did reasonably well on raw ground beef, as long as it was extremely fresh. I had to go to great pains to procure the freshest beef, freshly ground, and frozen immediately. I would package it in meal size portions and thaw it for one hour before eating it while still partially frozen. Beef is aged and, therefore, high in histamines. The fresher it is, the fewer the histamines. Over time, I have become less able to properly metabolize histamines and have become more and more sensitive to them. The increased sensitivity has resulted as a consequence of emotional stress, local wildfire pollution, viral infections, and other thing outside of my control — all of which have caused my immune system to become even more overreactive than it already is. Each of these insults has cause me to lose ground that I haven’t been able to regain.
Once after loosing my ability to eat beef, I found raw quail eggs made it possible for me to eat it again. Scientific studies have demonstrated that raw quail eggs possess a unique substance that prevents mast cells from degranulating. Friends of mine were producing quail eggs and so I had easy access at the time. I would eat 60 raw quail eggs first, then eat the raw beef. Unfortunately, my friends decided that the quail eggs were too much trouble to produce and I no longer had a good affordable source. I was able to continue eating the beef for another few months without the raw quail eggs with no real trouble until I got a viral infection which put me back to square one. Very frustrating! If I had a way to raise quail myself I absolutely would.
I have done a tremendous amount of experimentation with a wide variety of carnivore foods in order to figure out what works best for my body. I cannot tolerate chicken or duck eggs, dairy, fish, pork, lamb, duck, turkey, and now even the very freshest beef is a problem. The only meat I am able to eat at present is chicken, which is very low in histamines, but even this choice has very defined requirements in order for it to work. If I eat too much protein and not enough fat, I will also feel terrible. Since chicken has very little fat, and I am not able to add any other fat, it took me a while to figure out how to overcome this deficiency. After a great deal of trial and error, I found that if all I eat is chicken backs, I get plenty of fat and just the right amount of protein. I buy the chicken backs by the case from a local health food store. I put these into 3 lb packages and freeze immediately. Then I take out one package per day, simmer in 1.5 quarts of water for 3 hours, let it cool for 1 hours, pour off the broth, remove and discard all of the liquid rendered fat which makes me sick, drink the broth, then eat all the skin, cartilage, and meat on the bones. This meal keeps me totally satisfied for 24 hours and maintains my weight perfectly. I just had blood work last week and all my number were in the middle of the normal range.
I do have to monitor my folate levels because in my fourth year as a carnivore I experienced severe neutropenia (low neutrophils). Neutrophils are white blood cells that protect us from infections. Without adequate neutrophils, the smallest infection can kill us. I was hospitalized and placed in isolation for 8 days until they got my level back up to a safe number. Neutrophils require folic acid and my serum folate was virtually none detectible. I started taking self-administered subcutaneous folic acid injections a few times per week and I have never experienced neutropenia again. I have never heard of anyone else on the carnivore diet experiencing this problem. If a person eats eggs, they are sure to get enough folate. But even the Andersen’s who have eating only fatty beef for 20 years, had two babies, breastfed, and raised their boys on fatty beef, have never experienced low folate or neutropenia to my knowledge. So I think serum folate levels may be influenced by gut bacteria. I strongly suspect that healthy gut flora produce folate endogenously. Since my gastrointestinal dysfunction is extreme, I doubt I possess a healthy biome, as chronic dysmotility makes this virtually impossible. But I feel it is important for me to share my experience in case others with similar issues run into similar problems on the carnivore diet.
Many new carnivores are worried about “high” cholesterol levels. There are a lot of great resources out their which dispel the lies linking cholesterol to heart disease, so I won’t go into that here. But, for what it is worth, I can tell you that while I have high total cholesterol, my Cardiac Artery Calcium (CAC) score is ZERO after 9 years on a very high fat carnivore diet. The CAC score is the single best test to determine your risk of a heart attack from cardiovascular disease. Interestingly enough, insurance will not pay for this very simple, very revealing test. Go figure! Fortunately, it is not very expensive. If you are worried, I would encourage you to get one at the beginning of your carnivore journey, and then again a few years later to see if there have been any changes. Several people have posted their results of positive changes in their CAC scores after being carnivore for a few years.
I started the Zero Carb Zen website shortly after becoming carnivore because I was hearing so many amazing stories of improved and recovered health, and I wanted these stories to be easily available in one place for all to read. I posted a lot in the first years after I created it, but very rarely as the years have gone by due to increased life responsibilities, as well as a desire to focus more on my spiritual life. I have had so much positive feedback over the years from readers telling me how much the website has helped them. Wishing I could be more proactive with it, but not finding the wherewithal to follow through, I was intrigued when Evan Moffic reached out to me with his ideas to infuse it with new energy. His offer felt like an answer to my prayers, so I have taken a leap of faith and decided to turn it over to him, trusting that it is in very good hands. And I am super excited to see what direction he will take it. I may still contribute here and there if I feel inspired and he lets me!
Anyways, if you have made it this far, thank you for reading. My full story is so much longer than this, but I have tried to include only the most essential and pertinent parts to my carnivore journey. From
Reading the medical literature, I have learned that many people with severe Gastrointestinal Dysmotility and CIPO, have an average life expectancy of 40 years. I am 54, so I must be doing something right to have made it this far. A significant number of people with the level food intolerance I suffer from end up on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), i.e. intravenous feeding. My primary goal to be able to keep eating real food for as long as possible. So far, the carnivore diet has succeeded in helping me to do this. In this sense, it has truly been a lifesaver.
I pray that the information on this website assists you in obtaining the best health possible for your particular body and situation. May God bless you abundantly!
What a fascinating journey, Esmee! It was great to read it, and certainly gave me food for thought. Thank you! :)
Love the story Esmee! Glad you figured it out. Vegetarianism and fruitarianism have always held a cozy place in my heart. But every time I convince myself that I should try one of them again, I end up feeling awful and I go running back to eating just meat. Great blog, keep up the good work.
So glad you were able to find relief! And I am SO GLAD I stumbled across your blog and discovered that there are others out there that can only feel well on a zero carb diet. <3
hi,
Are there people who Zero Carb for a short period of time like 6 weeks or 6 months to alleviate an illness and re-introduce a small amount of plant matter back into the diet?
Thanks.
Richard, from what I have seen, people who do this and experience health improvements generally have no desire to try adding plant foods back. Some who have tried, have found that they are affected negatively. You can read the I interviews of Rose Nunez Smith and Michael Frieze for examples of this. Click on “Interviews” at the top of my blog.
Hi esmee, How much meat do you eat a day?
Katie, I have digestive issues and seem to struggle more with protein than I do with fat. I can only eat about 1 lb. of meat a day without over loading my digestive capacity. I make up the extra calories I need by adding butter or tallow or lard. However, most of the Zero Carb women I know seem to eat closer to 2 lbs. a day, and they generally do not add extra fat to their meat. I may need to supplement with HCl, and I plan to explore this in the future.
what about homemade ACV? would that help digestion? or is that high in salicylates? (how similar is it to sauerkraut?)
What is ACV?
Apple Cider Vinegar 🙂
Ah, it might be helpful I don’t use it because it is high in histamines like all fermented foods.
Esmee, this is my fourth day on meat and water only (sort of except for the one cup of coffee with full fat cream), I am very weak and my stomach aches, not worried about that, but do you think the coffee and cream will prolong the “flu” symptoms?
I am not a coffee drinker, so I cannot speak from experience about how it affects adaptation. However, it does suppress the appetite and that is not always a good thing. Please read my article on beverages here: http://zerocarbzen.com/beverages/
I am confused by the premise that coffee would suppress appetite. If anything it gets me ready for breakfast. But everyone is different. I am on keto getting ready to start meat only. Exciting!
Yes, everyone is different, but many also add fat to their coffee such as butter, cream, coconut oil, etc. which lends itself to appetite suppression too.
Speaking of digestive issues, my mom mentioned needing roughage for…. #2….Thoughts? Experiences?
Completely unnecessary and counter productive for most people. Fiber Menace by Konstantin Monastyrsky is a very good read. Bowel movement are less frequent, but that is not the same as constipation.
I agree! My bowels have actually become more normal or better then they have ever been since moving to ZC. Too be honest every aspect of my health and well being has improved since going ZC even my allergies. Some people have rolled their eyes at me and told me it’s all in my head but I know myself and how I feel. I am committed.
Thank you for sharing. I have been interested in this recently and am starting to explore. For someone new to this, do you know if there are any recommended ways for transitioning to this that might reduce transition symptoms?
It is really easiest to go on just meat and water in my opinion and forget everything else.mthis will give you a very clear baseline from which to test other foods like eggs and cheese if you choose to do so. It is important to eat enough food. Eat when hungry and eat as much meat as you need to to feel satisfied. Most women who do Zero Carb consume about 2 lbs. of meat per day on average. Including sea salt in the beginning really helps reduce some of the unpleasant symptoms, like headache and lethargy. But, the body will need to adapt. The worst is usually over by the end of the first week, however, full adaption can take 2-6 weeks. Engaging in strenuous or vigorous exercise before you are fully adapted may be difficult and is not recommended. It is best to allow your body to become an efficient fat burner before trying to resume heavy activities. If you are tired during the transition, it is very important to rest. You are likely to be very thirsty in the beginning as well, so drink lots of water or bone broth. I added a small amount of sea salt to my water and broth during my transition and it really helped.
we are apparently closeby in Mesa; where is your local meat source? My daughter is Michelle Mulhern. She showed me your page. She has been trying to convince me for at least two years that we dont need vegetables….I have been trying the meat diet half heartedly for awhile ,but was not convinced to give up the dairy or other foods that “call” to me too often. I have been continually researching and searching but generally, it only confuses me because there is a lot of contrary information out there;so I have yet to reach a conclusion; and my kids are at war with me because I need to drop a substantial amt. of weight to get rid of type 2 diabetes , which is stealing my health. I have always had food allergies, asthma, and I’m hungry and all the time, even after just eating,’cause my blood sugar is unstable; for one or two years I practically lived on Starbucks coffee and wore out my adrenal glands. I do not trust doctors….especially the ones in the pockets of Big Pharmaceutical companies,so Ive been studying to see what I could do on my own. the drugs they gave me didn’t do anything to regulate my blood sugar But the truth is, I haven’t really wanted change to give up comfort foods and cooking shows and cookbooks with their pretty pictures of food I cant have. I don’t want to be hungry….ever. probably because they were always putting me on a restrictive diet
This is where I am now purchasing my meat.
https://eatmeatdrinkwater.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/my-meaty-adventure/
I am also local and am interested where you get your meat. The link above isn’t working for me. Thank you, Esmee!
Oliver’s Market in Cotati, Angus Ground Beef. Purchased fresh daily. I did pretty well with this for 3 months, then I got an intestinal virus in July and I have been reacting to it ever since. The virus has really reduced my tolerance for histamines.
Costco – Bulk Cryovac’d Prime Grade Ribeye or New York Strip. Cut into individual steaks, vacuumed sealed, then frozen. I have not tried this in a while because I am not set up for it, but I ate it fairly successfully for about a year.
Thank you for your blog. It is very insightful and helpful to read of other people on the zero carb lifestyle. I only wish, for those of us who choose not to be on Facebook, had access somehow to the materials on Zeroing in on health. That would be so helpful to us. You, however, have given us some window into others who have chosen to walk this path, which is invaluable!
Yes Esmee this is a great blog. I can’t believe you had to go thru so much to find out your food issues. But then again, people spend a lifetime searching for their perfect way of eating (as I am in the process of even after 53 yrs.) You truly are strong willed to be able to go through 30 day trials off and on with so many different food choices. I have been meat only since March 10 , 2015. It’s been strangely easy, since there’s no meal decisions to make anymore. I don’t feel much different yet and have not lost a single pound….though I am over 100 lbs. overweight. I also wish I had access to Zeroing in on health as I do not engage in Facebook for personal reasons. Thanks for the chance to communicate here on your forum/ blog. Us zero carbers need to reach out to each other.
LOVED YOUR STORY AND YOUR HEALING JOURNEY. I AM INTERESTED IN THIS WAY OF EATING , BUT FIRST I WANT TO KNOW WHAT BLOOD TYPE YOU ARE?
I am blood type O. However, The Andersen’s are type A & B and they have thrived on this diet for 18 years.
Type O’s can eat all the meat they want, It is best for their blood type. I am an A+ and from a gene pool of diabetics (although I’m not diabetic). Type A’s are the most compromised of all blood types when it comes to weight, food, and health, etc.
I am going to try this protocol anyway, just to see how it goes. I have noticed in my past eating, that when I do meat and salad, it works really well for me. I will now do away with the salad part. Wish me luck.
I have another friend who is blood type A and meat is about the only thing he feels good on. A plant-based diet nearly killed him, and that is no exaggeration.
I am relieved to hear that you know of a type A+ who this is working for. Thanks for sharing. When I did the Atkins diet, it did feel good at first, but that good feeling did not last. I was craving carbs and felt a little irritable and panicky. Does that urging pass and if so, how long does it take?
I would do best when I do 2 free range eggs cooked in coconut oil, and 2 strips of clean bacon for breakfast, then ribeye for dinner. Hoping that is doable. My goal is to heal the eczema, rosacea, occasional hives, thinning hair, swelled tissue, stiff sore joints, and of course the large amount of weight I carry over my already mesomorph type (muscular) body.
The Andersen’s are also thriving on an All-Meat diet, and they have blood types A & B.
http://zerocarbzen.com/2015/03/09/zero-carb-interview-the-andersen-family/
Thank you so much for your blog and your story! I have been LCHF for 3 months and barely lost any weight. This way of eating seems so simple to me! I do have a question. How has this “diet” effected your cycle?
I have suffered with dysmenorrhea since I started my period at age 13. After only one month on an All-Meat diet, I have no more pain during my period.
Hi Esmee, I don’t typically comment but I wanted to let you know how amazing and inspirational your blog and journey have been to me. I have only recently started this ‘zen’ lifestyle and I literally check your blog daily for the interviews & tips. Thanks so much for making this information available! I could go on and on about what led me to the lifestyle … but I think it will be best to just send in a story of my own after a few months 🙂
Thanks for the feedback, Elle. You should be able to sign up to have new post delivered to your email if you want.
Esmee thank you so much for all your work and inspiration. I jumped in to the meat and water diet on Monday, at first I was eating like three times a day on meat, then on wednesday I decided to just eat once a day, in the evening. Also I have one cup of coffee with full-fat cream in the morning. I am starting my fourth day and am very weak and my stomach aches. Not worried, but do you think it might be the coffee/cream? I can not eat quite one pound of meat before I am satiated and can’t eat any more.
Hi Esmee,
Thank you so much for providing all this information. I am underweight, so I am not interested in losing weight at all. I find it very encouraging that you gained weight on this diet.
You’ve heard this before, but I’ll say it, too. Thank you so much, Esmee, for this wonderful blog. It’s so packed with knowledge and wisdom and counter-intelligence. I’ve gotten much inspiration from reading just about everything you’ve got! My one regret is not having read the interview with the Andersen family before you had to take it down.
Esmee, thank you so much for this wonderful blog. I greatly appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing this information with everyone 🙂
I am unfortunately a long-time sufferer of Lyme disease and find that anything with salicylates makes me extremely ill. I wanted to ask you about salicylates in common household cleaners as it seems nearly everything gives me severe migraines. Do you have any suggestions/experience with this? I’ve noticed that pretty much all of the “green” and nontoxic cleaners are plant-based and I wonder about inhaling the salicylates…feeling overwhelmed, and tired of reacting to everything!
Kat, I’ve been cleaning with NO products other than white vinegar and baking soda for around five years now. Works for me. For washing dishes/laundry, I use Seventh Generation dish liquid.
Esmee, I know you hear this all the time, but – I love you! I’m transitioning from five years paleo to carnivore, and — like some have mentioned, I no longer participate in Facebook – -so your website is my connection and my bible. On my fifth day today, and in spite of the fact that I’m still in the adjustment period, I feel specatular. It took just one day for me to understand that this is right for me. I feel like I suddenly came home to my own body. Thanks for being there for us all.
Thank you for your kind words. Keep me posted on your progress.
I personally do not seem to react to “green” household cleaners. I still react to many commercial cleaners, air fresheners, scented candles, etc. Our lifestyles are very dependent on cleaning agents unfortunately. I just try to minimize my exposure as much as possible. I think that eliminately plant foods from the diet also helps reduce the burden considerably. Sorry I do not have any better ideas for you.
I would like to know how much fat/butter or whatever to consume. If one eats a pound of beef…it is say 30% fat…then, to make up the 75% fat reccomended, does one eat say…a cup of butter? Or what amount. No one ever addresses this and it’s always been confusing to me.
The percentage of fat in beef varies by cut. If you eat ribeye steak with all stitched fat, it will be at least 70% fat by calories. The same is true for 80/20 ground beef. Chuck roast is also very fatty. Leaner cuts might require addition fat to be eaten with it and grassfed butter is often a good choice. The main thin is to go by how you feel. I have actually found that I feel better on leaner meat, but that is not true for everyone.
Thanks Esme, 70%…is that the right amount of fat? I think I heard that it is…I’ve been adding butter to the top of the ground chuck half pound burgers I’ve been eating. Cooked on the outside one minute each side, so it’s essentially raw inside. Somehow the butter seems so satisfying to me but I get that it’s not necessary if 70% fat is the right amount to have. Why do I do it? A reaction to the years of “fat is bad” propaganda? I’m also not loosing weight. I’m also feeling very full. Full is good because I’m not tempted by carb/veg/plant foods. On the other hand, I don’t feel like eating till noon I’m so full from the day before.
Last night I was at an event with tempting snacks and that’s the only reason I ate at 7, I wasn’t really hungry. Should I cut down the size of the meal? Maybe I’ll try a .3 pound burger. Don’t want to give up the bacon! Do I stop putting butter on top? Ouch, I just bought another pound of raw butter. How much more fat by calorie % am I adding by putting one oz of butter on top? How much fat is in bacon by percent?
I love butter and if I don’t put it on top of meat, how do I eat it? By the spoonful as a snack? Some other group leader chastised me for eating butter in a bowl as a snack. LOL She said we don’t eat fat without meat. Is that true?
Thanks, for your expertise and kindness and support.
Christine
There is nothing wrong with adding butter to your meat, but it might prevent you from losing weight. If you want to figure out the percentage of protein and fat you are eating, a good program is Cron-o-meter. You can enter all your food into it and it will tell you the nutritional content.
Great blog, thanks! I’m a Type 1 diabetic and I’m contemplating meat and water diet. It is very tricky because my injected insulin can drop my blood sugar suddenly for many reasons. But it is inspiring to read about the difficult journeys that many have shared on this site. It puts my troubles into prospective.
BTW, I love the picture of the four bared footed carnivores in your main picture!
I would recommend doing a supervised fast in your situation. The TrueNorth Heath Center in Santa Rosa, CA is a very safe environment in my experience.
Hi Esmee. Good to read your story. I have problems with parasites, ropeworms, toxo, candida, thrush and nail fungus. Also family and behavioral and relationships problems read some people healed nail fungus on zero carb. Are you aware of other issues resolving on this diet? Do you know about anyone using parasite cleanses also?
If you join us in the zero carb Facebook group Principia Carnivore, you can ask these questions and get many more responses.
I’ve really enjoyed this site over the 3 months I’ve been doing ZC, so thank you so much for doing it and providing all the resources you have. One thing I’ve never found an answer to is if plain yellow mustard is acceptable on ZC? It’s the one condiment I’d like to use and am actually missing nowadays. Thanks for any help you can give and again for the website, it’s great and I’ve shared it with a few friends.
As long as there is no sugar in it and you do not have any negative reaction to it, then it should be fine. I personally do not eat condiments because they all have salicylates in them. But that is not an issue for everyone. Thank you for your comments. Esmée
Thank you for your blog!
I too was a vegetarian sometimes vegan for 10 years.
My ultimate lowest weight was at 5’3″ 76 lbs. Last year I was back down to 91 lbs at 5’5″.
This past year has been a complete mess. From the inability to move from bone and joint pain then complete and total mental insanity from trying different diets I have lost most of my support system.
It got to the point where I tried nonconventional means in an attempt to cure myself (detoxes, fruitarianism, what everyone else are and medical marijuana for a few months). All diets failed, and marijuana was by far the biggest mistake I have ever made. I had a massive schizophrenic episode, and prior to it I had never had any symptoms of schizophrenia.
Needless to say out of desperation I tried beef. I cried. It was amazing, but I felt awful for Betsy. I still do, tbh, but I can never go back to how I was as a vegetarian.
Flash forward a few months…
I’ve been slowly switching to an all meat diet, and I too am feeling better than I have ever felt. I’m still having the weird heart issues, but I’ll say this much, all the symptoms that I experience are similar to what an anorexic experiences when they start the refeeding process. I think after being poisoned for soo long out heart’s get week, and have a rough time pushing that amount of nutrients through our body.
I think the hardest part is now that my head is cleaning up dealing with the fact that I was responding to poison and not emotionally unstable like I had been diagnosed time after time since adopting vegetarianism.
I still crave apples with peanut butter and oranges, but I become too emotional when I do eat them so I am doing my best to avoid them.
Its been about 4 months now and even though I’m still a size 0-3 I put on 31lbs! I think at this point it is mostly bone weight, as I grew up to 5’6-7″. At 121 I’m still skin and bones mostly bust with some hints of muscle and a smidge of fat.
Your blog is what had kept me going. Before trying meat I was suicidal, thought I could never be clear headed and refused to take another pill. I stumbled across your blog afterwards and I keep coming back to it.
After thinking the world was ending and I was dieing (from reefer madness) to homelessness, to moving back in to my mothers house at 25, and finally back in school the saying you are what you eat holds true.
If I can get on 10-20 more pounds, and get my skin to be less dry I will be pleased. I too have been having weird itchiness, and I’m wondring if it’s the histamines from the meat or the hemp still making it’s way out of my system…
Anywho thank you, I walked your food path, and you’ve helped me overcome what was hopefully my worst.
Cheers to healthy bodies and clear heads!
Oh yah n p.s. I started going to the gym with a guy who has been going for years and I kick ass in the gym!
I can go for well over two hours and still have to energy to keep going while he is crying of exhaustion.
Thank you again. This site has helped me get my life back 🙂
Wow Shawna! Thank you so much for sharing your story with me. I am thrilled to know that my story and this information has been helpful to you. May your health continue to improve. Blessings, Esmée
Shawna, I appreciated reading your comments about fruit and peanut butter causing you to feel emotional, because I’m now starting to realize the negative effect carbs (even a low-carb diet of “good” carbs) have on emotions – and for heavens sake, even on character! I transitioned from paleo to carnivore just 2-3 weeks ago. I love the calm and strong way i feel now. I’ve got nothing to prove. Another thing is the clarity. It amazes me now to think how hard people struggle (many or most of them vegans and vegetarians) using meditation techniques to quiet the “internal dialogue” or the “mental chatter” or whatever you want to call it. When I cut all the carbs, the mind chatter just stopped! I noticed that within 2 or 3 days. Anyway, the best to you on your life adventure, Shawna, and I hope you soon find yourself with a great new support system. On Jan 19, 2016 6:40 PM, “Eat Meat. Drink Water.” wrote:
> esmeelafleur commented: “Wow Shawna! Thank you so much for sharing your > story with me. I am thrilled to know that my story and this information has > been helpful to you. May your health continue to improve. Blessings, Esmée” >
Hi Esmée! I really like you website and i have read all of it. Stories are incredible!
I have eaten zero carb way 2,5 months. Before that 2 months of LCHF for about 20g of carbs.
(i chanced to zero carb because LCHF didn’t work)
My goal is to lose weight but i have gained about 50 pounds in this time. I can’t remember exactly but i quess before zerocarb i was ~85kg and now im 99kg. And sure enough its not muscle.
Reason i’m still with this diet is probably Kelly’s comment that she gained weight for first 6 months.
But have you guys heard anything like this before? Should i just quit?
I guess i just don’t ketoadapt. i can’t say i would have more energy than i had.
I know caloric restriction works for me (in low fat) even if i now think its not optimal way, like 1600kcal/day. With this diet and its energy dense foods. i cant eat so little, or at least its harder to do than normal caloric restriction for me.
Only comment i have seen that zero carb didn’t work was “adwred” comment in activenocarber forum, said she gained 8(?) pounds in 20 months. (cant remember was 8 a number but something small).
I have ordered fatty cryovac beef cuts and goose fat, i mainly eat those. Some eggs too.
No sweeteners and i dumbed salt too more than month ago (no effect).
There is one good thing tho. I was a smoker, i have quit many times before. but usually it effects to my sleep negatively. Sleep in no carb is better, and when i stopped smoking i didn’t have problems to sleep.
Few things are different from many of people:
I didn’t really have carb cravings in any point.
I don’t have more energy. sleep is better tho (before it was ~6hours/day, now 8-9h/day)
My blood sugar is about 4-5 (72-90) and i have tested just couble of times ketone readings on blood meter (from LCHF days) that is usually like 0,7. I have never registered more than 1.
And when i started i didn’t turn strips purple, just “mildly in ketosis”.
Its like i haven’t ketoadapt i quess?
And i do get hungry.
Any ideas what to try before quitting? fat/water fast?
Thanks
Hi Tommy,
I have not heard of anyone gaining as much weight as you are reporting. The thing that jumps out at me the most from what you have shared here is that you quit smoking. That alone can cause weight gain. Smoking tends to suppress the appetite, causing a person to under eat. So, that is one possibility.
Can you please give me more details of what you are eating, along with the fat to protein ratios, and what your estimated calorie intake is per day on average, how many times per day you eat, and what times of day you eat?
If you are on Facebook, please join us in the group Principia Carnivore. There are a lot of there with a wide range of experiences and we might collectively be able to help you figure what is going on here, to a greater degree than just me by myself.
Esmée
Hello Esmee,
I am a Nigerian living in Nigeria.
I came across Anne’s publication on Daily Mail sometime last year and decided to follow suit and i have had no regrets, but ive got a question….i drink coffee but add honey as a sweetner, i need to know if this is in line cause i figured since honey is animal by product, it doesnt pose any risks. or does it?
Thanking you in anticipation that you reply.
theodora.
Hi Theodora – No, honey is not included in a Zero Carb, all animal foods diet. The reason is because it is pure sugar. Hunter-gatherers would eat honey if they could get their hands on it, but it was usually only available for 1 month out of every year. We are inundated with sugar in our modern world, and this has wreaked havoc on our metabolism. We also do not recommend artificial sweeteners because they have been shown to raise both cortisol, insulin and blood sugar. It seems that anything that tastes sweet can have a profound effect on our hormonal system. I hope this helps. Esmée
It really does.
thank you
So I’m new here and just starting to poke around and have a very odd question.
Since as far back as I could remember, I’ve loved the smell of veggies fresh or cooked, loved making them, loved the taste of them, but as soon as I ate them (or about 15 minutes later) they came back up, sometimes violently. I always thought it was a texture thing, and my parents always thought I was ‘being difficult’ however….does this sound like something involving the plant toxins?
Thanks,
Jade
It is certainly possible. Something about your body definitely did not want vegetables.
I have a similar story to yours
Please feel free to share the details if you wish.
I love your site and the information you have provided. I have been inspired to create a Zero Carb Forum, for people like ourselves to chat in. Here is the link: http://www.beings.info/the-zero-carb-diet-forum/
We have a very large group on Facebook called Principia Carnivora where you can join us if you wish.
Esmee,
You haven’t posted anything – that I found – on eggs, although I noticed in some of the personal stories there are carnivores who mention that they eat them. I just today checked the nutrient content and found out they have sugars! Not as much per serving as, for example, broccoli), but I typically eat 2-6 eggs a day, some of them raw, which could put me up there in the 2 gm a day bracket. What’s your take on eggs?
Thanks!
BTW, I’m in my 4th month as a carnivore now.
Eggs are a very individual thing. Some do really well with them, while others do not. I am not sure the carbs in them are the problem. There are things about eggs that seem to trigger inflammation for sensitive folks like myself. You might find this article interesting:
http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/06/whys-behind-autoimmune-protocol-eggs.html
Thanks, Esmee. I think I’m going to eliminate them for a while and maybe add them later and watch for my body’s reactions – or lack of them.
Esmee, my apologies. I just went back and reread your post on beef – that does address the issue of eggs. I guess there’s just so much information on your website, I wasn’t able to absorb it all the first time.
Hi. I try to diet 2 weeks, I eat raw beef and pork, sometimes I, too, is a migraine. But I have difficulty on the toilet. Today I used the enema. It is normal at the initial stage? Or I should add fiber to the diet?
No, don’t add fiber. You probably need more fat. Can you join us on Facebook in the group Principia Carnivora? We can help you better there.
Hello Esmée – do you do consultations?
Not professionally. But if you are on Facebook, you can send me a friend request message me and I will try to help you.
Thank you
Fascinating. I dip into your sections for more information on different topics. You certainly have done some very interesting research using your own body as a laboratory. Bravo! And you chronicle your journey very well. I found what held true for my body twenty years ago, ten years ago, even as recently as two years is no longer and I needed to test and adapt to change. I also discovered that when I quit smoking I became a sugar junkie. I could literally SMELL the sugar on discarded candy wrappers. That was not good! For about two months I eat LCHF without feeling deprived or unhappy and it helped get me over the sugar addiction. Keep up the good work with your blog and all the best.
What about a french translation of your site, Esmée ? The ZC diet is absolutely unknown in France and it would be nice to let more people know about it.
My written – and spoken – english is limited but I am quite confident in my ability to understanding it and translating it to a perfect french.
Do not hesitate to contact me
You are more than welcome to translate anything from my website into French. All I ask is that you state where the articles were originally posted. I want as many people to have access to this information as possible. If you decide to do something, please let me know so I can share it with others.
Great ! I’ll send the translated pages to you one by one and you/we’ll decide how to add the french pages to your site or to a mirror site…
🙂
Blandine – I love your enthusiasm. I wish I had time for that, but I don’t right now. If you wish to translate them for a website or blog of your own, you are free to do so. I use WordPress and it is very easy to set up and costs nothing. Maybe you can do something similar?
Dear Esmee! I re-reád your story several times, it really is fascinating. I wonder how much juice you drank while on your lettuce and celery fast? Thanks.
Probably around 3-4 quarts a day.
Hello Esmee, I just wanted to drop in and say thank you for opening my eyes to something new. I have went through vegetarian (horrible feeling) primal and paleo, but even the lower carb (50-80 grams) leave me cloudy headed. This Monday will be two weeks on meat and water only, with salt and a magnesium supplement to help with migraine control. I did have a slip last Sunday and drank black coffee, which quickly turned into a full blown ocular migraine. However, that was the first migraine that I’ve ever recovered from in less than 8 hours, so that was interesting.
So far my largest struggle is that I don’t like large chunks of fat while eating steak. I grabbed some great ribeyes, but the thick pockets of fat texturally bother me. I may see something like stripe steak will be better and just add ghee or butter if the fat content is too low.
If you can find a way to stick with beef fat, I strongly recommend it. Butter and ghee both give me horrible migraines. I also do not do well with cooked meat, so I eat my beef totally raw and freshly ground just prior to eating. I prefer the taste of raw beef over cooked and I can handle a much higher percentage of fat this way which raises ketones and also helps to prevent migraines. Also, your taste for fat on the beef will likely change the longer you ate on the diet. Many people have reported not liking the fat in the beginning, but after several months consider it to be the best part.
https://zerocarbzen.com/2016/10/01/why-do-you-eat-your-meat-raw/
Hrm, I haven’t really tried raw meat. I normally eat steaks medium rare, but don’t really have a source that I trust for quality meat to grind myself and try raw. I will keep the beef fat suggestion handy though. I have some tallow somewhere so I’ll dig that out and try it. Hopefully this will help me kick these migraines once and for all.
Thank you again for the wealth of information. It has been difficult to find zero plant information that wasn’t the common “zero carb” label which seems to specify that only net carbs count. Can’t wait for week 4 to add bone broth and see if that will fit in with this way of life.
I buy my meat in bulk from Costco. It is very good quality. I have never gotten sick from eating raw beef. I cannot tolerate any render fats either, like tallow, as they make me sick too. It is much better to eat the fatty pieces attached to the meat itself.
Jacob,
According to USDA, red meat (and fish, by the way) that has been frozen for two weeks is safe to eat raw. I get 75/25 pre-formed hamburger patties at Whole Foods (about $4/#) and I eat them frozen, because I don’t particularly like the texture of raw ground meat. Like Esmee, I’ve gotten to where I prefer them to cooked meat, and when I do eat cooked meat, I don’t feel satisfied until I eat one of my raw frozen patties.
Fascinating, thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi, I noticed your recent post about all raw, and migraines being a problem.
I have similar issues. I would love to hear your thoughts on this theory of mine. That is an ominous opening, I know, but hopefully you have time to read, and no great aversion to amateur biochemistry…. (still ominous? yeah I guess.)
The reason being, I’v made attempts to go zero carb, roughly half a dozen times in the previous 24 months since finding this webpage and your incredible, beautiful, unexpected resources.
Longest zerocarb stint was a couple of weeks. I find that my migraines fluctuate according to menstrual cycle. A couple of times, I felt that eating animals, even raw, was NOT protecting me from the migraines, the opposite even.
Here is my conjecture. Migraines are “like” epilepsy in that once sensitized to them, by a neurotoxin/cytotoxin, your threshold drops. (I wouldn’t discount an underlying AVM as a sensitizer, perhaps causing metabolic changes, or occasional micro-bleed induced cytotoxicity.)
Other possible neurosensitizers include arachidonic acid, certain amino acids, as I say, theory and conjecture!)
With a lowered threshold, abrupt shifts in your hormonal status can trigger a migraine. Either by vascular, or metabolic, or NT effects, in combination with other factors. In addition, aldehydes and other breakdown products, including those from histamine, could also bump you over this threshold.
The issue with sex hormones is that they may be over abundant at times, and under abundant at others, thus the abrupt shifts. Eating high animal cholesterol, the sex steroid precursor, at one time of the month may be protective, eating it at another time of the month may sensitize the brain via hormone oversecretion. (if gonadal tissues have undergone some hypertrophy, or PCOS or cancer, or some issue in glands involved with hormonal control, then secretory levels will not automatically return to normal through improved diet, presumably.)
Anyway, I am not suggesting exogenous hormones to you.
My point is that although fasting clears certain types of neurotoxin, and lowers migraine threshold, it produces lipolysis, which maintains cholesterol levels for hormone synthesis. I’m aware that energetic deficit during fasting will downregulate hormone synthesis too. But this may in fact exacerbate the “flux” issue, of oversecretion followed by undersecretion, or vice versa, and overly steep shifts in hormone status throughout the month.
I guess my question to you is this: has your migraine frequency ever clustered according to menstrual cycle?
Do you spontaneously fast at a certain phase of your cycle?
Do you have any thoughts on this?!
I formed a personalized trial diet for the “sensitive” part of my cycle, wherein I decided to try to not promote lipolysis, i.e. not to engage in spontaneous intermittent fasting, which tends to be my inclination, but instead to keep insulin slightly up. I did this by regular ingestion of plant foods, and complete avoidance of animal cholesterol. This did seem to quell the headaches. When I had ovulated, I considered myself homornally “protected” enough to consume animals again, so I switched back, with success. Not very scientific, I know, but an interesting experiment to do.
I know zerocarb probably won’t (do you think so?) WORK WELL FOR EVERYONE, ALL THE TIMES.
I just don’t feel comfortable with my plantbased cycling long term.
Please take care of yourself, and keep us posted.
All really fascinating ideas! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I have heard that migraines are akin to seizures, and what you say about that does make sense. This is why Keto is so effective at controlling or eliminating migraines for some people. I do think hormonal changes throughout the month play a huge part in my own struggle with this issue. Dr. Georgia Ede has a blog post explaining how women are more sensitive to histamines during certain times of the month. I seem to be most susceptible during ovulation and menstruation. And I feel tgatvtwo biggest outside triggers are foods high in salicylates or histamines. While ZC eliminates salicylates by eliminating plant foods, it does not entirely eliminate histamines. All meat is aged and thus has some level of histamines. I believe that this is where I have encountered my greatest obstacle on this diet. I is very difficult for me to get the exact kind of meat I do best with, both logistically and financially. As far as tastings impact on hormonal swings, that is a great question! My experience has been that I will have long periods without a headache after a longish fast. I have been attributing this to the idea that fasting empties my histamine “bucket” and gives me a higher tolerance for them in the meat I eat. But you have given me some new info to explore and think about.
What about Vitamin C? We do not synthesize it, and meat has none. I believe it is an essential nutrient.
Please click on the link above titled “Vitamin C” or here is the URL:
http://zerocarbzen.com/vitamin-c/
Hey I know you answerd the question about Vitamin C but I can’t find any information about Vitamin K. It seems to only come from vegetables. So can you get it with an all meat diet? Thanks
Many people eat only beef and have no health problems, so they must be getting what they need. But grassfed butter and eggs, as well as liver, are good sources of vitamin K if you are concerned.
Hi Esmée, thanks for the reply. What about calcium? According to scans, I have a low bone density and I definitely need to be getting enough calcium per day to prevent osteoporosis. Is bone broth the only source for a zerocarb diet and does it really have enough calcium to meet daily needs?
We don’t need as much calcium as we have been led to believe. Many ZCers eat only meat and are doing just fine. Bone broth is not rich in calcium at all. If you are concerned, whole eggs are decent source. One whole egg has 25 mg of calcium. Minerals in animal foods are much more bioavailabke than minerals in plant foods, and they do not have things like phytates that prevent mineral absorption.
Vitamin K1 comes from leafy greens, and K2 from animal foods; Gouda cheese and natto (a fermented soy product) are particularly high in K2. K1 aids blood-clotting and K2 is necessary for the proper metabolism of calcium (helps your body put it where it belongs) and for balance with A and D. I have never read that K1 is found in animal foods; maybe it is in small amounts and that’s all we really need? Not sure about that.
I don’t know the answer, but I can tell you that many have lived exclusively off of animal foods with no apparent health problems.
Esmee, I realize this is not a forum, but your personal website, so I hope you don’t mind me jumping into some of your conversations, but Najeeb’s questions, in particular, are thought-provoking. 🙂
First of all, Najeeb, I think it’s awesome that you are looking for information so that you can take charge of your own health. Along those lines, I’d like to throw some “food for thought” out there.
About the daily recommended vitamin and mineral requirements, there are three important points to consider here. 1) The “authorities” of the FDA who establish these standards frankly admit that it is just their “best guess!” 2)They are addressing a population that eats a diet primarily based on grains and staples, which destroy our natural health, so they are always scrambling to fix the problems caused by these plant foods…with other plant foods (Vitamin C, antioxidants, phytonutrients, etc.) 3) Try, just try, to eat enough food in the course of one day to meet 100% of all the recommended vitamins and minerals, lol. No, these are not guidelines for health, but a handy marketing tool. And I’m sure it goes without saying that marketing is about the health of somebody’s corporate profits, not the health of your body and mine
.
In regards to your loss of bone density: There is a fascinating field of inquiry called paleopathology, the study of ancient disease. (The below information comes from the blog of Dr. Micheal Eades, the author of Protein Power. I think it may also appear in Lierre Keith’s The Vegetarian Myth). You can take two ancient bones, one belonging to a hunter and one belonging to a grain-eater (agriculturist), show them to a paleopathologist, and he can tell at a glance which one is which. The bone of the hunter is stronger, denser, larger, never malformed and always disease-free! Did you know the anthropological record shows that the human race actually shrunk a foot in stature when we started eating the food of the cultivated fields? May I suggest that you don’t have weak bones because you need more calcium; you have weak bones because of all the years you’ve eaten grains/potatoes/legumes. It’s the curse of the human race, in more ways than one. The diseases of civilization– that is, all the degenerative diseases–are caused by the foods of civilization.
The ancestral humans of the ice age – and nearly up until to the present time, the traditional Inuit of Alaska as well — ate a diet which scientists assert was more carnivorous than that of wolves. Everything we need to have strength, physical and mental health, emotional balance, clarity of reasoning and keenness of senses is in meat.
There is no authority in the world which should ever have the power to tell you what to eat— except for your own body. And your body will never lie to you. Once you learn to listen to what it’s telling you, you will never regret it.
Happy adventures in health to you, Najeeb.
Your comments are always welcome. Thank you.
Just read this, thanks for the info.
Hi there!
I love the simplicity of your diet! But what about getting adequate calcium and vitamin C?
Please read the link above titled “Vitamin C” and it will answer your questions.