My First 3 Months on Zero Carb by Isabel

Posted on May 21, 2015 by esmeelafleur

Isabel’s Chihuahua Pup Portia.

I was on a LCHF diet for a year before I started a Zero Carb way of eating. I was eating lots of fatty cuts of meat, cheese, and fats from butter. I was also eating plenty of vegetables, especially greens and raw salads. I lost a great deal of weight over that year, about 90lbs!

However, I was still experiencing irritable bowel syndrome side effects. I experienced bloating, cramping, and abdominal pain from inflammation and irritation of my gastrointestinal tract (as explained by my doctor).

My Primary Care Physician prescribed probiotics, anti-depressants (in case it was stress causing my IBS), stomach acid pump inhibitors, and antispasmodic medications… all with little improvement.

I heard about the Zero Carb diet and I wanted to see if eating only those foods from the animal kingdom – like beef, chicken, pork and eggs – and drinking only water, would make a difference in my IBS symptoms. So, I decided to give it a whirl, and I was not disappointed.

Within 72 hours of beginning a Zero Carb diet, I quickly noticed my bloating was gone. After just 3 weeks, I was no longer experiencing any abdominal cramping and pain. By week 5, I was having regular bowel movements without bleeding. I had formerly suffered from severe constipation. I have now been on a Zero Carb diet for 12 weeks, and I have been totally off any IBS medications for a full 3 weeks. I also have lost an additional 27 lbs!

I eat all animal meats and eggs on the occasion. I usually will eat the same thing for a week, and switch it up. Maybe I’ll have beef burgers for my meals one week, then chicken or pork the next week, just to give the illusion of variety. I eat no dairy products. I also do use kosher sea salt, as well as black pepper, and once in a while I add some cajun spices on my meat.

I cannot imagine going back to my former way of eating. This is the only “therapy” I have tried that has ever worked so completely on my GI track to calm the IBS. It’s either this diet or gut wrenching pain. That makes the diet easy for me to follow. I still need to lose about 40 lbs more anyways, so i’m excited to continue on my weight loss journey as well.

Isabel’s Pomeranian Pup Chanel

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First 3 Months on Zero Carb by Don Ewart

Posted on May 11, 2015 by esmeelafleur

My journey to health began in 1999 at the age of 70. That summer, Margaret and I registered to send our bicycles to Australia and ride with over a thousand others in the Big Ride New South Wales 2000, an 800-mile route from Brisbane to Sydney. The event was scheduled for the spring of the millennial year. My five-foot-eleven frame weighed about 230 pounds with a big belly and I knew I had to lose 50 pounds to have a chance to participate.

I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but figured it would happen if I got out and rode my bike a lot and cut down on how much I was eating. And that’s what I did. Well, guess what, it didn’t happen. After a month of trying, the scales didn’t budge!

Then my birthday came along, and my oldest daughter presented me with Dr. Robert Atkins book and I began to read it that night. I didn’t have to get very far into it when I realized that it told me exactly what I was looking for. Cut down the carbs, and so I did. No more bread, pasta, pizza, potatoes, just low-carb veggies and a little fruit.

I began to weigh myself every morning before dressing and writing it down. Wow, my weight started dropping like a rock. Fifty pounds was lost before the ride, and I completed it along with the others and felt great.

Atkins wrote that after reaching your goal weight, you can add back a few carbs slowly until the weight starts to rise. He was wrong and here’s why. Post-ride, I kept recording my weight every day. As we all know, our weight varies every day. Mine was up and down a pound or two with each measurement. But, after several months, I noticed that it only seemed to be going up.

I figured that if I eat a little less, my weight would stop going up. But it didn’t, and I realized that I should be graphing these scribbled numbers. Now it was obvious that I was gaining weight, but how fast? When I drew a line thru the dots, I calculated a rate of 1/2 oz per day. With weight varying one or two pounds a day, how could anyone detect 1/2 oz per day? That’s the flaw in Atkins’ advice. But adding only 1/2 oz per day adds up to one pound a month and that’s twelve pounds a year!

Fast forward from 2000 to 2015. What’s taken place? Well, Gary Taubes with his book Good Calories, Bad Calories and now Nina Teicholz with her book The Big Fat Surprise have both helped immensely to clarify how our bodies process nutrients and to expose the fallacies of the low fat recommendations.

And the Internet with social media forums such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, along with Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb website, as well as Tom Naughton’s Fat Head documentary. These and many other authors have done tremendous work to help us understand just how damaging a high carbohydrate diet can be for some folks.

In my case, I jumped on the low-carb bandwagon and slid into keto without a whimper. But I always thought that veggies and fruit were essential, even though Gary Taubes had written that a good steak provides all the vitamins and nutrients we need.

And, although I had read Weston A. Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (1939) and Vilhjalmur Stefansson’s The Fat of the Land (1960) – both of which describe the incredible health of Native and Traditional societies who eat diets high in animal foods – it wasn’t until I happened upon Kelly Williams Hogan’s blog and The Anderson Family interview that I realized that fruits and vegetables were apparently not necessary for good health.

My transition to Zero Carbs about three-months ago went very smoothly, I dropped another thirteen pounds rapidly to reach the 168 lbs. I weighed as a young man in my early 20s. My body fat percentage dropped from about 26 to 23 percent and is still dropping. My pant size is once again a 32, exactly the size I wore in my early 20s!

Additionally, the skin itching I’ve had for several years that my Dermatologist proclaimed was eczema, saying “we don’t know what causes it, you can’t get rid of it, here’s a prescription for cream to use”, is now completely gone all by itself. It must have been an allergic reaction to something that I was eating.

My experience is such that my body seems to tolerate not only meat, but also eggs and cheese. We make pizza about once a week. Crust is mozzarella cheese and cream cheese with egg and pork rind dust. Toppings include a risotto cheese base with sausage, pepperoni, shrimp, and cheddar or mozzarella cheese. I also eat ribeye steaks, burgers with bacon and cheese, pork chops, etc.

I also drink coffee with heavy whipping cream, as well as a couple of glasses of dry red wine each night. For a snack, I’ll have some cheese or pork rinds with sour cream. Basically, if it is from the Animal Kingdom, I will eat it. I do not miss fruits or vegetables and I have absolutely no cravings for any carbohydrate foods. As far as I’m concerned, I eat like a king!

It’s been quite a journey, these past 16 years, but I finally made it, and just in time. I’ll be 85 years young in a month and time is precious to me. I’m fairly active, doing short high-intensity workouts at the YMCA 6 days a week. I enjoy riding my motorcycle and keeping in touch with my five children and twelve mostly adult grandchildren, all of whom – I’m extremely proud to say – are healthy, active and take good care of themselves.

My youngest child, 45, is also member of the Zero Carb Facebook group “Principia Carnivora” that I belong to and follows it regularly. She isn’t ZC yet, but is looking into it. My oldest, 58, also keeps his carbs under control and is physically super active despite being a full-time 4^th generation electrical engineer. I am glad that I have been able to share this journey with my family and be a good example for them to follow if they choose.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First 30 Days on Zero Carb by Lena Kristiansen

Posted on May 11, 2015 by esmeelafleur

1) What kind of diet were you following before Zero Carb?

At the time I started at Zero Carb, I didn’t follow any diet. However, in the past I have tried Atkins, LCHF, and Paleo diets. The Paleo diet was the one I liked the most since I felt pretty good on it. I think there are three primary reasons why none of these diets worked for me long term.

First, while my IBS was less problematic on Paleo, it never completely went away.

Second, I have never liked any vegetables except for potatoes. I have only eaten other vegetable because it was expected of me. Salad has always turned my stomach, but still I tried to make myself like it.

Third, my inner “sugar monster” was still much alive on all of these diets because of the carbohydrates they included. As a result, I would eventually fall back to eating what is considered to be the normal Norwegian diet.

2) Why did you decide to try Zero Carb?

I first read the interview with The Anderson Family, and it just felt right for me. I have always liked meat. As a little girl, I can even remember “fighting” with my grandma’s dog for the meaty bones left over from my grandma’s soup. I don’t think the dog liked me visiting…LOL.

For many years, I did have the feeling that I could solve the issues I have with my body with the food I eat. This interest started when I was attending a course in the University named “Human Behavioral Ecology.” After that, I started to research and read a lot of books about food and how the body would react to it. I tested an elimination diet, and found out that I shouldn’t eat sugar, diary and gluten. The result just confirmed that my answer to feel good and healthy was in my food.

So why did I do all this? I was diagnosed with asthma and allergy when I was a little girl. My metabolism was low and I had borderline hypothyroidism. Consequently, I always had some extra body fat. I also have IBS, and I get dizzy easily because of the low blood sugar episodes. Additionally, when I eat something, I often feel sick and tired and get heart palpitations. Recently, the doctors discovered that I have anti-phospholipid syndrome which means that my antibodies are attacking my blood cells.

All in all, I knew that I had to do something, and – when I saw the interview with The Anderson Family – I just felt that I must try it. So, I read a bit more about it and satisfied myself that it was safe to do.

3) What was your transition to Zero Carb like? Easy or hard?

During the first few days on Zero Carb, my energy increased, my stomach calmed down and stopped aching, I was no longer bloated all the time, and the chronic brain fog disappeared. Basically, I just felt good. My body and mind were both much more calm and content. After the first few days, however, I got the “Keto Flu.” I was easily fatigued, had a slight headache, and felt dizzy sometimes. But it was not too bad, and – since I had been through the “Keto Flu” before when I did Atkins – I knew what to expect and was not worried about it. These symptoms lasted about two weeks and then went away. Since then, I have felt really good.

4) What does your daily food intake look like?

Normally I eat about 2 to 3 times a day, and it would normally be 2 eggs with 5 slices of bacon for breakfast and 1 lb. of meat for dinner. If I get hungry during the day, I would eat some extra meat. I prefer to eat beef, but I will eat all different kinds of meat. I also drink bone broth, and occasionally eat tripe.

Ancient Scottish Dunnottar Castle with Rainbow that Lena visited on one of her trips abroad.

5) What benefits have you noticed so far?

Heartburn has become less.
Hypoglycemia and dizziness is gone.
My allergies and asthma have already improved.
I no longer feel sick, tired, or experience heart palpitations after eating.
I have lost 13 lbs. during this first month.
I have much more energy to do things.
I sleep really well and feel more awake/alert during the day.
My teeth feel newly polished all the time.
There is no unpleasant underarm odor as long as I eat just meat. However, if I add sauces or eat sausage, then I notice an unpleasant underarm odor.
My sense of taste and smell has changed dramatically. Things that used to smell and taste good no longer do, and vice versa. It is like my taste buds have been “re-set.” For example, I have noticed that commercial eggs taste strangely sweet, so I only buy organic eggs now. And my desire for salt has diminished considerably.
The sugar cravings have totally disappeared! Now I can pass by sweets, cookies and – my biggest monster – ice cream without any problems. Before Zero Carb, I would almost always eat something. This is actually the first time in my life that I have no sugar cravings. Usually, I have to use enormous willpower not to eat sugary treats. It is so freeing not to have these cravings any more.
My ability to walk the stairs where I work has become easier and easier. I feel like I have developed more muscular strength already. I can even see more definition in my legs.

I like to take long hiking trips, but I always find myself progressively more and more worn out as the journey continues. Now, I feel confident that I will be able to remain strong throughout the length of my hiking trips which excites me.

For me Zero Carb is simple and nutritious, and it is the best I can do for my body. Based on all the positive aspects I have experienced so far, I plan to continue eating this way indefinitely. Why eat something else when I feel so wonderful!

Lena during one of her hiking trips.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First 30 Days on Zero Carb by Kim Knoch

Posted on May 9, 2015 by esmeelafleur

Prior to discovering the Zero Carb way of eating, I had been following a Ketogenic diet for about two years. I experienced good results with the ketogenic diet and so I started a blog about my experience of eating that way called Eat Fat Lose Fat. I also wrote an eBook about how to implement a Ketogenic diet called Kick the Weight with Keto. As you can see, I was a big fan of of the Ketogenic diet.

But then one day, I came across The Andersen Family interview that was published through this website and was introduced to the concept of Zero Carb for the first time. When I read their interview, I was like WHAT? THAT’S CRAZY! Who can eat only meat for 17 years?! But then I read the personal blogs of Amber Wilcox O’Hearn and Kelly Williams Hogan. Both of these women had eat an all-meat diet for over 5 years. After that, I was interested enough to check out the Facebook groups Zeroing in on Health and Principia Carnivora as well as the Reddit Zero Carb subforum. The more I read, the less bizarre this way of eating sounded, and I finally decided that I had nothing to lose by giving it a try.

The reason that I was interested in trying a Zero Carb diet is because I was still experiencing significant cravings for carbohydrates and I found myself letting more and more carbs creep back into my diet. I was really into creating and sharing recipes for Ketogenic “fun” foods, which only served to keep my sweet-tooth alive. This caused me to eat more than I wanted to and regain some of the weight I initially lost. Prior to adopting a Ketogenic diet, I weighed 400 lbs and opted to have bariatric surgery. I lost 190 lbs. as a result of the surgery, but then I gained back 50 lbs.

By the time I discovered and started the Ketogenic diet, I weighed 260 lbs. I was able to lose the 50 lbs I had regained after a year and a half of following the Ketogenic diet. The weight came off, but the process was painstakingly slow. Then, as the carbohydrate cravings started to get the best of me, I regained 20 lbs. which was really frustrating. So, when The Andersen Family interview came through my Facebook feed, I was definitely open to exploring new ideas. On April 6, 2015, I introduced the Zero Carb diet to my blog readers and embarked upon this unique dietary adventure. I have written a total of 5 posts for my own blog about my first 30 days: 1) Beginning, 2) Days 1 – 4, 3) Days 5 – 9, 4) Days 10 – 22, 5) Days 23- 30.

Even though I had been eating a very low carbohydrate diet for 2 years, I still experienced a fairly rough transition to Zero Carb. I felt really lousy for the first 5 days, but it took about 2 full weeks before I started to feel normal again. To learn more about this, please read the page on this website which explains The Adaptation Process.

When I first began Zero Carb, I included meat, eggs, and full fat dairy products. However, by the end of my second week, I discontinued all dairy products and began limiting my egg consumption because they caused my blood sugar to rise. When I eat them, my fasting blood glucose level will increase by 20 points the next morning.

After a full month on Zero Carb, I have settled into a diet comprised of about 60% beef, 20% fish/seafood, 15% chicken, and 5% lamb. However, I am planning to do less chicken and more lamb into the future. I am experimenting with organ meats, like heart and liver, but I am not sure yet how often I will be including them. I also eat some bacon.

I used to need 3 meals and 2 snacks every day because I was always hungry. Now, I am usually only hungry for two meals a day. I no longer have any desire to snack after my evening meal which is practically a miracle. I eat when I am hungry, and I eat until I am completely and utterly satisfied. I consume between 1 – 2 lbs of meat each day. I cook my beef medium rare, but I am also experimenting with raw steak tartare. I eat as much fat as I want from my meat and only rarely add extra.

One of my favorite aspects of Zero Carb is the incredible freedom from food! I just don’t think about food nearly as often. I love the simplicity of this way of eating. I am free from constant thoughts of eating for the first time in my life. Being someone who likes to cook, I must admit that this is a bit weird for me. I’m used to spending time with the planning, shopping, preparing, eating cycle of my food. Obviously, the health benefits are very important too, but the freedom from food I think is the foundation of the benefits for me.

I love bone broth! When I moved away from home for the first time in my early 20s, my dad showed me how to make bone broth. I have been making it ever since. I find it funny that it has now become a sort of “fad.” I do not consider it a necessary part of my Zero Carb diet, but I enjoy it and will make it whenever I have an upset stomach or just feel a desire for it. I did find it particularly helpful during the the first two weeks while I was adapting to this way of eating. I like to add broth to my meat while it is cooking also, as it seems to help my digestion.

The ground beef I buy is grass-fed and grass-finished, but the rest of the meat I currently purchase is grain-finished. I do add salt to my meat, either Himalayan pink salt or Celtic sea salt. I used a lot of salt during the first two weeks of Adaptation, but then my desire lessened somewhat. I just use as much as I want according to taste. I still enjoy being creative with my food, so I have continued to experiment with different spices. I often use the Montreal steak seasoning, as well as a variety of different Penzey brand mixtures that do not have sugar.

As far as nutritional supplements are concerned, I am not currently taking any. I am planning to go for new blood work after completing my first 60 days. If anything shows deficient, I will consider adding supplements. But, if everything looks good, then I will continue on with just real food.

I know a lot of people are concerned about the cost of eating this way, and I estimate that my monthly food expenses for me alone are around $500 a month. I am sure it can be done for less money, but I consider my health to be important and am willing to spend a little extra to purchase the meats I prefer. Interestingly, I am now spending less per month on food than I was during my last two years on a Ketogenic diet. This discovery surprised me, but with and all-meat diet there is little-to-no waste. I am no longer buying fake Keto “specialty” foods which are actually quite expensive and not very healthy in the long run.

I also use some strategies to keep costs down. For example, I purchase all my ground beef directly from a local rancher, and I watch for sales on meat and then buy it and freeze it for future use. Additionally, I have a Costco membership and I belong to a local buying co-operative that allows me to purchase certain meats in bulk. Costco has excellent prices on certain seasonal items like Copper River Salmon, as well as regular items like beef roasts.

On the subject of exercise, I have always hated “working out” and never got into the gym environment. I always felt judged and very out of place. Plus, when I was at my sickest I just didn’t feel good while exercising, and it didn’t make me feel good afterward as well. Right now, I do better with walking and general activity – cooking, working around the house and yard, taking a brisk walk at work when I feel good and I need a break.

I feel society has been very punitive against heavy people always telling them to “eat less and exercise more” – which for me turned out to be the worst advice ever. My goals in this area are many though. I used to do Volks-walking, which are 5 – 10k arranged walks that take in local scenery and are all over the world. I also want to get strong enough to do some backpacking. One goal of mine is to hike the length of Oregon on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).

I’ve had a lot of improvements in just 30 days!

Lost 17 pounds (it took me 4 months of keto to lose this same amount).
Lost 3.7% of my body fat.
Lost 3.5 inches off of my waist (sadly, I didn’t take any other measurements).
Cravings are non-existent, however I’m still sensitive to pictures of foods and the mention of certain foods. I can see that this sensitivity will gradually disappear the longer I’m on Zero Carb.
Reduced thyroid medications from 120 mg Armour to 60 mg (at day 15).
Fasting blood sugar down to 90 consistently (it was 100-120 before).
My joint and muscle pain has reduced by 90%. I was always at a pain level of 2-3 before and took 6 Advil at least 3 times/week. I only took Advil twice since beginning Zero Carb and they were both in the first two weeks.
I relied on caffeine for mental clarity before, but now I barely need any caffeine
My digestion was very bad before (diarrhea and malabsorption of food) – this area has improved by 50%. Also I used to have bad gas, now I hardly have any! My family loves this benefit, haha!
I used to be fatigued most of the time, but now my energy levels are stable, I can wake up in the morning and get up right away, and I don’t take naps any more.
Sleep – I used to sleep 9-10 hours a night, now I only sleep 7-8.
Depression – I had bouts of depression before, but these have been reduced by half, and they don’t last nearly as long when I do have them.
Headaches – I used to get what I call headaches but were like shoulder/neck/head throbbing tension. They completely knock me out until the next day. I had only two occurrences of this in 30 days (75% reduction), and I recovered from them quicker than before.
Allergies – it’s an early spring here, everyone has allergies even when they’re taking medications. Most of the time I don’t even need medications, but when I do feel a need for them, they work really well.
Physically – I’m more energetic, able to move around more without getting tired. Getting a lot of stuff done at home without procrastinating.
Eyesight – night blindness and evening vision has improved by 20%. I don’t wear glasses currently and am trying to avoid having to wear them.

My family and friends are very supportive. My husband said on the celebratory evening of my 30^th day of this WOE (while we were eating prime rib) – “It’s like you finally found the way you should have been eating your whole life!” With the health results I’ve had, how could anyone close to me argue? They see the changes. With other people in my life, I’m not as open in talking about it yet, but I imagine that will change in the future as people notice my weight loss. I’m sure I’ll be blogging on this topic as I figure things out. Right now I just say I’m eating low carb if anyone comments on me just eating meat only.

Just commit to it for 30 days. If you don’t think you can do just meat and water at first, don’t worry, just start with meat, full fat dairy (sprinkles of it, not hunks) and eggs and your body will lead you in the right direction. Your abilities will surprise you! Be prepared for your life to change – and not just in the physical sense. My brain has changed too. During these 30 days I was grieving for food. I wasn’t having any physical cravings, but it’s like muscle memory – I wanted to eat at certain times (like in the evening) for comfort. You’re going to have to live with your feelings and not have a way to comfort yourself. But it’s worth it – the bad feelings do not last long. If I can do this, so can you!!

Kim with her supportive husband and daughters.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First Four Months on Zero Carb by Esmée La Fleur

Posted on April 30, 2015 by esmeelafleur

Me & My German Shepherd Dog “Sasha”

I have explained a lot of the following details on my About Me page, but I feel it is important to include some of them here as well so that readers unfamiliar with my history may better understand just how much appreciation I have for discovering the Zero Carb, or All-Meat way of eating…

As some of you already know, my reasons for trying an All-meat diet have nothing to do with weight. I have been very sick for a very long time and most of my issues revolve around extreme food intolerance. Pretty much everything I put in my mouth makes me sick, and has done so for the better part of the last 20 years. I believe these troubles resulted from a combination of a gastrointestinal infection I acquired in India when I was 16 and the vegan diet (high in wheat) I chose to follow shortly there after. Both of these factors damaged the villi of my small intestine and lead to the manifestation of celiac disease, specifically the skin version known as dermatitis herpetiformis (a very itchy rash experienced by approximately 20% of those diagnosed with celiac disease).

Because I was ideologically committed to a vegan diet, the high fiber foods I ate (even after wheat was removed from my diet) continued to assault the already severely compromised condition of my small intestine. I gradually became sensitive to everything I ate and was miserable all of the time. I was eventually diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome based on the constellation of bizarre symptoms I experienced, and the fact that I was so tired most of the time that getting out of bed to take a shower took extreme effort.

I reached a low point in 2001, weighing only 87 lbs., and was sure that I was going to die from starvation. Out of desperation, I had tried adding animal foods back into my diet beginning several years earlier, but I was still eating lots of plant foods which continued to irritate my gut. But I was brain washed into believing that plant foods were necessary for health, so I persevered in my consumption of them.

I finally found a goat milk yogurt that did not make me feel horrible after eating it, and I ended up living on a mono diet of only goat milk yogurt and raspberries for 2 years straight. It saved my life. I then was able to move over to a diet of raw ground beef, olive oil, and leafy greens. I was still convinced that plant foods were essential to good long term health. This way of eating worked fairly well for another two year period. However, I started experiencing negative symptom from it more and more as time went on. I now know that this was due to an increasing intolerance to both salicylates (olive oil and greens) and histamines (aged beef).

I then went off on a crazy tangent of low fat vegan fruitarianism promoted by Doug Graham known as the 80/10/10 diet. I did this for another two years, but continued to feel even worse. I was continually in a state of sugar highs and lows, which made me irritable and angry a lot of the time. I was having trouble thinking straight, and I was painfully bloated all the time. Fortunately, this was around the time Dr. Robert Lustig gave his excellent presentation on fructose metabolism, explaining in detail why too much fructose is not a good thing. Please see his YouTube video SUGAR: THE BITTER TRUTH for the complete explanation.

So, my next dietary experiment was a low carb high fat (LCHF) raw vegan diet heavy on avocados and green leafy vegetables. This stabilized my blood sugar and kept my energy pretty steady. But I was still bloated all the time and experiencing other unpleasant symptoms from the food I was eating. Then, I was severely bit by a dog, and – between the antibiotics and the energy needed for healing – my digestive issues just got worse. The avocado salads just weren’t working anymore after that.

I eventually returned to goat milk yogurt and raspberries because I had no idea what else to do at this point. However, even the yogurt and raspberries didn’t work as well as they had in the past. Again, I now know that this was due to my increasing sensitivity to both salicylates (raspberries) and histamines (yogurt). Nevertheless, I remained on yogurt and raspberries exclusively for another full year. I experimented with rice before and after that, but all of it made me feel bad. While doing a 63 day green juice fast (using the only two vegetables low in salicylates: celery and lettuce) – which felt good, but was certainly not sustainable – I stumbled upon Jimmy Moore’s book Keto Clarity.

I had read about the Ketogenic diet many years earlier and knew that it was used to control seizures in epileptic children. I was intrigued at the time and even experimented with Atkins’ approach, but I was always including plant foods in my dietary trials, which I now realize was the reason I did not experience the benefits so many others did with this type of diet. As it turns out, I am not only sensitive to carbohydrates, I am also sensitive to salicylates which are present in almost ALL plant foods. As long as they were in the mix, any diet I tried was doomed to failure. The time I spent on goat milk yogurt and raw beef was the closest I came to removing most plant foods from my diet, but it still wasn’t enough. Please read my page on Salicylates for more information.

Jimmy Moore’s book re-kindled my interest in the Ketogenic diet and I proceeded to devour all of the podcast interviews he has done with Ketogenic diet scientists and doctors over the past 8 years. What a wealth of information he provides for free! I know many people in the Zero Carb community are off-put by Jimmy’s promotion of Keto “junk” or “Frankenfoods” as they like to call them. But for me, Jimmy Moore’s audio and video library was a lighthouse beacon of hope. I had no idea how much information was now available on the Ketogentic diet compared to when I first encountered it 20 years ago. For those who are interested, I have links to many of his best interviews on my Resources page.

Somehow, someway, through a path that can no long remember exactly, I found my way to Amber Wilcox-O’Hearn’s website on The Ketogenic Diet for Health, and then to her personal blog Empirica where she delineates her experience of eating a totally carnivorous diet for over 5 years. I was fascinated! I had no idea that was even possible. Yes, I knew about the traditional diets of the Inuit and Masai tribes, but their diets utilized many parts of the animals they raised or harvested from the wild. Amber was simply eating muscle meat without much in the way of organ meats, bone broth, etc. I wanted to know more, that was for sure.

Some anonymous person added me to the Facebook group Zeroing in on Health (ZIOH) started by long time Zero Carb veteran Charles Washington. I suddenly entered a whole community of people eating this way, many for over five years. Naturally, I had a few concerns about eating this way which were quickly answered and put my mind at ease. I had been on a Ketogenic diet for three weeks (started on December 7, 2014), but I was still eating some low carb plant foods like sauerkraut, leafy greens, etc. I was also eating animal foods like cheese and eggs, chicken and turkey, and sour cream. Even though I was in “ketosis” and feeling some benefits from this – mostly related to blood sugar stability – I was still having negative reactions to ALL of these foods.

Eventually, thanks again to Amber Wilcox-O’Hearn, I finally figured out that I was sensitive to histamines in the same way that I was sensitive to salicylates. Histamines are present in all aged foods. Ironically, most of the Keto-friendly foods I was eating were either fermented or aged and – therefore – high in histamines. Egg white are also high in histamines. So now I was ingesting both salicylates and histamines.

Every time I ate, I experienced severe GI bloating, hours of burping, a migraine headache, a racing heart rate, and low blood pressure that made standing upright for even short periods quite difficult. So, in spite of eating a Ketogenic diet, I was feeling quite miserable. Therefore, an All-Meat diet seemed like the next logical step to explore. I figured that if others have not just survived, but thrived, on Zero Carb for five or more years, then a 30-day trial certainly would not kill me. So, I began my carnivorous adventure on January 1, 2015.

However, what I soon discovered is that ALL meats sold in U.S. supermarkets are aged to some extent, either intentionally or by default, and – consequently – are high in histamines. Every type of meat I tried made me sick with all the symptoms described above. The only animal foods I could safely eat were raw egg yolks and heavy whipping cream, so I ate 2 dozen egg yolks and 16 oz of heavy whipping cream every night for the first month and a half while I worked to find a source of histamine-free meat. This felt like my only hope, and I was not going to give up.

I finally located some unaged fresh-frozen grassfed veal that produced no negative reactions. The difference in how I felt after eating it was truly remarkable. I almost felt like a normal person. Most people eat and feel good, but – for over two decades – my experience has been to eat and feel utterly bad (and when I say bad, I mean so bad that I often just wished I was dead). So, I knew I was on to something. I finally understood what the problem had been all these years, and this knowledge has moved me from a place of hopelessness to one of great hope. I finally have direction and know what I need to do.

After a month and a half, my source of veal ran out and I had to go back to the eggs and cream for a week or so until I located another source of histamine-free meat. I eventually found some local humanely-raised pork that could be processed within two days of being slaughtered. The company that sold this pork – The Meat Shop in Phoenix, AZ – also had beef that was only aged for 10 days (most beef is aged for a minimum of 21 and usually much longer by the time it reaches the retail shelf). I tried their beef, but – sadly – it still contained to many histamines for me to eat. Everyone’s tolerance for histamines is different, and mine appears to be zero, at least for now. Maybe, as the villi in my gut heals, I will regain my ability to properly metabolize histamines. That would be truly awesome and that is the vision that I hold for myself.

The pork, however, has been working pretty well. As soon as the animal clears inspection, the butcher processes it for me and freezes it immediately in order to stop the histamine formation as quickly as possible. I have been eating 1 lb. of ground pork with 4 oz. of butter once a day for the past month. Right now, I find that if I eat more than 1 lb. of meat at a time, or if I eat more than one time per day, I feel tired and inflamed. I am hoping that as my digestive system heals, I will be able to eat more meat and less added fat. Time will tell. Most women on this diet consume about 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. of fatty meat per day. But, for now, what I am doing is working pretty well.

The Zero Carb veterans generally discourage people from adding extra fat to their meat – unless it is super lean – because there are more nutrients in the meat than in the added fat, and too much added fat can cause some folks to gain unwanted body fat. Many people who come to Zero Carb from a Keto background often make the mistake of adding a lot of extra fat to their meat and then wonder why they are gaining weight. Since I was underweight to begin with, I was not overly concerned about this problem for myself.

In addition to the pork and butter, I also make and drink bone broth. I have personally found bone broth to be a very beneficial part of my transition to this diet. I believe it prevented some of the more severe symptoms that can occur during the initial period of metabolic Adaptation to a Zero Carb diet. None of the Zero Carb veterans that I have interviewed include bone broth in their diet, so it is clearly not necessary for long term health.

However, I strongly feel – based on my own experience, as well as the experience of others who are following a Zero Carb diet for complex health issues like me – that bone broth can be a real asset. My position on this subject, and my insistence on sharing my experience with others who are newly trying this diet, actually got me ex-communicated from the ZIOH fold. (Really? Yes, really!)

It is a long story and too complicated to try an explain here, but basically the Admins of that group did not like me promoting the benefits I have experienced from bone broth because they felt that I was somehow confusing people into thinking that it was an essential part of the diet, rather than just an optional addition. Perhaps I just have more faith and trust in the intelligence of individuals, and expect them to be able to read information and determine what the best course of action is for themselves, without needing others to make the decision for them.

Those of us who have chosen to include bone broth as part of our Zero Carb diet are at a complete loss to understand the ZIOH stance, especially since bone broth is clearly a food from the “animal kingdom.” I mean, it is not like we were singing the praises of Coke Zero or something, for heaven’s sake. I think the misunderstanding arises from the fact that none of the ZIOH Admins have ever suffered with the severe gastrointestinal issues or complex health problems that result from this. The only long term Zero Carb-er I have interviewed who had similar issues with food intolerances and might possibly be able to understand and relate was Charlene Andersen. But, she is not an active member of ZIOH. To read why I think bone broth can be beneficial for some people, please see my article Can Bone Broth Be Used as Part of a Zero Carb Diet?

After The Andersen Family interview went viral and was shared on William Davis’s Wheat Belly Facebook page and several other pages, ZIOH experienced an influx of many new members with Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and similar very severe illnesses. This was a completely different crowd than ZIOH had formerly attracted. Most people who get interested in Zero Carb do so for weight loss reasons. But that was not the case for many of the new people – arriving via The Andersen Family interview – checking out this unique way of eating.

It has been my experience that it is virtually impossible for someone who has not experienced these types of complex health and GI problems to understand even remotely what it is like. And to forbid us to talk about bone broth – which has been shown to be so helpful for people with these kinds of issues – in the group is not only totally ridiculous, but terribly short-sighted in my opinion. What is the point of being part of a group if we are not allowed to share information and experiences? They pushed a lot of people away from learning more about a diet that has the potential to significantly improve the lives of so many very, very sick people.

Fortunately, however, this is a mostly free internet world, and we (with the support of 5-year Zero Carb practitioner Michael Frieze) simply created a new group called Principia Carnivora for ourselves where everyone is free to openly discuss any and all ideas that we feel may be beneficial to us on our journeys back to well-being. We had almost 400 new members requests in just 4 days, so I guess that says a lot about the need for a group like this with a more relaxed and free-thinking environment. If this sounds like your kind of group, please come join us and check it out. Our main objective is to have fun while supporting one another.

So, I will just end by saying that while I personally enjoy bone broth and feel better when I drink it, this may or may not be true for you. Like eggs and dairy, bone broth is secondary in importance to meat on a Zero Carb diet. It is important to keep in mind that not everyone reacts to it the same way. A small percentage of people who are sensitive to MSG can turn the glutamine in bone broth into glutamate and experience all the same symptoms they do from MSG. This is most often seen in children with Autism, but it can happen in anyone with gut issues. The only way to know how it will affect you personally is to try it.

I drink 1-2 quarts of bone broth per day. I remove the fat so that it does not interfere with my natural appetite and hunger signals. Essentially, it is the Zero Carb version of an electrolyte replacement beverage. Many people find it really helps to prevent the muscle cramping that can occur during the Adaptation phase of beginning this way of eating. For more information, please see my page on Bone Broth.

The most significant benefits I have experienced so far include…

Food Reactions – I no longer experience unpleasant symptoms after eating.
Bloating – I no longer look and feel 6 months pregnant after eating.
Blood Sugar – I no longer experience daily hypoglycemic episodes.
Energy – My energy is now stable and steady.
Teeth – My teeth are no longer sensitive.
Hunger – I eat once a day and am rarely hungry in between meals.
Cravings – I experience no carbohydrate or other cravings.
Mental Clarity – I have greater mental clarity and focus.
Mood – I am no longer irritable all the time.
Outlook – I feel much more optimistic about life.
Hemorrhoids – I no longer experience pain or irritation.
Weight – I was underweight (95 lb) and am now at a healthier weight (120 lb).
Blood Pressure – It has increased from 85/50 to 105/95.
Skin – My skin has stopped breaking out with pimples.
Nails – My nails are much stronger.
Hormones – I no longer have menstrual cramps during my period.
Headaches – I no longer have migraine headaches as long as I avoid salicylates and histamines.
Shingles – The scar I have from this no longer tingles or itches.
Sleep – My sleep quality has improved and I need less total sleep.
Mornings – I no longer wake up feeling like I have a hangover.

As you can see, I have experienced quite a few positive changes in just 4 short months. The key for me in making this diet a success is to have a continual supply of histamine-free meat. I want to see if I can makes some histamine-free pemmican to serve as a back-up resource, as well as for travelling or day trips. I also plan to explore some therapeutic modalities, like DAO enzymes, which have been shown to assist the break down of histamines that are present in food. I am definitely happy with my progress thus far, and – as long as things keep moving in a positive direction – I fully expect to continue this way of eating indefinitely.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First Two Months on Zero Carb by Anastasia Neucoon

Posted on April 29, 2015 by esmeelafleur

One of Anastasia’s Beloved Cats

I am 47 years old, and I have two boys, ages 14 and 17 years old. I also have 4 cats, 2 chinchillas, and some quail that provide fresh eggs for us every day. I am half Danish and half Mexican, with a dash of Native American thrown in. I am a Graphics Designer and was educated as Dietitian as well.

What kind of diet were you following before Zero Carb?

I was on a Ketogenic Diet for 6 months and had been experiencing really good results.

Why did you decide to try Zero Carb?

I decided to try this way of eating because of arthritis. I have tried many diets before, including vegan and vegetarian, both of which made me feel worse than ever. I was told, my body had to adjust. I always missed meat which I loved dearly. But while I was following a Ketogenic diet, I realized something interesting. On some days, I forgot to eat veggies and I noticed that I felt better on those days and had much less pain.

So, I began to intentionally skip veggies. I soon discovered that when I left out the protein powder, I also felt better. Eventually, I came across information about the All-Meat, or Zero Carb, way of eating and it made so much sense to me. This was the last bit of encouragement I needed to drop the nuts I was still including in my diet. With each food elimination, I felt an improvement in my overall well-being. For my first 3 weeks on Zero Carb, I was still including dairy products. But once I let them go, I again noticed that I felt even better.

What was your transition to Zero Carb like? Easy or hard?

The transition from Low Carb to Zero Carb was really easy for me. I love meat and eggs. I felt so free eating this way. I didn´t have to count any carbs, or other macros anymore. I didn´t have to measure for ketones. Best of all, I stopped having cravings for unhealthy foods. I just wonder why I didn´t realize myself years ago?

What benefits have you noticed so far?

Overall – I feel so good.
Arthritis – I have no more pain.
Pain Killers – I no longer need them.
Skin – It is so much healthier.
Tinnitus – It has completely disappeared.
Asthma – I have not experienced an attack.
Allergies – They are almost totally gone.
Sex Drive – It has become stronger.
Hair – It is already showing improvement.
Teeth – They are no longer sensitive.
Gums – They are no longer sore.
Energy – It has improved significantly.
Sleep – the quality and quantity has improved.

I just wanted to add that prior to Zero Carb I was on daily pain medication for the arthritis for the past 4 years. I never could have imagined that removing all plant foods from my diet could make such a dramatic difference. I was also told that the tinnitus I suffered with was incurable. Also, the dairy seemed to be the main culprit in the allergies and asthma, so for me it was important and necessary to eliminate everything except meat. I did not decide to try Zero Carb for weight loss, as I am already at a healthy weight. However, I find it easy to maintain a stable weight through this way of eating.

What does your daily food intake look like?

It depends on what is available at a good price. I often will buy a half pig at one time because it is less expensive that way. So, I eat a lot of pork roasts and ground pork. I do love beef, too, and eat a lot of steaks. I also enjoy ground beef patties, fish, lamb, and venison. I go through phases where I really want salmon and will eat a lot of it for a period of time. I love to make my own broth and bacon, and I have even started to make my own Pemmican which I used to eat while living in native Dinetah, Navajoland. I eat an average of 1.5 to 2.5 lbs of meat each day.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First 6 Months on Zero Carb by Mimi Brandt Anderson

Posted on April 19, 2015 by esmeelafleur

Mimi with her grandchildren.

I am a 54 year old a female who has lived an active life. I enjoy running, hiking, and gardening – both flowers and food. I began following a low carb high fat (LCHF) lifestyle in the late 1990s and was able to eat a wide variety of LCHF friendly foods.

I am a surgical nurse and I operate as part of a team specializing in open heart surgery. I work an average of 8 to 12 hours per day, 6 days per week. My work hours vary, day and night, and depend on when my skills are needed. My profession is very demanding and I need to be on the top of my game.

However, at the age of 50, I became sick. When I say sick, I mean I developed a chronic burning, stabbing pain in most of my joints. I never got a firm diagnosis, could have been Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, or Rheumatoid Arthritis. Whatever it was, it was most probably auto-immune in nature. I was in extreme pain virtually all the time. I would rate the pain level at a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10.

I felt so bad, I just couldn’t seem to shake the pain. I was forced to stop running. I consulted with several doctors who tried to prescribe anti-depressants for me. But, these medications provided no relief. I was only depressed because my life became riddled with intense chronic pain.

A year later, a new group of doctors I consulted suggested that I try a combination of Prednisone, Lyrica, and Narcotics. But nothing worked. The only real effect of these medications is that I gained a massive amount of weight over the next few years. I continued to follow a LCHF diet throughout all of this, but it did not prevent me from gaining excess weight. The influence of the medications on my metabolism were just too strong.

Then, approximately 6 months ago, my gall bladder began to give me serious trouble. I strongly feel a person should keep their organs whenever possible, so I opted not to have my gall bladder removed. But now, I was fat, in constant pain, and truly sad every single day. However, I am a strong person, and somehow I managed to keep going by shear will power.

Finally, out of total desperation, I did a water-only fast for 5 full days. My gall bladder quieted down and the pain I was experiencing diminished significantly. Once I felt stabilized, I slowly began to add foods back into my diet one at a time, testing each item as I went. I meticulously journaled all the foods I ate, and as I added a food or condiment back in, I carefully observed the effect it had on my body.

What I discovered is that I did well with foods from the animal kingdom, but not so well with foods from the plant kingdom. I have been eating beef, chicken, salmon, sardines, mackerel, shrimp, and eggs. I eat about 1 lb. of meat per day. I do not eat any dairy products or spices because they make me feel unwell. The only thing I use for seasoning is pink Himalayan rock salt.

I was fascinated by the way my body responded negatively too all plant foods and so I started searching the internet for answers. I found the collections of comments that Owsley Stanley (a.k.a. The Bear) had made on a now-defunct low carb forum. And from there, I discovered the Zero Carb diet and, eventually, the Facebook group Zeroing in on Health.

After three months of eating only meat and drinking only water, I had some bloodwork done. I had lost weight and all my tests came back great. Now, after 6 months on Zero Carb, I am still losing weight by combining Zero Carb with intermittent fasting. I do not force myself to fast; rather, I fast naturally because I have no appetite. I let my hunger guide me.

My life is amazing once again…

I am off all medications except for an occasional guaifenesin after a long day.
The pain level has been significantly reduced. (3 on a scale of 1 to 10.)
I have no more brain fog and better mental clarity.
The quality of my sleep has improved substantially.
I am much more mentally balanced and even tempered.
I feel light-hearted and happy most of the time.
My energy has returned and I am actively keeping up with folks half my age.
I have lost 65 lbs since starting Zero Carb (from 228 lbs down to 162 lbs).
I have finally been able to start running again, too, which I love.

Zero Carb has literally saved my life!

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join Charles Washington in his Facebook group Zeroing in on Health or Michael Frieze in his Facebook group Principia Carnivora for guidance and support. These two groups use different approaches, so if you find that one does not suit you, please check out the other one.

My First 3 Months on Zero Carb by Tricia Weber

Posted on April 17, 2015 by esmeelafleur

Tricia’s Beloved Scottie.

I wanted to share with you that I have now been PAIN-FREE for over 30 days in a row.

Being pain free is hard to describe, as I have been in chronic severe pain for almost as long as I can remember. I have had 17 major surgeries so far, 3 of the last 5 were back surgeries. It has not been fun.

The spine surgeries were for a condition known as spondylolisthesis, a forward displacement of a vertebrae which puts pressure on the spinal cord that results in severe nerve pain. Since the first event in 1998, I have not been able to stand in one place – such as fixing a meal or simply waiting in line somewhere – because it quickly creates an astonishing degree of pain, extending from my lower spine all the way to the bottom of my feet. I would rate the level of pain as an 8 on a scale of 1-10. Once the pain was triggered, there was little relief for days, even with strong pain medications. I stopped all pain meds in April 2014 and was pretty much housebound.

I started Zero Carb on December 26^th after reading blog posts by long time Zero Carb practitioners Kelly Williams Hogan and Amber Wilcox-O’Hearn. Then, I joined the Facebook group Zeroing in on Health and read everything I could. I love the support from other Zero Carb veterans like Dana Spencer Shute, Caitlin Tilton, and Charles Washington. I began eating ground beef, ribeye steaks, other cuts of beef, bacon, and roasted chicken, and drink beef bone broth after each meal. I eat no dairy and few eggs because they do not agree with me. I eat an average of about 2 pounds of meat per day. My transition to an all-meat diet was relatively uneventful. I did not experience any unpleasant symptoms, other than some nausea when I ate more fat than my body was accustomed to metabolizing.

During the first month and a half I was on Zero Carb, there was a gradual reduction in pain levels, so gradual that I hardly noticed it until I noticed that I didn’t notice it! Then, on February 16^th, I fell and triggered a severe pain event. I had a few martinis as needed to take the edge off but stuck to the diet and continued eating only meat. It was not perfect solution of course, just the best I could do in this situation (fired the pain doc) and I gained weight quickly. I was not in the mood to tangle with doctors.

On March 11^th, while standing in line at an event, I suddenly realized that I had been standing for almost 30 minutes with no pain. I was floored. I remained standing there in the same place for another 15 minutes just to see if the intense burning was going to begin, but it never did. I have tested it almost every day since, and still there is no pain. It was so amazing that I was afraid to believe it. I finally told my husband about it on March 22^nd and he is just as astonished as I am. He decided to jump on the Zero Carb path with me on April 12^th.

I am not sure why this way of eating has made such a dramatic difference in the pain, but I suspect it has something to do with the increased saturated fat and its effect on chronic inflammation. I will discuss this with the surgeon in June. There is such need for clinical studies regarding a Zero Carb way of eating and the benefits that are possible. I would love to be involved in further research.

What I do know, however, is that I am thrilled. The benefits are truly amazing. While there isn’t much I can do about the structural damage that already occurred, finding a way to alleviate the pain, the inflammation, has been critical to my overall physical and emotional well-being. My husband and I are simply over the moon about all the positive changes. Zero Carb has literally given me back my life.

I have known for a long time that carbohydrates were not my friend. I have had trouble with hypoglycemia since my teens and will experience severe blood sugar swings whenever I eat any significant amount of carbohydrates. I began following a low carb/low fat diet in 1972 and eventually moved into a very low carb/low fat diet. I found through trial and error that the less carbohydrates I ate, the better I felt. However, even with the small amount of carbohydrates I was eating, I was still experiencing episodes of low blood sugar. Since I have completely eliminated all plant foods from my diet via Zero Carb, I have not experienced anymore low blood sugar episodes. This too is huge for me.

Prior to Zero Carb, I ate a very clean low to very low carb/low fat diet. All real food. About 8-10 ounces of chicken or lean meat per day with unlimited vegetables. Some olive oil and butter, but nowhere near as much fat as I am eating now on Zero Carb. From 2001 – 2006, I ate a raw vegan diet with lots of juicing. I was able to maintain a healthy weight eating that way, but it was hard to follow, and it did absolutely nothing to mitigate the pain. I kept dreaming about prime rib.

I have had IBS since my teens, it has improved significantly with the removal of all plant foods from my diet. I have to be careful with how much fat I eat early in the day, so I eat lean in the morning and save the ribeyes for dinner. If I overeat fat, the food will move through me a bit too quickly. I am still experimenting with this and fine-tuning to find the right balance and am confident that it will improve.

Weight is not an issue for me. I am 5’ 7” tall and have always weighed between 125-140 lbs. I have always been physically active, skiing is my love and I plan to continue it (skiing did not cause the spine problems). My reason for embarking on the Zero Carb path was to see if it would improve my overall general health, the alleviation of the pain was a completely unexpected outcome.

I cannot stress strongly enough how important it has been to do just meat and water for those first full 30 days. The longer I do this, the better it gets. I do not believe that there is only one path that will work for everyone, but for anyone feeling inspired to give Zero Carb a try – I encourage you to give it a fair try.

I have learned that the most important factor in my well-being is how I feel emotionally. I know how important it is to not let my inner happiness be dependent on conditions like physical pain. After about 2 weeks on ZC, my energy levels zoomed and I just felt wonderful, it is truly amazing. I am so glad to have found ZC and that I stuck with it.

ADDENDUM (05-19-15):

22 years or so ago I was diagnosed with Reynaud’s Disease, which is a royal pita but not life threatening unless ignored (in which case my fingers will be amputated). But I like to snow ski (a lot!). Usually, when the temps get below 70, I am indoors and drinking hot water or coffee to keep warm. I live in Southern California, so its a pretty temperate climate.

A couple of days ago I went outside to watch the sunrise at 5 am, its a special treat for me when night temps moderate to 65-70. It was 53 degrees. It took a while to sink in that my fingers were warm and doing just fine. So I did it again yesterday, same result. I did it again today…52 degrees at 5 am, and my fingers were warm and fine. I am befuddled! …and feeling so blessed to have found this woe. I have no clue why, unless this woe naturally raises and sustains a higher body temp.

If ya’all have not heard of Reynaud’s… when my internal temp drops too low the blood veins in my fingers (and other appendages) collapse and my fingers turn white from lack of proper blood supply. It is very painful. Then when I warm them, its excruciating pain for 2 hours when the blood starts to flow back into them. My fingers turn blackish-blue, it is not pretty.

I will be 6 months zc on May 25. I know its not a “big” thing when compared to some of the situations that some of our other members on this board have to deal with on a daily basis, but for me its just incredible.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My First 45 Days on Zero Carb by Lynn Marie Miller

Posted on April 16, 2015 by esmeelafleur

From the time I was a little girl, I can remember looking around and seeing so much physical pain and suffering around me. I was so young and healthy and carefree, and I just couldn’t imagine having to live a life like this when I got older. As a young child, it frightened me. My Grandmother told me, “This is what happens when you get older and things just start breaking down.“ Then, I was 12 years old when my Grandmother suffered a stroke and passed away at the age of 57. I also never forgot her nightly eating habits of frozen TV dinners and canned fruit. I made the connection then, that food must play a very important part of how we feel and thrive, or not! I was only 12 when I made up my mind that I was not going to end up like my Grandma!

Fast forward to 40 years later and taking a very serious inventory of my own health, I could now understand what my Grandmother was talking about. Although I was a total “health nut” and I was eating all of my “wonderful” whole grains, fruits and vegetables and taking my supplements, I didn’t feel as well as I knew that I could. I was also overweight. This is when my journey began. I lived and I breathed my research on anti-aging and longevity. I was ready for a new lifestyle and I was determined that I would not end up in declining, poor health, like so many other of my family and friends were experiencing! I would be the change that I wanted to see in a world of sickness and disease.

I joined a gym and I hired a Personal Trainer and I also began consuming more healthy fats, plenty of protein and fewer grains. I also became a student of Aikido and fell in love with this very graceful, martial art. After four months, it was while being thrown and doing a roll, that I tore my meniscus. A short time later, I was training for a 5K race and my meniscus gave out and I fell and suffered two severe sprains to my right foot and ankle. Determined not to give up, I went to the gym with my foot wrapped and in a boot and with my crutches. I trained as best as I could, 5-6 days a week and I never looked back. I also began to learn about the many detrimental health effects of consuming grains in the diet and I stopped consuming them. I became strictly, Low Carb High Fat and consumed only the healthy fats, protein and vegetables. I would have some wild blueberries on occasion. I lived this lifestyle for at least six months and my weight loss stalled, and by this time, I was now training and prepping for my first Figure Competition.

Then one day, while I was online doing my usual research on health and fitness, I ran across the amazing interview with Kelly Williams Hogan. The transformation she experienced as a result of the Zero Carb diet captured my attention. I was blown away that she was living a lifestyle of consuming just meat and drinking only water. Huh? I had never heard of such a thing, at least not in today’s society. However, I was aware of this in the past with the Eskimos, Inuit peoples, etc. Intrigued, I began doing more research. I also joined the Zeroing in on Health Facebook group for support and that’s when things really took off for me. I quickly decided to the recommended 30-day trial of eliminating all plant foods from my diet and consuming only those foods from the animal kingdom.

Not even one week into my challenge, I began to lose inches. However, I also began to notice that I was experiencing many overall positive health changes as well. I was sleeping better, any anxiety that I had was gone, my cognitive function was improving, my vision was improving, and my energy was through the roof! I had zero carbohydrate cravings. All I desired was my animal kingdom foods. WOW! I was sold and there was no turning back now. I was totally in the Zen!

By the time my 30-day trial was up, there were so many positive changes from eating this way that I only wished that I would have discovered this lifestyle years ago. I would love to have raised my three daughters on a Zero Carb diet!

This is day number 47 of my new meaty lifestyle. For me, the transition was easy. I had no problem, whatsoever, going from Low Carb High Fat to Zero Carb. In the beginning, I was consuming beef, chicken, pork, organ meats, salmon, sardines, eggs, raw milk and raw milk cheese, bone broth, one cup of coffee per day and some heavy whipping cream included in that. I have been experimenting and I have figured out what works best for me. I have let go of the pork, raw milk and cheese and eggs. I will continue to consume beef, chicken, organ meats, bone broth and one cup of coffee per day, with a dab of heavy whipping cream. I also just recently ordered some crickets and larvets (yes, insects! Thanks to Andrew Scarborough for this inspiration). I plan to try these on top of a nice juicy steak. We’ll see how that goes.

I have also been facing some health challenges over the past year or so for which I have been under a doctor’s care. I was diagnosed with anemia, vitamin C deficiency, parasites, candida, black mold, liver stress, mild colon and adrenal stress, and red blood cells stacking. One of my concerns with going Zero Carb was the fact that I was vitamin C deficient. However, after doing my research, I learned that I had no reason to be concerned, as I would get plenty from the meat I was consuming. None of the long term Zero Carb Veterans that Esmee has interviewed have needed to take supplemental vitamin C. She explores some of the reason why it is not needed on an all-meat diet in her article titled Vitamin C.

On day 45, I had a live blood cell analysis done and I am pleased to say that I am no longer anemic, no longer vitamin C deficient, there are no more parasites visible, my liver, adrenal, or, colon are no longer stressed, and my red blood cells are no longer stacking. However, I still face the challenges with the candida and the black mold. My Naturopath and I have worked on a protocol for those two things and we do know that with my new Zero Carb lifestyle, the candida should naturally be eliminated over time. My Naturopath fully supports my new lifestyle as well and would like to learn even more about it, especially after seeing my blood test results.

Also, the list of overall positive changes is pretty extensive. So, let me share them with you…

Weight loss of 8 pounds
I have lost several inches
Anxiety is totally gone
Vision has improved
Sleep quality has improved
No more abdominal bloating
Cognitive function has improved
Energy has improved
Weight training performance has improved
Recover after workouts has improved
I no longer get sore after weight training.
Chronic pain from old injuries has vanished. (This is HUGE for me!)
My hair is getting thicker
My nails are now unbreakable
My skin is softer
There are fewer lines on my face
I feel much calmer and relaxed overall
I have a happier state of mind

I love no longer having to spend my time planning meals and running to various shops for different food items. I prepare my bone broth only once for the week, and I shop for my meat only once for the week. This frees up my time to live my life and enjoy the things that mean so much to me. I now have more time to enjoy my children and grandchildren, to spend time in nature, to climb trees, and to enjoy working out at the gym. In just a few short months, I will be celebrating my 55th Birthday. But I know that one’s “age” is just a number! With the Zero Carb diet, I am no longer worried about falling apart as I grow “older.” Instead, I am confident that I will age gracefully. I’m living life and I’m living young!

Thanks for letting me share my story with you.

Lynn Marie posted this update after 60 days on Zero Carb:

I just wanted to share that, I had a Training session and evaluation with my PT and competition coach today and instead of Figure competition, she has suggested that perhaps I compete in Physique now. Almost two months of eating ZC and training with heavy weights has really increased my gains/lean mass. So much for what the critics have to say about not being able to make gains on no carbs… LOL… And also, the recovery from lifting on this lifestyle, simply cannot be beat! There is no pain anymore. Speaking from experience here.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

My Zero Carb Experience with Lyme Disease by Alison Lyons

Posted on April 15, 2015 by esmeelafleur

When I first went to the gastro with all my stomach issues and food intolerances, they tried to get me on a FODMAP diet. I was like…. uh, I just told you everything but meat makes me inflamed and sick and you’re telling me to eat a diet of nothing but the foods that make me inflamed and sick? Needless to say I didn’t return back to any of those doctors.

Zero Carb is really the only way my Lyme stays under control and allows me to be pain free. But I’ve struggled against eating an all-meat diet for years because of all the pressure I have received from doctors and family to keep trying to get plant foods back into my diet. Additionally, I did not know another single person who was eating an all-meat diet, so I felt very alone, isolate and unsure about the path my body was telling me to follow. As a result, I was pretty miserable.

Since finding the Zero Carb group Zeroing in on Health on Facebook (through The Andersen Family interview that a friend shared with me), my mindset has completely flipped. I have stopped fighting it. I now realized that I need to just listen to my body and eat the way it responds best and tell all my doctors and family to just accept that this is the way it is.

My god what a difference all this has made – less pressure from those around me, making friends with other people who eat like me, knowing I’m not alone anymore. I know it sounds melodramatic, but stumbling across the Zero Carb community, and all these people that follow a diet free of plant foods, has literally saved my life on every level (emotionally, psychologically, and physically).

Over the years that I have been struggling with this, I have attempted to add other foods back in periodically (mostly because those around thought I should), but every plant food I tried would cause a negative reaction (burning in my small intestines, morbid bloating, headaches, fatigue, high blood pressure).

By October 2013, I decided in earnest that I needed to just stick with meat and stop trying to please others around me. However, I recently got derailed yet one more time when my nutritionist encouraged me to try eating some blueberries. Unfortunately, this little experiment caused me SEVERE pain and cause many previously dormant symptoms of the Lyme bacteria to rear their ugly head.

Up to this point, I hadn’t had carb/sugar cravings at all for quite a while. But once I tried those blueberries, my brain chemistry just went bonkers from the fructose, and I immediately began to experience HUGE carb/sugar cravings. For the next few weeks, I found myself unable to resist my desire for more fruit and I just got sicker and sicker. I finally got a grip on myself, and I am now back on track and eating only meat again. The cravings are almost completely gone, and – once again – I am feeling so much better.

At this point, you might be wondering how long have I had Lyme Disease, and how did I arrive at an all meat diet? Well, when I was about 8 years old, I was bit by a tick. I got the classic EM Lyme rash (massively, it took up the entire inside of my right thigh). When my mom finally noticed it, she panicked and took me to the doctor.

This was Texas in the 1980’s, though, and the doctor told her that the rash did look exactly like the EM Lyme rash, but it couldn’t possibly be that because Lyme didn’t exist in Texas! I remember my mom arguing with him about why we vaccinated our dogs for it, but in the end he refused to send us home with the antibiotics used to treat it in the early stage of an infection.

My mom is a health nut, so I wasn’t allowed much sugar at all while I was growing up. No sodas, no candy, and it was very very rarely that I was allowed desserts. We ate mostly baked chicken, rice, and veggies. I played a lot of sports, and I did well in school. There was very little stress in my life throughout this time, so my immune system stayed strong enough to keep the Lyme bacteria in dormant state.

Around the age of 27, I began working at an insanely stressful job (a newspaper with long hours and very low pay), and I suddenly started having some strange symptoms emerge. I was really into triathlons at this point and so I desperately tried to ignore the symptoms I was experiencing. I didn’t want to give up training and the races I was competing in.

Looking back, I’m astounded at my stubbornness and how I kept training for triathlons through all of that – it was mostly profound fatigue, headaches, and brain fog. I’ve always been an avid reader and usually average around 50 books a year, but that year all I could finish was 1. I thought I was getting adult ADD or something. All the fatigue and headaches I chalked up to the stress of my job. But, I didn’t yet realize that the stress was impairing my immune system and allowing the Lyme bacteria to thrive.

I finally found a new job and – on what was supposed to be my first day at that job – I went for my usual morning run. About midway through, I was attacked by a dog. Animal control never found the dog, so I was forced to agree to the rabies vaccine. That was the final straw for breaking down my immune system. After those rabies shots, my left arm went numb, then my left leg, then the left side of my face developed bells palsy. It got so bad that I couldn’t walk, which was insanely distressing for me being an endurance athlete. I had just finished my first MS150 (a race that raises money for Multiple Sclerosis research) only 3 months before and the first suspected diagnosis they had for me was MS. The irony made me sick.

An avalanche of other symptoms started, though, and tinnitus was one of them. I could hardly hear anyone because the ringing in my ears was so loud. Someone on an MS message board told me that MS and Lyme are often misdiagnosed for one another because the symptoms are so similar, but tinnitus is one symptom that is very Lyme-specific. As soon as I read the word LYME, my memory jarred back to my childhood and that tick bite. Found a Lyme doctor, got all the right tests and sure enough it was Lyme.

I was terrified of the high dose long course antibiotic treatment usually prescribed for Lyme. I didn’t want to damage my stomach, so I insisted on trying to treat the Lyme with an herbal protocol first. For a year I took about 160-200 pills a day and changed my diet (no fruit/carbs/sugars to feed the lyme and no gluten/nightshades/inflammatory foods) and sure enough it all started working. My immune system was beefed back up and able to repress the Lyme bacteria once again.

However, by the time my symptoms finally started to go away, I suddenly began having stomach problems. My stomach ballooned out and I looked 8 months pregnant. I had a lot of tests done and finally decided to try an elimination diet. I discovered that trace amounts of gluten were the culprit. So, I became more vigilant in regards to gluten and sure enough the pain and bloating in my stomach went away.

Then a few weeks later my stomach ballooned back out again. I did another elimination diet and added foods back in one by one and found dairy to be the problem this time. Removed all dairy, felt better for a few weeks, then bam… stomach ballooned out again. Took everything out, added it back in one by one and found soy to be the problem this time. This maddening cycle went on for about a year until I was down to eating only potatoes and sunflower seeds.

At this point, I had been a vegetarian for 14 years and was refusing to try to add meat back into my diet. But – because I was only eating potatoes and sunflower seeds – I was getting very deficient in nutrients and my kidney function began to decline. All my doctors finally cornered me and said that if I wanted to live then I was going to HAVE to eat meat again.

I started with chicken. My kidney function improved almost immediately and I started feeling better. I slowly worked my way up to adding beef and turkey back in to my diet as well. I actually started feeling good for the first time in years. But all of my family, friends, and doctors were still putting tremendous pressure on me to find out what was wrong with my stomach, encouraging me to take steps to heal it and heal it in order to get vegetables back into my diet.

So – even though I felt so much better on just meat – I kept testing out foods at their urging. “What about SEAWEED? What about THIS? What about THAT?” Everyone was constantly trying to think of something that might work and pressuring me to try it out. Eventually, I would succumb to their suggestion and I would ALWAYS react terrible to whatever it was this time. This process of testing different foods kept my body, and especially my digestive tract, in a constant state of inflammation. It was a nightmare.

Then I started reacting to some of the foods that – up to this point – had been safe… like chicken. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until I started reading about how common leaky gut is with Lyme disease. I finally realized that I lost the ability to foods when I ate them too many days in a row or in too high of a quantity (anything over 10 oz in one sitting was problematic).

By the point I figured that out, though, I had already lost chicken, beef, turkey, pork, bison, and lamb. So for the last 2 years or so I’ve been eating mostly fish, duck, elk, kangaroo, and venison. If I stick only to those meats, and am careful about the amount I eat, and frequency with which I eat them, then I don’t become sensitive to them and I stay out of pain.

I’ve been working with a nutritionist to heal the leaky gut. Lots of probiotics / sauerkraut juice (can’t handle the fiber in the cabbage itself), colostrum, fish oils, enzymes, trace minerals, MSM, etc etc. We found that I also have a candida infection that could be adding to the leaky gut and food intolerances as well, so I was taking a lot of oregano oil and monolaurin, which are basically natural antibiotics/antifungals to kill off the candida.

I also have a few MTHFR gene mutations, so methyl b12 and methyl folate were added into the regimen at the end of last year. I was healing enough that I was actually able to very carefully rotate in a few small things I had developed intolerances to like lemon and lime. But I can only have a very small amount every few days.

With this small victory my nutritionist put pressure on me to test out berries. This was a huge, huge, huge mistake. Looking back I don’t know what he was thinking suggesting berries. Yeah, the berries were an epic failure. I reacted horribly and my brain exploded on that sugar. I went completely crazy with sugar cravings.

I hadn’t realized how eating a meat-only diet had completely eliminated all of my cravings. I was desperately trying to add foods back in just because of the pressure from doctors and family around me, and because of the isolation of eating this strange way all alone… not because I desired any of those foods.

The cravings got so out of control that I found wholly myself unable to resist the urge for more sugar and started eating dates. I reacted horribly to them,and just eating a single bite would cause about 4-7 days of unbelievable pain. But I could not – for the life of me – seem to quit eating them. It was horrible. Up until now, the Lyme symptoms had been in complete remission for almost 3 years by adhering to an all-meat diet. But this little fruit escapade caused the Lyme bacteria to resurface with a vengeance, and all my symptoms returned. I was devastated.

However…It was in the middle of this mess that I stumbled across the interview on the Andersen family. I was so blown away to find someone who had been through such similar circumstances, but had managed to get it all under control with an all-meat diet.

When I began reading through the rest of Esmee’s blog where The Andersen Family interview was published – discovering that there were tons of people who ate a diet of meat only – I was so happy and so relieved to have found OTHERS eating this way that I nearly cried. The isolation I had felt for so many years because of my dietary restrictions had caused me much more suffering than the actual lack of plant foods.

With this discovery, a lot has changed for me in the last couple of weeks. I realized that I was busting my butt and breaking the bank to heal my stomach and for what? Because of the Lyme I will NEVER be able to eat fruit or other plant foods. For the first time, I feel free to just fully embrace being a blood-thirsty unapologetic carnivore. 😉

It is so much easier to eat only meat now that I have a little support group so-to-speak and now that I’ve sifted through so many of the supportive articles posted in the Zero Carb Facebook community Zeroing in on Health.

I have shared a lot of these new resources with my parents and best friend, and this has helped to relieve their minds as well. They have stopped putting so much pressure on me to try and add various plant foods back in to my diet. In fact, they have been reading so much material from Esmee’s blog that they’re starting to get a little curious about the benefits that Zero Carb might offer them as well.

So yeah. It has been one heck of a roller coaster. I was pretty distressed about the Lyme symptoms resurfacing, but now that I know I don’t need any plant foods to be perfectly healthy, I expect to be feeling much better very soon. Prior to the fruit binge, I had been eating only meat for quite a while and was feeling so good that I had been able to resume exercising, especially swimming, again. I am looking forward to getting back to that in the near future.

I’m fully on board with Zero Carb now since the berry debacle, and I finally realize that – for me – there’s no moderation with fruit or any other plant foods. Even a minuscule amount will cause me to go completely mad with cravings and pain. My doctor’s recommendations to constantly try various supplements, medications, and foods has only served to keep me in a state of chronic inflammation and pain. So, I’ve decided to do what is best for my body and just abstain from all plant foods from this point forward.

I’m still taking a few supplements like probiotics, enzymes, and herbs for immune support, but I’m done with adding any more new ones for now. I think if I stick with the supplements that I’ve already been taking safely for a few years now – and eat only meat and drink only water – the Lyme bacteria will go back into remission and may – over time – be completely eliminated from my body. Charlene Andersen’s story has given me great hope.

Thank you for listening and letting me share my story. Perhaps it will inspire others with Lyme to try a Zero Carb, All-Meat diet and see if it will assist them on their own path back to well-being.

Please visit my Testimonials page to read the stories of others following a Zero Carb diet.

If you are interested in meeting others who practice an All-Meat diet, please feel free to join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora for support.

Eat Meat. Drink Water.

Zen, and the Art of Zero-Carb Living

Category Archives: Testimonials

My First 3 Months on Zero Carb by Isabel

My First 3 Months on Zero Carb by Don Ewart

My First 30 Days on Zero Carb by Lena Kristiansen

My First 30 Days on Zero Carb by Kim Knoch

My First Four Months on Zero Carb by Esmée La Fleur

My First Two Months on Zero Carb by Anastasia Neucoon

My First 6 Months on Zero Carb by Mimi Brandt Anderson

My First 3 Months on Zero Carb by Tricia Weber

My First 45 Days on Zero Carb by Lynn Marie Miller

My Zero Carb Experience with Lyme Disease by Alison Lyons

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: