Tag Archives: Chronic Pain

Zero Carb Interview: Raymond Nazon

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1. How long have you been eating a Zero Carb (No Plant Foods) diet?

3 years I failed my first carnivore diet in January and lasted 3 months before the ketoflu then tried again in September 2017, never stopped since.

2. What motivated you to try this way of eating? Weight? Health?    

I was diagnosed pre diabetes through blood work and they let me know that I can “manage” it but it will steadily get worse and I may lose a leg, eyes, etc… from complications. They told me to manage it with diet and exercise.   

Not willing to do the diet part so I took on exercise with OrangeTheory for 7 months and I gained one lb never lost so I decided to research and I found dietdoctor.com and tried the Low Carb High fat approach and lost 10 lbs within the first 2 weeks. I immediately knew there was something there but I tried it for 6 weeks and went back and gained weight.

So the next time around I did another 6 weeks challenge but I did not like the low carb option so      I found websites like this one, Facebook Zeroing in on Health, the “Bear” Owsley, the Andersons, etc. and I was convinced to try this Way of Eating. I lasted 3 months and then got keto flu.

3. How long did it take you to adapt to a Zero Carb diet, both physically and psychologically?   

The second time I was fully adapted after 3 months.

4. What books or people were most influential in guiding you to this way of eating?   

Various authors like Gary Taubes, Dr. Jason Fung, Dr. Barry Groves, and many more.

5. Do you eat only meat, or do you include eggs, cheese, and cream in your diet?

I rarely eat eggs. I notice bloating with eggs, I did allow cheese, but I quit it again last month. I do no other dairy. I am lactose intolerant.

6. What percentage of your diet is beef versus other types of meats?

Beef Ribeyes are about 98% of my diet.

7. When you eat beef, do you cook it rare, medium, or well done?

Medium rare in an air fryer 7 minutes on one side and 5 minutes on the other.

8. Do you add extra fat to your meat? (i.e. butter, lard, tallow)

I eat untrimmed ribeye so I do no extra fats.

9. Do you limit your meat consumption or do you eat until satisfied?

I do not limit the amount I eat. When I eat I feast.

10. Do you eat liver or other organ meats? If so, how often?

Rarely eat liver but if I do it’s raw and about once every 3-6 months or so.

11. Do you consume bone broth? If so, how often?

I did consume bone broth early on, but not anymore.

12. How many meals do you eat per day on average?

The first 6 months of the year I will do Alternate Day Eating (ADE) and the last months I would eat One Meal a Day (OMAD).

13. How much meat do you eat per day on average?

I average anywhere from 2-3 lbs per day.

14. Do you eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat, or regular commercially produced meat?

Commercial meat from Costco.

15. Do you drink any beverages besides water? (i.e. coffee, tea)

I have carbonated water at times and sometimes ice water.

16. Do you use salt?

Early carnivore I did salt heavily, but since last month I do no salt.

17. Do you use spices?

Also early on I did, but I do not use any spices now.

18. Do you take any supplements?

Early on I took some Betaine HCL and vegetable enzymes, but now I do not take any supplements.

19. How much money do you spend on food each month?

Roughly I spend $200 per week for myself.

20. Do you have any tips for making this diet more affordable?

Yes, eat beef patties and bacon.

21. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often and how vigorously?

Yes, I do OrangeTheory (HIIT), Shotokan Karate and Jiu Jitsu. I work out around 4 days per week.

22. What benefits have you experienced since beginning a Zero Carb diet? (i.e. recovery from illness, overall health, body composition, exercise performance, hormonal, mental or psychological, etc.)

I used to have diverticulitis, plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, and many more issues all healed.

I rarely get a cold (I hit my record without a cold over one year) I used to get colds every other month before.

Body composition changed drastically, exercise performance I hit many personal records on carnivore that even in my 20s I could not do. For example run a 7 min/mile or run a 10 mile in 10 min/mile.

I have this constant Zen about me now. Nothing seems to bother me anymore.

I can get a tan and I do not use sunscreen.

I stopped deodorants and I do not use soap or shampoo when I shower. I never smell.

I have not gotten any new cavities since the carnivore diet, I used to have several every 6 month checkup.

23. What do you enjoy most about eating a Zero Carb diet?     

This is a very easy diet, I don’t have to think about what I have to eat. Shopping for it is so easy also.

24. Do you have any advice for someone who is just beginning a Zero Carb diet?

Yes, it’s hard at first but once you adapt the cravings begin to go away. Just give it 3 months, the benefits are so worth it.

25. Are your friends and family supportive of your Zero Carb lifestyle? If not, how do you handle this?

No they all think i’m crazy, but I have convinced some friends to try it and my wife though not one ever lasts.

26. Is there anything you would like to share about this way of eating that I have not already asked you?

Yes. feel free to contact me if you need help starting the carnivore diet.

I am now a certified coach with MeatRx:

https://meatrx.com/product/raymond-n/

 

Zero Carb Interview: Terese Covey

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1. How long have you been eating a Zero Carb (No Plant Foods) diet?

Since October 29, 2018

2. What motivated you to try this way of eating? Weight? Health? 

Mostly because of having so many cavities, and having to have teeth extracted. 

I was also having issues with digestion, and leaky gut. 

Weight was an issue in the back of my mind as well. But, I wasn’t willing to lose anymore teeth. That was the number one motivation for me. 

I put a question out to the Universe asking why that was happening to me. I received answers. I started coming across other vegans who were having the same issues, and resolving those issues with the Carnivore WOE. 

3. How long did it take you to adapt to a Zero Carb diet, both physically and psychologically?

To some degree, I adapted in a few weeks both physically and psychologically. To another degree I am still adapting both physically and psychologically. 

My body is still healing physically. 

I learned that the psychological hurdle is the strongest. I noticed it was my emotions tied into my memories that causes me to think I want a particular carb food. 

I recently experimented with one bite of a piece of freshly made pita bread with freshly made hummus. It did not taste good to me at all, and the texture felt completely bizarre to me. 

4. What books or people were most influential in guiding you to this way of eating?

I haven’t read the entire book yet, but what I have read of the book, The Vegetarian Myth, was very interesting. 

Daphne Rimmel’s YouTube channel, Daphne Reloaded, was the first YouTube channel I came across. That’s where my new journey began. 

From there I found other YouTube channels. Then I found carnivore groups on Facebook. Then I started subscribing to different carnivore email lists.

All of those things helped me in some way. I have felt very supported by the people in the Facebook groups. 

5. Do you eat only meat, or do you include eggs, cheese, and cream in your diet?

I eat beef, pork (no bacon), eggs, chicken (thighs), seafood (ahi tuna, salmon, crab, shrimp, lobster), goat milk, and goat cheese. 

6. What percentage of your diet is beef versus other types of meats?

Currently, about 50%. In the beginning it was 100%. 

7. When you eat beef, do you cook it rare, medium, or well done?

Rare to medium rare. 

8. Do you add extra fat to your meat? (i.e. butter, lard, tallow)

If it is lean, yes. If it is fatty, no. 

9. Do you limit your meat consumption or do you eat until satisfied?

I eat until satisfied. 

10. Do you eat liver or other organ meats? If so, how often?

I tried and tried to eat liver and other organs. I just couldn’t get comfortable with the taste. So, I have organs in pill form. 

11. Do you consume bone broth? If so, how often?

Yes. Occasionally. Maybe a few times every other month or so. 

12. How many meals do you eat per day on average?

I started off with two meals a day when I was only eating meats and eggs. When I started drinking milk, I now only eat one meal a day. Milk fills me up…and I drink it alone, not with a meal. 

13. How much meat do you eat per day on average?

In the beginning I ate about 1.5 pounds a day. Now I eat about half that, 3 quarters of 1 pound a day because I’m only eating 1 meal. 

14. Do you eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat, or regular commercially produced meat?

Both 

15. Do you drink any beverages besides water? (i.e. coffee, tea)

In the beginning it was only water that I drank. Currently, I am also drinking white tea. 

I gave up coffee long ago…it gave me heart palpitations, and I felt angry if I went too far past 24 hours without it. 

16. Do you use salt? 

Yes, and lots of it. I started with pink Himalayan salt. Now I use light grey Celtic salt. 

17. Do you use spices?

No. Spices bother me. I used freshly ground rainbow peppercorns when I first started eating eggs again. Then my grinder broke, and I realized I felt better without the pepper. 

18. Do you take any supplements?

I make my own electrolyte water with the minerals: Grey Celtic salt, baking soda, potassium, and magnesium. I drink that every morning. It keeps the muscles from cramping. 

I take Betatine HCI with Pepsin when I eat a meal. I’m about to switch to a brand that also has ox bile. 

I take grass fed organ pills. 

19. How much money do you spend on food each month?

About $250. It was more like $175 until I added the dairy. 

20. Do you have any tips for making this diet more affordable?

Buy on sale and freeze. Don’t buy dairy. Buy ground beef. Buy less expensive cuts of beef like a roast. Chicken and pork are inexpensive, but I wouldn’t recommend eating it so much that you aren’t eating red meats like beef, lamb, and bison. I feel red meats are the most nutritious. Just use the chicken and pork in between the red meats. 

21. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often and how vigorously?

When I first began this way of eating I did not exercise for the first few months except for the occasional walk. There was a short period of time (about 2-3 months) that I was weight training (lifting) 3 times a week. But, I stopped when I started full time with 12 units at the junior college. I just didn’t have the time. I plan to get back into the weight training. I feel and look better when I am weight training. 

22. What benefits have you experienced since beginning a Zero Carb diet? (i.e. recovery from illness, overall health, body composition, exercise performance, hormonal, mental or psychological, etc.)

I have received so many health benefits! 

•Increased energy 

•Longer stamina 

•Better moods 

•Clearer/sharper mind

•Better sleep

•More muscle mass

•Stronger teeth

•Clear skin

•Shiny, strong hair 

•Clear airway

•No more “getting sick”

•Less body fat

•Better digestion

•Leaky gut healing 

•No more carb crashing 

•Balanced hormones

•Lighter menses

•No more aches and pains

•I think I may be healed from asthma…if not healed 100% yet, definitely 90%!

I have never felt better!

The following are the changes in measurements in 1 year:

•Weight -39 pounds

•Neck -1”

•Bust -4.75”

•Waist -6.65”

•Stomach at naval -6.5”

•Stomach at low level -4.5”

•Hips -6.25”

•L Thigh -4”

•R Thigh -4.25”

•L Calf -1.5”

•R Calf -1.75”

•L Ankle -1.15”

•R Ankle -.75”

•L Bicep -1.85”

•R Bicep -1.75”

•L Forearm -.85”

•R Forearm -1”

•Body Fat 21.8% -7.5%

•BMI 21.1% -4.1%

23. What do you enjoy most about eating a Zero Carb diet?

Feeling and looking great, as well as not really having to think about what I’m going to eat. Also, how easy it is to cook a meal. It’s so much faster than having to cook a bunch of different foods to have a meal. 

24. Do you have any advice for someone who is just beginning a Zero Carb diet? 

I highly recommend logging everything you eat and drink, and how you feel, as well as the changes that happen. I have been keeping track of everything this entire journey. I have also weighed myself on a scale, daily. I take body fat measurements once a month. 

Studies show that people who log/track what they are doing stick with it. Plus, it helps to figure out where there may need to be adjustments in what you are eating and/or doing. 

Also, in my opinion, it is important to feel supported. It is possible that people in your life won’t support you, and may feel scared about what you are doing. That was my experience. What helped me is the support of the people in the Facebook groups. It wouldn’t have been the same experience without their support. 

25. Are your friends and family supportive of your Zero Carb lifestyle? If not, how do you handle this?

They are now. They were not in the beginning. They were scared and concerned. What helped me with this were a couple of things. 

1) I live alone, and most days eat alone.

2) I had mental and emotional support in the Facebook groups.

3) I gained knowledge that I was able to share to help ease their minds. 

26. Is there anything you would like share about this way of eating that I have not already asked you?

I  had to learn the new ways in which my body let me know it was ready for food. For example, I may start to feel a tiny headache, or feel tired. Those are signals it is time to eat. You will not get that ravenous hungry feeling like you do when you are eating carbs. As soon as I start eating, the headache or tired feeling goes away. 

Zero Carb Interview: Jennifer Dodds

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Jennifer Before & After her weight loss journey, using both a standard low carb diet and then a zero carb diet.

1. How long have you been eating a Zero Carb diet?

Over three years now, I started  April 23, 2015.

2. What motivated you to try this way of eating? Weight? Health?

My entire life I was morbidly obese. I remember being very young at the doctor, maybe kindergarten checkup, my mother was asking about my weight. He told her to watch my portions and I would grow into it. Growing up, we tried everything!  Portion control, Slim Fast while I was still in daycare, Fen-Phen in middle and high school, Atkins, low fat, food pyramid, diabetic, just everything. I saw dietitians multiple times and followed their plans as well but I was never successful and never  was able to stick to anything  very long. 

By the time I was 15, I weighed 350 lbs. I  was a type two diabetic with migraines, PCOS, depression, and social anxiety. I would count every single carb, exercise, take my medications and was on insulin. I did all of this and my blood sugar was still out of control with readings in the 2-300’s sometimes higher. It was bad. After I graduated high school and I was more on my own, I ignored it all together. I also ballooned up to 420+ lbs. I wanted to have gastric bypass but insurance wouldn’t approve and I needed to lose weight for them to even consider me. I’m not exactly sure what happened then, but I just started losing weight without trying. I had my appendix removed and after that I steadily lost, but my blood sugars remained out of control. I did eventually diet again and got myself down to around 250 lbs. by my late 20’s, mostly by watching carbohydrate intake. 

Then an accident that nearly took my life really shook my world. I remember very little of the following years besides highlights, like getting married and buying our house. I slept nearly all the time, ate what was convenient and gained back 75 pounds of what I had lost. Then in January of 2015, weighing in at 325 lbs. after two days of no food and cleaning my bowels out, I had surgery to remove a fibroid from my uterus. It was a rough surgery. I lost a considerable amount of blood and it took a lot longer than anticipated. Afterwards I was just sick. I needed multiple blood transfusions. I had a home health nurse coming in to pack my huge open wound. She was putting a roll and a half of gauze in my abdomen every day! I wasn’t healing at all.  

Then the bad news hit. As I was lying on a trauma table in the local ER, where I had to meet my OB for him to clean my wound, he told me that the pathology had come back from my fibroid. He was wrong, it was a tumor. He explained that it was called a STUMP tumor and that it was very rare. STUMP stands for smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential. In other words, it is cancer without quite being cancer.  And because it is so rare they haven’t done much research on it. Laying there looking up at those bright lights, after all I had been through I just lost it. He says quit crying  Dodds!  Your going to live!  

A week later my husband and I made the trek to the oncology department two hours away. His news was just as grim. There is no way my OB could have gotten all of the cells from the tumor and I would have to have my uterus removed. I was devastated!   always thought that someday I would be a mother  I called my OB on the way home and he came on the phone and told me that having my uterus removed was my decision to make. That it was ok to ask questions and research before I made a final decision. So that’s exactly what I did!  

My aunt had a friend who had lived decades with cancer. I started researching and I decided that the best thing I could do for myself was to get rid of all sugar. So I started with a low carb high fat diet sometime in February of 15. But I could not get my blood sugars where I wanted them to be. I think it was around this time that I found Esmee’s website Zero Carb Zen and began reading all the information here. I was doing an egg fast when I decided to never go back to carbohydrates. And that’s it. Something clicked. It only took a few days and I knew this was the magic key I had been searching for my whole life! I had never felt satisfied before, and now I was. On a carb-based diet, I was always full, but still hungry! I was morbidly obese, and yet malnourished. 

Jennifer’s mother, little sister, and herself when she was about 6 years old.

 3. How long did it take you to adapt to a Zero Carb diet, both physically and psychologically?

It was still a serious mental struggle. Overcoming a lifetime of using food as comfort in every situation isn’t easy. I didn’t realize just how much I ate in social situations like family parties. I just ate constantly because of nerves! I remember having a panic attack and wondering what the heck was going on and it was because I wasn’t allowing myself to eat for comfort that evening. The physical adaptation was a lot quicker than the mental, probably 6 months initially although I continue to heal. Mental adaptation took a lot longer, probably a full year. Lifetime mental habits are hard to break. I still look in the fridge whenever I walk into my parent’s house!

 4. What books or people were most influential in guiding you to this way of eating?

I remember reading the Anderson Family interview, probably sometime in late 2014. I had already resolved myself to lose weight before I went in for surgery and was already doing some research on how to fix my hormones. I remember thinking, low carb yes, but there is no way that can be healthy! Like what I was doing to myself was healthy! I remember finding Esmee’s website fairly early on in my journey. I also read about Owsley Stanley (a.k.a. “The Bear”) and Vilhjalmur Stefansson. If you’re reading  this with the same skepticism I had, one month isn’t going to hurt you! Give it a try!

 5. Do you eat only meat, or do you include eggs, cheese, and cream in your diet?

It has varied over the years. I ditched the eggs fairly early on. I did try and add them back in a couple of times. I even tried fresh from the farm eggs, and yolks only, but my body still reacts. I was eating butter, bacon and occasionally cheese for about a year until I realized they were contributing to my headaches. For the first six months or so, it was all fare game! Then naturally over time, I went to beef only. At first, I was fine with ground beef, even frozen beef patties. Now my husband calls me a “meat snob” because I will only eat fatty, fresh beef. I will eat leftovers if absolutely necessary but they have to be made from super fresh beef and eaten the next day.  If I am going on a day trip, I cook my meat let it cool then vacuum seal it. But only if I’m going to be eating it the next day.

Jennifer as a teenager with her little sister.

6. What percentage of your diet is beef verses other types of meats?

100%

 7. When you eat beef, do you cook it rare, medium, or well done?

Very rare. I sear my meat then put it in the oven at 270 degrees until warm through, the opposite works too. Lately, I have been eating a bite or two raw. I like it, it tastes very sweet! But I’m not quite ready to eat a full meal like that!

 8. Do you add extra fat to your meat? (i.e. butter, lard, tallow)

Not currently, but I have been toying with the idea of finding a constant source of beef trimmings. The meat around here seems to be getting more and more lean and I have been hungry.

 9. Do you limit your meat consumption or do you eat until satisfied?

I eat until satisfied, but I do realize when I am eating more than I should and then try to see if there is a reason. I typically eat only once a day unless I feel I am truly hungry.

 10. Do you eat liver or other organ meats? If so, how often?

No, but I  do enjoy it. There is something in it called tyramine which can cause increase in pressure and the brain and lead to headaches for some people. I realized I was reacting to beef liver as well as cheese and bacon because of the tyramine.

Jennifer and her little sister as young adults.

11. Do you consume bone broth? If so, how often?

No, I have never liked it.

12. How many meals do you eat per day on average?

One, sometimes two. I do really well on one meal a day unless my pain is flared up, then I tend to eat more.

 13. How much meat do you eat per day on average?

 I’d say roughly 2 lbs. Some days it’s a lot more, some a lot less.  I eat to hunger.

14. Do you eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat, or regular commercially-produced meat?
 

Regular grocery store meat. I am interested to see what locally raised beef would do for me, but that is costly!

15. Do you drink any beverages besides water? (i.e. coffee, tea)

I only drink water. We purchased a reverse osmosis filtration system for under the sink. I was seeing an oily surface on my drinking water and when you boil it there was a lot of sediment. My husband drinks coffee and I was having to clean the build up on the coffee pot nearly every week. I noticed a difference as soon as I quit drinking the tap water and my husband also noticed a difference! I did have a couple brief flings with coffee that turned out bad for me. If you haven’t tried giving it up yet, I highly suggest it!

Jennifer’s little sister and herself after they had both lost significant weight on a very low carb diet.

16. Do you use salt?

Yes, I have several different kinds of salts I use! My favorite is grey Celtic sea salt. I also use pink Hawaiian and have some others.  

17. Do you use spices?

No.

18. Do you take any supplements?

Magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K and small amounts of calcium and vitamin C

19. How much money do you spend on food each month?

Roughly $200-$250

20. Do you have any tips for making this diet more affordable?

I managed to find a source of whole New York Strip for $3-4/ lb. That is what I have been eating lately. Otherwise it is the fattiest chuck roast I can find.

My husband eats what I call “Crappy Keto,” so here is what I have found to keep it less expensive. Chicken thighs are $.99 a lb on average. I cut the bone out and fry them skin side down in bacon grease till brown and crispy. They are the best! I always have chicken thighs ready to go in the fridge.

Liver is super cheap and is packed with nutrients.

Chuck roast tends to be the best priced beef with good fat and fries up good in chunks. I buy a couple big roasts and cut it into strips.

Salting beforehand also makes cheaper cuts more tender and flavorful.

If you have an Aldi’s, it is your friend!

Get yourself a vacuum sealer and buy when sales are good. Summer sales are great for doing this! Meat prices tend to go up in January when everyone is trying to “diet.” Then I tend to only find lean meats on sale and what I really prefer is super expensive. That is when the frozen stuff comes in handy.

Make friends with the dairy/deli/meat department!  They will sell you the past date stuff super cheep!  

21. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often and how vigorously?

I have physical therapy routines that I have to do in order to keep moving but nothing strenuous. I also do a bit of light yoga. I also walk quite a bit but not as much as I feel I should. 

Jennifer today after a total weight loss of 270 lbs.!

22. What benefits have you experienced since beginning a Zero Carb diet? (i.e. recovery from illness, overall health, body composition, exercise performance, hormonal, mental or psychological, etc.) 

I noticed improvement in the time it takes wounds to heal and I just don’t pick up bacteria and viruses like everyone else. 

I do still occasionally have seasonal allergies but nothing like before.  

After my surgery, I went through three months of little to no improvement and being on constant antibiotics. But within a week of switching to Zero Carb, both my home care nurse and I noticed a huge difference in the healing of my incision. The infection cleared up soon after.  

Zero carb also made my blood sugars steady for the first time and got rid of the estrogen dominance that had plagued me my entire life.  

It took quite a few months for my weight to go down. I even gained back 10 pounds of what I had lost between surgery and my time on a low carb high fat diet.  In fact, it was a good six months before I started to see steady weight loss. But now I am down to 150 lbs. which is 270 lbs. less than my all-time high of 420 lbs. I do, however, still have a fair amount of excess skin to deal with, but I am not surprised since I was so over weight all my life.

I also suspect I have a connective tissue disorder holding me back. After two severe traumas to my head and neck, I have developed some pretty severe symptoms that have continued to increase. I have been diagnosed with Arnold Chiari malformation and told that I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome of the head and neck. But I suspect otherwise and am sending my information to yet another specialist. But I am still trying my best in physical therapy and at home to avoid any serious surgery. 

Before I lost the weight, it was hard to find a doctor who would take my symptoms seriously. I heard from most of them that I simply needed to lose weight and that my MRIs were completely normal — which they weren’t. (Side tip: always ask for the report and a CD of any tests you have done.)  

Well, it’s really sad, but since I have lost the excess body fat, the doctors are taking me and my symptoms more seriously. Ironically, though, some of them are now trying to blame my symptoms on the weight loss itself! As far as I’m concerned, I still don’t have an accurate diagnosis, but I feel we’re closer than ever to figuring it out. I will say that a Zero Carb diet has helped tremendously with chronic pain, by eliminating practically all of the inflammation. If not for this, I don’t know how I would have coped. 

During the year and a half following my surgery, I went through a time of severe anxiety and stress. My Zero Carb way of eating was a constant in my life that I could hold on to. It was a way for me to control at least some part of my body when the rest of it seemed so totally out of control. Even though my physical problems often make it hard to think and remember things, Zero Carb provides a clarity in my mind and spirit, like a fog has been lifted from me. Also, I find it much easier to calm myself when I do start to feel some anxiety. Through Zero Carb, I feel that I have come more fully into who I truly am.

23. What do you enjoy most about eating a Zero Carb diet?

The freedom!  All my life I felt trapped, not only by my own body, but by the food I ate. I am no longer constantly hungry. I see food for what it truly is, fuel not entertainment.

24. Do you have any advice for someone who is just beginning a Zero Carb diet?

Prepare your food ahead of time. Have snacks on hand like cooked bacon. The time I spent eating a very low carb diet before I started a Zero Carb diet really helped the transition both mentally and physically. Mentally, I was able to see that even on a very low carb diet I wasn’t able to control my eating, even with such strict rules. Physically, I was able to transition from a standard American diet to a very low carb diet to a Zero Carb diet slowly, in stages, making it  a little less jarring to my system. Find a good support system. Even though I was a lurker for the most part, and rarely posted comments, I was a passive participant in various Zero Carb groups on Facebook that kept me going.

25. Are your friends and family supportive of your Zero Carb lifestyle? If not, how do you handle this?

I believe so!  They have all seen me struggle my entire life with my weight and health, and now they are really happy for me.

26. Is there anything you would like share about this way of eating that I have not already asked you?

Do your best to get off of any medications you are taking. One medication I had been taking for years I finally ditched and lost 30 lbs. very quickly. I continued with another and messed up my stomach and digestion. It is healing now that I have stopped it, but I was making myself miserable in the meantime. If you have any chronic health problems, a Zero Carb diet is an excellent way to help yourself  get a grasp of what is truly going on. It helped me connect to my body and truly understand it in ways I have never experienced before.  

Jennifer and her husband who follows a low carbohydrate diet and has also lost a significant amount of weight.

If you are interested in connecting with other like-minded carnivores, please join us in our Zero Carb Facebook group Principia Carnivora.

 

Zero Carb Interview: Doug Wright

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Doug today after one full year on an All-Meat Zero Carb diet at age 25.

1. How long have you been eating a Zero Carb (No Plant Foods) diet?

One year to date.

2. What motivated you to try this way of eating? Weight? Health? 

Curiosity & health. At age 20, I started a ketogenic diet of white lean meat and greens. I followed keto for 4 years before embarking on the carnivore path. While keto was very effective at helping me to lose a lot of unwanted body fat – I weighed 380 lbs. when I started keto and I was down to 223 lbs. at the 4-year mark  – I was always tired and hungry! Consequently, I knew it wasn’t sustainable long term for me because I continually felt deprived. So, I was looking for a way of eating that would help me to maintain and continue my body fat loss, while also improving my energy level and providing greater satiety.

Doug prior to beginning a Ketogenic diet of lean white meats and greens at age 20.

3. How long did it take you to adapt to a Zero Carb diet, both physically and psychologically?

One month.

4. What books or people were most influential in guiding you to this way of eating?

The Big Fat Surprise

Good Calories, Bad Calories

5. Do you eat only meat, or do you include eggs, cheese, and cream in your diet?

Predominantly eat red meat, very little else. Once in a while I will have raw egg yolks or raw salmon.

6. What percentage of your diet is beef verses other types of meats?

95%

7. When you eat beef, do you cook it rare, medium, or well done?

I prefer raw, but I will eat it blue-rare in social situations. I initially started this way of eating by cooking all my meat. But as time went on, I gradually desired it more and more rare until I was eating it totally raw most of the time, LOL! I have discovered, surprisingly enough, that I feel much more satisfied when I eat the meat completely raw than if I cook it even slightly.

One of Doug’s typical “fast food” meals of raw ground beef and raw salmon.

8. Do you add extra fat to your meat? (i.e. butter, lard, tallow)

No.

9. Do you limit your meat consumption or do you eat until satisfied?

Eat until satisfied.

10. Do you eat liver or other organ meats? If so, how often?

Rarely, but plan to eat liver more often.

11. Do you consume bone broth? If so, how often?

No.

12. How many meals do you eat per day on average?

1 or 2, but usually 2.

13. How much meat do you eat per day on average?

2-3 lbs.

14. Do you eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat, or regular commercially produced meat?

Mostly conventional beef.

A rare steak while eating out with friends.

15. Do you drink any beverages besides water? (i.e. coffee, tea)

No.

16. Do you use salt? 

Rarely.

17. Do you use spices?

No.

18. Do you take any supplements?

Not in the form of man-made tablets, capsules, powders, etc., but I do fresh liver – which I consider to be nature’s most nutritious food – whenever I feel the need for something extra.

19. How much money do you spend on food each month?

Approximately $360.

20. Do you have any tips for making this diet more affordable?

Shop weekly specials at your discount grocery & get to know your butcher  and find out when markdown meats are put out on the shelf.

21. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often and how vigorously?

2-3 days a week of heavy lifting, and I stay on my feet as much as possible.

22. What benefits have you experienced since beginning a Zero Carb diet? (i.e. recovery from illness, overall health, body composition, exercise performance, hormonal, mental or psychological, etc.)

Little to no inflammation (I always used to be achy, stiff, and sick); very steady energy; enhanced mood; clear skin; calm and relaxed state of mind; increased sun tolerance; continued body fat loss; increased muscle and lean body mass gains – I now weigh 5-10 lbs. more at 240 lbs. – since adopting an all-meat diet as compared to when I was following a Ketogenic diet of lean white meat and greens; greater mental clarity. In other words, I feel WAY better since removing all plant foods from my diet. I’m just so happy all the time now!

23. What do you enjoy most about eating a Zero Carb diet? 

The simplicity of it all and how good I feel.

It doesn’t get much easier than this!

24. Do you have any advice for someone who is just beginning a Zero Carb diet? 

Eat only meat, preferably beef, for a minimum 30 days. Drown your cravings/hunger/boredom in it. Eat as much fatty beef as you need to feel satisfied. No plants whatsoever, as they will just keep your cravings active. Once you adapt to an all-meat diet, you won’t want to go back.

25. Are your friends and family supportive of your Zero Carb lifestyle? If not, how do you handle this?

My family and close friends are very supportive, as they have seen the drastic health benefits first hand through me. However, I’m a bit of a social outcast among my peers in general who drink, smoke, and eat junk food. Thus, finding like-minded friends through the many Facebook groups dedicated to an All-Meat Carnivore or Zero Carb way of eating has been a real godsend for me and has prevented me from feeling isolated and lonely on this unusual dietary path.

26. Is there anything you would like share about this way of eating that I have not already asked you? 

Keep it simple. The more non-optimal foods you remove from your diet, the better you’ll feel.

You can follow Doug on Twitter @Wright_Doug

Life cannot get much better than a plate full of grilled hamburgers enjoyed in a beautiful, relaxing environment!

If you are interested in meeting other Zero Carb Carnivores, please join us in the Facebook group Principia Carnivora.

 

Zero Carb Interview: Keidren Devas

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1. How long have you been eating a Zero Carb (No Plant Foods) diet?

Almost a year now.

2. What motivated you to try this way of eating? Weight? Health?

I remember as a child I was very sensitive and from an early age I had eczema, a plethora of environmental allergies and asthma, all of which I was on multiple medications for. I also had an extremely compromised immune system and always had seasonal bouts of bronchitis or pneumonia; it seemed I was always on antibiotics and at the doctor’s office. When I look back it’s a wonder I survived my childhood at all!

As a teenager I ate the common SAD and suffered from fatigue, weight gain, anxiety and depression…If only I had known at that time what I do now about healing the gut and eliminating carbs and sugar…my life experiences within the world would have been so very different!

Then onto college and the whole fat free trend had just started! So I jumped on that bandwagon, eating all the processed and fat free foods, basically a 100% full-on sugar diet.

Then I transferred out to the west coast, and I quickly realized there was another way to eat other than the SAD diet. I began to read about alternatives, I started eliminating processed foods, started eating whole foods learning about a macro diet and began working at a health store and learning about supplements and alternative ways of healing…this was a very pivotal time in my life and my health did get a little better, way better than it was on a SAD diet!

I started fasting, doing different cleanses, losing weight, etc. My quest in life had begun and that was to feel good, and since I have never felt good I was always seeking to feel better. I then became a vegetarian, then a vegan, with these new ways of eating I suffered from fatigue, feeling cold all the time, depression, anxiety, very low blood sugar, sugar cravings. I ate this way on up to when I had my first child at age 24.

The actual birth was fine, but my body would not produce milk (low serotonin as I know now) and I dealt with postpartum depression, etc. My second birth a year and a half later was the same.

I then became a single mom of two, suffering from stress, severe chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, super low immunity, low blood sugar, low basal body temp, getting a different virus every other week, and an aching body that hurt so bad it was hard for me to function (fibromyalgia). I did somehow function though and no one really knew the inside hell that I was in fact dealing with and feeling.

In my 30’s, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and low adrenals, I began to take thyroid meds for awhile and saw numerous natural doctors and tried so many natural remedies, as well as diving into my own studies, discovering and learning as much as I could about low thyroid, hypothalamus function, adrenal exhaustion, etc.

I then began working for a naturopath who was really into the Raw Food movement, so I decided to try this and ate a raw food diet for almost two years. My ailments did not go away really though, and I can see now that I was just under a constant sugar high, but I felt stuck and did not want to ever go back to the other ways that I had been eating.

I started then to have a lot of digestive issues and pain in my gut in the morning and fatigue after I ate breakfast. So I began researching healing the gut and things like the GAPS diet, etc. I will never forget the day a friend of mine offered me some bone broth, this was such a profound moment in my recovery. With the first sip, I could literally feel the nutrients filling my body from within, warming me and relieving my aches and pains instantly.

I then started researching bone broth and began drinking it daily, and started learning about the Paleo and Primal diets, and began the shift of incorporating some meat and cheese and eliminated grain, and began to eat low carb. I started feeling so much better, my body became warm, my energy increased, joint pain was diminished, my digestion improved, my blood sugar and mood swings improved dramatically. My immune system was still very low though and I still didn’t feel completely at my optimum.

Looking back I was still at this point a sugar addict, having small bits of dark chocolate at night and I was still eating veggies. Into about my ninth month of low carb/Paleo/Keto, my dear friend Sondra Rose who had been coaching me and who also was on the same way of eating, told me she was eliminating all carbs including veggies from her diet and was only eating meat and occasional cheese, and lots of fat.

My first reaction was no way could I do that! How could that even be healthy…but I quickly caught myself remembering that I still wasn’t feeling at my optimum and was just lately pondering what I needed to shift next. So with Sondra’s encouragement, I decided the next day to give it a try. If you want personal one-on-one assistance in making the transition to a Zero Carb diet, you can contact Sondra through her website: http://www.sondrarose.com

3. How long did it take you to adapt to a Zero Carb diet, both physically and psychologically?

In the beginning during the adaptation period, I increased my fat intake, sodium and drank bone broth daily and that really helped ease my symptoms of sugar withdrawal. I experienced some mild fatigue, headaches, and muscle cramps mostly.

4. What books or people were most influential in guiding you to this way of eating?

A good friend of mine who is a nutritional coach and on this WOE. Also the Facebook group Principia Carnivora and this website Zero Carb Zen.

5. Do you eat only meat, or do you include eggs, cheese, and cream in your diet?

My daily intake consists of mostly ground beef, ribeye, tri tip steak, salmon, lots of eggs, small amounts of cheese/lard/chicken and LOADS of butter and occasionally bacon.

I drink only water, and I will occasionally mix gelatin with hot water to make a warm drink.

I keep it simple with protein and fat consistent.

6. What percentage of your diet is beef versus other types of meats?

85% Beef

7. When you eat beef, do you cook it rare, medium, or well done?

Ground Beef I cook well done, but steaks I cook blue rare.

8. Do you add extra fat to your meat? (i.e. butter, lard, tallow)

Sometimes I add extra butter or lactose free sour cream.

9. Do you limit your meat consumption or do you eat until satisfied?

Both, I measured my daily intake for a few weeks, and now I just eye ball it.

10. Do you eat liver or other organ meats? If so, how often?

No liver, just don’t like the taste, but I will eat hearts when I can get them fresh and local.

11. Do you consume bone broth? If so, how often?

No, just Geletin powder now.

12. How many meals do you eat per day on average?

Three

13. How much meat do you eat per day on average?

14 to 20 ounces

14. Do you eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat, or regular commercially produced meat?

Both

15. Do you drink any beverages besides water? (i.e. coffee, tea)

Just Gelatin powder in hot water.

16. Do you use salt?

Yes, in my ground beef and salted butter.

17. Do you use spices?

Some in my ground beef only. Garlic powder and pepper.

18. Do you take any supplements?

Magnesium at night every other day, 10,000UI of Vit D daily.

19. How much money do you spend on food each month?

About $400.

20. Do you have any tips for making this diet more affordable?

Eat your ground beef and shop sales and stock up.

21. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often and how vigorously?

My work is physical and also yoga, and plank twice daily

22. What benefits have you experienced since beginning a Zero Carb diet? (i.e. recovery from illness, overall health, body composition, exercise performance, hormonal, mental or psychological, etc.)

Literally after only ONE DAY of eliminating ALL veggies and all plant material, my whole being felt better. I was calm, peaceful, strong, and energized. I instantly lost 10 pounds of water retention, all inflammation vanished, and I began to witness my body becoming muscular and strong. My energy is completely even throughout the day and it doesn’t seem like a day goes by that someone doesn’t comment on how I look like I am 25 when in fact I am 41! My Immune system has never been stronger, and my body, mind and spirit have never felt this strong!

The biggest “Ah-Ha!” moment for me was realizing how sensitive I really was to sugar, all carbs, and the plant kingdom in general. I realized that this is what had been aggravating my health all those years. Any amount of plant foods is just too much for my system, plain and simple.

For the first time in my life I feel FREE, ALIVE, and full of LIFE! This way of eating has absolutely by far been a lifesaver and a life regained for me. I have been able to really reflect the last few months on how I used to be and feel, and cannot believe I made it through. I am so thankful to have discovered a Zero Carb, All-Meat Diet.

23. What do you enjoy most about eating a Zero Carb diet?

Simplicity and how I feel!

24. Do you have any advice for someone who is just beginning a Zero Carb diet?

Yes, take it slow, trust your body. Increase your water, fat and sodium intake in the beginning. Read and ask questions for support and wisdom from the folks in the Principia Carnivora group.

25. Are your friends and family supportive of your Zero Carb lifestyle? If not, how do you handle this?

Yes, my kids know to set the table for me always with a steak knife!
26. Is there anything you would like share about this way of eating that I have not already asked you?

Yes, I have just recently had the opportunity to be of assistance and lend my guidance and wisdom to two beautiful women who were suffering from very similar health ailments from years of eating a plant based diet. They too felt stuck like I had and did not know how to move forward.

It felt so good to share with them all that has healed for myself since shifting my diet to ZC. It also gave me an opportunity to reflect and see how far I have come and remember all the ways I used to feel.

They were in fact the catalysts for helping me realize how important it is to share my health story to help others on their journey to optimal health!

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Please visit my “Interviews” and “Testimonials” pages linked at the top of this website to read the stories of other short and long term Zero Carb veterans.

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.

 

Zero Carb Interview: Liz Spencer

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Liz after 1 year of Zero Carb.

1. How long have you been eating a Zero Carb (No Plant Foods) diet?

Officially my start date was April 1, 2015 but I had been eating pretty much zero carb for months before I had heard there was a word for that.

2. What motivated you to try this way of eating? Weight? Health?

Both. I had a lot of weight to lose and my health was horrible. I applied for disability due to a long laundry list of health problems.

3. How long did it take you to adapt to a Zero Carb diet, both physically and psychologically?

It was a slow process getting to Zero Carb. I started by just cutting out one thing at a time like sugar and bread, and then very slowly lowering my carbs per day so I never had any physical symptoms like Keto Flu. Psychologically it was a bit harder since I live with 5 other adults who are major carb addicts. Every time I walk into the kitchen I have to walk past a whole counter covered with candy, pastries, pies and bread. It was hard at first but once I was zero carb the cravings went away. Now I walk past them with no problem.

4. What books or people were most influential in guiding you to this way of eating?

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes was a really good book, but mostly I read a lot of websites.

My Zero Carb Life
http://myzerocarblife.jamesdhogan.com/wp/

Zero Carb Zen
https://zerocarbzen.com/

Zero Carb Health
http://www.zerocarbhealth.com/

Bad Ass Carnivore
http://badass-carnivore.com/

Empirica
http://www.empiri.ca/

These are all sites I enjoy.

Facebook groups are also great for daily support.

Principia Carnivora https://www.facebook.com/groups/PrincipiaCarnivora/

Zeroing in on Health
https://www.facebook.com/groups/zioh2/

No Carbs LCHF
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NoCarbsLCHF/

Principia Fibromyalgia (for Zero Carbers with Fibromyalgia) https://www.facebook.com/groups/645650578871443/

Liz before beginning her Low to Zero Carb journey.

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5. Do you eat only meat, or do you include eggs, cheese, and cream in your diet?

I started with meat, eggs, chicken, fish, butter, cheese, and cream. I had a serious sour cream addiction! Slowly I started eating more meat and less chicken and fish. I cut out the dairy after about 5 months. Now I’m down to meat, eggs and butter.

6. What percentage of your diet is beef verses other types of meats?

I eat about a pound of beef a day, 4 eggs and about 8 slices of bacon. So about half.

7. When you eat beef, do you cook it rare, medium, or well done?

I would like to eat it rare but I don’t trust the cheap Walmart ground beef I have to buy due to budget constraints so I cook it well done.

8. Do you add extra fat to your meat? (i.e. butter, lard, tallow)

Sometimes I’ll add butter if I have an urge, but not often. I do like my eggs dripping in butter though.

9. Do you limit your meat consumption or do you eat until satisfied?

I eat till I’m full, no limit, though I really can’t eat much at once.

10. Do you eat liver or other organ meats? If so, how often?

I like liver so I’ll sneak it in once a week. I only limit it because one of the people I live with hates the smell of it.

11. Do you consume bone or meat broth? If so, how often?

Nope, too much trouble to make.

12. How many meals do you eat per day on average?

I usually eat 3 since I can’t eat much at once. Otherwise I wouldn’t get enough food per day.

12. How much meat do you eat per day on average?

About pound of beef and about 8 slices of bacon per day.

13. Do you eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat, or regular commercially produced meat?

I really wish I could afford to eat grass-fed/pasture-raised meat but I’m on a really tight budget so its Walmart Ground beef for me.

Liz before beginning her Low to Zero Carb journey with her parents and sisters. Liz is on the far left in red.

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14. Do you drink any beverages besides water? (i.e. coffee, tea)

I drink a lot of herbal tea and I am slowly weaning myself off coffee, so within a month no coffee.

15. Do you use salt?

Oh yes! It’s my last addiction. I tried to quit salt, but nope, I just can’t right now.

16. Do you use spices?

Pepper on my eggs and some steak seasoning on my ground beef.

17. Do you take any supplements?

Only when I have been exposed to someone sick. I’ll take vit. D, C, K and zinc.

18.How much money do you spend on food each month?

Just under $200.

19. Do you have any tips for making this diet more affordable?

I use high fat ground beef instead of steaks, and I eat eggs every day.

20. Do you exercise regularly? If so, how often and how vigorously?

No. When I started I could hardly walk 1/8 of a mile and I had to use the electric carts in the grocery stores to shop. Even without exercising I’m getting stronger and my stamina is increasing. I am trying to move around more though. Since I’ve lost 50 pounds it has gotten much easier to move my body. I’m pushing myself to do a little more each day.

21. What benefits have you experienced since beginning a Zero Carb diet? (i.e. recovery from illness, overall health, body composition, exercise performance, hormonal, mental or psychological, etc.)

I guess I should tell you I was a complete mess in 2013. I was 100 pounds overweight. I had Fibromyalgia, Chronic fatigue, Peripheral edema, Depression and Anxiety, Severe PMS, Migraines, Restless Leg Syndrome, and Irritable bowel syndrome. Basically, I felt like Crap!

I did a long, slow transition from low carb to very low carb to zero carb, so it’s hard to remember exactly what happened when.

I started low carb in early 2013. My focus was just weight loss since I never thought I could heal all my issues. I lost weight pretty quick at first, going from 225 down to 200 in early 2014. (Ya, that’s fast for me.)

Then the weight loss slowed down, but I noticed other things happening like my High Blood Pressure normalized and I was able to go off HBP meds. Additionally, the Migraines, Restless Leg Syndrome, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome slowly Improved and went away.

I freely admit that I fell off the wagon frequently those first couple of years. I was going through a divorce after 28 years of marriage, and I had to move in with my parents. So, I was a tad bit stressed.

Then menopause hit, the weight loss slowed even more, and – oh boy! – the hot flashes, but at least there was no more PMS!

By the beginning 2015 I had transitioned to very low carb. I noticed that I wasn’t as tired as usual, but I was still having problems with Fibromyalgia, Peripheral Edema, Depression and Anxiety.

In Late March of 2015, I found the Facebook group “Zeroing In On Health.” I was pretty much already Zero Carb with rare exceptions, so I decided that I might as well go the whole distance.

I officially started Zero Carb on April 1, 2015. That’s when I really noticed the big changes. Over the first 6 months my Fibromyalgia pain, Depression and Anxiety slowly faded and I was able to move more easily.

In the last 3 months, I have been able to go shopping without using the electric carts that they have in the stores. I feel human again!

In early January of 2016, I didn’t take my HCTZ for my Peripheral Edema for a couple of days, and my feet and ankles didn’t swell up into huge sausages! I’m slowly weaning off of it now too.

I’m currently down to 172 pounds, and I actually feel some muscles under that last 50 pounds of fat I want to lose. I feel so much stronger now and I’m actually looking for a job! I’m have been helping my parents out at their office for free. It’s quite a work out filing and lifting boxes. But I can work!!!!

23. What do you enjoy most about eating a Zero Carb diet?

It’s so filling that I never feel hungry. I can also go longer between meals if I have to without feeling hungry and weak.

24. Do you have any advice for someone who is just beginning a Zero Carb diet?

Read everything you can get your hands on about it. Start slow. Don’t give up. If you fall off the wagon, just jump back on. Don’t tell anyone unless you have to. They will just look at you like your crazy then lecture you about health. You can tell people once you have been doing it for a while and have results you can show them.

25. Are your friends and family supportive of your Zero Carb lifestyle? If not, how do you handle this?

They are now. At first they thought I was crazy, but they can see how much weight I’ve lost and how much healthier I am now. Unfortunately I still have to walk past their junk food constantly.

26. Is there anything you would like share about this way of eating that I have not already asked you?

Nope.

Liz today!

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Please visit my “Interviews” page linked at the top of this website to read the stories of other long time Zero Carb veterans.

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.

 

How a High Fat Ketogenic Diet Saved My Life by Jeff Cyr

Posted on by
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Editor’s note: Jeff is not 100% Zero Carb. He does eat 10-15 grams of carbs per day from cucumber, radish, and spinach. He also consumes coconut oil which most Zero Carb practioners do not do because it it from a plant. Jeff’s diet is 85% fat from meat, butter, and coconut oil. He eats only 75 grams of protein per day. In spite of these differences from a standard Zero Carb diet, I felt his story was too inspiring not to share. May it reach those who most need to hear it.

In Jeff’s words…

I realize some of you here have already seen these pictures of me and have read my story before. My only intend in re-writing this short story on what a ketogenic diet has done for me is to maybe give hope to some of you out there that may think there is no way out of your current situation. To maybe show you that no matter how bleak your situation may seem right now that there is a way out. I realize that following a ketogenic diet may seem a bit extreme to some of you. Some of you may be here to try and find out more information on what exactly is a ketogenic diet and what can it really do for you. Hopefully once you have read this short story some of you may be willing to give this a try. And who knows some of you may even save your own lives the way I have saved mine.

I firmly believe I was born with a pre-disposition to insulin resistance. I was always overweight as a child and at the age of 17 I weighed 345 pounds. We were always taught to eat a high carb based diet and to never eat fat or cholesterol. I went on many diets during a 30 year span I must have lost 100-130 pounds on at least six different occasions always regaining all what I had lost and a little bit more. Those of you that have seen pictures of Butter-Bob Briggs on his website were he has a picture of himself with no shirt on at his biggest size this is also a picture of me. Only difference is I was like that at the age of 17. I wore size 48 waist pants and 3xxl shirts.

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I am going to start this story back in October of 1997. I was rushed to a hospital in southern Maine where I found out that they had to preform an emergency surgery on my lower back. I was diagnosed with severe lumbar spinal stenosis. The neurosurgeon had to preform what is called a laminectomy and fusion of the lumbar area(low-back) L-3 L-4 L-5 L-6 with titanium rods and screws. I had been in pain from my lower back for a very long time, for the last year before the surgery, I could barely walk but I had to keep on working as I had no health insurance. I found out after that buy waiting so long for the surgery that I had done a lot of permanent nerve damage from the waist down.

Fast forward to May of 2001. From an injury that happened at work I had to have what is called a cervical neck fusion. I had ruptured 3 disks in my neck area C-4 C-5 C-6 so the same neurosurgeon performed a cervical neck fusion with bone marrow in place of the disks and fused with a titanium plate and screws. And then in January of 2004 came the final blow. From another injury at work I needed another back surgery. This time it was the mid-back(thorasic) The same neurosurgeon performed a laminectomy and fusion of T-11 T-12 with titanium rods and screws. After this final surgery I was declared permanently and totally disabled by the Doctors and the workers compensation board. I was 44 years old.

Then in April of 2005 I had to go in for hernia surgery. They had to do routine blood work before the surgery This is when I got the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. I had a fasting blood sugar of 300 and an A1C of 12.0. The doctor put me on metformin and avandia and blood pressure medication and proceeded to tell me “Welcome to the club you’ll probably have to be put on insulin in a few years. And yes he also send me to a diabetes nutritionist who fed me the typical high-carb diet whole grains fruits etc.

After my first back surgery back in 1997 I was put on pain medication. After time I was prescribed more hard core drugs eventually ending up on oral morphine in high doses. Also from all these different surgeries and fusions i was left with not very much mobility. I weighed 330 pounds and pretty much was confined to a lazy boy recliner 24-7. I was not able to lay in a bed to sleep. I had to sleep in my chair. I had to walk with a cane or a walker only very short distances. If I went to any store I had to use the motorized handicap chairs. This was especially humiliating the stares you get from people as you drive buy them in your motorized cart. This pitiful life went on like this for a while but change was coming.

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In November of 2008 is when when my life started slowly to turn around. I had felt sorry for myself long enough it was time for something different. The first thing I did was to quit smoking cold turkey. I started smoking at the age of 16 and the last 10 years I had been smoking 3 packs a day. After 2 months had gone by I stopped oral Morphine cold turkey without consulting my pain management doctor. The withdrawals you hear people speak of from heroin are the same with oral morphine. These withdrawals lasted 3-4 weeks. Then in April of 2009 I started riding a recumbent stationary bike at the gym. I went on another diet and started slowly losing weight. In the span of 14 months I went from 330# to 167#. Thats a total weight loss of 163 lbs.

You would think I was Healthy now, right? I thought I was my doctor even told me I no longer had diabetes! My A1C was 5.9% and this led my doctor to telling me that I no longer had diabetes. At this point I was still clueless! Still clueless that an A1C of 5.9= an average blood sugar of 133. Clueless as to the level of insulin resistance inside of me. Clueless that by following the standard ADA recommendations I would have constant high blood sugar and high insulin levels floating in my blood stream. And also clueless that a weight of 167 was NOT healthy for me. I had lost body fat but during this weight loss journey I also lost a lot of muscle and bone density. Some of you may be wondering muscle and bone density? The short answer to this is when one is not fat-adapted you are still primarily a sugar burner. Problem is being a type 2 insulin resistant diabetic you can`t use glucose very well so your liver ends up taking amino-acids from your muscle and bone to maintain what is called glucose homeostasis.

Then in November of 2011 everything changed in my life you could say everything came crashing down. After a series of blood work -ultrasound-cat scan and finally a liver biopsy I was diagnosed with an auto-immune fatal liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. This liver disease attacks the bile ducts of the liver slowly plugging up the bile ducts where bilirubin and bile can no longer get through. This eventually causes cirrhosis of the liver leading to total liver failure. The only cure would be to get a liver transplant. I was told all this by my liver doctor and told that once diagnosed people live on average 8-10 years. Told there was no medicine nothing could be done. I suppose He was expecting me to go home sit down in my lazy boy and wait to die.

This is when I started doing research on line and one thing led to another. I started with auto- immune diseases this somehow led me to Dr. Ron Rosedale. This for me is what got everything started for me as far as educating myself on what you put in your mouth. How changing the macro-nutrient composition can change everything. I read everything I possibly could find watched every video that I could find online. Then I started researching Dr. Steve Phinney and Dr. Jeff Volek. I was so intrigued by this ketogenic diet I had to learn everything I possibly could. This led me to a lot of experts on this subject and I soaked everything up like a sponge. I still continue to learn about the ketogenic diet and its many benefits.

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In my former life of employment, I was a machinist-metal fabricator-welder. So the way my mind works I had to learn all the inner workings of the ketogenic diet. How exactly everything broke down step by step in the body. Most of you will not have the interest to know any of this nor would you need to. But because of my health situation it caused me to really dig deep into this subject. I studied the ketogenic diet for one full year before implementing it into my life.

I have to go for blood work every 6 months for my liver. After 6 months my liver function panel started slowly getting better. After one year even better. The doctor said I don`t know what you`re doing but whatever it is keep on doing it. After 2 years all of my blood work for my liver was totally normal. Today after almost 3 years on the ketogenic diet all of my liver function is totally normal. All of my blood work is totally normal. My doctor says he knows I still have the disease because of the results of my liver biopsy. But he also says that if he just goes by the blood work that I no longer have the disease!

Also there are a few more things that a ketogenic diet has done for me

1-After my initial weight loss of 163# I had lost a lot of muscle and bone and was not healthy. Once I was fat-adapted and using fat as my energy source I regained that lost muscle and bone density. Today I weigh 195# and have maintained this weight for over 2 years now.

2- After having been diagnosed type 2 diabetic in April of 2005 and told I would probably need insulin in the near future. Today my fasting blood sugar is 72-83 My A1C is 4.4 which is an average blood sugar of 79. My fasting insulin is 2.2. This is all with no diabetes meds only diet.

3-My cholesterol and triglycerides before ketogenic Trigs-200 HDL-29 LDL-100 My cholesterol and trigs today Trigs-38 HDL-105 LDL-64

4- My pain that I have from all my surgeries is much more manageable with a ketogenic diet. I am still drug free.

5-I still need a cane or walker to walk but I no longer need a handicap motorized cart in stores.

I am still confined pretty much to my lazy boy chair and still cannot lay in a bed to sleep. But I still ride my stationary bike every morning. I am 55 years old but I can honestly say I feel like I was 30 years old. I am full of energy and have very clear thinking. I now feel good about my life for the first time in a long time. I feel that I have many many more years ahead of me! And I truly believe that this is only possible because of the ketogenic diet!

Thank you to everyone that took the time to read!

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My First Four Months on Zero Carb by Ginny Walker

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Prior to finding the Zero Carb diet, I was eating very unhealthy. I was eating a lot of sugar and a lot of starchy carbs. I did not limit the amount of foods I ate. I ate without thinking about what I was putting into my body. I ate when I was hungry, bored, sad, depressed, etc. Food was more of an emotional crutch instead of a fuel for the body.

I have always had an unhealthy relationship with food. In my teens and early 20’s, I suffered from binge eating and bulimia. Through out my adult life I have tried numerous diets only to fail repeatedly and return to food, especially sugar, as my addiction. Eventually, my weight reached 278 lbs. This was the highest it had ever been in my life, and I was miserable.

In August of 2014, I was diagnosed with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia. I have benign bone tumors in 7 ribs, my entire pelvis bone, my femur, my skull, and my right facial bones. I had been in severe dilating pain for a couple of years and was on prescription pain medication that made me feel like a zombie.

This bone disease has no known cure and pain management is the only medical approach. I knew my weight was contributing to the pain and that I needed to make some changes to help myself. I did some research and came across this website. The information and stories inspired me and I started this way of eating on March 6, 2015. That was the beginning of my new life.

My transition to a Zero Carb diet was moderately easy. I really liked how simple it was to understand this way of eating. There is not a lot you have to learn in order to put it into practice. Eat meat, drink water. It is a mindset. Once you decide to do it, you just do it. I really want to live a better life and have better health, so I have decided I will do this to improve my life. I also want to be a better example for my children.

I did experience a few symptoms in the beginning. I had some mild headaches. I believe this was from sugar withdrawals. I also experienced some weird itching and tingling sensations on my skin that lasted a couple of weeks. That was mildly annoying and a bit alarming. I believe my body was detoxing in some form. After a month or so of Zero Carb eating, I experienced no more itching or tingling and my skin is now clear and refreshed looking.

My daily food intake: I average at least one and a half lbs. of beef a day and some days 2 lbs. I eat until I am full and satisfied. I usually consume one meal a day on average, but occasionally I will have two. I eat a lot of ground beef. I have two strips of bacon with every meal.

Sometimes I add cheese, but I try not to eat too much dairy due to weight loss plateaus it has caused in the past. I cook every meal in pure butter and drink water. I will have the occasional cup of black coffee with nothing added.

The biggest benefit I have experienced so far:

A 60 lb. weight loss in just over four months. I still have several lbs. to go, but this is huge for me!

Equally significant is that I no longer have bone pain from the bone tumors, and I am off all of my pain medications.

Although I am now 43, I have the energy of a 20 yr old.

I have been able to discontinued the medications I was taking for high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

My skin looks amazing.

I no longer have insomnia, and I have normal sleeping habits for the first time in 6 years.

Additionally, my overall emotional health has improved tremendously.

I am looking forward to seeing what other benefits Zero Carb has in store for me in the future!

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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 2 Months on Zero Carb by Anne Engel

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Anne on Day 1 verses Day 60 of Zero Carb.

My story began in 2007. I was massively obese that time – over 500 lbs at 30 years old – and with no hope for change. I have been following the the standard diet suggested for weight loss: the whole grains, low fat, and no fun diet. I started to research other options and discovered low carb. I followed a low carb diet for 5 years, until 2012. Then, I decided to try a ketogenic diet which was higher in fat and even lower in carbs.

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Anne pre-low carb weighing about 500 lbs.

For most of the year, the only carbs I consumed came from leafy greens. However, during the summer, I included strawberries and tiny amounts of pumpkin, peppers and few other relatively low carb plant foods which did not normally eat on keto. I remained on a ketogenic diet for another 3 years, from 2012 until April of 2015. During the past 8 years of low carb and ketogenic eating combined, I successfully lost half of my body weight, or 250 lbs.

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Anne pre-low carb weighing about 500 lbs.

In the beginning of this year, I became very frustrated though, as I was working my ass of at the gym, eating really healthy food, and sticking to my diet… but I could not seem to lose anymore body fat. My weight would fluctuate two pounds down and then five pounds up, even though I was watching my macronutrient ratios, total calories, ketones levels, blood sugar numbers, etc. It was making me me completely crazy!

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Zero Carb Meal: Lamb chops, egg yolks, bacon, and water.

My feeling of frustration was so deep that I enlisted for a gastric bypass at the end of this year. Then, one day, I came across Kelly Williams Hogan‘s blog and read her story. This was my first introduction to a Zero Carb diet, and I was intrigued the moment I read about it. I spent a few days for researching it and was eager to try it for one reason in particular: when I was a kid I hated everything veggie and my mom had to push them on me. (To read all of the details of Anne’s Zero Carb journey, I recommend starting with her first post.)

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Zero Carb Meal: Steak cooked medium rare.

I always loved and wanted meat, but was often deprived of it. As a fat kid in the 1980s during the middle of the low fat craze, I lived with the pressure to lose weight and guess what? I was fed healthy whole grains with no limit and was only allowed tiny portions of meat. So reading about a way of eating that allows me to only eat what I really was extremely tempting.

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Zero Carb Meal: Raw pork and raw egg yolks.

I decided to jump in with both feet and started my Zero Carb journey two months ago. My transition to this lifestyle was pretty smooth. For the first few days, I suffered minor headaches and was tired – but nothing major to complain about. When I switched from moderate low carb to a ketogenic diet back in 2012, the adaptation phase was much, much worse and took me a lot longer to adjust.

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Zero Carb Meal: Pre-cooked beef for the office.

The hardest part of the transition, for me, was the social aspect. When people tell me I looks so healthy now and ask what I have done to lose weight, I have learned that It is best not to explain how I eat. For some strange reason, it always ends up in weird side effects, like people pushing cake on me with the lame excuse that it contains essential nutrients. (See Anne’s blog post: The Odd Case of “Vitamin Cake” Deficiency for more details on this bizarre phenomenon.)

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Anne’s loose skin shrunk from 3.6 cm to 2.8 cm over a two week period.

Socially, I am still in a bit of a fight with this situation that my so beloved and relaxing carnivorous lifestyle is a taboo and ends up in stupid ethical discussions. Or in discussions about how I am going to become deficient in vitamin C. Most people are too lazy or set in their ways to read and educate themselves about the advantages of eating this way. However, the great benefits of this diet make it worthwhile to go through the social transition as well.

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Anne on Day 1 verses Day 60 of Zero Carb

Here are the major improvements I have noticed so far: First, I lost almost 8 lbs. of fat in the first 30 days of Zero Carb. I had a DEXA, so I know exactly that it was in fact fat that I lost and not just water. In fact, My percentage of water actually increased. So that was exactly the thing I wanted to see… Zero Carb has restarted my weight loss. And with ease! In 10 days, I have another DEXA and cannot wait to get the results. I am certain I have lost more body fat during the second month, as my clothes fit better and I look trimmer.

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Anne on Day 1 verses Day 60 of Zero Carb

Another benefit is the wonderful sleep I now experience. I love lifting heavy weights at the gym, with emphasis on heavy. I always wanted to sleep more for better regeneration and results. I made time for more sleep, but I just could not sleep more that about 6-7 hours. Now I sleep 10-12 hours on some nights and that is really wonderful because It has improved my performance in the gym.

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Anne on Day 1 varses Day 60 of Zero Carb

My skin glows and I look very healthy. A lot of people have noticed this recently and have commented on it.

Also, I have had knee pain for years – the only effective remedy was to swallow 24 capsules of fish oil per day. Not only was that expensive, it was also disgusting. I stopped that routine a while ago because it just grossed me out and the knee pain returned in full force. On Zero Carb, the pain in my knee got worse for a few days and then suddenly disappeared completely, it is truly amazing.

Additionally, I just had my second period on Zero Carb, and it was both painless and quick. I don’t remember ever having a pain-free period. It is absolutely remarkable and makes life so much better.

And best of all, my thyroid blood test came back great for the first time in years. I have a normal, very good T3 reading now, yay! Before Zero Carb, it was close to the bottom of the normal range, and now it is close to the top. This way of eating seems to be healing my metabolism as well.

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Zero Carb Meal: Raw beef, raw pork, whole egg, coffee with heavy whipping cream.

I usually eat two meals a day. I have beef with every meal and combine it with other meats or eggs when I want some variation. I have better energy levels on beef than on any other meat or animal food, so I need it at least once a day to be happy and stay fit.

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Zero Carb Meal: Steak cooked medium rare.

The amounts of meat depend on my appetite. Some days, I will have almost a pound in one sitting, but on other days I can barely eat half a pound. I eat eggs occasionally and have some cheese in small amounts when I feel like it. I drink coffee with a spoonful of heavy whipping cream after breakfast just for the taste.

In the beginning of Zero Carb, I worried a lot about eating the right amount for weight loss, but after my first DEXA I trust my body to tell me how much to eat. That is one of the biggest benefits of Zero Carb in my experience. I feel calm and deeply relaxed about my food. I don`t have to stress out about weighing food, calculating calories, macronutrient ratios, or even measure my blood for ketones or glucose. It is such a relief to be free of all that and still be able to feel so healthy and vital AND finally lose weight again.

To continue following Anne’s Zero Carb journey, please see her blog Bad Ass Carnivore.

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Typical Fatty steaks and ground beef that Anne eats.

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 Isabel

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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.

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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.