Tag Archives: Chronic Pain

My First Two Months on Zero Carb by Anastasia Neucoon

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Anastasia

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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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?

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

 

The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Kieth

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vegmyth cover third reviewThis book is by far one of the most powerful and important books I have every read in my entire life. It is my opinion that it should be required reading for everyone before they are allowed to graduate from high school. Everyone who eats food needs to read this book.

 

Here is the link to the free PDF version.

The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith

 

If you need more convincing, please read:

Dr. Michael Eades Book Review

 

 

Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double-Edged Sword by Loren Cordain

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wheat 2

 

This one of the very best papers detailing why cereal grains are neither a necessary nor a desirable part of the human diet. Click on the link below to read Dr. Cordain’s article:

Cereal Grains: Humanity’s Double-Edged Sword

 

My First 6 Months on Zero Carb by Mimi Brandt Anderson

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Mimi Brandt

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

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tricia weber

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 26th 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 16th, 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 11th, 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 22nd and he is just as astonished as I am. He decided to jump on the Zero Carb path with me on April 12th.

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

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lynn marie1

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!

lynn marie2

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.

lynn marie5

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

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alison lyons

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.

alison lyons1

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 Sarah Muma

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I came across this way of eating quite randomly. While perusing Facebook, a friend recommended a friend to me, and – while checking out his profile – I saw that he had recently joined a group named Zeroing in on Health. The cover photo for the group is a huge bloody slab of beef, needless to say, I was intrigued and started reading through the board. Within minutes I was sold. It was an easy sell, let me explain.

After getting into health and researching various things, I came across all the information pertaining to the benefits of plant-based diets. On the surface it seemed to be the healthiest diet, I mean, everyone was saying anyway. So, after removing pretty much all processed foods from our family’s diet, we started leaning towards a plant-based diet. We spent a few years on the fence, cutting back our meat consumption drastically and upping the starch and vegetable intake.

My husband and I felt good at first. I lost the weight I had gained during my third pregnancy and my husband lost a bunch of weight too. But then things started to take a turn for the worse. The green smoothies that we were eating for breakfast and lunch were no longer satiating, no matter how much protein or fat we added to them. We started having sugar highs and lows quite noticeably and here I will mention that the cravings for sweets were ever present. Needless to say we started adding back in some animal products, like eggs and raw milk, eating meat in about 2-3 dinners per week. My husband gained back a little weight, I stayed the same, and then I found out we were expecting our fourth child.

I hired a midwife and planned for (and ultimately had) a successful home birth. The first few months of my pregnancy I craved fruit (let’s be honest, sugar) and I felt good eating all that fruit and nice hefty salads, thinking I was giving my baby the best nutrition. My body, however, started to tell me otherwise. Towards the end of  my second trimester my belly almost completely stopped growing. I was measuring 5 weeks behind where I should have been and the midwife was getting concerned. She advised that I should up my protein intake to at least 100 grams a day and handed me a reference sheet to follow listing foods and their protein content.

I was blown away when the reality of what this meant finally hit home. If I was ever going to meet those requirements for the sake of my baby’s health, I was going to have to eat a LOT of animal products. You can get protein from plant foods, but you have to consume significantly more plant foods compared to animal foods to get the same amount of protein. So, I started eating tacos with cheese, ground beef, and sour cream. I had very little room for anything else, and I was actually a bit concerned about not being able to fit in any fruits or veggies. “Surely,” I thought, “this can’t be good for me or my baby, can it?” But I trusted my midwife and followed through with her experienced recommendation.

After the first month of eating this way my tummy gained 4 centimeters and after the second month 5 centimeters, essentially catching me up to where I needed to be. This growth continued for the remainder of my pregnancy. I felt great and I consider it to be the healthiest of all my pregnancies. I walked 1-2 miles a day up until one month before I gave birth, had no migraines during this time, and had loads of energy. I also felt very confident and strong during birthing, and I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl in the comfort of my own home.

I found this all to be perplexing and started looking into the downside of plant-based diets and I found a lot of the claims about them were false and unsubstantiated. I was also in the midst of studying biochemistry for my studies to become a certified traditional Naturopath. As we came to realize that humans suffer a lot of deficiencies when they remove animal products from their diet, we started eating more meat.

However, our diet was still quite rich in carbohydrates from grains, vegetables, and fruits. While I now understood that removing animal products from our diet was a bad idea, I was not yet aware that whole plant foods might not be all that good for us. After giving birth, I also returned to my sugar addiction and was eating chocolate almost every day.

I did manage to lose the weight I had gained during my fourth pregnancy, but I was still carrying extra body fat which I could not seem to lose no matter what my activity level. Since the birth of my third child 4 years ago, I had been plagued with migraines on a monthly basis. They went away during my fourth pregnancy, but then returned soon after I gave birth.

I also started developing joint pain in my legs which extended from my hips all the way down to my shins. Some mornings I felt like I was 80 years old as I struggled to get out of bed. And since I was only 32 years old at the time, I knew that this state of affairs wasn’t normal. Admittedly, I was a huge sugar addict, and while cutting down on my total consumption did help, it didn’t eliminate the issues.

So, as I said, I came across the group Zeroing in on Health and was stunned by the information I found. I spent hours sifting through the posts, links, and files concerning this way of eating, but my intuition immediately said, “This is it!” Every question I could think of had an answer and all the answers made sense based on what I had come to learn. Despite having two weeks worth of produce for the entire family in our refrigerator, we decided to start a Zero Carb diet immediately.

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Sarah and her husband Tony.

We have been eating two big meals a day. One at brunch time and another in the late evening. Sometimes we snack lightly in between depending on what’s going on, but by the end of our first 30 days our need to snack had lessened quite a bit. When we began, we included regular green tea, but after the first week had no real desire for it. I also lost my desire for the decaf green tea I was in the habit of drinking. Honestly, water has never tasted so good; it is the only beverage that feels truly satisfying.

We eat predominantly beef (ground and steak), but we also include chicken, pork, bacon, sausage, pork rinds, eggs, hard cheese, string cheese and cottage cheese (for our children), sour cream, and butter. We have bone broth on occasion, and we use some basic seasonings like salt and pepper. During the first week I ate quite a bit of cheese, but now I only eat it on beef patties.

I did have some small cravings in the beginning and we did slip up once during our first 30 days. It was my son’s birthday 2 weeks in and we had promised that – despite the drastic shift in our diet – we would still do what we planned for his birthday party. This meant cake and ice cream. We each had about four bites of cake and ice cream. We were curious to see how our bodies would respond. As soon as that sugar hit our systems, we were utterly miserable for the next 24 hours. Bloated, crampy, fatigued, and just overall horrible. Needless to say, I’m no longer a sugar addict. Even my children voiced regrets the next day, and my 4 year old – who had been asking for cookies the entire week before – stopping asking for sweets.

The changes we have experienced from this way of eating were immediately apparent. On the very first day, we noticed that we could eat to satiety without feeling lethargic and bloated. On the morning of the second day, both my husband and I noticed that our bellies were already slimmer. I did suffer some “keto-flu” symptoms like fatigue, nausea, and a migraine. I was pretty miserable on days 3 and 4. In contrast, my husband’s transition was relatively painless.

After that, I went through a week or two of extremely ravenous hunger. I couldn’t believe the amount of food I was putting away at each meal! My appetite has calmed down now, though I am still hungrier on some days than on others. I always eat to satiety.

I’m currently breastfeeding my 15 month old, and I noticed that within the first week my milk supply had increased significantly. I no longer needed all the milk-promoting herbal tea I had been consuming to help my body keep up with her appetite. I have observed that eating fatty steak seems to increase my milk supply more than another other type of meat or Zero Carb foods like eggs and cheese. She is also much less fussy because she no longer suffers from gas pains and colic.

My husband has very sensitive teeth and, within a week of eating just meat and drinking only water, he noticed that they no longer hurt. He’s also struggled with his feet for quite awhile. He use to work 10+ hours a day, 7 days a week, on his feet, wearing steel toe boots. His feet were covered in dry skin, corns, and he had cracked heels. After 30 days of eating this way, the bottoms of his feet are almost entirely pink. The dry skin is practically falling off. They’re healing and this is really exciting because we’ve tried everything we could think of over the past 10 years with no success.

My oldest daughter has had eczema since she was a baby, and it has completely cleared up. Additionally, both of my teenagers have a much calmer disposition. They have taken to this way of eating really well and have stated that they are enjoying it. My 4 year old daughter was the biggest carbohydrate addict of our four children, and she really struggled at first. But, we made a big effort to provide whatever Zero Carb foods she desired, and she made it through the difficult transition period and is now doing well.

The joint pain I used to experience during the night is gone and I am able to spring out of bed once again. I have less trouble getting to sleep, I sleep more soundly, and I need less sleep to feel good. Overall, I have more energy than before.

I use to suffer from food boredom, always looking for the next new recipe to try. I hated eating the same thing night after night. To my pleasant surprise, this way of eating has entirely conquered that issue. I have no qualms about eating beef – and only beef – every night of the week. No more extensive meal planning or grocery shopping. It’s all so incredibly simple.

Not only are we feeling great and experiencing these many improvements in our health, we’re also losing body fat. Eating only from the animal kingdom, drinking only water, and watching Netflix is causing our bodies to undergo a rather fascinating transformation. We live in Michigan and the temperatures are just recently coming up above freezing (in mid-April). My husband and I both work from home, and we live in a small town on a tight budget. Needless to say, we have not had much exercise at all during this past month.

In 30 days, I lost a total of 2 pounds. I know this does not sound like much, but I lost 5% of my body fat, 4 inches off of my waist, and 2 inches off of my hips. Clearly, the scale does not tell the whole story. Below is a picture of me “before” starting Zero Carb and then me 30 days “after” starting Zero Carb.

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My husband actually gained 5 pounds, but he lost almost 6% of his body fat, as well as 2 inches off of his waist.

The most important aspect though is that there is healing going on. We can see it and we can feel it. My husband and I have been so impressed with the changes we have experienced during our 30-day Zero Carb “trial” that we have no intention of ever going back. It has become a way of life for us and our children.

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 Three Months on Zero Carb by Adam Valls

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Adam today – April 2015 – after 3 months on Zero Carb.

Except for a two year period where I was at a reasonably healthy weight, I’ve been fat for most of my adult life. In fact, I was probably classified as morbidly obese. I am now 38 years old, and have been a waiter for over 20 years. It’s what I love to do. I love interacting with people, and I treat it like my own business.

However, as the excess weight has piled on over the last couple of years, it was becoming increasingly difficult to drag myself into such a energy-intensive and demanding workplace each day. It was literally destroying my body, but I had to work and so I persevered.

On December 15, 2014, I was over 380 lbs. I went to a basketball game with my wife and her family. To my utter embarrassment, I could barely fit into the seat without bending the handles out. It was a truly demoralizing moment.

A few days later, I had a life changing experience.

I was sitting on the couch at around 9pm, eating something horrible. All of a sudden, I felt light headed. I stood up and found myself extremely dizzy. Everything around me seemed disjointed, distant and unreal. My heart rate shot through the roof, and I began to feel cold and clammy. I ran to the bedroom and sat on the floor in front of the fan and tried to control my breathing and not panic.

For the whole rest of the night, I felt dizzy and out of it. I should have gone to the hospital, I know, but I didn’t. I was terrified to find out what was actually happening. So, I just laid down and went to bed instead. The next morning I woke up and felt more or less okay, though a tad bit exhausted.

My wife and I had only been married 2 years and I was not ready to keel over when we were just starting our lives together. I knew I had to do something to change the course I was traveling if I wanted to be able to enjoy her company for many more years to come.

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Adam and his wife Eisha on their Wedding Day 2013.

Like most others who have had struggled with their weight, I’ve tried pretty much every diet in the book: weight watchers, paleo/primal, DASH, this, that and everything else under the sun. In the days after my episode, I looked everywhere for something to help me lose weight and get healthy.

I bought Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore and read it in a day. I was excited to try this way of eating, and I even corresponded with Jimmy via email for a week or so after starting a LCHF diet. It worked well for me. I think I dropped 25 pounds in the first week. I was overjoyed!

Around that same time, I started hanging out on the keto reddit site. After reading a lot of posts there from successful ketoers, I saw someone mention Zero Carb. I learned there was a Zero Carb reddit page, so I went there to check it out. It was there that I started reading Ash Simmonds’ posts.

This, in turn, led me to the Zeroing in on Health Facebook group page. I dove in to the site and spent a couple of days devouring all the posts there and instantly wanted to join. I sent a request to the founder Charles Washington and felt like a kid at Christmas whilst waiting to be approved. On Christmas Eve, I ate my first all-meat meal.

I’ve been ZC for just over three months now. The transition was very difficult, as I kicked the carb and sugar addiction. I was tired, sore, cranky, and having serious bowel issues (mostly diarrhea). But I stuck with it, and – after a couple weeks – I began to feel better and it got easier. After a month, the bad symptoms went away all together.

What benefits have I experienced since then?

I have incredible, sustained energy all day long, even with no food. I am barely ever hungry anymore and could go all day without eating.

I have suffered with terrible joint pain, in my knees and wrists especially, for most of my adult life, and I could not squat down to save my life. I have also had severe back pain for 20 years, and my doctor told me it is because of degenerative disc disease. All of this had me eating Ibuprofen like it was candy, and I was taking 8 per day for the past 7 years. Sometimes I literally felt like was 80 years old. On several occasions, my back pain was so bad that I would be unable to work for several weeks.

I now experience 90% less pain overall, and I have not needed to take any Ibuprofen for 3 months. And I continue to feel better every day. I have carpal tunnel syndrome from the repetitive action of carrying heavy trays of food for years, and now my wrists no longer hurt. I can also do 25-30 squats without any discomfort in my knees.

Prior to Zero Carb my blood press was 160/106 and when I check it recently, it was down to 142/88 which is definitely headed in the right direction. Once I am below 300 pounds, I am planning to get some blood work done to see where things stand.

When I started my journey in December, I weighed in 380 pounds. Today, 3 months later, I weighed in at 311 pounds. That is a loss of 70 pounds in a little over 3 months!

I went from a size 55 pants waist size down to a 46. I went from a size 3X – 4X shirt down to a size 1X – 2X.

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Adam today – April 2015 – holding a pair of his old 55 inch waist pants and 70 lbs lighter.

I still have a long way to go to reach my goal weight of around 230 pounds (I’m 6’1″). But honestly, the weight is only part of why am eating this way now. I just love feeling energized and being almost pain-free. I am running around work like kids half my age, and I don’t have to chug energy drinks to do it!

What do I eat? I eat mostly ribeye, ground beef, pork ribs, and chicken thighs. I eat eggs on occasion, but not every day. Once in a while I have a cup of coffee at work, but that is also not a daily thing. I rarely eat cheese because it makes me crave and I don’t want to get derailed. I only use spices if I am cooking for my wife, though I do use salt pretty regularly. I don’t add extra fat to my meat. The only beverage I drink is water. I eat when I’m hungry, and only when I’m hungry. I generally eat one meal per day and consume around 2 lbs of meat.

I live my life, and I live it better than I have in a very long time.

That’s about it I guess. That’s my journey so far! Thanks to all the people at Zeroing in on Health for being a wonderful source of zen wisdom and encouragement. And thanks to my wife Eisha for always standing beside me and helping me to succeed. I do this for you, as much as I do this for myself. Peace.

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.