An often overlooked benefit of the carnivore diet is dramatic improvement in mental health. We carnivores know this to be true, but most people don’t come to this way of eating for that specific benefit. Some do, but most are looking for physical changes and/or healing some medical issues. What brought me to carnivore? A couple of things: disordered eating, weight, autoimmune disorders, food addiction, and just being really fucking sick and tired of counting and tracking every damn thing I put in my mouth. But wait, there’s more…
Cleaning out my home office today, I came across a notebook that I had used for many different things. As I flipped through the pages to see if anything important jumped out at me, I noticed I had scribbled some thoughts onto a couple of pages at some point in the last year or two. Maybe three. There are two entries that caught my eye – and both of them completely shattered my heart. I cried for the woman who wrote those thoughts. The version of me who wrote these things is still here, but she has healed so much since then.
One entry was probably written within the last six to twelve months. It’s a whole blog entry all on its own, so I won’t share it here. It’s very similar to my first blog post CARNIVORE MISSION: FOOD ADDICTION AND RESTRICTION, WITH A DASH OF HASHIMOTO’S AND A SIDE OF SHAME. Food addiction, as I write about often, is cruel and sinister. You need food to live, you can’t just avoid it. That causes a whole other issue. I’ve gone that route, too. I’m better now – thanks to carnivore. I will take each day as it comes, but I have zero desire to ever take that ride again.
Masking Personality
The other entry I found, is in regard to something I am still struggling with. But I am so much better than I was when I wrote this:
“It’s exhausting. Being the person people expect you to be. It’s a lie. Every time I flip the switch it drains my soul. I WANT to be that person – that happy, fun, bubbly person. That person who makes a connection with everyone I meet. Maybe I am that person, somehow, somewhere deep, DEEP inside. But the chains, the weight of not being able to act what I feel, to look how I feel when I want to shut out the world. Sleep. Think. Dream. Plan. Heal. Then maybe I could be that person. But for now, the pretending, on-off, on-off, on-off… it’s torture.”
Masking, in my case, has been a way for me to cope with anxiety and depression. I crave friendships and connection but the thought of social situations crippled me. Holidays with extended family was excruciating for me. I dreaded them from the moment the invitation was extended. Smile, converse, look amused, know you’re being judged but pretend you don’t. Or maybe that part was just in my head. Working with the public was exhausting. Smile and greet people, validate them whether they are right or wrong, pander to them because they might be well-connected. I was always completely exhausted. I’ve done this all my life. But get ready, because the mask is about to come off!
Don’t be scared, it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Unmasking
Trauma gets buried under expectations and layered under the day to day. The pain, ailments, work, family, obligations pile up, covering the initial major trauma(s) and we forget it’s there. Too busy to deal and heal. But your body remembers and acts out in ways we cannot ignore. Once we begin trying to heal the physical problems we have created for ourselves, heal the very cells and nourish each one of them so that we can be whole again, those deeper traumas may be revealed and demand to be dealt with.
Through that healing, I’ve discovered a lot about myself and still am discovering more. I’m recognizing my past traumas, naming them, and releasing them. There is no room for them in my life anymore. I’m removing all things from my life that do not serve me in a positive way – including my government job. That is the place where I have had to mask the most. Even though I now feel I am me again, completely authentic. That authenticity is happiness now and I no longer feel like I’m flipping a switch. I have room for joy. My mind is healing along with my body.
How Does the Carnivore Diet Heal?
A carnivore diet means eating only animal products. So many complex things happen in your body in reaction to what you consume, apply, and inject. Yet, it really is very simple. I think of it this way: we are what we eat. Humans are animals. Humans are not plants, we did not sprout up from the ground. We are not manufactured or made up of lab-produced chemicals. Human cells require replenishment with the correct building blocks. We need to replace animal protein with animal protein. You can’t rebuild a brick house with cardboard boxes or sugar cubes and expect the same stable structure. This seems like common sense to me.
Once your cells are healthy and functioning properly, after all of the clutter that is unusable material is removed from your body, you start to think and process more clearly. When your body and your cells are working congruently, your mind can finally deal with everything it needs to deal with – swiftly and clearly.
Me, Revealed
I am very happy to report, that I am actually a very happy person. I’m removing the mask, bit by bit, and I’m finding that I AM that happy, friendly person. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I’m a ‘people person’, and I still get anxious about social gatherings. but it’s getting easier. It’s not a tremendous effort anymore. I’ve found that the ‘on switch’ is the real me. The off switch was my very sick body attempting to recuperate from any effort I put out and the buried trauma that I had not dealt with properly. I still get tired after a particularly people-y day, but I have the tools to refuel and not shut down at 5pm. I gained the strength to leave my job so that I can earn a certification to become a health coach, and focus on helping others heal so they, too, can live a joyful life.
Don’t waste another day.
xoxo
~ The Candid Carnivore