I don’t like to focus on weight or size as a goal anymore. I used to think those numbers would mean I’m healthy. I now know that isn’t the case.
Once you begin to heal, those numbers change. But it’s always the comparison, the before and after, that gets our attention, right? We all want to look better, and that’s ok.
What I want people to understand is that there is so much freedom and life available to us when we break free of sugar, carbs, processed foods, and the strain it puts on our bodies and minds.
And when you begin that healing, THEN the physical changes happen!
The impulse to eat garbage, the feeling that I was POSSESSED by sugar and carbs, is gone.
Autoimmune symptoms are decreasing all the time and meds have been reduced 3 times this year.
Hair stopped falling out and is growing back – with less gray!
Nails are strong, not bendy. Skin is smooth and clear. No more constipation! No random aches and pains. Steady energy throughout the day. Mental clarity and mood are greatly improved. Depression is gone. Anxiety is greatly improved. Hirsutism is diminished. So many things….
The best part – I have more LIFE in me. I’m lively, creative, goofy and fun-loving. The worst part – I wish I had known all of this when my kids were young…
No matter what stage of life you are in right now, the information is out there and easily accessible. But if it seems too overwhelming, it’s ok – there are so many wonderful support groups and coaches out there! Amy Labbe, aka @amysketolife73, and I have openings in our small zero-carb focused groups called Beyond the Scale: Zero Carb Healing, or you can work with me one-on-one – register for either at www.thecandidcarnivore.com or go to the link in my bio!
And to illustrate just how goofy I am sometimes, I’ll admit that while I’m writing this, the quote from the Terminator keeps rolling around in my head – “Come with me if you want to live”…no, like REALLY LIVE 😂
I know, I know – I’m always saying there is no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss or healing. I still mean that. Your nutritional needs will always depend specifically on your past health, present health, and future goals. Your genetics, your relationship with food, your activity level need to be taken into account. The amount of damage your body has sustained from eating processed foods, chronic dieting, and many other factors go into what exactly you should be eating and how much. But there is a diet for everybody…and that diet can reverse and prevent chronic disease.
Why I’m a Carnivore and You Should Be Too
It’s easy for me to explain to friends and family that I eat only meat and eggs because of my autoimmune disorder, or because of my history with dieting and eating disorders, or due to my food addiction. Those are simple terms they can understand without feeling like I’m trying to induct them into some sort of cult. If they express interest, well then they are in for a full sermon on the gospel of meat – can I get an Amen??
Allow me to explain why this carnivore way of eating, this carnivore diet, is beneficial for everyone. See the foods we have been eating since the inception of processed/manufactured foods were not meant for us. I could go on about the evils of the processed food industry creating hyper-palatable foods in order to create an addiction to their products using the same addiction model used by the tobacco industry. I could go on and on about how the pharmaceutical industry cheers for the food industry because they are the vultures who feast on the carcass of people addicted to processed foods that create disease as a by-product, ensuring the pharmaceutical industry has customers for life.
But I digress.
Reverse or Prevent Chronic Disease
There is one, plain, simple truth: What you eat is either making you sick or is making you healthy, it’s either helping you or harming you, it’s either building you or tearing you down. If you have excess fat, if you are on medications for anything other than a congenital condition or accident, you are eating the wrong things.
Species Appropriate Diet
We also need to take a look at the word diet. There are two different meanings – first we have the word as it has come to be defined in the last few decades. That definition of diet being a temporary means to achieve a specific goal. Then we have the conventional definition that describes a specific way of eating for any living creature. This is the definition to which I am referring. For example, a rabbit is an herbivore, meaning that animal eats a species-appropriate diet of plant material on a daily basis in order for it to function optimally. Wolves are carnivores, meaning they derive all of the nutrition their bodies require from meat.
So are humans more like rabbits or wolves? Judy Cho, who is a certified nutritional therapy practitioner, creates a lot of really great infographics that show the nutrition profiles of various foods. (check out her book, the Carnivore Cure, here) So there are varied nutrient density values in different foods, but we must also consider the ability of our human bodies to extract those nutrients from the source.
Sure, kale may have a high level of vitamin A, but the bioavailability of vitamin A from this source for our human digestion is just not there. We cannot physiologically extract that nutrition. Liver provides a higher level of bioavailability for our human cells. Add to that the fact that many plants have naturally occurring toxins that actually harm us, negating any nutritional value they may hold, and making them inappropriate for human consumption. See, the species matters. A rabbit’s digestion was created in a way that allows it to extract the nutrients it needs from the food it prefers. As does a wolf, as do humans.
Aren’t Humans Omnivores?
The general consensus is yes. But I, along with many other carnivores including medical experts disagree. While humans are physically able to eat fruits and vegetables and not die immediately, the damage that is being done even by these whole, natural foods, along with processed foods proves we probably should not. People who have eaten only animal foods for 10, 15, 30+ years are thriving effortlessly. Not to mention there are people like the Inuit who historically did not have easy access to plants.
Down to the Basics
I can’t stress enough that we should ALL be eating this way, at least for the purpose of finding out what may be causing issues in our health. This truly is a diet for everybody.
I can say with certainty that cutting out processed foods and all forms of sugar will greatly improve your health. Whether you chose paleo, low carb, keto, carnivore, or just eliminate the bad stuff, your health will improve. People have found it keeps insulin low, resolves chronic disease, eliminates sugar cravings and addiction, reduces inflammation, allows the body to heal and rids it of toxins. It works beautifully for EVERYONE as an elimination diet. Strip it down to the bare minimum – meat. See what resolves, then add back other items like eggs, cheese, etc. to see what happens. It is absolutely sustainable long term, but at the very least you’ll find out exactly what other foods you can and cannot tolerate.
Get Support
So, in short, a meat-based diet is for all humans. However, the various ways to go about it all depend on the very unique parameters that make you, you. There is a ton of information out there. That is both something wonderful and something a bit overwhelming. Find the voices in the carnivore/keto/meat-based space that feel right for you. And if it’s still too noisy, get yourself a carnivore coach! I help people all over the world to narrow it all down to create a plan focused on that one unique human. Are you ready to reverse and prevent chronic disease? Book a session today to start your mission for better health!
Dieting in the traditional way is not sustainable. Why traditional dieting doesn’t work, and what do I mean by that? When you go on a diet it’s a temporary solution to a problem that returns when you stop utilizing said solution. Usually, this is some combination of tracking calories, restricting calories, low fat, lots of veggies, fruit, and fiber, and increasing exercise.
Calorie Restriction Doesn’t Work
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but, candidly speaking, calorie restriction for weight loss is bullshit. It’s not sustainable. Any weight lost will be gained back when you go back to eating ‘normally’. You can’t lose weight to become healthy. You must become healthy to lose weight. Weight gain is a metabolic disorder that can be reversed.
Dieting Doesn’t Make You Healthy
I’m currently reading Dr. Ben Bikman’s book, Why We Get Sick. It’s really fascinating and confirms a lot of my suspicions and answers a lot of my questions about insulin and insulin resistance. I’ll share more insight from what I learn from him in future posts. If you’d like to read it for yourself, you can find it on Amazon
Dr. Bikman is a professor and metabolic scientist whose work really speaks to me. An analogy I recently heard Dr. Ben Bikman use went something like this: He asked his students to imagine he had invited them to a huge buffet celebration dinner. It would include all of their favorite foods. A smorgasbord of palatable delights. Now if you want to make sure you are good and hungry so that you can enjoy all of this food I’m providing, he asked, how would you prepare for that? How would you ensure you’re hungry enough to sample all that food?
The majority of his students explained that they would eat less for a couple of days. Some also said they would exercise a bit more. This was sure to make their bodies able to indulge in everything they wanted. Dr. Bikman’s reply? But isn’t that exactly what you do when you’re trying to diet? Therefore, the strategy of reducing calories or food intake and exercising more innately sets you up for failure because your body naturally then wants MORE. If you deprive your body of nutrition and then use up its energy stores by exercising more….guess what? You are going to be hungrier than usual! A great strategy for preparing to binge, but not great if you want to lose weight.
Extended restriction of calories initiates a change, slowing your metabolism. This may then trigger you to overeat and the cycle continues. Maybe you are able to attain weight loss in time for whatever event you’re dieting for and when that is over you go back to your old habits. Well…of course you do, you’ve been starving your body, your hormones, and your brain! You may very well be malnourished even when you’re eating whatever you like and overeating. This is what causes some of us to overeat in the first place. Your stomach is often full, and yet you always have a notion to eat. I mean, there’s always room for ice cream or a few more chips, right? Why? Lack of actual nutrition that is bioavailable to your body. See my blog post here on this topic – Obese and Malnourished/Stuffed but Starving.
Love Yourself By Healing Yourself
Now, let me set the record straight once again – this is not about punishing yourself for not being a certain size or weight. Yes, you should love your body at any size – but love your body enough to nourish it and move it. That’s not self-loathing. THAT is loving the body you have and wanting it to function optimally so that you can live a long, beautiful, and fulfilling life as God intended. Not to be sick and miserable, putting on a brave face and telling yourself it’s ok to be this way. Stop abusing your body with nutrient-void, addictive garbage. This is not about a beauty standard. It’s about health. Physical, mental, and metabolic health.
It’s also not immediately about weight loss. It’s about healing. Even if you don’t have a medical diagnosis and you have a waist-to-height ratio greater than 45-50%, you have metabolic issues to correct. This can be done with diet. Autoimmune disorders, diabetes, arthritis, insulin resistance, and many MANY health concerns can potentially be reversed by following a species (human) appropriate way of eating.
How Is That Possible?
Stop dieting! So how, exactly, do I propose you nourish your body and prevent or even reverse chronic disease without calorie restriction and exercise? The answer, my friend, is simple. That’s not to say it’s easy, but it is very simple. Eat what we as humans were designed to eat, and don’t eat what was not meant for us. Hint: there’s a reason every parent fights to get their kids to eat vegetables.
My 2 rules for starting your mission to better health:
Eat meat and other animal products (eggs, butter, etc.)
Do NOT eat processed “foods” (if it comes in a box or has ingredients you wouldn’t recognize in nature ditch it)
This may be a slow, measured process or you might dive right in. I’ll help you decide which method is best for you! Feel free to email me at thecandidcarnivore@gmail.com if you would like more information on healing your body or losing weight; message me on my social media pages linked below, or click here to find out more about my virtual coaching sessions. I love helping people all over the world feel their best without buying some plan, program, special foods, or having to count or track anything!
If you’re ready to feel your best, heal your body, get great sleep, and lose weight in the process, what are you waiting for? Contact me!
