90 Day Carnivore Challenge #5-DO YOU LISTEN TO YOUR BODY?

In last weeks article “Carnivore, Is it too Expensive?” I outline how much it cost me to live a Carnivore Lifestyle. In this article I ask you,Do you listen to your body?

Pain:

Are you in pain? Do your knees hurt? How about your back? Or your shoulders? How about headaches? Do you have brain fog? Are you forgetting things? Are you irritable?

Do you blame age for the pain? Do you ever think, what the hell did I do? As if the pain is some type of punishment. Do you feel like the pain is punishing you? Your body is punishing you… Shhhh, listen…

Are you listening?

Your body is telling you something. I knew my body was telling me something. I was in constant pain. My hips, knees, elbows, and shoulders all hurt. You name it; it was screaming at me to listen.

PAIN IS THE MOST BASIC FORM OF COMMUNICATION-Shhhh, listen:

It took several months to pay attention, but I started listening. I knew it was inflammation, and I knew what it was from. I started with the basics, with a borrowed glucose meter. The pain was telling me something, deep down I knew it was a warning sign.

The Numbers

My fasting glucose was 135, I heard my body loud and clear. I decided while I was at it, I should check my blood pressure. I have always had low blow pressure, an average of 102/68. My body was telling me something, it was warning me. My blood pressure was 135/87, and I was listening. Luckily, before it was too late. Before it was able to get much worse. I wasn’t diagnosed as pre-diabetic or with high blood pressure by a doctor, but by the numbers I was pre-diabetic. My blood pressure was borderline high blood pressure, but considering how low my “normal” blood pressure is, it was pretty high.

I Started Listening:

All of what my body was telling me was making sense. I knew the pain was inflammation. Inflamed by what I was putting in my pie hole. The same crap that made me gain twenty pounds. The same crap that made me pre-diabetic and the same crap that blew up my blood pressure.

I had to step back and take a long look at myself and an honest assessment of how I got myself to where I was in the last four years. UNTIL! JUST FIVE WEEKS AGO, when I made some drastic changes.

Drastic in the sense of doing something about my situation and sticking to it. Not drastic in the sense it’s difficult or a burden. The Carnivore Diet or lifestyle is incredibly easy. I lived a ketogenic lifestyle for eight years before I retired and I thought it was easy too, but the carnivore diet is even easier. Below I will “HANG IT ALL OUT” with my results of the last five weeks.

I Quit Drinking:

One of the first things I did was quit drinking my favorite drinks, beer and an occasional diet Dr. Pepper. I honestly believed that by just quitting these two things, I would see a big difference in my waistline. To remind you, at the time we didn’t have a scale on the boat and I wasn’t measuring myself. I did use my clothes, how they fit, how snug my jeans were. How I looked in the buff in front of a mirror. And I wasn’t happy with how uncomfortable my jeans had gotten or how uncomfortable I felt in my skin.

Do I Resonate with you?:

I realize this article may not resonate with maybe an obese person or morbidly obese person. They may say something like “Twenty pounds, I wish I was only twenty pounds over my preferred weight”. Or “Twenty pounds, what is she whining about?” It may not resonate with someone who is on blood pressure medication or diabetic medication, but I sure hope it does. The point of this story is to LISTEN to your body and then take your health into your own hands. BE YOUR ADVOCATE, YOU ARE WORTH IT! You can change how your story goes, by what you put into your pie hole.

BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE:

In general, the medical profession and dietitians have been bought and paid for by the Pharmaceutical Companies and the Big Food companies. They have been taught the “Standard American Diet” for decades and it isn’t working. The fact is, it’s slowly killing us.

From U.S. Right to Know- “The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics – the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, with over 100,000 credentialed dietitians, nutrition practitioners and students – is one of the most influential professional health associations in the U.S. This fact sheet discusses the Academy’s relationship with ultra-processed food, beverage, pesticide and pharmaceutical corporations, including accepting contributions from and even investing in those companies. Evidence from the Academy’s own internal documents suggest the group serves up favors for their corporate sponsors at the expense of public health.

The Academy and its website eatright.org promote themselves as “your source for science-based food and nutrition information.” The group is seen as an authority in food policy-making and influences the development of the US dietary guidelines. The Academy has been repeatedly criticized for its close ties to ultra-processed food companies, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills and Kraft. A 2022 study published in Public Health Nutrition, co-authored by public health scholars and U.S. Right to Know, found that the Academy has a “symbiotic relationship” with multinational food, pharmaceutical and agribusiness corporations, and that it acts as a “pro-industry voice” with policy positions that sometimes clash with its mission to improve health globally.“

Listen to your body, question your doctor, and look for alternatives that will heal your body, instead of medication that masks the issue instead of fixing the issue.

EXAMPLES OF DOCTOR INTERACTIONS:

I have never been a fan of doctors. Taking my dad to his doctor’s appointments taught me so much. I asked the questions that he NEVER would. Dad had heart disease and diabetes. Both his doctor and his diabetic educator put him on a high-carbohydrate diet and increased his insulin. This was long before I was on a ketogenic lifestyle, but I questioned the doctor. I asked him, “The carbs make his sugar go up, then you have him to take more insulin. Wouldn’t it be more effective to lower the carbs so that there isn’t a need to increase the medication?” Unfortunately, my dad was scared to death of going low overnight and didn’t question the doctor’s methodology.

My Own Advocate:

In 2006, I was in a car accident. My neck was injured, and I needed to be MY OWN ADVOCATE, leading up to surgery on my neck to infuse C5, C6, and C7. During this time, the doctors didn’t believe I was injured. I was called a liar, and that I was trying to milk the system. I was prescribed crazy high doses of narcotics (That I never took and had to search for a way to safely dispose of. Think about that for a second. You can’t safely flush them down the toilet, but they want you to consume them.) I was told it was because I was getting older, at 39 years old. Finally, after being in traction, and describing to the doctor from UC Davis Spine Clinic the relief I got from the position of traction, he said and I quote “Oh, I guess you do need surgery”.

Challenge Your Doctor:

Last year, after living in Florida, I got a new doctor. He is incredibly nice and thoughtful. I asked for a full blood panel, which he ordered. The labs showed that I had “high cholesterol”. On my follow-up, he started down the path of traditional way of medicine. He wanted to order several tests, including but not limited to heart scans, and to put me on statin. It took every ounce of willpower not to just walk out of the exam room, holding up a big middle finger. Had I not liked him so much, that is exactly what I would have done. Instead of walking out, I not so calmly said I don’t believe in taking pills, especially when diet and exercise would work without all the side effects that statin has. I also refused all the other tests. At this year’s check-up, I still had high cholesterol, but more importantly, my triglycerides were normal. He mentioned the previous year’s appointment and said, ” I know you don’t want the test done or the statin, but I can order them if you change your mind” (much better approach). My response was (a lot nicer this time) I just made some lifestyle changes and in six months, I want to do follow-up lab work.

Again- LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND BE YOUR ADVOCATE!

HANGING IT ALL OUT:

• Beginning of Week One: 
• Blood Glucose- 130 (fasting)
• Blood Pressure- 134/88
• Waist- 35 inches I measured at high hips, 1.5 inches below the belly button. (D in the image below) Largest circumference.
• Weight- 160 lbs (documented Jan 2024)

• Week 5:
• Blood Glucose- 95 (fasting)
• Blood Pressure- 105/73
• Waist 31.25 inches I measured at high hips, 1.5 inches below the belly button. (D in the image below) Largest circumference. 
• Weight- 148.5 lbs

 

Measurements:

Remember, the cheapest meat, even hot dogs or bologna, is healthier than the “Standard American Diet”. Eat Meat-Be Healthy and Be Happy.

See ya at the 90-day Carnivore Challenge Week 6 update.

Bell

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