I Carn Do It. I Carn Do It. I Carn Do It

I was 22 years old, home after graduating from college. I was sitting my parents' living room watching "Lost." I was far behind the "Lost" train. Everyone I knew had seen it and its popularity was over my head. So, as soon as I had school completed and had some free time. I planned on starting my summer on a 6-season binge watch.

I will never forget how I felt that afternoon. Great. I'd stayed up until 2 am seeing some old friends because we were all coming back into town for the first time, really in four years. I was tired, but I remember the sunshine was up early in the morning and I walked downstairs, planted my ass on the couch, and was ready to binge-watch all day long.

I'd gotten a few episodes in when finally it was time to do what every 22-year-old graduate does...make a pizza in the oven and eat the entire damn thing. Drop it all onto one oversize serving plate that wasn't designed with this purpose in mind.

Now let me backtrack for a bit. I was always an athlete. A basketball player. Skinny. Tall. It wasn’t until after my freshman year in college in which I discovered there was equipment in a gym that you used to lift and push and pull that would make you strong. It was a completely foreign idea. I’ll never forget my first day in there, but that is another story for another time. I walked in around 160 pounds, and by the time I graduated from college three years later, I was always hovering around 195. I was living in the gym.

I wasn’t a health nut. I still ate what I wanted, drank what I wanted, and wasn’t popping ten different pills or powders to become a bodybuilder. I just liked working out.

Back to I was eating what I wanted. I never had any issues with food. I could eat more than the average person. I used to ask friends to drive with me to a fast food joint because I wanted to person working the window to see two people in the car and think the 25 dollars worth of Mcdonald's was for two people…and not just me. I was a binge eater.

Back to that one day watching “Lost” in which I learned a feeling that had my very self feeling lost in an unfamiliar place. I was in pain. I scarfed down that entire pizza and I was sick for days. I was bloated, constipated, feeling as if the alien was going to rip through my stomach and run away. It was excruciating.

Well, it went away, but soon after that, I ate a burger. It was a summer day grilling with my family by the pool. One small burger with a bun. Some chips. And again, it followed with pain and just a discomfort I couldn’t explain.

Long story short…I spent the next (almost) three years in and out of hospitals. I was going through test after test. Tubes were in and out of me, up and down. I had blood drawn. I was put on anti-depressants because after everything came back negative, EVERYTHING, he thought it was all in my head. I did that for a month and nothing helped.

Flashing somewhat forward a few years, I was dressed up for Halloween getting ready with my girlfriend to head to a friend’s party…I got really sick and constipated and it spiked a fever, so I went to the hospital dressed in my outfit. It was awesome.

So, I experienced different diets and eliminating certain foods. I tried gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, Keto, Whole 30, and back to gluten-free. I tried exercising more. I tried medicines. Allergy tests. I went vegetarian for three months and vegan for a few of those weeks. I tried it all.

And yes, everything helped in some aspect, but for me, it was hard to find something sustainable for long-term living. That is the main point of this article, I think. If something works for you and you can stick to it - DO IT! It isn’t an ideological stance. I believe different things work for different people. So when someone swears that CrossFit is the only way to exercise and everyone else is doing it wrong - I yell bias, uneducated, and I stop listening.

(And that is nothing against CrossFit. I’ve tried it. I liked it. But remember when it become popular and CrossFit’s only rule was to talk about how much you do CrossFit?)

I think the number one, and really only, the reason people should do something - is to feel healthy and be healthy.

So…here we are today. I am on day 7 of the Carnivore Diet. Meat. A lot of meat. A lot of animal products. I’ve seen a few people differ slightly on their approach to this diet, and, again, I’ve done what I think is best for me and sustainable for me.

Shawn Barker, Joe Rogan, Paul Saladino, and Jordan Peterson are a few people I’ve researched the topic when I was beginning this diet. I wasn’t skeptical. I was excited but wasn’t sure how I would react, or how my body would react to his kind of diet.

I’m here to say - seven days in - I feel great. My goal isn’t to lose a ton of weight, but I am down nine pounds in seven days. My goal is to feel great. My goal is to not feel bloated like I always do. My goal is to not be exhausted that I am pounding energy shots, drinks, or coffee. I have two little girls and I want to be able to run around with them all the time. I want to stop feeling aches and pains whenever I bend over to pick one of them up.

I hurt my neck the other day and my wife asked how. My response and there was zero sarcasm here…

“I looked to the right to see Eleanora.” That was it. Turned my head in the car to see my daughter and it felt like someone punctured my neck with a ballpoint pen.

The Carnivore diet is all animal products. But mainly the research I’ve seen is to stay away from grains, vegetables, and seeds, on top of a couple of other things. And researching Paul Saladino, I love his approach.

So, basically, I have eaten meat, fruit, raw honey, salt as a seasoning, some dairy, and a tiny portion of white rice for one meal.

I even had a glass of wine on two of the nights. Throw me in jail!

The Carnivore Diet is supposed to take us back to our ancestral living. We become lean, with a consistent level of energy (no up and down dips because of caffeine or carbohydrates). It helps with autoimmune issues, depression, anxiety, inflammation, and so many other things.

I’m relatively healthy besides my digestive issues. I have had some headaches in the past, some eczema issues since I was a teenager, and some nagging aches and pains for a long time. I had to drop all the weights and switch to bodyweight exercises because every time I pick up a weight, I get hurt.

I worked out yesterday and I feel great. For a small sample of how this diet is helping me - before my workout, I wanted to warm up. But I didn’t know if I should just stretch, or something! I decided to just open my garage and take a jog. I was going to run the block. Maybe it is a ½ mile, maybe a little more. I don’t know, but I can tell you I DO NOT RUN. I hate it. My conditioning and breathing have always been awful. I have had two chest surgeries and I say that is the reason I can’t run for long periods of time. I have never been able to run that block without stopping to walk, or stopping to breathe.

I ran the whole thing. I ran it easily. I haven’t run or done any conditioning in months. No cardio for months. And for the first time, I wasn’t sucking wind to just do a simple jog and warm up. It was an empowering feeling.

I feel like my energy is consistently high. I spent the entire day yesterday, as my wife said, “sneakily cleaning.” I cleaned while playing with my girls, and then when they napped I mowed the lawn, dug up some landscaping, did the dishes, and cleaned some more. And when they woke up, played and cleaned all night. When they went down to bed, that is my time to relax on the couch and do nothing…that is when I went to work out. It was an amazing feeling.

If anyone else has tried this diet - I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences. If anyone is super against this diet, I’d love to hear your reasons and what you’re doing.

Here is the thing - I’m not persuading you to do this. I will mention it and say “hey try this if you’re feeling this.” I told my wife to try it and see how she feels. But if someone was so against this and vegetarianism was working for them - I’d say “Good! Whatever you have to do to be healthy - do it!”

Our bodies are all different and as I said - everyone’s number one goal should be to FEEL healthy and BE healthy. However you can achieve that feeling - do it!