Low Carb and Why It Didn't Work For Me Long Term

So after 18 months on keto/carnivore it is time for my thoughts about it.

  After losing my eyesight in one eye in 2019 and having my blood pressure and blood sugar skyrocket from the treatment I knew I needed to get my health back on track. After 7 doctor visits with different specialists doctors who threw a stack of prescriptions at me and refused to find out why I was having these issues I realized the medical industrial complex had zero interest in fixing me, because they would lose income. They don't want to cure patients, they want lifelong cash cows. 

 I got a new glucose monitor and spent 3 months poking myself 4 times after I ate anything to see what effect it had on my blood glucose. (30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes), started exercising again and cutting back on food in general and lost 45 pounds. I still wasn't feeling any better so I put my research training into practice and started researching lifestyle and diet more in depth. I ran across Dr. Ken Berry, a practicing medical doctor who was advocating a carb free lifestyle. This led me to other doctors who were advocating low/zero carb diets and claiming they were the panacea for modern health issues. They claimed that as a species we were supposed to be straight carnivore. Um, okay. I double majored in cultural anthropology and ancient history and double minored in biology and botany. Eating large amounts of meat did allow us to develop past the other animals, and cooking it did even more. However, biologically speaking we are designed to eat plants too. 

 Many of the carnivore docs claim that because modern plants are nothing like their original forms that we shouldn't eat plants at all. Yes, we have as a species improved the plants we like top eat through selective breeding and hybridization. It takes around a thousand years for adaptation to happen and we have been farming for ten thousands years. Even in the early days of our species we ate about 65% animal products and the rest fruits and vegetables. 

 Despite this, I decided to give it a try. I was at a point that I figured what the hell, might as well. 

In spring of 2023, I started on keto, then went carnivore after a couple of months. In the first 3 months, I felt great. Joints stopped hurting, gut issues cleared up, skin cleared up, mental health improved tremendously, depression got way better. It was easy, just cook some meat and eat it and eat LOTS of fat and salt.

A major downside, I immediately gained 20 pounds of the 45 I had lost up to this time. Okay, not thrilled about that, but I was losing body fat at a rapid weight. All the carnivore experts say weight will come off. Nope, it didn't.

Next issue was body cramps that ramped up to a nearly debilitating point. So back to the carnivore docs, asked in live chat a few times about it. The answer was always massive doses of salt and electrolyte supplementation with gallons of water. Didn't work, no matter how much I took and how much water I drank.

Then came acute pancreatitis. Twice. If you've never had it, it is like having a razor sharp knife stuck in your body that is being constantly twisted around. Would not recommend. Back to research, and too much fat looked to be the culprit. So I reduced the amount of animal fat I was eating. Which triggered massive constipation. It was so bad that it caused actual physical damage. So back to the carnivore docs who told me to eat much more fat, despite it triggering pancreatitis. Pass, thanks.

Next was kidney stones. The Carnisphere claims it is 'oxalate detox'. Ooookkkaaayyy, I wasn't eating anything that had oxalates for nearly a year. "Oh, it will be years before you detox from oxalates!" SIX MONTHS of suffering with horrible kidney stones and the pain. I definitely was rethinking continuing the diet at this point.

The final straw was that I could not keep my blood sugar above 70. I was born with hypoglycemia, and when my sugar drops below 100 I get waves of terrible nausea, break out in a cold sweat and get very light headed. I would eat some meat and it wouldn't help at all, only carbs would bring my sugar up to low normal level.

At this point I decided to throw in the towel and start eating carbs again. Gut pain improved immediately, kidney pain took longer but finally went away. I do have to limit grains and high carb veg to keep my blood sugar down. I still haven't lost the weight I gained, but I hope it will eventually. I'm able to function again without pain.

Am I disappointed? I am, it looked to be a simple fix for a lot of problems. I was optimistic in the early days since it did seem to be doing everything that the Carnisphere said it would. I see people on interviews talking about how they have been carnivore for 5,10 and even 60+ years with no issues. I'm glad it works for them, and I would say it is worth a try, at least as an elimination diet, for most anyone. It didn't work for me, so I have returned to a lower carb omnivore diet. I am one of those weird people who like vegetables. Even as a kid I loved Brussels sprouts, they were my favorite veg. I missed those during the carnivore months.

One other thing I want to comment on is the Carnisphere itself. There is a massive amount of gatekeeping and toxic behavior. Many of the carnivore docs tout only grass fed/grass finished beef as the ONLY food a human needs. No it is not. It is a food that you can survive on for a very long time, but it is not the be all to end all food for humans.

For myself, I am cooking from scratch again and eating the way I did as a kid in the 1960s and 70s before the influx of processed plastic food like substances. We are replanting the garden we let go during the carnivore months, and I am looking forward to having good fresh produce. Meat is awesome and will always be a big part of my diet, but carnivore diet is not for me.