In 2015, I became a Keto girl after discovering Dr. Ken D. Berry on YouTube. I did it not because I had any health issues, but because I wanted to sustain my good health. I discovered other Keto doctors out there, read lots of books, and listened to talks from KetoCon.
But in May 2021, I took a trip down to Texas and decided to read a book someone had recommended to me called Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The book made sense to me for the most part: eat what your body "wants" and you will get all the nutrients you need - because your body knows what it needs. After your body "realizes" that it will be well-nourished, it will stabilize to its perfect, healthy, individualized size. I thought about how when I was much younger, I always ate whatever I wanted, was healthy and was always on the lower end of the BMI scale. I have always been a healthy adult, but have carefully watched my diet since my early 30's. In my 40's I began Keto. The book got me to thinking, well, maybe if I had just continued eating what I wanted and not being somewhat "obsessed" with my diet, I would be healthy anyways. Maybe it wasn't all the careful eating and lifestyle I had been so committed to. The book continuously made references to "eating disorders," making it sound like anyone who may be concerned with what foods they put in their mouth is probably suffering from one. Have I been wasting all my time and energy on my diet and lifestyle for nothing? Do I actually have an undiagnosed eating disorder because I am "overly" concerned with diet and exercise? I decided to give Intuitive Eating a try.
Now, one thing I could not wrap my head around or agree with was the section of the book on "Health at Every Size" (known as "HAES"). There are just way too many medical problems and diseases highly associated with obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure - just to name a few. This book tried its best to downplay these diseases and their relationship to obesity, but it failed miserably. So, I decided that while I disagreed with the HAES part, the other parts of the book made some sense, and I would begin to "eat intuitively" and see how things would go.
This was June 2021. Since I was in Texas visiting family, I ate all my favorite Texas foods without limits, mostly Tex-Mex, and indulged in some delicious meals at my most beloved and missed Texas restaurants. Upon returning home to Pennsylvania, I began eating all the things I loved when I was young, after going years without consuming - French fries, fresh-from-the-oven bread, biscuits & gravy, Pop Tarts, pizza, etc. The book had convinced me that once I stopped denying myself these pleasures, I would soon not crave them any more. I kept waiting for that to happen.
It didn't.
I also added a lot of so-called "healthier" foods that I hadn't eaten in ages, such as sushi, teriyaki chicken, rice and beans, oatmeal with sliced bananas and honey for breakfast, homemade fresh salsa and tortilla chips, angel hair pasta topped with vegetable-rich marinara sauce, enchiladas like my mom used to make when I was growing up in South Texas, and even green spinach smoothies blended with lots of fruits and collagen protein powder.
And a plethora of problems began to visit me, slowly, one by one: huge, burning episodes of rosacea (something I had always dealt with, but not like this); plantar fasciitis so bad in my left foot that I walked with a limp, stomach troubles with IBS-like symptoms, an achy lower back, hip pain, knee pain, and...yes, weight gain.
I also contracted a respiratory illness which left me hoarse, coughing, and feeling zapped of energy for weeks. I was diagnosed with RSV, and it would just not go away. I had caught COVID in February 2021 when I was eating healthy Keto and exercising daily, and did fine with it, but here I was 6 months later, in the midst of doing my "intuitive eating" thing, and I couldn't get over RSV. And worst of all - I gained weight. A LOT, like 40 pounds. I was heavier than I had ever been, even at 9 months pregnant. I had never experienced my body being this big before and it was absolutely miserable. One of the most surprising things is that I couldn't bend over to tie my shoes. I hated the way I felt.
I continued to eat mostly what I liked to eat, but just decided to cut back on the portion sizes. I did begin to lose weight, but it didn't come off very quickly, and I couldn't get down to my previous size. And then, my hit-or-miss IBS symptoms suddenly hit me full-on and didn't stop. It became a daily occurrence, with me needing a bathroom every 10-20 minutes. I was so sick and weak, and my episodes were completely uncontrollable to the point that I had to quit my job. I took Imodium whenever I would go out, because it was the only way I could have some control over it (although I was still needing a bathroom constantly). My life became a constant worry about where the nearest bathroom was located. I was also consumed with worry about my health and wondering what was going on. Did I have Crohn's disease? Was in cancer? I finally went to the doctor, and after several appointments, tests, and a biopsy, I was diagnosed with microscopic colitis. The treatment for MC is life-long medication.
That was it. I was done with intuitive eating. I was done with even my new "controlled" intuitive eating - which meant eating whatever I wanted in smaller portions. It was time to take my health into my own hands once again and eat what I knew to be a healthy diet. The morning after I had made that decision, I got a notification on my phone that Dr. Berry had posted a video about eating a carnivore diet to control inflammatory bowel diseases. Now, the coincidence here is that I was no longer watching Dr. Berry, and hadn't received any notifications from his YouTube channel in months. I had taken a break - because I knew that his philosophy was in stark contrast to Intuitive Eating. But now here was a video out of the blue that was just what I needed to see.
Suffice it to say, I watched his video, and went full-on carnivore that very same day. I took a quick trip to the grocery store and stocked up on lots of steaks, hamburger, roast beef, chicken legs, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, pork chops, pork roasts, wild-caught salmon, cod, crab legs, shrimp, and grass-fed butter. And...bacon. Lots of bacon. That is all I ate. No vegetables, no fruit, no grains, no beans or legumes or seeds or nuts. Nothing but a variety of meat, and butter. In only two weeks, my symptoms were completely gone. No meds. Not only that, but I felt amazing. My back aches, my hip and knee pain, my plantar fasciitis, my rosacea flare-ups - some things I had just learned to live with and had become somewhat "normalized" for me - were mysteriously gone!
A few weeks after living carnivore, I discovered another carnivore doctor named Dr. Anthony Chaffee, who calls himself "The Plant-Free M.D." - and his motto is "plants are trying to kill you!" I am absolutely convinced that all these plant toxins that I was consuming so much of were causing all my ailments. I have felt so good since going carnivore.
Intuitive Eating is the absolute worst book ever and it will ruin your health. It wouldn't surprise me if the drug companies themselves funded the authors who wrote this piece of garbage.
Eating carnivore is amazing and life-changing. I'd be an idiot to ever go back to anything else!
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