Jennifer

Are you currently Keto or Carnivore?

Carnivore

How long have you been keto/carnivore?

6 months

Describe what a Typical Day of Eating Looks like for you.

I fast daily (16-18h) and typically eat one meal a day. I still drink black coffee in the morning, and the rest of the day is water.

My one meal is usually beef (rib eye, flank, skirt, flap, beef short rib, filet). I only cook with salt, butter, and/or tallow.

I keep condiments to a minimum and that is usually mayo which I prepare myself with avocado oil or beef or bacon fat.

I still incorporate dairy because I love cheese. The two I keep stocked are burrata and 4% milk-fat cottage cheese.

Occasionally I do air fryer whole chicken wings or pulled pork. Chicken and pork typically do not make my body feel optimal (or very full for that matter) so I only eat them when for whatever reason I crave them.

I keep certain carnivore snacks on hand on more active days when I get hungry before breaking my fast which is typically pork rinds and salami.

Describe the health changes you have experienced since going keto/carnivore.

1. Increased energy
2. Better sleep
3. Mental clarity and positive mood changes
4. Weight loss (down 65 pounds and still going)
5. Symptoms of scalp eczema GONE
6. Dyshidrotic eczema GONE
7. Bleeding gums GONE
8. Constipation/diarrhea (IBS like symptoms) GONE
9. Heartburn GONE
10. Decreased craving/need for alcohol
11. Skin looking marvelous
12. Chronic headaches GONE

Lastly, I have hypothyroid. I’ve been taking 100mcg of synthroid for years. Though my thyroid levels are where they should be on medication, before carnivore I still experienced symptoms of decreased energy and my number one insecurity was thin hair.

With carnivore, as stated before, my energy levels have increased and I have noticed healthier fuller hair (which isn’t something I expected since I’ve always attributed it to my hypothyroid).

Your Keto/Carnivore Story

Back in 2018, I came across the ketogenic diet on social media. I was sitting at 297 pounds on a 5’1” frame at the time. Being of a competitive nature I entered a weight loss bet with a co-worker and so my keto journey began.

I started with around 50 carbs per day and ultimately ended with around 25 carbs per day. At this time I was not carnivore, so I ate the typical things others do on keto. Cauliflower, low carb wraps, leafy greens, sugar free “stuff”, and proteins.

While doing this I tracked my calories religiously almost to the point of obsession. After a year I had dropped 80 pounds. However, life happened and I spiraled back into old and new not-so-good habits.

By December of 2022, I was back at 297 pounds exactly. From 2019 to 2022 I had tried to go back to my former keto way of eating but it never lasted long. Since then I’ve learned a lot and most importantly the concept of intuitive eating.

Intuitive eating for me was not just about eating when you’re hungry but also about intuitively tuning into WHAT my body does and doesn’t want.

I realized that half the crap I was eating on keto I didn’t even particularly like or enjoy. I was simply eating it because it was low-carb. I never felt satisfied and still felt hungry. I thought about what I had eaten my whole life, and more importantly what I was taught about diet and nutrition. When I was a child a lot of the foods that I loved, my mother would say “that’s too fattening.” Well, guess what I wanted? Oscar Meyer hard salami and of course cheese.

Sometimes I remind her these are the foods I eat now and I’m losing weight :) I grew up in a house where you open the fridge and everything is low fat and fat-free. I learned through keto, these things remove the fat and add the sugar. Breakfast was always shoved down my throat as necessary or the “most important meal of the day.” However, as far back as I can remember I’ve never enjoyed breakfast or wanted to eat when I first woke up. I simply wasn’t hungry. But I would eat anyway because that’s what I was supposed to do. That usually resulted in me having stomach upset and ending up in the bathroom. I think that was my gut’s way of telling me it wasn’t ready for food.

Also, on the opposite spectrum, I was always told it was “bad” to eat late at night. Now this I don’t know. But what I can say is, I eat when my body tells me to eat and if that’s at 11 pm then so be it. So far I haven’t died, gained weight, or had any adverse reaction.

Now let’s get back to how I got to where I am today, practicing and thriving on the Carnivore lifestyle.

I had avoided the scale for a long time. And then on a whim, I stepped on one in December 2022 and it said 297. I was back to where I began in 2018. At this point, I still followed the keto community on social media but was seeing the occasional carnivore post or video. It definitely piqued my interest and the more I watched and learned the more interested I became.

One thing I knew my that for my WHOLE life I LOVED meat. Especially steak. I literally could eat it every day and never get sick of it, but I never did because supposedly “it wasn’t good for you.”

Well here was my chance to enjoy as much steak as I wanted.  I immediately cut out all processed and fast foods. I started intuitive eating. I only ate when I was hungry and for me, that’s around 5-6 pm.

I simply listened to my body and gave it what it wanted. Right away, my first one-pound ribeye (and only meal of the day), I felt FULL. Not like when I was eating vegetables. With ribeye I was satisfied. I didn’t feel the urge to overeat or run back to the fridge. I finally found something that completely Centering your diet around these nourishing whole foods can support weight loss, hormone rebalancing, improved fertility, cognitive performance, and reduced inflammation, among other benefits.  me and didn’t leave me feeling deprived, which was a reason for my lifelong obesity. The complete nutrition and satiety I get from meat is the most important key to all the health changes listed in the previous section.

The carnivore community is small in comparison to the rest of the world. As an RN, I receive a lot of pushback by medical professionals if I choose to tell them how I lost so much weight. I’m still told it’s bad for me and especially bad for my heart health. I just choose to say “okay” and continue on. I wish there was more medical research in this area.

What is the best (or top 3) pieces of advice you could give someone starting their keto/carnivore health journey?

1. Give yourself at least 30 days. It’s tough to change a lifetime of bad habits. 30 days won’t kill you.

2. Stick to your goal, whatever it may be. And ask yourself, “Is the pizza worth it?”

3. Follow a community of like-minded people to keep motivated.