30 DAys Eating Meat Only

Wow! There was only one “like” on my last post. Perhaps people have tired of watching me fail to get in shape, get healthy, or lose weight. Who could blame them? I’m tired of watching myself fail. I’m tired of living it. In fact, I’m so tired of it that I am doing what many (including myself) would consider a desperate move: I have put myself on a zero-carb diet.

On this diet, I can eat beef (or other unprocessed meats), butter, bacon, and eggs (BBB&E). The community that follows this diet seems to have adopted this as a slogan. It keeps things simple as to the foods you can have.

The diet is sometimes referred to as the Carnivore diet. It is an elimination diet in which you remove food you think may be causing you harm. In my case, I believe plant-based and processed foods & sugar cause most of my inflammation. To be fair, I have abused all of these categories of “food” in the past.

Out of control

The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays were utterly out of control for me. I ate anything and everything and way too much of it. I ate too many sweets, fast food, processed food, and too much alcohol.

I began this year with stage 2 hypertension. I don’t know how high my blood pressure had been before I bought a new monitor (I somehow lost the one I had). When I finally got a new monitor two weeks ago, my blood pressure was consistently near or above 231/138. I was not about to call my doctor about medication. I already knew what was wrong.

Since beginning this zero-carb diet, my blood pressure has trended downward very slowly. Before any medication or exercise this morning, my blood pressure was 128/82. After my medication and a walk for an hour, my blood pressure was 122/81.

Not Low-calorie

The diet is not meant to be a lean meat or low-calorie diet. I have been eating fatty cuts of ribeye, roasts, 73% lean hamburger patties, eggs, and lots of butter. While on the Ketogenic diet a few years ago, I learned that fat is actually good for our bodies. I also learned that the nutrients in meat are readily accessible to the body, unlike the nutrients of a plant-based diet. The nutrients in plant-based foods are there, but they are hard to access. Also, plants have other chemicals that cause inflammation for me. I don’t know all the science, nor am I willing to argue. At this point, however, meat and fat are working for me.

Other noticed effects

I have already noticed that my fingers are no longer swollen. I didn’t even know they WERE swollen. My joints hurt less—my neck, which had been hurting me for weeks, returned to normal in two days. For months last year, I was in physical therapy for pain in my hips. The therapy helped. However, everything in my hip area feels better now. I also had what I think was a pulled muscle in my groin for about a year. It has almost disappeared completely. I have been walking for two weeks and have not experienced the usual pain.

I am already feeling better, but will this help me lose weight? I don’t know. I consider this an extreme version of the ketogenic diet. Instead of 5 percent carbs daily, I went to 0. Keto helped me lose 40 pounds once before. Like the keto diet, this diet has helped control my cravings and curve my hunger.

What I’m doing now seems more straightforward. I have challenged myself to do it for at least 30 days. Today is day 16. I’m over halfway there. If I still feel great after 30 days, I will continue.