I have been on the carnivore diet for one month. What do I think? Have I lost weight? Are any health issues improved? Is it worth it?
No, no weight loss. I have been following a keto diet for a long time, so I think whatever low carb might do for weight loss for me has happened already. But, no weight gain either. I am a little disappointed but not surprised.
So eat less? Well, when I eat less my system goes into panic mode. My cortisol levels go up. What's that? It's a chemical the body produces to wake one up, for one thing. So my sleep is disrupted if I eat less. Well, deal with it. No, I'm not doing that. I can't face life like a zombie. And this one meal a day thing? That really sends my system into a tailspin. I have an idea that the cortisol increase may actually cause weight gain.
I seem to be in a diet maze, and this diet has been nice, but it hasn't done anything for weight loss. However, my main goal has been health improvement, especially autoimmune problems. I would say that has been a qualified success. My two biggest issues are sleep problems and pain. The sleep issue is doing pretty well, but hard to decipher. Doing exactly what I've been doing works OK, but I'd like to know my limitations.
The pain issue is improved but not totally gone. So what? Pain makes walking more difficult. I want to walk better. I think that's possible but I have the horrible feeling it's not going to be that easy.
What would it take to improve pain? Probably something I did once before. I embarked on a 26 week four day a week water fast. I only got through 13 weeks, and began to have too many things go wrong, especially electrolyte imbalances. I fainted once also. What a surprise. Maybe take a break and start another 13 week round later, I thought. So I started that plan again last week. Fasting really does miracles for pain levels. Besides that, all sorts of things begin to heal from fasting. The results of the 13 weeks of four day a week fasting were impressive to me. But, I didn't do four days last week. I fasted two days. Well, try again. Maybe three days a week would work better.
So where does that leave me with the carnivore diet? I'm not convinced carnivore is better than keto in my case. I would say the carnivore diet is helpful something like fasting, but not as much. It's easier than fasting though. Maybe I'll continue the carnivore diet until the next time I have labs at the VA, which is about four months, and see if anything is going on with lab results, either positive or negative.
That would also be enough time to do the three or four day a week fasting for 13 weeks. And then I'll know one thing. I've done everything I know how to do with diet. But I still may not have figured out what my optimal diet is. I hold in front of myself the vision of normal walking again without pain. I suppose that will also take prayer. So far I've noticed that I can stand on one leg, either leg, without a problem. I couldn't do that a month ago. Progress has been made.
