I love doing the Carnivore Diet Success Stories, I find it very rewarding to share peoples progress. So I am going to try to catch up with people once a year to see how they are getting on.
Will they all still be Carnivore, probably not. However, I believe they will have an appreciation of the benefits of a meat-heavy diet and will use that knowledge as a tool to further their health.
Interview with Tracey
How would you currently describe your current way of eating.
I currently eat ‘Meats & Sweets.’ Meats include eggs, beef, and some chicken, fish, and pork in the form of sausages, along w/ some liver, and dairy foods, including milk, yogurt, and cheese.
Sweets includes fresh and dried fruits, honey and syrup. Small amounts of some veg, primarily botanical fruits in season. Cucumber, tomato, squash, along with onions, mushrooms, and carrot salads. This is inspired in part by the research of Ray Peat, and as per the book Don and I co-wrote, titled Meats and Sweets.
What have you learned regarding nutrition over the last year.
That fructose is essential for proper blood sugar metabolism, as opposed to being bad for us like many people now believe. Fructose in the form of fruit, and juice or honey and syrup can help mitigate the damaging effects of stress, and keep the thyroid healthy. Adding the sweets helped me feel an increase in internal warmth, and helped balance my moods and improve my sleep. I have no blood sugar imbalance issues, however, I was having post meal crashes while eating high protein or high protein and fat. I also learned that excess fat can indeed block the ability of blood sugar to get into the muscles.
Glucose, without at least equal amounts of fructose appears to be at the root of many health issues, including diabetes, and Alzheimer’s is now being seen as a result of metabolic syndromes, and an undiagnosed type 3 diabetes. My husband Don, author of
The Hypercarnivore Diet has discovered all of this in his research in addition to reading what Ray Peat wrote about sugar, and specifically fructose.
What health & Fitness improvements, and/or setbacks have you experienced in the last year.
I initially leaned out when first Keto-Carnivore. However, after roughly a year of very low-carb, some weight came back on, and I began to experience the above symptoms.
I find myself to be very mentally/ emotionally happy and balanced eating the fruit and honey, and was a bit more easily agitated without it.
When I indulge in honey or syrup and/or fruit while under increased stress, it totally takes the edge off, and calms my nerves, and provides a sense of balance.
Weight training recovery and ability to progress seems better adding some carb in form of the fruit as well.
Setback has more to do with life issues. While I sleep better when I don’t over consume protein, other things cause my sleep to be disrupted. One is my cat, another is being at my mother’s home, often waking up sweating as she gets cold so easily.
I believe as a result of still having inconsistent sleep, and inconsistent physical routine, I am holding on to that excess fat. I also have still had to experiment with the right amount of fruit plus fat, wherein too much fat with the increased carb can easily lead to weight gain when in excess of total calories.
I will say that despite how I seemed to more easily lose weight initially while super low carb, I have zero desire to return to that. It just does not feel right to me, holding no appeal at all.
I find some in the Carnivore movement to be bookends to the vegans, each claiming an entire food group to be unhealthy, without adequate evidence on either end of the spectrum.
What are your health and fitness goals in the year ahead.
Health goals for me include lifestyle changes. I really need to make a change to my living environment, for starters. This may not seem like a direct answer to your question, however, to me everything is connected, and I know that while our current apartment is comfortable, many aspects are unhealthy. My only ambition that I can focus on otherwise is just finally being able to maintain a stable healthy lean body mass, and steadily building back my strength. I want to lose about 8 pounds, and continue to be in my best shape physically, including maintaining flexibility and mobility, i.e. front splits, back bends, hand stands as I age, eventually also training other women. This year will be big changes as we move our home and change up how we do business.
Anything else to add? and where can people follow your journey?
I find our Meats & Sweets approach to be even easier than Carnivore. When I was low-carb, Keto-Carniovre, I had bouts of intense cravings for something sweet. Eating fruit and honey satisfies that need, and affords me many more options of quick easy meals or snacks. I can’t explain how much happier I feel eating this way. Literally, I have found that adding the sweets back boosted my moods quite a bit. The brain prefers sugar, not fat. Fat is back up fuel. One of my biggest issues was lifelong hypoglycemia and undoubtedly undiagnosed early or pre-diabetes. I had severe symptoms while plant-based, that mostly cleared while Carnivore. Surprisingly I feel even better having added the fruit and honey form of carbohydrates.
My instagram and YT channel are Strong Spirit Woman. My revised website is live-fruitfully.com. I am available for by phone coaching and CORE Counseling.
I have two books, Meats & Sweets, A High Vitality Diet, co-written with Don Matesz, and The Strong Spirit 10-Step Plan. I’m writing a follow up to that book.
Tracey’s original Carnivore Diet Success Story is here
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