6 Reasons Why I Started a Carnivore Diet: What REALLY Convinced Me
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This has been probably the hardest blog post I've ever written, because it's deeply personal. The reasons I started a carnivore diet 50 days ago have lots of emotional drama around them.
The most compelling reason why I gave up almost all foods and started a meat-only diet is because other women shared their stories. In the beginning those stories were painful, sad, messy, and filled with emotional drama too. But these women had happy endings. No more pain, weight loss, medications stopped.
I don't know my ending YET. I don't have my after story right now, but I'm staying positive.
If you want the minimalist version of the 6 reasons why I started a carnivore diet, just skim the headings.
If you want the personal story behind the reasons I am eating only meat, fish, eggs, and dairy, then please read. This is like a peek into my journal.
If you are a person contemplating a carnivore lifestyle see if you recognize yourself on this page. Whether you choose to start or not, I wish you peace and good health.
Enough preamble, let's dive in to the 6 deeply personal reasons why I started a carnivore diet.
Reason 1: I started a carnivore diet because joint pain was interfering with my life.
I am blessed to have two kinds of arthritis. Lucky me!
I have osteoarthritis (bone on bone in my left knee and the right knee has arthritis too). I used to blame myself for the arthritis because in my early 40's I started running. A lot. I ran tons of 5k's, 10k's, about 24 half marathons, and 1 full marathon and another DNF at mile 15 (because my knee froze).
During the years I ran (from 2009-2014) I always had stiffness in my knees. I had to double-knot my running sneakers because if they came untied I couldn't bend my knees enough to get down on the ground to re-tie my shoes.
I tried all the treatments. I did physical therapy, took collagen supplements and OsteoBiflex, had cortisone shots, and hyaluronic acid injections.I finally I had my left knee scoped to "clean up" the cartilage. The surgery photos look great.
But it didn't help my knee feel any better.
In the summer of 2022 I complained to my primary doctor about my knees again, after having ignored it for years. I thought there was nothing else to do except wait around until I was old enough for a knee replacement.
He sent me to a rheumatologist. I was a little confused because I know I have osteoarthritis. Still, the rheumatologist examined me, took vials and vials of blood for testing, and diagnosed me with inflammatory arthritis. It's an autoimmune disease, like rheumatoid arthritis, which means your immune system attacks the joints.
Yay.
RELATED: See all Carnivore blog posts.
Reason 2: I started a carnivore diet because my arthritis medicine wasn't working.
My rheumatologist started by prescribing prednisone for a few weeks and it was HEAVENLY. I had forgotten what it felt like to walk up and down the stairs without pain.
I went to Target just the BROWSE! This is something I hadn't done in years because shopping without a purpose meant unnecessary steps. I tried to save my steps for workouts, walking the dog, and taking care of my house.
After that brief blissful few weeks of prednisone I was started on hydroxychloroquine to help the joint pain. I had a horrible reaction to that drug.
The next medication my rheumatologist prescribed was methotrexate. I started with 4 pills per week, but still had pain and flares. Then I went to 6 pills per week, then 8.
Flares, if you don't have arthritis, are when EVERYTHING HURTS. My knees are always the worst, but during a flare my hands hurt, my feet hurt, my shoulders, my back, my hips. EVERYTHING. As you might imagine, flares are no fun.
Now I'm on 10 pills per week (25mg). I don't have as much morning stiffness, but I still have joint pain in my knees, hands, feet, and sometimes hip and back. I track my days as "good," "ok," or "bad/flare" and most days are just ok. I define "ok" as I have pain and stiffness but it doesn't interfere with my life.
Is it horrible that I don't want to settle for ok days?? That I want more GOOD days??
At my last visit in February 2023, my rheumatologist told me that if I continue to have flares we will discuss injecting myself with methotrexate so it is better absorbed.
Injecting myself is terrifying. I do NOT want to do that.
Reason 3: I started a carnivore diet because I was scared of what the future holds for me.
I think about my life now and it's not HORRIBLE. I mean I can function in society. I can do cardio (super low impact) and lift weights. I can do housework (boo!), plant flowers and herbs, and even use my hands to crochet though there is some stiffness and achiness.
It's the fun things in life that are hard. Going to the zoo or aquarium or touring a museum are things I don't enjoy because my knees rebel and freeze up after walking or standing for long periods of time. Walking on the sand (the ocean is my happy place) is difficult. Walking up and down stairs at a stadium for a concert or football game is awful.
I will walk for exercise but taking a walk just for fun? Nope.
Sometimes I see people walking and think "they look like me, they have arthritis." I notice that they don't bend their knees when going up or down a curb. I notice a slight limp which sometimes I get when I overdo it.
I really don't like thinking about the future. I'm scared I'll live out the rest of my life with painful, stiff joints. I'm fearful I'll have to start injecting myself with a toxic drug that suppresses my poor messed up immune system that is attacking my joints. I'm sometimes terrified I will end up crippled, using a cane - or worse! - and literally and figuratively sitting on the sidelines of life.
My brain can be a little melodramatic, I'll admit.
Reason 4: I started a carnivore diet because an anti-inflammatory diet didn't relieve my joint pain and stiffness.
When I was first diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis I was thrilled that my doctor gave me a handout about the ITIS diet. It's an anti-inflammatory diet. It's similar to the Mediterranean diet but with specific foods believed to soothe and reduce inflammation. (You can read more about the ITIS diet here.)
I have never had a doctor talk to me nutrition before and honestly I was thrilled.
I went to college to become a registered dietitian. (I dropped out my senior year, but I've always loved studying nutrition.) I have always tried to be a healthy eater. Even when I gained a lot of weight as an adult (stress-eating my problems, sadly) I knew the answer was to change my food. Stop the midnight binges, eat more veggies, cut out the processed foods.
And I did lose the weight. I ate fruits and veggies and lots of lean protein and healthy fats. Was I a perfect eater? No. but I tried to do all the things "health experts" tell us to do.
I always felt best on a keto diet which I began in around 2018. That's why I started this keto blog.
So when my doctor presented me with the ITIS diet I EMBRACED it.
I stopped keto, which had become pretty "dirty keto" by that point with too many processed keto shakes, and keto bars, and keto desserts.
I made homemade green smoothies with lots of spinach, celery, and grapes.
I ate steel cut oats topped with oat milk and berries. I freaking love steel cut oats and hadn't eaten them in years.
Everyday I ate enzymatic fruits like banana, mango, and pineapple.
I avoided red meat and processed foods. I had green tea with honey every day, and ate legumes like kidney beans, and toasted garbanzo beans.
Coming from a keto diet, it felt incredibly FREEING to be encouraged to eat fruits.To eat grains and beans, which I enjoy. It was weird not thinking about carbs, but it did feel good to expand the number and kinds of foods I was eating.
It wasn't all butterflies, bananas, roses, and raspberries though.
I felt hungry ALL THE TIME. The anti-inflammatory diet is much lower in fat than a keto diet so you don't feel satiated with every meal. I started snacking again just because I felt so hungry.
My IBS, which has been a problem all my adult life, was even worse. I shall spare you the details but I spent A LOT of time in the bathroom.
I didn't complain because I really hoped the anti-inflammatory diet was the answer. If I followed it strictly I just knew my auto-immune issues would reverse and my pain would plummet.
Except it didn't.
Every time I saw my doctor, I told her how well I was following the ITIS diet, but I continued to have pain, stiffness, and flares.
She said that diet doesn't always help everyone. Some people are more sensitive to dietary changes than others.
That's NOT what I wanted to hear.
I started googling "anti-inflammatory diet for arthritis" desperately wanting to read stories of women like me who miraculously cured their arthritis with diet.
I didn't find any.
Reason 5: I started a carnivore diet because I was desperate to get well and I was willing to try anything.
It was during these late night, depressing little google searches for information, that I happened upon the carnivore diet.
A carnivore diet is crazy. You take out all "healthy" foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Foods I loved on keto and foods I was enjoying on the anti-inflammatory diet.
On a carnivore diet you just eat meat. (And animal products, I learned later.)
I dismissed it. I probably scoffed. I mean, it's insane!
Isn't it??
The thing is, when you desperately want to get well, sometimes you'll try crazy things.
Never in my wildest dreams did I picture myself eating just beef, butter, bacon, and eggs. With some fish and chicken and a little cheese.
Don't we need fiber to survive? Or at least to go to the bathroom? Never mind that my problem was going too much!
Red meat will kill me, right? For sure it will raise my cholesterol.
And what about eating the rainbow?? I have a blog post about eating all the colors of the rainbow on a keto diet (you can read it here). I read over and over how eating more colorful fruits and vegetables equals a more diverse gut bacteria and more phytochemicals and vitamins, minerals, and plant-based goodness!
It's ironic that when you picture the quality of your life just getting worse year after year you're willing to put aside long-held beliefs and try something new.
I started watching videos about carnivore. Dr. Ken Berry is my favorite and you can find his YouTube channel HERE.
Dr. Berry didn't SEEM like a quack. He has good ol' southern boy vibes. What he said seemed logical: a carnivore diet is the proper human diet. It's the way our ancestors ate long ago.
I wasn't convinced carnivore was a good fit for me but after several videos I was open to the idea. It didn't seem quite so crazy.
Reason 6: I started a carnivore diet because testimonials of women just like me who no longer had joint pain gave me HOPE.
While watching one of Dr. Berry's carnivore videos I started to read the comments.
I skimmed through them, looking for a story similar to mine.
And I found one.
And then two.
And then one more and another one.
I started to see myself in the comments. Here's a middle-aged woman with autoimmune disease. This one is a 48 year old female with severe joint pain. Another lady is a mom of 4 who couldn't walk a mile without pain.
You know the old Grinch cartoon? The part when his heart grew three sizes that day? That's how it felt for me, but it wasn't my heart that grew. It was my HOPE.
If Susan or Jenny or Rachel could reverse their autoimmune disease, maybe I could.
If these ladies were suddenly active and vibrant because their joint disappeared, maybe that could be me someday.
Here are just a few of the YouTube comments I read:
Julie Ritchie said: I have 4 of the autoimmune diseases you listed. I have done AIP diet and had moderate results and I was extremely happy with those results. I have a friend that introduced me to the carnivore way of eating. After 7 days my joints have stopped hurting and I have more energy, plus the bonus of losing 10kg!
Eye of God said: Thank you Dr Ken, I did 16 months Keto and in February this year I began Carnivore. I’m Celiac, had high blood pressure and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Since I have been eating Carnivore I have no Arthritic pain, Celiacs is getting better and I feel my blood pressure has improved. As well as my health you have helped my bank account. Saving a fortune not buying rubbish!!! Feel the best ever in 60+ years.
KSK said: As someone with life long digestive problems, I gave up wheat around 20 years ago and noticed improvements in what I thought was IBD, and might have been gluten intolerance. 10 years ago I noticed ongoing, chronic pain in my joints - I do not drive, and walk everywhere, but it became more painful, even though I kept on moving as much as possible. I decided to give up all grains, legumes, and starchy foods. Within 48 hours my joint pain, which I assumed was osteo-arthritis, disappeared and has never returned.
Gloria Vermillion said: I have RA and have had for 26 years. I found you, Dr. Berry, and I am so happy. I started eating Keto and progressed to Carnivore over the last four months. I have no pain, lost 22 pounds and feel great. My labs are great. CRP in October was 2.065. This is without medications. I have been on 6 different biologics which a few have put me in the hospital from severe reactions. I now have control, thank you, thank you. Luckily, I have a doctor that is supportive and believes in intermittent fasting and eating meats, fish and certain vegetables.
These comments are from the video: 10 Autoimmune Conditions That Benefit from Carnivore Diet by Dr. Ken Berry. There are others just like it posted on other Dr. Berry videos and those of other carnivore YouTubers.
The words these ladies (and some men) wrote in the comments section of YouTube videos spoke to me more powerfully than my rheumatologist. Or the orthopedist who told me 12 years ago I was destined for a knee replacement. I found their testimonials to be inspiring and they gave me hope.
Coming from a place of discouragement and defeat, I suddenly felt like carnivore was something I wanted to try. And I wanted to try it NOW. When I decide I want to do something I am ALL IN.
I committed to 90 days of carnivore. Maybe I'd be a person who experienced miraculous results in a week, or maybe, since my body was a little more beat up, I'd need a month or two. Or three.
I told my husband I was going carnivore tomorrow. He thought I was crazy but he also supports me. Also if it worked he wouldn't have to listen to me bitch about my stiff knees and achy hands.
Because testimonials of real people were vital to my decision to try carnivore, I decided to share my story with you. Now you know the reasons why I started a carnivore diet.
In the next blog post I'll share my 30 day results.
--The Keto Minimalist
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