Eat Your Meat
Check this out. Since Christmas, I have lost thirty pounds. I have been slowly gaining weight since recovering from COVID in January 2021. This Christmas, we got the kids a VR, and in the midst of trying it out and playing some intensive games, I got pretty winded and had some extreme palpitations. These palpitations forced me to take a close look at my health. While looking at family pictures, my eyes were opened to how large I had gotten, and I knew I needed to start making a change. Several years leading up to moving to Alabama, I had pretty healthy eating habits. While I maintained much of those habits, I had allowed myself to indulge in food that tasted great but may have been nutritionally empty. I would eat anytime I was hungry, late at night, and what the kids left on their plates because I didn’t want it to go to waste. My weight slowly climbed, and I’m sure I had breached 250 pounds. While such weight might not seem all that much, it was more than I liked carrying around. After playing with the kids for a short time, it would wear me out, and my Onewheel could no longer carry me on trails.
I had a CT after COVID, and my liver was noted as large and fatty. One of the docs that looked over my CT was pretty worried about the incidental finding since I am not a heavy drinker. He wanted me to drop some weight and exercise to help my lungs heal. My liver got in the way of my echo after COVID and another after my run of SVT (fast heart rate). I knew I had to do something about my health, but I just kept saying, “Tomorrow, I’ll start tomorrow; I just want one my snack.” It was this internal dialog that was keeping me from making better choices.
What have I done? Where am I? Am I okay? I am doing great. As I said, I have lost 30 pounds, probably more, since I didn’t start weighing myself until about two weeks into my lifestyle change. I still have a way to go, but I am satisfied with where I am now. I have gone Carnivore, yes, nothing but meat. A few “celebrities” mentioned this lifestyle change and that they had never felt better. I started doing some research and found many family physicians, cardiologists, and neurologists promoting the elimination of all plants from the diet. The thought of not consuming vegetation took me aback. Won’t I get sick if I only eat meat? Will I ever poop again? I have been told my whole life I needed a high-fiber diet because it’s good for me. These doctors, who have active practices, recommend just giving it a try, giving it at least 120 days. I was already unhealthy and not feeling great; what were another 120 days?
I had diarrhea, constipation, and sometimes both simultaneously in the first fourteen days. I ate some spinach and collards every other day to try to help with these issues because I feared that my body wasn’t smart enough to handle the changes I was implementing and requiring it. I did some more searching and made some adjustments to the ratio of fat and protein. I found a sweet spot in my gut. Next, I was worried that it didn’t seem like I was evacuating as much as I was putting in, and maybe I was backing myself up. No, I was absorbing the food I was eating, but also losing weight. I was consuming smaller volumes of food without reducing calories.
Eating high fat with quality protein, your brain will realize cessation sooner than a modern high-carb diet or the standard American diet. My volume of food consumption has plummeted, as has my need for the bathroom. I used to go three times a day, and now maybe it’s twice a week; I’m in and out, leaving just a little bit behind.
My mood and ability to navigate stress are like nothing I have experienced before. I generally have a feeling of well-being, and when things aren’t going the way I want, it takes little to adapt and work through the stressor. I wake up ten to fifteen minutes before my alarm clock and fall asleep faster. There were many times I would eat shortly before bed and then couldn’t fall asleep because my heart would be racing from the spike in blood sugar. This doesn’t happen anymore, not once since I have dropped all carbs. I don’t get tired after eating, and I am not looking for snacks ten minutes after dinner since the cessation achieved by eating meat and fat can keep you feeling full longer.
Having this new feeling about myself, I tell everyone. It’s like I’m getting vegan traits; you know how they have to say to all meat eaters they are killing the world and themselves. Except I am telling everyone how great I feel and that meat is good for them. Well, I started telling the docs I work with how much weight I have lost and how great I feel. They ordered, and I had a blood test that day to check my cholesterol. My total was pretty high, as was my LDL (the supposed bad cholesterol), and I was told I needed to be on a statin before I left work. This scared me, and instead of jumping on a pill, I did some more digging. My triglycerides were 60, my LDL was 220, and my HDL was like 58. As it turns out, this ratio does not put me at cardiovascular risk. They have also removed LDL as a risk factor for such incidents.
While I am thankful to have someone I work with care so much about my health, they are still insistent that I lower my LDL; his partner ordered a CAC, which is a coronary artery calcium score that shows calcified plaque in the heart and can generally predict risk for future infarction. I scored a zero; this means I have little to no risk of having a heart attack over the next ten years. It also gives me the confidence to try this lifestyle change for a good time without worrying about irreparable damage.
At the time when I underwent a CT scan, I had already been making positive changes in my life for five months. The scan revealed that my liver had reduced in size, which was a good sign. However, there was some scarring that had resulted from COVID, which was a bit concerning. Thankfully, my breathing has improved significantly since losing weight, and I am hopeful that by regularly achieving periods of autophagy, my body can repair some of the damage in my lungs.
I have also started mouth taping; at first, it was because I was curious after seeing ads and videos on YouTube. I bought a month’s supply of Hostage Tape and have been mouth-taping for almost two weeks. I don’t see much of a difference in my sleep. I have been sleeping great since losing so much weight, anyhow. But. I am not snoring now. The first night Sarah said I woke her up with some nasal snoring, and that was it. I skipped the tape this last weekend and didn’t snore those two nights. Maybe my mouth is getting used to being closed at night. No, the tape doesn’t pull out my facial hair. I’m unsure if I will keep up the mouth taping, but I will probably bring it while traveling, like on a plane. I always fall asleep while flying and wake myself up snoring. I feel bad for the people who sit next to me.
But Michael, this sounds crazy. What about going out to eat? I order just meat. It honestly doesn’t bother me. Fast food? I order just meat. Dinner with the family? I just eat the meat until I am full. Don’t you get tired of having the same thing every night? Nope. Isn’t eating all that meat expensive? I spend about $20 a day total on my food. I could get away with $8 most days. Yes, that is the total I spend a day on all my food intake. I fast about 22 hours daily, which is a fancy way of saying I only eat once daily. I fill up at dinner and am not really hungry until the next day at dinner time. I will occasionally get hungry around 8-10 am; this is when our circadian rhythm produces a little more cortisol, creating a feeling of hunger. After that initial feeling is ignored, the rest of the day is a breeze.
I turn forty-two this year and am starting to feel as good as I did in my twenties. I credit this to not eating food that doesn’t nourish my body and starting some, and by some, I mean a little, weight lifting. I’m going to increase the lifting of heavy things this summer. My mental clarity has improved, making school easier when studying and taking tests.
If you’re looking to truly enhance your life and well-being, I strongly recommend exploring the carnivore diet instead of keto. By consuming solely meat, you can experience a range of benefits that can truly transform your health. And if you’re struggling with snoring, don’t hesitate to try mouth-taping – it can make a huge difference for both you and your partner. Luckily, there are plenty of resources available for those interested in making these lifestyle changes, and the community is incredibly supportive of one another. Although I’m personally a bit introverted to engage with them, I’ve observed firsthand the positive impact they can have on one’s well-being.
I will update you with some pictures of my progress soon.
Harvey is home.
The good news is that my son Harvey is home, with his family, and is a perfect little bundle of joy with all his tiny little fingers and toes. Everything went medicaly well during his birth and introduction to this crazy world. The day started at about 3:45 in the morning and on my end there was no need to wake since I had not yet fallen asleep from the night before. Sarah got up and started making sure we were all set to go while I handled putting the kids in the van and asking if she remebered different random things we may need. She had everything under control and I just smiled at her awesomeness. From the house we went to my parents who were eagerly awaiting Macey and Reagan’s arival. Macey in no way wanted to stay with them, only because she wanted to meet Harvey as soon as we got to make his accauintence. It took a couple of minutes but we managed to leave with enough time to get some hot chocolate and make it to the hospital with time to spare.
After arriving, we got checked in and brought up to the labor and delivery ward where all the festivities were about to begin. It was a nice room, though nothing I would want to spend to much time in regularly. The clock said it was five am. IV’s got started, plans were presented, and shift change happend; the new nurses came in and finally sarted her on the patossin. From there it was a waiting game; Sarah and I tried to get some sleep until the Dr. came in. When she got to the room to see Sarah ,she told us “well I think you’ll be having the baby around one pm”. There went all my precious and much needed sleep, since it was almost nine now and family started showing up; more people were in and out of the room than I could count. At amost one Sarah really started having contractions and decided she wanted an epidural. The nurses, in vain, kind of tries to convince her to skip it since she was so far along. “No” she said, and soon there after the anastisiologist showed up with his greater than thou you are waisting my time, I should be facebooking, bad ass good job doing self with his helper who was pretty calm and collected. The nurse had me hold Sarah’s shoulders, (I had a very empty stomach, no sleep, and nothing to drink at all), I got this. I go to holding my lovely wife up and am watching the guy fill her spine with pain easing fluids of joy. (Hey why are my arms all tingly, oh I’m getting all warm. Am I having a heart attack? Is this when I am going to die? What the hell is going on? If I fall I am going to pull Sarah down too. “Nurse, we need to switch spots right now. Yes I am fine just take over. I’ll sit down. Oh not on the floor. The chair. Right, that is where I was going. I am okay, I don’t drink soda any more. I’ll drink it but I am fine.” What the hell was that. Yeah that is how about a minute of my life went. I have never felt that way that I can remember any how. I let her down and there is no way to redeam that. All I can say though is that I guess I needed some good food and bad sugar.
Sarah laid down after the epidural, gave a practice push for the nurse who went and got the Dr.. Sarah gave a pracice puch for the doctor who promtly put on her sterile gear and had her push again. Harvey’s head came out with that push; the rest of him came out with a second half push. That boy was as purple as Grimmis and just about as big too. Eight pounds fourteen ounces. He quickly went from purple to bright red, closely resembling the hard exo-skeleton of a freshly cooked lobsted. Yes it was a fast delivery. I held Sarahs right leg and her mom held her left leg; Macey who stayed in the room with us held the shoulders of the nurse who would be soon taking care of my sons medical well being for the duration of our stay. By saying she was holding on to the nurses shoulders I was trying to convey that she was being held up off the ground making it possible for her to see the entire delivery. Macey’s face was priceless, with utter discust writen all over it; she didn’t squint away or try to hide her eyes either. My little four year old held out like a champ. There was a stool waitng for her over by the heated crib that Havey would spend some time in after getting cleaned up and fed. Macey diligently watched everyting the nurse did and managed not to get in the way at all. She did reach out to touch his feet after they were clean and didn’t look as messy as when he was first presented to her. Before everything was all cleaned up I took her, from her watchfull position upon the stool, into my arms and carried her to where the plasenta laid used and wasted waiting to be dicarded like broken toy. I told her that was where Harvey was sleeping all this time in mommy’s belly. She wasn’t pleased with what I had presented her, even though she did want to touch it. Macey went back to Harvey to make sure he was in good handes.
I kept my eye on Sarah during and after the birth to make sure nothing was wrong and to let her know that through all this she is still my number one. After the clean up, people started flowing in and thats when things got hectic. I quickly fixed that and things went back to normal. Soon after everyone was gone and it was just the three of us, I got some sleep here and there, Sarah fed Harvey here and there, sleeping very little. Havery did a lot of sleeping until about midnight. He said goodmorning and stayed up until about six in the morning. My wife by the way is a champ.
Havery is home now. Just sucking up the good life. Tomorrow is his first doctors appointment.
Michael Trump 