My Plan
- One Year Carnivore - Lose Weight - Cut Down Alcohol - Share My Story -
- Try Not To Humiliate Myself... Much -
Like many, I have tried and failed to lose weight and keep it off. It wasn't until I discovered that I wasn't just struggling with food but that it was actually an addiction, no different from alcohol or drugs, that everything changed.
In the 1980's some tobacco companies purchased the biggest processed food companies and employed their addiction model to them, engineering foods to hit all the pleasure centers & "hook" the user.
Once I internalized this, I stopped blaming myself for past failures and began to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Everything seems different now so I am committed to Carnivore for at least 1 full year.
Here is what I am doing differently this time around:
The Strategies
Community Support
Going carnivore is a massive change for most people, myself included, especially when you take into account severe processed food addiction. Over the past few years of discovering and coming to grips with PFA I have learned of the importance of community support in addiction recovery for all types of addictions. Going it alone is the hardest option. While it can be done by some, it is rare. That is one of the reasons I started this site, to be totally open about my struggles with food addiction with friends, family and anyone else who cares to read it. Think processed food addiction isn't real? Then you probably don't realize that processed foods effect the brain exactly the same as cocaine and even heroin and are basically the root cause of just about every chronic disease in America. So, as additional support, I have been working with SmartRecovery.org which is a non-secular, self directing, science based program for addiction recovery and it is awesome. The tools one can learn to understand their food addiction, or any other addiction as well are fantastic. Lastly, I just created a Carnivore FB support group that anyone is free to join for community, education, or even recipes. Join Here
Leverage
The primary reason I created this site, besides wanting to change my life, was to create leverage for this change. Will power is awesome sometimes, but just like any muscle if it's the only one you keep using it will tire over time and then one day, when things aren't going well, it can open you up to a lapse. For me, I love contests or anything that puts your commitment on the line in front of others. That's one of the reasons why I was so successful in those weight loss competitions. So I created this site to give me leverage to never give in to cravings for processed food crap. We can get away with eating some of that stuff when we are kids, but it just feels like now is the time for me. As you will read in my first blog post, there are strange things going on in the world and I want to be around for a long time to watch my girls grow up.
Discipline
Sometimes it seems that discipline & will power get a bad rap when it comes to dieting - just like I was saying in the previous section on leverage. But there will be those days when no matter what techniques I employ, or whatever distractions I attempt they just wont be enough to even put a dent into cravings. Sometimes we just need to dig deep to that gritty person deep inside us to hang tough and go one moment at a time. If you have dieted too, I am sure you are familiar with that feeling. At the same time, I am confident with every passing day I will gain strength and resolve to be able to lean on my own will power from time to time. With that said, addictions are serious business and going on will power alone, I have found is a recipe for disaster. From now on, I am going to ask for help and support when I need it and I am going to come out of the shadows of my own insecurities to be open with my struggles. I am also fairly certain that these are not my only strategies, and that I will be adding to them as I go along. Have some good ideas for me to? Please email me. I would love to here them. Contact
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But, Why Am I Doing This?
Social Media Post - 8/25/23
Being overweight sucks. Over the past 40 years it has quietly belittled me, poked holes in my sense of self worth and honestly made me feel like a failure. I would think this may come as a surprise to many.
I have been dieting that whole time, always seeking the path that may deliver me from these challenges. But the pull was always too strong. I would always succumb. Revert. Eat.
Throughout all of those years silently struggling, I always retained some semblance of my sense of humor and it has helped me get to this point and maintain my sanity. It also helped me come up with the idea for this site.
I have learned a tremendous amount over the past few years as the clock started ticking faster and faster and I sought out answers with substantially more vigor. More reading, more listening, more hoping, more failing, more pressing, more trying again. and again and again. So tired. I was approaching & finally surpassed 50. Better figure this out. 51 is waiting politely, patiently on the horizon. 4 months.
I am sure that some people will think this is a bad idea. Maybe. But I guess when you feel your back is against the wall you gotta do what you gotta do. I am trying to be as open and honest as possible, (something I am guarded against and not used to) and would love any support from my friends, family, acquaintances, rubberneckers, well, anyone that I can get. Please have a look. Would love to hear your thoughts. Please sign up for the email list to follow the journey. Thank you.
You may think I'm crazy. You might not be wrong.
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So what is driving me to do this?
This may be the best question of all, and as many successful weight losers will tell you, make sure you know your "why". The internet is flooded these days with people who have used a carnivore diet to lose weight, heal chronic disease, gain energy, gain mental focus, and to live their best life and it is POWERFUL to hear their stories. They all preach to know your "why" and crystalize it. Well, you don't have to look too far to see mine.
Recently, I was at a wedding for the first time in a long time, and as we stood in the church the father of the bride walked her down the aisle and his eyes were full of tears. His joy radiated out from inside and everyone in there could feel it. As I have struggled with my eating over the years I have always known I wanted to get healthier but never felt that my back was against the wall. But now, things seem different. As I mention in my first blog post, people seem to be dying at younger and younger ages from heart attacks than ever before. Kids of the 70's and 80's are part of the greatest nutritional experiment, basically growing up on processed food, sugar, chemicals and more inflammatory seed oils. We may only be seeing the beginning of this trend now. Well, I don't know about you, but it is scaring the absolute crap out of me and some of my friends who are just turning 50. So getting back to my WHY... they are right here. My two young girls and my wonderful wife. Mortality can hit hard sometimes. I am eating carnivore because I believe so deeply that itis the healthiest way to heal myself from the inside out. I want to be there for my girls when they grow up, walk down the aisle, or just need a shoulder to lean on. That is all the WHY I need. Writing it out is powerful so I may revisit this page often and will probably write about it again and again.
Another Why
There is something else going on here with this "experiment" I am doing and putting my dieting failures on a website for all the world to see. It is hard for me to understand, but somehow, not everyone in the world is like me! I am joking, obviously, but sometimes I forget that we are all different and maybe, just maybe, the average person doesn't think so much about food the way I have. Duh - I am basically food OCD. So my other "why" is to share my beliefs and maybe shed some light on some dark topics. Seed Oils and processed foods are hijacking our health and our brains. The only way as a society, that I can see, to change the tide on all off this is for people to share their stories and bust through the advertising & big food propaganda for good. Our health depends on it.
But Why Did I Choose Carnivore?
Reason #1 - Satiety
When I tried the carnivore diet back in April of '23, it was as if something magical happened, I stopped being hungry ALL THE TIME. Processed carbs suck, not only because they damage our metabolisms, but once they do it, things just gets worse. We eat, have massive blood spikes and then just hours later comes the crash and eat, eat, eat. When I am eating carnivore it is as if that switch just flips off. It's amazing. But it can still be hard... because emotionally I have always tied so much entertainment to food. Drinking wine, watching a movie and housing a pizza is like a national FD&T pastime. It is sad to think about it now but it is so true. I got a glimpse of my future with the carnivore diet and now I am going all in.
Reason #2 - Weight Loss
One of the leading risk factors for ALL chronic disease is obesity and extra fat. As you have probably read elsewhere on this site, I have yo-yo dieted my entire life, hundreds of times and I am well aware how that is taxing on the body in many ways. In all honestly I feel like my failed attempts have now made me a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. As I mention in my first blog post, recently there were 3 gentleman in my town all around 50 who one day, tragically passed away out of the blue. The men were all in decent health and it was tragic as they all left families behind. It really scared the hell out of me too. We had kids late and mine are still pretty young. I would hate for that to happen. The anecdotal evidence for carnivore weight loss is off the charts and the people who really stick to it are in awesome health.
