For the past year, I’ve been following the carnivore diet.
It’s quite simple. I eat only animal products – meat, fish, eggs, poultry, dairy and cheese.
I haven’t been 100% carnivore, but I adhere to it fairly closely.
By following this elimination diet, I’ve been able to learn exactly how different foods affect me.
Dairy is a problem for me. I never knew this before.
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- Butter gives me heartburn and a sour stomach. I can also eat an entire stick of it and not be satiated. I don’t even like butter so I don’t buy it.
- I used to eat ice cream at least once a week. Whatever the container size was, that’s how much I would eat – a pint, two pints, a half gallon. I eat the entire thing and lick the container clean. The rush of sugar makes my heart race, the taste is usually fantastic and the after effects are bad. I have a two day hangover, bloating, joint pain and fatigue until my body processes all that crap out of my system.
- I love cheese. Especially hard and sharp cheese like cheddar and aged gouda. But like ice cream, I’ll eat as much cheese as I can get my hands on in one sitting. That can be as little as 4 oz or as much as 2 lbs. Cheese bloats my stomach, takes days for me to digest and gives me severe constipation. It also gives me a headache within hours that can often last until the next day. I had no idea cheese did this to me when I used to eat a “healthy” varied diet including fruits and vegetables along with cheese.
- Fruits and Vegetables bloat my stomach and give me carb crashes. Without them, I have steady energy, a clear mind and rarely experience post, real crashes.
- For years, I relied on beans as a staple of my diet. Beans give me bloat, gas, diarrhea and cramps.
- I don’t eat bread and haven’t in years. I realize I never really enjoyed bread. I enjoy what was on the bread – sauces, cheeses, mats, peanut butter, tomatoes etc.
- I don’t buy pizza, chips, nuts or nachos anymore. All of them give me stomach problems and I cannot stop eating any of them until I am beyond bursting.
Sometimes I crave my old favorite foods like peanuts, chocolate fudge ice cream, dark chocolate bars, Mexican take out and pizza. Occasionally I miss good crusty Italian bread and tomato topped bruschetta.
I still think about cheese every week and at least a few times a month I have a cheese binge. After every single binge, I suffer for 2-3 days. On rarer occasions, I’ll buy dark chocolate bars and eat them. When I do, I always sleep poorly and have to deal with a day or two of stomach issues.
95% of the time, I stick to beef and eggs. I find chicken to be unsatisfying. I never liked pork. I like bacon but rarely eat it. I occasionally will eat canned tuna for a change of taste.
As for the rest, I never thought I’d say this, but the way I feel that night and the next day or two is simply not worth the short term satisfaction I get while binging.