Three Weeks Eating a Carnivore Diet as a Type 1 Diabetic

Originally published October 2018

I have been eating a “carnivore diet” for three weeks now. Today starts week four.

The cravings hit pretty hard during week two where I prowled, ironically, like a lion on the hunt. Except I was hunting for anything but meat.

I learned something interesting recently. I don’t like the taste of meat. I love the taste of sauces, salt, spices, and herbs. I’ve always seasoned my meat and ate it with other foods like vegetables or tomatoes. Not doing this makes it very dull.

I also learned that apparently, I derive quite a bit of joy from food. So when going a few weeks only eating meat with salt (and mostly beef for that matter), I have had to confront all that I have otherwise used food to cope with.

Anxious? Sad? Worried? Enjoy a tasty meal or snack! Not doing so meant sitting down on the couch utterly dumbfounded, trying to figure out how to deal with my feelings in another way. I thought I had resolved food issues by eating primarily meat and veggies for a while and feeling good and happy about that, but I guess there was, even more, I didn’t know about.

Week three went more smoothly. I only ate hamburger patties–two to four per day. That and coffee with a little cream. I have not been hungry. I have not had any gastrointestinal upset. I have had way more time than usual thanks to meals being super easy to prepare.

I haven’t been checking my blood pressure enough to note changes so I’ll be doing that this next week.

Finally Losing Weight Without Hunger

Something I’ve been pleasantly surprised with is that despite eating the same number of calories as before, I’m now losing weight after I had come to a standstill. Earlier this year I had lost weight by eating low fat and low carb for a few weeks. This was very difficult. I lost 5 pounds and couldn’t continue being hungry and tired.

In three weeks I’ve lost 5 pounds without ever being hungry and while getting adequate protein just the same. Super weird! I wonder if it will continue to work that way and if I can finally get past my lifelong plateau? We’ll see.

The fat I’ve lost is definitely in the right place. My clothes all fit the same except at the waist.

Other Notable Changes

I’ve been warmer than usual, maybe due to burning a bunch of calories. I don’t have to sleep with socks anymore which is nice. My feet are just warmer.

I’ve finally stopped all the crazy sweating. Maybe that was part of the adaption process?

I tried walking 3 miles pretty quickly and found I had high energy for it.

My blood sugar levels have been crazy good. I got emotional a few times in the past few weeks because I would go all day with my blood sugar staying between 80-90 mg/dl–even during exercise, and it made me remember what it was like not to have diabetes. This part is heaven.

If you’re burnout by type 1 diabetes, I can’t advise you to do anything, but I will say that in the future, I will personally be doing this diet to cope with burnout while keeping great control of blood sugars. Please note that insulin needs may change dramatically and you’ll want to know how to manage those before attempting.

I also have noticed that I’m less congested in the morning. I used to always have post-nasal drip in the mornings due to a plethora of allergies but not now. My voice and my eyes have been clearer upon waking. I no longer sound like Marge Simpson in the morning.

Geez, I wonder what food was doing that to me?

Side Observations

Ancient Stoicism teaches that if you feel you can’t live without something, you’re a slave to it and should thus practice living without that something so that you can rise above the fixation or addiction or whatever it is.

Let’s not go the path of wondering if it means that we should live without a spouse or child or basic needs.

I’ve been wondering if I have been relying too much on food to serve as an emotional crutch.

Forced instead, to properly deal with feelings has been useful in identifying things that need my attention. I think it’s pretty common for us to feel overwhelmed, eat food we enjoy, and never really pinpoint just what is upsetting us, which then means we aren’t able to act on it.

Things that are upsetting us are very often lying behind something else–which is more of a trigger.

For example, I would say that pet peeves that make some people go bonkers are mere triggers for something entirely different that is seriously bothering a person. Like, really, you can’t handle how your partner loads the dishwasher? I think you’re anxious or upset about something else.

In Stoicism, the challenge you’re facing is your path. Are you having a hard time managing your diabetes and is that the center of your issues? Well, then your focus should be figuring out how to manage your diabetes. Are you continually failing at trying to avoid overeating sugar? You may want to live entirely without it.

People cite eating disorders with this line of thinking. I don’t know enough about eating disorders, even though I used to have very disordered eating before I learned to manage my diabetes, but according to the definition of eating disorders, society, overall, is not doing too well with food. So many have a constant unwelcome preoccupation with food and overeat it. Is that disordered eating?

I love food like a gourmet foodie nerd but is there a reason I seek that kind of flavor stimulation? Is that reason positive or negative or is this an overcomplication of the fact that people enjoy life? What happens when we enjoy it to the point of becoming miserable because of the consequences?

If dietary sugar generally has a negative function in the body, and research seems to show this, I don’t see how a radical avoidance of it can be wrong for those who struggle with cravings or overconsumption of sweet foods or merely want optimal health. You can’t have too much health or happiness (or even loyalty from your partner) because those are good things. And you can’t actually have too much of a good thing–an objectively good thing, that is. You can’t say sleep is good, but we can overdo it. The right amount of quality sleep for an individual is what’s good.

My health challenges are a mystery, so I’m playing Sherlock Holmes and trying to go about deducing a better outcome. So far I’ve had positive results from this diet, even though I don’t love what I’m eating. It does satisfy, and I enjoy not feeling hungry, so in that sense, it’s effortless to continue.

I will update you again, soon.