The number between my toes.

It’s been a year since my heart-attack scare and healing journey began. Happily, the changes I made to my way of eating in June led me to the easiest weight loss and mood enhancement I’ve ever experienced. 

Because of some calcification in my coronary arteries, last spring my cardiologist put me on a statin. I’m not a fan of statins, but I was willing to see how it affected me. Shortly after I started my prescription, I noticed that my weight started to rise. After only six weeks, I was also affected by suicidal thoughts and lethargy. 

I remember being at work with my head down on my desk, with the thought why do I even bother anymore? rising up in my consciousness. The vision of being hit by a car during my bike commute gave me solace. Holy shit. This wasn’t me!

When I emailed the doctor’s office to report my side-effects, I was ordered to immediately stop the statin and get psychiatric counseling, even though the thoughts ended shortly after I stopped taking the drug. Later, at a check-up with my general practitioner to get her recommendation, she told me to buy over-the-counter CoQ10 and fish oil. She matter-of-factly told me, “Some people just can’t tolerate statins.”  

Looking to reduce inflammation even further, on June 17 I began eliminating lectins from my diet by following Dr. Steven Gundry’s The Plant Paradox diet. 

Lectins are plant proteins that protect the plant from insects and, over time, may cause leaky gut in humans. I stopped eating high lectin fruits and vegetables like ripe bananas and mangoes, tomatoes, eggplants, squashes, along with conventional flours, corn, and sugars (including “healthy” sugars like honey and maple syrup).

The list of “non-compliant” foods was pretty lengthy, but I was happy enough with the variety that remained. 

Our blender became my friend as I mixed up resistant starches such as green banana and cooled sweet potato with low carb foods like spinach, avocados and coconut milk. I added non-Dutched cocoa powder, spirulina, hemp seeds, nuts, and other Plant Paradox approved ingredients to make blender bowls that were tasty and gut-healing. 

I started posting photos of my blender bowls under the Instagram account @Blend. Eat. Replete. I joined Facebook groups and contributed recipes that I found satisfying. 

Every day, I weighed myself and recorded my stats along with the foods and fluids I drank, plus what types of activity I did each day and how many hours I slept. Although I cut out most lectin-heavy foods, I still allowed some non-compliant foods and drinks (especially when eating out). 

I lost about 1.5 pounds a week without having to up my exercise game. I practiced intermittent fasting on a regular basis, working up to 24-hour fasts (12 hours of which were soft dry fasts, meaning I drank no water but would shower and brush my teeth). I committed to doing 2-minute planks and lifting dumbells on a regular basis as well. 

This scale app graph shows the rise and fall of the number between my toes between September 2018 and last September as I edged toward my goal of weighing 135 lbs:  

As my inflammation went down I felt lighter physically and emotionally. A few years ago, my doctor diagnosed me with an autoimmune syndrome called Reynaud’s disease. It causes a couple of my fingers to go numb and turn white when temps dip below 60 degrees. 

I was thrilled to notice that my Reynaud’s symptoms have lessened greatly since June. This winter is the first in years in which I haven’t been consistently afflicted with numb fingers! Even walking around snowy Durango, Colorado last week wearing a pair of cotton gloves, no numbness!

By the end of November, I wondered, “If taking out certain fruits and veggies helped, how much better would I feel by going as lectin-free as possible?” 

What would be the most extreme elimination diet? 

Carnivore!

I began reading up about eating animal-based foods and added animal-only meals here and there, with the idea of transitioning to full carnivore if I got good results. The compliant food list is pretty minimal: any food that comes from an animal such as muscle and organ meats from beef, pork, lamb, chicken. It includes fatty creams and milk, and lots of butter, lard, tallow, and ghee. 

My first observation was that eating beef is highly satiating all on its own. It’s easy to prepare and meat is pretty much available anywhere I may go out to eat (I changed my Insta account to @Beef. Eat. Replete to celebrate that revelation). 

My second observation was that I began shedding more weight than I had planned. The number between my toes was hovering around 132 lbs for a few weeks, and it wasn’t until I added more carnivorous meals that I saw the number dip below 130. 

Today I weighed 127 which is the lowest I’ve been in my entire adult life. My autoimmune symptoms are in remission, I have loads of energy as well. 

If there is a drawback, it’s the challenge of reconciling being an animal lover and follower of Buddhist non-dual philosophy with the desire to eat primarily animal products. Several years ago, I wrote an essay on why I eat meat which I plan to revise and post here next year. 

Speaking of which, I sincerely hope that your New Year brings you health and comfort. May you be replete by following your true path.