As many of you know, I started the carnivore diet on January 1, 2020, hoping to give it one year. The year sped by without me experiencing any significant issues being a carnivore. I cured two chronic orthopedic problems (thumb and elbow) and improved my body composition, sleep, mood, and more. I achieved near-perfect health and wellness. I decided to start adding plant-based items, including some alcohol back into my diet and see how I fared. My goal was to add variety to my diet, not to improve my health, as it was about as good as it gets. It went poorly. This post will cover what I learned about adding things back into my diet.

The Carnivore Diet Theory

The carnivore diet theory is that eliminating potentially damaging natural plant-based irritants may result in lessening irritation and damage to the body. For Example, if you have intestinal problems when you eat hot peppers, removing them from your diet may decrease your symptoms and even eliminate them if it was the sole cause of your problem. You can read more about the diet and the theory behind it in this post. Animal-based foods rarely contain built-in natural toxins because animals are mobile and can defend themselves with teeth and claws etc. For this reason, most animal-based products can remain in the diet. Exceptions are egg whites and dairy.

My Cheats

Believe it or not, I went the entire year without any plant-based solid food. I had a few times during the year where I had alcohol which is a liquid plant-based "food." I had my first two glasses of wine in September for our anniversary celebration. The result was a disaster: I had symptoms similar to ulcerative colitis for a day or two. Around the end of the year, when holiday celebrations called for it, I chose organic, gluten-free vodka and did not have severe symptoms, only the ones generally associated with alcohol, dehydration, bloating, gut inflammation, and brain fog.

We Are Omnivores

After one year of stunning results, I decided to slowly add one non-animal-based item each week or two and see if I had any reaction. I would decide whether to keep an item in my diet if the food produced no symptoms or minor tolerable ones. 

Going Omnivore: My Journey

I had successfully added three leafy vegetables by January through February 2021. I will discuss the results a bit later in this post. Still, I continued adding items, but then disaster struck.

The Hazard of My Job

My left arm stays in roughly the same positional all day. Staying in the same position for long periods is called repetitive strain. It is not natural and will result in injury. As I stated earlier, I had inflammation in my thumb and elbow on that side that resolved with the carnivore diet. Read about how the carnivore diet resolved those issues here and here.  

Within a few weeks of my journey back to omnivory, I started to notice numbness and tingling on my shoulder's skin and a small amount of pain in my neck. The symptoms were classic for nerve impingement that I assumed was another repetitive strain issue due to my profession. I wanted to remove all the new items from my diet, but we had a ten-day vacation planned to start Valentine's Day weekend. I wanted to "have fun," so I decided to give up the veggies but keep the alcohol until we returned. 

The Symptoms 

I started having minor reactions to kale, spinach, and brussels sprouts; the symptoms were bloating and distension of my lower abdomen below the navel. I also looked “smoother” with less muscular definition. 

The shoulder symptoms started a short time after I began to have alcohol. Other symptoms I associated with the alcohol were dehydration, brain-fog, lack of energy, occasional diarrhea, and a less positive attitude.

I Did Not Follow My Own Code

On vacation, I drank alcohol every day for dinner and a few times after it. I was out of practice, so I was more sensitive to its effects. On the last day of vacation, my nerve impingement became unbearable in the middle of the night. Was I surprised? Not really. I did not follow my own code and knowingly ingested toxic alcohol and slept less. 

I believe it is wiser to breathe correctly, sleep enough, de-stress, get all your nutrients, move enough, avoid toxins, have reliable friends, and get adequate sun.  For a quick guide to implementing these lifestyles, read this post. I chose to wait ten more days until I removed the well-known toxin alcohol from my diet. It promotes inflammation and chronic disease. Ultimately, something will go wrong, and I was no exception.

Back to Square One

When we got back home, I went pure carnivore again, but the damage was done. The pain started to go away, but it took three days. At that time, I took ibuprofen, which helped the pain. But it gave me ulcerative colitis-like symptoms that took two full weeks to disappear.

All's Well That Ends Well

I am now almost back to normal with all my symptoms. I still have a little way to go because I have a bit of numbness and tingling on my shoulder's skin. A visit to my Orthopedist, Chiropracter, plus Physical Therapy is helping with this process. 

The Probable Origins of My Symptoms

The lower gut is called the colon. It stores undigested fiber, explaining why my flat stomach became a mini bulge below the belly button when I added vegetables. The bulky, indigestible vegetable fiber gets the blame. The smoother, less muscular appearance of my physique may be from some of the natural pesticides all plants contain. It may be that I was experiencing low levels of systemic inflammation as a result. 

 The look could also be a natural part of my yearly cycle. I generally feel that my metabolism slows in the colder months, and I am less active. I usually get smoother in the winter.  

I am 100% certain that alcohol adds empty calories and causes weight gain. It is a well-known gut irritant. The smoother-looking physique was definitely due to excess calories and inflammation from it. I did not expect it to be so harsh, but then again, I have never stayed away from it for so long.

Hormesis

Hormesis is exposure to low levels of stress resulting in strengthening. An example is repeated low levels of sun exposure to accommodate prolonged bouts in the bright sun. If you don't hormetically expose yourself, you will burn. I had too much alcohol too quickly. I was foolishly counting on getting used to daily alcohol consumption through hormesis, a ridiculous notion. Maybe some of my foolishness can be blamed on one year of lockdowns; we were in an area that does not have one. I was reckless.  

NSAIDs and the Gut: Adding Insult to Injury

NSAIDs are common pain relievers like aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen; common brands are Bayer, Advil, and Tylenol. Aspirin and ibuprofen are known gut irritants. Acetaminophen is a liver toxin. As a result of the ibuprofen, I started having much more GI bloating and discomfort, so I decided to stop the ibuprofen after three days; after all, the pain was lessening, and I did not want the additional GI issues. I am all for relieving severe pain with pharmaceuticals for short periods. Unfortunately, three days was too long for me, and it created gut issues. Incidentally, I had not taken NSAIDs for years, lack of exposure may have made things worse.

Leaky Gut

In addition to damaging the stomach's lining, NSAIDs are toxic to the gut mucous membranes, causing erosions, perforations, and longitudinal ulcers. (1) Alcohol causes depletion of gut bacteria with anti-inflammatory activity, eventually resulting in intestinal damage. (2) These conditions are known as leaky gut; bacteria and food particles can penetrate the bloodstream when the gut is damaged. The result is systemic inflammation and possible autoimmune disease. (3) I believe my GI issues were mostly due to alcohol consumption and were exacerbated with ibuprofen use. 

 The Best Health Approach

The typical American is sleep deprived, undernourished, overfed, too sedentary, and stressed. All of these things promote inflammation and chronic disease. The western way is poor lifestyles = health problems = medication = more problems etc. 

I foolishly chose to ignore my own advice and paid the price. As I stated previously, we must breathe correctly, sleep enough, de-stress, get all our nutrients, move enough, avoid toxins, have reliable friends, and get adequate sun. For a quick guide on how to implement these lifestyle changes, click here. I plan to try going omnivore again without adding alcohol in the near future. I will choose the items I add while adhering to my healthy lifestyle rules. I am sure it will go better.