Bob

The Trouble With America’s Ultra-Processed Diet Story by Andrea Petersen Should your granola bar come with a warning label? Concern is rising about the amount of ultra-processed foods in American diets, and the effect eating so many of those foods has on our health. Part of the problem, nutrition researchers say, is that lots of healthy-seeming items—many breakfast cereals, soups and yogurts as well as granola—fall into that category. Recent studies have linked diets high in ultra-processed foods to increased risks of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and depression. Yet there’s no set definition of what makes a food ultra-processed, and scientists are still figuring out exactly why eating a lot of these foods is associated with health problems. These foods are coming under a microscope as the U.S. government prepares the latest version of its dietary guidelines, which tell Americans which types of foods to eat and how much. For the first time, the government is asking its scientific advisory committee to consider how diets consisting of varying amounts of ultra-processed foods influence body composition and obesity risk. Food companies dispute the idea that their products are unhealthy and say that packaged food gives people a convenient, affordable way to get nutrients. “Attempting to classify processed foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed misleads consumers,” says David Chavern, CEO of Consumer Brands Association, a trade group representing the consumer products industry, including food manufacturers. Ultra-processed foods now make up a majority of Americans’ diets. About 58% of the calories that U.S. adults and children ages 1 and older consume in a day come from ultra-processed foods, according to an analysis of federal data collected from 2001 to 2018. Among children, the number is higher—and is growing. In 2018, children ages 2 to 19 received 67% of their daily calories from such foods, up from 61.4% in 1999, according to another analysis of federal data. However, frozen pizza, chicken nuggets and protein bars—the bulk of them ultra-processed according to some experts—are popular for a reason: They’re cheap, tasty and convenient. What is ultra-processed food? Nutrition researchers generally consider foods ultra-processed if they include ingredients that you wouldn’t find in a home kitchen, such as high-fructose corn syrup and emulsifiers, said Christina A. Roberto, director of the Psychology of Eating and Consumer Health Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Many researchers define foods’ level of processing using a classification system published by scientists in Brazil. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods are pretty close to their natural state—fruits, vegetables, plain meat. They may be altered via processes such as drying, roasting or pasteurizing and can include some preservatives, but lack added salt, sugar or other food substances, said Carlos A. Monteiro, a professor in the department of nutrition at the School of Public Health at the University of São Paulo and a co-creator of the system. Processed foods may be preserved by canning, bottling or some fermentation, and may contain ingredients such as butter or salt: think canned beans, cheese or fresh bread you’d find at a local bakery. Most ultra-processed foods have some engineering involved. To make them, companies generally break down whole foods and chemically modify them to create ingredients like soy protein isolate, derived from soybeans, and maltodextrin, a sweetener derived from corn, rice or other grains. Ultra-processed foods also often include ingredients that enhance a food’s flavor, color or texture. What’s healthy? Not all ultra-processed foods are equal, some scientists say, and some may be good for you. Plenty of foods that tout health benefits with labels like “organic,” a “good source of whole grains” or “low in sugar” are ultra-processed, said Lindsey Smith Taillie, associate professor in the nutrition department at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. “The more of those you see on a product, the more likely it is to be ultra-processed,” she says. “Eggs or milk or plain fruit and vegetables don’t carry claims.” Among foods considered ultra-processed by the classification system are supermarket staples like Pepperidge Farm Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat bread, Yoplait strawberry yogurt, Nature Valley Oats & Honey Protein Granola, Beyond Burger, Clif Builders Protein bar, Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread and Campbell’s Chunky soup, beef with country vegetables. General Mills, which markets Yoplait yogurt and Nature Valley granola, noted that there’s no single definition of ultra-processed food. A nutrition adviser for Beyond Meat said their products provide health benefits and shouldn’t be put into a category with unhealthy food. Hormel Foods, which makes Skippy, referred questions to an industry association, which disputed the suggestion that processed foods are unhealthy. Campbell’s, which markets Pepperidge Farm as well as its soup, said both products have significant nutritional benefits and “should not be labeled subjectively.” Clif Bar said its Builders brand is designed “to help fuel muscle recovery after physical activity.” The health risks In nature, most foods are either high in fat, like meat, or high in carbohydrates (which turn into sugar in the body), like fruit. Ultra-processed foods are often high in both fat and carbs, which causes them to act more potently on the reward systems in our brains and can make them addictive, said Ashley Gearhardt, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan who studies food addiction. Foods such as ultra-processed ice cream, french fries, pizza and chips “are beyond anything our brain evolved to handle,” she said. Diets high in fat, sugar and sodium are associated with cardiovascular disease and other health issues. An influential study from researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that people who ate a diet high in ultra-processed foods consumed more calories and gained weight compared with people who ate a minimally processed diet—even though the diets contained roughly the same amounts of calories, fat, sugar, sodium and fiber. Scientists created two diets, one with most calories coming from foods like packaged muffins and deli turkey and the other with most calories coming from minimally processed foods, including scrambled eggs and salads with chicken. When people ate the majority-ultra-processed diet, they ended up consuming about 500 calories more a day than they did on the less-processed diet. After two weeks, they gained about 2 pounds. Participants lost about 2 pounds after two weeks on the unprocessed diet. People eating the ultra-processed foods had to consume more calories to attain the same level of satisfaction and fullness as they did on the other diet, said Kevin D. Hall, the lead author of the study and a scientist at the NIH. Hall believes that one way ultra-processed foods may contribute to weight gain is that they often contain more calories per gram compared with less-processed foods. This is because when companies make ultra-processed products, they break down the cellular structure of the raw ingredients and remove the water, Hall said. Highly processing foods makes them more rapidly digestible, so that few calories and nutrients make it to your large intestine, which can change the microbiome in the gut, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University. Because the microbiome digests calories, this means that even if two people are eating the same number of calories, the one consuming lots of ultra-processed foods will have more calories available to be turned into fat compared with someone eating a largely minimally processed diet. “You can imagine how hard it is for the first person to keep the weight off,” he said. What to do To reduce the amount of ultra-processed foods in your diet, choose whole foods as much as you can. Frozen vegetables, canned beans, canned tuna and roasted nuts can be convenient and quick. With packaged foods, health claims like “low in sugar” or “heart healthy” are often a giveaway that they’re ultra-processed, says Taillie, the nutrition researcher. When looking at product labels, choose items with fewer ingredients overall and try to avoid those with ingredients you don’t recognize. You can add unprocessed foods to ultra-processed meals to make them healthier: Toss fresh broccoli into boxed mac and cheese; add plain vegetables to a frozen meal. Write to Andrea Petersen at *****@*****.tld Article Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/the-trouble-with-america-s-ultra-processed-diet/ar-AA1jU36m

You bring up a good point. Maybe she was supposed to be taking one or the other but not both at the same time. Perhaps she overdosed. According to this article on AustraliaWeightLoss.com ...

If you live in a developed country, you may have fluoride literally everywhere. There is fluoridated water, milk fluoridation, salt fluoridation, and fluoride in your toothpaste. In years past, this was heralded as one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century, because fluoride, a natural mineral that is abundant in nature, is associated with fewer dental cavities. However, in recent years, fluoride and the practice of adding it to everything has come under fire, and now fluoride is hotly debated. Personally, I don't pay much attention to it. I'm smart enough not to swallow my toothpaste, and while I use a water filter at home and sometimes drink bottled water while on the road, I never give any thought to it's flouride content. In short, I am not worried about fluoride toxicity in the slightest. However, I do speak with those who take avoiding fluoride very seriously, being sure to not drink fluoridated water nor use fluoridated toothpaste. I'm just curious, are you avoiding fluoride, or not giving it much thought like me?

I Lost 80lbs With the Carnivore Diet and it Transformed My Health Story by Brian Nowicki Brian Nowicki lost 80lbs and felt a range of health benefits after changing to the carnivore diet. Left, Brian before the diet change. Right, after.© Brian Nowicki I lost 65 pounds in the first four months alone. I've lost a total of 80 pounds in a little over a year, all without counting calories and by eating as much as I wanted. How did I do it? I followed the meat-based carnivore diet. Everything changed for me in the spring of 2022 when I sat on the couch, tired and depressed, and feeling joint and back pain throughout my body. It was so bad that I would get flare-ups in my knees or ankles that would last one to two weeks. The pain was so intense that I couldn't walk. I also had a condition called atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) which affects your heart's normal sinus rhythm. I knew I needed to lose weight and get healthy—and I had to do it soon. I wanted to make sure I could watch my three children grow up to have kids of their own. I wanted to be able to provide for my family. But with the path I was going down, I wasn't sure that would happen. And this became my Why. I had heard from some friends who were doing the keto diet and losing weight, so I decided to give that a try. With the keto diet you limit your carb intake to about 20 grams per day and increase your fat intake. Over the next couple of months, I continued to research low-carb diets and watch YouTube videos from doctors and those sharing their experiences. I had not lost much weight at all and did not feel a whole lot differently, but I kept finding more and more information about the ultimate elimination diet where you completely cut carbs from your eating plan. This was the carnivore diet, and in July of 2022 I went full in. I do not eat vegetables or fruits, or any other carbs. I predominantly eat beef, with some eggs and bacon. Occasionally I will eat chicken wings or chicken thighs, as well as pork. I do not use any type of seed oils and cook my food with either bacon fat or butter. A typical day of eating for me consists of a steak around Noon and then a couple of beef burger patties—no bun—and either eggs or bacon. I usually eat approximately two pounds of meat per day. By early November, I had lost 65 pounds, had more energy to do things, and noticed that my arthritis and joint pain was gone. I also noticed that I hadn't experienced a single A-Fib episode in a few months. Before starting the carnivore diet, I was having a couple of episodes per week. Over the next several months my weight loss slowed down as I got to a healthier weight. But the health benefits continued. I've been on blood pressure medication for over 20 years. Whilst I still take medication, the dosage has decreased to the lowest prescription strength and my blood pressure is under control. I also have not had an A-Fib episode in over 14 months and was just recently taken off the medication for it. My doctor is happy with my progress too. Before going on the carnivore diet my triglycerides—a type of fat in your blood—were 273 milligrams per deciliter, which is very high. Now, they are 107, in the healthy range. My HDL cholesterol has also improved. My liver and kidney function are excellent with the best levels I've seen in my blood work. Some of the keys to my success were having short-term goals and having an accountability partner. The short-term goals that I set were somewhat challenging, but measurable and attainable. This allowed me to feel a sense of accomplishment along the way. For an accountability partner, I had a friend on Facebook who was also trying to lose weight. We kept each other accountable by posting a daily log of our food intake, water intake, etc. We also checked in with each other often. I feel this was huge for keeping me motivated and helping me get past struggles. Altogether I feel like the carnivore diet has saved my life. No more back pain. No more arthritis or joint pain. No more A-Fib episodes. Lower blood pressure. More energy and a happier mood. The list goes on and on. I have not experienced any negatives from eating this way. If there is a special occasion and I want to eat a small piece of cake or something I normally would not eat, I go ahead and treat myself. But I make sure that it does not snowball, and I move forward and back to my normal eating plan. Eating this way has truly been life-changing for me and I have no plans to stop the carnivore diet lifestyle. I see myself eating this way for the rest of my life. Exactly what I eat may adjust as I go, but the main principles of a meat-based diet with little to no carbs will not change for me. With this life-changing health transformation, I decided that I wanted to share my experiences and help others, so I created a YouTube channel. On my channel, Wick Goes Carnivore, I share the good and bad experiences. What I've done right and mistakes I've made. I share the successes between losing weight and all the health benefits I have experienced. Brian Nowicki is a content creator and proponent of the Carnivore Diet lifestyle. You can follow him on YouTube. All views expressed are the author's own. Article Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/i-lost-80lbs-with-the-carnivore-diet-and-it-transformed-my-health/ar-AA1jKR7u

What is the purpose of your carnivore diet? This might help you decide. For me, it was to lose 50-60 pounds. Therefore, I wanted my carnivore diet to be as low as possible in carbohydrates. Others have auto-immune conditions or other issues that they are hoping being in regular or frequent ketosis will help heal or alleviate. Others go strict carnivore, even Lion Diet, as an elimination diet so that in a few weeks they can start adding back in foods to see what their body can handle and what gives them inflammation or a negative reaction. Most cheeses are 0 or trace carbs. I have been eating cheese on my carnivore diet. A single cup of plain whole milk yogurt contains approximately 11.4 grams of carbohydrates from the lactose (milk sugar), making it a good low-carb snack option. If weight loss and reversing disease is not your goal, and you're only eating carnivore because it's nutrient dense, then you might not have to pay much attention to your carb intake, even if it's from animal sources. You can read more about 'The Various Types of Carnivore Diets' here...

Woman dies after taking Ozempic to slim down for daughter’s wedding: ‘She shouldn’t be gone’ Story by Adriana Diaz An Australian woman who took Ozempic to shed a few pounds before her daughter’s wedding has died from gastrointestinal illness — now her husband is warning that the medication is “not worth it at all.” Trish Webster, 56, was prescribed Ozempic to help her squeeze into her dream dress for her daughter’s nuptials. Ozempic is a medication approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for people with Type 2 diabetes — it’s become widely used as a weight-loss drug around the world. The drug works by mimicking a natural hormone, GLP-1, which slows down the passage of food through the stomach and intestines, making people feel full longer. Problems arise if the drug slows down the stomach too much or blocks the intestines. Intestinal blockage is called “ileus” — the FDA received 18 reports of it in people taking Ozempic as of late September. For her part, Webster took Ozempic along with the prescription injection Saxenda, losing about 35 pounds in five months, according to local media reports. While the medications helped Webster slim down quickly, they reportedly made her ill. On Jan. 16, just a few months before her daughter’s wedding, Webster’s husband allegedly found her unconscious with a brown liquid seeping out of her mouth. “She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth, and I realized she wasn’t breathing and started doing CPR,” Roy Webster recounted to “60 Minutes Australia” last week. “It was just pouring out, and I turned her onto the side because she couldn’t breathe.” Webster died that night, with her cause of death listed as acute gastrointestinal illness. “If I knew that could happen, she wouldn’t have been taking it,” the grieving husband insisted. “I never thought you could die from it.” While Webster’s death has not been officially linked to her Ozempic and Saxenda usage, her husband is blaming the drugs. “She shouldn’t be gone, you know,” Roy said. “It’s just not worth it, it’s not worth it at all.” In a statement to “60 Minutes Australia,” the manufacturer of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, said ileus was only reported after its “post-marketing setting,” suggesting the drugmaker only became aware of the problem after the drug was released. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company, which manufactures Mounjaro, are being sued in the US over claims that their popular weight-loss drugs can cause severe gastrointestinal problems, such as gastroparesis or “stomach paralysis,” which can lead to death. Law firm Morgan & Morgan told The Post in August that it has received 500 similar inquiries from clients across 45 states, along with claims of injuries allegedly caused by other weight-loss drugs, including Wegovy, Rybelsus and Saxenda. A rep for Novo Nordisk told The Post at the time, “Semaglutide has been extensively examined in robust clinical development programs, large real world evidence studies and has cumulatively over 9.5 million patient years of exposure.” The company noted that “gastrointestinal (GI) events are well-known side effects of the GLP-1 class.” “Patient safety is Lilly’s top priority, and we actively engage in monitoring, evaluating and reporting safety information for all our medicines,” Lilly told The Post in a statement. The FDA in September updated the Ozempic label to acknowledge complaints of blocked intestines in some people who have taken the medication. The update came after the federal agency received thousands of reports of gastrointestinal troubles from Ozempic users. Gastroparesis is just one of many side effects that have been reported, including “Ozempic finger,” “Ozempic burp,” “Ozempic butt,” “Ozempic face” and weird dreams about celebrities. Some experts have warned that Ozempic and similar medications have not been available long enough to study the long-term effects — including suicide concerns — and are likely being misused by some as a quick way to shed a few pounds. Article Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/woman-dies-after-taking-ozempic-to-slim-down-for-daughter-s-wedding-she-shouldn-t-be-gone/ar-AA1juTeM

So if I am reading this correctly, your 4 days in feeling yucky. If it's a virus or if it was rotten food, you should be pulling through soon. There was one time I ate a bad steak on a Wednesday evening I think. That night I started feeling funny, and then next day I had stomach pain and felt sick. This continued into Friday. Friday was worse and I only had one meal, and I was a bit afraid to eat it too. Then Saturday I didn't want to eat at all and this became my first 24-hr fast that I posted about here. So all in all one just starting to rot steak affected me for about 4 days.

Insulin resistance from high-sugar diet may lead to brain decline By Corrie Pelc on November 8, 2023 — Fact checked by Brittney M. Mikell, PharmD, RPh About 15% of people around the world have a neurodegenerative disease. A known risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative condition is obesity. Researchers from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center show evidence suggesting a high-sugar diet causes insulin resistance in the brain, reducing the brain’s ability to remove neuronal debris, thus increasing neurodegeneration risk. Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), affect millions of people worldwide. Although scientists are still unclear as to what the main cause is for many neurodegenerative disorders, they do know certain risk factors play a role. Research has previously shown that one risk factor for developing a neurodegenerative condition is obesity. However, how obesity increases neurodegenerative disease risk has been unclear. Now researchers from the Fred Hutch Cancer Center are shedding some light on the mechanisms behind obesity and neurodegenerative disease risk. Using a common fruit fly model, the researchers believe a high-sugar diet causes insulin resistance in the brain, reducing the brain’s ability to remove neuronal debris, thus increasing neurodegeneration risk. This study was recently published in the journal PLOS Biology. Brain health and diet-induced obesity According to Dr. Akhila Rajan, an associate professor in the Basic Sciences Division of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and senior author of this study, while human clinical studies have found that obesity is an independent risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders, the direct causative mechanisms that connect diet-induced obesity to impaired brain function is largely unknown. “Consuming processed food doesn’t just affect weight gain, it affects cognitive function,” Dr. Rajan explained to Medical News Today. “Using the fruit fly model, my lab previously established that prolonged exposure to increased sugars can contribute to insulin resistance in peripheral tissues. Given that we had a good system to study (the) effect of obesogenic diet exposure, we sought to address how it affects brain function,” she noted. Studying fruit flies and glial cells for clues For this study, Dr. Rajan and her team used a model of the common fruit fly because there are similarities between genes in humans and fruit flies. “Flies serve as an invaluable genetic model for scientific exploration,” Dr. Rajan said. “We aim to harness the power of this model to understand the impact of diet-induced insulin resistance on cognitive function.” Researchers focused on studying how a high-sugar diet affected the glial cells, a type of brain cell that provides support and protection to neurons. Additionally, glial cells are responsible for cleaning up dead neurons or “neuronal debris” from the brain. Insulin resistance and inability to clear neuronal debris During the study, researchers found a protein called PI3k, which indicates how much a cell can respond to insulin. Researchers found that in a high-sugar diet, the glial cells had reduced amounts of PI3k protein, indicating insulin resistance. Scientists also found the glial cells had a lower amount of another protein called Draper, which normally assists with the clearing of neuronal debris. Ultimately this stopped the glial cells from removing neuronal waste from the brain. “What we showed is that when flies are fed an obesity-inducing diet — in their case a diet loaded with 30% more sugar for three weeks — the glial cells are unable to clear neuronal debris,” Dr. Rajan said. “Prior to our study, it was unclear if glial cells can develop diet-based insulin resistance. Our study provided missing evidence that glial insulin resistance, that develops in fly central brain cells, has consequences to glia’s debris-clearing role.” “Our studies are done using fruit flies,” she continued. “While we can provide new insights into what is likely to happen at a cell biological level, many more years of work needs to be done before we can be sure that similar issues apply in humans. Having said that, at least the surface level implications of our work suggest that maintaining insulin sensitivity in patients prone to dementia, even if they are not diabetic, may be beneficial to promote their nervous system function.” New sights on how obesity affects brain health After reviewing this study, Dr. Raphael Wald, a neuropsychologist with Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, told MNT that this research provides another pathway in which obesity can be a risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders. “The message is clear that obesity is dangerous in many different ways,” Dr. Wald continued. “This study provides further incentive for doctors and patients to focus on a healthy diet and exercise for patients. Patients may be more willing to make lifestyle changes with this knowledge in hand.” MNT also spoke with Dr. Manisha Parulekar, director of the Division of Geriatrics at HackensackUMC, co-director of the Center for Memory Loss and Brain Health, and associate professor at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, also not involved in the study: “We know a lot about type 2 diabetes (and) various lifestyle interventions to help reduce the incidence,” Dr. Parulekar continued. “This adds even more urgency to those interventions. It also highlights the importance of social determinants of health even further from population health perspectives. If we want people to utilize these lifestyle changes, we have to make sure that everyone has equal access to these interventions.” Next research steps When asked about what the next steps in this research will be, Dr. Rajan said while the current study is focused on cell biological outcomes in glia, their future work will be oriented toward understanding the behavioral outcomes as well. “For instance, it is possible to run memory tests in flies and other behaviors as well,” she continued. “Ultimately, our goal is to unravel the intricate interplay between diet and the brain.” Dr. Wald said he would like to see this process demonstrated in humans so that we confirm what we now strongly suspect to be the case. “Once this is accomplished we can start to work toward new therapies aimed at reducing these risks,” he added. And Dr. Parulekar commented that there are multiple lifestyle modification studies both completed and in process. However, the starting age for most of these studies is around age 50. “Do we need to start these interventions even early?” she said. “We would want to learn from some of the newer diabetic medications, are they beneficial if started early on.” ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/insulin-resistance-high-sugar-diet-links-obesity-with-dementia

No I haven't. Probably due to the lack of camels here in Ohio, lol It doesn't surprise me though. Camels are mammals and all mammals produce milk.

@Matan1262 - It's been almost 48 hours since we've heard from you. How are you feeling lately? Any better?

You should put that in your profile. I like your new avatar

It's my favorite of the commercial chains. We we're big Texas Roadhouse fans, but Longhorn took the top spot for us a little while back. It's a little pricier too. I am usually a NY Strip guy. Longhorn's were thicker and juicier. Red juice collected on the plate as I cut it up to eat it. This doesn't happen for me at Texas. I used to love Texas Roadhouse seasoning, until I bought a bottle to take home and saw that it was 2 ingredients, "Sugar, Seasoned Salt" in that order. Now if I go to Texas Roadhouse, I have them NOT sear with vegetable oil and just cook directly over the fire. I am a little blind as to what Longhorn is doing with my steak. But eating out is rare for me these days, so an occasional bourbon and a little seed oil once in a blue moon isn't going to be the death of me, lol.

So I turned 48 today. On the plus side, I feel a couple decades younger since I've lost 50 pounds and reversed several conditions thanks to the carnivore diet. We went out to Longhorn Steakhouse, the wife and I, and so for this one meal I reverted to keto/ketovore, as I sometimes do (about once a month, maybe twice). I had a ribeye, side salad with vinegar and oil, and a side of broccoli. My wife couldn't finish her filet mignon so I got to have a few bites of that as well. I also had a shot of bourbon, which I usually only have on the first Tuesday of the month. But it was my intent to treat myself

Not at the moment. I can't get a reading but I am going to assume it is way into the 300's. The reason I am not concerned is because I am still in active weight loss. Cholesterol is stored in adipose tissue, so as I lose visceral fat, this cholesterol gets released into my bloodstream. About 6 months after weight stabilization I would be able to get a better baseline for what my cholesterol will typically be.

That looks amazing! I need to expand my carnivore cooking skill set. I tend to eat the same rotation of basic things. Tonight I had marinaded chicken. It was this prepackaged stuff from Perdue that my wife brought home. The marinade was not bad but not clean either. I fried it up in tallow and it wasn't the greatest. Plus it was lean, so I ended up slathering it in butter and avacado oil mayo. Back to fatty meat tomorrow. I just had to make the wife happy

I made my beef and egg scramble with ghost pepper cheese again (addictive). The wife even tried it tonight and realized she's been missing out I woke up 175.3 today. Just .3 away from goalpost #1 (and 10.3 lbs away from my new goal).

Since you've made it 3 weeks without issues, it could be that you are simply sick. Maybe you picked up a virus. Maybe you ate some spoiled meat or eggs. Most side effects from transitioning/adapting to carnivore are experienced soon after starting, within a few days, and last 2-6 weeks, such as the keto "flu" and alternating diarrhea and constipation. There could be other reasons, but I would personally wait this out a little longer, perhaps even fast for a while if still feel sick. This is based on 2.5 weeks of doing just fine with eating this way. If you had an allergy/intolerance, or other issue I think it would have manifested itself eariler on.

You are probably aware of a service called OwnYourLabs.com, where you can order your own labs and have access to the results. They operate in an agreement with LabCorp so you get your results in your LabCorp account. Now there are other services like OwnYourLabs.com where you can order your own labs at discounted prices. Usually OwnYourLabs.com is the cheapest, but there is one test that I wanted that is very expensive currently. That test is a Cystatin C. Cystatin C is an alternative test that can be used to calculate eGFR for those with chronic kidney disease, or those who are alarmed with their rising creatinine levels. Creatinine is a protein waste product. However, it can be affected by excess meat consumption and/or lifting weights. Higher than average levels of creatinine can lead physicians to assume you too have chronic kidney disease. However, Cystatin C is a protein produced by the cells that the kidneys are supposed to keep in check also. Cystatin C though is not affected by working out nor the food you eat. The problem though is that since OwnYourLabs.com doesn't get a lot of requests for a Cystatin C, the best price they can get at the time of this posting is about $280.00. Wowsa! I was recently introduced to another website offering a similar service called JasonHealth.com and they offer Cystatin C orders for $40 plus an $18 lab collection fee ($58 in total). They operate through an agreement with Quest Diagnostics. I have come to learn about others who are eating a carnivore diet and/or working out and suddenly their creatinine levels are registering as too high, and they are told there is a problem with their kidneys, but when they got their Cystatic C checked, they learned that their kidneys were just fine, and that their creatinine level was grossly exaggerated by their diet and exercise routine. I wanted to share with the community in case there are others of you who would like Cystatin C test but don't want to drop $300. JasonHealth.com

Same to you. Mine was fine. Monday I made bacon cheeseburgers, no bun. Tonight was the first Tuesday of the month, which is my cousin's Open Mic Night. So we went out to support that and I had bascially the same thing, beef patties with pepper jack cheese and bacon. It's also the only night of the month I have a shot of Kentucky bourbon.

I am going to have to try and dig deeper. Your situation is unique to me. I am not a doctor, just an information junkie with a particular fascination with keto-carnivore nutrition. I am a big fan of Dr. Ken Berry MD and of Dr. Robert Kiltz. Dr. Kiltz has a Monday night group zoom call in his private community. He also has a daily weekday 5am (Eastern Time) livestream and you can type him questions. He also does one at 10am on Sundays. Dr. Ken Berry has what he called Monday Night Live on YouTube where you can type questions. Super chats will get priority. It's at 7pm Eastern Time. Then if you join his community, there is a much more informal and less busy Tuesday evening livestream, Wednesday morning and Wednesday evening livestream, and if you are willing to enroll in the $20/mo plan, you can participate in a group Zoom call with him on Wednesday evenings. I think Dr. Berry in particular would be a good person to talk about your situation with