toucansam

Grocery shopping takes 8 minutes from start to finish, my bill is tiny (its just me), and above all I feel like I'm 21. My last testosterone score was 1046 naturally (I'm not on TRT) and at 47 YO I'll take that all day long. I want to do three things: keep inflammation in my body at an absolute minimum, keep my insulin level as low as possible, and keep my mitochondria as healthy as possible. All other considerations are secondary. I'm not 100% carnivore now, and I may or may not go back to it strictly. I'd like to lean out just a little more, but not at the cost of muscle mass like last time I did true carnivore (couldn't stop losing weight, literally couldn't stop).

8/2018: 41 YO, standard American diet in youth and 20s, cleaned up in 30s, paleo in 30s and 40s. CAC score ZERO. 4/2024: 10 months of *strict* red meat, eggs, shrimp in 2021, keto-ish (some greens, nuts, berries, still mostly red meat and eggs) since. 47 YO on day of test. CAC score ZERO. My cholesterol, for several years now, has been at the "ZOMG YOU'RE GOING TO DIE ANY DAY NOW, ANY DAY!!!!!" level according to any doctor I've seen in the last decade. No. No, I'm not.

My GF suggested I do a backsplash in my kitchen and its one of my many, many summer projects. Heavy sigh. I did at one point begin buying pure fat from the butcher (at $0.43/lb I might add, and got some truly amazing looks from other shoppers in the grocery store when we put 5 plates of pure fat in my cart). But my bathroom visits were so frequent and borderline urgent that almost immediately reduced that. I'll be honest, I probably never gave the "fat adapted" part a chance, because I was so focused on/addicted to performance in the gym (literally the time of day when I am at my happiest) that I didn't want to sacrifice protein for anything and risk reducing my already compromised performance even more. Perhaps I will revisit.

Do you feel fluttering or butterflies under your sternum during these episodes? An irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia will cause shortness of breath, and it may be brief. Electrolyte imbalances can cause arrhythmia, but it can also be caused my much more serious issues.

After eight months of *strict* carnivore, the one disadvantage I simply could not abide was my performance in the weight room had declined almost 300%. I take care of nearly all of my mental health in the gym, and the loss of strength was simply intolerable. I added small amounts of carbs of various types and experimented with timing. My performance *immediately* began to recover. Although I also became more "puffy" as the glycogen began to refill my muscle tissue. I still maintained overall low carb intake, although it was enough to kick me out of ketosis permanently. "Carb cycling" had no effect; I couldn't go in and out of ketosis at will and still maintain performance in the gym. Maybe I was doing it wrong. I was probably doing it wrong. I found that I could do 10+ mile rucks with 60lbs, after a 24 hour fast, on carnivore. Sustained energy for days. Explosive energy and pure strength took a major hit, and only the re-introduction of carbs brought that back.

Two years ago I did eight months of strict carnivore, absolutely no cheating, and tested my blood glucose several times throughout the day. I was pretty strictly keto prior to that. Shortly after a meal (any meal -- eggs, steak, seafood), I would briefly hit 130-140 before coming back down quickly. Without exception, I tested every morning as soon as I came downstairs to make breakfast. I was fasted when I tested (8 hours or so, just fasting while sleeping). The lowest number in that period was 88, the highest was 105, and I was almost always 99-101. I know about the dawn phenomenon. But, reading about and watching other carnivores online, I've seen many consistently post blood glucose levels in the 70-80 range. I know the body can convert protein into glucose, and I lift weights 5x a week and stay very active, so I eat a large amount of protein. During the pure carnivore days I was eating meat or eggs 5-6x a day. My lowest blood sugar results, in the mid 80s, came after very long arduous heavy ruck sessions in the hills behind my house. I have since moved to a non-carnivore diet, although I am still primarily meat-based. I am eating less than 1/4 cup of greens and black olives with my morning eggs, an avocado with lunch (with steak), and my pre-workout is 1/3 cup of oats, blueberries, and a small handful of pecans. That's it. For dinner I'm back to one or two steaks, or several fish fillets and shrimp, etc. My blood glucose levels are still almost 101 first thing in the morning. So even with the addition of carbs, albeit minimal amounts by SAD standards, my blood glucose seems to remain steady. Perhaps I "trend high" although I'm not sure that's a thing. I am contemplating going back to strict carnivore, or at the very least getting back into ketosis and remaining there for a while. Just curious if anyone has experienced these sorts of glucose levels on carnivore, a diet that is literally devoid of sugar of any kind..... Thanks.