ol_hilly

I got a text from my daughter, my 11 year old grandson qualified to compete in the World Irish Dance competition in Chicago in 2026 ! He just finished a 3 day competition in Philadelphia

Let's start off with saying in August of 2018 I was simply fat, dumb and happy. I was in the 320's, never really had blood sugar nor blood pressure issues but the cholesterol had been ever increasing thru my upper forties. Around the time I turned 49 the doctor convinced me to give the statins a try, I forget which one, but I picked up the prescription. About the third day I started to feel funny, and by the fourth to the fifth day I had every side effect listed. When I googled the medicine it listed the five more common side effects and I had all five by day five. I stopped taking them that day but the symptoms continued, and some even worsened.
I fought the symptoms for a month or more. The doctor offered another version of the statin, maybe another name brand, but I declined. By mid-September I had cramps behind my eyes and pains in my neck and spine that would drive me to my knees.
On Monday morning, Labor Day 2018, I woke up as blind as a bat. Zero sight. Everything was as the same color as a computer screen when turned off. I freaked out. The pain in my neck/spine was crippling. On the way to the emergency room some of sight returned in my left eye almost like a curtain was being peeled back. By noon I could see again but the pain was even more intense.
Over the next three months it was CAT scan after CAT scan, blood draw after blood draw, multiple MRI's, a couple EMG's, a lumbar puncture (spinal tap), some visual evoke type tests, some cognizance exams, probably in stroke protocol 10-15 times when the left side showed weakness or no mobility.
In late December I was diagnosed with Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder. During the explanations of the disease the neurologist said something triggered the autoimmune response and your body reacted. By then I was well onto my Google Medical degree and was near graduating from the Youtube College of Medicine and based on my newfound medical expertise (LOL) my trigger was the statins. I have no medical background to say that was the case and it could have been a complete coincidence; I simply could not prove it one way or the other. But in my brain (and in my heart) it was the statins.
From that point til now, I doubt statins will ever be an option.
Scott

Best BGL Thanksgiving ever.
Glad I made it. I ate like 15 or 20 carbs.
Now back to ZERO Carbs.
I was alone so no pressure.
Christmas will be a bigger challenge. I will be prepared, armed and ready.
Getting new glasses in December, looking forward to that.
U all be well

Ours hasn’t really changed much other that we meet at my daughters’ house instead of mine now. The food is basically the same and my daughter is an excellent cook as most of our women folks are. I’m the only strict carnivore and ask no one to cater to me but there will be plenty of meat for me to eat and my daughter will make two carnivore cheesecakes just for me. One will be savory and one will be slightly sweetened with allulose.

Ours has changed as well. My grandma had five children and all their children and grandchildren managed to pack into a 12-1300 square foot house. She cooked half the night and half the day. Everyone brought dishes, the women folk hit the kitchen to pitch in and the men folk sat around 'sneak drinking' waiting for football.
My wife's family much the same. Her mother and her older sister were from way back, right off the farm. My wife was the first kid in their family to go off to college. If you picked your tea glass up and the ice 'almost rattled' they would be there to top off your glass. I remember teasing my wife about that and how college had ruined her. I rattled my glass to let her know it was empty, and she said if I were waiting on her for the re-fill I would eventually perish to death.
Now our son is married with his first child, and everyone is doing things with branches of the families but neither family altogether like days gone by.
I'm 56, not 86 or 96, but things sure have changed.
My wife's banana pudding is world class. My mom's sweet potato pie is top notch. My great aunt's country ham with red eye gravy is superb. My grandma's fresh hams were awesome (and this is when their cousins were still oinking in the bottom).
It is not hard to see how I topped out in the 320's. LOL
Scott

It's not like the old days. I will not go into what the menu was years ago. For me this time it is slow cooked turkey thighs. A favorite part of the bird for me., To be followed by a carnivore pumpkin cheesecake. Topped with *whipped cream. This cheesecake gets great reviews when served. A very generous portion contains 6 whole carbs.
For my thankful part, I have resolved Manny issue. My diabetes remains, I respond as a T1d now (likely now LADA) . My Blood Glucose Level is controlled rather tightly with long acting insulin and a Zero carb one meal a day diet. My future is the best it can be. I do gave bold plans for my future.
Everyone have a great holiday.

The last six months I have tried to eat to hit a protein target. Still strict carnivore (18-19 months) but eating pretty much more than I want each day to have enough protein for muscle growth. The proteins went up, and I didn't hit the fat targets, so I had some stiff and hard stools. I increased the fat to catch up to the proteins and help with the stools as well. In turn, so my diet has not been 'eat when hungry-eat til full' for the last six months or so.
After six to 12 months on carnivore my cholesterol dropped a few points but took a significant bounce up at the 18-month mark. I was expecting an increase with the sheer amount of food I was eating but I didn't expect the numbers to jump this much.
May thru November 2024 May 2025 November 2025
Total Cholesterol 239 212 274
LDL 185 150 164
HDL 37 39 55
Tri-G 49 43 41

My total weight loss of carnivore has been 95-96lbs and in the last couple months I gained 12-15 pounds bouncing around the 215-mark for the most part. The weight gain I expected as the lifting has become more and more a part of my day to day. I am stronger now than I can even remember (never was much on lifting) and the energy levels are still that constant/ability to keep going since early on with carnivore. I feel just as good now as I did six months ago. I had a great visit with my neurologist yesterday. (He is moving back home to Alabama so I quipped that carnivore was going to run him out of business. He replied, "I hope so".) He told me of all his NMO patients I have made the biggest turnaround and went from ho-hum numbers 18 months ago til now. All my markers are within limit is with the exception of one. I started carnivore 18 months ago, so I let people draw their own conclusions. (LOL, preaching to the choir in a forum such as this). My blood sugar crept up a little. My day-to-day over the last six months moved from the low 80's to touching the low 90's every now and then. Yesterday it was 94. Blood pressure was 100/58 before the infusion and 98/54 afterwards (laying in a recliner for five hours).
Even with the cholesterol making a jump this is how I judge my health. When I first started the infusions I was 310+lbs and was on a dumpster diet. After each infusion I would be wiped completely out. The 45-minute ride home felt like hours. I hit the recliner for a stretch then to bed really early. restless sleep all night and pretty much flat the next day. Fast forward from 18 months ago, yesterday I saw the Neurologist at 8AM, started the infusion at 9AM (use to be six hours at 310 pounds but now 5 hours at 220) and I was home by 3PM. The ride home was a simple ride home and I ate bacon, sausage and eggs mid-afternoon. I went outside and busted/split just about a Toyota truck full of red oak from two trees we had taken down last week. Fed all the animals as it got dark and back in the house. I went to bed at 9 and now I am up at my normal 3AM time frame. I checked out the forum and now off to the gym to be one of those 4AM weirdos (LOL).
I'm going to call that progress, maybe with a chunk more of fat running free in my bloodstream, but over the last 18 months, progress the same.
I don't think we make progress over months/years without stacking up a bunch of day-to-day wins.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Scott

My son, Justin, now 40, became an amputee at age 12. This year he lost like 80 pounds and logged 1,000 miles in training to run. On Saturday in Philadelphia he ran a 1/2 Marathon. An impressive ~ 2 hour finish tome. He exceeded everyone's expectations. He works making prosthetic legs and a foot manufacturer sponsors his running. He told me the Philadelphia crowd was soooo super supportive! Hopefully you can see him in photo below.

Sold a pallet of one pound packages of hamburger at the little store I part time at today (Saturday). Owner found a bargain somewhere and priced it at $3.99 a pound. Was busier'n a cat coverin up doodoo on a marble floor. Burger was 80/20. And apparently was a tyson brand. I managed to grab 5 pounds before we sold out. ... Then our regular burger went back up to $4.50 where it's been for a few months. Bacon went up awhile back to $3.69 a pound, from 3.49. ..... I still buy some meats from the local butcher shop. But not bacon and burger.
An older couple came in today and was lookin at the cheeses and asked if I had ever tried Limburger cheese. 😀 I said I had, a long time ago. They said it was on they're bucket list. I told em they should try it. Wasn't bad. Just the after taste was alil wanky. We don't handle it there. He was going to havta find it somewhere else.
Well, I've had a nap. Now I'm up too early. Ought to find something to do I spect.

My Libre 2 Plus sensor expired, I applied a new one and after a 1 hour warmup a BGL is reported every minute. Numbers look real and I confirmed so with a finger stick. For the moment it looks good.
The bonus is I also marking my second 24 hour period in a row of needing No fast acting insulin. I also cut my daily dose of long acting insulin by four units. My recent record is 3 days without using short acting insulin. Her is to going for 4 days in a row !

While I won’t pass up a nice rack that’s true. But I’m a meat hunter and not a trophy hunter.

Another season is here and just the other day at the shop we were talking hunting stories. One of my buddy's passed a couple three years ago and he always told the best hunting story (and this one is actually true) (and I may have shared it last year)
His dad was in his 80's and had been an avid deer hunter his entire life. he and his brothers paid for his dad to go out west and trophy hunt one last time. The deer were just about trained to show at certain feeders at certain times during the day. It was not much hunting but it was goign to serve the purpose for Mr. Roberts to give it one more whirl.
On cue, the massive buck walked right up to the blind. He raised his shotgun and squeezed one off. The deer dropped dead in its tracks and my buddy said they heard scream for miles. He shot him right in the face/head. Antlers/rack was shattered. His sons were pissed. The owners of the deer camp were pissed. As they grew this trophy buck for just such an occasion.
In soft southern drawl, Mr. Roberts said, "You can boil'em, bake'em, or fry'em and you still can't eat the horns".
Every year this is the first story I think of when hunting season rolls around.
Scott

I just completed a 96 hour fast. I did a dry fast from Monday night to Wednesday night, drank some water with some salt, then continued to Friday night with 48 more hours of a water fast.
Energy levels stayed way up throughout the week. This is the first time fasting while working day shift. On Wednesday I did feel a little muscle fatigue/muscular endurance issues as I had to go from the first floor to the fourth floor and roof four or five time in an hour. I am sure being a little dehydrated played a part in that, having 56 birthdays probably contributed as well. I sat down to fill out some work orders and after that energy was solid the rest of the day.
Once I started rehydrating on Wednesday the Thursday and Friday energy levels were really high. The days were hectic and fast paced at work but the energy levels remained, maybe somewhere between really high and the steady energy I have gained from carnivore.
I am a little loose in the caboose after breaking the fast, again. But all in all, it went well.
My bloodwork is coming up in a couple of weeks and I am coupling that with the way I feel and have felt the last year with no NMO/SD day symptoms/issues. I am leaning toward no longer taking the infusions every six months. That is six to eight hours I can find something else to do and $3500-$3900 I can buy more meats. LOL
I credit my new found health to the carnivore lifestyle (I called it a carnivore diet for well over a year but I think now at 18-19 months it is a lifestyle now), fasting and working out. Just like anyone else, I might kick over graveyard dead at any time as nothing is promised, but these three things have me felling better than I have in 30+ years and in better health to boot.
For me it is a really good combination.
Scott

I broke the dry fast at 48 hours. Legs starting to feel more normal.
I had planned to go another 48 of water fasting but my shift surprised me with a steak dinner tonight.
I had to break the fast with a nice sized T-Bone.
Thankful for the group I have working with me.
Scott

Around 45-46 hours deep into my first dry fast.
I am starting to feel it now in my legs. Feet a bit tingly and my thighs/quads feel rubbery/spongey. Thus far I haven't been hungry and really have not felt much different than a water fast. Urine has not really changed color, maybe a shade darker.
I think I am going to drink water tonight at the 48 hour mark and then decide if I end it at 72 or 96 tomorrow.
With the lifting and eating the extra protein I had gained from 211 to 222 over the last month or so. I lost about 7 1/2 pounds in 48 hours on this fast so far. Mostly water as I have been to the bathroom a lot, at least more than usual.
Feeling the energy this time too just on somewhat wobbly legs, if that makes any sense at all.
Still working on breaking the fast but I guess I will eventually get there.
Big fan of the fast, even bigger fan of the fast being coupled with carnivore.
Scott

My name is Jerry. Carnivore cured my diabetes after 2 months. Now to fix heart, kidneys and prostate. Carnivore for life.

I'm that guy that walks up when the last good deal was just sold. LOL
A buddy of mine just bought a chuck roll and instead of cutting up for the individual steaks, "Denver" and "Ribeye", he just sliced the chuck roll as it lay. He said he was happy with the way the steaks turned out.
I'm thinking of giving that a run in the next month or so.
This weekend was our first frost and the group killed hogs. I will stop by a get my 60-70lbs of sausage tomorrow.
I never do the math on the sausage because I am almost sure I am losing money, LOL But it falls into the "it tastes amazing and I know where it came from" category.
Enjoy babbling. LOL
Scott

I worked outside today and it was chilly and windy so I decided to make some soup. I love Runzas on a cold day so I decided to make a soup that would taste something like a Runza and I really nailed it!
2Lbs hamburger
4oz cream cheese
8oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
32oz Beef broth
3 tbls parmesan cheese
4oz can of sauerkraut, drained.

Brown the hamburger and add in cream cheese and broth, stir until combined and let it heat over med heat until boiling. Add in shredded cheese and the parmesan, stir until cheese is blended in. Add in the sauerkraut and heavy cream heat until simmering.
I was shocked at how much it tasted like runza filling, it was wonderful!

Yeah,flexibility really comes back. Part of it may be increased activity because of weight loss. Excercise is easier. And less joint strain from all that mass,too.
A year ago I noticed it was hard to squat and especially get back up. This summer all that trouble was gone, I am riding fast sportsbikes @ 62 years. I have lost almost 30 kg in a year , I fit in my 90's leathers -and I'm staying here without dietary worries, all this is automatic by now.

I'm not full carni though, 10 g carbs max per day keeps my keto going good.

The newest improvements Ive just noted is the ability easily bend over and pick stuff up, squat down and easily get up, and to balance on one leg. Balance is not 100% quite yet but huge improvements when I think back to January of this year.

They already have reacted.
In 2020 Harvard released a study that showed the overwhelming majority of the test subjects on a carnivore/really low carb diet showed benefits pretty much across the board, from weight loss being the obvious, to inflammation reduction, relief from various gut issues and others.
The response triggered a ripple in the research community which brought back studies from the past that showed the benefits of a red meat diet and even further back to what is called now a proper human diet.
Then in 2024 Harvard reversed its opinion on carnivore and the benefits of the lifestyle/way of eating.
The difference between 2020 and 2024? A multi-billion dollar donation from the gate keepers. One it promotes his attempts at lab grown meats (Big Tech) and keeps the processed food industry as the primary source of nutrition for many (Big Food) which in turn keeps us all sick and unhealthy (Big Pharma).
I'm not all into conspiracies and I don't think this is conspiracy in that sense. I think it is as simple as greed and the desire to control and have power. I have not contributed to the processed food industry in well over a year. I have not taken any medicine since June 2024. Odds are I have had my last infusion. Just me alone had clipped those groups for thousands (infusion is $57,000 twice per year. Processed and junk food was $425 a month multiplied by 12 is another ~$5000.
If just me alone can remove over $100,000 from the BIG PICTURE equation, just imagine the impact of just the people on this forum. Then imagine the carnivore/keto community as a whole.
The billions of dollars was an investment into our future, some profit and some get sick and the ones that act out are silenced thru marketing and mass media. It is a business model that has worked amazingly well since the 50's.
Scott

I wouldn't change anything. It is a part of the story.
"almost quit" can be translated any number of ways. Just like the post above on 'carbs and energy' if I read about it, then post "I think this could work" I might give it a try and then decide my current path is working.
Well, then "I almost quit" carnivore. LOL
Tons of people have started carnivore and a very high percentage have quit. My son started, then me, then my wife, then two guys at work. Me and one other guy at work are still carnivore. I'm strict and he occasionally indulges, maybe once or twice per month. Depending on how one defines carnivore in my group 80% of people who start end up quitting. Those percentages sort of indicate the other 20% has 'almost quit' at some point. LOL
Scott

Just one cup of black decaf coffee plus H2O for the rest of today.
Going for a hamburger tomorrow at our favorite little roadside stand. They are closing for Winter this Sunday so we need one of their burgers before the snow flies for the next 6 months! (Sucky Wisconsin life)

I must say that I am once again a fan of the power bowl. Lately I have been mixing ground beef, scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, and bacon all together. It's so tasty that cheese isn't even required, lol.

Depends on the grain, velocity and location.
Scott