Do you suffer from gut issues, acne, rheumatoid arthritis, joint pains, depression, anxiety, eczema, leaky gut, candida, or other autoimmune issues? Are you tired of feeling crappy and feeling like nothing you do helps? You feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work. You might feel hopeless but you can overcome these issues.

Most people tend to over consume complex carbs and processed foods. The majority of calories eaten come from carbohydrates like wheat, flour, sugar, potato chips, candy bars, and soda pop. Today, there are no shortages of obese people or those struggling with a variety of diseases, and other health ailments. The majority of these diseases  are lifestyle related, including diabetes, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and Autoimmune conditions. Very few diseases are caused solely due to genetics or genetic predisposition.

Many of the main culprits of disease are, in fact excessive carbohydrates, processed foods, sugar, and hydrogenated vegetable oils. Over time, this lifestyle can lead to insulin resistance, metabolic dysfunction (sugar burning vs fat burning), gut dysbiosis, candida issues, Leaky Gut Syndrome, nutrient deficiency and overall toxicity. Metabolic function and gut health are imperative in obtaining and maintaining wellness.

The Carnivore Diet & Your Gut

A Carnivore Diet (CD) involves eating mostly animal products making it a whole food animal-based diet. This includes meat, eggs, fish, and fats that come from animals. Many begin by eating things like beef, eggs, and bacon then add organ meats and other animal parts.

Carnivore improves gut health for many people for a few key reasons:

·       It’s a calorie rich Elimination Diet

·       It Removes many toxins and triggers such as gluten, and sugar

·       Removes Lectins which are plants silent weapons against their seeds being eaten

·       Reduces excess carbs that can feed the bad guys (opportunistic organisms) in dysbiosis

·       Optimizes Cholesterol function in the body (cholesterol is used to create hormones)

What Is Leaky Gut

Increased intestinal permeability also known as Leaky Gut Syndrome occurs when the gut wall, also known as the epithelial lining, is broken down or filled with holes. The main function of your gut wall is to control the movement of particles in and out of your gut. On one side you have digested food particles, and on the other side your immune system.  If the border is not secure, food particles and toxins can pass straight through into your bloodstream. In response your immune system mounts an attack against these foreign invaders. If this condition persists you end up with a host of symptoms that can eventually manifest as autoimmune conditions.

The Main Symptoms of a Leaky Gut are:

·       Skin issues like eczema or acne

·       Digestive issues: gas, bloating, diarrhea, IBS, and others

·       Chronic Fatigue (always tired and exhausted)

·       Allergies 

·       Brain fog & ADHD 

Depression & Anxiety 

Autoimmune disease is linked to leaky gut syndrome. If you have been diagnosed with an Autoimmune condition chances are that you also suffer from a Leaky Gut.

Causes Of Leaky Gut

One of the primary causes of a leaky gut is dysbiosis. In healthy individuals, the gut bacteria exist in ratios of 80% beneficial bacteria and 20% pathogenic/opportunistic bacteria, protozoa and other organisms. Dysbiosis occurs when this ratio becomes inverted: 80% pathogenic and 20% beneficial. When this happens, health usually declines rapidly.

Causes Of Dysbiosis:

·       Modern Western Diet (processed, high carb, high sugar) 

·       Medications including Antibiotics, Birth Control, PPI’s

·       Chronic Stress 

Although Dysbiosis is usually a precursor to Leaky Gut Syndrome and Autoimmune issues, it’s not the only thing that causes permeability.

Other Of Gut Permeability:

·       Gluten 

·       Lectins

·       Glyphosates 

·       Candida Albicans (when in hyphal form that invade tissues)

·       Toxins

A Carnivore Diet is great for Leaky Gut Syndrome because:

·       It reduces and or halts the growth of Candida & Pathogenic Organisms that contribute to causing it.

·       It removes most Lectins which are known to be plants usually seeds/nuts silent weapons against being digested. (Plants want to procreate and continue their species)

·       Provides the body with much needed building materials like (gelatin, collagen) to repair the gut lining (epithelial)

The Carnivore Diet & The Microbiome

Your microbiome is the equivalent of a 2-3 lbs of bacteria that exists in your gut.

The Carnivore diet helps correct dysbiosis by starving off many of the pathogenic bacteria that thrive on sugars and carbohydrates. This is a huge step in returning your gut to a state of homeostasis.

Since a strict Carnivore approach is low in dietary fiber your gut will not cultivate certain kinds of bacteria that thrive on dietary fiber. In dysbiosis is when the bacterial ratios are flipped, added fiber may only increase this imbalance. For people who have bad ratios of bacteria (dysbiosis) avoiding dietary fiber can be very beneficial.

A Carnivore Diet For Gut Health

Recently, you may have been taught that meat is bad for you, especially red meat, and that you need fiber. With this all-pervasive advice, it is imperative to ask why chronic diseases are not prevalent in record numbers. New diseases and conditions are popping up every day. Treatment options are usually limited to drugs and surgery.

I think many intuitively understand that meat is not bad for you!  It both tastes delicious and satiates hunger. Compared to snacks of chips, cereal, chocolate bar, and a soda pop, meat is filling and satisfying. One can easily consume all these processed foods and continue to crave more.  They also often leave you feeling crappy and lethargic.

Carnivore Diet In Action

Human beings are built to adapt and survive. It would be safe to say that human beings have survived and thrived on a multitude of diets over the millennia. There might not be 1 best diet but there are definitely some common denominators when looking at ancestral eating patterns

·       People ate REAL Food “Whole Foods” whether animal or plant based

·       People would hunt & fish, and eat their catch

·       Most diets included some form of animal fat (lard, butter, tallow, ghee)

·       Dairy was not consumed world-wide, and definitely not in its modern form. Most the world’s population does not tolerate dairy.

·       When consumed, dairy was usually in fermented or raw form

·       People didn’t consume processed and hydrogenated vegetable oils

·       Most calories didn’t come from processed carbohydrates

·       Processed sugars were rare

·       People ate according to the growing season: meaning all foods were not available 24/7/365

·       If a diet was high carb is was usually lower in fat.

In nature High FAT and High CARB don’t usually exist together. Breast milk does not follow this rule because its main function is to help the baby grow quickly. Consider that babies can triple their birth weight in 12 months.  Just like the baby combining these macronutrients frequently will increase fat mass, and eventually lead to obesity.

If you’ve been led to believe meat is going to kill you with the cholesterol and heart disease hypotheses, you are unaware of the latest research. The data shows no correlation between diet and high blood serum cholesterol levels. This was ultimately a ploy to sell more low-fat products and man-made seed oils. This low-fat high carb dogma is not serving you.

Carbohydrates Are Not The Enemy

Human Beings are instinctively “primed” to over consume carbohydrates when they are available. This is a survival mechanism. For much of history food has been scarce. When available, eating the fruit to pack the fat on for less abundant times (winter)) was important. But herein lies the problem - never have so many carbs been this accessible, or in your face at all times. Nature is no longer responsible for keeping you in check so you need to learn to control your hunger for these carbs.

Most people would agree that carbs that come from processed foods, junk food, and sugar are the main culprits to be avoided. The carbs that come from unprocessed fruits and most vegetables can be tolerated in small amounts. Also keep in mind that having periods during the year where you consume no carbs might be beneficial to your health. It actually helps reset your metabolic function (helping you run on fat and carbs more efficiently)

Autoimmune Disease & Leaky Gut Syndrome

Leaky Gut Syndrome and Autoimmune disease intricately connected. Each diagnosis is labelled with its own name based on a subset of manifested symptoms. This includes Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimotos, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and others. In most cases your diagnosis is based on your initial and primary symptoms. Most autoimmune conditions are degenerative in nature meaning that they get worse with time. Not only do they get worse, but people often develop multiple autoimmune conditions simultaneously.

Many people regardless of their autoimmune diagnosis suffer from many of the same symptoms. The solution seems simple - repair your gut to manage your autoimmune disease

The primary symptoms may vary due to genetic and/or tissue susceptibility but they are more similar than different. This is why successful diets and protocols that work for Rheumatoid Arthritis tend to also improve Lupus, MS, Eczema, and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Try A 30 Day Carnivore Experiment

I encourage you to try getting rid of the carbs for 30 days. For 30 days try living on a simple version of carnivore diet:

·       Beef – all types, cooked as you like it

·       Salt

·       FAT content is key to being satisfied no need for extra lean ground beef, and you can add butter/tallow to your meat (trust me so delicious)

·       Also keep in mind that if you can afford to go grass fed organic then do it. But if the budget is tight then don’t sweat it!

·       Drink Water

One month of Carnivore won’t kill you and if your like many others it’s likely to improve your health, and reduce your autoimmune symptoms. Consider using The Carnivore Diet for gut health and you’ll find out that meat is good for the gut. What do you have to lose?