The way metabolism works vs. how the Youtube gurus are explaining how metabolism work are *very different*. That’s important. Vegan – Dr. Campbell, ‘you can turn cancer on and off with glutamine’ <– you can turn SOME forms of cancer on and off, but you can’t limit glutamine in the human body by diet as it’s created in great quantities by muscle / bone / metabolism. Carnivore (doctors, practically all of them, too many to count), ‘starve cancer with the KETO diet’ — except cancer can create it’s own fuel (lactate) and some cancers prefer ketones and some cancer can switch preferred fuels and some can use a lot of different types of fuel. Cancer is really fucking tricky.
I have to think to myself that these fucking doctors asked the same questions I did, like what role does lactate play in the body? Fructose vs. Sucrose – in a lot of ways fructose is better but they cast it as an insidious poison (the liver being able to put on the brakes is probably a good thing…). That is to say these doctors and youtubers are sociopathic opportunists for the most part and mislead, misquote, and get most of the science flat-out wrong. I can only assume they know the science and are doing this for wealth. Additionally, some of these doctors really struggle with their weight / blood sugar and every issue under the sun like the rest of us despite incentives.
MOVEMENT REALLY COUNTS. STAY AWAY FROM PROCESSED FOODS. DON’T SNACK.
That’s really all you need to know. I no longer handle carbohydrate very well so I will probably stick with eating mostly meat but it’s not some kind of panacea or even the “ideal human diet”. No need for all of Asia to quit eating rice.
GOAL: Learn Japanese, Lose 50+ Pounds, Art EVERY DAY with a painting per week, Become a Yogi, Carnivore for life.
OCTOBER 28 2025, 180lbs, BP: Normal, Sleep: Good, Fatigue: Still an Issue, Fasting glucose: high, Seizures: decrease in number and severity. Spiders: Still crazy. Hot flashes: minor inconvenience thanks to hormone replacement which made a HUGE difference in how I feel (for the better, see below).
Above: Monday morning Walmart puts their meat 50% off, but some packets will be fishy/sticky/bad – so choose wisely. When I lived in Oklahoma I never encountered a packet of spoiled meat but here on the coast its common no matter the store.
So last time on this diet I was getting my sugars down into the 90’s and even high 80’s upon occasion but this time my sugar is camping out at 120’s. It doesn’t budge but that’s higher then I would like.
I have artificial sugar in my diet now and I think that’s why? I have to ween off sugar. I’m a huge sugar addict and if I want to stick to this diet it’s going to require a crutch. I have a couple of Coke Zeros everyday, maybe a piece of sugar free low-carb candy or sugar free jello.
OMAD CARNIVORE
Technically I’m still KETO because I have coffee (plant bean) and some sugar free stuff. I don’t know if it matters, if there is a group that tracks these things carefully and gatekeeps – but everyday I try to do a little bit better and that’s where I’m at.
WHY DID I GO BACK TO CARNIVORE?
The clear head. I felt like I was fuzzy in my thinking ALL the time and just chasing one craving after another and I would never stay full. The classic “welcome to Diabetes” starter pack. Having a 500 calorie ‘snack’ and feeling hungry 2 hours later wasn’t working. I was on hormones which helped the majority of my horrible symptoms. I had discovered that neural inflammation was causing the seizures and antioxidants and anti-inflammatory drugs could help. I still have ocular migraines but less frequently.
- I tried Vegan first, acclimating and relying on Starch would be a god send. Travel in Asia without an issue. Stay thin. Eat cheap. Starch rockets my glucose to the moon. Even a few gummy bears proved to be an issue and my background sugar could stay high for a really long time. I trusted Dr. McDougall – but uh’ it just isn’t working. My brain is all fog and doesn’t work on starch. Also, no energy.
OMAD to try to inch down background sugar and lower my weight. OMAD = One Meal A Day. Partly when I’m hungry I tend to work on things, clean, sort, organize and get over due projects completed.
SUPPLEMENTS:
- Fish Oil (when I remember)
- C 250mg – 500
- D 5,000 with K2
- E 400
- Every other day: MTHFR B Vitamin Mix x2
- Every other day: Creatine, Taurine, BCAA, B Vitamin Mix x2
- Magnesium Citrate 83-200mg as needed
The idea with the supplementation is to make sure I don’t go back to daily seizures. K2 and Vitamin C appears to be the most important aspects. I have a homogenous MTHFR mutation so all four genes are positive for MTHFR, not just one or two: all of them so I’m usually low on Folate and Carnivore diet is a low-folate diet.
SKIN CARE:
Estradiol cream for the rosacea, OTC from Amazon.com. It’s really effective but not a cure.
HAIR CARE:
My hair oil mix: Sweet almond oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil and mica – ylang ylang essential oil. Makes my hair glow. Due to an unfortunate decision to trust the local barber with my hair – I’m bald. Some hair is almost a half-inch long now! Yeah!
HORMONAL REPLACEMENT:
Estrogen .05mg as estradiol patch
Progesterone 100mg as evening pill
These meds made paying my doctor bill worth it.
It is really difficult to get hormone replacement therapy. You’re supposed to ‘tough it out’ and it’s a ‘natural part of aging’ — but with all the hormones in the environment today it’s a withering horrible thing that robs you of sleep, dignity and intimacy. It ruins lives regularly. It can last for decades so up until the day you die you can suffer. It absolutely wrecked me, and I’m decidedly happy to have HRT despite being adamant against prescription drugs.
What Am I Cooking?
I start the week going to Walmart on Monday morning and scouring deals. When I tried Carnivore last iteration (see last page entry, and also this entry…) Ribeye was running $14.99 per pound and currently it is $22+ per pound. So I started shopping deals. I also tend to digest pork the best. I have had difficulties in finding good eggs suspecting that the “Organic” eggs I was buying at $8 per dozen are counterfeit. They’re taking cheap ass mass produced eggs and sticking them in a fancy carton and making mad profit. So egg buying is going to be carefully done in the future. Last night I made Country Style Pork Rib with sugar free BBQ sauce (not a lot, just a little bit for flavor) – slow cooked them and the beef in the top part of the photo, for 3 hours with butter until super tender. For my side items, I usually do egg and Beeler’s sausage.
Meals I make in rotation: (I share the meat with the family who add side items)
- Korean style chicken wings (no ranch or sour cream on the side $13
- Hamburger steakie with cheese in the middle, Japanese style $12 (like meat loaf but with a bit of soy umami mixed in – I use faux soy sauce though)
- Pork Ribs $7 slow cooked for 3 hours, uncover last hour
- Whole fried chicken, all natural slow growth hen fried in lard and duck fat it’s amazing. $15
- Bacon and steak
- Cowboy chili with hamburger and hot dogs (aprox $15)
- Coconut milk curry chicken thighs (pre-fry chicken for crispy skin) value pack of bone in / skin on chicken from Costco (around $12)
- Marinated steak bowl
- Hamburgers
- Chuck Roast in the crock pot served with the juice (delicious)
- Angus Roast slow cooked over 6 hours in butter in the oven (because it’s cold outside! Don’t make this in the summer).
- Straight up steak – cut into thin slices and browned thoroughly (I’m not concerned about browning causing cancer, that’s fucking stupid.)
- Over easy eggs and sausage (I usually eat this everyday)
EXERCISE: NONE
I fractured my left foot which puts too much strain on the right and they pretty much hurt a lot. Any weight and effort on that left foot is too damn much and hurts. I can ride my bike but it does hurt to pedal it. I ride a couple of times per week but the bad weather is moving in and I’ve had terrible fatigue issues.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 3rd 2025 – DIABETES
I’ve gone from borderline type 2 diabetic to full diabetic. Background glucose increased.
*UPDATED from the future (NOV 30, 2025). I noticed unexpectedly my sugar dropped to almost normal. It coincided with stopping Progesterone (flat mood, depression, extreme fatigue, insane heart burn & stomach issues). Progesterone can cause elevated glucose and insulin resistance.
I decided to give up coffee.
- I can’t have dairy at all, not one bite. It’s difficult to always grab coffee without any creamer. The other creamers that are non-dairy also often contain gums, casein, phospholipids and other chemicals that are very harmful to health.
- The amount of caffeine I was leaning was was ridiculous and varied everyday so some days with a lot of coffee I had decent energy – otherwise I was totally fatigued.
- It ups cortisol and gives me bad breath
- It turns my teeth brown
- It’s expensive
- It’s hard for it to be the same dopamine hit with no sugar, no cream, no nothing – albeit I had some amazing plain iced coffees in Japan – this is not Japan and it’s cold and wintery.
Monday’s Glucose Spike
Monday I found out that my CGM only goes to 250 and can’t go above it, womp womp. What’s the point? This spike was a few crackers and some barley tea with 1/2 teaspoon of honey to take ibuprofen because of a migraine from caffeine abscence. A handful of saltine crackers.
I started having seizure symptoms with it so I had to also take Ativan. I’ve had 2 naps today and one yesterday and a lot of sleep as my body tries to adjust.
I’m not sure how much caffeine I was used to be over 200 in the morning, and I think 500 was the sweet spot to function during the day.
Later that day….a few more crackers to take ibuprofen
So I think this is a little irregular and it did come back down, more or less – tomorrow back to no crackers with ibuprofen and hopefully no seizure issues and I’ll be on the fast track to no more crazy amount of caffeine in my day just smooth sailing on electrolyte water.
NOVEMBER 7th 2025
- Weight: 178lbs
- Blood pressure: 117/70
- NO BENADRYL! (huge)
- NO COFFEE! (also huge!)
- NO DAIRY
To be fair – I didn’t eat a lot of these. 2 per day was my usual except the first day I gave up coffee which I allowed myself a little extra space. There was one day I was really sick to my stomach and had some saltine crackers – this was the result – a pegged out meter running over 250 mg/dL.
I don’t make the enzymes to digest FODMAPs or Galactose – or not enough which includes the polyols that are used to sweeten these candies so in addition to making my sugar go insanely high – not spike just go up and stay in the stratosphere – I had problems with my GI.
Anyway, the candy is banished. I still have one Coke Zero per day but I’ll be giving that up soon. I gave up coffee because I couldn’t figure out how to put creamer in it without having problems. I can’t eat dairy and I don’t eat seed oils so ?? Tallow? Bacon Fat? Not too appealing so I gave it up. I have slept all week and feel better now. I guess at my age and health I just can’t drink coffee.
Giving up coffee and dairy this week was huge for me. I didn’t do OMAD because I figured it was stressful enough as it was. Coffee is a major morning ritual for me. A real source of comfort and I guess a source of never getting a good nights sleep along with its coconspirator Benadryl.
We have a Chef Store in town and I dropped by and bought a box of steak. Will see if they are any good.
“The big four processors in the U.S. beef sector are: Cargill (CARG.UL), a global commodity trader based in Minnesota; Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N), opens new tab, the chicken producer that is the biggest U.S. meat company by sales; Brazil-based JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), opens new tab, the world’s biggest meatpacker; and National Beef Packing Co (NBEEF.UL), which is controlled by Brazilian beef producer Marfrig Global Foods SA (MRFG3.SA), opens new tab.” -Reuters
Smithfield is operated by China but they’re mostly processing pork.
Anyway, I’m pretty happy with progress this week. I took off my last CGM so now I’m running blind as to my blood sugars. I will check in soon.
VITAMIN C, THE HIDDEN ANSWER?
*Background: I stopped taking all vitamins because I had neuropathy in my feet which HURT. Upon ceasing vitamins, my feet felt a little better each day (more or less) to where I did not need a cane. However – my seizures, controlled by Vitamin C, came back along with joint pain and crushing fatigue – might be correlation and not causation, although the C and seizures usually go together.*
Glucose (sugar) blocks vitamin C uptake.
Not enough vitamin C = obesity and illness.
GLUT-1 transport – both C and glucose relies on INSULIN
GLUT-1 has more affinity for glucose and C gets left behind.
“Vitamin C may also aid in the cellular utilization of magnesium.”
“A number of studies show positive correlations between vitamin C deficiency and hypertension or type 2 diabetes.”
Is Obesity is an expression of low-intake of anti-oxidants and over consumption of anti-nutrients?
“Anti-nutritional factors in legumes and cereals can inhibit nutrient absorption.” (anti-nutrients)
Glucose and vitamin C share the same cellular uptake pathway via the GLUT-1 receptor.
Since GLUT-1 has a higher affinity for glucose, elevated blood sugar levels can outcompete vitamin C for entry into cells, reducing its absorption and effectiveness—especially in immune cells that require high vitamin C levels
Did Covid-19 knock out people’s Vitamin C, and is that part of the current real pandemic of sick people everywhere?
“COVID-19 has been associated with significantly decreased vitamin C levels, particularly in hospitalized and critically ill patients.”
Studies show that 36% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had hypovitaminosis C (low levels), and 15% had outright deficiency upon admission.”
“In ICU patients, 94% had undetectable or very low vitamin C levels, with non-survivors having half the plasma levels of those who survived.”
Does Vitamin C Help in Weight Loss?
“vitamin C status oxidize 30% more fat during a moderate exercise bout than individuals with low vitamin C status”
“vitamin C depleted individuals may be more resistant to fat loss“
Lion Diet Until December 28th 2025
I don’t know what is up with me. Joint pain. Crushing fatigue. I feel like shit. One thing that changed were my eggs and the quality of eggs I could buy. Everyone in the house stopped eating them. I kept switching brands but still am not happy with their quality. So maybe it’s eggs, idk. I’m going to eat:
BEEF, SALT, WATER
Take some vitamin C and magnesium (but not the gummies)
Salt is to taste and added after cooking, just enough – not too much
My hope is to do this for six weeks and reset so I can do more around my house etc.
NOVEMBER 18th
Weight: 177.6lbs
Blood Pressure: 119/83
Background Glucose: 100
(had a day of bad eating on November 20th after being up sick to my stomach – just couldn’t hack meat the next day. Ice cream, rice and easy to digest things. Took the hit to the glucose, back on track today.)
The Lion diet is too narrow for me and mentally I’m not too well. I think maybe some sausage and eggs aren’t the problem.
Animal Based vs. Carnivore / KETO – my very large hurdle
“When I start feeling better, I’ll go back on the diet”
Remember that? I used to do that all the time with Veganism. Sure, I’m weak, I am fatigued, I have a rash, I can’t stop farting — but I’ll just eat outside of Veganism a little bit, feel better and then back to it for all those health benefits!!!! Well, I’m doing the same thing but with Carnivore.
I’ll just eat off plan until the crushing fatigue / depression lifts and I can digest food again.
- Depression: Everyday my little app for mood gets a 😑 😑 😑 😑. a beige MEH is all I can muster. I have no energy and no excitement for life. Zero ambition. Zero drive to complete anything. It’s been weeks and weeks, when does this shit start to work? MORE SALT! MORE FAT! Yeah? How about go fuck yourselves. This isn’t working.
- 😵 ER worthy Heartburn?: I had a really bad incident waking up at midnight unable to swallow. I might have a hiatal hernia, idk – it was so scary. It hurt so bad. I wasn’t sure if I was having a heart attack or what. I took tums and sipped hot water slowly. This is after I gave up freakin’ coffee, sugar, and everything good in life to do the diet. This could be a side effect of meds. A few days before I woke up belching my meal at 3am, but I had eaten TWELVE HOURS EARLIER – my stomach had not emptied. That was another night I ended up taking the whole medicine cabinet it felt like.
- Seizures are back. Or vestibular migraine or whatever the crap I deal with, and part of that is no doubt very low dopamine, or serotonin or whatever the shit makes a person not depressed. Tried Magnesium, L-Tyrosine, L-Theanine – the usual. I even dropped the diet and tried ice cream desperate to get out of the grey hole in the ground and feel any sort of excitement for life.
- CRUSHING FATIGUE. I have so much I want to do but all I can do is sit in my fucking chair trapped into an existence where I don’t have the energy to even read a book. Sometimes I don’t have energy to watch Youtube, or if I do it’s THE WEATHER. The god damn weather. I have no energy to engage in anything else. My brain has no juice. My muscles has no juice.
✅ I did lose weight though – and that’s good. About 10lbs
✅ My blood pressure came down (a little too low) and that’s good. My lowest bp was like 102/68 – was I even alive? And yes, I was really dizzy. (I was using a celtic sea salt from France that although it tastes salty I suspect is lower in sodium then ye’ old table salt. I had to go Morton on my dizzy issue and it fixed it.)
✅ Generally improved my blood sugar each time I was careful to avoid anything “sugar free” which hit my sugar for over all highs much worse than actual sugar or honey. It just gently raised the curve up and kept it up for hours, days. No spike, but much worse like insulin can’t get rid of it.
✅ At first initially I had energy and was very mellow (then it turned into irritation and being grouchy all the time.
Vegans have faux meat. 😵. Full of oils and bullshit.
Carnivores have faux sweets.😵. Full of diabetes / cancer causing bullshit
Both groups have representatives with full blown eating disorders. Underweight and still doing one meal a day and only eating 5 times a week and a few of those meals are a single tin of sardines, mental.
Kinda tells me that the human diet needs both meat and carbohydrate. God, I hate saying that. You know how much I fucking loved the simplicity of just eating meat? Fucking loved it. Ketosis sounds like a super power (why isn’t it working for me?)
I know that orange juice 🧡 helps my seizures so I typed in – is there a diet that will allow me to just eat meat and drink orange juice???
I found Animal Based Diet
Have your steak and orange juice too – and you don’t have to eat 70% fat. You just eat food. Whole real food. That’s all.
MOVEMENT is far more consistently beneficial for metabolic health than staying in ketosis. Youtuber idiots say that the brain prefers ketones and leave out lactate which is favored by several organs including the brain. They also leave out how tumors can switch between fuels and produce their own. You won’t starve cancer on the KETO diet.
Ketosis is:
- a tool
- sometimes helpful
- sometimes overhyped
- not necessary for most metabolic improvements
Movement is:
- universally beneficial
- improves glucose handling
- improves lactate handling
- improves mitochondrial capacity
- reduces blood sugar spikes
- reduces fatty liver risk
- improves mood, cognition, stress
- improves metabolic flexibility
Movement makes your whole metabolic system more adaptable, which is the real goal — not “ketosis at all costs.”
Metabolism isn’t about one fuel source.
It’s about flexibility and flow.
Glucose → lactate → glucose
Fat → ketones → CO₂
Protein → amino acids → TCA cycle
Lactate → pyruvate → fuel
Ketones → acetyl-CoA → fuel
The body uses whatever keeps the machine running smoothly.
NOVEMBER 24th Incorporating more movement, Tai Chi etc. feeling better. Went back to coffee and benadryl. I couldn’t control my depression. My fasting glucose is still high. I think it might always be high. I don’t think a stricter diet is where it is at right now. I eat two meals a day of mostly protein.
NOVEMBER 26th
Re-skimming, “Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution”
updated edition — this fellow was an engineer first. Then a medical doctor. He may have even taken a financial hit trying to put forth a diet and management of diabetes. If there is one doctor who is legitimate and not a flim-flam scammer it would be Dr. Bernstein who despite of Type 1 Diabetes is living proof his ideas work.
I believe I will have to add back in some vegetables (gross) because my stomach is an acidic mess with slow emptying after a heavy meal of fat / meat. I think a nice butter lettuce salad with tuna / mayo and pickle might be okay. Maybe some pork belly with bell pepper. It doesn’t have to be much, just a little neutral element. I’ve been fighting a terrible mood / depression. It’s made a bit worse by not having heat in the house and at the beginning of a long winter. I’m already cold and I have three more months of this shit. Well, it is what it is. I owe so much damn money in doctor bills. Feeling a bit hopeless these days but I’m probably just wallowing in self-pity and bitterness like life cheated me on account I didn’t work hard at anything.
