Cold and Flu While Carnivore

I've heard it said that the carnivore diet is so strong and beneficial for optimal health that you'll rarely get ill or that the illness will pass much quicker than it would if eating a standard American diet. I believe there is truth to this because the standard American diet is not optimal and I believe it's making Americans ill. And not just acutely ill, such as the cold and flu, but chronically ill like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, PCOS, etc.

As I write this, I'm in my fourth week of the Carnivore Cure elimination diet and I wound up getting sick. I felt a scratch in the back of my throat start coming and my nose was "off", like there was a different way it smells when I blew my nose. Sure enough, later that night I ended up with a mild fever (like, under 100), some aches, and fatigue. Bummer. One of the things that upset me the most was that I wasn't sure of the best ways to combat the cold and flu while on carnivore. As soon as I take any kind of over the counter medication I will be throwing off the gut with the ingredients of the meds and it feels like all the work I've done for the past month will be in vein. I could do the option of just suffering through it waiting for my body to do its thing, but I'm a bit of a baby with pain and discomfort. The first night, I woke every 2 hours because of the pain in my throat. By the morning, I was achy, tired, and it was hard to drink water because swallowing hurt, so I decided to take some action.

Here's the thing though, I had options. I could just dump everything and forget all the work I've done and just do whatever feels most comforting from meds to food, I can bend a little take some meds, but stay on track with my foods, or I can just stay on track with the foods and skip the meds. I ultimately decided for the second option and here's what that looked like: I took some meds, but unfortunately I don't know of the cleanest options out there. I also got some throat lozenges and throat spray, but opted for the cleaner option with Beekeepers Naturals. Lastly, I decided to have a couple of food items that would soothe my throat, even though they aren't carnivore. Yes, I'll get some hate for this, but I want to be honest and transparent. I had some lemon water with honey (fresh squeezed lemon and honey from honey comb) and a small amount of Ice Cream for Bears Honey Honey. Other than those items, I remained carnivore. I decided not to completely throw everything I've been working on down the drain. Trust me, I had some thoughts about other comfort food, but my progress is more important than those cravings.

Perhaps this is too much information, but I also knew I was going to have adverse effects from the medications. The Alka-Seltzer I took has ingredients I haven't consumed for a long time, such as red #40, yellow #6, flavors, maltodextrin, and sucralose, just to name a few and don't get me started on the ingredients that I don't even know what they are. I am 95% sure that I ended up with diarrhea before dinner because of consuming this medication. While it helped the throat (by reducing the symptom pain), it was messing up the gut. It wasn't the biggest explosion of my life by any means, but it was accompanied by some stomach cramps leading up to the event. So, trust and believe, my decision to take these meds was not without consequence when I've been eating so clean for the past month.

Having a cold and flu while carnivore is frustrating, but it's part of life. I'm disappointed that I felt ill enough to take meds and succumbed to the ill feelings, but I'm very proud that I didn't throw everything down the drain. In the past, getting sick was a reason for comfort food and to eat however I wanted. This time, I stayed in a way of eating that was not completely devastating and one that I felt comfortable with. As someone who has had a rocky relationship with food, it's exciting to not be overtaken nor afraid of the choice I made while ill.