Sugar is Delightful

Sugar is delightful. I'll be the first to say it because I love it so much. It's tasty and it makes me feel good. Depending on how much I have at once, I don't have crazy side effects...or so I thought until I started to pay attention. I once thought that I have to over indulge in sweets in one sitting to notice adverse effects, but in my recent health journey, I've been tracking symptoms and paying more attention to how I feel and noticed that sugar seems to be associated with multiple negative side effects, such as acne, weight gain, and general inflammation just to name a few. Though I've been getting in tune with my body for almost a decade, tracking the symptoms is a new part of my healing journey. Seeing the information on paper is helping me learn how my body reacts to different foods and this is an important lesson for understanding what is most healing for my own bio-individuality. 

Seeing the information on paper is helping me learn how my body reacts to different foods and this is an important lesson for understanding what is most healing for my own bio-individuality. 

At the time I write this, I am about three weeks into being carnivore. Legit, I've only eaten meat, butter, ghee, and salt over the last 3 weeks along with mineral water and Raw LMNT Electrolytes. I'm progressing through the Carnivore Cure elimination diet, so I'm even introducing various kinds of meat slowly, but it also means I've had NO SUGAR, or sugar alternatives, for almost three weeks. Seriously. At this point, I can start to see how different I feel from this significant diet change. The last time I went keto, I still indulged with stevia, and looking back, I think that was part of the problem. I still thought about sugar, carbs, and other sweets fairly regularly, which made it difficult to stick to the diet for more than 5 months. This time, it's absolutely no carbs or sources of sugar for a minimum of 5 weeks, and likely even longer because I'd rather introduce other foods into my diet before attempting to try sugar. 

My intent of starting the Carnivore Cure elimination diet wasn't to get rid of sugar, rather it was to learn which foods I am most sensitive to in order to know which ones to avoid. This requires me to track how I feel and what symptoms I encounter, both in the mind and the body. I've been focusing a lot on the mind with this elimination diet once I learned how there can be a significant positive impact from being in ketosis on mental health. I've struggled with mild depression off and on over the years and more recently I've had consistent anxiety. Not enough to truly hinder my daily life, but enough that I feel it in my chest, stomach, and hands. It's there and it's heavy, but I know I have to push through. Excitedly, I can confidently say after being carnivore for 3 weeks, my diet has a significant impact on my mental health. During the past three weeks, I've had only 2 days where my emotions were a little more volatile, but on average, I am more chill, calm, and don't feel the weight of anxiety like I did when I was over consuming carbs. Sure, it's only three weeks in, but I still feel this is significant and I need to acknowledge and celebrate the good health that comes from eating in such an extreme way. I need to remember how this feels when it gets hard to stick to the diet, because feeling this good is worth it. I'm so curious to see how my mental health will progress as I continue with no carbs. And once I'm far enough along, what will happen if I introduce carbs? This is why tracking is important. It's good to know where you are so that you know where you're going. 

I'm learning that it's not okay to tolerate feeling like crap.

I'm in the boat of people who have to be more extreme to see consequential positive health impacts from the way I eat. Switching to whole foods alone helped, but it wasn't enough. So, I'm trying the Carnivore Cure to establish a baseline and see what foods I can thrive on and what foods I cannot. I'm learning that it's not okay to tolerate feeling like crap. This life is short and we should be thriving. We can get a lot of resources back, but time is not one of those and our health is a critical part as to whether or not we will truly enjoy the time we have. Yes, it can feel quite odd to be the person only eating meat, and with lots of salt and fat, but if that's what I need to do to have optimal health, it's worth it. I'm currently in the healing and resilience building stage, so I have a long way to go before I feel my best most of the time, but I'm glad to be making these changes. While I love sugar, cutting it out has been one of the best things I've done for myself for a long time. Maybe one day I'll try out some sugar again, but I'll consider that later. As hard as it is to remind myself, I am worthy of healing and deserve good things too.