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Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Hello!

I usually just lurk here but I just want to say thanks for a superb forum and to share a little bit of my story.

I am a 19 year old male from Sweden

Almost 3 years ago I developed some health issues, it started with really severe acne along with a depression. Around this time I started searching the web for dietary answers to my acne problem and that resulted in some sort of low GI paleo style diet, good intentions - bad results. This diet was sadly lacking in saturated fat and red meat. Eventually this diet caused me to develop IBS and ended up becoming an eating disorder. I looked like a living skeleton and felt more dead than alive.

Then by some miracle I ended up looking at WAPF, Barry Groves site (I think he was the one that really opened my eyes), Kwasniewski, Bear etc. and ended up at the big swedish low carb forum and got all the help I needed from there.

My diet consist of mainly red meat, tallow, bone marrow and bone stock, some butter and a few LC veggies(I try to choose the least toxic ones, thank you adwred <3) For some reason I need a small amount of fiber or my bowels start acting up, I eat like 2-3 g fiber per day. Once or twice a week I have some chicken or salmon. Only supplements are cod liver oil, vitamin-D in the winter and tiny pinch of pure vit-C when I can remember it.

It was about one year ago since I started eating a very low carb diet and today all of my previous health problems have more or less vanished. I went from 50- something to 76 kg all lean mass. I feel stronger and healthier than ever before in my life. My skin problems have gone away and my confidence has skyrocketed. I have recently started to train some muay thai and I perform better than ever and have gained more muscles than ever even without carbs.

I want to share some pictures of my physical improvement. I hope the links work (I posted these on the swedish LC boards.) The first pic is not even at my lowest weight so you get the picture.

http://kolhydrater.ifokus.se/Show...p;Filename=Spinkig%20Glennart.jpg

http://kolhydrater.ifokus.se/Show...;Filename=Glennart%2019%20feb.jpg

This diet WORKS. Sunny

ReddyMcMeaty · The Boss Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 5776

Hi and welcome! The pics say it all.. that is an improvement to be really proud of.
_________________
"Man lives on one quarter of what he eats. On the other three quarters lives his doctor."

adwred · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject:

Welcome! Amazing job on the weight gain. Your body is visibly healthier. Yup

_________________
I'm a vegetable-eater by proxy. I make sure to get 5-10 servings of herbivore per day.

woof_woof · Carnivore King Joined: 11 Sep 2006 Posts: 796

Good work.
Muay thai is a wonderful art.
_________________
Sex and violence

If you don't live for something, You'll die for nothing.

Puma · Hunter Joined: 02 Nov 2007 Posts: 180

Wow, you look a lot better off! I haven't completely rid myself of my acne, but it's been improving eating the same way you do. It's good to see such huge improvements in someone else in the same(similar) boat...makes me feel a little more hopeful. Nice work man!

meatISawesome369 · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

This is awesome! Great job and welcome!

Stephen

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Smile

Woof - Muay thai is awesome, so far I probably look more like a dancing clown than a fighter but Im learning alot. Do you practice any martial arts?

Puma - My acne has gone from severe (cysts and stuff all over face and back) to very mild, I still get the odd spot but I consider myself "cured" compared to what I looked like before.

Of course I still have some scars but they are fading nicely, I think this diet is very nourishing to the skin. I know people who have reported spontaneous healing of old scars when switching to animal food based diet.

Nicola · Top Cat Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 379

Thanks, this is how I can learn to understand "my" diet. I have found many stories on the yahoo groups; they helped me change from cooked to raw.

You don't mention if you eat cooked or raw? You still like a bit of carbs in the form of plant fiber. As I understand it's fiber that fermenting bacteria live on in the colon (they ferment carbs and this acid goes back in to the blood system). What do you mean "my bowels start acting up"?

What is your opinion about salt?

Thank you for your open way of thinking and sending your pictures ot success Wink

.

Nicola

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Nicky,

My diet is mostly cooked medium rare - medium. Fish and chicken fully cooked. Raw meat gives me severe diarrhea and comes out undigested. It makes me very ill.

For some reason I get loose stools If I don't eat a small amount of fiber. I always make sure my vegetables are well cooked. I don't think this is a "detox" kind of thing that happens when the fermentative bacteria dies, I have tried going vegetable free for a month and it did not stop. Perhaps some day my bowel will heal to the point that I can tolerate a fiber free diet but for now I will have to keep a small amount of vegetables.

I use moderate amounts of natural salt on my meals. I think the salt or no salt is a very individual thing, I seem to do better with some salt. I don't use any other spices, far to irritating for my bowels.

woof_woof · Carnivore King Joined: 11 Sep 2006 Posts: 796

I train MT when time allows for a few years now. But at the moment it's just for keeping me in shape.
But I'm older then you so most of my time is divided between making money and meeting women. Wink

Stick to this diet and feel fortunate that you discovered it so early.
Good luck.
_________________
Sex and violence

If you don't live for something, You'll die for nothing.

Carne Vorare · Top Cat Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 363

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

jl53563 · Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject:

Thanks for sharing. Great story. I wish i had discovered this way of eating at such a young age.

Carne Vorare · Top Cat Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 363

Nicola · Top Cat Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 379

Glennart I have been trying to work out a picture: raw meat comes out undigested and cooked get's digested? Well that would make no stool. You need vegetable fibre for a "normal" movement; others say they need a lot of fat and you are eating a lot of fat? Perhaps you don't need to go to the bathroom every day?

Carne Vorare do you eat fiber or is this just when you don't think you have had enough fat?

What do you mean with "I stopped washing them befor preparation and I do not add water"? Are you talking about raw? Is this to do with getting sick or what?

Nicola

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Nicky - When I eat raw meat I get very sick and eventually go to the bathroom and find actual pieces of meat coming out of me undigested, it's still red. Very unpleasant.

When I eat cooked meat I have normal stool and no abdominal pain.

When I eat zero fiber but still eat cooked meat I have normal colored stool but I get loose stool or diarrhea and slight pain.

I hope that explains it. I really don't wish to discuss the whole cooked vs. raw thing here, there are other threads for that purpose.

Nicola · Top Cat Joined: 21 Mar 2007 Posts: 379

Sorry, every body understands digestion from teeth to bathroom the same way as we understand diet:

I will have to go threw this a few times; it's interesting and worth posting for others...

http://www.fibermenace.com/dis/evolution.html

Carne Vorare · Top Cat Joined: 24 Oct 2007 Posts: 363

Galeron · Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:09 am Post subject:

We share such a similar story, Glennart. My IBS started shortly before adopting the Loren Cordain Paleo Diet, and unfortunately got MUCH worse after adopting that diet, mostly from all the sweet and very fibrous fruit I was eating, and also all the CANOLA OIL I was cooking with (nightmare, I know).

Like you, because this diet was so lacking in saturated fats, it eventually lead to me developing many traits of someone with an eating disorder... becoming vegetarian, then vegan, and then fruitarian (yikes). Sweet fruit is probably one of the most addictive things I've ever come across in my life. For days I used to live on mashed ripened bananas alone. I would buy 5 and 6 hands of bananas at a time. In short, it pretty much lead to constant hunger and binge related eating, and a very obvious decline in health (hair was falling out from my head, I was the most thin I've ever been before, and eventually developed pleurisy - a lung tissue problem - from the lack of fats in my diet).

I am mostly struggling with loose stools and diarrhea a lot. My guess is that my intestinal bacterial flora is all messed up. If I eat a little fiber or veggies here and there, my stools tend to normalize and become soft, but formed.

I've tried acidophilus before, and it gives me formed stools, but I also think that it gives me some type of an immune reaction, which is why I suspect auto-immune disease for myself. When I continually take acidophilus probiotic, I get very wild and scary neurological symptoms like deep depression and panic and anxiety spells. Many Crohn's patients struggle with this, when their bodies turn aggressive towards their own friendly bacteria in their intestines and colon. It's like its my overwhelmed immune system trying to tell me that it is struggling or something.

I wonder if I should try a little bit of fiber again, but have always tried to limit it as much as possible (basically no plant foods for a very long time) because I have bought into the idea that it will feed pathogenic bacteria or fermentative bacteria and yeast and fungi in the digestive tract, like one of Barry Grove's articles discusses (about detox or something).

I honestly don't know what to think, and have recently just resorted to not thinking about all that stuff at all because it was driving me insane not knowing what the right answer was. But still living with bloating and loose stools and diarrhea and abdominal pain and cramping, overall a lot of digestive complaints that my doctors tell me is IBS is pretty frustrating.

I want to say that a lot of my IBS problems stem from my brain-gut connection. My chronic depression and other mood issues seem consistent with low serotonin and such, which can cause IBS related problems.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that we are very similar in our stories. I'm very glad that you have found success with the diet, for sure! You're pictures are great and certainly show an improvement indeed! Glad you are an active part of the forum here. Look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Best wishes,
Jason in OH (USA)
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VLC/high fat since 11/18/06 | 5'11'' @ 143 lbs. | Indeterminate Colitis 06/23/08 | Accutane user 8+ years ago & trying to heal | Egg/dairy free since 05/25/08

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Thanks for your novel Jason. Wink

I just graduated gymnasium school yesterday and was out all night. Slept until 4:00 p.m. It's a bit tough to get trough the posts today. Grin

Anyway I have stopped eating any veg. Since taking a good amount of HCL with my meals my stools became well formed.

I even had a perfectly normal BM today despite yesterdays food intake:

Insane amounts of alchol (mostly vodka but also some sugary junk drinks and champagne)
gluten free low carb chocolate cake with nuts (made by my mother to gratulate me <3)
Sandwich loaf toppings ( I even survived getting glutened!)

I did almost puke my stomach out this morning but still no BM problems. Im amazed.

My diet at the moment is meat (mostly pork and beef) with ghee. Almost never organ meats. Lot's of salt. I do yoghurt and other dairy as treats sometimes. I have found I tolerate eggs without digestive problems but I am uncertain if they create skin problems or not. I will try them again soon. The best tolarated carb I have found is pure sugar.

I keep feeling healthier and healthier and discover new changes in my body since adopting this diet. Im def. gonna eat mostly animal products for the rest of my life. Yup

/Glenn
_________________
"Train hard, eat lard."

ReddyMcMeaty · The Boss Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 5776

Congratulations!! Where do you go next? (After Gymnasium) and what do you want to do?
_________________
"Man lives on one quarter of what he eats. On the other three quarters lives his doctor."

Carnation · Top Carnivore Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 3586

Yes, congratulations. And what is Gymnasium, btw?

Erasmus · Hunter Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 142

High school.

Carnation · Top Carnivore Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 3586

Ah, that explains the insane amounts of alcohol! Wink

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Thanks you ladies! Congrats

I actually have to take a few more classes next semester since I was away sick last year. I have to take these few courses to be able to get in at some university.

I will educate myself further but I have not decided in what or when yet. My grades are pretty good so I have alot of possibilities. Traveling and working abroad is also something I would like to do. Since I will only be taking one semester after the summer I will be free at the start of next year. Any suggestions are welcome. Laugh

As for the summer I will be doing nothing for a few weeks then I will be working in the elderly care/home services. (Bringing readymade junkfood to their houses etc.)
_________________
"Train hard, eat lard."

Carnation · Top Carnivore Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 3586

ReddyMcMeaty · The Boss Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 5776

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Glennart · Hunter Joined: 23 Feb 2008 Posts: 135 Location: Sweden

Now you can see the silly hat I got to wear. Cool

_________________
"Train hard, eat lard."

ReddyMcMeaty · The Boss Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 5776

That is really cute. You should be something where you get to wear a cap. A pilot, sea captain, etc. it suits you!

_________________
"Man lives on one quarter of what he eats. On the other three quarters lives his doctor."