Eating little else aside from animal products for the past four months has brought about several personal revelations. Meat, especially red meat, is NOT some unholy carcinogenic substance, completely alien to the human digestive system. These claims were oft repeated in my church, and throughout their various media propaganda outlets that I was exposed to:

Claim One – Meat Causes Inflammation – It doesn’t. Quite the opposite. I have had chronic inflammation and digestive problems my entire life, and only recently has the inflammation gone down, my skin started to clear up, etc.

Claim Two – Meat Increases Risk for Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer – Again, they’ve got the wrong killer. Since I’ve cut out nearly all sugars and carbohydrates, the formerly poor circulation to my left foot has improved drastically. (I was not diabetic, nor pre-diabetic.) All of the supposed evidence linking red meat consumption with cancer is based upon epidemiological studies, which are not controlled scientific studies performed in a lab. Rather, they look at trends amongst massive populations, with hardly any control factors applied, and they can essentially draw whatever politically-motivated conclusion they choose. (Vegetarians and Vegans are generally more health-conscious compared to the general omnivorous population, but that does not necessarily mean meat is the villain. What about processed food? McDonalds fast-food is mostly plant-based, etc. There are all sorts of confounding factors.)  For the studies that actually practiced some lab science, the figure below boils down the essence, or spirit, of the cherry-picked research used by the politically biased World Health Organization.

Claim Three – Meat Rots in the Gut, Causing Disease – What a bold-faced lie. When I started eating nothing but meat for the first time in my life, I was blown away by how beautifully meat digests in the gut. I can put away a three-pound steak and my stomach will still be flat. I would dare say that nothing digests better, and more easily, than meat. It digests so well, in fact, that there’s hardly anything left by the time that food reaches the colon. There are people who live without a colon, and they have to use a colostomy bag to catch their waste from digestion. Doctors and nurses who work with these patients never see a piece of undigested meat in the bag. It’s always partially digested vegetables, grains, or legumes. Humans can actually live without a colon and get all of their nutrition from meat. True herbivore animals cannot survive without their colon, which is responsible for the majority of their digestion. Humans are not cows! We are not primarily gut-fermenters.

Conveniently, all of this nutritional science was left out of my education growing up and I went about parroting these bullshit claims. When someone is very much thoroughly brainwashed, as I was, the effort required to pull such a person out of that web of lies is Herculean in its scope. Usually, that deluded sob must hit rock-bottom before they can even begin to entertain an alternative view. That’s what happened to me. It started with religion, but it seems that the diet was more deeply ingrained than even the theological convictions.

My rotting teeth set me off on the journey of challenging the plant-based worldview. I have always had bad teeth, despite avoiding sweets and never drinking soda. The dentist would ask, “Are you eating lots of candy? Don’t you brush?” I would look up and smile, “No, sir! Just fruits, vegetables, and grains. And I brush everyday.” There seemed to be no explanation for my mouth full of cavities. Dad postulated that our food supply must be so devoid of nutrition that we weren’t getting the right minerals for strong teeth. He was actually somewhat right in his assessment, but not in the way he would have wanted to be correct… as all Adventists are fond of being: Correct, “Just you wait until those seven deadly plagues begin to fall! You’ll see! You’ll wish you went to church on Saturday!” Their covert narcissism barely concealed. I digress.

Everything came crashing down in the summer of 2018. A bottom-right molar tooth cracked without warning. My gut was filled with parasites, bacterial overgrowth, (SIBO) and candida. I couldn’t digest food without belching a gas that smelled like rotten eggs, and having either diarrhea or constipation. My joints were aching and I reached the point where I couldn’t even run anymore. I was a mess.

Naturally, poor Catherine was often on the receiving-end of my frustrations, “You’ve been filling me with parasites!” I grumbled while loading up on carbs. I felt bad for accusing her… again. She’s been the scapegoat so often, it’s getting to be old-hat. And so often, she’s proven to be innocent. I knew in my heart that there had to be something else behind all of this.

Despite being on all kinds of expensive medicines, organic supplements, parasite cleansers, garlic, and what I thought was a fairly healthy diet, my situation only got worse. My biggest concern was for my teeth. They were in rough shape and I wanted to save them more than anything else. We’re only allowed two sets of them in this life, after all.

It was time to pull out the big guns. Pooling all of my money and savings, I built a war chest to fix my teeth. The work I had done was so extensive that it took about four months to finish my restoration. Thousands of dollars later, all of my mercury fillings were removed and replaced with advanced “biomimetic” composites. All decay was cleaned out and expertly rebuilt. I only lost the cracked tooth to a root canal, which is now topped with a crown; indistinguishable from the other teeth.

In addition to the advanced techniques I sought out for my restoration, I also searched for the ideal diet to build strong teeth. Overwhelmingly, the evidence pointed towards a ketogenic, low-carb diet. Leaving out carbohydrates was the anti-tooth decay regimen which enabled many indigenous tribes to have perfect teeth, especially compared to the rotting oral mess associated with Westerners. I was finally forced to take meat-eating seriously for the first time in my life.

I began to teach myself how to cook meat properly. My portions were very simple, mainly beef, eggs, and organ meat. The first few weeks brought about radical changes, as my body shifted its composition in response to the new proteins and fats. Deprived of sugar to feed on, my metabolism morphed into a fat-burning mode. The last of the parasites which had been plaguing me for more than a year finally abandoned ship, as their food source, sugar, had dried up.

My nervous system changed, grew stronger, and more pliable. The touch of my succubus no longer triggered muscle twitching as often as it once did. The back pain that I often experienced during stressful events never came back. (I used to blame that on Catherine, too!) My joints became liquid smooth and I could run again. I don’t have the overwhelming urge to burn off loads of energy anymore, as my metabolism has leveled out. No more spikes and crashes. So I’m not quite as active as I used to be, but still maintaining a healthy weight nonetheless.

Most importantly: My teeth remineralized. They are no longer sensitive to hot or cold. I find that I can get away with flossing and dry-brushing them most days, and skipping the toothpaste. My gums are also growing back, no longer receding, and they never bleed.

No, I’m not constipated. Everyone asks this; especially vegans. I’ve found that fiber has become more of a hindrance than a help in digestion, and my plumbing works better without it. I’m not radically carnivorous in the sense that I’ve sworn off all plant-based foods, but meat is the staple of what I eat now. When Thanksgiving and Christmas come around, I’m still going to eat veggies, pie, and potatoes with the family. (And turkey, of course.) No zealotry here. I would never say everyone needs to become carnivorous, or go low-carb, but it has certainly changed my health for the better.

Catherine has been vindicated, once again.