Day 23

I haven't been hungry at all today, and I don't force my body to eat if it doesn't want to. Not really worried, though: the Kalua pork I ate yesterday had a lot of fat. I might still be full from that.

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner
2.5 Italian sausages

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Water

Energy level
Really high. I got a lot of tiny little projects finished today. =)

Cravings
Peanut butter.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
There is an arched "line" across all of my nails that divides the growth during my old diet and where I began eating only animal products. The old growth (old diet) is weak and flimsy; the new growth (post-diet-change) is strong, white, and inflexible. It's insane to see the difference. No idea if the impact will actually carry over through the picture, but I hope it does.

Day 22

Anatomy crash course = no free time.
The evening of April 28th (MCAT day) will be wonderful. I won't know what to do with myself.

Breakfast
5 Brown N' Serve sausages

Lunch
Kalua Pig in a Slow Cooker.

Dinner
More Kalua Pig in a Slow Cooker
Coffee

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Coffee
Water

Energy level
Back to normal. Well, the new normal, which is higher than pre-meat-diet.

Cravings
Tossed the chocolate in the bottom of the bin I'm giving to my mum. Out of sight, out of mind. =)

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
While studying this evening, I suddenly decided to give up coffee completely. This is how my mind works. An idea will sit in the back of my head for a while, and then suddenly I'll make a decision.

So that's it. No more coffee. It's probably a good thing -- it upsets my stomach, even if I dilute it with heavy cream, and gives me hyper-active energy. I really don't like that jittery, speed-rush feeling. Hopefully I'll be back to normal after a few weeks of excess tiredness. As a side note, this happens because caffeine binds to adenosine receptors in your brain (adenosine binding to adenosine receptors is what makes you sleepy). When you drink caffeine frequently, your body ups the number of adenosine receptors to compensate. Then, when you quit cold turkey, you have way too many adenosine receptors in your brain -- making you feel more sleepy more often. Eventually the number restabilises, and you're back to normal. There's your science note for the day!

Day 21

I got an amazing deal on a pork shoulder last night: 9lbs for just over $10. I put it in a CrockPot overnight -- started at 11pm, ended around 1:30pm -- and it turned out delicious! The recipe I used is linked below.

Breakfast
5 Brown N' Serve sausages

Lunch
I slept through lunch.

Dinner
Some Kalua Pig in a Slow Cooker.

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Coffee
Water

Energy level
I slept a lot today. Not sure if I need to eat more fat than I have been (for more energy), or if it's just due to stress.

Cravings
N/a

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
No symptoms, besides the tiredness.

Day 20

Study study study.

Breakfast
5 Brown N' Serve sausages (*See overview below)

Lunch
"Steak." Nom.
About 1/2-inch thick by 1.5-inches long slice of Cracker Barrel Vermont white cheddar cheese
Coffee (while studying)

Dinner
"Steak"

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Coffee
Water.

Energy level
Impressive. I went to bed around 3am last night, and still naturally (no alarms/no sunlight cues) woke up slightly before 10am. Yay.

Cravings
That pile of chocolate. Still. Throwing it away is sounding better and better.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
This much pre-processed food (lots of "heat and eat" sausage, for example) can't be good for me. However, I promised myself at the beginning that I could have whatever I wanted -- as long as it's meat. Some members of the zero carb forum I lurk at/occasionally post on have mentioned their tastes changed over time, where bacon now seems too salty and meat tastes wonderful on its own (no spices). Hopefully I will get there, because right now I'm focused more on eating only meat and getting rid of Crohn's disease, and less on what the processed food's preservatives are doing to my body.

Day 19

In a rush; quick post.

Breakfast
2 college-student "steaks" because yes, yes they are really that good.

Lunch
A lot of heavy cream (maybe 1/4 of a cup?)

Dinner
Another "steak"
About 1/2-inch thick by 1.5-inches long slice of Cracker Barrel Vermont white cheddar cheese
Coffee (while studying)

Midnight study snack
5 Brown N' Serve sausages

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Coffee
Heavy cream. Mmmmm.

Energy level
Needed a nap in the middle of the day (around 7pm) and was out cold for about two hours. Otherwise, wonderful.

Cravings
That pile of chocolate sitting in the box to give to my mother. Ugh. Maybe I should just throw it away so I'm not tempted.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Whoo getting lots of studying done! Otherwise, nothing new to report.

Day 18 (whoops!)

So, guess who got behind on her MCAT studying (hint: me). That resulted in a self-imposed ban of "fun" internet until I got caught up again. There's been not much new in the past four days, though. I ate meat, drank sparkling water and heavy cream, and studied almost eleven hours each day. My Crohn's has been basically non-existant, and.... now you're caught up.


To get back on track with the two-month-long food diary:

Breakfast
3 slices of bacon. It kind of tasted funny, so I didn't eat it all.
A café creme with only one shot of espresso

Lunch
The most amazing college-student steak I've ever had in my life. I took pictures while making it, so look for a how-to-make-it post soon.

Mid-day studying
Coffee
Some jerky

Dinner


Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Coffee
Café creme with more cream than coffee.

Energy level
Ridiculous as of late. Yesterday during study breaks, I reorganised the entire kitchen, boxed up food (the canned soups/canned milks/pantry "staples" that I'll no longer be using) to either give to my Mum or take to the food bank. Outside of that, I studied for 9 hours and still had energy to hang out with friends in the evening. Sheesh.

Cravings
More steak!

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Here's a strange thing. I used to buy lots of high-quality imported chocolate when visiting home (we have a lot of quaint specialty shops for things like chocolate, coffee, spices, and so on) and store them in my pantry here. Yesterday, while sorting all the stuff to get rid of, I came across a Ziploc bag holding one square of a Brazilian 90% Cacao chocolate bar. Nice, high-quality chocolate. Without thinking, I popped the square in my mouth to "finish the bag off." It was nasty. The chocolate hadn't gone bad -- I mean, the taste was still what I remembered in my brain -- my body simply completely rejected it. So I did the only sensible thing and spit the square into the trash.

That's not all. A few seconds later, my throat started itching. Then my whole mouth started to dry out. Aaaaand then my throat started to tighten -- not drastically, but enough to be noticeable. I spent the next three minutes alternating between cough spasms and chugging water.

Weird, huh? This is purely theoretical, but here's my guess on what's happening. When your body senses an invader anywhere in your body, it ramps up your "anti-invader" antibodies. After the invader is defeated, your body stops production of anti-invader antibodies and returns to a new baseline (a low level, but a higher concentration of anti-invader antibodies in your blood than before the invasion). But, if the invader returns within a certain window of time, your body ramps up anti-invader antibodies to an even higher level than during the first attack. This is why hepatitis vaccines, for example, are given in a series.

I'm wondering if my body naturally attacks carbohydrates (for example, in my intestines -- which then get caught in the crossfire? Hm.), and since I've never taken a break from them before, I've never noticed. Then, when I let my body return to its "new baseline" (the 17 days without carbs let my body think it had "won"), it majorly overreacted to what it thought was the "invader" trying to make a comeback. That resulted in the classic food-allergy reaction + psuedo-anaphylaxis-symptoms.

Weird.

Day 14

Remember the crazy storm I (well, my ankle) predicted? It happened yesterday (Day 13), as I was walking to class. Nothing like white sheets of windy sideways rain that's coming down so hard it's bouncing off the sidewalk. Hurrah. Unrelated, I missed yesterday's post. Sorry about that.

Breakfast
Sausage, quickly made before rushing to class

Lunch
2 hot 'n spicy flavour Kroger brand italian sausages (I should post a how-to-cook, shouldn't I? Look for it Friday)

Dinner
Coffee (not really hungry)

Midnight snack
2 small (~4oz each) hamburgers

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Coffee

Energy level
Good, particularly since I'm running on 6 hours of sleep for the second night in a row (brutal MCAT study schedule + class + homework for class = no sleep + no Day 13 update).

Cravings
Non-specific "sweet" desire, again.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Three things:
    1. I'm amazed at how my tastes are changing. Both yesterday and today I had standard hamburgers made from regular ground beef, and they tasted sweet. Not sweet like a cupcake, but savory-sweet and absolutely delicious! If the taste of meat is only going to improve from now onward, I'm looking forward to a ribeye from the amazing butcher in my hometown. Guess that's one reason to plan a visit home. =P
     2. I've had a pounding headache all day. Since headaches are a typical Crohn's symptom for me, I kind of feel obligated to report it. However, my boyfriend has also had an awful headache all day, and we're both blaming ours on pressure changes after yesterday's crazy weather.
   3. My nails seem to be getting stronger. A lot stronger. Stronger/whiter/thicker nails usually indicates better nutrient absorption. If nutrients are being absorbed better, that seems to infer my intestines are healthier and less inflamed. To me, at least, this is a sign that my body is slowly healing itself. Whooo!

Future note slightly related to #3: At the six month mark, I'll be getting cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and vitamin panel bloodwork drawn, to confirm to friends/family/curious blog readers that I'm perfectly healthy on only meat. For now, nail strength is enough for me. =P

Day 12

Breakfast
Sausage
Half of a café creme (other half put in fridge for later), with extra heavy cream added.

Lunch
2 hot 'n spicy flavour Kroger brand italian sausages (Kroger has them super cheap this week!)

Dinner
Other half of the café creme

Late-night movie-snacking stress-eating deliciousness
8 Brown 'N Serve brand hot and spicy sausages (I'm really on a sausage kick. No idea why.)
Some beef jerky
A small amount of Cracker Barrel brand Vermont white cheddar cheese
Heavy cream

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Café creme
About 3 oz heavy cream (one big serving)

Energy level
Physically and mentally much better than yesterday. I think my mind is slowly getting used to the idea that carbohydrates aren't a part of my body any more. In a few weeks (about 5 weeks from now, once the "food diary" portion of this blog is complete), I plan to write a detailed post about how your body can run on fat + protein alone. Until then, the quick and sweet: you will feel a small drop in cognitive and physical function for anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks while it does something called "ketoadaptation."

The physical drop happens because your body needs time to respond to its environment. It's not sure whether you just ate a single fat-based big meal, or whether it needs to permanently ramp up production of fat + protein digesting enzymes. The more fat you ate in your old diet, the faster you'll feel normal. After some time, you'll actually have more energy than before, since you'll no longer have the ups and downs of an insulin-based blood sugar (the "carb high" spikes and "carb crash" lows you get after eating a lot of chocolate cake, for instance, are only the extremes. Your blood sugar actually flucates all day when you eat carbs; when you eat primarily fat + a little protein, your blood sugar is steady all day. Don't believe me? Buy a diabetic blood sugar monitor and test yourself pre-carnivorous diet and one month into a carnivorous diet).

The mental drop happens because your brain's old fuel -- glucose -- is no longer available. Your brain cannot run on fat, so for a short time, your liver will try to meet your brain's ~100g/day requirement (not 100g of any carbs, 100g of glucose specifically) through a process called gluconeogenesis. Literally translated, that process means "making new glucose." After about 7 days (there's a scientific paper to back that 7 day statement; I'll dig the URL out of Evernote and link to it when I do the big post in 5 weeks), your body will begin using ketone bodies for fuel. This is where a lot of people freak out. Ketone bodies are not bad. Again: ketone bodies are perfectly normal, and are actually a better source of fuel for your brain than glucose. Okay. Now that you're not worried about starving brain tissue: ketone bodies are... sort of.... hm. The best way to describe them are as side products of fatty acid breakdown, except they're made purposefully when you run on fat + protein exclusively. Your brain can easily turn them into fuel. They also are building blocks for some very important lipids in the brain (myelin, for science readers). After a few weeks on a low carb (or zero carb) diet, participants in a study had increased cognitive function and increased attention span (link to published paper when I do the big post in 5 weeks). That last one is particularly important to me, with the whole upcoming-5-hour-long-MCAT thing hovering over my head and all. Unrelated, it also makes me wonder about the link between ADD/ADHD & carb intake.

So why do ketone bodies get such a bad rap? Diabetics have uncontrolled ketone body production when their disease is undiagnosed or untreated. The production is so out of control that their ketone bodies reach a concentration that can lower their blood pH. That's called ketoacidosis (concentrations above... 7mmol/L, I think), and can be fatal if not caught and corrected. Regular ketosis (about 0.05 to 0.3 mmol/L) is perfectly normal, though -- in fact, it occurs every time you exercise. So chill, and enjoy your ketone bodies.

Oh a note: This is one reason why it's so important to live on fatty meat. You need the fat for fuel. Don't try and live on lean chicken breast.

Cravings
N/a.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Not Crohn's related, but I have noticed I need more water than usual. Kind of expected -- you need lots of water to break down protein.

Day 11 (and snow! ♥)

I'm out of heavy cream! It'd be a sad day, if it weren't for the snow outside.





Breakfast
Sausage (recipe posted when I make my next batch)
A "perfect" cup of coffee

Lunch
7oz baked hamburger

Dinner
7oz baked hamburger

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)

Energy level
Kind of low, compared to the way I've been feeling lately. I'll blame the late night last night + the whiskey. =)

Cravings
Chocolate.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Nothing diet-related to report. I do miss my heavy cream. =(

Unrelated to diet: Back when I competed, I was forced by a marshall to do something I told her I couldn't do.... which resulted in a few tendons in my right ankle tearing. That ankle tends to hurt in a typical arthritic pattern -- when it's about to storm really badly, when it's cold, etc. I'm hoping it means we're in for a really big snowstorm soon -- I love snow!!! ♥

Cooking Hamburger in the Oven

More pictures + flavour variations will be added later

From fresh ground beef
1. Patty out your burgers. I use this: Progressive International HPM-1 The Perfect Burger Press (yes, pretty much everything I own kitchen-wise comes from Amazon.com)

2. Line pan with a piece foil big enough to fit burger (or burgers). Bend edges of foil up to trap fat (easier clean up). Add burger.

3. Heat oven to 350F. Cook burger for 22 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 160F (I use this one and love it).

4. Let burger rest, if you want (absorbs fat), or don't. Enjoy either way!


From frozen
1. I freeze my burgers in aluminium foil, so just place frozen burger on pan. Otherwise, do the same bent-foil trick as with a fresh burger.

2. Heat oven to 350F. Cook burger for 4 minutes, then loosen aluminium foil from burger and make bent foil trap like before (if you try to loosen the frozen foil before heating it a little bit, it'll stick to the burger)

3. Cook for another 35 minutes at 250, or until meat thermometer reads 160F.

4. Let burger rest if desired.

5. Nom. (internet speak for "enjoy")

Day 10

Yesterday's post was short and sweet -- sorry. My MCAT study schedule is rather brutal. Isn't it kind of sad that I'm three months out and already studying like mad?

Anyway, two major notes and one personal "hmmmm, I wonder?....":
1. My fever blister has already healed. It was at its "goopy" (ewwwww!) healing stage by Thursday, had a nice scab yesterday (Friday), and was loose and ready to peel off around 11:30pm. That's less than a week with a cold sore -- I've had them about once every one to two years since I was three, and have never had one heal this quickly. Playing the doubting game: the immediate lysine dosage might have helped. But I've used lysine for quite a while, and fever blisters still usually take 2 weeks to clear up. And if the lysine was responsible, then eating an all-animal-product diet -- a diet high in lysine and low in arginine -- may be enough to permanently suppress the fever blister virus.

Now that would be an awesome and completely unexpected benefit to this new way of eating.

2. Apparently, I'm allergic to something in my old diet. My vote is on polysaccharides (complex carbs). Why? I (used to?) have horrible nasal congestion whenever I laid down, to the point that I needed "Breathe Right" nasal strips (they look like this) in order to breathe through my nose at night. After a few days on the SCD, I could breathe clearly; post-SCD, I was back to nasal strips. Day 4 on this way of eating, I noted that my allergies seemed to be getting better. It's not dairy (I drink cream now), and it's not just "sugar" (SCD allowed monosaccharides and select disaccharides -- honey/fruits/veggies/nuts), so I'm guessing I'm allergic to long-chain carbs. Interesting.

3. Personal musing: If fat allows you to go for hours between meals without being hungry and without experiencing any energy drops (see Day 6's lunch + dinner), I'm thinking this animal-product way of eating will really help on the MCAT. Theoretically, I'll be cruising through the 5-hour test with steady blood sugar and a body capable of going long periods without eating, while traditional eaters will be tossing back Red Bulls and munching on granola bars to try and keep from crashing. Wonder if it'll play out that way?

Breakfast
4 strips of no-mess bacon + grease
A "perfect" cup of coffee

Lunch
4 "Brown & Serve" turkey sausage patties. MCAT studying = too lazy to cook. =P

Dinner
7 oz hamburger

Hanging out with friends
2 hot dogs. I'm not even going to try and claim these are healthy, but they're better than donuts (I think?)
Drip coffee

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Water
Whiskey (shots)

Energy level
MCAT studying puts me to sleep. But see overview below for how I'm really feeling.

Cravings
Peanut butter. I used to live on Krema peanut butter. The only brand that tastes better in my mind is Jif, and Jif has sugar + a lot of outside oils in it. Krema is just peanuts.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms (done on Sunday the 15th)
MCATMCATMCATMCAT. Oh, I'm sorry. Physically, I feel wonderful. I was up until 4:30am hanging out with friends, playing video games + watching Burn Notice, and am amazed at how much more energy I have right now. The energy is hard to explain: it's not that I'm "hyper" (how sugar makes you feel), it's that I'm just..... not tired or worn out. Maybe it was the Crohn's draining me before, or maybe it's the fat giving me more energy (nerd note below). Either way, I'm loving it. I've also had no cramping, pain, headaches, lethargy, anorexia (not the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, but the plain anorexia where you just don't want to eat. it's a side effect of Crohn's), heartburn, bowel issues, stomach issues, or "issues" of any kind.


Nerd note: Each molecule of glucose (a carbohydrate) gives ~36 ATP. Each molecule of a 16-carbon chain of fat (palmitic acid, the most common kind your body creates) gives ~106 ATP. You can't look at the numbers directly and go "oh hey, fat gives three times as much energy" since there are other factors involved, but it is possible and entirely scientifically correct to say fat is a better source of stored energy than carbohydrates.

Day 9

Breakfast
4 strips of no-mess bacon

Lunch
Café creme with extra heavy cream. I really wasn't that hungry.

Dinner
7oz oven-baked hamburger + cheddar cheese

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Café creme

Energy level
Good. My focus seemed to improve, too -- maybe it was the coffee?

Cravings
N/a.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Stopping the lysine seemed to stop the stomachache. No Crohn's symptoms, and I actually feel better than before. Every night I pass out, and my allergies seem to have cleared up entirely. I can breathe at night!!!

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

Why so many steps?
I'll be the first to admit this: I'm a bit of a coffee snob. =P Since I almost always drink my coffee black, I taste a lot of subtle flavours that are masked by creamer & sugar. If you like to flavour your coffee, that's cool with me. About four years ago, though, I realised that "good" coffee isn't bitter, overly acidic, metallic, watery, or any of the other nasty tastes that people try to hide. To try and learn what makes a "good coffee," I stopped using flavours. If you're drinking something brewed properly, it'll taste really, really delicious without the need for creamers. Or at least, I think so. Your milage may vary.

The best two cups of coffee I've ever had were:
1. The T-discs of Henry's Blend (Seattle's Best Coffee), brewed in a Tassimo pod coffee maker. Of course, these pods are no longer made. *sigh*
2. Room service french-press coffee at a Ritz-Carlson, tried on a whim while in Atlanta for PittCon (scientific convention; I was presenting some recently published research).

Since I don't live at the Ritz-Carlson, and those particular T-discs are no longer made, I had to find another way to brew coffee. The AeroPress turned out to be my answer. After some research, I read that the it was the both the slight pressure exerted by the Tassimo coffee maker during brewing + the proper temperature water that made the pod Henry's Blend coffee taste so different from standard drip Henry's Blend coffee. The Aeropress is a hand-press coffee maker (see pictures below for how it works), so it exerts a small amount of pressure as you extract the steeped coffee. Combine that with an electric kettle with temperature control, and you get an amazing cup of coffee. It's not quite the same as the T-disc brew, but it's close enough -- and delicious in its own way.

The electric kettle I use is the very long-named Cuisinart CPK-17 PerfecTemp 1.7-Liter Stainless Steel Cordless Electric Kettle." It heats water quickly (unbelievably so -- the stove kettle at my grandmother's house now seems to take forever) and has six temperature choices designed for types of tea.

What you'll need

• Cuisinart Electric Kettle; or a stove kettle, a thermometer, and patience
• An AeroPress
• Coffee (I use Henry's Blend, now renamed "Level 4" -- see picture below)

One awesome electric kettle. ♥ Haha.
The ideal temp depends on what blend you're using. Aeropress instructions say 160F; I prefer 175F for Henry's Blend. Since I store coffee in the fridge, I heat my water to 190F to compensate for the temperature difference.

The brand of coffee:

Components of the Aeropress:

1. Place filter on filter holder.

2. Assemble filter + body of AeroPress (it twists to close)

3. Decide how many shots of espresso you want, and add that many scoops of coffee. I'm making 2 shots.

4. There are numbers on the body of the AeroPress; add heated water up to the number of scoops of coffee you added. Stir with stirrer.

5. I usually find that the water level drops as soon as I start stirring, so I add a bit more water. Then stir for 10 seconds. It's okay if some water trickles through while you stir, I just like to compensate for that initial drop.

6. Briefly rinse the end of the plunger in hot water (I use some of what's left in the kettle), then .s.l.o.w.l.y. press down. Aim for 20 seconds or more.

5. If you see any of this when you're done pressing, scrape it on the edge of the cup. It's tasty. =)

6. Now you have 2 shots of espresso.

7. Add hot water to taste for the perfect Americano!

If you tried this, please let me know! I'd love to know what other people think of this brewing method.

Café Creme

What is a café creme? Simply espresso + heavy cream, usually mixed in a 1:1.5 ratio. It seems a bit silly creating a how-to for this, but having a page to link to keeps me from explaining what a café creme is every day that I drink one. This starts with a double espresso made with an Aeropress (click here for how to use the Aeropress), which is also the basis for my delicious cups of coffee (click the link above). If you've got your own espresso maker, you can use that instead.


What you'll need

• Cuisinart Electric Kettle; or a stove kettle, a thermometer, and patience
• An AeroPress
• Coffee (I use Henry's Blend, now renamed "Level 4" -- pictured in the Perfect Cup of Coffee post)
• Heavy cream

1. Start with espresso.

2. To a separate glass, add 1.5 ounces of cream for every ounce of espresso. Heat up the heavy cream a bit (18 seconds on 30% power works for me).

3. Add coffee to cream (or other way around, if you prefer). Stir, and heat a bit more (30 seconds at 40% power, or to taste). Enjoy! (No, really, that's all there is to it)

If you tried this, please let me know. I'd love to hear what you thought!

Easy, No-Mess Oven Bacon

This is the easiest bacon you'll ever make -- no mess, no splatter, and barely any clean up. It's also really easy to save the grease for cooking later, thanks to the parchment paper.

Just a note: Do NOT preheat the oven. Starting with a cold oven is what makes this work.

What you'll need:

• Parchment paper
• Bacon
• A pan
• An oven

1. Tear off a piece of parchment paper slightly bigger than how much bacon you're cooking. Cover the pan with it, and arrange bacon so that the pieces aren't overlapping.



Sugar-free bacon! This is the Gwaltney brand.



2. Place pan of bacon in cold (not preheated) oven. Turn oven on to 400F (204C). If you're using a Celsuis oven, please tell me how your bacon turned out!



3. Set a timer for 17 minutes (pictured is the meat thermometer I use, without the probe). Go take a shower, get dressed, etc.


4. At the end of 17 minutes: not quite done. I usually need to add 2 more minutes, but I always check at 17 minutes because I really don't like burnt bacon.


5. After a total of 19 minutes: perfect, mess-free, chewy bacon. If you prefer a crunchy texture, leave it in a bit longer -- about 2 minutes, depending on your oven. To save the grease, just transfer the bacon to a plate, lift the corners of the parchment paper (so the grease pools in the middle) and tilt the paper over your storage container. The grease will easily slide off the paper and into your container.


That's it! If you use this method, please comment below and tell me what you think. =)

Day 8

Bought a *huge* (5.5lb) portion of 73/27 ground beef to live on for the next few days. The administrator of the zero-carb forum I lurk at for inspiration/meal ideas (Zeroing in on Health) mentioned 73/27 ground beef might be one of the best meats to live on -- lots of fat, cheap, etc. I'd rather live on my college-student "steaks" (mmmm. hah.), but bottom round is currently $2/lb more than ground beef.

Oh, college budgets.


Breakfast
Sausage (recipe posted next time I make a batch)

Before-class snack
~2oz heavy cream

Lunch
7oz oven-baked hamburger
Cold cheddar cheese on top (I prefer my cheese unmelted. No idea why =P)

Dinner
Skipped going out to eat with friends in order to study for the MCAT. Go me?
3/4 of a 7oz oven-baked hamburger + cheddar cheese

Midnight snack/stress munchies
Stress over the MCAT = 4 pieces of deliciously chewy, greasy, mess-free bacon, and then some spicy wings my boyfriend brought back for me. D'aw.
..... followed by heavy cream, to put out the fire in my mouth.

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
4, ~2oz servings of heavy cream

Energy level
Physically, wonderful.
Mentally, no ability to study. MCAT burnout (already)!

Cravings
My boyfriend is a total junk-food junkie. Before the SCD and my horrible cravings for.... everything (SCD and I really didn't get along), I never really noticed it. Now I'm noticing it even more. Wonder if he'd ever want to become a carnivore, so he can stop unknowingly tempting me by leaving half-open bags of Twizzlers lying next to the PS3 controller? Hahaha.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Blah, minor stomach issues. Still blaming it on the lysine overdosing (4g initially + 2g twice a day every day) to kill the cold sore. Considering that my fever blister is noticeably smaller (and appears to be drying up already), and that meat is naturally high in lysine and low in arginine, I might stop overdosing and see what happens naturally.

Day 7

Fever blister is already shrinking up. Hopefully it'll be gone in a week!

Breakfast
Bacon. I forgot to set a timer and burnt it. =(
(Major sadface ^)

Lunch
Sausage (recipe will be posted on Friday)

Dinner
Was taken out on a date by my lovely boyfriend to my favourite Japanese restaurant. Yay.
I ordered 3 different kinds of sashimi (sashimi = raw fish. their maguro was *divine*.)

Drinks
3, about 2oz servings of heavy cream
Water
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)

Energy level
The new standard.

Cravings
The giant bag of M&M's my boyfriend is currently eating. It's definitely an emotional/stress thing -- I miss settling down with a movie + munchies to relax.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Fever blisters still suck. A bit of stomach pain last night, but I'm blaming the overdose of lysine I'm taking (it happens every time, but I dislike cold sores more than I dislike upset stomachs).

(Note from the next day: It looks like I didn't eat enough yesterday. Whoops. My body is strange in that I rarely feel hunger -- it's usually either a ravenous "hey dumbbutt, you forgot to eat all day again" or I eat because I know I should. Apparently I need to keep a closer eye on my food intake.)

Special post

Special post, simply because this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Any MCAT takers out there will appreciate its magnificence.

MCAT Writing Sample items (topic statements and instructions)

Yes. It is a list of *all* possible MCAT writing sample topics. All of the topics. All of the prompts.

This was the one section that worried me -- not anymore. ♥

Day 6

I thought I was back to normal-ish after last night's "fun," then I felt a certain tingle on my lip....
Shit.

Every so often I get a fever blister. Mine are triggered by stress and thankfully "treatable" with lysine. If you're not familiar with cold sores, they need arginine (an amino acid) to activate themselves and reproduce. Lysine (another amino acid) and arginine take up the same storage space in the cell, but arginine can be made by the body. Lysine is essential (can't be made by the body), so cells will kick arginine out of the cell to store more lysine. No arginine in the cell = the fever blister virus returns to dormancy.

Here's another beautiful thing about an all-animal product lifestyle: Beef, heavy cream, cheese, etc. all have a "high lysine ratio" (more lysine than arginine in them), so I no longer have to worry about dietary factors. Coffee is high in arginine, though, so I'm guessing yesterday's coffee fiasco + MCAT stress was enough to set this off. I've learned to keep 500mg L-Lysine tablets around the apartment, so as soon as I felt the tingle this morning I took 4 tablets. This evening I'll take another 2, and I'll keep taking 2 every morning and night until it's gone. The duration of my fever blisters is usually halved when I catch it early like this -- let's hope that stays true.

Breakfast
Bacon nom nom nom nom. What else?
~2oz heavy cream

Lunch
2 half-pound oven-baked hamburgers with cheese

Dinner
Man, they should prescribe MCAT studying for insomnia. I curled up on my couch for a "quick brain rest" after finishing a chapter of physics, and woke up 3 hours later. Oooooops. Anyway, right now, it's 9pm, and I'm still not hungry after the hamburgers (eaten at 4pm). By "not hungry," I mean "I'm still very full from lunch." 5 hours and I'm not even *close* to needing to eat -- if high-fat meals last this long, it'll be perfect for my eventual surgery days. Shweeet!

Midnight study snack
Sausage. While on the SCD (specific carbohydrate diet -- also for Crohn's; see intro post), I learned what seasonings to put in ground pork to make it taste like sausage. This Friday is break-from-MCAT-studying day, and I plan to post several recipes/how-to's of what I've been eating so far (examples: no-mess perfect bacon in the oven, college-student-budget "steaks" from bottom round roast, etc.). My goal for this blog is to make switching over to a meat diet as easy and foolproof as possible for anyone, even super-picky eaters (like me) or people who've never cooked a meal in their life.

Drinks
2, about 2oz servings of heavy cream
Water
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)

Energy level
Back to normal. Well, the new normal, which is awesomely high and probably how 21-year-olds are supposed to feel.

Cravings
When I was preparing my hamburgers for lunch, I had a split-second non-specific desire for something "sweet." I think I miss the indulgent feeling of settling down with a box of cookies and a movie more than I actually miss the cookies. Weird.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Fever blisters suck, but my Crohn's seems to be fine. Excess lysine can cause stomach issues, so that might cloud my overviews for the next week while I kill this stupid cold sore.

I'm amazed at how affordable this diet can be. Example: the bottom round roast that I made "steaks" from? That was about $10, or $3.33/day [I ate on it for 2 full days and 1 night]. The heavy cream? $2.50/pint [lasted 3 days = 0.83/day]. Bacon? $3.25/package [lasts 4 days or more = 0.81/day]. Adding it together, it's about $5/day. Wow. So much cheaper than my days on the SCD.

Day 5

Half decent, half bad day (see "symptoms" for the why). The energy I've had so far on animal-products-only is so addicting that even mediocre days like today .stink.

I applied for membership to a "zero carb" forum (http://forum.zeroinginonhealth.com/index.php) that I've been lurking at for a while. Reading that more people than PFW (the blogger mentioned in the intro post) were also thriving on just meat -- and thriving long term without organ meat -- was the last kick in the rear I needed. Unfortunately, they require you to be zero carb before admission, not still getting there (beer, wine sauce with day 2 roast, etc. makes me not zero carb yet). So I'll wait two weeks and reapply when I am. =)

Breakfast
Sugar free!!!!! bacon, dipped in grease (yeah, it'll take me a while to stop being excited about sugarless bacon)
~2oz heavy cream

Lunch
I .passed. .out. after I got home from class today, so I skipped lunch.

Dinner
My faux "steak."

Midnight snack (study break!)
Last of my "steak." If you had told me just a month ago that I would put down a 4-lb roast in 2 days, I would've laughed.

Drinks
3, about 2oz servings of heavy cream.
Water
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Café creme (my last one -- see "symptoms" below) Update 1.13.11: If I double the amount of cream (basically cutting the strength in half), I can still drink them.

Energy level
Blah. See "symptoms" below.

Cravings
A funny thing happened today -- something that makes me believe this way of eating is honestly much healthier than a carb-filled "organic" way of eating. I woke up hungry this morning, and drank some heavy cream to give my body something while I cooked bacon + took a shower (I make my bacon in the oven). When I got out of the shower, I passed some leftover truffles on my way to the oven. For a split second, the thought of eating them crossed my mind.... then I shrugged and walked to my bacon. That reaction -- or lack of one -- is from a self-proclaimed chocolate lover and sweet addict. Apparently in just 5 days, my body has retrained itself to recognise sugar = bad.
Weird. Also, awesome.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
I think the coffee needs to go. Caffeine has never been a "need;" I simply like the taste of coffee. If I run out, I don't get grumpy or have headaches. It does give me a little jump in the morning, but not to the point I'm groaning "ughIneedcoffeenow" each a.m. like friends/family.
Anyway. All day, I felt fine. Like I mentioned, I passed out after class and had a wonderful nap. Woke up, studied for the MCAT for 2 hours, and decided a café creme would go well with the mitosis/meiosis section. Fine.
A third of the way through my drink, my stomach started to hurt. Badly. Gah. The rest of the evening was a joyful reminder of Crohn's disease and why I'm doing this diet.
Lesson? No more coffee for me, at least not for several months as my body heals itself. Even after several months, not as much/strong as what I've been making.
(sigh. i'll miss you, pressure-brewed perfect-temperature coffee.)

Day 4

I found bacon without sugar! Well, actually my friend did: I was whining about how no store carried sugarless bacon -- not even Whole Foods or Trader Joe's -- and the first package he checked was cured without sugar. Haha. Walmart, of all stores, carries a sugarless brand called "Gwaltney."

Breakfast
4 slices of (sugar free!!!!!) bacon, dipped in grease [leftover fat saved for later]

Lunch
Beef jerky (Hahaha. Once this package is gone, I'll take a break. It's too sugary to be a constant in my diet)
Japanese tea cup full of heavy cream. Surprisingly delicious.

Mid-day snacks
Another two tea cup servings of heavy cream (drank at two different times, not both at once). I think my body is trying to gain a few pounds - yay!

Dinner
[will update after I eat]
Reheated "steak" (see Day 3) with refrigerated bacon fat spread on top + au jus
Once the steak was warm, I actually didn't want the juices it was cooked in (strange), so I skipped drizzling it over the plated steak like I usually do. My body may be telling me I got enough fat in through the heavy cream.

Drinks
3, about 2oz servings of heavy cream.
Water
2 café cremes

Energy level
Higher than average.

Cravings
N/a so far. Well, steak at the moment, but that's less of a craving and more of a "I'm hungry while I type this."

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
Last week I was too exhausted to get off the couch. Today I studied for 4 hours, cleaned a decent amount of the apartment, took a 15 minute nap, and went right back to studying. It's hard to explain, but I just feel.... good. If this is a placebo effect, I hope it lasts.
No cramps since last night. I slept dreamlessly for 8 hours (minus the midnight cramps) and felt absolutely refreshed this morning. My allergies seem to be improving too -- usually I have such bad nasal congestion that I need Breathe Right strips to breathe normally, but I haven't used them since Wednesday night (pre-infusion/meat diet).

Day 3

More "social" eating. It'll be interesting to see if I can still keto-adapt eating sugary beef jerky. Hopefully I can buy a dehydrator in a few months and start making my own.

Breakfast
4 slices of mess-free bacon, dipped in the grease.
I saved the grease for later (see lunch)

Lunch
"Steaks" with leftover bacon grease smeared on top (it was semi-solid from refrigeration).
Last night, I took a bottom round roast and cut it into several steak-shaped pieces, then pan-fried them. It made about 9 delicious, juicy, perfectly medium-rare, hand-sized servings. The "steaks" reheat really well too: start with them in a foil-lined toaster oven pan, put them in a cold toaster oven, and turn that on to 350-F for about 8 minutes. Delish and very quick. You can increase your fat content (a good thing) by putting a pat of butter or leftover cooking grease (refrigerated) on top of the "steak" before heating. That allows the fat to slowly soak into the meat. I also had made a red wine reduction sauce with the blackened pieces left in the pan-frying pan, and drizzled that over the steaks before reheating to keep them from drying out.

Dinner
Went out to dinner with friends.
Wings
Beer (completely not "allowed," but delicious)

Midnight snack
A package of "Teriyaki Beef Steak Nuggets." Basically, the same thing as yesterday. Why did I let myself get talked into trying jerky? Hah. =P

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Café creme
Killian's Irish Red
"Long Island" [a shot made by friend, not a Long Island Iced Tea]

Energy level
High. To play the doubting game, this could be normal 21-year-old energy with Remicade working. I feel........ different, though -- more energetic and less "foggy-minded." Kind of weird, but awesome.

Cravings
The homemade chocolate chip cookies that were still at my friends' apartment. It's weird how easily I can ignore the cravings, though. It's more like a "hm, those sound good, but I have beef jerky at home that sounds better."
That thought came from a previously proud chocolate lover and carb addict. Weird. I'm really starting to love this new way of eating.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
I woke up in the middle of the night with cramps -- probably the sugar in the beer/shots I drank. They passed as soon as I relieved myself, though, and then I was back to normal.

Classic Beef Roast with Herb-Shallot Sauce

As promised, the roast recipe mentioned in Day 1. Credit goes to the little tear off tag on the shinkwrap covering my roast. You can find their online version by clicking here, or follow along below. I've added my own notes in parenthesis.

Classic Beef Roast with Herb-Shallot Sauce

• 1 beef roast, small end (4-6 lb)
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme (or 2 tablespoons fresh)
• 1 tablespoon(ish) garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon(ish) ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons(ish) finely chopped green onion
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard (look for a kind without added sugar)
• 1 tablespoon butter , softened

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Add dried thyme, garlic powder, and pepper to a small bowl. Stir to combine seasonings, then press the mixture onto all surfaces of beef roast.
3. Place roast, fat side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan. Insert ovenproof meat thermometer (I use this one from Amazon and love it. It's one of my favourite kitchen gadgets: The Original Cooking Thermometer/Timer by ThermoWorks) so tip is centered in thickest part of beef, not resting in fat. Do not add water or cover. Roast in 350°F oven 1-3/4 to 2 hours for medium rare; 2 to 2-1/2 hours for medium doneness.
4. Remove roast when meat thermometer registers 135°F for medium rare; 150°F for medium. Transfer roast to carving board; tent loosely with aluminum foil. Let stand 15 to 20 minutes. Temperature will continue to rise about 10°F to reach 145°F for medium rare; 160°F for medium (The standing period allows the juice of the meat to be re-absorbed; it really makes a difference).
5. Meanwhile, skim fat from drippings. Combine drippings and shallot in medium saucepan (I had to add a splash of water, because my drippings were mainly solid and had to be scraped from my roasting pan). Cook and stir over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes or until shallots are crisp-tender.
6. Stir in wine and mustard; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 8 to 10 minutes or until sauce is reduced to 3/4 cup. Stir in butter. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
7. Carve roast into slices. Serve with sauce.

Yum.

Personal notes
I don't have a "real" roasting pan. Instead, I used the pan from my toaster oven that came with a hole-filled "suspension tray" (I don't have a better name for it, sorry). I lined the pan with parchment paper to catch the drippings, then placed the suspension tray on top as normal. The parchment paper made step #5 much easier.

Day 2

I am awful at cooking eggs. I can follow almost any recipe, and I'm decent at making stuff up, but eggs? I fail every time. So they might be off the menu for a while.

Breakfast
4 slices of mess-free bacon.
I would've had an egg fried in bacon grease too, but.... I burnt it. See above.

Lunch
More roast + au jus. That's the downside of cooking for one: you have to eat the same thing over and over until it's gone.

Dinner
Beef jerky (one of my friends insisted I try it. it's delicious!)
Bratwurst

Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)

Energy level
Surprisingly high. My body might be keto-adapting faster than I thought it would.... or it could just be psychological. We'll see what happens during the next two weeks.

Cravings
Homemade chocolate chip cookies that a friend brought back from his mom's house.

Overview/Crohn's symptoms
I'm pretty sure that both the beef jerky and the bratwurst had sugar in them, making them not "legal" on this diet. That small amount of sugar could not only feed bacteria, but also delay the keto-adaptation my body needs to make. On the other hand, I like hanging out with friends -- and not being able to eat with them for a year or more just seems lonely. Hopefully that small allowance won't hurt me in the long run.

Day 1

Day 1:
I chose today to start because it was Remicade infusion day. I effing love Remicade – so far it's the only medication that keeps my disease in check and therefore keeps me off Prednisone. Also, it rocks. The catch? Your body builds antibodies to the anti TNF-α over time, so eventually either you stop responding to it or you have horrible allergic reactions. The typical "life span" is 5 years, and I've been on it for 3. So.

But why start on infusion day? Well, I'm going to living on fat and protein, and my disease affects my fat-absorbing small intestine. Even though Remicade works miracles, it does wear off in between the 8-week infusions. I can usually feel the effects disappearing around week 4, and I'm in a mild flare by week 6. Starting a fat-based diet with an irritated small intestine didn't seem smart.

Anyway, the important stuff:

Breakfast
Skipped, because my stomach hurt. During my A.M. infusion, I sipped a double espresso from the amazing café at my infusion centre.

Lunch
About a 1.5" cube of extra-sharp Cracker Barrel cheddar cheese for a post-nap snack (the Benedryl I'm given before each infusion knocks me out).

Post-lunch
~3oz of Top Round roast, reheated in a toaster oven with slightly fatty au jus drizzled on top (recipe will be posted later).

Dinner


Drinks
Selzter water (ingredients: carbonated water)
Water
2 shots of espresso

Energy level
Typical for a Remicade day: wonderful. The three-and-a-half hour post-infusion nap probably didn't hurt either. ♥

Cravings
Strangely, none. I went with my boyfriend to Taco Bell and felt no desire for even a bean burrito with lots of hot sauce (my love). The thought of eating more roast when I got home was more appetizing.

Crohn's symptoms
Also typical for a Remicade day. I can feel the healing going on in my body as my immune system chills out. No noticeable side effects from eating lots of fat, which is a good thing.

Intro

Day 1 of this strange adventure. For at least the next year – and probably longer – I plan to live on meat alone. Well, a variety of animal products, really: meat, butter, eggs, cheese, and occasionally heavy cream. Some pure dried spices too, in moderation, but no vegetables, no fruits, and definitely no grains.


Why in the world would you do this to yourself? Won't you die of scurvy?

In short, I'm doing this because I have Crohn's disease. The idea of living entirely on meat may seem strange, but no, I won't die of scurvy. Or any vitamin deficiency disease, for that matter. Usually people associate "good vitamin source" with vegetables, but meat actually contains all the vitamins you need. When you think that a cow needed those vitamins too, it kind of makes sense. Between fish and beef, you can also get all of the essential (not made by the body) amino acids and lipids.

To explain a bit more: I'm not the first person to try this. Life Without Bread (amazon link: Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life) summarises Vilhjalmur Stefansson's 11 years with the Inuit's, a people who traditionally ate nothing but meat for 6 to 9 months of the year. To loosely quote from his reports, vegetation was what you ate when nothing else was available. When he returned to the states, he and a fellow explorer agreed to prove a 100% meat diet possible by living under observation for a year while they ate only meat. The two men completed the year in perfect health (1). As a side note, when Stefansson resumed a traditional Western diet, he noticed a marked decline in health. He soon returned to an all-meat diet, and lived that way for the rest of his life (2).


That's cool, but why should that make a difference with Crohn's?

There are a lot of new theories about what causes Crohn's, including that it's an overgrowth of bacteria in the intestines. Your body creates an immune response to the bacteria, and your own tissues become collateral damage. If you take away their food source – sugars – you kill the bacteria (bacteria can't perform beta-oxidation, so they can't live off of fat).


So what made you think of this?

Actually, I didn't. Recently, a blogger successfully did exactly what I'm going to attempt: In an attempt to put his Crohns into remission, he went an entire year eating nothing but meat, eggs, heavy cream, and lactose-free milk. I highly suggest reading his blog (Crohn's Carnivore).


Here goes day 1!


References
(1) McClellan, Walter S., and Eugene F. Du Bois. "The Effects on Human Beings of a Twelve Months' Exclusive Meat Diet." Journal of the American Medical Association (1930): 651-68. www.jbc.org. Web (PDF). .

(2) Allan, Christian B., and Wolfgang Lutz. Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life. Los Angeles, CA: Keats, 2000. Print.