Carnivore?

[RESPIRATION]

Sometime ago there was a post from someone who spoke about having become a carnivore. At the time I had no personal interest as my diet seemed to be working for me. Well, all things change and now I am interested in how increasing meat eating and would really like to hear from folks who have found this work for them.

[Ohthistoo]

Hi there - this was me I think. I eat a low residue diet. So just meat, eggs, cheese, cream, milk, yoghurt, fish. How can I help? Thanks.

[RESPIRATION in reply to Ohthistoo]

I'm thinking about that but at this point I do not pass stool without laxatives', but with laxatives I may be getting very poor nutrition. I feel weak and wobbley.

[JDKPA in reply to Ohthistoo]

I have recently been put on a low-residue diet to try to keep my adhesions from getting even worse than they are. It is not fun but I think I have it figured out. I keep reading that it is supposed to be a short term diet because of the risk of not getting the proper nutrition while on it. Have you heard this and what do you think? I would bet that the lack of raw fruits and veggies is what they are talking about. I try to drink a small glass of V-8 (vegetable) juice daily (1 gram of fiber) and cooked fresh vegetables, but not sure that is enough. Thanks!

[RESPIRATION in reply to Ohthistoo]

Thank you. Carnivore reported a similar diet. I have not eliminated vegetables, fruits and grains in my diet but I have increased some of the high protein foods you suggest. I think this is increasing my strength ---which has been a significant concern for many months now.

[Ohthistoo in reply to RESPIRATION]

Hi there - I would advise to have a nutrition blood panel done - vitamins and minerals. However, there are lots of carnivores with 20+ years experience who face no malnourishment problems. Any malnourishment issues we face are mainly as our guts just do not work. Microbiome has been damaged. We take omeprazole which creates a low acid environment so food is not broken down properly and we have damaged small intesitines and so vitamins are not absorbed properly. For me the diet I've adopted allows me to get the building blocks of life amino acids, protein = which allows the body to repair and the highest amount of calories in the smallest amount of bulk. This has helped me and makes sense as effectively my intestinal system has to do less work. It puts less effort in and I am at lower risk of a bowel blockage. All good things. I've suffered less and less with malabsorption issues as my bowel gets to rest and I eat very high nutritionally good food and do not waste time on bulking agents like fibre - in soluble or soluble. That's my take on it but I think you should eat what you can cope with and to secondly to that what you an enjoy and everyone is a bit different.

[RESPIRATION]

I think low residue means to minimize insoluble fiber. It is almost impossible to eliminate it unless you eat no vegetables or fruit or whole grains. In the short term this may help settle down an irritated gut. Insoluble fiber does not break down in the small intestine and can get stuck on one of those partial blockages. A complete blockage is a medical emergency and requires surgery.

What you can do over the longer term is to eat a diet recommended for IBS. Check out Heather Von Vorous's site for detailed information. It will give you lists of fruits, vegetables and grains that have relatively low insoluble fiber and higher soluble fiber. Soluble fiber becomes a gel in the small intestine and helps normalize the movement through the small intestine. It is the small intestine that is most likely to be damaged by radiation. Skins and seeds and nuts and other things such as mushrooms can form blockages. It is helpful to eat soluble fiber first in your meal and sneak in a little salad at the end for example. Bananas and applesauce, white rice and oatmeal are usually safe and good to start a meal or as a between meal snack. Small, frequent meals are better than large. Thanksgiving meals tend to have lots of soluble fiber food but watch the amount and be careful of fats. It's a mine field but this diet does help. I discovered the IBS diet about the time I had the good fortune to see a highly experienced dietition. Her recommendations were very similar. Most generalist dietitians I have seen have very limited information about the problems we are dealing with.

It's been 15 years since my radiation treatment and now I do have several partial blockages, but so far no complete blockage.

[JDKPA in reply to RESPIRATION]

Thanks for this information and will read what you recommended. I have already had 3 emergency surgeries for complete blockages caused by abdominal adhesions and want to avoid another one. Very bad surgeries. Since adhesions cannot be removed, only moved around (lysis), it seems that one day there will be no room to even move them around. My GI doctor could not even do a full colonoscopy recently due to adhesions.

[Ohthistoo in reply to JDKPA]

I really would advise not eating any fibre. Stick to eggs, meat, lots of fat. Cheese, cream etc and try and get high levels of nutrition into very small amounts, calories, proteins and aminio acids. xx

[RESPIRATION in reply to Ohthistoo]

It has become very apparent to me in reading various posts that pelvic radiation disease varies hugely from one individual to another. It can affect individual organs in the pelvic space or many organs. The small intestine is most frequently affected but how it is affected can vary between individuals and within the lifetime of each of us. This site is valuable because individuals with similar problems may learn from each other.

After reading carnivore's post I found increasing animal proteins is helpful but fats are a gut irritant and that causes problems for me. Again as an individual I have a strong family history of heart disease and stroke, so I am careful about fats. There is no one size fits all.

[RESPIRATION]

I am so sorry you are suffering this. I hope my suggestions help somewhat. They are not a cure but may give you a little more control.