Exhausted. Anxious. Itchy. Depressed. Fat. This is how I stepped into 2025. At 36, I felt decades older than my age and desperately needed a solution. I believe that the solution is an animal-based diet.
My goals? To reclaim my energy, mental wellness, skin health, and body composition.
Energy
Sleep problems have plagued me my entire life, fatigue has become my default state. This holds me back from my goals and aspirations.
Mental wellness
In my early 20s I suffered with anxiety and depression, and they’ve resurface in my mid 30s due to difficult personal circumstances and lifestyle factors. The stress has even triggered occasional high blood pressure.
Eczema relief
Eczema has caused me grief for many years and I am convinced that it is linked to diet. When I tried a carnivore diet a few years ago, my skin cleared up.
Fat loss / muscle gain
Since the pandemic, I’ve steadily gained weight, peaking at over 30kg extra by September 2024. Anxiety-induced undereating helped me shed 10kg recently, but I suspect I’ve lost muscle along with fat. My goal is to lose 20kg of fat while building muscle—focusing on health, not just skinniness. Who doesn’t want to feel lean and toned?
Food sensitivities
Over the years, I’ve identified specific foods that don’t work for me, even if I’m not entirely sure why:
- Beans and legumes
- These trigger severe eczema flare-ups, likely due to their high oxalate or nickel content.
- Wheat
- I freaking love bread. It is my ultimate comfort food, but leaves me bloated and worsens my eczema.
- Oats
- I almost instantly get a bad stomach after eating oats, and it also causes an eczema flare up. Oats are high in both nickel and oxalates.
- Spinach, kale, cabbage, etc.
- These leafy greens spark inflammation, possibly due to oxalates or nickel.
So, if I can’t eat beans, legumes, wheat, oats or several ‘healthy’ vegetables, what am I left with when trying to eat well? Almost all health advice suggests eating lots of these things; the internet is flooded with recipes for overnight oats, green smoothies and plant-based formulations packed with beans and legumes. The media and government advice seems hellbent on turning us all vegan, but surely I’m not the only one that doesn’t thrive on a plant-based diet?
Exploring Meat-Heavy Diets
I’ve experimented with keto and carnivore diets. Both helped with weight loss and cleared my eczema, but I missed the texture and sweetness of fruits and vegetables. Plus, I didn’t experience the energy boost or mental clarity that others rave about.
For a while, I accepted my eczema as inevitable and focused on protein while restricting calories. But now, I feel worse than ever. With chronic illness on the rise globally, I’m determined to find a solution before it’s too late.
Going all in on the Animal Based Diet
I started thinking about how our ancestors would have eaten, before food was mass produced. In the days before modern medicine, how did we thrive? How did we eat? I researched ancestral diets, and found one that makes total sense for me; the Animal Based Diet, championed by Doctor Paul Saladino.
I was so excited to find a diet that fits my own needs so well. So what does it include?
- Meat (including organs): Preferably grass-fed and regeneratively farmed.
- Eggs: From pastured chickens.
- Dairy: Raw, if accessible.
- Honey and Maple Syrup: Natural sweeteners.
- Fruit: Organic, if possible.
- Non-Sweet Vegetables: Like courgette (zucchini), squash, and cucumbers.
- Optional Additions: White rice, sweet potatoes, pickles… if tolerated.
You can see the infographic for what to eat on this diet here. It’s a macro-balanced diet that doesn’t demonise carbs or fat and has plenty of protein. It is nutritionally dense; and full of the vitamins and minerals needed for humans to thrive. It is a biologically appropriate way of eating that mimics how our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate.
Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
I stumbled upon Dr. Saladino’s YouTube channel while researching Costa Rica as a potential place to relocate. His videos, scientific studies, and podcasts sucked in my inner nerd; I’ve spent weeks diving into the science behind oxalates, linoleic acid, and the benefits of an animal-based lifestyle.
Going All In
Beyond diet, Dr. Saladino emphasises the importance of sunlight, avoiding plastics, and prioritising sleep. Inspired, I’ve decided to overhaul my entire lifestyle. This blog will document my journey and share what I’ve learnt, what changes I’ve implemented, what’s been successful and what’s been a failure.
Join Me
If you’re tired, unhappy with your body, struggling with sleep, or simply relate to my goals, follow along as I make these changes. I’m no health guru—just someone fed up with feeling unwell and tired of being told to eat more plants when they don’t work for me.
Let’s do this together!
