← The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
587. Before You Try Carnivore...Listen to This! What Works, What Backfires and Why.
00:43:23
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- [00:01]
A
We have been brainwashed over the past, I don't know, seven decades to think that we're getting all of our nutrients from plants. And I've now since learned that that's not true. The most nutrient dense food is the meat that you're consuming.
- [00:15]
B
Welcome to the Thyroid Fixer podcast, where we dive deep into the world of thyroid and hormones, especially for you ladies navigating perimenopause and menopause, and really for anyone struggling with hypothyroidism, I'm your host, Dr. Amy, thyroid and hormone specialist and CE, a global telemedicine practice where we prescribe the right thyroid treatment and bioidentical hormones to all safety states and most of Canada, helping you become that badass human that you're meant to be. So if you're battling weight gain and hair loss, you can't lose weight no matter what you do. Your energy levels are plummeting and your libido left town. Then you're in the right place and you have found your tribe. Remember, I want you to embrace every inch of that badass woman that you truly are. So if you're ready to dive in and fix things, let's get started. I completely and totally hear you and I see you and I understand you and I know exactly where you're at. You're gaining weight. You can't lose. You have all the symptoms that no one's listening to. The fatigue, the hair loss, the brain fog. You can't remember why you walked into a room. You don't want to get dressed and go out because you know if you have that glass of wine with your friend and if you have that dessert with your husband or even order an appetizer, you're going to be five pounds heavier the next day. And your clothes are already tight. Every single doctor is telling you that you're normal and everything is fine. You've been to multiple conventional medicine doctors trying to use your insurance, hoping to God that somebody has an answer. Then you've dropped thousands of dollars on functional medicine or integrative medicine because you keep hearing how functional medicine gets to the root cause of the problem. But not every functional medicine practitioner knows the thyroid and knows the hormones and can treat you as a nuanced, personalized individual, a unique person. That is exactly what my team and I do. We specialize in thyroid problems. We specialize in hormones. You can't do one without the other. You cannot just see someone for your thyroid and have them ignore your hormones or have them half ass your hormones. They better Be a hormone and thyroid expert. If you are going to spend your time, your energy and your money. If you are going to invest in functional medicine, they need to be a thyroid and hormone expert and treat you as an individual. They can't have a cap on how much T3 that they're going to give you. They have to personalize your treatment plan to get you feeling your best, no matter what that looks like, so that every system in your body functions at the very top, at the very best. And that is exactly what we do. I made it my mission because I went through this. I was dismissed, I was gaslit, I was misdiagnosed, and I dropped thousands of dollars before I found an answer. That is why I made it my mission to be able to treat people in all 50 states so we can prescribe via telehealth. Thyroid and hormones and peptides. Yeah, the GLPs as well. To all 50 states, most of Canada and now Puerto Rico. That is my mission to be able to help you wherever you are because I want you living your best life. I want you to join me in optimization land where you can go out and love life and go out with your friends and go out with your partner and not gain weight looking sideways at a brownie. Yes, we do have financing options available. I'm talking like 0% or 12 months, the whole thing based on your credit score. We got you. And our programs are affordable. They're completely and totally affordable. And they will get you from point A to point B. They will bring you into optimization land. So please don't waste another moment struggling, please. I want you living here with me, a great, happy life in optimization land. So go to my website@dramy.com, click the Become a patient button so we can have a chat. Let's talk it out. Let's hear what you've done, what you haven't done, what's worked, what hasn't worked, and let's get you on the right path to feeling your absolute best. If you can imagine the best life ever that is absolutely possible for you. I'm not BSing you. I am not BSing you. I was in your shoes. Many migrations have been in your shoes. We will get you there. And that is my promise to you. Let's talk about something that's been part of my daily health routine for a while now. And honestly, I'm not letting it go anytime soon. Kion Aminos as someone who's consistent with training, I eat clean. I'm always looking for ways to optimize My energy, my recovery, definitely my performance. This is one of the few things that I always keep in my stack. I've been using essential amino acids for a long time now and they're a complete non negotiable in my routine. It's one of the easiest things I do every day to support my muscle, my energy, my long term health. So here's exactly what I do every morning before I hit the gym. Mix a scoop of kion aminos into a water bottle, shake it up, drink it down. That's it. No weird fillers, no sugar, no heavy bloated protein shakes before. And then I drink it throughout the entire day because I love how it tastes and how it flavors my water. Kion aminos are actually six times more effective than whey protein which is wild and they're so much easier on your body. I feel more fueled, I recover faster, I can push harder without feeling worn out later. And yes, I still eat plenty of protein and I still do protein shakes. But this is different. It feeds your body with amino acids all day long. On top of that, Kion just does it right. Their products are third party tested, non GMO vegan. Did I mention the taste? So my obsession, my go to flavor right now is mixed berry. But if you're on the flavor drinks they also offer it in capsule form. But what I love is that it's not about a quick fix, it's about giving your body what it needs. Those beautiful amino acids for your muscles, for your hair to just keep going. So if you're already putting in the work, you want to keep showing up at your best, you want to keep working out, you want gorgeous hair, you want beautiful skin. Kion Aminos are 100 worth adding to your routine. You can save 20 with my link. No code needed, just go to getkion.com forward/thyroid. That's G-E-T-K-I-O-N.com forward/T H Y R O I D and you'll get your discount. They have a 60 day money back guarantee so you have nothing to lose by trying it. I get so many questions about the way that I eat or about how you should eat if you have a thyroid problem or hormone imbalance or you're just basically looking for better health, lower inflammation and maybe you want to lose some weight. Now when I answer this question I'm always answering people kind of PC like, like well you know, your labs tell us how you should eat. Of course if you're full blown type 2 diabetic insulin resistant, you gotta reel back those carbohydrates a little bit. But if I'm completely and totally honest, I would say to people, go carnivore for a while and here's why. And then I get into the whole spiel. Now I am by no means a carnivore expert. I just do it ish, right? I throw in like, I guess a couple sweet potatoes here and there because that's my downfall. I'll talk to Jenny about that. And then, you know, obviously some dark chocolate, which I think is allowed on Carnivore. But for the most part I am meat based because I know the benefits of protein and I know how my body responds on carbohydrates and how inflammation kicks in in a heartbeat. But I wanted to bring on an expert today who, by the way, has written like the best carnivore cookbook ever. So we're going to talk about that too. So you don't feel like you're floundering in this world of carnivore, Just, you know, cooking a rib eye five times a day, it gets a little bit more exciting than that. So I wanted to bring on an expert to talk about the benefits of the carnivore diet as it relates to your health issues and your inflammation going on in your body. So, Ms. Jenny Minch, thank you so much for jumping on the show today to break all this down for us.
- [09:19]
A
Thanks for having me. Super happy to be here.
- [09:22]
B
So what's really cool is you're also a patient of ours. You, you're also in our program to help you with your Hashimoto. So I kind of want to start with your health journey. And what brought you into the world of carnivore? Did it start with your hypothyroidism? Hashimoto's that just wasn't responding. I mean, we know that you weren't on the right treatment, so we'll get to that part. But what, what was your catalyst to kind of start changing up your diet and dive into the carnivore space?
- [09:55]
A
So actually that, that happened before, before the thyroid stuff. So my catalyst was I gained 70 pounds with a twin pregnancy and I was already overweight when I got pregnant. So my husband found Carnivore Online, found Dr. Ken Berry's videos and tried to convince me to do it. And I told him he was crazy, there's no way you can get everything you need just eating meat. But I ended up watching the videos with him over the next six months while I was trying to Lose the weight my way. And my way was very slow apparently because I only lost like 20 of the £70. I was very frustrated. So I finally gave it a shot at the end of 2022 and been on it for almost three years now. And I've lost 50 pounds and seen crazy metabolic health improvements. But the Hashimoto's actually the first big flare up, I guess I could say was at month four of Carnivore. And originally I thought that it was just that I wasn't eating enough protein or something like Telogen effluvium or something. That's why my hair falling out. But then probably about a year after my conventional doctor gaslit me and said, oh no, your TSH is normal, there's no way it's a thyroid condition. And no, we cannot test anymore because if your TSH is normal, we can't. I thought that was crazy. I ended up meeting you at the Hacker Health conference in Austin, Texas and we decided to do a collaboration together. I ran a full bloodwork panel through LabCorp and we went over it online and. And you diagnosed me with Hashimoto's during that podcast. So it was good to have a diagnosis, but it was still a long journey from there and we've been working on different treatments since then and I'm feeling a lot better now. So it's. We had to dial a few things in, but yes, amazing.
- [11:39]
B
And I, and I love the fact that it kind of everything works in conjunction and you're literally the messenger for this and it's something that I talk about all the time. Is that, okay, you can't just do thyroid treatment if you're eating like a dumpster fire, right? If you're putting garbage in the thyroid hormones aren't going to work. And then you can also be doing a really beautiful anti inflammatory way of eating and maybe experience some weight loss, some improvement, but then you bring in the proper thyroid treatment and it takes it that much further. So I love the blend of the two.
- [12:20]
A
Okay.
- [12:20]
B
I want to start with the resistance. I want to start with what's going through people's mind right now, not with the benefits. We're going to leave the benefits. So you got to keep listening. But let's address some of the naysayers and let's address what was actually going through your head when you initially said like, you can't possibly get everything that you need from eating meat.
- [12:41]
A
Right? I mean that was my number one. Like, no, I'm not going to do this because I, I just, we have been brainwashed over the past, I don't know, seven decades to, to think that we're getting all of our nutrients from plants. And I've now since learned that that's not true. The most nutrient dense food is the meat that you're consuming. The other thing was fat. You know that fat is bad. Animal fat is really bad for you and you're going to get, you know, have a heart attack or your cholesterol is going to skyrocket if you eat it. And I have also found that to not be true. There's a lot of really great data behind that. Like Nina Tai Schultz's book. The Big Fat Surprise was a book that I read very early on, just kind of like opened my eyes to that. The thing about the naysayers and all of these arguments against a carnivore diet, it's hard to counteract. You can counteract with science and data and all of this stuff, but I think for a lot of people, it's really just kind of jumping in head first and just trying it for 30 days and seeing the health benefits that come from it. That's, I think, what I would say to anybody out there that's thinking about it, but concerned. You gotta try it for 30 days and you'll most likely be pleasantly surprised at what happens and you will not have nutrient deficiencies. I have tested this with blood work so many times on my YouTube channel, and my numbers are always beautiful.
- [14:07]
B
So what are the markers that people are most scared of? Is it mainly cholesterol? Because I even remember years ago when Paul Saladino was talking about the carnivore diet and he also ran his own cholesterol panel and some of the markers were elevated. But we don't really worry about that slight elevation because then that gets into the whole, well, what is high cholesterol and what should we be actually looking at there? That's a whole other discussion. But what are those markers that we would expect to see maybe change a little bit if we're eating mostly meat and fat?
- [14:40]
A
Well, I think, yeah, the cholesterol panel, the lipid panel is what most people get really concerned about. But within the context of a carnivore diet, the LDL cholesterol and the total is what most people are looking at. I don't even look at those numbers, honestly. What I'm looking at on a lipid panel is triglycerides and hdl. And within the context of a carnivore diet, your triglycerides typically drop drastically, which is what you want that is just fat in your bloodstream. You want that to be under a hundred in the United States. Hdl, you want that to be higher. You want that to be 50 or above in U.S. numbers. And you typically see those elevate. Now LDL cholesterol, so many different things can happen to it. You don't just go carnivore and all of a sudden your LDL is through the roof. That only happens for a specific group of people. A lot of people see it stay the same and a lot see it go down. So there's just a lot of different things that can happen there. The other big blood work numbers that I think people are concerned with is blood sugar related. A1C fasting insulin, fasting glucose, typically on a Carnivore diet. Like my first month on Carnivore, I wear a continuous glucose monitor all the time because I'm obsessed with data. And I saw my average glucose levels go from the low 1/ hundreds to the low eighties in a month. It was very quick. A1Cs tend to go way down and just normalize. And fasting insulin, which isn't often tested in conventional medicine, it should be because it's a canary in the coal mine. And it can indicate pre diabetes risk. Like decades before your glucose and A1C start to go up, that one also lowers so quickly and you want that to be between like two to six. So those are the kind of like main, very cheap and easy to get blood work that I think is really interesting to see change on carnivore for the positive, you know, Positive, right?
- [16:24]
B
Yeah, right. Okay, so are we worried at all about? Let's say we have, and I know the answer to this, but I'm setting you up. Let's say we have that type 2 diabetic, right. And their A1C is a little bit high. We really want to bring that down. Insulin is way above a 6. Want to bring that down. And they're eating a lot of protein. What about this gluconeogenesis theory that if we eat too much protein, it can still turn into sugar and drive up a 1C?
- [16:57]
A
That's not something I worry too much about. That's a very energy heavy process. And some of it does, sure. But if you just lower the amount of carbs you're consuming, that's gonna take care of most of your issues in the first place. I wouldn't start to be concerned about that till way on down the line. If maybe you need to like dial in your macros a little bit. But no, I think the carbs are the main concern. And also within the context of a carnivore diet, it's a high fat, moderate protein diet. So I think that's another thing that people have a misconception about. When you're starting, it's like 70% fat to 30% protein. That's really not that high. You're never consuming like 300, 400 grams of protein per day. I mean, unless you're like huge and a bodybuilder and all that kind of stuff like normal people. I mean, my minimum is probably like 100 to 130 grams, up to 200 grams per day, depending on my hunger levels, which is never, never that much protein. So it's not something I really think about too much.
- [17:56]
B
Okay, I'm glad you clarified your protein levels too, because when you hear moderate protein, I don't want the people out there, especially my ladies, thinking, oh, okay, so then that's like 50 to 60 grams of protein. No, no, no, you're still getting that. Now, do you, do you prescribe to the 1 gram per pound of lean muscle mass of protein intake or, or. And then some if you're hitting 200.
- [18:19]
A
I think it depends on what your goals are. I think that's a really good starting point because it's easy to do the math. You know, my ideal weight is 130 pounds, so that would be a minimum 130 grams. But some people can do 0.6, 0.8, 1.2, 1.5. It just depends on what you're trying to do. But I think of just a minimum of like a hundred grams per day, especially for women, is just a really great place to start because then you're definitely going to be hitting protein goals. If you want to build more muscle, though, you'll probably need to eat more.
- [18:46]
B
Eat more protein. Yeah, absolutely. I found that too. Like, even if I stay at, gosh, even like 1:15, 1:20, that is not enough to put on muscle. I have to push my protein intake, which I get it, it's hard to do some days. I mean, and it, it is very hard for women to get in that amount of protein, which is going to be part of the questions I ask you of how we do this. It's hard to push it that far. Now, what about dirty carnivore? There is dirty keto, where the kind of, the ratio is the same, 70% fat, 30% protein, but people are living on bacon, cheese and, and cream cheese and more cheese. And so what is, is there a Dirty Carnivore too, where people are throwing in a bunch of crappy fat.
- [19:35]
A
Sure, yeah, of course there can be dirty anything. But yeah, I think so. I think like the least strict version of Carnivore will be all meat, all seafood, eggs, butter and dairy. That's your least strict version. And then some people will also throw in, you know, sugar substitutes. There are certain like carnivore snacks that you can get that are prepackaged. You could make it as unhealthy as you want. I think, yes, it's doable, but if you have like why are you coming to Carnivore in the first place is going to inform what version of Carnivore you're doing, how strict you need to be. If you're trying to lose weight, you can't really eat that much dairy. I think maybe the first month or two come into it, get used to it, let your body get adjusted in fat, fat adapted. And then if you're not losing weight or seeing the success you want to, you want to see, you got to cut the dairy. It's the lowest hanging fruit. And also if we're looking at this from like a thyroid context, like I cannot consume conventional dairy. I get so inflamed with the Hashimoto's. And I think a lot of people, when they come from a standard American diet to any kind of low carb diet, they don't really realize like how certain foods affect them until they cut them out and reintroduce. And then you're like, oh wait, that stomach ache I've had for 15 years, oh, that's actually something I shouldn't be eating. And you become so much more in tune with how your body speaks to you, which is through symptoms. You know, it doesn't speak with words, it's symptoms. So I think that's another thing that you can really see. But yeah, you can, you can do dirty. You need dirty carnivore. Should you? Probably not, right?
- [21:10]
B
I, I think like if it's a baby step. So again if, if we're taking someone from eating, you know, donuts and convenience food made to order subs, then okay, let's, let's transition you into a dirty carnivore or dirty keto because that's a nice step, that's a beginner step. And then we can start tweaking things as we go. But, but you're right, you know, dairy, that, that can be a hard breakup for some people. People are addicted to dairy. So it's almost like this. Weaning off process and like you said, actually being able to see how you feel when you remove a food, that's your motivation. It's scary at first, but then when you feel better, then that's your, your catalyst to keep going. So you mentioned, you know, Hashimoto's context. Autoimmune. Now let's get into the benefits. So what's in it for anyone to actually try carnivore? So let's start with autoimmune conditions. What are the benefits? Beyond Hashimoto's will, we'll do all autoimmune conditions. Sure.
- [22:13]
A
So an animal based diet, especially a strict carnivore like lion. So ruminants, salt and water for a time, not forever, but for a time can be really beneficial for autoimmune conditions just because it really helps to lower the inflammation and it helps your body to heal. I know of plenty of people that have been on did lion for like a year. I know that's a bit extreme and that sounds crazy, but they had some like serious autoimmune issues and they've been able to put that into remission. The reason why I stay carnivore for my autoimmune condition is because I have tried to add back in carbs and I gained 20 pounds and the inflammation was through the roof. So I have tested this. Yeah, I know it's sad because and this is with fruit and salads, this wasn't with bread. I can't do gluten, I can't do dairy, so I just keep those out. This is with just like healthy carbs. I just can't do it at this point. So what I really need to do is take my own advice and do lion. But I'm just, I'm a bit intimidated by it. So I think I'm going to do it in January. But yeah, like the GAPs protocol, the AIP diet, they're all, they get down to that, that just, you know, basic level of nutrition that you're getting from, from ruminants, meat stocks and things like that. Really gelatinous, collagen rich foods that can help heal the gut which can in turn help heal the, the autoimmune condition. So yeah, that's, I think the main thing I would think of when I'm thinking of carnivore for autoimmune now, you.
- [23:36]
B
Know, even the AIP diet and the gaps, it's almost, honestly it's almost easier to do carnivore because when you're looking at the foods that you have to Take out of an AIP diet. It's almost overwhelming. Like, oh well, can I have this? Oh no, I can't have that, but I can have this. And it's like just, just stop, just eat meat, like eat meat and fat and just do that for a little while. And that will simplify things and take a lot of pressure off of you figuring out what you're actually going to eat. And then like I said, using like literally the best cookbook in the world, which you have given us, is going to also help people get a little bit more variety and excitement into their daily meals. Now you had mentioned, okay, so you gain weight eating fruit and salad. What is it about? What's the whole theory, the carnivore theory, around plants and vegetables, fruits, whatever and how they, they react in our body?
- [24:37]
A
Well, there's a few ideas there. I'm more of a middle of the road type of person. I don't think all plants are going to kill you. I think most people are going to be reintroducing plants some point. But there are certain plants that probably shouldn't be reintroducing. High oxalate, high lectin, things like that. Nightshades, like I can't, I can't eat many tomatoes or peppers. I love them to death, but I cannot. For me, I had a problem moderating fruit. So I can just plow like two pounds of frozen mango and I'll just get a bowl of it and just eat it at night. Ah, I can't moderate it. That's where my problem came in. I can eat a salad a couple times a week and feel fine. But if that then leads to other things that then I'm just eating binging on, on healthy foods, that's not good for me. So I think I discovered that I have a bit of a sugar addiction, carbohydrate addiction, facet to this whole thing. So I think it just depends. It depends on where people are coming from. Yeah, there are some plants I just wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Like spinach, sweet potatoes. You mentioned that, right? Very high oxalate. I just, I used to eat those every single day before Carnivore. I love them, but I just don't anymore, unfortunately. Dark chocolate, also very high oxalate. I know killing me sucks. It sucks. So when I went carnivore, I was eating really high oxalate fruits and vegetables every single day. Dr. Amy like it was insane. And so when I came to Carnivore, I went cold turkey and I was so sick for about six weeks. I thought it was keto flu and it wasn't. It was keto flu and oxalate dumping. And I didn't even know what that was until a year later. And some people are like, oh, well, that's just hokey. That's not real. It's real. I felt like complete garbage. And I wonder, I wonder if that transition and oxalate dumping so quickly played a part in my autoimmune condition. Because right around the same time after that. Right. Wasn't until after that. So I don't know. But yeah, there's just certain plants I. Even if I decided to not be carnivore anymore, I just probably wouldn't consume. You can consume it a little bit. It's when you eat it every single day that your body is not meant to consume it that often.
- [26:47]
B
Right. And it's about listening, like you said, listening to how you respond, how your body responds. Like, I can eat a sweet potato once every couple of weeks and I'm fine. But you're absolutely correct. If I were to eat it every day, then I would, I would absolutely feel repercussions of that. So back to the plants. I just want to clarify this whole concept. So the carnivore model is that plants. And I'm going to say it, and I want you to correct me if I'm wrong, that plants actually contain basically a toxin in them because that's their only protection. Right. Animals in the wild, they have the protection of fighting and battling each other and teeth and claws and all that fun stuff or just running away. Plants can't run away and they can't fight back. But they do have a chemical built in them that, that is their protection. So that when a predator comes to eat that plant, they are ingesting this toxin that essentially is not digestible, not good for us. Do I have that right?
- [27:49]
A
Yeah, mostly. Not every plant has. There's varying levels of toxicity and some plants want you to eat them, like to spread their seeds. So certain fruits and things, but yes, in general that would be accurate.
- [28:00]
B
Okay. We want to more avoid almost more vegetables than the fruits. Because some fruits are actually allowed on carnivore.
- [28:09]
A
No, I mean, if you're doing meat and fruit, sure. But on like a strict carnivore diet. No, no plants. It would just be meat, seafood, eggs and butter and dairy, if you're including dairy.
- [28:19]
B
Okay, okay.
- [28:20]
A
But meat and fruit or animal based is very. They're very good. You know, I always think of it like this, like why are you coming to Carnivore? Are you really, really sick? Then you should probably go really strict carnivore for a time. Are you an athlete? Are you bodybuilding? Are you doing a lot of activity? Then meat and fruit might be great. Like, Paul Saladino is a great example of this. That guy is surfing all the time. He's out in the sunlight constantly. He's like the pinnacle of health. That Guy can eat 200 grams of fruit per day, you know, in carbs per day. That's fine for him. For somebody that's morbidly obese, with type 2 diabetes, that can barely get out of their chair, I wouldn't recommend eating that much fruit. It's sugar and you need to clear all of that out and let your body, your metabolism, your metabolic health heal itself. And then perhaps if you get to the activity level of somebody like Saladino, you can do that. There's plenty of people that are being very successful on meat and fruit, so I don't want to demonize it in any way. That's why I kind of take the moderate approach. Yes, I, I follow a carnivore lifestyle that works for me and a lot of people, but I think it's so nuanced and people need to figure out what works best for them.
- [29:24]
B
What works for them? Yeah, that's key. And, and like you said, glucose, it or fructose, it is an ose. So I always tell people, listen, whenever we're talking about glucose, we know that's a sugar. That's what we measure with the cgm. And what is the difference between another ose? So fructose is an ose, It's a sugar. It's going to respond in your body the same way. And even though it contains antioxidants, your body doesn't step back and go, oh, you know what? We're going to give Jenny a break today because she's eaten some berries and some mango and it's got a lot of antioxidants in it. So we're not going to spike her blood sugar today. Like, no, your body is going to look at that chemical structure of the fruit of the ose, and it's going to do what it has to do to break that down. That includes releasing insulin from your pancreas. And your blood sugar goes up and then the pancreas, the insulin comes in to bring that down. The process is the same. It's just that it's fruit, not table sugar. Okay, I mentioned the, the antioxidant component. I know that this is a big piece of resistance in people's minds. But fruits are good for me. They contain antioxidants. I've been told that the French eat berries and that's why they stay young and that's why they drink their win. Fine with the berries and the fruit. What's the deal with our antioxidant status? If we're going to do carnivore, do we have to add in a boatload of like vitamins, minerals, all of that to replace the lack of vegetables and fruit antioxidants? Okay. You know that I love peptides and I love what peptides can do for our skin. Now we know with age and UV exposure we're getting wrinkles, our skin is aging, it's getting age spots. So there's one company in particular, One Skin, which side note, founded and led by an all woman team of skin longevity scientists, they looked at over 900 peptides. And from diving into the science of these 900 peptides, they combined many of them and developed OSO1, which is the first ingredient scientifically proven to interrupt our core aging process, where our cells just really stop functioning normally. And then that collagen and elastin that plumps our skin and makes it look good and youthful goes into the toilet. And then what happens with age and UV exposure, the release of harmful inflammatory chemicals that's just going to damage our skin and make you look older than you already are, that's not good. We don't want that. We want to look younger and we want to stop our skin from aging. So OSO1 switches off these bad cells, these toxic cells, and it addresses the root cause of skin aging, which helps your skin stay younger and healthier.
- [32:15]
A
It's your largest organ.
- [32:17]
B
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- [32:46]
A
You just have to try this.
- [32:47]
B
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- [33:12]
A
No, no. The thing with antioxidants, I think that's mostly just creative marketing. So in order for a pill or antioxidants from a fruit to get to where you need it, it has to go through your entire body. So like goes down through your digestive system, if it even makes it past the stomach acid, goes down into your intestines and is broken up, then goes into the bloodstream, goes to the liver, is, you know, changed and processed there. By the time anything actually gets through our amazing system, there's nothing left. The thing with fruits and vegetables, with the antioxidants and all that kind of stuff. So like, here's the thing, as, as humans, we never, unless we lived along the equator, consumed fruit and vegetables every single day in our history. There's a seasonality to it. So I think that's key. Also, you know, geographical issues, you know, and concerns like my people, where I'm from genetically is from the British Isles and they weren't consuming a ton of fruit. So is that going to all of these berries and things, is that going to be good for me based on my genetics? There's also pesticides. You know, we don't know what is going on to the fruits and vegetables. Even organic fruits and vegetables can have overspray from non organic farms that are right next door. They cannot control the wind, right? The quality of the fruits and vegetables, the ground in which it was grown. And then you've got so many other things that go into that. The fruits and vegetables we eat nowadays, they're nothing like what we ate even a few hundred years ago. You can look at a painting from the 1500s of a watermelon and it's mostly rind. That's only a few hundred years ago. Natural bananas, natural eggplants, strawberries. They're very tiny, not very sweet. So we have hybridized the sweetest versions of these things. So I think that would be my main response for the antioxidants. We've never really consumed very many of them, so why would we start needing them now?
- [35:11]
B
Yeah, you nailed it at the beginning. It's marketing. It's marketing for vitamins, it's marketing for big food. I mean, it's just really good marketing. And this is why I bring people on like yourself, to really break down the facts so that people can make informed decisions for their own health. Okay, so we talked about weight loss we talked about autoimmunity. What other set of conditions, what other benefits are there to going carnivore?
- [35:38]
A
There's a few that I can just think of right off the top of my head. Weight loss, obviously, that's stark and happens for a lot of people. The blood sugar normalization, blood pressure normalization, happens pretty quickly. Mental health improvements. This one is amazing to me. I used to have anxiety and depression since I was 13. And I was not trying to, you know, solve this issue when I went carnivore. But within, like, three months of going carnivore, I didn't have anxiety attacks anymore. They were just gone. And this is a profound shift for a lot of people. If you read Dr. George Eads book, Change the Diet, Change the Mind, and, like, Metabolic mind, an awesome YouTube channel, here they talk about these amazing stories of people going into full remission from, like, schizophrenia, bipolar one and two, depression, anxiety, anorexia. Using a carnivore diet. That's profound, and it was unexpected for me. Skin. A lot of skin improvements that people see. Eczema, rosacea, cystic acne and things like that just completely go away, like steak and butter. Gal Bella Ma had cystic acne while she was six years, vegan, switched to a carnivore diet, and within, I think it was like six months, her skin was fully healed. And if you see her in person, her skin is like glass. You wouldn't even have been able to tell. And I hear so many of these stories of just skin improvements going on a carnivore diet. And it happens pretty quickly. Pretty quickly. I think those would be the top. The top things that I can think of. Gastrointestinal issues, Crohn's, ibs, any kind of stomach issues that you've had, tend to just quiet and go away on a carnivore diet because you're eating so simply and you're giving your body all of the building blocks it needs to heal itself.
- [37:20]
B
And I would even think some conditions, like mast cell activation syndrome, any kind of an elevated histamine response, which is very much correlated to Hashimoto's as well, that that would also calm down because you're really taking out the high histamine foods when you go carnivore.
- [37:37]
A
Yeah, yeah, that. That has been seen. There have been people that have such sensitive systems that they have to eat lower histamine meats. So, like, there's a company called Billy Dough Meats that they freeze their meat within a day of slaughter. If you're going to like conventional meat, it's like a few weeks and the histamines can build up. So for people that are like super, super sensitive, they can still do Carnivore. They just have to make sure that they're getting the right meat need that's not aged right.
- [38:05]
B
Okay, interesting. And back to the blood pressure. How is it helping with blood pressure? Can you explain that to people?
- [38:11]
A
Sure. So blood pressure, typically when you are eating a high sugar, high processed food diet, it puts a lot of pressure on your arteries. And our arteries are not meant to have high blood pressure like that. They're not designed for that. That's why over a few decades you can see like plaque buildup in the highest velocity areas of the heart. That's typically where you're seeing the calcified plaque and all that kind of stuff. And with high blood pressure comes damage to the arteries constantly, constantly having to be repaired. When you go on a Carnivore diet, I think the thing that really, there's two things that really helps to calm that down and to lower the blood pressure. The first is you're lowering your inflammation levels. That is key. The second is you are normalizing your blood glucose levels so your heart isn't having to pump as much. It's calming down your blood glucose levels, your fasting insulin, your A1C, all of that stuff is going down back to the normal level. There's some people that have like seen normalization of their blood pressure within a few weeks. Doesn't happen for everybody but a lot of people. So that's something you really need to pay attention to in the beginning of Carnivore because you may be heavily medicated and you may actually get too low of blood pressure on Carnivore. So you want to be working with your physician to titrate those medications down. And always work with a physician. Don't just go off your meds, you want to work with your doctor. But it's remarkable how quickly just the inflammation and the lowering of the glucose levels in your bloodstream can, can have a profound effect on your blood pressure.
- [39:43]
B
I mean to me this just sounds like a no brainer. I get it that it, it, it's a little intimidating and people are wondering, oh my gosh, I have to give up my favorite foods, what can I eat? All of that. But when it comes to your health, if you are struggling and even thought about pain too, like people with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, that full body inflammation, joint pain, muscle pain, my goodness, just try a carnivore diet. Instead of loading your body down with prednisone and Advil and just every kind of anti inflammatory supplement under the sun, try going Carnivore because that's the, the easiest, safest way to control your pain and inflammation.
- [40:24]
A
Yeah, it's amazing. So many people that I've talked to because I get comments every single day on YouTube just of the, the changes that people have seen and you know, I just think we don't think about the food. We've all been programmed to eat three to six times per day and these foods have always been with us. And I've eaten this since I was a kid. Maybe you've not felt that great since you were a kid either. It's like once you have the veil pulled from your eyes and you're like, it's the food. And then you, you change your diet, you're brave, you make the shift for 30 to 90 days and you're like, oh my gosh, I actually feel good again. Then you see it. But like I said in the beginning, like sometimes you just have to jump in and try. Try it. What's, what's there to lose? You've tried everything else.
- [41:06]
B
Yeah.
- [41:06]
A
Give this a try for a little bit and just see what happens.
- [41:09]
B
And it's funny, as I was grilling my ribeye last night, I was actually thinking about the girl who literally, she is, narrowed down her foods to just ribeyes. I forget, I forget her name, but she had such bad health that she figured out for herself that it's rib eye and butter and salt and that is it. And she doesn't stray from it. And I thought, my gosh, I really like my ribeye, but I don't know that I could eat it a couple times a day every single day for the rest of my life. But if I was that sick, that's the motivation. So yes, I could, if it was solving a major health crisis, which is what Carnivore can do.
- [41:49]
A
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I haven't been so sick that I have had that experience. But all I know is that when I'm eating ribeyes, ground beef, eggs, bacon, sausage and chicken wings, I feel my best, my antibodies are the lowest I have, my fatigue is improved and I can hang out with my, you know, four year old twin boys and be the mom I want to be. I've tried to incorporate other things and it just doesn't work for me at this point. So, yeah, I totally agree with you. If you have severe medical health conditions, you need to give this A try. So you can get your life back.
- [42:27]
B
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. All right, now let's talk about the complete Carnivore. Achieving better health. This one. Yeah, exactly. We got both carpet. All right, so this is so good. I mean, you literally, you take people's hand and guide them through a carnivore diet. And I mean, for all. Just if you don't have a gallbladder, if you have histamine issues, if you had bariatric surgery, you go into the sugar substitutes, you, I mean, you go into seasonings that, I mean, just, it's amazing. You really break it down. But then you give us the good stuff, then you give us things that we can actually eat. Because that's where it gets really confusing is like, how am I going to, how am I going to change this up? Or even for my family, how am I going to change this up? Well, your family would like some sweet cream cheese filled crepes. I'm sure nobody would balk at a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. Right. So talk to me about what the inspiration was for this cookbook and then we're going to tell people where they can get it. Ooh, mini cheesecakes too.
- [43:30]
A
Yeah. So when I was first approached to write this book, they said, do you want to write a cookbook? I said, well, not really, but what I would like to write is a complete in depth guide to the carnivore diet and have some recipes there too. When I started Carnivore, like I said, we had watched Dr. Ken Berry's videos and then I just like threw myself in and got started. And I ran into so many issues in the beginning and I just wanted to save people from maybe some of the mistakes that I made. And then also the experience of creating Carnivore educational content for people here on YouTube. I wanted to take all of that troubleshooting that we've gone through over the years and share that with people so they can have a complete encyclopedia. So that's what this is. Yeah, it walks you through the whole thing. It starts off by talking about, like, why should you do Carnivore? Why has it been demonized?
- [44:17]
B
Or whatever.
- [44:17]
A
And then it goes into a complete in depth guide to getting started answers, like every question you could ever think of that I had in the beginning and a lot of my people have had. And then it goes into, like troubleshooting because it's not going to be smooth sailing, baby. It never is for anybody. So you're going to run into some issues. And in chapter five, it Walks through almost every issue you can encounter with actionable steps on how to get past whatever it is. Chapter six is myths, like myths FAQs. And then chapter eight is an entire chapter on measuring your progress through blood work. DEXA scans, continuous glucose monitoring, ketones, so many different things. Because I'm a huge data nerd. And that's how I got started on Carnivore. And when I got started, I could not find blood work videos on YouTube. Now they're a dime a dozen, right? They were not around three years ago. So I've taken all the functional medicine blood work ranges that, you know, the optimal blood work ranges. Got them in there in both United States and international units so that anybody can see what their goals should be. And then it gets into the good stuff, as you said, the Carnivore recipes. So the carnivore recipes, 80 of them, ranging from desserts, appetizers, breads, breakfasts, lots of different recipes in there. And it kind of runs the gamut of like really strict carnivore all the way to just, you know, eating dairy. I'd like to see some of these recipes that have more dairy in them as a bridge for people from standard American to a more carnivore lifestyle. Like if your family isn't on board, you could cook the meat lovers pizza roll ups and they would have no idea that this is Carnivore.
- [45:49]
B
That's true.
- [45:49]
A
No idea. Because it tastes so good. You could do the beef stroganoff and your family would have no idea that they're eating healthy. So just a way to help people get into the lifestyle. So yeah, I just wanted something that a person that's beginning the Carnivore diet can use. A person that's been doing it for 15 years can find some value in this book. Just all the way across the board. And I'm really, really happy with it. It was a lot of work.
- [46:12]
B
Oh, well, listen, it's been in my kitchen until today. I only brought it downstairs because I knew we were talking, but I've been using it all day long and I think the desserts are important. I'll speak for myself because I come from a family of sweet tooth and I don't go crazy by any way, shape or form and eat real sugar. But I need just something something. So even if it is, I mean, right now I'll do Greek yogurt and a tablespoon of almond butter or I'll do a protein shake or make my protein pudding, but I get stuck like I'm Kind of just, you know, going back and forth between those two things. Whereas your recipes in here for desserts kind of broaden my horizons and give me more. More options just to, you know, satisfy your sweet tooth. Especially after a ribeye. I just need something. Something, you know, just a little something sweet to just cleanse the palette and move on.
- [47:05]
A
Yeah, I totally feel you on that. There's some people in the, like, the carnivore police will be like, oh, you shouldn't have anything sweet. Blah. But a lot of people need something sweet. And if you're not like, binging the stuff and you. You can moderate it, I think that's totally fine. My favorite dessert in here is the ice cream sandwich. Sandwiches. I don't know if you've tried those yet. They're legit the best. The best thing ever. I just have to make it with raw dairy if I'm going to eat it because the raw dairy doesn't affect me like conventional. But holy smokes, that recipe, we make that and it's gone. Like, we eat one per day.
- [47:39]
B
Amazing. Well, that's perfect for the holidays coming up as well, so. Well, Jenny, I mean, you really have done just such a great job. Thank you so much for bringing the. This to the world because I. I do feel like this is a way of eating that a lot of my listeners and the sound of my voice right now should probably consider implementing because it literally could take your health. Everything that we talked about on the show today, from something as simple as weight loss to. To your mood can be improved by implementing this way of eating. And like Jenny said, just try it.
- [48:13]
A
Just try it out.
- [48:14]
B
I want everyone listening in the earshot of my voice. If you are suffering, you can't lose the weight. You're doing all the things or your mood is off or you have skin conditions like we talked about. Give this a try. It will hurt. Nothing to try. And. And with complete Carnivore, you're going to. Like I said, you're going to have your handheld through the process. You can troubleshoot, and you can actually make really good food as well. So, Jenny, to conclude this. How are you doing right now? So you've lost the weight. Did you lose all 70 pounds of your baby weight now?
- [48:52]
A
Officially, yes. I just passed that like a month ago. I'm now into unknown territory. Dr. Amy I haven't been this thin in a. Gosh, I can't even remember. Probably since my 20s. And I'm 41. Gonna be 42 in March.
- [49:06]
B
Okay, beautiful. Well, you get your thyroid optimized too. So that helps.
- [49:10]
A
That helps. Yeah.
- [49:11]
B
Just goes in conjunction with how you're eating. So I love it. I love it. So tell people where they can find you because you have a great YouTube channel. And then of course we'll put all the links in the show notes for the book.
- [49:22]
A
Sure. So Jenny Mitich at Jenny Mitch on YouTube. And then I also have Instagram that you can find from there. But I'm Most active on YouTube.
- [49:30]
B
Beautiful. And we'll put that in the show notes as well so people can follow you and just take in all of that amazing, amazing information that you're giving out every single week. So thank you so much for writing the book and thanks for coming on the show.
- [49:41]
A
Thanks for having me, Dr. Amy and this was awesome.
- [49:50]
B
The information shared on the Thyroid Fixer Podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthc care provider with any questions you you may have regarding a medical condition treatment or before making changes to your healthcare regimen, including medications, supplements or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient or client provider relationship between you and the host or between you and any other healthcare professionals featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. Statements regarding dietary supplements or health related products mentioned in this podcast have not been evaluated by the fda. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some episodes of the Thyroid Fixer podcast may include sponsorships or affiliate links. The host may receive compensation for discussing or promoting certain products or services. Any such sponsorships or affiliations will be clearly disclosed during the episode. All opinions expressed are those of the hosts or guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any sponsors. The inclusion of a product or service does not imply endorsement by any health care professional featured on this podcast.