Carnivore diet is a type of diet which involves eating almost nothing but meat for about every meal. If you are looking about changing your diet, take it on someone that’s been doing it full-bore!
Watch the video as Dr. J and her lovely guest, Caitlin Weeks discuss about the effects of a carnivore diet to one’s overall health. Learn in detail how an all-protein diet affect the kidney, antibodies and health issues like diabetes and kidney stones. Continue watching and don’t forget to share. Sharing is caring!
Caitlin Weeks
In this episode, we cover:
07:30 Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner of a Carnivore Diet
12:07 Kidney Stress, Thyroid Test
17:38 Taking Enough Fats from Meat
19:33 Missing out Fermented Foods
24:48 Bowel Motility
26:43 Antioxidant Compounds
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Hey there it's Dr. Justin Marchegiani, welcome back to the podcast I have a awesome guest: Caitlin Weeks who is grassfedgirl– grassfedgirl.com. Caitlin's all over Facebook, and Instagram and Twitter, has also awesome content and recipes, really good info. Caitlin, welcome to today's podcast, how you doin'?
Caitlin Weeks: Hi Justin, nice to see you, thanks for having me.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Good to see you too! And you are part of the uh– the thyroid summit which will be airing in the next few months so make sure anyone who's– wants to get more Caitlin's story around thyroid health– thyroidresetsummit.com, make sure you subscribe. So you messaged me a few months ago, you are like, “Hey I'm starting this carnivore diet thing and– I'm getting some pretty good results and like to share with your listeners”. So I was like, “This is awesome” because I've been seeing lots of stuff online about the carnivore diet, I've heard some really good things about it. And I really wanna get someone on who's actually doing it full-bore. I think you're month 3 right now. Uhm– so– what– what first kind of wanted you to m– made you wanna jump on to this experiment? Just– j– are you j– just curious? How did that go?
Caitlin Weeks: Well uhm– back whe– whe– when I got hashimoto's uhm– my thyroid and everything was messed up and [laughs]– and my digestion was always a– a mess and uhm– my uh– energy was a problem and uh– so I just– you know, kind of been doing paleo, and keto and– it's all been helping and I've been getting better and– uhm– all my labs are good and everything is uh– going better and better but uhm– so my digestion was pretty uh– slow, and not so very common symptom of hashimoto's and– so I was working with the health coach and I– if you don't know ___[01:44], I mean, I know you know her but [laughs] a lot of people might don't know–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uh-huh.
Caitlin Weeks: Uhh– that it's ___[01:51] and she's a really– an expert on basically everything having to do with– uh– how the [laughs]– you know, thyroid and– uhm– you know and thyroids im– important hormones so she knows a lot about all that kind of stuff and she just kept telling me to do it and I was like, “Ughh!”, I don't– I don't wanna hear that you know uhm– because it's like, ketos for being extreme in of itself and then– I mean, compared to the certain American diet, and then when you uhm– you say– or you can't have any chocolate or any uh– you know peanut butter or any– anything, you know. And so, I just goes like, “I don't wanna hear that! I don't wanna hear that!”. And then it was funny by the same time my sister was starting to do carnivore and I was like, “what?”, and like she had two babies in a row and the second one sh– she basically just never lost the weight of her first one and then she just got pregnant again with the second one. So, she never could re– really lose the baby weight, and then– the second time she lost 20 pounds, I mean, almost overnight. And I was like, “What is happening?”, like, you didn't–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uh-huh.
Caitlin Weeks: And I know she didn't work out or anything like that. So, I was like, uhm– I mean not that I even believe in that, really, because, I know that exercise doesn't really cause weight lose especially in hormonally challenged women.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uh-huh, uh-huh.
Caitlin Weeks: [Laughs] So– uhm– anyway, so she had the– the 20 pounds off and I'm– you know, we're kind of the same, it's hard for us to lose weight. And uhm– again, I uhm– so– so I told her, well– what– I didn't wanna hear from her either. I was like, “Great! I'm glad it's working from you– for you, but I don't really wanna hear about it really, like [laughs]”. I mean, maybe I asked her a little bit but I was just like, “I'm not doing that, that's crazy.” I love my vegetables, I love my– my brash in my soups and– you know, I'm– big gru– ___[03:54] fan and I love my– sauerkraut, and I love my Brussel sprouts–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: With your all kind of very good like low-sugar type of vegetables anyway, they're very non-starchy anyway.
Caitlin Weeks: Mm-hmm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: –and I love chocolate– I make huge like chocoholic. So, I mean, of course lo– no sugar or a very low sugar. Uhm– but I was just like, I don't wanna hear any of that, like I love my stuff, and I don't wanna change you know? [laughs]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right, right.
Caitlin Weeks: She says– slowly with these two like in my ear, I was like, alright, well I'm gonna be home for like 3 months so I'll try it. And– well– well first s– there's no way I was gonna give her 3 months, I was just gonna do for 30 days, ___[04:34] said, dear for 30 days, I was like, “Aaah? Okay, I guess”. So I started and– the– the one thing that kind of got me was like, “You can eat all you want”.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: And I was like, alright. I mean, because I hate being hungry.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm–
Caitlin Weeks: And I don't like m– I don't like counting, I don't like macros, I don't like any of that crap. So– uhm– I was like, if I don't have to count anything, and I could eat until I'm really– until I'm full, you know, or– really full [laughs]. And there was like, “Okay, I'll try it”.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Now you're already coming from like kind of a keto paleo template, right? So you are already doing like most of your carbs were primarily veggies, anyway, you ate good fats like, I think you did grass with butter, and coconut, and all that. You are pretty good with all those good fats, right?
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah, I mean, I've done– done that for– since 2009. I've been kind of paleo-ish, you know, I w– and keto too because I was always eating kind of low carb because I knew uhm– I didn't really tolerate a lot of sugars and all that maple syrup and coconut sugar and all stuff fu– I'd never really agreed with meat so I try to keep my fruits down to like berries and stuff like that. So, uhm– I was always kind of low carb anyway, uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Your carbs are primarily around what, like 30 or 50 or so, net carbs like free-carnivore, right?
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I thought– 'cause I have done keto so many times and, in like, done it really strict and try to–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uh-huh.
Caitlin Weeks: 20 carbs and– and– so I thought well I'm not– am I getting yet the keto flu sign? Because I never got it before. Because I would think I w– I was already– kind of low carb anyway, so–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Right, right.
Caitlin Weeks: This time, whoa! I got it [laughs]. It was bad like, ugh– I had never really had to worry about electrolytes and stuff before but this time it was like– I was feeling like I was gonna pass out if I didn't have that salt, and I would keep like a little little thing of like Redmond salt with me–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Caitlin Weeks: –all the time.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Caitlin Weeks: And I have to dump it like on my tongue, I mean it was really-really bad like– and I still get that way sometimes like I still have to– like I'll get this like, elbow pain and then oh no, like, okay, I need my salt and–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Wow.
Caitlin Weeks: I'll just stick– like, I'll just wet my finger and stick it in the salt–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: –and just like lick it because, I don't like drinking. Some people make those like electrolyte drinks and stuff, but– ugh! I cannot drink. If it's in a big salt in a big water, I can't drink that like it's so gross. So–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I wake up every morning with this, I do like an 8 ounce or like 4 ounces of water and I just put the whole bottom a bunch of Redmond's free sea salt and I just shoot it down real fast. I love Redmonds. It's just one of the best salts there is.
Caitlin Weeks: I mean, I just preferred all my time, if I know I had to drink this big thing, I'm like, ugh!
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah, I can't do a bit that, you gotta do like an ah– a shot but yeah, you the– that way it works good. And then I'm just curious, can you kinda like walk the listeners so like right now, kind of a day in the life. What is breakfast, lunch and dinner look like for you? And then, did you have to cut a lot of the other fats out like coconut oil or grassfed butter, how did you navigate the extra fats that you may have added into?
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– well– [sighs] too many questions at once. So the no– normal day of food is this–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani:Yes.
Caitlin Weeks: –like– I mean, no really's not that different because most people really likes their breakfast so you can eat eggs–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: And–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– I mean, bacon. I don't really do bacon but, the ba– you could do that. I would make sure there was no sugar for your bacon probably.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani:Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: like the pig or ___[08:12] or something?
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah, and then– uh– I eat Kerrygold butter and–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: You can do ge– I mean you can do completely dairy-free. Uh– I haven't noticed a big difference either way but– uhm– you could do that, and you could use beef tallow, something– you want an animal-based fat. So you wanna not– you don't want– you wanna limit your plans as much as possible. So you kinda have to think about that like, you can't throw that thing– you have– can't use the coconut oil all the time. I mean, like if– if you have a little bit of olive oil, a little bit of coconut oil, like if it's in the pan or something like– uhm– sometimes I reuse pans [laughs], it's almost like– like it's already ___[08:52] or whatever [laughs], you know. But like– or if you go to the restaurant, you're– I mean, I'm not gonna be like–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –“Oh, you have to cook my food and beef tallow”. You know, that– it's the same kind of thing is. You know, when you're eating out you can't be as picky but– uhm– anyway, so, normal day and food– so if you drink– I drink coffee, some people say no coffee at all. But to me, I just couldn't do that so– uhm– they just drink water and beef and salt like, that's like the highest uh– uhm– tier–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Of carnivore.
Caitlin Weeks: Of carn–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Water, beef and salt.
Caitlin Weeks: Right. And– and– and just, you know, meat fats.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So– so if it's like a beef broth or a chicken broth, that's okay?
Caitlin Weeks: I mean, yeah, some people ___[09:36] at all. That mean there's– I think there's kind of like levels. And I'd say I'm probably in the middle of–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –or uhm maybe on the most lenient level, even though it's super strict, uhm– it– so then for lunch it's just, like, I bought a huge thing of the butcher box ribeyes and so I'll just heat up one of those and, you know, cook 'em on the stove and, uhm– but you can also, like I'm finding it easier to skip meals here and there, or like– if you don't eat your– your– your lu– your breakfast 'till 11:00, then, you know, and then you eat– and now it's getting dark so early, you're eating at 5:00.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: Sounds like you need 11:00 and 5:00, I mean you're gonna be– that's it, you know. So– or– uhm– 10:00 and 6:00 or– you know, something like that, it's just– it's a lot easier to skip meals because if you're eating a lot, then you don't have to– eat every 4 hours, you know. Uhm– so–, yes stake, and then, maybe, like a ham or– maybe like a half a pound or even a pound of brown beef, add another meal, I mean that's a really cheap way to– uhm– you know, you can get a grass-fed beef with all the– 4-4.50, you know, per pounds so– uhm– we couldn't– sometimes I'll eat the whole package, you know and– and you just– a– make anything ___[11:00], I mean, just– like that. I mean it's super simple. And uhm– and– it's like right away I love the simplicity, you don't have to clean up as much, you don't have as much– all these different, you know pans, and different things to clean up, and you don't have to buy as much as– seems like it'd be more expensive but, when you– vegetables are actually really expensive. So– [laughs] uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I know, right? And this is a big shift from you because your first cookbook was on the paleo mediterranean diet. So, everyone listening, we'll put the links for that book below but, paleo mediterranean has a lot of other types of vegetables, other types of recipes so, it must have been an interesting transition for you like having to make more elaborate meals to now having very simple things like, hey, grow up a ribeye, like–
Caitlin Weeks: Yup.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Hey here's some eggs like just very simple. Uh what was that transition like for you, kinda make– make it everything easier?
Caitlin Weeks: It's just– I mean it's just so simple, I don't know, and you seem just kind of doub– you– but you eat more. So, whatever you would eat with vegetables, you would like eat– you would eat double the meat than you'd normally eat.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: You know what I mean? Because everyone–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And I've been worried about kidney stress or any of these things. People say, “Oh, too much animal protein”, are you worried about that?
Caitlin Weeks: Ugh– I really wasn't uhm– I did take a thyroid test uh– right after the first 30 days, uhm– and my antibodies dropped 30 points. And I– I really don't have that many anyway so it's like– now they're like a– 60 I think, and they were at a hundred– some so. Something like that. I was just surprised to see that drop because– and then that was kind of like a motivator like after 30 days, I was like, oh well, if my body is liking this, then– great, you know. I– if it went up or so, I would be scared, you know.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So how did your thyroid numbers look? Did you– what did that post look like? Like T-4, TSH, T-3?
Caitlin Weeks: [Sighs] Uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Did it go up, or at least stay the same?
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah it was about the same and–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Drop or anything?
Caitlin Weeks: No, I mean, I don't think it was– I mean I showed 'em to my– I have a holistic doctor here.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: And– I didn't even tell them, you know, that I was doing carnivore but, they were like, “Oh it's fine”, you know, you're– [laughs], you're fine [laughs]– looks fine and– it was no significant change, you know. And uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You're probably taking Armor, right?
Caitlin Weeks: Huh?
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You're taking Armor?
Caitlin Weeks: I take–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: NP?
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah, I– I think it's NP thyroid.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: NP and there's Nature Throid they kind of easily get confused.
Caitlin Weeks: Uh– it's not– it's not Nature Throid 'cause I take Nature Throid before, and I take NP, uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That's the big one that everyone's going through right now it's kind of a shortage with some of the others.
Caitlin Weeks: It's a– ___[13:51]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah– ___[13:53]. Yup, that's correct. Alright, good. So, you're on that and then you really noticed any major drops. That's kind of a thing with a lot of people, you know, going keto, which, uhm– you know, imagine you're– you're still in ketosis, so I mean even though you're carnivore, technically you're still keto, right?
Caitlin Weeks: I mean I've taken my ketones I'm not a– I mean, I've taken my ketos a lot with the– the keto module,
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: And uh– when I do regular keto, I'm not a big– you know, shower of ketones [laughs], uhm– but I can always tell 'cause breath is terrible and– you know, it's [crosstalk], everything. Uhm– but– thi– with this, it's the same way, I can tell because sometimes my breath is terrible and, you know my body smells funny, and–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani:Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: Everything smells funny you know, but uhm– but I don't register high ketones at all like, I mean, it's like .2, .4–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: It doesn't really matter the types– I'm taking them all different times a day and– but– I'm just like, I'm not gonna worry about it because–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: I think it's– I am– I can feel it, you know.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah, you're probably just burning a lot of it up too, maybe freezing it for fuel.
Caitlin Weeks: And uh– uh– and you ask about the kidney stones, no I'm not worried about that, I mean, I think that– I think I would feel– 'cause I'm very sensitive and my energy's very– if I was feeling bad then I would know. Yeah, right away.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And I asked you that question 'cause a lot of people– it's kind of a common myth out there in the natural health world, “Oh, too much meat will cause kidney issues”, well here's the deal, if you have s– strain kidneys or kidney disease already, then higher amounts of protein may be an issue 'cause the filtrations are already impaired. But if your kidneys aren't impaired, no, protein won't be a– won't be a problem. There's no research actually to prove that.
Caitlin Weeks: My kidney don't already have the disease.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. And then here's the thing, most people that have kidney disease, it's typically from high blood sugar–
Caitlin Weeks: That's from diabetes.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Diabetes, yeah– 8– 80% of people that need kidney transplant, it's from actual diabetes, so– it's the– they are kind of confusing the macronutrients there. It's really the– the refined sugar and the excess carbs. So, good I wanted to highlight that. And uhm– it's interesting though, you said the elbow, you get elbow joint pain? And then the minerals really help that. Can you elaborate on that?
Caitlin Weeks: [Sighs] I mean, I just want signal, I get from my–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Any other face twitching or spasms at all?
Caitlin Weeks: I feel kind of like up here kind of– yeah– just kind of soreness uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: In my back and stuff. Uhm but– I mean, when I was first starting with more like, lightheadedness like I– I need to–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: –have something right now and– and one thing that I didn't say but– I drink– I made a bone broth especially when I started– every day I would drink like 2 or 3 big cups of it, because I make it in my instant pot, you know, I just uhm– strain it off, and then just drink it and I put a– and that's a way to put a lot of salts. You have to really put a lot of salts in that, because– I mean, that's a savory food anyway so it's just like really easy to put a lot of salts in it—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: And– that was an easy way for me to get a lot of salt. And then of course I have a little salt in my– in my meats and stuff but that's usually not enough, and I think people can quit before– because they may not feel well and they're not using enough salt, that's a big mistake. And, they're gonna blame, you know, they're gonna blame carnivore when it's really not– that's not what's wrong, you know, it's a– they're not having enough salt [laughs].
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: And then when you're picking the cuts of meat uh– can you talk about the cuts? It sounds like you're tryin' to choose like fattier cuts. I could– I could picture people really getting in the trouble in a carnivore diet, really just choosing leaner cuts of meat. What's your thoughts on that?
Caitlin Weeks: Well– I mean that even happens to me now like, yesterday I ate like some dark meat chicken which you'd think would be okay, and it was like a whole– like a pieces of a whole chicken. Uhm– I ate like a wing– something, but, a– after dinner I was like, that's not– I– I didn't get enough fat like I could feel it.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: And then I went back and I made some like scrambled eggs with a bunch of butter in it, and then I was– then I felt fine, you know. So, uhm yeah, people really have to get the fattier cuts and– uhm– cook them in fat and– I mean like chicken wings are one of my favorite foods because they have so meat– much fat on them, and uhm– and ground beef is– you really wanna get like an 80, 20. I know char– uh– US Wellness are 75, 25? Uhm– and so if you wanna order from US Wellness you can put your– your link for that, uhm–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah 55, 45 [crosstalk].
Caitlin Weeks: They won't ___[18:51], they have a 75, 25 which is not found in grocery stores so– uhm– when I found even from grassfed farmers like if they said it's– uh lot of them sell 90, 10, it's like gross, you know? I don't want that–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Me too–
Caitlin Weeks: And–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: –you want at least like an 85, 15 with the ground beef. Uhm– and you can add some butter in it or add some extra fat to it when you're cooking it. Uhm– if you just– if you don't do that, you're not gonna feel good at all. I got [laughs] it's just– ___[19:27] you're not gonna– I mean you can do roast and– uhm– but you know, you do all the fat on it.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah what's your experience with, like 'cause now you're missing some other fermented food. I'm just curious, are you concerned about, “Oh, I'm not getting the sauerkraut or the fermented cod liver o– oh I guess you could do a fermented cod liver oil. But like, hey I'm not doing all the sauerkraut or maybe the kombucha. Are you concerned about the fermented side of the feint there?
Caitlin Weeks: Well I did uh– I just did a– a Genova stool test.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– it's like GI effects I guess it's from. And they– the– right up– it was funny 'cause– and I've been doing carnivore maybe 2 months then. And she was– one of her comment was like, “This is one of the best, like microbiomes I've ever seen”. I was like, “What?” [laughs] like– in at– I mean– this was like my holistic doctor. I didn't tell them that I was doing carnivore because I thought they would tell me not to so I was like didn't tell them, but [laughs].
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: [laughs]
Caitlin Weeks: I was surprised because you'd think you did nothing but meat, you would have like, you'd be deficient in some strains or something like that, so– I mean, I don't mess the actual food– it's funny you don't mess– you'd think–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –you'd crave this–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –or crave that but you're so full all the time, you're just, like you don't even think about it.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Are you tryin' to do at least two meals a day or so? Two to three, is that kind of where you fall?
Caitlin Weeks: I've given– I'm gonna have 2 big like a lunch, a big– uhm– 'cause I can't really so show a person so wha– and especially over holidays you have these big things coming up, and always have lunch with people and so it's like if I know I'm going out to lunch, then I'll have a small breakfast, or if I– like if I'm going to lunch at early, then I'll– I won't eat breakfast, you know, I'll just have coffee or something. But then if I go– but if– it just depends on the day, so–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –it has become a lot easier to skip a meal if I didn't feel hungry. And sometimes you're just not hungry at all and you're just like, “Whatever” ___[21:32].
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Have you ever get a low blood sugar symptoms at all, kind of feeling shaky or kinda that– that– that jitteriness at all?
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– sometimes you– I mean, if you wait– really wait too long you'll get–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –you know, too hungry but–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: 8 hours, 7 hours, is that kind of where that cut 6? What's that cut off for you?
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– it doesn't really happen during the day. But like let's say I woke up, and– like, I was gonna ugh– uh– like there was a lunch with s– st– like I didn't eat breakfast and then lunch came on too late, you know, like you're waiting around for lunch and it's like– you know, 1, 2, like if you skip breakfast– and so it's been overnight and then all morning, then maybe you could be like, “Aaah, you need to eat something”, you know. But that probably—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yes.
Caitlin Weeks: –be the only time–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –because during the day, it's just not– because if you ate lunch, you're not gonna be passing out before dinner. No way, you know? [giggles]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Exactly. So that's really cool that you had the stool test on this so you might go by and still look good, so– the whole idea that you had to get all these extra carbs or resistance starch in there, didn't seem to– to make too much of a difference though with you.
Caitlin Weeks: No, I mean, she– sh– I was surpri– I wish I had like recorded exactly what she said. She was just like, “This ___[22:51] best one's I've ever seen”, and I was like, “Oh my gosh”, uhm– and then– I get– I'm going to do next Monday, I'm doing this food allergy test so I'm happy she doesn't say it's a– red meat or ground beef sensitivity [laughs].
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: I know, right? That's the only concerning part it's like, you're eating a lot of that. Now, could you rotate between like, you know, fish fowl, pork, lamb, beef, like could you use be more like to have more of that variety in there as long as there's animal it's okay, right?
Caitlin Weeks: You can. I mean, some people like, if you follow like Jordan Peterson and Mikhaila Peterson they're like–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –kind of well-known in the carnivore, I mean, uhm– they eat like just beef, water and salts, you know. Or sometimes–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Did she had severe autoimmunity that affected her– her joints. I know, we uhm– someone in the chat is asking about that 'cause I see people that have severe ulcerative colitis, it's autoimmune stuff. They're really benefit by just cutting out all vegetable matter. It's like something to do– maybe could be a lactin thing, or an anti-nutrient thing, but I find that people really benefit, especially severe autoimmune people like– like Mikhaila for instance.
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah, I mean I think that– if I hadn't have done all the things I've already done, you know, I wouldn't be as healthy as I am now, uhm– like if I had continued to eat a certain American diet when I got hashimotos, but for me that was a wakeup call and I changed to try to dramatically uhm– yeah, and that helped so much. So, you know, I guess everybody is different in how they're disease progresses and presents itself, I mean, she was 6 and she was a little kid and– you know, maybe I was too in a way but it wasn't, you know, so– wasn't crippling or anything like that was just like– those little signals like, oh you have a– you know, ear infections and urinary tract infections and, that kind of stuff that kids get, you know.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Exactly and– uh– how did it affect like kind of bowel motility– you noticed any shifts or changes there or did everything kind of stay status quo on the motility side?
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– I mean. that's kind of what I'm doing on the ___[25:00], still kind of the same, haven't seen a lot of– uhm– well, as far this– the– the slow motility is still the kind of the same, but, one thing that is really different and is– would speak to the– the vegetables, uhm is the– the bloating is so much less. It's just like–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –you don't have this big up and down on the– the bloating uhm– most women, maybe men aren't as– as aware of it but women are always complaining about this big bloating up and down depending on what they ate or how much they ate or uhm– so it's like, you just don't have that at all, and that's really nice. And I think that speaks to– the how hard it is to digest vegetables and– I mean, I– I– I always think of things in ancestral perspective. It's like, if we were hunter gatherers, would we even had access to these vegetables that we– what we see now, you know?
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Maybe harder. It definitely maybe harder to get access to all of them for sure–
Caitlin Weeks: I mean maybe we were– had some foraged greens or something like that.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: But when do we have had a cauliflower like this big and, you know, ate the whole thing and– in cauliflower mass, you know–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: –a bunch of water on it, you know what I mean, I just wonder, that– those kind of vegetables, I mean they kind of seem like agricultural products as well, you know. Because–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –its huge vegetables are– I mean if we didn't grow things, we wouldn't have– and you know, the hybridization of more things, like–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: You know, a b–blue berry would be like this big, and now they're like [laughs]–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah. Exactly. And maybe more– little more tar for sure.
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Wouldn't we take on like a lot of the antioxidants, the polyphenols that we find in like a lot of our vegetables and plant matter. You know, we're not quite getting those. Do you worry that, “Hey, maybe we're not gonna get enough of that”, or are you saying, well hey, you know, maybe, we're getting some of them f– because the animals that we're– we're– p– the meat approach thing is more grass-fed, more pasture-raised, or some of that's, maybe a path thing through the meat. And then also–
Caitlin Weeks: I tried that– that wasn't– nutrition-full, I tried to say that in one of my answers [laughs], and she did not like that. [laughs]
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: So what's your opinion on that? ‘Cause I mean, there is lot of ox– the antioxidants and compounds that we don't necessarily know about, you know, in plants that are beneficial but, I mean, if you're– it– it's also, there's meat, but there's also organ meat too, so– do you– are you tryna get any extra organ meats in there, what's your thoughts on– on this and some of those antioxidant compounds?
Caitlin Weeks: Well, I feel like, uh– a lot of– one thing that's– uh– when we talk about antioxidants it's like– we have to have all these antioxidants because what we're eating is– is oxidized, you know, so we have to– so it's like, if you're not eating a bunch of stuff that you need all these antioxidants for, then maybe you don't need– of course it comes from your environmental as well but, uhm– I mean one of the big things– and I'm not totally sure about all the antioxidants but, one of the things is– is Vitamin-C, you know, that– the standard American diet because it uses up so much Vitamin-C. And we actually don't need as much if we're not eating a standard American diet.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: The oxidative stress on the food requires us to need more antioxidants. So the whole idea is 'cause we're– we're decreasing some of that oxidative stress from the anti-nutrients in the plants. We– we don't necessarily need as much on the animal side that's one theory, right?
Caitlin Weeks: Yeah, and I mean it seems to be working for me so far, so– I mean it– and– like you said, if I start to feel bad, I mean I'm the first one to break out the broccoli, I mean, so–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Do you think we get any of those antioxidants though like, you know for cows eating grass all day long to make that meat, do you think we're getting some of those antioxidants from the grass? Right, the cows kind of uhm– eating, and ruminating, do you think some of that passes down into the meat?
Caitlin Weeks: [Sniffs] Uhm– maybe not in the same form but I think we're getting you know, the Omega-3's that–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Uh-huh.
Caitlin Weeks: –that we're missing out on from grain-fed beef, and also uh– [crosstalk] is a huge antioxidant, and people don't give enough credit as well–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah, cholesterols and antioxidant, that is true. And then what about organ meats, how do you kinda plug in organ meats in this kind of a template?
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– well I mean, an easy way for people they if don't like uh– the uhm– it's– it'd be liver pills, like uhm I know vital protein cells and uhm– uhm– they're pure–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks:–and it's got the– there's– there's several companies that sell grassfed uhm– beef– or liver pills uhm– I like liver so it's not really been a problem for me to– like a lot of times I'll buy whole chickens, and then we'll get inside, I'll just bake that, get inside 'till the chicken next to the chicken, you know, and so you'll have the liver in there and you have– uhm– the heart, so I'll just– I'll just uh– eat those while I'm like cooking you know, 'cause uh– they cook faster than the– the other stuff.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yeah.
Caitlin Weeks: So, I'll just eat those real quick. And you might had some ___[30:27] liver too so– uhm– ___[30:30] some marinade– if you marinade uhm beef liver for example in uhm– vinegar, and in like s– paprika, and– uhm– ___[30:40] uh– then– it takes off that livery taste away and just marinade for like 30 minutes and then grill it up and that's really– it really tastes good if you grill it. Uhm so– that's one of my favorite ways to eat it.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: That's good, excellent. And then what about salt and pepper and all of those types of spices, I mean, can you only do the Redmond's real salts, or can you do any of other spices like that, or garlic powder onions? What about those?
Caitlin Weeks: I think that it just depends, I think you– your– I think the more you m– keep it simple the more dramatic results you're gonna have. But, you know I think there's an emotional component too, I mean, if you feel like really sad, you're depressed that you're not getting any of that stuff. Uhm– I know– and also the autoimmune components, so– I mean this is the– the other autoimmune diet, so if you– uhm– haven't done that before– 'cause I have done it before and I didn't see any big changes with– with the taking appropriate or taking the– uhm the peppers and [coughs] that kind of thing, so– if you haven't ever done that then this is your great opportunity to– to take those night shade uhm spices out and see if that helps you. But if you've done it and you just want your– your paprikan stuff, I mean I've– I tried keep it to a minimum. Just don't eat, you know, every day with something but– you know primarily use like salt and pepper and then, you know every once in a while, if you wanna have some chicken wings or something like that but, really I've been more worried about all the sauces 'cause they have sugars and things.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Yup.
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm so– like I don't do a lot of sausage and uhm that kind of thing 'cause that's gonna be adding carbs I didn't– especially if you don't use really clean sauces like Primal Kitchen or something like that, it's gonna be adding a lot of weird ingredients to your meats, so– uhm– definitely be careful with that.
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Totally makes sense. Alright before we wrap up here Caitlin, is there anything else you kind of want to add to the listeners here or share to the listeners that was impactful on your carnivore journey. Things that you did, things that were huge, things that were impactful, things that we shouldn't do. Anything else you wanna highlight?
Caitlin Weeks: Uhm– I mean, I'll just say if you're interested or you feel like you've tried everything else and that– then– this might be the missing piece ___[33:16] I mean, it's really helped me have some great foods because I have done everything else and I felt like I was, hit my head against the walls so this was a really uhm– big breakthrough for me because it helped with my uhm– weight loss and my– uhm– it's– it's still starting to help with my digestion and bloating and that kind of thing, so I feel like if you– if you feel like you've done everything else, this is really a great stuff to kind of uhm– just go to that next level and feel your best so– I mean just try it and make sure you have lot of salts and uhm– you know make sure you're not trying ot be on diet. You wanna really eat more than you think that you should because I think for women especially, they're always like, “Oh, I'm just gonna have this little like 4 ounce piece of meat and it's like– that's not gonna cut it on carnivore, you gotta really eat, and you gotta eat more fat and more meat than you think you should–
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm.
Caitlin Weeks: –so—
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: Mm-hmm– mm-hmm totally makes sense. Well thank you so much Caitlin. Again, Caitlin's website is grassfedgirl.com, lots of great options there, like for information guide and recipes as well. Caitlin, thank you so much for being a part of the podcast and look forward to chat with you soon. You take care.
Caitlin Weeks: Thanks for having me. Have a great day, bye!
Dr. Justin Marchegiani: You too! Bye.
References:
https://thyroidresetsummit.com/
https://www.grassfedgirl.com/
https://justinhealth.com/water-pitcher
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