Carnivore Lifestyle with the Minimalist Lifestyle

How Going on the Carnivore Diet Blended Seamlessly with My Minimalism Lifestyle and Healed My Autoimmune Disease

 

Today, I want to discuss how my health has helped me keep minimalism going full throttle.

It's not something I usually talk about. I'll make a passing mention of my "autoimmune disease" in other blog posts or articles. But this disease - and what I did to combat it - has all played into my minimal lifestyle.

 

About five years ago, I was diagnosed (first by me hoping it wasn't true, and then by a doctor, officially) with Vitiligo. 

Vitiligo is a skin condition where the body essentially attacks the melanin in the skin, causing depigmentation. There are many ideas behind why this happens but no specific cause. Some say stress triggers it and other auto-immune diseases (which is very likely, and probably what happened to me) but also it can simply be a part of someone's genetic makeup just waiting to flare up.

Because there's no real "cure" for Vitiligo, I did a lot of armchair research. Like all autoimmune diseases, the best way to fight this disease (from what I've discovered) is with diet. And that diet is an anti-inflammatory one - the least inflammatory diet possible - which is called the carnivore diet.

This means no wheat (a biggie!), no other grains, no fruits, no vegetables, and no sugars of any kind. Nothing but meat (or meat-based foods, i.e. dairy, eggs.)

There are many routes to non-inflammation. Some folks say vegetarianism or veganism is the way to go. Some say the keto diet is good (Which, it is. I started first on keto and transitioned into carnivore.) 

This post isn't to say my choice of the carnivore diet is a cure-all for every autoimmune disease. It's also not a diet for everyone regardless of if you have an auto-immune disease. I'm not a doctor, but a patient who has tried to quell the deleterious effects of this disease.

As one who has struggled with Vitiligo, I've found an option that has helped me tremendously. And that help - to stop the disease in its tracks - was to go full carnivore. 

Many of you won't agree with this diet and many of you will. One of my friends thought I was joking when I said I was going "carnivore." I can assure you, it's a real thing and there are many people on this wonderful diet.

After reading about and researching the carnivore diet - and then actually attempting it - after almost two years on it, I can attest that I feel better than ever and the disease has stopped spreading!

Again, this may not be the answer for others with Vitiligo. I'm just telling you what worked for me. 

Warning: This diet comes with a very minimalistic way of eating. 

Having come from eating whatever I wanted for the previous forty-some-odd years - to essentially eating only a couple dozen food items today- it has taken time, patience, and willpower to change. It's not easy. Some days, I want the whole loaf of bread, you know? I want the variety.

But at the end of the day, when I feel great and I know my disease is in remission, it is all worth it. And honestly, I can't imagine eating any other way now. It's incredible how adaptable we human beings are.

So, what is the carnivore diet? The most succinct answer I can give is this: meat and water. 

That's it.

Now, I've added eggs, some dairy in small amounts - like cheese, butter, or full-fat yogurt occasionally, and heavy whipping cream. But I eat beef primarily, with seafood, chicken, and pork as alternatives. I also like bison but have a hard time with goat or lamb.  I'm sure it's fantastic, but I have a difficult time with the texture.

Also, full disclosure here: I cheat occasionally. I'm about 95% carnivore, not a full 100%. And here's what that is:

I have a cup or two of coffee every morning, still have an occasional glass of red wine, I have a single piece of dark chocolate after dinner too (come on, I have to live a little) and I also eat a vegetable about once a week. That vegetable only being avocado.

But the rest of my diet is all carnivore for the rest of the time. 

Being a minimalist helped facilitate my transition into carnivore. I knew how to let go of things I didn't need and shouldn't have because of the practice I'd put into minimizing my whole home. The best part of this diet, other than the most amazing fact of feeling and looking good, is it makes eating and shopping for food simple.

Is the diet easy to do? No. There is nothing easy about giving up ice cream, bagels, and fruit smoothies. Nothing. At first. 

But when I could visibly see the havoc wreaked on my body, knowing that what I put into my body was causing it pain, it wasn't an impossibility to let it go. In fact, it was the only thing I could do to try to control the disease.

I had no choice.

Once I began to slowly shift away from the standard American diet (I still miss bread a lot. Especially flour tortillas - Mexican food is my favorite) I began to change everything else around me, meaning: all the products I use on my body changed too.

I wrote about that for No Sidebar; how I minimized my health and beauty products. I did this because I was a minimalist and I did it for my health. Can I tell you how difficult it is to find pure products? Something without chemicals? Almost impossible.

One of the biggest issues was finding something for my face. I needed a moisturizer that works for morning and night and after looking into tallow (fat-rendered suet from cows), I found one.

Now, hear me out. Tallow? I can hear you say. Yes. Tallow. It's been filtered to the extreme, so it has no "cow" or "beef fat" smell. It's a fantastic thick moisturizer, and with natural essential oils added, I'm a true believer.

I looked into many companies that sold tallow moisturizers and when I finally found Pure Good, I had to share.

Here are three reasons why I chose this one over any other:

• It's American-made (Win!)
• It's from a small business (Double win!)
• This product is double the size of most other companies' Tallow products. (Triple win, for sure!)

If you're looking for a natural moisturizer, something without chemicals, fake colors, or synthetics, I'd give this a try. I've only been using it for a month, and I still have a lot left. One jar lasts about two months. For $28, it's worth every penny. 

I had to tell you about it because I wished I'd been using this for the last few decades instead of all the garbage moisturizers full of phthalates, parabens, and chemicals. Pure Good's products are fantastic. This moisturizer is now my favorite.

So here's the rundown: You don't have to be a minimalist to be a carnivore. You don't have to be a carnivore to be a minimalist. And you don't have to have a disease to go carnivore. I wish I'd started this way of eating, oh, about thirty years ago.

But if you're like me, and you need to clean up what you put into your body and what you bring into your home, the carnivore diet may be what you're looking for. 

It's been a long, strange, arduous journey that has led me to the healthiest I've ever been, but I'm finally there. And having a minimal diet has made my minimalist lifestyle all that much easier.

The best part of this whole scenario is that I feel better than I've ever felt. It's kind of hard to believe. We think we're supposed to feel run down and lethargic. To feel aches and pains. I'm telling you, this diet - and the deletion of sugars and grains especially - has changed my life. Filling my body instead with good fat and lots of protein has made all the difference.

If you don't put junk into your body, you tend to not have junk coming out of your body. For me, that meant the stop of the spread of Vitiligo.

Vitiligo will probably always be with me. Some of my depigmentation may never get re-pigmented. But the fact that I was able to stop the spread all because of my diet blows my mind. And being a minimalist made that transition into the carnivore diet all that much easier.

The carnivore diet may not be for you, but I had to share about it all the same. Try it for a week or two, see if you don't feel better. Maybe you only need to do some carnivore. Maybe try swapping a meal of carbs for one just with meat, and see if you start to notice subtle changes. 

Create the diet that works best for you, just like minimalism. I can't do Project 333. I can be a minimalist with my wardrobe, but not to that extreme. In the same vein, I can't do 100% carnivore. Sometimes, when the need for Mexican food is at an all-time high, I'll "cheat" with corn tortillas, and wow ... that sure is nice.

Create the diet - like minimalism - that works best for you.

It changed my life. And quite possibly, it could change yours too.

Book Pairing: The Carnivore Diet, by Shawn Baker

YouTube: Visit Dr. Anthony Chafee's channel for some of the most in-depth and educated material about the carnivore diet out there. 

Minimalism Made Easy: Ten Minutes for Ten Things

How 10 minutes a day of minimalism in your daily routine can create a life of freedom.

It's easy to see how minimalism appears like the most daunting task of your life, even if it is the best thing for you.

When I first heard of the concept of minimalism, it sounded exactly like the missing piece of my "life" puzzle. I was thrilled to find a better way to live that included not just my closet, but the entire home. Including my kids' rooms!

But, I was also terrified. 

I was busy and I didn't have time to stop my life and go through all the items. Particularly, my whole house. After nearly 15 years of marriage back then and two kids, things had piled up.

I'd heard for years that the typical American home contains 300,000 items. While that may be on the exorbitant side for us, odds are good my home had items in the 100,000 thousand plus range, particularly when I factored in each of our rooms. The four of us had a lot of stuff. 

But, as it turns out, pairing down the whole house is not hard to do.

So, how can we minimize our lifestyles on the fly? If we don't have days or weeks to set aside for this task, how can we become leaner meaner versions of who we're meant to be without having to take a week off?

It all has to do with ten minutes a day. And it also has to do with the smallest, simplest, and most unassuming parts of our lives. 

Those ten minutes a day for a year add up to six days! That's basically the missing week you are looking for.

So here are 10 easy ways to take 10 minutes and minimize everything in your home.

Paperwork: Paperwork is the enemy of our house! I despise it because it ends up in every room. What to do? When you get your daily mail, sort it right then and there. Keep what you need and trash the junk. Go through your files. Take a fat file folder and throw away or shred what you no longer need. Do a file folder a day and your paperwork will disappear. Choose not to bring in flyers, leaflets, brochures, and pamphlets in the house all because someone gave you one. It's okay to recycle those.

Junk Drawer: Admit it. We all have one of these. A drawer for all the errant small things in our lives: rubber bands, pens, magnets, ketchup packets. Take ten minutes and toss or donate everything in there you haven't used in six months. Your junk drawer will thank you. And it will have more breathing room for future "necessary" items (that you don't use).

Clothing Closet: Your closet may be the most difficult part to organize. For me, it was my shoes. I love shoes and hated to have to pair them down. But can I just tell you how good my closet looks now? Take ten minutes for each section of your closet i.e. shirts, pants, shorts, and separate into three piles: keep, donate, and throw away (some items do need that). Do this for a week, and your closet will be a respite rather than an eyesore.

Kitchen Cupboards: Take one cupboard a day for ten minutes. Pull out the items you never use and donate them. Do a cupboard every day for a week or two. You may have to drive to your local thrift shop to donate the items several times that week, but your kitchen will be spectacular - and simple - when done.

Knickknacks: To each their own, I suppose, especially when it comes to decor. But how many of us have knickknacks in an area that shouldn't have them? Or perhaps they all need to be grouped together rather than spread out over the house? Pick up random decor and doo-dads that you feel don't need to be in your visual space. Take a different room in the home every day, grab a bag, and piece by piece put items that don't serve the space into the bag for donation. Declutter your space, free your mind.

Coat Closet: I happen to love jackets. But, our coat closet was overstuffed with numerous coats each of us never wore. One day, I took ten minutes, and pulled out coats I stopped wearing and asked my kids about theirs. Half of their coats neither of my boys fit anymore! We donated a good chunk of the closet. Now, when we have company over, there's space to put their coats in... the coat closet. Imagine that.

Books: I love books. I dream about owning a bookstore; I want candles that have a bookstore smell. But my bookshelves can get out of control. Nowadays, I tend to only purchase e-books. I can store more that way without running out of room! I went through my bookshelves a while ago and only kept the books I loved and would reread. Everything else, I let go of and donated or gave to friends who wanted them. I still buy a random book every now and then, but it's very intentional. Go through your bookshelves and find homes for books you no longer want. Take ten minutes and find ten books you want to give away. 

Desk: Have you looked in your desk drawers lately? Or are they so stuffed you can't even open them? Take ten minutes and go through one drawer at a time (next to a garbage can). What value does ten minutes of going through a desk drawer have? It's priceless. Now, your desk can function like it's supposed to rather than the extra junk drawers it had been relegated to.

Bathroom Cupboards/ Drawers: Ladies, I know I'm speaking to you here. I wrote about having a minimal beauty regiment on No Sidebar and it's been a game-changer for me. Specifically with my time. When you choose to use fewer beauty products, you'll be amazed at how simple the health and beauty routine becomes. Life is easier, and the products become very intentional, which means there's more time to focus on things that matter. Take ten minutes and toss ten items. Eliminate everything you don't use or items you have doubles or triples of (remember, makeup and other beauty products have a shelf life). 

Garage: Talk about overwhelming. The catch-all for the entire house ends up being the garage. But don't fear that. Instead, take ten minutes and devote yourself to one cupboard or closet, shelf, or drawer. And bit by bit, one cupboard at a time, they will be looked at, the contents assessed, and either saved or tossed. In a month, your garage will be the holy grail of garages: clean, neat, and perhaps the best part of all, you will have the ability to park your cars in it! (That is the intent of a garage. Just an FYI.)

Amazing things happen when we work on things in small increments. 

As pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenburger once said, "You can accomplish anything if you’re not in a hurry." This is also true for you and minimalism. Take every part of your home in small amounts. Take ten minutes in those chunks of pairing down. And don't be in a hurry. Enjoy the process of going through each item and deciding if it belongs in your life. You may have to go through the whole house a couple of times just to get it to where you want it to be.

But by the end of a year, your home will be unrecognizable and it will have become the minimalist sanctuary you've always wanted.

Book Pairing: The Minimalist Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life by Joshua Becker.

From Sorrow to Soaring: How Minimalism Can Heal Hurt

Would you believe me if I told you that adding minimalism to my life has helped me with anxiety, hurt, loss, and depression? 

While these feelings and actions don't define me, the reality is that we all go through periods of pain, depression, and severe loss.

This is part of the life we've been given as a human being. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people. There is joy as there is much pain; happiness as much as sadness. Great gifts are given as much as great things are taken away. We know gain as much as we know loss.

But when the pain hits especially hard, I've found that focusing on my minimalism not only helps my mental state at the moment but keeps me in a good place. 

Which is remarkable. 

And I began to wonder, Why is this so? Why does keeping minimalism at the forefront of my life help me when things are particularly troublesome?

I know the bad will give way to good, as all things fluctuate. So, it isn't that I couldn't just "wait out the storm." 

But, I began to see that minimalism is a verb. It's something I have control over.

When trauma erupts, I've still got control at home with my house and my possessions. When the storms feel like they're coming one after the other - without a break in the skies - I know that my emotional state remains a little more stable because the things in my life - the things around me - aren't chaotic, uncontrolled, or random.

I have a choice in what surrounds me.

Here's how minimalism heals my hurt.

1. I can focus on this rather than that. - When everything looks bleak, that's when I turn to cleaning out a closet or minimizing an area I've been ignoring. It allows me to take my eyes off what I can't control (which is everything, truthfully) onto something I can. 

This is a superpower. I'm telling you, when you shift your focus to something that keeps you busy and also improves your space, minimalism is where it's at. When I put my attention onto something that brings me joy - keeping only what I love and getting rid of the rest - it reminds me that not everything is bad. 

2. I can do something worthwhile. - If you're like me, there's always one area (small or large) that hasn't quite gotten the cleaning out it deserves. Or, which is also like me, an area I once had minimal has turned into a maximal - i.e. I let my spending go a little more than I anticipated and now I have a bunch of stuff I don't need. 

If you're going through a particularly trying time, this is the moment to dig into that space. Organize, let go of things, and allow yourself to heal from pain by putting your time into helping improve the space around you. 

3. I can give to others. - This might be the biggest bonus of working on minimalism while healing from my hurt. When we take our eyes off of ourselves - off of our problems - regardless of their size, we're able to shift our eyes onto others who need help too. By donating our goods, by giving away items meant for other people, there's a miraculous turning of events. When we're at a low spot - in deep pain - we're instead finding our own well of giving, drawing from it, and handing it over to others.

When we give out of our loss, when we give even though we may feel we should be the ones getting, we turn our situation upside down. We see the world through new eyes... perhaps even realizing that though we're in a tough spot, others are in a tough spot too.

Minimalism may not be the cure for everything, but having been a minimalist for many years now, I'm seeing it for what it can do: it alleviates my pain, grounds me, shows me truths about myself, and lets me give to others.

In short, it makes me a better person while I heal and simultaneously creates the authentic life I want to live. 

And when the clouds part and that sun comes shining into my house, home, heart, and life, I'm there - in full - ready to embrace every good thing in my life and all that will be coming into my life.

Amidst the pain or pleasure, I am a better person because of minimalism. 

Life will never be perfect. But if I can surround myself with the lifestyle I want to have, regardless of what comes my way, then no matter what happens or what pain takes place, I win.

-Heather

Book pairing for this post: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry - A fantastic spiritual (Christian) approach to "staying emotionally healthy and spiritually alive in the chaos of the modern world." 

Gift from the Sea │ Book Review from Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Wanting to live a more simple and minimalistic life apparently was a desire in the 1950s as much as it is today. 

And I have a hunch it went back further than that.

When you add technology to our lives, when you add household gadgets that are supposed to make your life simpler, when you add television - and that was probably the biggest tipping point of consumerism - it creates this desire to be, become, live, do and have more than was ever required to function.

Apparently, we had more than enough when life was simpler, and I'm sure you - just like me- think the women of the 1950s shouldn't have had the desire to simplify their lives. It was already simple, especially if you compare it to today in the 21st century.

Can you imagine what women or men from the 1950s would think of social media? Amazon? Getting whatever we want - not just need - at any hour of the day?

They'd be flabbergasted.

And it's no wonder we're all pining for a simpler and easier way to live. There has to be something better than desiring more stuff or live inauthentic lives.

I just read a book that has been on my TBR (to be read) list for years. It's called Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh was the wife of Charles Lindbergh who flew the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic. I'd read her "journals" decades ago but hadn't read her other works. My mother recommended the book (and realized it had been on my list) and I have to say this:

If you're looking for a book that covers simple living, for a more minimalistic and intentional life, it would be this one. It's short, about 130 pages, but it's a gem. It's beautifully written like a work of art.

It's so adaptable to today's world that I was shocked to read it had originally been published in 1955. You would never know it. Almost 70 years after it was written, it feels as fresh and relevant today as it did back then. I wish I'd read it sooner.

Lindbergh goes through her life's stages comparing them to seashells, and identifying with each shell: they each serve a purpose and they all direct her back to a simpler way of living.

She "shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude, and contentment as she set them down during a brief vacation by the sea."

It's an astounding book. And it reinstates the concept that minimalism and a simpler way of living were meant for all of us, in every stage of our lives. That the "trappings of modernity" have caused us to feel unfulfilled. 

This book redirects us to a route that escapes the trappings and beckons us once again to regain our very selves by getting to the root of who we are: We were meant to live a simple, sweet life. A life that acts like a gift - one given to our heart and soul to nourish and sustain us.

-Heather

Subconscious Minimalism

Maintaining a minimalistic lifestyle even when you're not paying attention.

There's a misnomer that to be a minimalist, you have to constantly be giving things away or minimalizing your life. That this - owning as little as possible - is all you think about.

Come on. There comes a point when you've downsized every part of your life to perfection. And when that happens, all you have to do is maintain it.

I can hear you say, "But what if that consumeristic lifestyle creeps back in? What if I start buying and not purging? What if I stop becoming a minimalist?"

Okay, for that to happen - especially if you've strategically and knowingly changed your habits at work and home - you'd have to become someone else. As in, your old self. 

And in case you haven't noticed, we're constantly evolving. We humans adapt and change, but we also know what's important and remember what we like, or want to keep in our lives. 

We may fall victim to a shopping whim occasionally, but when we've discovered it's as pleasurable not to buy as it is to buy, it's going to be very tough falling back into old routines.

If minimalism is important to you, you can still love to shop. But buying everything you want isn't a part of the shopping plan anymore. Instead, you pick and choose - and you choose with great care - an item, whether it's clothing or a dish, that you're bringing back into your home.

If you're like me and have slowly transformed your life to one of minimalistic joy, where things have become less important than the people around you, it's going to be difficult to fall off the consumeristic wagon.

Once you see how much happier and freer you are as a minimalist, going out to buy an outfit, or a pair of shoes (or in my case, one more mug to my vintage mug collection) isn't going to revert me back to my old ways of consumerism.

I'm not suddenly going to forget about how much I love having less in my home! No way. It just won't happen.

So put your mind to rest.

Here's how you can maintain minimalism - and not stress about reverting back to consumerism - even when you're not paying attention.

One-in-One-Out Rule: By far and away, this is the best rule I've picked up through my minimalism journey. If I have something that wears out, like a pair of shoes, then there's zero guilt in replacing it. I've not increased the number of items in my closet but merely replaced it. And that way my love for shoes (because yes, I do have a serious love for shoes) stays at a level that is manageable for me. 

Here's another example. I have a huge love for vintage mugs as well, so when I find them (thrifting is how I find all of them or at a lucky garage sale) I make sure that if I buy a mug, it needs to replace one I have, or it's replacing one that broke (which happens). 

Rarely, I will add one to my collection without giving one away. It's unusual though. I don't have any more room to add to my collection, and I know I can't possibly use all the mugs I already have. I want to use all the mugs, but realistically, it's not possible. So, that keeps me in line as well. If I use the one-in-one-out rule, there's really no way to go back to my old ways of living.

Less is More Aesthetic: Once I've become accustomed to owning less and loving the way it looks, I get a huge boost of serotonin when I see what I've created. I am so happy to walk into my closet and see everything tidy, lined up, and all used on the regular. None of my clothing isn't worn. None of my shoes aren't worn. Every belt, every sweater, and every tank top in my closet is loved and appreciated.

The bonus of owning less is a clean and neat home. When my home is clean, I'm happy. When I'm happy, my family is happy. Owning less, once I know what I truly love and want to be around, is a pleasurable experience. Why would I walk away from that?

Now that I live in calm, beautiful, and intentional spaces, I don't want to go back to any other way of living. (There may be moments of temporary chaos, things may pile up, and stress and circumstances may change, but it's not hard to get back to the routine of a clean aesthetic when the stress is gone, and my circumstances are back to normal.) 

I've come to love the minimalistic aesthetic and that's the only way I want it.

Read about Minimalism: One way to keep minimalism in my life, even now that I'm done getting rid of everything in my home that doesn't belong there, is to read about it. (And in my case, write about it.) There are many websites devoted to minimalism. All you have to do is a quick Google search and see that there is far more data out there than we can possibly read on the subject.

I read books, signed up for a couple newsletters, read other articles and blog posts, and make it a part of my daily reading. Reading about what I want - by seeing and studying what other people do - helps me in my daily quest to maintain minimalism.

It's not boring, or taxing, either. It's like drinking eight glasses of water or exercising. I've made it a part of my life because I know it's good for me and because of that, my life is simple, gratifying, and at the level of minimalism that works for me.

I just read Joshua Becker's short Kindle book called Simplify. I've read all of his books and I highly recommend them, but this one is short and sweet, and a great one to have on hand if you struggle to stay on track.

When you make minimalism a part of your everyday life, and you do this for months and eventually years, even if you have to make purchases - even if you want to make purchases - this won't upend your work of living with less.

You can get right back in the saddle, dig your minimalism spurs in, and keep moving forward.