Keto Carnivore and Travel
Why travel if you're doing a carnivore diet? I'm in a limbo right now--feeling frustrated and stuck. I've been doing keto since November 2020 and love it. I could travel on it and be fine. However, since I wasn't feeling optimal, I decided to do a full factory reset and go carnivore. Ideally for 90 days, as that's how long it takes for your body to 'delete' the memory trigger of what's causing your immune system from attacking itself. It's been 28 days....
I would have thought that my transition would have been as stellar as everyone purports, having come from keto. But it hasn't. Why? Largely, severe constipation and ongoing sleep issues (insomnia) coupled with low energy and lethargy in tow. Not fun. The other major issue is social. I feel like I cannot travel or rather what's the point. Food and drink are such a huge part of culture and what makes traveling fun. Who wants to sit on a plane for 18 plus hours and not eat baklava or baguette and brie or fresh pizza and pasta or whatever Asian dish with soy and rice. Is there a point in going to Dublin if you can't go to the Guinness factory?!? Food and drink are a huge part of the adventure and cultural experience. So what good is it to travel if you can't eat or drink a locale's delicacies?
I got invited to Oktoberfest this year. A good friend of mine from university, who is from Munich, has reserved a table end September. So awesome and I am so grateful for the invite and his initiative. I have always wanted to go to Oktoberfest. Growing up in the US as a teenager we are enamoured by the image of Oktoberfest: mass quantities of beer drinking with strangers from who knows where in the world. (For me this is heaven--a fun multi-cultural social activity.) All focused around drinking beer and eating bratwurst and potato salad and whatever Bavarian delights. Guys wearing lederhosen and girls wearing dirndl, clinking steins of frothy ice cold lager. Ah my childhood dream comes true....
But no. Pop goes the bubble. I decided not to go. And not because I envisaged myself eating a bratwurst laced with beer. Sitting there getting my meat and fat intake, and then, bam! Hit with a stomach gurgle. I look towards the toilets, there's a hundred-person long line. Then, think shit. Exactly. Myself. In front of thousands of people, maybe my potential future wife.... The difficult decision is a mix of diet, distance, and dinero, and mostly the former. My 90 days of carnivore factory reset is up 10 October, and I am taking this experiment seriously (as one should if one truly wants to test something, especially a health reset where ingesting something too soon will throw your gut and immune system into haywire. No thanks. I've lived with this train wreck my whole life, struggling and fighting nearly every day to be my best while my body attacks itself, this invisible ache and pain. A claw that grapples your brain and upper nervous system. Nobody sees it. But you walk around in a fog trying to put on a happy face and be energetic. It's draining and life ruining.).
I've woken up. Keto opened my eyes to how messed up my gut health and systems were, carnivore opened my eyes up further. The effects that food has on us humans is huge. Some are allergic and others live on a sensitivity spectrum to plant-based foods. I've shifted to taking my health seriously and to thrive in an optimal state. Taking the path of least resistance--no more dragging through the day. Being gluten-free puts a damper on travel and being carnivore that much more. No tricolore salad in Tuscany, no tamale in Tulum, no teriyaki chicken in Tokyo....
So what's the point in traveling on a keto carnivore diet? Yes, food and drink are a huge commonality and binder to the socially shared cultural experience. But there is more to life than culinary creations. Sometimes we have to pause. And accept that this is the situation right now, while bearing in mind the higher purpose. Respect ourselves and listen to ourselves. Yes, we can travel. We just have to accept that it will have a shift in focus and be a bit tricky when it comes to eating. We can still socialize and connect with ideas and activities. We can still marvel at manmade and natural wonders of the world. And we can still learn a new language or skill or sport or hobby. Yes, we can still travel! Breathe fresh air, see new things, and meet old friends, and make new ones.
And yes, I am still an advocate for keto and carnivore as a holistic healing solution. Despite a less than stellar transition period on carnivore there are many good things that have happen--zero inflammation and better sleep quality and no to low anxiety and irritability. I just have to get over the hump (and everyone's transition period is different). It's a lifestyle and one with a conscious awareness to our own individual optimal health. More and more people are starting to wake up. So let's travel and spread the goodness of conscious awareness to healthy eating. It could change your life for the better. It's changed mine.
Oh and two days ago I got invited for a celebration of a friend's ten-year wedding anniversary for next summer. In Germany. I will be going!
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