By: Stephen V. (2017)
While visiting Hawaii you may learn about a famous surfer and water-man named Eddie Aikau. There is a saying in regards to whether the surf was too high, “Eddie would go!” He wasn’t crazy or suicidal. He just knew the surf break very well. He was raised to respect the danger and learned the secret was not to fight the ocean. Instead, humble yourself and use its power to accomplish your goals. Hawaiians on surfboards and outrigger canoes amazed the Europeans who first saw them. Nowhere on the planet had anyone ever conquered the water that way.
Amazingly there were European sailors who could not swim! Drowning claims many lives every year, and the tidal zone where waves meet land is the most dangerous. And yet a calm person who takes their time and uses their knowledge can navigate that area. There’s skill involved, a knowledge of your own limits when to exert when to back off, a respect for the power of the waves. Most of all is the ability to read the situation, process a solution, and perform calmly. Staying calm is 90% of the battle. Calm use of situational knowledge was the Hawaiian secret.
To graduate I took a swimming class at University. I could swim already, but about a third of the class were adults who had never gotten over their fear of water. I really admired those folks, because it is really hard for an adult to show the kind of vulnerability required to overcome that fear. I will never forget watching them learn that drowning is a function of panic. The key to saving your life and learning to swim is to calm down.
Part of that is to start slow, by putting just your face in the water. I think that is my most memorable visual. Watching grown adults have near nervous breakdowns as they tried to stick their faces in the water. I also remember how every single one was able to dunk their entire heads by the end of that first week. They did that by focusing on the fear and slowly overcoming it a step at a time. The instructor was patient and understanding, but you were not going to pass the class if you didn’t learn to swim. They all overcame the fear and learned to swim, a few even jumped off the diving board at the last class.
The Zero Carb Carnivore diet is the same way. You need to educate your fears away and learn eating exclusively from the animal kingdom is healthy and will not hurt you. Then you need to start acquiring the skill of listening to your body by actually eating meat and drinking water exclusively. That will bring on your biggest problem, fear!
How do you overcome that fear? A lot like those swimmers. First do not allow yourself to quit, just like a class you paid for. Then start with any and all meat, cheese, eggs, dairy, whatever it takes.
No one at the beach is impressed with your ability to submerge your face in the water, you have to jump all the way in and show off your strokes! If you are currently Keto, just toss those plants and jump in!
As the months roll by you will be faced with turbulent times. Remember to stay calm, panic is the killer. Face your fear: worried about getting fat? Know that the incidence of obesity among populations that eat meat is almost nil. The nutrition provided by carnivory is the most healing for people, read all the files! The weight you gain will almost certainly come back off. If it doesn’t you can be assured that your body has a good hormonal reason for that. As long as you keep calm and eat meat you will be taking the best care of yourself that you can.
In the almost two years I have been in this group, I would say that fear is the thing that messes people up the most. Usually, it is fear of getting fat. I gained at first and I understand the emotion. I occupied myself with other activities and decided that feeling good was good enough. That worked! The weight I gained initially went away and I have been very stable, but that took almost 9 months. I notice that I went down about 8 lbs in the last 6 weeks or so. My clothes were looser, so I checked.
It is very hard for a person who swims all the time to remember how hard it was to put your face in the water at first. It is hard for long time vets to remember the fear that takes over when ground beef tastes “funny”, or your clothes are tighter and others are noticing, or your family thinks you are nuts, or the animal kingdom meal you ate gave you stomach cramps, dry heaves, and gastrointestinal distress. That is why this group is so great. Listening to the new folks reminds me of all I went through to get where I am today. I am reminded of all that fear! I also remember never giving in to it, talking it out here, and reading it away. Do not take counsel of your fears, nutrition can represent dangerous waters, no worries as long as you just stay calm, eat meat, and drink water.
The people here work hard to help you handle the fear. Let’s face it, the first few weeks you have to embrace the suck, and a lot of people are not going to do even that. Like a sailor who risks drowning because they won’t put their face it the water and humble themselves before that powerful ocean. Do not be that person, face your fear. All these people are here to help you keep calm and to tell you the water is fine. Time spent staying calm is the only way to learn how to keep calm and you can borrow the calm the vets have whenever you need it, by asking questions, reading, and mostly by eating meat and drinking water. ZC 23 months.
For more information about the Zero Carb Carnivore diet from people who have been eating this way for 8+ years, please join us in our Facebook Groups: Zero Carb Health or Zeroing in on Health.