Esmée La Fleur

Hi there! My name is Esmée La Fleur, and this is my best friend and soulmate “Sasha” The German Shepherd Dog.

In 1986, at the age of 16, I decided to become a vegan for ethical reasons. I did not like the way commercial ranching operations treated the animals they were raising for food. I also did not like the idea of killing another living being to feed myself, especially if it wasn’t necessary for my own survival. Over the next 10 years, my health gradually deteriorated until I was forced to drop out of Mount Holyoke College where I was studying Medical Anthropology on a full academic scholarship. I was finally diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Dr. Paul Cheney in 1996, at the age of 26.

Besides experiencing fatigue so extreme that taking a shower was a monumental effort, my main difficulties involved food. Pretty much every thing I ate made me feel terrible. I tried every conceivable way of eating from raw foods to macrobiotics to the paleolithic diet of modern hunter-gatherers. The only time I felt even half way decent was when I stopped eating all together and drank just water. As a result, I have done many water-only fasts over the past 20 years lasting anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks in length. By 2003, I hit a very low point both physically and mentally. I weighed only 87 lbs. and was pretty close to ending my earthly existence.

However, I was inspired to try Redwood Hill Farm’s goat milk yogurt and found that I could eat it without feeling like I wanted to kill myself. For the next two years, I ate only goat milk yogurt and raspberries. The raspberries were somewhat problematic, but I continued to eat them because they provided vitamin C and other nutrients considered to be essential for human health. I tried other fruits from time-to-time, but they all made me uncontrollably hungry. After two years on yogurt and raspberries, I had regained 20 lbs. and was feeling better. But, the yogurt just did not feel satisfying to me anymore. I ate every 2-3 hours, but I still felt hungry all the time.

At this point, I decided to try eating raw beef with olive oil or coconut oil. I did not think it was possible to get all the nutrients I needed only from the meat, so I also ate raw leafy greens. This diet worked well enough for me that I followed it for another two years. I still experienced unpleasant physical symptoms after eating and – over time – they gradually became more pronounced the longer I continued to eat this way. I was reacting to the olive oil and coconut oil, more than the beef or greens, but I thought the problem was “fat” in general rather than plant fats in particular. It never even occurred to me to try eating the meat with an animal fat like butter which I now regret. I tried eating the meat by itself without any add fat, but – since I was eating lean grassfed beef – that did not provide enough calories.

So I quickly moved from a general very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet to what is known by some as a zero carbohydrate diet. However, zero carb is a bit of misnomer; it would really be more accurate to call is a zero plants diet. Zero carb-ers confine their food choices to the animal kingdom, while eschewing foods from the plant kingdom. They consider meat, eggs, cheese, cream, and butter to all be fair game. They do not drink milk because of it’s high sugar content. However, there is a subset of zero carb-er who eat only meat and eggs or even just meat, foregoing cheese and cream because they find it addictive and dislike the way it makes them feel.

Since I discovered the Facebook group Zeroing In On Health, founded by several long-term zero carb-ers, I have met numerous individuals who have been living entirely on meat and water for anywhere from 5 -18 years, and have even given birth to and raised children on this diet. You can read about Kelly’s personal journey on her blog My Zero Carb Life. Clearly, the importance of fruits and vegetables and even fiber in the diet has been highly over-rated. In fact, according to Dr. Georgia Ede, MEAT contains ALL of the nutrients that humans need for optimal well-being. This makes perfect sense when you remember that a diet of only meat and water is, after all, the Original Human Diet.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/PrincipiaCarnivora/ - Co-Creator and Mod