Most recent scans have showed an absence of Crohn's activity in my large intestine.
Conditions Reversed
Guest
Joshua GainesEpisode Notes:
[2:00] In 1991, at 29 years old, Joshua was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Josh’s medical providers indicated that Crohn’s was “your thing that you’re going to have to deal with for the rest of your life.”
[8:20] There was an expectation that Joshua would require a number of intestinal surgeries over the course of his life.
[14:00] Josh had an experience with his son that made him realize food could have an impact on health.
[15:30] An integrative physician suggested a no-added-sugar, no-artificial-flavor diet for Josh’s son, who had been diagnosed with Tourette’s, with tics getting progressively worse over time. In six weeks on this diet, his tics went away.
[22:00] In February 2013, Joshua adopted a gluten-free diet. 80% of his Crohn’s symptoms went away, but scans still showed Crohn’s activity and gallbladder issues.
[25:50] In 2017, Joshua started on the ketogenic diet. He describes the foods he ate.
[30:15] Joshua describes the differences he began noticing from the ketogenic diet. His symptoms were 90-plus percent gone.
[32:40] He mentions that he had to find these helpful dietary strategies on his own; he did not get help from the doctors he went to.
[34:10] He describes that prior to the ketogenic diet, he had tried medications (Humira, for example) without benefit.
[36:10] Based on online research he had done, Joshua decided to try a carnivore diet.
[36:50] For 14.5 months, Joshua’s diet became 90% beef. He also ate 6 eggs per day and occasionally had other types of meat (seafood or otherwise), and he had coffee.
[37:40] Joshua’s blood markers (from his lipid profile) after eating this diet are markedly improved.
[39:30] On the carnivore diet, Joshua noticed his longtime cravings for sweets had disappeared.
[41:40] Joshua found a great deal of benefits from adopting this carnivorous diet, and he started to help his mother (in her mid-80s) find some of the same benefits.
[43:49] Joshua’s most recent scans show NO Crohn’s activity in his large intestine, and he has another scan coming up on his small intestine coming up soon.
[46:55] Joshua has a perfect “0” on his Coronary Artery Calcification scan. Having a 0 score is typically indicative of good heart health (especially for a 58-year-old, as Josh is at the time of recording), as it means there is no detected calcification.
[50:10] Joshua is now experimenting with adding a small amount of the following foods back to his diet: hard cheese, a few beans, avocados, and vegetables.
[53:00] Joshua has nearly perfect digestive health now. No gas, no pain.
[53:40] Joshua used to have approximately 5-6 bowel movements per day. The number has gone down and the quality has gone up.
[56:10] Joshua’s exercise recovery is greatly improved now on his carnivore diet.
[1:01:40] Now that he’s improved his health, what’s one thing Joshua enjoys doing that he couldn’t do before?
Joshua's Recommended Resources
Wheat Belly by William Davis
Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
Loved the episode! I’m a huge fan of (intelligent) self experimentation. Thanks for bringing light to such an important topic Joe!
Thank you Sean!
And yes, we tend to learn best by doing, not by theory or reading about hypotheticals. I’m glad Joshua’s self-experimentation (intelligent, as you mention) has helped him improve his life so much.
Really interesting how so many autoimmune conditions seem to be improved by keto eating. Self experimentation is definitely on the cards for me. Again, knowing clearly what your ‘why’ is helps enormously in terms of sticking to it.
Hey Susan, sorry it took me so long to respond!
Yes, having your ‘why’ is very important. Keep us posted on how your experimentation goes. And I agree, keto (and carnivore) seem to very often be beneficial for autoimmune conditions!