Tag: keto

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Is Keto Making Your Lipedema Worse?

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In recent years, the keto diet has swept through the lipedema community like wildfire. Promising rapid weight loss and reduced inflammation, it’s no wonder so many women with lipedema turn to this high-fat, low-carb way of eating in hopes of relief. But here’s the hard truth:

The keto diet may be doing more harm than good for women with lipedema.

Why the Keto Diet Appeals to the Lipedema Community

Lipedema, a painful fat disorder affecting mostly women, is notoriously resistant to diet and exercise. Frustration is common, and the promise of fat-burning ketosis feels like a lifeline.

Keto’s appeal lies in:

  • Rapid water weight loss (which feels encouraging but isn’t true fat loss)
  • Claims of reduced inflammation
  • A “legal” way to eat calorie-dense comfort foods like cheese, butter, bacon, and steak

Social media is filled with women touting their keto success stories. But what you don’t always see are the long-term setbacks that many experience—like increased joint pain, stalled weight loss, hormonal issues, and worsening symptoms.

The Hidden Dangers of Keto for Lipedema

1. Animal Products Promotes Inflammation

The keto diet relies heavily on meat, dairy, and eggs—foods that are linked to systemic inflammation. For women with lipedema, whose tissue is already inflamed and fibrotic, that’s a huge red flag.

  • Saturated fat, abundant in animal products, can impair lymphatic function and increase inflammatory markers.
    Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • Dairy, particularly cheese, has been shown to raise insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which promotes fat cell growth.
    Source: Allen NE, et al. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2002.
  • Red meat and processed meats are also linked to increased estrogen activity and oxidative stress, both problematic for lipedema.
    Source: Turner ND, Lloyd SK. Nutrition Research, 2017.

2. Lipedema is a Lymphatic and Hormonal Condition

Keto doesn’t address the underlying causes of lipedema: lymphatic dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, and connective tissue disorders. It focuses solely on weight loss—and often at the expense of long-term metabolic and hormonal health.

For example:

  • Keto can dysregulate thyroid hormones in women, worsening fatigue and metabolic slowdown.
    Source: McAninch EA, et al. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2019.
  • Estrogen dominance, common in lipedema, is exacerbated by high saturated fat intake, which impairs estrogen detoxification through the liver and gut.

3. High-Fat Diets Can Worsen Gut Health

The gut microbiome is crucial for regulating inflammation and estrogen. Keto, especially when fiber is low, starves beneficial gut bacteria, reduces diversity, and increases gut permeability (“leaky gut”)—a driver of chronic inflammation.
Source: Singh RK, et al. Journal of Translational Medicine, 2017.

A Healthier Alternative: The Anti-Inflammatory Vegan Diet

Switching to a plant-based, anti-inflammatory vegan diet can radically shift how you manage lipedema. This approach is:

  • High in fiber, which supports detoxification and estrogen balance
  • Rich in antioxidants, which help break down fibrotic tissue
  • Low in saturated fat, reducing inflammation and improving lymph flow
  • Naturally alkalizing, supporting healthy connective tissue and reduced edema

Plant foods like berries, leafy greens, cruciferous veggies, flaxseeds, beans, and legumes are nutritional powerhouses for women with lipedema. They support:

  • Hormone detox (especially when paired with cruciferous veggies and flax)
  • Collagen repair and lymphatic flow
  • Stable blood sugar without the inflammatory toll of animal products

Women who’ve made the switch to a whole-food vegan diet often report better energy, improved skin tone, less puffiness, and even measurable reduction in limb size over time.

You Deserve a Better Path

The keto diet isn’t evil—but it’s not your solution if you’re managing lipedema long-term. Instead of chasing the next trendy protocol, it’s time to align your diet with your biology.

✅ Anti-inflammatory
✅ Estrogen-balancing
✅ Lymph-friendly
✅ Fiber-rich and deeply nourishing

Ready to Try the Lipedema Vegan Protocol?

If you’re curious about transitioning to a plant-based diet that supports your lipedema healing, check out my free resources and meal planning guides at LipedemaVegan.com.

Let’s stop fighting fat with fads and start healing with food.

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The Carnivore Diet is Bullshit

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Why Eating Only Meat Is Not the Answer to America’s Health Crisis

America has a problem—a meat-sized problem. Chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, obesity, and type 2 diabetes are the top preventable causes of death in the United States. And what do they have in common? Diet.

So why, in the middle of a public health crisis, are people turning to the carnivore diet—a regimen that eliminates every plant food on Earth and doubles down on red meat, eggs, and butter?

Let’s be clear: the carnivore diet is not just restrictive—it’s dangerously myopic. And despite the hype on podcasts and TikTok, peer-reviewed science says it’s bullshit when it comes to long-term health.

🧠 The Logic of Disease Prevention

If we’re going to talk about diet, we need to talk about what kills people in the U.S.:

  • Heart disease: #1 cause of death
  • Cancer: #2 cause of death
  • Stroke & diabetes: Top contributors to disability and death
  • Obesity & inflammation: Drivers of all of the above

Any diet that claims to be “optimal” should reduce your risk of those diseases. So, let’s compare the carnivore diet to a vegan diet—one backed by decades of research—for the four biggest pillars of health: weight, cancer, heart disease, and inflammation.

⚖️ 1. Weight Loss

Carnivore diet:

  • Some people report weight loss, but no clinical trials confirm this.
  • A Harvard study (2021) surveyed 2,000 self-selected carnivore dieters, and while many reported weight loss, the data was self-reported and biased.
  • No fiber, no carbs, no nuance. Just meat and discipline.

Vegan diet:

  • Randomized trials show that whole-food, plant-based diets lead to sustained weight loss without calorie counting.
  • High fiber and low-calorie density foods increase satiety and decrease total intake naturally.
    📚 Source: Obesity Medicine Association, 2022

✅ Verdict: Vegan diets win—with real data, not anecdotes.

🧬 2. Cancer Prevention

Carnivore diet:

  • The WHO classifies processed meat as carcinogenic and red meat as probably carcinogenic, especially in relation to colorectal cancer.
  • No fruits, vegetables, or phytochemicals = no protective compounds.

Vegan diet:

  • Rich in antioxidants, fiber, and anti-cancer compounds like flavonoids and polyphenols.
  • Meta-analyses show reduced risk of multiple cancers among vegetarians and vegans.
    📚 Source: PubMed – PMC35334103

✅ Verdict: Plants fight cancer. Meat increases risk.

❤️ 3. Heart Health

Carnivore diet:

  • Extremely high in saturated fat and cholesterol.
  • Elevates LDL cholesterol—a well-established risk factor for atherosclerosis and heart disease.
    📚 Source: Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Vegan diet:

  • Lowers LDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers.
  • In a study of identical twins, those on a vegan diet had significantly better heart health than their omnivorous siblings after just 8 weeks.
    📚 Source: Stanford School of Medicine, 2023

✅ Verdict: Vegan diets protect the heart. Carnivore diets endanger it.

🔥 4. Inflammation (a Root Cause of Lipedema)

Carnivore diet:

  • Claims of “reduced inflammation” are anecdotal and unsupported by peer-reviewed research.
  • Lacks fiber, which supports gut microbiota—essential for regulating inflammation.
    📚 Source: WebMD & Harvard Health

Vegan diet:

  • Associated with lower C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation.
  • Polyphenol-rich foods (berries, greens, turmeric) fight inflammation at the cellular level.
    📚 Source: PMC7730154

✅ Verdict: Fiber and phytonutrients are anti-inflammatory. Meat alone is not.

🧂 What About the “Success Stories”?

Yes, some people feel better on the carnivore diet—often because they cut out ultra-processed junk, sugar, and foods they didn’t realize were triggering issues. But eliminating every plant food to get there? That’s like burning down your house because of a spider.

There are healthier, evidence-based ways to reduce inflammation, lose weight, and improve autoimmune symptoms. A well-structured vegan or Mediterranean diet does that—without risking colon cancer or clogging your arteries.

🌀 Hormonal Havoc: Why the Carnivore Diet Can Backfire for Women

Emerging evidence and clinical observations also raise concerns about the impact of the carnivore diet on women’s hormonal balance and mental health. Extremely low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets can increase cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone, particularly in women—leading to disruptions in menstrual cycles, sleep, and emotional regulation. Carbohydrates play a key role in serotonin production, and their absence may contribute to anxiety, depression, and mood instability over time. Some women report amenorrhea (loss of periods), fatigue, or increased irritability on carnivore diets, all of which signal that the body is under stress—not thriving. Long-term restriction of plant foods also eliminates critical phytoestrogens and nutrients like magnesium, folate, and B6 that support hormonal health. For women especially, the carnivore diet may offer short-term control but at the cost of long-term hormonal chaos.

🧠 Final Thoughts: The Carnivore Diet Is a Dead End

The carnivore diet is the ultimate nutritional echo chamber: short-term relief with long-term risk, sold to you by influencers with no scientific backing.

If your goal is to live longer, avoid disease, and thrive—not just survive—then meat-only madness is not the way.

Want a real solution?
Focus on fiber. Eat a rainbow. Don’t take nutrition advice from people who think vegetables are dangerous.

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My 1-Month Vegan Lipedema Weight Loss Update!

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Hey everyone, and welcome back to my channel! I wanted to give a one-month update on my 180-Day Lipedema Vegan Protocol. The results so far have been super encouraging. In just 26 days, I’ve lost 13 pounds. And no, I’m not following a keto diet—I actually just ate some vegan frozen pizza, so definitely far from it.

I have a moderate-carb lunch every day and a low-carb dinner to encourage autophagy overnight. It’s working great for me because I’m a busy toddler mom who’s also self-employed with my own family business.

On Monday, I’ll be doing my second InBody scan, and I’m super excited to see the results. I check in with the scale every day, but it’ll be interesting to see which arms, legs, or areas of the body the weight has been removed from—and that’s what you get with the InBody scan. I’m doing them every 28 days because that’s the length of my menstrual cycle. By doing it on the same day of the cycle every month, it’ll accommodate for menstrual-related water retention, etc.

In addition to monitoring my weight loss every day and over the course of this 180-day protocol, I’ve also been feeling the fat tissues on my body to notice changes in them. When lipedema is first diagnosed, one of the areas that you can check is the cubital region, which is right above the elbow. When you palpate that fat, women with lipedema tend to have this granular, nodular, fibrotic feeling to the fat that exists in that region of the body. It’s also in your legs and other parts of the body that are affected by lipedema, but it’s easier to feel right above the elbow.

When I started, it felt kind of like a bag of rice—like feeling through the very thin, soft skin there and noticing all these granular pieces of proteins and fibrotic tissues developed within the fat. That area has softened tremendously, so that’s how I know my protocol is working. I’ve also noticed the same effect in my lower abdomen and my legs, but it’s really noticeable in the arms.

I’m super excited to see what five more months of this protocol will do. As I’ve mentioned in the past, this protocol is not just about diet or just about supplements—it’s also about therapies that I’m using, including manual lymphatic drainage. I had always heard it was good for you, but I didn’t know how to do it, so I taught myself.

I’m also using red light therapy. This is new technology, and I bought a full-body size mat that I lay on—on my stomach, face down for 10 minutes, and then I flip over and lay on my backside for 10 minutes—so it’s full-body coverage. I do that completely nude for full skin exposure. The mat I have has five power levels. I started on power level one at the start of this month, which is 50 watts. Every red light therapy machine has different settings, so feel free to ask in the comments if you want more details.

I just bumped it up to level two, which is 90 watts. I’m happy to link to the specific mat that I’m using. I do it right before bed, and I already really feel a difference after moving it up to level two. You increase gradually because you want your body to adjust to the red light exposure.

The main reason I’m using red light therapy is because it helps with lymphatic circulation. I also hope to lose 50+ pounds, and I believe the red light therapy will help tighten the skin. Red light increases circulation at the skin level, and with the supplement protocol that I am on, the red light is bringing my blood to the surface of the skin. It is anti-inflammatory, helping with circulation and microcirculation at the skin level, which I believe helps break down extra skin laxity as I lose weight.

Aside from weight loss on the scale and the palpable changes I’m feeling by examining the texture of the fat on my body, I’m also noticing that all my clothes fit way better. I feel way more comfortable in my skin, and I just can’t wait for continued results.

The diet plan I’m on is keeping my blood sugar really stable. I have no brain fog, and I have tons of energy. Again, I’m a toddler mom and self-employed with a first-generation farm business that keeps us really, really busy. Yet I’m able to follow this protocol and get all the tasks done that I need to for my day, my baby, and my family.

The main reason I designed some of the supplements to be included in this 180-day protocol was for hunger regulation. I consider myself a very hungry person—a volume eater, a big eater. The supplements I’m taking are helping keep my hunger levels down, which is key to sticking to a plan like this long-term. I think that’s why I’m seeing the results that I am.

In a few days, I’ll be posting my InBody scan results. I can’t wait to see where the weight loss is happening in my body and what other changes are occurring. So follow me on all the socials at @LipedemaVegan, check out my website LipedemaVegan.com, and subscribe to this YouTube channel.

The next video coming will be all about that InBody scan and the results that I’m getting after one month.

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Morning Routine for Managing Lipedema

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Starting your morning with intention can make a huge difference in managing lipedema. A structured morning routine that supports hydration, circulation, and nourishment can set the tone for the rest of your day. By focusing on hydration, a nutrient-dense breakfast, and mindfulness, you can reduce inflammation, improve lymphatic flow, and boost your energy levels. Here’s how to create a morning routine designed specifically for women managing lipedema.

1. Hydration: Start Your Day with Lemon Water 🍋

One of the best things you can do first thing in the morning is drink a quart of water with half a lemon on an empty stomach. This simple habit can help: ✅ Flush out toxins and support lymphatic drainage ✅ Boost digestion and metabolism ✅ Alkalize the body and reduce inflammation ✅ Provide vitamin C to support skin and connective tissue health

💡 Tip: Use warm or room temperature water instead of cold to encourage digestion and circulation.

2. Gentle Movement to Stimulate Lymphatic Flow 🚶‍♀️

Since lipedema affects circulation and lymphatic drainage, light morning movement can help kickstart fluid flow and prevent stagnation.

Try:

  • Stretching or yoga to loosen stiff joints and promote blood flow
  • Rebounding (mini trampoline) to activate lymphatic circulation
  • A short walk to wake up the body and gently stimulate movement

Even 5-10 minutes of gentle movement in the morning can make a big difference in how you feel throughout the day.

3. Nourishing Breakfast for Lipedema 🌱

Fueling your body with an anti-inflammatory, plant-based breakfast can help support your metabolism and energy levels while reducing inflammation.

Here are some lipedema-friendly breakfast ideas: 🥣 Berry & Flaxseed Smoothie – Rich in omega-3s, fiber, and antioxidants for inflammation control. 🥑 Avocado Toast on Whole-Grain Bread – Healthy fats and fiber to stabilize blood sugar. 🥣 Chia Pudding with Almond Milk & Berries – Provides hydration and gut-friendly fiber. 🌰 Oatmeal with Walnuts & Cinnamon – A warming breakfast that supports circulation.

💡 Tip: Avoid high-sugar processed cereals, pastries, or dairy-based breakfasts, as they can contribute to inflammation and fluid retention.

4. Mindfulness & Stress Reduction 🧘‍♀️

Stress can worsen lipedema symptoms by increasing inflammation and fluid retention. Practicing mindfulness each morning can help keep your stress levels in check.

Ways to incorporate mindfulness: ✨ Deep breathing exercises – A few minutes of belly breathing can improve circulation and reduce stress. ✨ Journaling – Write down daily affirmations, gratitude, or intentions to start your day with positivity. ✨ Meditation – Even a short 5-minute guided meditation can help center your mind and reduce anxiety.

💡 Tip: If you feel rushed in the morning, wake up just 10 minutes earlier to make space for mindfulness.

5. Dry Brushing & Self-Massage 🌿

Dry brushing is a simple technique that helps with circulation and lymphatic drainage, which is essential for managing lipedema.

How to do it: 🖌 Use a natural bristle dry brush. 🖌 Start from the feet and brush upward toward the heart in gentle strokes. 🖌 Follow up with a light self-massage using a moisturizer or lymphatic massage oil.

Doing this before showering stimulates lymphatic flow, removes dead skin cells, and energizes the body for the day ahead.

Final Thoughts

By creating a morning routine that prioritizes hydration, movement, nourishment, and mindfulness, you can better support your body and manage lipedema symptoms. Small, consistent changes can lead to long-term benefits for your energy levels, inflammation, and overall well-being.

💜 What’s your favorite way to start the day? Share your morning lipedema-friendly habits in the comments!