New Plans for Experiment

So, I called the Ohio State Health Center today, and apparentally random physicals aren't covered by student insurance. I'm currently writing up an email I plan to send to multiple nutrition professors to hopefully find funding and advice for the experiment.

All-Meat Experiment

Who's ready for an experiment? I've finally decided on what the content of this blog will consist of. I plan to start an all-meat diet for a few months. This blog will serve as a journal detailing which specific foods I eat as well as my general health during the experiment.

First, I'll point to a similar 1930 study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The study involves two men who volunteered to eat only meat for one year. Their first couple weeks were rough, when their diet consisted of lean meat, but when a high-fat diet was administered, all complications seemed to clear up. They started out as fairly healthy men, and ended the experiment in no worse shape, possibly even healthier than before. This page summarizes the study, for those interested.

I interpret the study as evidence that humans are very capable of subsisting on nothing more than meat, which makes sense, considering the diet of evolving humans most likely consisted mainly of meat. Carbohydrates had very little place in the paleolithic age. Wheat and other grains were completely unheard of back then. Humans were built to eat meat. Of course, evolution provided them with the metabolism to survive environments lacking in meat. They were capable of eating fruit and vegetables for their nutrients and energy, but such foods were not completely necessary. Too many people have warped ideas about what makes up a healthy diet. Most of these ideas have very little, if any, evidence backing them up. For example, most people these days believe that cholesterol is just plain wrong to consume from a health standpoint. Read The Cholesterol Myth, written by Barry Groves, for an example of some of this flawed thinking.

The purpose for my own little experiment is not to add anything that the aforementioned study didn't find. Rather, I'd like to add more evidence to the same idea. I plan to hopefully convince more people of the validity of the all-meat claim. My aim is not to show that I can become the healthiest person around due to my diet in a matter of months. Though I may end up healthier, I really only want to show that I won't be any worse because of meat. Most health fanatics would cringe upon hearing of a diet with only high fat, high cholesterol, and zero carb foods. We'll see how I survive.

The preceding study was of course well funded, which allowed for plenty of different health assessments. I, on the other hand, am a freshman undergrad college student with very little money. The only assessment I plan on doing at this point is a basic physical before and after the experiment. I'll provide the results of these physicals, as well as my own physical and mental assessments throughout the experiment. I won't be able to produce concrete evidence, since I can't possibly check all the health markers that we know of, but I will hopefully help move the idea along, and possibly inspire others to do further research in this field that I find severely and suprisingly lacking.


My procedure, which I will probably edit as time goes on, will consist of the following:

• I will eat only meat for 3 months. The time may be extended or reduced depending on how I feel as I proceed.
• The meat can come from any part of the animal, which means organs are fair-game.
• I will see a doctor to obtain a basic physical before and after the experiment.
• I will record my mental and physical states periodically.

The only exceptions to the diet will be the following:

• Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements - These are obtained from fish, which I will most likely not be able to eat much of. (Everyone in my residence hall but me seems to hate the smell of cooked fish.)
• Vitamin D Supplements - Vitamin D is made by the skin when it is exposed to the sun. I don't get to see too much sun, and I don't think it can confound the experiment very much.
• Piracetam/Choline Citrate - Piracetam is a non-toxic nootropic. Choline is taken to prevent headaches associated with the piracetam. I just like taking it, and it won't affect the experiment very much.
• Ginkgo Biloba - This supplement might help with memory. Whether or not it works, it shouldn't really be a problem.
• Alcohol - This is the only slightly confounding variable. Alcohol is a carbohydrate, but I don't feel that the small amount I might consume on weekends will affect the experiment very much.

Once I get myself a physical, I'll post the results on here and begin the experiment.

A Real Hangover Cure?

This is my first post.

I stumbled across a page on Cognitive Enhancement Research Institute, called Living with Alcohol. It makes the claim that most of alcohol's toxic effects are caused by one of its metabolites. The author, Steven Fowkes, cites a study that shows how Vitamin C supplementation in rats prevented swimming impairment from alcohol after the alcohol had been metabolized.

He, himself, apparentally takes 200 mg cysteine, a chemical which "cleans up" acetaldehyde, one dangerous alcohol metabolite, along with 600 mg Vitamin C once before drinking, once for each drink, and once after.

The physiological explanations he provides seem plausible, so it might be worth a try. Let me know if you end up testing it out.