This article explores Gabriel Hogan's inspiring journey of weight loss and improved health, intertwined with his battle against Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Facing a challenging diagnosis, Hogan embarked on a quest to find alternative treatments, leading him through various dietary changes and ultimately to a carnivore diet that significantly alleviated his symptoms and improved his overall well-being. This is his story.
The Initial Diagnosis and Search for Alternatives
About a dozen years ago, Gabriel Hogan received a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Witnessing his sister's debilitating experience with the disease and its conventional treatments, Hogan was driven to seek alternative methods to slow down the progression of MS. His initial instinct was to find another way to at least slow down the process, so he immediately began researching alternatives to chemotherapy.
Early Dietary Changes: Gluten Elimination
One of the first avenues Hogan explored was gluten sensitivity. After a DNA test revealed that he lacked some of the genes responsible for digesting gluten, he eliminated gluten from his diet. One of the first things I found was related to gluten sensitivity, so I had a DNA test done that looked for gene markers for a small number of genetic food sensitivities. All the other markers were normal, but the test revealed that I didn’t have all the genes responsible for digesting gluten. While he initially tried supplementing with enzymes to aid gluten digestion, they proved ineffective. He truly loved bread, and it was hard to give up. But he did, and that made a measurable difference, but not enough. Eliminating gluten made a measurable difference, but it wasn't enough to provide significant relief.
Embracing the Paleo Diet
Like many others seeking healthier lifestyles, Hogan eventually discovered the Paleo diet. After a few years on that diet, his symptoms stabilized, but he still had problems with his digestion (gas, bloating, diarrhea) and constant pain in his hands. He found it helped even more than eliminating gluten. Although his symptoms stabilized to some extent, he continued to experience digestive issues, constant hand pain, and sensitivity to overheating. He was still sensitive to overheating easily and would have problems with fatigue that would last for days if he “overdid” it with physical activity. In other words, not everything was better, but a few things got better, and nothing got worse.
Falling Off Track and the Consequences
Amid a work-related transfer to another city and all the stress and changes that entailed, Hogan experienced a setback when he fell off the wagon on his diet and suffered for it. He gained weight, his blood pressure increased, blood work results worsened, and many of his MS symptoms returned. He gained a fair amount of weight, my blood pressure went up, my blood work wasn’t great, and many of my MS symptoms returned - such as overall joint pain and more frequent and profound fatigue. By December of last year, I knew I had to get serious about cleaning up my diet again. This relapse served as a wake-up call, prompting him to re-evaluate his dietary choices.
Read also: The Gabriel Cousens Diet Plan
The Ketogenic Diet: A Turning Point
Driven by research, Hogan adopted a ketogenic diet. He felt he was “doing it right,” but the urine test strips kept telling me I wasn’t in ketosis. Initially, urine test strips indicated he wasn't in ketosis, but a blood ketone meter proved otherwise. I bought a blood ketone meter and found the strips wrong. I was in ketosis, and the weight started gradually melting away. As he achieved ketosis, he experienced significant improvements: weight loss, normalized blood pressure and blood glucose levels. My blood pressure, as did my blood glucose, fell in line with the weight. I never had glucose high enough to be a real problem, but the previous average was around 110. Keto made it drop below 100. His bouts of crippling fatigue diminished, and his blood sugar stabilized. My bouts of crippling fatigue went away, though sometimes I’d still get tired midday and need to nap for an hour or so to recover. My blood sugar dropped to an average of 75. In addition to that, my fatigue has completely gone. I only take a nap if it's the weekend and everyone else is napping. It's a choice, not a necessity.
Listening to His Body: The Path to a Carnivore Diet
Hogan felt that further improvements were possible. I knew I was on the right path, but I truly felt more could be done. He began to distinguish between his body's signals and his mind's cravings. If changing my diet got me this far in my battle with inflammation, maybe I could do more. Along the way, I found that I was getting better at separating what my body was telling me from what my brain tried to talk me into. He realized that his body had been trying to communicate its needs for a long time. I realized that my body had been trying to tell me things my whole life that might have spared me from the MS altogether if I had only listened to it instead of the nutrition “experts.”
Despite the keto diet's allowance for certain vegetables and cheeses, Hogan noticed that these foods often caused digestive discomfort. He instinctively gravitated towards meat, particularly red meat, which had always been his preferred food. I had always preferred red meat to any other food, even as a small child. I despised almost all vegetables. The fruit tasted good, but I could never really eat much of it without feeling “off.” My only disconnect was with bread. I never got the message that it hurt me until much later in life. It really wasn’t planned, but while on the keto diet, I found myself just naturally eating more meat over time and less of the keto-approved vegetables. They always seemed to give me more gas and bloating, and those didn’t seem like a positive sign to me. The fairly heavy reliance on cheeses as substitute ingredients in keto baking also didn’t sit well with my body.
Embracing the Carnivore Diet and its Profound Effects
Hogan transitioned to a diet consisting almost exclusively of meat, at least 95% of the time, if not more. He instinctively began eating only meat at least 95% of the time, if not more. Recognizing the importance of collagen for myelin repair (the protective sheath around nerve fibers damaged in MS), he began incorporating collagen-rich meats and connective tissues into his diet. After considering what my body would need to repair myelin, I started incorporating more collagen-rich meats and eating the connective tissues that I used to avoid. He found himself enjoying these foods, a sign that his body craved these nutrients. I learned my body wanted that nutrient because the connective tissues no longer seemed “gross” to eat, and I found that I actually enjoyed both the flavor and consistency of them.
The results were remarkable. Hogan experienced renewed weight loss, deeper ketosis, further reduction in blood pressure, and complete resolution of fatigue and joint pain. My weight loss, which had stalled a few months into keto, picked back up again. My blood ketone meter said I was even deeper in ketosis than I was before. My blood pressure continued to drop into a completely normal range. My blood sugar dropped to an average of 75. In addition to that, my fatigue has completely gone. I only take a nap if it’s the weekend and everyone else is napping. It’s a choice, not a necessity. The residual joint pain in my hands has disappeared unless I use them extensively, and even then, they recover quickly. He also regained his tolerance to heat and experienced a surge in energy and endurance. I am no longer sensitive to heat or getting exhausted quickly. I have more energy than I’ve had in decades, and my endurance has increased dramatically.
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Fine-Tuning the Carnivore Diet
As Hogan's diet became increasingly carnivore-based, he noticed specific preferences for certain types of meat. As my diet has become increasingly more Carnivore, I’ve found that my body has expressed preferences in meats as well. Pork made him feel sluggish, so he eliminated it. I like the taste of pork, but it makes me feel sluggish and generally “off.” So I’ve cut that out of my diet. While he enjoyed chicken, it didn't provide the same level of satiety as red meat. I like chicken as well, and it doesn’t make me feel bad, but it also doesn’t make me feel satiated. Even when I eat the skin and dark meat, I’m hungry again within a couple of hours, no matter how much I eat. He realized that his body thrived on the nutrient density of red meat. I believe my body wants and needs the denser nutrients in red meat, and it won’t be satisfied with anything else. He also incorporated seafood into his diet, primarily non-fish seafood, alongside red meat. I also like seafood, but not fish. I can tolerate the relatively flavorless white fish, but I cannot stand fish that tastes like fish. Even if I force myself to eat it, it doesn’t sit well on my stomach, and I’m hungry again in no time as well. Again, I’ve listened to my body and happily deleted it from my diet. Even when I do choose to eat non-fish seafood, it’s in addition to red meat, not in place of it.
Ongoing Adjustments and Future Steps
Hogan continues to refine his diet, focusing on improving his digestive health. Still Improvements But things aren’t perfect yet, and I’m still tweaking my diet. Despite the improvements, he still experiences diarrhea. The main issue is that my digestive system is still not where it needs to be. I still have diarrhea for most bowel movements, though I almost never have gas anymore and never feel bloated. He is also considering eliminating coffee and iced tea to assess their impact on his digestive system. I’m still not 100% Carnivore in that I drink coffee in the morning and iced tea during the day. I will probably eventually stop those to see if there is any improvement, but I’m not about to beat myself up for not doing it 100% right yet.
His next step involves experimenting with lightly seared or even raw ruminant meat to maximize nutrient absorption. Experimenting With Raw Beef What’s my next step? Eating more of my ruminants, at least closer to a raw state. I’ve always been a fan of extremely rare red meat, and I think that was another of my body’s unheard messages. He believes this approach aligns with his body's long-standing preferences. I’ve begun only lightly searing or grilling the exterior of my meat to kill any pathogens that might be lurking there from how it was handled prior to me buying it, but the inside is still completely raw. I’m sure I’ll become more confident over time, especially if I settle on a really good source of meat I trust, and I will begin eating more of it completely raw. If it helps, that will be my new normal.
The Choice: MS or a Restrictive Diet
Hogan emphasizes that the carnivore diet, while seemingly restrictive, is far less limiting than living with MS. A Choice Between MS And The Carnivore Diet When people ask me how I can eat such a “restrictive” diet, I tell them that MS is much more restrictive. He views food as a source of nourishment, not the sole source of joy in his life. Eating food is just a small proportion of my time, and I don’t depend on it to bring joy into my life. He is willing to embrace the potential long-term risks of the diet to experience immediate relief and improved quality of life. Considering that I’m eating the food I’ve always preferred anyway, this doesn’t seem like a difficult choice. It’s a no-brainer, really. Even if the naysayers are right, and this eventually gives me heart disease or cancer, I’m still better off in the meantime. Everyone dies of something - usually heart disease or cancer.
Read also: Kelly Hogan's Experience