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Anya’s Banting Story

“I won’t look back. My liver is almost cured, and I will never eat any other way.”

Anya is 58 years old and has been struggling with liver problems since 2007. “Liver is a really terrible story, and it seems that they do not know how to diagnose it correctly, especially when there are viruses involved.”

She started putting on weight around this time due to the stress of her husband’s illness, and an unhealthy diet. Anya put on 158 pounds (72kgs) in a year. She went for a liver biopsy, but they couldn’t determine what was wrong with her.

She then tried everything to lose weight, including injections, but nothing worked.

After Anya’s husband had passed away, she had a skiing accident, where she injured her back and needed to have an operation. Her son asked her to have it in South Africa, and it was a great success. But, she just couldn’t lose weight at all. She even went to see doctors in America, who told her that if she didn’t fix her liver problem, she would not be able to lose weight, but no one could provide an explanation as to what was wrong with her liver – one doctor said cancer, while the other one said fatty liver disease.

She then started on the diet for reversing fatty liver disease which included serious exercise that almost resulted in back injury again. She went on a raw food and juice diet, but again, nothing worked, so she stopped it.

In 2013, while visiting her family in South Africa, her son took her to see a Gastroenterologist, who did a biopsy and discovered that she had Hepatitis C genotype 5. Research has shown that this virus is most common in South Africa, so it was quite fortuitous that she made the trip.

She was forbidden to eat anything out of tin, glass or anything that she didn’t make herself. She was told to eat only real food and to be careful with fat consumption.

At this time she discovered that she had a terrible reaction to dairy and wheat, so immediately stopped eating any products containing them. She was put on a cocktail of seven tablets, which was experimental, and made her even more ill, and vitamin B12 injections for energy. Sometimesshe didn’t even have enough energy to walk from the bedroom to the bathroom. And her children were afraid to have her look after her grandchildren.

She did this for 11 months until it became too much for her – although the virus went down to a count of eight thousand from 34 thousand, but as soon as she stopped the treatment it shot up to a terrifying count of 800 thousand.

When she had a pulmonary embolism in 2014, due to the medication she was on, she decided to look for an alternative way of healing. She was on warfarin at this stage, and she desperately wanted her grandchildren to get a chance to know her as her husband died before they got the chance to know him.

Her health became far more important to her than the weight she wanted to lose. She decided to try the diet again of no wheat, no dairy and juicing and also decided only to eat what she had made herself, but she was always hungry. She even contemplated blood infusions and blood ozone treatment, which was typically reserved for cancer patients.

In March 2015, after she had moved to South Africa, her daughter in law asked her if she had heard of Banting as it was also a no wheat lifestyle, which encouraged eating real food. Anya investigated it, and Prof Noakes’ reversal of his own diabetes on the diet, inspired her to give it a chance. She found the Real Meal Revolution online Banting program and started it in May 2015.

She has lost 20cm and 13kgs since then, which she said was a bonus. She found a doctor to do the blood infusions around the same time as she started the online Banting course – she completed eight sessions and stopped after a month because it was just too painful and they struggled to find any veins. She got a blood report during this time, and her virus count went from 3 million to 75 thousand, which she attributed mainly to Banting as she feels that she didn’t do the blood transfusions for long enough to have any impact.

She no longer has to inject herself with B12 as she has “more energy than she knows what to do with”. “I feel so much better than I have in years. I’m not bloated or dizzy all the time. I feel so healthy that I have even joined the gym.”

Anya now eats once or twice a day when she is hungry. Her body had to adjust to eating fat in the beginning, but now she doesn’t have a problem with it, although her liver still can’t handle dairy. She drinks a lot of water and spoils herself with a cup or two of fresh filter coffee. She has learned to overcome her fear of salt because she grew up with a father who had heart problems and they were told to stayaway from salt – now she has raw Himalayan salt every day.

Her daughter started Banting to support her and has lost 25kgs. Her mother also started Banting, but she is so healthy that she didn’t need to lose any weight, but she did lose some centimeters – and loves the lifestyle.

Her advice for fellow Banters is never to trust anyone with your health. Knowledge is power; you need to educate yourself as much as possible, instead of following others blindly. Never undervalue the importance of how you feel.

“I am so thankful to Prof Noakes for writing the red book and teaching us about this lifestyle. I always loved cooking and entertaining for my friends – but now I enjoy it even more because all of these foods taste so rich and delicious.”

Anya is an amazing member of our forum, who is always ready to give advice and support where ever it’s needed. Join her by subscribing to the online course, it’s probably the best decision she has ever made, it might just be yours too.

“I won’t look back. My liveris almost cured, and I will never eat any other way.”