Rob

I don't know how else to start this, so I'll just start from the beginning and tell you my story. It's been a long journey it's been a very tough journey.

For most of my life, I never had any real skin issues. Other than some dandruff which I could control with regular shampooing. I never had eczema or acne or any other common conditions that most teenagers get so I considered myself to be lucky to have good skin.

As I got older, I was starting to party and drink more frequently, with drinking wine and whisky or vodka being pretty much a daily ritual to unwind or for fun as basically everyone in their 20s does.

I was also slamming my digestive system with high amounts of calories 5000-7000 per day as I was into bodybuilding and always trying to bulk up. I would eat anything I could to get more calories. Weight gainer shakes, protein shakes loaded with peanut butter, pie, pizza, ice cream, fast food, all kinds of processed crap and gallons of milk.

That's when everything started to go south. I started to notice my skin around my cheeks and nose was getting red and the redness was not going away for weeks on end. At about age 25, I was diagnosed with Seborrheic Dermatitis. The dermatologist in all his "wisdom" and "expertise, explained that it had spread from my scalp to my face. And of course gave me the classic line that it was more genetic than anything. He never asked any questions about my diet or lifestyle. It's insane. I remember him saying "We don't cure things in dermatology, we only treat them." He then went on to tell me I was most likely sentenced to live with it for life and prescribed some creams to apply weekly to keep it under control.

So for the next 2 years, I continued to live how I was and used the medication to try to control the symptoms. Of course, the condition got worse and the medication seemed to be losing its effect of at least suppressing the flare-ups.

My social life was taking a serious hit and so was my confidence and general well-being overall. I went from being a happy kid, living life to being depressed and isolated Taken out of the game of life so to speak. That's when I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I went to the internet to look for answers. I figured someone had to know something and intuitively knew my lifestyle was not helping the situation. That's when I read a blog, and the author mentioned you had overcome many skin conditions and were a big proponent of diet being the key to success. I found your YouTube channel and started watching videos. This was about 3 years ago. So you were still vegan at the time.

I bought into the vegan diet and philosophy with all my heart and...the condition got so bad it became uncontrollable. I started having weekly flare-ups all over my face and forehead. I could literally see new areas it was spreading to and new pathways of elimination that the toxins were taking. Not to mention the rest of my overall health went to complete shit as well. Biomarkers were all on the taken. Zero sex drive, no strength, I lost 30 pounds and had the energy of an 85-year-old woman, Isolated and alone. with no one knowing what I was dealing with.

Since I heard you say things get worse before they get better I thought I would have to just deal with the changes as it ran its course. I foolishly was not being mindful of my biomarkers at the time and was too worried about the skin.

After you started going carnivore and my overall health was at an all-time low, I figured I had nothing to lose but to go animal-based as well. I did have some early success with my skin but was not strict about the diet. I would still drink occasionally or have some pizza or fried foods socially. It was 2 steps forward 1 step back. Basically I had not made a full commitment to healing yet.

In the fall of 2019, I had one of the worst flare-ups ever, and decided enough was enough. I was turning 30 in 2020 and that would be the year I was going to dig in deep and make my stand to get my life back.

So I went as strict as possible and started with the Lion Diet in January. The skin was brutally bad. The worst it had been and now the flare-ups were lasting for a week at a time. Before it would only be 1-2 days for the week. But I felt stronger and had more energy. I focused on the biomarkers for the first time and tried to ignore the look of the skin.

The next month I added in some veggies and fish and fasted one day a week. My cleansing was mostly coffee enemas 1-2 a week.

This continued for the next few months going into the summer. I was lifting weights for 4 times per week, walking for an hour or more daily, doing yoga for 30 minutes to an hour every day, and hiking for 4-5 hours every other weekend. I had zero drops of alcohol and not a bite of anything that could be a trigger food.

It turned out to be the perfect year to do this considering the lockdowns. I was isolated but so was everyone else and no one was asking me to go out or party. It was still incredibly hard to keep going as the skin was having some amazingly bad flare-ups. But I watched your videos daily, especially the ones about mindset and seeing the big picture, not focusing on the skin. You were the voice I needed to keep pushing me forward and lead me through it.

In July I did the phase 1 protocol for 2 weeks. Afterwards, the skin looked good for a few weeks. I thought I was almost out of the woods, as it had also been about 6 months into the journey. Well, I got slammed with another nasty flare-up that lasted about 2 weeks. I felt pretty dejected at that point, and it was basically a breaking point for me.

But I got up, dusted myself off and stuck to the diet and movement routines every single day, and continued to watch videos on health, the carnivore diet, success stories. whatever I needed to stay motivated and keep fighting.

By late August, my skin was looking almost as good as knew. I didn't want to get my hopes up again but I knew I was making progress in the right direction. That's when in early September it started creeping back up again. This disease seems to have a life of its own. Like it knows if you think you've beaten it, it comes roaring back to remind you it's still there.

Well, I ended up having the granddaddy of flares up all over my face. I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror, and forget about interacting with other people. It lasted for almost a month between flaring up and receding. I ended up quitting my job and decided I needed nothing stressful in my life and the time to move more and be focused 100% on beating this thing.

As bad as it was, in the back of my mind I knew that flare-ups are just how this thing runs its course. It's getting the demons out. It seems like the disease, the toxins. whatever causes the flare-ups, it knows it's being killed off and not getting the sugars and crap that feeds it anymore, so it starts looking for a way out of the body like a virus does, so it doesn't starve to death, so to speak. That may be why it gets worse before it gets better when you get on the right path with the diet. Yeah, that's woo woo but who fucking knows.

Another month went by and the skin was not bad overall, until another massive flare-up which lasted about 3 weeks. It was not as bad the previous one but was probably the second worst I've ever had. Again I kept my head down and focused on the routine to get through the darkness.

The next several months went by and the skin was the best it's been in 5 years for the most part. Still some flaking and some red bumps, but not huge red patches. I wouldn't feel flare-ups or itchiness. Most people wouldn't know I ever had an issue. My biomarkers were running on all cylinders.

I did a quarterly cleansing protocol, mostly fasting, and kept the diet and routine in check. Then one more flare-up hit. It was bad compared to others but not the worst either and lasted about 2 weeks.

It's the last flare-up I've ever had. The flare-ups got consistently less server to end with that one. That was a few months ago. No flaking or flare-ups or anything since then. I can now confidently say I have beaten this thing.

I've learned so much from this journey and from you. How to be my own hero, the hero of my own movie, establishing daily discipline, finding solutions to problems instead of being handicapped by a setback, staying the course and seeing things done to the end, blocking distractions, and holding strong when failures hit. I feel like I can take on anything that comes my way in life now.

I'm going forward with a positive mindset, and a can-do attitude that I never really had before. I can take care of my body for the long haul and live a great life that some people can only imagine. I am getting back into the dating game and taking risks in business with confidence. The doors this journey has opened up for me are too many to list.

There's nothing I can do to repay you for guiding me through this as my mentor from afar. Just know that you've got soldiers out there like me who spread your message and use the tools you teach to help others with getting their health in order and overcoming skin disease so they can live great lives too.

Thank you for being a great mentor and a great leader.

Steve Crupi