The Carnivore Diet

[jhonny]

I also did poorly on a carnivore diet and had to give it up due to a lack of sleep and other issues like severe headaches in the evenings and excessive weight loss. In my case, I did it together with my wife, and she did very well on carnivore. So, as Gaby explained above, some people do very well on a carnivore diet due to genetic factors.

I also did poorly on keto, with the same issues as on carnivore. What works for me is eating a lot of meat and a moderate to slightly high intake of carbs, especially in the afternoons about 3/4 hours before bed. But I think this works for me due to my daily activity (job and personal life). I do about 17,000 steps a day on average. I also do strength training three times a week.

 

[Laura]

I think the carnivore diet is mostly for people who are born with certain genetic anomalies that nullify all the above arguments against it. I resisted the carnivore diet until I learned that I have a congenital disability in my conjunctive tissue. I simply develop immune reactions (whether delayed or acute) to all vegetable kingdom foods because my intestine is permeable or leaky due to the defect in the conjunctive tissue. Furthermore, that condition will never change no matter what I do because of genetic causes. Also, my body compensates the deficiency by activating mastocytes, which further compounds the problem and doesn't do anything to heal the conjunctive tissue. It's no wonder I'm thriving in the carnivore diet.

I believe 2% or 3% or possibly more in any given population, especially Caucasian descendants, qualify for similar problems. My guess is that you'll find these people following the carnivore diet for long periods of time with absolute success.

Like Gaby and others, I didn't do well on keto. I never emerged from the 'keto flu' thing and just got sicker and weaker. Since then, I've learned that I have a particular genetic mutation that, like Gaby's, affects tissues in a serious way. The mutation is involved with protein folding, mucus, mucus membranes, etc.

But, in the past year, I've become increasingly intolerant to vegetables and carbs in general, so I tried just eating meat for a few days and my digestive issues cleared up. But then, along came the flu-like symptoms. So, since potatoes are the least reactive vegetable for me (tested), I added them into my late day meal and everything was fine. I may try something else, but I'll have to look at my food sensitivities test results to decide what might be safe.

I tell ya, it is a huge relief to be able to eat and not feel like I have ingested caustic soda that burns all the way through. (Yeah, it was that bad.)

I'm on day 10 and today, the pain in my knees is almost gone.

 

[Honzap]

What is the probability...this has happened to me just today!

I have been doing no fruits and less and less vegetables in past couple of years and lately no veggies at all. Maybe a spoonful of rice or a small bite of potato. So today I see really nice squash, immediately thinking hmm, maybe I want to get back to a bit of veggies. Squashes are generally safe - unless you are in full carnivore mode for an extended period of time. So I cook the squash as usual with my beef burgers. 10 minutes later the veggie made sure I was clean inside as a whistle. Enema wouldn`t have made a better job! For some weird reason I was thinking cats, they only eat grass to clean out.

Anyway, back to little rice and potato with the meat

 

[Fluffy]

After trying multiple ways of eating (all of them I think), intermittent, 3 meals a day, omad, different food combinations, higher carbs, keto with plants, high protein, low fat, lotsa carb, even no animal products at all, and all the while still knowing better than to be so foolish, I’ve concluded that, against my wishes but for my best, I have to give a high fat meat only diet another go.

I’ve done everything I can to avoid it because I haven’t yet dealt with my hedonistic tendencies to find great pleasure in eating tasty things, and although satiating, I don’t find meat to be tasty for long when I’m only eating beef and lamb, I get flavour fatigue and really have to force myself to stay on target, and then I fail, my longest meat only stint was only a few weeks before I caved to a square of chocolate or something else delicious.

I’m differently prepared this time. I’ve quit caffeine and all other teas, I only drink water, I’ve been on a 1hour a day eating window for several weeks so I’m used to any hunger that appears unwanted.

My reasons for wanting to stay on course are consistent gut issues and pain in hip, low back and left leg, that I just can’t get on top of, I spend way too much time each day rubbing and stretching. After reading the latest session I have done some reading and it seems that the genetic illness Gaby has asked about, ehlers-danlos syndrome, affects up to 10% of people, mainly women, and I do fit in the category quite strikingly, there are no diagnostic tests others than gene testing, it’s all about symptoms and I’m sick to death of the symptoms I have that are increasing with age and no coincidence- so is my flexibility and creaking joints. I can still fold myself up in half and do the splits and other bendy movements, signs of hyper-flexibility, the thing is I have to stretch like that to get relief from the pain, gentle stretching does nothing at all.

Anyway, back to the diet. I’ve watched zillions of videos, read another zillion papers and what have you about meat only diets, I was convinced about 9 years ago that I needed to be on one for the rest of my life- I called it meatatarian because carnivore wasn’t popular then, keto was getting some pace and I did okayish on that way of eating but soon realised that the plants were the problem.
Here’s my problem, as I mentioned already, sticking with the diet. I clearly have some unresolved stuff buried deeply within, I have a tendency towards bingeing, I used to smoke weed just as an excuse to binge and pass the responsibility of my faulty actions onto the me that got stoned.

How do I stay on track? What tools and tactics do others use to control the little (or not so little) voice within that wants to sabotage you?

 

[ignis.intimus]

How do I stay on track? What tools and tactics do others use to control the little (or not so little) voice within that wants to sabotage you?

It's hard to do for sure.

I clearly have some unresolved stuff buried deeply within

I think you may have to do some work there first. When we have unresolved emotional experiences they act like magmatic events, periodically spewing up to the surface. We get triggered, we may be able to disassociate for a bit and push through, but the pressure never relents so we look for a feel-good outlet.

That little voice you're talking about, it comes from somewhere. What is it saying, what is it really telling you, and where does it come from? If you meditate on it and be honest with what it's saying you should get a clue you can use as a thread to follow. Those voices typically emerge from core beliefs we have about ourselves, like "I am not good enough" or "no one will love me", etc.

 

[ignis.intimus]

When I started the carnivore diet a few weeks ago I switched to just meat, butter and eggs. I realized yesterday that I can't do butter, it makes me bloat. I've been so used to be bloated at least a bit that I stopped seeing it as a significant event, but I started eating way more butter than I had before and noticed I was staying at a high boat level.

Cut out butter yesterday entirely and no (extra) bloat; I only had a few eggs. Today, still no butter but had 12 eggs total (typical since doing carny) and although not as bloated and my guts are not inflamed, I am still more bloated then I should be.

So, I'm going to have to all red meat it looks like. I can't do diary at all, and don't want plant sources of fat.

Any ideas on how to get high amounts of fat, in a way you can actually eat it? I guess I can try drinking a few spoonfuls of tallow from the pan after it's cooled down, but even then that's not that much. Home made, super fatty bone broth?

 

[Amor]

Have been on keto a week and full carnivore maybe atleast for 1year straight with some mixing of honey. In my case the only health problems I had is all the negative effects of a vegeterian diet like low energy, bipolar symptoms, low b1, b12 and all the gammut. Key main thing for me personally what I can take away from carnivore way of eating is the organ adaptation to breaking down animal fat and using that for energy. Thanks to that woe my bodies energy system is much more flexible and complex. After reading more about b1 deficiency and how people get there I gave it a try and it was a last piece in the puzzle.

 

[Fluffy]

It's hard to do for sure.



I think you may have to do some work there first. When we have unresolved emotional experiences they act like magmatic events, periodically spewing up to the surface. We get triggered, we may be able to disassociate for a bit and push through, but the pressure never relents so we look for a feel-good outlet.

That little voice you're talking about, it comes from somewhere. What is it saying, what is it really telling you, and where does it come from? If you meditate on it and be honest with what it's saying you should get a clue you can use as a thread to follow. Those voices typically emerge from core beliefs we have about ourselves, like "I am not good enough" or "no one will love me", etc.

I’ve touched on this before, the little voice is a programmed response to reward/pleasure as a child reinforcing that sweet things are correlated to people being kind. I’ve never been able to break through that mold, rewire the subconscious thoughts, I go okay, then I fall back into the same pattern. I also have a history of eating disorders….

I can’t think of a better way to resolve these issues but to face them head on as they arise to tell me to not do the thing I’m doing and just eat some sweet things, if they’re never fully resolved then my health won’t be either, so I can’t wait to resolve them, I have to keep starting over and not conceding defeat.

I’m sure everyone has a tactic they use, like not having sweet things in the house, or a mantra they recite when they have a craving. I’m just interested in what other people do to resist. I haven’t tried to resist for over 5 years, I’d usually just allow myself some or pick a day where I could eat whatever I wanted and be good every other day, but now I really want to give it at least a month to see what improvements are made, and reassess if I want to continue, no absolutes, just taking it for a test run.

The last time I did a proper carni diet it was all raw meat and organs, but I used raw dairy, raw honey, and coffee too, zero supplements- I felt the best I ever have, especially on my no honey days. This time will be much different, nothing but red meat salt and my usually supplements.

I think no matter what, I’m always going to have a tendency for sugar and sweet things, and I’ll always be a little tempted, kind of like a recovering alcoholic, at least in the initial stages, but I also don’t want to say I’ll never eat something sweet again, that just sounds cruel to that part of me that puts in a daily grind, and once every now and then why can’t I have one of my delicious homemade buckwheat and coconut flour cookies?? Or am I already looking at it wrong? This is what I’m trying to figure out, should I be thinking differently? Should I be thinking in absolutes?

 

[Laura]

Well, at this point, it is not hard for me to tell myself 'no' about eating things I should not since before I launched on carnivore, literally everything I ate made me suffer so much I've got Food PTSD!

I don't think that Carnivore diet is big on getting in fats so long as the normal amount of fat in the meat is still there and hasn't been removed.

Also, I would caution people about eggs. Way more people than you can imagine cannot tolerate eggs and I am one of them. Probably best to cut them out for a week, see how you feel, then eat them for a couple days and notice any changes. Same with dairy, including butter. Just cut it out for a week, see how you feel, the try it again to see if your body reacts negatively.

Not sure if Carnivore allows nuts, but I think it does. Anyway, that's another item that you should test because there are lots of folks who can't tolerate nuts. Well, you would have to test each kind of nut separately.

 

[Chu]

FWIW, in case others notice the same, for me the real way to notice is to go off of a food for 3 months, then reintroduce it. I generally don't react as badly to food as other people do. I stopped eating gluten for a week, then tried it again, and said, "I can eat it, there's no difference!" It was only when I went off of gluten for 3 months, and THEN I tried it again, that I really noticed it wasn't good for me. So, I guess that also depends on the individual? Some people can know immediately when food "attacks them", others need more time, because it "kills us slowly".

The other thing is quantity. I can have eggs once a week, and have zero bad effects. But if I eat them every day, I get mild joint aches. So, I go months without, then eat them occasionally (or weekly for a while). You have to experiment and see. Each person is a bit different. What one shouldn't do is be too dogmatic/strict about it. We know people who stayed on keto for years, even though their bodies were screaming for them not to. So, try, observe, adjust, and you can always adjust back if you introduced one thing too many.

But "meat will kill you?" Nah... If that was the case, humanity would already be extinct! Even mainstream science recognizes now that what clogs your arteries is NOT meat & saturated fats, but sugar and processed foods. Just look at how health has deteriorated in the Western population in the last 70 years. That was not because people started eating more meat, but all the contrary. That's a bout the time when the food industry started introducing vegetable oils, processed stuff, extra sugar, corn syrup, etc. It's not complicated.

 

[lilies]

Astrological seasonal diets - according to whatever energy is coming from the stars at any given season - maybe has an effect on our dietary requirements during a year too ?

Clean organ meats certainly. Also my beloved Grandmother used to cook chicken blood: she poured it into this ideal village ladle and held it in the boiling chicken soup until the blood hardened and became like cooked liver. I absolutely loved the crunch of cooked blood! Pig blood was rougher during village pig feasts - probably because people didn't filter it enough - and traditionally was served with scrambled eggs and onions.

So I'm planning to get back to cooked blood. Unfortunately slaughterhouses add [probably toxic] blood thinners to pig blood, so I'll have to go to farms.

In Africa (IIRC) lots of hunters traditionally eat (cooked?) blood for the amazing amount of natural potassium it provides.

My favorites for tasty meat soup were chicken- / duck liver and cooked blood, before it was made toxic wholesale with horrid EU animal feeds and tons of added antibiotics. :( Best meat soup vegetable - smells divine and gives the soup an amazing aroma - I found are the parsnips. Smells and tastes stronger than other weak white roots.

I always cook the amazing, more yellow than white inside Rose of Balaton potatoes (grows short sprouts like a rose / in the form of "bundled" octopus legs) unpeeled in pressure cooker. This way, freshly peeled and mashed into pig meat soup it tastes divine!

 

[ignis.intimus]

I can’t think of a better way to resolve these issues but to face them head on as they arise to tell me to not do the thing I’m doing and just eat some sweet things
...
I’m sure everyone has a tactic they use

Tactics don't work in my experience. Unless its a matter of life or death, like a crumb of gluten sends you to the hospital, you have to address the core wound that is driving that behavior.

You are engaged in a battle of wills against something with no willpower. These emotional wounds are relentless. Sure, you may win a wrestling match against it here or there, but you will never win every match. And even when you do win a match, the "opponent" is never actually defeated. You have to get down to the root of it. The real hard part is getting there, getting to that place where you can actually feel what you've repressed for so long. Actually feeling the core wound typically doesn't last long in my experience, minutes at most usually, but the sense of relief that comes with it is amazing. And your behavior will change naturally as a result, because the thing driving that behavior has now been resolved. One of the first steps, in my experience, is making cognitive space for the wound to be processed. This may mean admitting the issue is even there, the general idea of where it came from, how much its affecting you, etc. Part of processing these emotions is being able to intellectually understand them as well, merging right-brain with left-brain activity.

You mentioned addiction. You may want to check out one of the AA type groups. I have never tried one, but many people have good success there. They require you to take accountability for yourself, offer a supportive group environment, they force you to actually take action, whereas sometimes psychotherapy can turn into a series of endless yapping about our problems, and never actually DOing something about them.

I don't think that Carnivore diet is big on getting in fats so long as the normal amount of fat in the meat is still there and hasn't been removed.

I've been thinking about this since I started the diet. How much fat were our ancestors really eating? Outside of certain tribes like the Inuit, it couldn't have been much. And the fat they did get would've been from big game, and most of that game would've been ruminants, which in the wild are pretty lean. Their fat to protein ratio is not high. Not to mention, hunting big game was typically a collaborative effort, so one person or even one family would not have gotten all the fat from it.

Way more people than you can imagine cannot tolerate eggs

Just a few days ago I was lamenting how I couldn't eat cheese, and how easy that would make getting high fat would be, and then consoled myself with "at least you can eat eggs!" Sike!

The other thing is quantity. I can have eggs once a week, and have zero bad effects

And this makes a lot of sense, because our ancestors would not have been eating a ton of eggs. There are not *that* many birds nests out there, that are within reach, and would've had eggs in them at any given time. Eggs would've been an every once in a while sort of thing.

 

[Alejo]

I personally need meat with every meal, but if I do meat exclusively I end up feeling hungry almost right away and have trouble falling asleep.

What worked for me personally was to keep one carb along with the meat, except most breakfasts, and the one that has worked for me the best is rice, which I cook with lard, I've no adverse reaction to it, same with smaller amounts of potatoes, I've tried plantains but it's a lower tolerance level than potatoes in my case, and if I overdo-it, I get really really sleepy very quick after a meal.

But the carb has to be lower than the meat in ratio, but the carb needs to be higher in ratio if the meat if very fatty, otherwise I feel bloated or nauseous. Eggs, I actually haven't done them regularly in a very long time, and whenever I have partaken, I've been ok, but I do feel a funky stomach almost right away, nothing bad, just a funky feeling. Butter, I can have it decently regularly, twice a week, no issues.

What works best for my activity level and my daily requirements is an exclusively meat breakfast, rice at lunch (if I have lunch) and dinner. If I do mix up breakfast or dinners on weekends, then my weekdays keep me regular enough where it doesn't kick my behind too much.

 

[Jones]

@Alejo I'd like to know the method of cooking rice with lard. That sounds interesting and I'd like to try it.

 

[Princess Lux 🌷]

I think no matter what, I’m always going to have a tendency for sugar and sweet things, and I’ll always be a little tempted, kind of like a recovering alcoholic, at least in the initial stages, but I also don’t want to say I’ll never eat something sweet again, that just sounds cruel to that part of me that puts in a daily grind, and once every now and then why can’t I have one of my delicious homemade buckwheat and coconut flour cookies?? Or am I already looking at it wrong? This is what I’m trying to figure out, should I be thinking differently? Should I be thinking in absolutes?

I had the same relationship before regarding sweets, and what worked for me is similar to what @Chu has shared. I wasnt on a strict carnivore diet but high-fat. I starved my system with sweets and cream perhaps for 4-5 months till I reintroduce it again that I noticed the difference. I suffer with mood swings and my head aches similar effect with having too much carbs. I also noticed that I sleep better with a high-fat diet and my thoughts are better.

Since the benefits outweigh the disadvantages that I have come to terms with not having sweets. I do away with processed sugar and have a cheesecake only when I can tolerate it and it happens when Im about to have my period. At this time, when I have a craving for sweets, I eat a little just so I'd not feel punished.

My family suffers from highblood pressure and they are wary if my arteries are clogged. I still have to do my lab tests to check on this. Overall, I feel fine, though Im curious if someone who suffers from highblood pressure long-term and has maintenance can regulate their blood pressure with the carnivore diet. I am introducing it to my family. They are wary because of cholesterol, and they cant just give up rice.