The Carnivore Diet

[Turgon]

Great thread, thanks to everyone who contributed. I've had pretty persistent and ongoing bouts of inflammation for a long time and even on the ketogenic and paleo diet, noticed some reduction, but I would always inevitably end up eating something that would trigger a reaction and it seemed to fluctuate. One day sweet potatoes or carrots were fine, a few weeks later they weren't and could never quite put my finger on it.

So I decided to go full carnivore after seeing this thread pop up, and before actually reading the thread because I was almost zero carb to begin with but not quite there yet. What I noticed was after two days, my core body temperature went up and it was easier to stay warm or get warm again after being outside in the cold, and that anytime I ate carbs, which only consisted of vegetables, my body temperature would drop.

I'd say about a week in, I started having some really bad abdominal pains and chronic anger that seemed to go hand-in-hand with it. Just the littlest things would irritate me. I figured it was either cravings of some kind or something was seriously up with my gut microbiome. I hadn't been to the washroom for number #2 in a number of days. Then finally I did and it was an evacuation that really made me wonder if something had died in my stomach! My best bet is that it was a major die-off of some kind, because afterwards I felt genuinely calm and relaxed, almost no inflammation at all, although really intense and vivid dreams every single night.

That went on for about two weeks and I could barely sleep at all even though I had a ton of energy, but after finally reading this thread, realized I needed to find some way to supplement minerals and and water loss so have been taking Quinton water daily. The only downside to this diet was that I started losing weight and in the course of the two weeks, lost a little over 5 lbs. This made me a nervous and during the holiday season started eating carbs again in order to put the weight back on, but after reading Maiko's post, was also just eating two meals a day and so now my second time around am going for 3 meals to see if I can maintain, OR crossing my fingers - put on some weight.

And as for carbs, no real cravings to speak of 5 days into going carnivore again, except I've been wanting to eat an apple all day today. So the aspect that plants want fruit to be eaten so they don't contain anti-nutrients or lectins is interesting and makes me wonder if the urge to want to eat an apple is part of some bacteria that's holding on for dear life or my body letting me know what it needs. I had one last week and I felt fine afterwards. So I may have one once in a while, or try and muscle through it and go completely carnivore for at least 30 days and see what happens.

 

[Keyhole]

Turgon, a great way to put on some weight is to eat A LOT more meat than you think you would be capable of. Do not compare portion sizes with those on keto or paleo, and do not underestimate the sheer amount of meat you can consume in a day. I was concerned about losing weight, because I am already skinny. However, I found that eating protein really does the trick.

Honestly, I can eat like 0.8kg of meat in one sitting. Before, I would eat like 3 chicken drumsticks... whereas now I eat about 9. Likewise, a whole pack of lamb mince formed into a burger is just about sufficient for breakfast. The wallet takes a hit, but my weight has stabilized.. and I know that if I try to then I can put on weight.

Aside from eating more, lifting some weights definitely provides the anabolic stimulus necessary for weight maintenance.

Im glad to hear your feeling better, and the 'evacuation' does sound like a cleansing of sorts. If you do suffer from loose stools within this first 30 days, cut back on the liquid fats - because those were what was messing up my gut in the early days.

 

[Turgon]

Honestly, I can eat like 0.8kg of meat in one sitting. Before, I would eat like 3 chicken drumsticks... whereas now I eat about 9. Likewise, a whole pack of lamb mince formed into a burger is just about sufficient for breakfast. The wallet takes a hit, but my weight has stabilized.. and I know that if I try to then I can put on weight.

That's a lot for one sitting, Keyhole! And you haven't noticed any ill effects from eating that much meat? I was thinking eating that much could stress some of the internal organs, mainly because I did eat about 1 1/2 lbs once with very little added fat and felt a sharp pain under my left rib cage afterwards. But it was conventionally grown meat with all sorts of antibiotics and hormones in it so all those additional chemicals are probably what did it.

 

[nicklebleu]

I was thinking eating that much could stress some of the internal organs, mainly because I did eat about 1 1/2 lbs once with very little added fat and felt a sharp pain under my left rib cage afterwards.

Maybe you could also try to up your fat intake. The problem with meat nowadays is that it povides too little fat all by itself, unless you select for particularly fatty pieces. One way would be to add butter, but if you want to remain Level 2 or 3, maybe adding beef dripping might do the trick. Generally a 70:30 protein to fat ratio is advisable, which translate to about the same calories of each.

 

[Keyhole]

That's a lot for one sitting, Keyhole! And you haven't noticed any ill effects from eating that much meat? I was thinking eating that much could stress some of the internal organs, mainly because I did eat about 1 1/2 lbs once with very little added fat and felt a sharp pain under my left rib cage afterwards. But it was conventionally grown meat with all sorts of antibiotics and hormones in it so all those additional chemicals are probably what did it.

To be fair it could be just me, and I am known by others to eat a lot. This is not through greed, but simply because my metabolism is so fast that my weight rapidly goes down if I dont.

However, on the carnivore group, 1kg of meat in one sitting is not uncommon. Some people only do one meal a day, and literally feast at that one meal. This approach kind of makes sense if you think about primitive hunting strategies and ways of living. You feast and then probably go a lot time without anything to eat, which means that you make the most out of it when you do have access to food.

Upping the fat as mention above is probably also a good idea.

 

[Starshine]

Time for an update: I've been consistent with the diet though during mid-December came my first days where I felt the need for sugar or just something else than meat. Some of the effects seemed to disappear, I was progressively losing the good mood and the mornings became difficult again (though it was still way better than before, I have to say). I started having some doubts and also realized how partial I was with you guys, reporting only the good stuff and keeping hidden the downsides.

I had a terrible spot on my face that popped out and grew like crazy, just in time for Christmas gathering. It was a good exercise for my self-consciousness. It is between my nose and right eye and seemed more like a cyst than a pimple. It is still there though it greatly reduced back to a pimple as some of it found a way out after Christmas, it was a LOT of water, it kind of freaked me out, the remainder cannot go out as it really is in the endoderm. Frustrating.

So, back to before Christmas, I thought maybe something was off, I started to really crave sugar and indulged me with raw honey and goat yogurt one night. I felt better right after and didn't feel the need to reiterate.
Then, Christmas came with its family meetings, just as maiko, I didn't want to be so strict around this period. I enjoyed sharing the meals prepared with love. We were not home so I just ate as our hosts were feeding us, I didn't want to have to talk about my carnivore diet, especially not with a huge spot on the face.

That period is quite long! For 2 weeks, I have been flexible, drinking alcohol, eating dessert and much chocolate. I directly felt the dental plaque coming back along with bad breath, waking up really harder, my flexibility and balance reduced.

Anyway, I am back home and happy to get back on track, although there has been some more flexibility with those epiphany cake meetings that everybody wants to share...
I had pain popping back between my shoulder blades, which disappeared while full carnivore.
Also for some days now, under my occiput, I have a radiating pain normally characteristic of me drinking too much. My typical hangover doesn't happen in the morning, but in the evening after. It is brutal. It is worsened by artificial light and can exhaust my eyes too. It's been two days that I wake up and it is still present upon wake. My neck is sore. When those effects pop up without the alcohol, I start to wonder. I'm not feeling the best for now. I know that sometimes the effects of certain foods can be delayed by several days, so it is hard to know.

On a bright note, I had the opportunity to bath in the Atlantic Sea the 26th of December, it was 11°C, and I felt like I passed a threshold since I was able to finally catch my breath, calm down and immerse myself longer. I engaged myself to go every time I'm nearby the sea. I manage the cold better. It takes time but I feel like I'm finally adapting, as I've been finishing my showers cold since a long while now. I handle it longer and easier. In the Ocean, it's different though. I also started bodyweight HIIT and it's another great tool to develop the will.

 

[Turgon]

Maybe you could also try to up your fat intake.

I do. The situation I alluded to in my previous post was a one-off situation where I was offered food by a friend but he didn't have any additional fats that I could eat with it - and ended up with some internal pain afterwards.

To be fair it could be just me, and I am known by others to eat a lot. This is not through greed, but simply because my metabolism is so fast that my weight rapidly goes down if I dont.

Totally understandable. I'm a fast burner too and when I was in my 20's and lifting weights regularly, would have to eat 5 full meals a day just to retain the muscle mass I had put on. My heaviest was about 15 lbs more than I am now. But I had about 1 lb of ground beef for dinner tonight which included some bacon and additional butter and don't think I could eat much more than that in one go. But three of those meals in a day should hopefully do the trick!

 

[jsf]

I've been on a carnivorous diet since early November, and I think it's just great. I'm not strictly carnivorous because sometimes I eat fresh shiitake or even some vegetables (rarely), and also chocolate, but I eat only one organic entrecote (or organ meat) each day with sometimes eggs from my backyard chicken.

Being on the paleo/keto diet before, I always heard that too much protein was detrimental, so I was quite afraid of eating too much proteins. But the first thing I noticed is that eating meat is really, really satisfying for the body. I did not even felt cravings for eggs or fish (like before), and now I see eggs as really less satisfying than meat. Eggs are like the vegetables that can be added next to the meat, but it's not as satisfying and not as much as a factor of physical well-being. With keto, you can eat a lot of fat, but ultimately still be a little hungry during the day, which happens less often with the carnivorous diet.

Also, it's more practical than paleo/keto because it's much less time-consuming. No need for too much cooking and preparation of dishes!
The only negative point is the cost. I'll probably try ordering grassfed meat (leboeufdherbe.fr in france)

 

[Galaxia2002]

Time for an update: I've been consistent with the diet though during mid-December came my first days where I felt the need for sugar or just something else than meat. Some of the effects seemed to disappear, I was progressively losing the good mood and the mornings became difficult again (though it was still way better than before, I have to say). I started having some doubts and also realized how partial I was with you guys, reporting only the good stuff and keeping hidden the downsides.

I had a terrible spot on my face that popped out and grew like crazy, just in time for Christmas gathering. It was a good exercise for my self-consciousness. It is between my nose and right eye and seemed more like a cyst than a pimple. It is still there though it greatly reduced back to a pimple as some of it found a way out after Christmas, it was a LOT of water, it kind of freaked me out, the remainder cannot go out as it really is in the endoderm. Frustrating.

So, back to before Christmas, I thought maybe something was off, I started to really crave sugar and indulged me with raw honey and goat yogurt one night. I felt better right after and didn't feel the need to reiterate.
Then, Christmas came with its family meetings, just as maiko, I didn't want to be so strict around this period. I enjoyed sharing the meals prepared with love. We were not home so I just ate as our hosts were feeding us, I didn't want to have to talk about my carnivore diet, especially not with a huge spot on the face.

That period is quite long! For 2 weeks, I have been flexible, drinking alcohol, eating dessert and much chocolate. I directly felt the dental plaque coming back along with bad breath, waking up really harder, my flexibility and balance reduced.

Anyway, I am back home and happy to get back on track, although there has been some more flexibility with those epiphany cake meetings that everybody wants to share...
I had pain popping back between my shoulder blades, which disappeared while full carnivore.
Also for some days now, under my occiput, I have a radiating pain normally characteristic of me drinking too much. My typical hangover doesn't happen in the morning, but in the evening after. It is brutal. It is worsened by artificial light and can exhaust my eyes too. It's been two days that I wake up and it is still present upon wake. My neck is sore. When those effects pop up without the alcohol, I start to wonder. I'm not feeling the best for now. I know that sometimes the effects of certain foods can be delayed by several days, so it is hard to know.

On a bright note, I had the opportunity to bath in the Atlantic Sea the 26th of December, it was 11°C, and I felt like I passed a threshold since I was able to finally catch my breath, calm down and immerse myself longer. I engaged myself to go every time I'm nearby the sea. I manage the cold better. It takes time but I feel like I'm finally adapting, as I've been finishing my showers cold since a long while now. I handle it longer and easier. In the Ocean, it's different though. I also started bodyweight HIIT and it's another great tool to develop the will.

Hi Startshine, it sounds like you could have a lazy liver. I would tend to think that taking some supplements for that can help in a general way with your whole system together with magnesium.

 

[Starshine]

Thank you for the advice, Galaxia2002, it would make sense. Coffee and alcohol certainly don't help much in that matter. May I ask why do you think so, and which supplements, in particular, are you thinking about?

 

[Starshine]

I had NAC and glutathione in mind. I guess the best would be directly glutathione here? The headache has been popping up in the mornings, it's been getting better since 3 days. I started a cure designed for liver function my girlfriend bought with black radish vials, ew!, that's awful but it is effective. We were not home for several days, that's the best thing she found in a pharmacy.
I'll finish the cure and might consider a liver flush in the end, as Phil Escot and others seem to benefit much from it.

 

[Seppo Ilmarinen]

I've been on carnivore diet about four weeks now, and i've already noticed positive changes in my body composition (strength training has also helped here) and in overall mood/energy. I have much less bloating issues after leaving veggies/fiber out, which makes sense. I enjoy eating simple quick made dishes of high quality meat. I've also been eating some eggs, fish, butter and high fat dairy products. I may introduce few carbs at some point to see how I react, but going carnivore have worked quite well for me so far!

 

[Starshine]

I have another sebaceous cyst which inflamed in my left ear lobe. I decided to reintroduce Lugol in my routine as it is advised for treating cysts. For 4 days now, I've been also treating it topically with a bit of alcohol beforehand. It dries the outer layers of the skin and reduces the inflammation. We'll see how it goes. We've been invited a lot lately. I stick to carnivorism in my routine and am flexible when invited.
I feel great apart of those frustrating cysts. My routine is far better. I wake up every day at the same hour, eat directly after and I'm getting a better sense of order as a result. Funny how those two simple things can do wonders.

 

[dugdeep]

I have another sebaceous cyst which inflamed in my left ear lobe. I decided to reintroduce Lugol in my routine as it is advised for treating cysts. For 4 days now, I've been also treating it topically with a bit of alcohol beforehand. It dries the outer layers of the skin and reduces the inflammation. We'll see how it goes. We've been invited a lot lately. I stick to carnivorism in my routine and am flexible when invited.
I feel great apart of those frustrating cysts. My routine is far better. I wake up every day at the same hour, eat directly after and I'm getting a better sense of order as a result. Funny how those two simple things can do wonders.

That's funny, Starshine, because I just had a cyst show up on the front of my right hip a couple of weeks ago. It's the first time I've ever had one, although I would sometimes get really bad pimples around my jawline that may have actually been cysts, but never anywhere else on my body. This time I went to the doctor for it, but it had burst on its own before getting there. He prescribed a penicillin-based antibiotic and some bandages to change daily. I applied an antibiotic ointment to it on top of that, as well as doing magnesium baths, a topical iodine scrub, and probiotics to mitigate the damage of the antibiotics.

Now, two weeks later, it's basically gone. There's still a red spot that's been itchy, although that seems to be subsiding. I think it may leave a scar, but it's too early to tell. I added some sauerkraut into my diet, too, for recovery. So far, the antibiotics don't seem to have messed me up much.

I don't know if this is something some people react to the carnivore diet with or not. Could be detox, but it might also be something about some people who don't adapt well to the diet. It's hard to say, because the vast majority of testimonials I find out there talk about people resolving these types of issues with the carnivore diet. I've added in a couple of supplements to help out the liver (choline, milk thistle, curcumin) and am taking a bit of a 'wait and see' approach for the time being.

 

[Starshine]

Thank you for the feedback, dugdeep. I will go to the doctor too and see where it leads. It's painful and inflamed right now. Did you take the probiotics at the same time, before bed, or after the antibiotic treatment?
The first cyst came on my face came before I did any deviation from the diet, and it inflamed too. I'm curious about the inflammation factor, those cysts have been there for a while, though not noticeable in any way.