I decided to give the carnivore diet a try and I'm currently on day 10. However, unlike most people here I can't say I'm experiencing the benefits others suggested. I thought I'd ask for some feedback.
My first carnivore attempt was around 3 weeks ago and the 'carnivore flu' symptoms were quite brutal, very similar what many of you reported. Since the carnivore flu is apparently different to the keto flu due to the latter removing fiber, I decided to end the experiment and remove fiber from my diet before restarting it. I mostly drank my carbs in the form of juice with my meals for a week.
The day before I restarted the carnivore diet I had my last meal at 11am and I fasted for 22 hours (water only). I do intermittent fasting regularly, almost daily, and it always puts me into ketosis. I haven't come out of it since then (10 days now) and I've only been eating meat (mostly pork) and drinking water or very diluted zero carb tea since then.
Weirdly enough, during the second attempt I literally had no 'carnivore flu' symptoms, unlike the killer fatigue, headache and digestive issues a week earlier. So either starting the carnivore diet from ketosis, or removing fiber in advance helped alleviate the transition symptoms. But one symptom that was MUCH worse than during keto adaptation was carb cravings. It was to the point of irritation bordering on anger! Honestly, I never thought I had that much will power to persevere despite the cravings.
This is where it gets tricky. After a week of feeling really well on the carnivore diet things changed. Since this Monday I've had cold sweats, fatigue, brain fog, my bowels are bubbly and in the toilet things are very loose.
So maybe there's some bacteria that needed a week to starve and what I'm experiencing now is not carnivore adaptation but bacteria die off? And maybe the carb cravings have to do with critters demanding food? What gave me this idea is the fact that candida infestation causes sugar cravings and the outcomes of my digestion (to put it diplomatically) kind of suggest some sort of evacuation too.
Another symptom that gives me this idea is the fact that I always had a very bad reaction to enemas. It didn't matter whether I used coffee, probiotics of just mineral water - I always felt fatigued, dizzy and anxious for no reason. On day 7 of my carnivore diet I started having very similar symptoms - just not as strong as after enemas. This made me think that whatever enemas were stirring up may be coming out now?
Carb cravings were really bad during the first week but eased a little right before the stomach/fatigue issues started. So maybe for the first week the critters were starving and trying to force me to eat sugar - and now they're dying making me feel horrible?
But on the other hand, there are other things that make me wonder whether my symptoms are simply my body telling me the diet isn't for me. During my last keto attempt that lasted for nearly 2 months I developed a very bad rash. It started as a couple of sores on my scalp and quickly spread all over my body. Over the last couple of days I discovered those same painful and itchy sores on my scalp again, which makes me wonder whether my body is trying to talk me out of my carnivore trial.
At this stage I'm really confused. The whole die off idea may just be a narrative I came up with to justify staying on the diet. Any hints or tips would be super helpful.
The reason why I decided to trial the carnivore diet is that I have some symptoms that come and go, mostly fatigue and brain fogs. I don't know if it's a coincidence but ever since I started doing AHT I've been feeling much better and when my issues returned, they were a lot milder than before. Nevertheless they did return and I decided to try the carnivore diet to see if it helps. Well, so far it hasn't