My Experience Eating Keto/Carnivore

[Guyfieri5]

Some perspective: Vegans don't find issue with the circle of life (as it pertains to lions/zebras or environmental/circumstantial killing for survival, say the Alaskan bush) but with normalization of meat as a primary dietary ration, a centerpiece in the first-world palette, despite macroeconomics, environmental, and/or health effects. In other words, meat for pleasure, not survival. Industrialized meat production (Big-Ag factory farming) is the most disgusting and traumatic thing I ever witnessed in my life. And I refuse to bankroll its inhumanity by burying my head in the sand, all in the name of "it tastes good" or "well, that's the way it's always been done." Most Vegans are from this dualistic perspective, a smaller minority for the health reasons.



Strong work!

IMO most dietary changes that yield positive results, whether it be veganism, vegetarianism, Paleo, IM, etc are simply the results of eating less processed garbage like empty carbs and sugar. The closer you get to nature with the least amount of processing, the better results will be. I feel its more about what is now MISSING over what is added.

Thanks for sharing your experience my friend, appreciate it!

I've been in meat and dairy plants. It's disgusting. I've worked in the industry for a few years and have seen enough. I cut dairy out purely for that reason and it had nothing to do with my health. I haven't cut out meat but I do not buy processed meat like lunch meat or meatballs. I go to the butcher or get grass-fed at the store. If the average American stepped foot in a food and beverage plant for five minutes they'd probably go vegan or at the very least cut 90% of that garbage out.

 

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[Guyfieri5]

Ketones should be named the body's primary source of fuel.

Carbohydrates/glucose have a very small amount of storage space in the body (liver and muscle) - any excess and it must be stored/converted to fat in order to bring blood glucose down (insulin and, to a smaller degree, de novo lipogenesis does this for you). This results in constant highs (when you eat them) and lows (after).

My belief is that the body utilizes carbohydrates first due to the energy being easily accessible AND the potential for problems if it stays in your blood for too long.

I think indigenous cultures would have access to some carbs (whatever animals didn't get to first) during the grow season (much less carby than what's available in U.S supermarkets) but majority of their calories would come from fat (where the vitamins are) and protein (hunting/scavenging both fresh and rotten animals). Freshly killed animals (and organ meats) will contain a decent amount of carbs (muscle and liver glycogen), but the glycogen would decrease significantly the longer the animal was dead.

Our bodies can store months worth of calories in the form of fat (longest fast I've read about was close to a year). But, in order to access the fat, you must be in some state of ketosis.

Regarding what happens metabolically, it's believed that almost all cells in our body can utilize ketones for energy. Any cell that cannot function 100% on ketones (like the brain) will signal the liver to create glucose via a process called gluconeogenesis (basically converting lactic acid / amino acids / glycerol (fat breakdown) / and some other stuff I can't think of at the moment). Allowing your body to demand what it needs - nothing more, nothing less. Your body 'learns' how to do this more efficiently the longer you're in ketosis.

Some cells (like most cancer cells) cannot utilize ketones well enough to survive. A lot of information on the internet say they can't utilize it at all - but I find that hard to believe. It's almost never that simple.

I'm no scientist so don't take my word as gospel. I've read a lot of papers, watched interviews, and read a few books (like The Fat of the Land) - so it's a lot to condense and absorb. I cold also be using some wrong terminology, but that was my take away.

Keto is interesting. I tried it funny enough a few years ago about when you posted this (this was pre-fastlane days for me so wasn't on the forum then). I found that it did work. It dropped my blood pressure, made me feel amazing, and I looked pretty cut after two months of doing it. A lot of smaller problems went away too I didn't know were problems like eye floaters and extreme fatigue in the morning. The only thing wrong with it for me is I could not run on keto to save my life. I went from running an average of 6:30 pace per mile on all of my runs to over 9:00 pace which is huge. I was big into running then and had races coming up at the end of the year so cut the keto out and ate carbs. My running went right back to normal. I don't run as much anymore so I may try the diet again.

 

[mrchuckthetech]

I am actually on the same journey as you, but I came kicking and screaming after a lot of chronic health issues....

Inspiring to see your posts, Man.....It's keeping me from diving into an extra large bag of cheetos

 

[dru-man]

Have had a lot of success with both carnivore and keto in the past but fell off it a while back. Just got back on dirty keto with a pretty tight fasting window a week and a half ago and already ratcheting the belt down again.

The carnivore diet is pretty self-explanatory, but keto leaves a lot more room for error. For anybody just getting started... I highly recommend Thomas DeLauer's channel on YouTube.

He's got some great videos where he walks you through a variety of big box stores and popular grocery stores, breaking down exactly how to figure out what is actually a go and what isn't, breaking down the trickier ingredients, etc... As well as showing how to shop in these stores on various budgets.

I usually live in less developed countries abroad, but it was a huge help for me when I spent a year in the states and was doing keto. Dude had me eating so good I could have cared less that I was on a diet. Again, I eat dirty keto most of the time, but it doesn't hurt to have some basic guidelines and product recommendations. A lot of brands are pretty misleading with this stuff.

Even something as seemingly straightforward as avocado oil is often misrepresented. Depends on how serious you want to go -- I lean towards thinking that as long as you're 90% of the way their you'll probably see some major improvements, so there is room for error, in my opinion.

 

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[Ross_102]

Thanks @Darius for the great thread!

Here is my keto journey:

Started keto one year ago. Always had problems with my weight. Done many different things to lose the extra weight during the years, but after some time I was gaining it back.

Found out about keto by accident – was looking for exercises to do at home during the Covid lockdown and found a YouTube channel by Sten Ekberg. Started watching the videos there and after some time decided to give it a try.

The first few months I was browsing the goods in the store all the time with pen and paper and was recording the nutrition stats on every food. Had an excel sheet, where I was combining the different foods so I could achieve a combination of 75% fats, 20% proteins and 5% carbs for the day. After some time I was referencing my excel sheet less and less until I started making my meals for the day without much thinking about it.

From the start I had two meals a day – lunch at 12 p.m. and dinner at 5 p.m., so I was intermittent fasting for 19 hours. Tried moving to OMD, but just couldn't eat all my food in one sitting. In the morning I drink „bulletproof“ coffee (coffee with a piece of butter in it), which prevents me from getting very hungry before lunch.

First few weeks it was hard, mainly because I started with very high period between meals, but then I got used to it. One of the things that happened was that I started eating less food and I was not feeling hungry late in the evenings. Since I started keto I've lost 32 pounds. As exercise I do just long walks and lately trying to do barbell pull-ups in the local park. I'm feeling quite well and don't see any reason to switch to my old eating habits.

 

[Guest-5ty5s4]

I've been trying this recently and gotta say, the higher protein is very beneficial, but lower carbs not so much. Maybe that's just me. I really prefer the IIFYM (if it fits your macros) approach, focusing on high protein, lower calories, and intermittent fasting.

Ketosis sucks, especially if you need to perform in any kind of endurance-related activity (running, swimming, biking) - but again, might just be my body's response to it.

 

[RicardoGrande]

Ketosis sucks, especially if you need to perform in any kind of endurance-related activity (running, swimming, biking) - but again, might just be my body's response to it.

A team of type 1 diabetics (and an olympic gold medalist rower) that ran for 5 days without a single crumb of food and felt great the entire time would disagree with you: UK Team Completes a 100-mile, five-day Run with no Food - Diet Doctor

For most, it's a simple matter of adapting to ketosis and then keeping their electrolytes up- but most never do, especially for magnesium which is almost completely depleted in most modern diets.
I felt okay after getting fat-adapted and I could hike but didn't adapt to high intensity until I started supplementing at least 1-2tbsp of salt a day along with a few servings of magnesium.
Back when I was doing standard carnivore I did pretty well in BJJ sparring even though most people gas out by their 2nd or 3rd roll. I've switched to high protein carnivore with some carb liberties since though but still seem to have amazing endurance.

How long have you been doing this, and are you staying under 20g carbs a day? If performance is important to you, I believe stan efferding with the vertical diet has some carb loading strategies.

 

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[Guest-5ty5s4]

A team of type 1 diabetics (and an olympic gold medalist rower) that ran for 5 days without a single crumb of food and felt great the entire time would disagree with you: UK Team Completes a 100-mile, five-day Run with no Food - Diet Doctor

For most, it's a simple matter of adapting to ketosis and then keeping their electrolytes up- but most never do, especially for magnesium which is almost completely depleted in most modern diets.
Back when I was doing standard carnivore I did pretty well in BJJ sparring even though most people gas out by their 2nd or 3rd roll. I've switched to high protein carnivore with some carb liberties since though but still seem to have amazing endurance.

How long have you been doing this, and are you staying under 20g carbs a day? If performance is important to you, I believe stan efferding with the vertical diet has some carb loading strategies.

Not long, but I did it in the past for a long time when I was a competitive swimmer and got very sick doing sets of 200's.

I will try the electrolyte thing.

 

[lupulin]

Don’t you feel bad eating animals that have to be killed?
I know a good amount of forum members are vegans so I figured this question might be asked. Of course. But I also feel bad when a lion hunts and kills an animal for his family. Death, in general, makes me feel bad. I try to limit the number of animals that have to be killed by mainly focusing on beef for organ & meat consumption. One cow can feed 1 person for 12+ months just off of meat and fat. Most people don’t eat organs so I pick those up for cheap so it doesn’t go to waste.

Not to mention, vegans put their head the sand when they realize harvesting mass farmed mono-crops kills millions of "innocent" animals... Pesticides leaking in water systems...
Soils no longer viable...

The majority of omnivores I know choose to buy meat from regenerative farms not mass produced slaughter houses. Regenerative farms are also carbon neutral.

Carnivores or Omnivores who are self aware in their food choices, I would put them head to head with any vegan as far as health and environmental impact goes.

 

[RudyR]

I'm just starting my journey..it's hard for me to give up carbohydrates, I really like pasta, pizza and buns

The trick is to find good substitutes.

For pasta, instead of noodles as the base, use zoodles. Which is zucchini spiraled or thinly sliced.

For pizza, opt for the cauliflower crust. Or do what my wife does and makes a "pizza salad". So When we are out at a restaurant and my wife orders a pizza. She will scrap everything above the crust and puts it on a salad.

For bread, use keto bread that they sell at the grocery stores. An alternative to that would be using lettuce as the bun. You can basically turn any sandwich/hamburger into a lettuce wrap.

 

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[Jrjohnny]

For me, Ive never really been a diet kind of guy.

I just eat what’s healthy for me, I don’t know what diet or lifestyle would really fit for me.

I do have my on and off days, if I’m tracking correctly, yesterday I had a little many carbs, but the day before I lack.

What I go for right now is, 50% carbs, 30% fat, and 20% protein.

I get my calories from whole sources/foods, (sometimes I don’t)

I’ve never really had a problem with anything, I did have trouble with everything when I had a bad diet.

As soon as I fixed it, everything changed for me.

Everyone’s got their ways though.

 

[CYRUS PR]

I am on keto-carnivore too, and lots of fasting, I basically don't eat every other day, and when I do it's usually 1-2 meals a day only after MMA training. LOVE it.

 

[Mikkel]

I have seen on the forum various people's diets and their results. I thought I'd share my anecdotal results.

A little less than 3 weeks ago, I thought I would try a mostly Carnivore diet.

My diet consists of:
- Ground beef(with seasoning)
- Pork
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Yogurt(Skyr)
- Whole Milk(Pasteurized)
- Honey
- Real Coconut Ice cream bar
- Propel Flavored Water
- Cheese sticks and pepper jack Cheese
- Maple Syrup(for flavor)
- Ghee or Butter to cook with

My Diet PRIOR to my carnivore diet was not great:

- Whole Milk
- cereal(Chex, Honey Combs, Kix, etc.)
- Gluten-Free Pancakes
- Eggs
- yogurt
- Clif Bars & Builder Bars
- Plantain Chips(Binge Eat After Work)
- Chips(Binge Eat After Work)
- Ice Cream
- Frozen Meals
- Rice
- Pork
- Gluten Free Pasta and Meatballs
- Cook with Olive Oil
- Candy
- Any kind of junk food
- I have eaten Gluten Free for about 8-10 years now

Essentially, I would eat a lot of processed food with seed oils and additive sugars including high fructose corn syrup and other various crap like Red #40 and Yellow #5.

I never did a before and after for weight or a photo, frankly, I just want to be healthier.

I am 6 feet tall and would hover between 183-187 lbs(25.1 BMI = overweight) prior to my diet 3 weeks ago. I just went to the doctor yesterday, I weighed 172 lbs(23.3 BMI = Normal). A loss of 11-15 lbs within 3 weeks. That is the lightest I've been since the beginning of college(~10 years ago).

Just looking in the mirror, I look thinner, which makes sense. But I am shocked at how fast it has happened.

For exercise, it's simple. I don't really exercise. I know I should. and technically I do more than the average person who says they don't exercise. At work, as a physical therapist, I do exercises with my patients and I'll do some push-ups and core exercises at home in the morning. But I'm not going to the gym. This is to indicate that my weight loss is entirely due to diet changes and not some workout regimen.

In regards to why I chose a carnivore diet. I have been feeling "off" ever since I had Covid and having what I think to be long-haul covid symptoms which have been for about 1.5 years. After I fasted for 24 hours one day, I felt really good… for that one day. I slept longer and had less anxiety(developed right after covid). So that essentially led me to believe that my diet is at least partially to blame.

I have had 3 cheat meals since I started, as I had friends over and wanted to enjoy life.

The first 3 days of my carnivore diet I felt like shit. I was full, but my body was shaking. I assumed that to be the "keto flu." I don't have those symptoms anymore.

Now I usually only eat two meals. I don't feel hungry, I don't have cravings. I feel better overall.

This is my anecdotal evidence and results from 3 weeks of a mostly carnivore diet. I won't stay on this forever. I will start to add other healthy foods like fruit, maybe in 5 weeks as I think it is healthy to have other food in my diet. For now, I'll continue with the carnivore diet.

How I interpreted my results: Don't eat like shit and your body will naturally improve. Shocking! I know.

 

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[savefox]

All diets are the same. You just consume less calories

 

[Mikkel]

All diets are the same. You just consume less calories

That is probably correct. I'm not claiming that Carnivore diet is the best diet. My diet does not involve counting calories. If I'm hungry, I eat. However, I have less cravings and I feel more full throughout the day. So my binge eating after work has stopped, probably because I cut out addictive foods.

 

[Simon Angel]

I have seen on the forum various people's diets and their results. I thought I'd share my anecdotal results.

A little less than 3 weeks ago, I thought I would try a mostly Carnivore diet.

My diet consists of:
- Ground beef(with seasoning)
- Pork
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Yogurt(Skyr)
- Whole Milk(Pasteurized)
- Honey
- Real Coconut Ice cream bar
- Propel Flavored Water
- Cheese sticks and pepper jack Cheese
- Maple Syrup(for flavor)
- Ghee or Butter to cook with

My Diet PRIOR to my carnivore diet was not great:

- Whole Milk
- cereal(Chex, Honey Combs, Kix, etc.)
- Gluten-Free Pancakes
- Eggs
- yogurt
- Clif Bars & Builder Bars
- Plantain Chips(Binge Eat After Work)
- Chips(Binge Eat After Work)
- Ice Cream
- Frozen Meals
- Rice
- Pork
- Gluten Free Pasta and Meatballs
- Cook with Olive Oil
- Candy
- Any kind of junk food
- I have eaten Gluten Free for about 8-10 years now

Essentially, I would eat a lot of processed food with seed oils and additive sugars including high fructose corn syrup and other various crap like Red #40 and Yellow #5.

I never did a before and after for weight or a photo, frankly, I just want to be healthier.

I am 6 feet tall and would hover between 183-187 lbs(25.1 BMI = overweight) prior to my diet 3 weeks ago. I just went to the doctor yesterday, I weighed 172 lbs(23.3 BMI = Normal). A loss of 11-15 lbs within 3 weeks. That is the lightest I've been since the beginning of college(~10 years ago).

Just looking in the mirror, I look thinner, which makes sense. But I am shocked at how fast it has happened.

For exercise, it's simple. I don't really exercise. I know I should. and technically I do more than the average person who says they don't exercise. At work, as a physical therapist, I do exercises with my patients and I'll do some push-ups and core exercises at home in the morning. But I'm not going to the gym. This is to indicate that my weight loss is entirely due to diet changes and not some workout regimen.

In regards to why I chose a carnivore diet. I have been feeling "off" ever since I had Covid and having what I think to be long-haul covid symptoms which have been for about 1.5 years. After I fasted for 24 hours one day, I felt really good… for that one day. I slept longer and had less anxiety(developed right after covid). So that essentially led me to believe that my diet is at least partially to blame.

I have had 3 cheat meals since I started, as I had friends over and wanted to enjoy life.

The first 3 days of my carnivore diet I felt like shit. I was full, but my body was shaking. I assumed that to be the "keto flu." I don't have those symptoms anymore.

Now I usually only eat two meals. I don't feel hungry, I don't have cravings. I feel better overall.

This is my anecdotal evidence and results from 3 weeks of a mostly carnivore diet. I won't stay on this forever. I will start to add other healthy foods like fruit, maybe in 5 weeks as I think it is healthy to have other food in my diet. For now, I'll continue with the carnivore diet.

How I interpreted my results: Don't eat like shit and your body will naturally improve. Shocking! I know.

You just lost weight because you're consuming fewer calories on the "carnivore diet".

It's not because the diet is anti-inflammatory or the one for you, it's just the laws of thermodynamics.

The sole fact that you lost weight is enough to have you feeling better physically and mentally.

Oh, and—I cannot stress this enough—going just by how you FEEL on a particular diet in itself is not enough to determine if it's right for you. That's done through before/after blood panels.

I have a friend who "feels amazing" on the carnivore diet after being "bloated and inflamed by carbs which "the body doesn't need anyway".

(Despite this, he regularly remarks how tired he is and keeps asking me how I have so much energy...)

After a year of persuasion, I got him to check some blood markers.

His LDL cholesterol is 2.5 times the reference range.

He was a bit concerned at first, but after getting his facts from the most objective sources in the world—yes, carnivore gurus on YouTube with cherry-picked studies—he's now convinced that there's "no such thing as high cholesterol" and that you "need cholesterol for testosterone anyway" so cholesterol = good!

The same friend keeps shilling the carnivore diet to me even though I feel good and my blood panels are all normal (despite having two autoimmune disorders).

I don't follow any of the fad diets. I've created my own after years of experimentation and elimination.

But for the people whose health GENUINELY improves on the carnivore diet...

It's either because they lost weight due to a lower caloric intake OR because they essentially went on an extreme elimination diet.

And if we are to believe MIkhaila Peterson, some people are so allergic/have such a high autoimmune response to anything but meat that they can't eat anything else.

It doesn't mean that diet is optimal for their health, but it could be the least damaging option.

But that's VERY rare.

 

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[GymBro]

How do you do this diet without dying, what are the best foods to eat for micronutrients. Also, what veggies don't have plant toxins?

 

[ChrisGav]

I'm about 2-3 weeks into Carnivore. Curious to hear how it's been for those that have done it before/currently on it? Has it benefited you? Why or Why not. Really craving some Mac and cheese right now......

 

[Akaushra]

Can I ask what the benifits of carnivore diet is? I doubt it's healthy but am interested in learning all sides.

 

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[ChrisGav]

Can I ask what the benifits of carnivore diet is? I doubt it's healthy but am interested in learning all sides.

I will say, I'm not as informed on it as I should be, but here is what I know/heard:
The premise behind it is, that's how we were designed to eat.
Plants are deemed to have what's called plant toxins that prohibit the absorption of nutrients in humans. The idea is that animals have a means to escape, fight back, claws, talons, sharp teeth, etc. Plants don't have any self defense, on the surface. Instead, plants have toxins within them that cause bloating, gas, discomfort when eating them and don't allow for the absorption of the nutrients that they do have. In hopes of discouraging you to eat them. It's also been suggested that glucose and carbs don't really provide any benefit to the body (fruits and grains)

A lot of people that have done it are coming out saying how it's fixed their auto-immune diseases, joint pain, etc etc. The confusing part is you'll have vegans/vegetarians come out and say the same thing.

As I conceptualized the carnivore diet compared to other diets, it actually began to make sense. At a primal level, a vegan/vegetarian would most likely never survive in the wild. Without modern foods and agriculture, you'd really struggle to forage enough berries and lettuce for sustenance. Another thing I realized is that grains are also more apart of the modern era. If you're living day to day trying to survive and hunt for food, you probably wouldn't think to "craft" your food. Such as grinding down wheat and making bread. If you have to create your food, it's probably not real food.

One last point I came to realize: vegetables really don't taste good on their own. A raw piece of broccoli? Not my cup of tea. A piece of celery straight up? Meh. Were we really designed to eat things that we don't even think taste good? Without modern salad dressings, dips, and other manufactured things, vegetables don't really taste that good.

 

[Xeon]

Humans are meant to be Omnivores. That's why we don't have teeth like the big cats.
That's why we can't gain muscle mass by eating grass and hay like the way horses can. Ever wondered how herbivorial animals can retain all that mass by chewing grass alone?

Stop buying into all these fad diets. The ones who invented these diets did it so they can target a niche, create a need/market out of nothing and then create products to fulfill that need, all backed by millions and billions of dollars.

The key is Balance, not diets on the extreme end of either spectrum aka Vegan diet (pure plants) and Carnivore diet (pure meat). You can do 70-30 or 60-40, why do 100-0?

 

[MitchC]

I will say, I'm not as informed on it as I should be, but here is what I know/heard:
The premise behind it is, that's how we were designed to eat.
Plants are deemed to have what's called plant toxins that prohibit the absorption of nutrients in humans. The idea is that animals have a means to escape, fight back, claws, talons, sharp teeth, etc. Plants don't have any self defense, on the surface. Instead, plants have toxins within them that cause bloating, gas, discomfort when eating them and don't allow for the absorption of the nutrients that they do have. In hopes of discouraging you to eat them. It's also been suggested that glucose and carbs don't really provide any benefit to the body (fruits and grains)

A lot of people that have done it are coming out saying how it's fixed their auto-immune diseases, joint pain, etc etc. The confusing part is you'll have vegans/vegetarians come out and say the same thing.

As I conceptualized the carnivore diet compared to other diets, it actually began to make sense. At a primal level, a vegan/vegetarian would most likely never survive in the wild. Without modern foods and agriculture, you'd really struggle to forage enough berries and lettuce for sustenance. Another thing I realized is that grains are also more apart of the modern era. If you're living day to day trying to survive and hunt for food, you probably wouldn't think to "craft" your food. Such as grinding down wheat and making bread. If you have to create your food, it's probably not real food.

One last point I came to realize: vegetables really don't taste good on their own. A raw piece of broccoli? Not my cup of tea. A piece of celery straight up? Meh. Were we really designed to eat things that we don't even think taste good? Without modern salad dressings, dips, and other manufactured things, vegetables don't really taste that good.

It’s a huge trend where I live, I know a lot of people on it who feel amazing, ones who do it properly and only eat steak and eggs, and other who are less strict. It seems the more strict they are the better they look and feel so there’s definitely something there, but everyone is different.

You explained it will but I think you left a couple of things out

It’s not all plants that are bad and don’t want to be eaten, fruit, berries, white rice etc can all be eaten as they are designed to be eaten, I think potato’s are okay too if prepared correctly. Honey too.

I don’t eat carnivore but the influencer’s definitely opened my eyes to what’s actually healthy and it’s not fake meat and fake milk and seed oils.

I’ve been eating fruit rice steak honey raw milk eggs and avoiding seed oils as much as possible and I feel a lot better. Not exactly surprising really but compared to the bill gates fake meat almond milk seed oil no steak pasteurised milk diet that the main stream media think is healthy it’s a welcome trend.

Also I think it’s worth noting that it’s not just eat any meat, it’s eat grass fed beef and organ meat

 

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[ChrisGav]

Humans are meant to be Omnivores. That's why we don't have teeth like the big cats.
That's why we can't gain muscle mass by eating grass and hay like the way horses can. Ever wondered how herbivorial animals can retain all that mass by chewing grass alone?

Stop buying into all these fad diets. The ones who invented these diets did it so they can target a niche, create a need/market out of nothing and then create products to fulfill that need, all backed by millions and billions of dollars.

The key is Balance, not diets on the extreme end of either spectrum aka Vegan diet (pure plants) and Carnivore diet (pure meat). You can do 70-30 or 60-40, why do 100-0?

What you're calling a fad diet, could be the way we are meant to eat. I'm on a personal journey to discover what I should be eating to live optimally with energy, vitality, and health.

Would it surprise you to learn majority of the vegetables you eat are actually man-made and not natural? Carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, romaine lettuce, celery, eggplant, radish. Now let me ask you, what vegetables do you eat that aren't on this list?

The idea of a "balanced" diet was always interesting to me. Is that just something modern science boasts we should eat because we live in a modern era with the luxury of choice, where shelves are filled with processed man-made foods? In a grocery store full of choices, sticking to just the meat section sounds extreme and un-balanced. In nature when your only choices are grass, leaves on a tree, and meat. Just eating meat no longer sounds so extreme.

The other odd thing, ever notice the anti-meat campaigns and the media's big push for everyone to be plant based? I'm going to put my tinfoil hat on, but how can I sell you all of my medications and drugs if you're eating optimally? It makes sense to discourage you from eating right so that I can actually make money off of you. This is to your point about "the ones who invented these diets". Who invented the "balanced diet"? You guessed it! And what better Trojan horse.... Balance sounds like the right answer. It sounds more appetizing too, but only because of the luxury of options we have now. I have no grounds to base this on other than my own thoughts though. Could be completely wrong.

 

[Xeon]

What you're calling a fad diet, could be the way we are meant to eat. I'm on a personal journey to discover what I should be eating to live optimally with energy, vitality, and health.

Would it surprise you to learn majority of the vegetables you eat are actually man-made and not natural? Carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, romaine lettuce, celery, eggplant, radish. Now let me ask you, what vegetables do you eat that aren't on this list?

The idea of a "balanced" diet was always interesting to me. Is that just something modern science boasts we should eat because we live in a modern era with the luxury of choice, where shelves are filled with processed man-made foods? In a grocery store full of choices, sticking to just the meat section sounds extreme and un-balanced. In nature when your only choices are grass, leaves on a tree, and meat. Just eating meat no longer sounds so extreme.

The other odd thing, ever notice the anti-meat campaigns and the media's big push for everyone to be plant based? I'm going to put my tinfoil hat on, but how can I sell you all of my medications and drugs if you're eating optimally? It makes sense to discourage you from eating right so that I can actually make money off of you. This is to your point about "the ones who invented these diets". Who invented the "balanced diet"? You guessed it! And what better Trojan horse.... Balance sounds like the right answer. It sounds more appetizing too, but only because of the luxury of options we have now. I have no grounds to base this on other than my own thoughts though. Could be completely wrong.

Bear in mind, those vegetables you mentioned are man-made, but are not made in the lab (aka modern day junk food). That is the difference.

So let's say you go full carnivore. Where do you get your fiber from? Fiber has lots of benefits and this is just one of those "items" lacking in a strict carnivore diet. Carnivore diet also abstains from FRUITS. Really? LOL This is nuts. Are you aware of the health benefits of fruits and what happens to people who do not eat a single fruit in their lives? And is this kind of extreme diet sustainable long-term?
I can't help but feel these crazy diets are in a large part pushed by "influencers" like Liver King who is a well-known proponent of the "Carnivore diet" (turns out this clown was actually on steroids lol)

If you want to go full primitive / full caveman, aka go deep into these faddish "Ancestral diet" trends, of which the Carnivore diet is a part of, remember that our ancestors, the early cavemen, did not go on full vegan or full carnivore diet. They ate a mix of berries/plants and meat and whatever they could find in nature. That is how they evolved and that is how we came to be : Omnivores. And that is the philosophy of how we should eat.

 

[RicardoGrande]

Anyone else do World Carnivore Month last month?

Got back on the wagon after my weight floated up and hit an unacceptable threshold over cCristmas.
Managed to lost the first 15lbs in about 3 weeks and slowly dropping the rest of the weight.
More than anything I was surprised at how easy it was to eat, or prep and eat. I just have an army of greek yogurts in my fridge, found some deals on grass fed lamb and if I get a hankering for a treat I make some sugar-free gelato.
Outside of that, sleep quality markedly improved (but I'm also supplementing glycine) and a mysterious rash I had on my face got yeeted, assuming it was from the seed oils in the gas station croissants I was using as a weekly cheat.

Really surprised because the first time I did WCM I got off the wagon after about 5 weeks for plain keto.
Now, I've been on for about 7 weeks and even survived a potential disrailment, on high-protein carnivore and nothing's stopping me.
Only thing I'm curious about now is if my cholesterol finally raised or if I need to go back to eating solid butter- almost at a low enough weight where I can boost calories. Thankfully haven't lost any and even gained a bit of strength of but it's a sloooooog doing it from within ketosis with limited glycogen and also on a slightly reduced calorie diet.

 

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[Kevin88660]

You just lost weight because you're consuming fewer calories on the "carnivore diet".

It's not because the diet is anti-inflammatory or the one for you, it's just the laws of thermodynamics.

The sole fact that you lost weight is enough to have you feeling better physically and mentally.

Oh, and—I cannot stress this enough—going just by how you FEEL on a particular diet in itself is not enough to determine if it's right for you. That's done through before/after blood panels.

I have a friend who "feels amazing" on the carnivore diet after being "bloated and inflamed by carbs which "the body doesn't need anyway".

(Despite this, he regularly remarks how tired he is and keeps asking me how I have so much energy...)

After a year of persuasion, I got him to check some blood markers.

His LDL cholesterol is 2.5 times the reference range.

He was a bit concerned at first, but after getting his facts from the most objective sources in the world—yes, carnivore gurus on YouTube with cherry-picked studies—he's now convinced that there's "no such thing as high cholesterol" and that you "need cholesterol for testosterone anyway" so cholesterol = good!

The same friend keeps shilling the carnivore diet to me even though I feel good and my blood panels are all normal (despite having two autoimmune disorders).

I don't follow any of the fad diets. I've created my own after years of experimentation and elimination.

But for the people whose health GENUINELY improves on the carnivore diet...

It's either because they lost weight due to a lower caloric intake OR because they essentially went on an extreme elimination diet.

And if we are to believe MIkhaila Peterson, some people are so allergic/have such a high autoimmune response to anything but meat that they can't eat anything else.

It doesn't mean that diet is optimal for their health, but it could be the least damaging option.

But that's VERY rare.

I am definitely personally against diets that are too out of the norm like pure carnivores diet just from a pure risk reward point of view.

The issue with any diet that is too focused on anything is that you can only get a little bit more right but the risk is that you can get very wrong.

You don’t know how the research will change in the future and you don’t know how your own personal genetics works.

If you compare to a benchmark safe diet like a balance of carbs, proteins and fat from various sources….. that scores 85 out of 100. Maybe if you right being on carnivores diet can improve it to 90 or 95. What if you are wrong? Unlimited downside and potentially life threatening.

It’s different from vegan diet which has limited upside potential but also limited downside potential.

Risk and reward. We are dealing with uncertainties here and experimenting with our own body and health.

The fact that you need to watch the blood work closely shows the enormous risk involved. The upside that I can have to justify such risk must be potential immortality.