Despite the strange looks I knew I’d get, I decided to jump on the Carnivore Diet train.
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I’ve experienced some mild auto-immune issues in the last few years and was beginning to wonder how they’d affect my health long term if I didn’t deal with them now.
Basically, I ate meat and salt (plus these electrolytes – very important) and water for a month.
It’s pretty much as boring as it sounds.
Some try different versions of the same thing (e.g. they include eggs or various animal products) but I wanted to try a full-on elimination diet.
Here are some initial lessons/takeaways I’ve learned from being on the diet.
(They get more serious as you go).
1. Steak is king.
I could literally have steak every day. All cuts. BBQ preferred.
I used this air fryer to make some solid beef jerky, great for if you need some portable meat for work at the office.
It’s also easy to cook – you don’t have to cook it all the way through (medium rare is my fave) and my body just seems to love it. Apparently, it’s super nutrient-dense.
Short ribs are prob my favourite new beef cut, though smoked brisket has been a fave.
2. Apparently you’re supposed to cook meat from room temperature.
What a noob.
But not anymore.
3. You don’t have to poop to be healthy.
I barely pooped for the last 30 days.
TMI?
Don’t care.
There were no negative effects as far as I could tell, and apparently this is a normal phenomenon for carnivore dieters.
4. Meat is satiating – and that’s a good thing!
You might think that eating only meat would make me crave carbs. At first, that was the case.
But when you’re eating only meat, you tend to get satiated pretty easily, even on smaller portions.
At times, I may have been getting insufficient calories. On the other hand, I never felt hungry and rarely craved carb snacks – even when they were around me.
If you have trouble with over-eating, maybe try having a solid piece of steak for a meal, maybe earlier in the day. Some nights I barely want dinner because I’m still feeling satiated from lunch.
5. A fat/protein-based diet moderates energy.
I found myself not really having many “crashes” throughout the day. Afternoons, in particular, seem to have more energy, especially if I’m getting my water and electrolytes.
To use a 2020 analogy we’ll all understand, less (zero) carbs and more fat “flattened the curve” of my energy levels.
6. Despite #5, I found myself lacking energy.
This could be because of lower caloric intake – or because fat takes longer to utilize as energy. It could have also been because I wasn’t getting enough electrolytes. When I started to use LMNT’s higher sodium electrolytes, things improved a bit.
7. Perhaps because of #6, my workout performance decreased.
I mostly maintained muscle mass since I’ve been pushing through weight training in spite of the low energy. Nonetheless, my body has a harder time with higher intensity training, resistance training in particular (cardio seems relatively unaffected).
8. Despite #7, I lost weight but mostly maintained muscle mass.
When I reintroduced fruit, I found my energy went back up to normal, is still quite moderated, and my physical strength is not particularly diminished. So while performance decreased while I was on the diet, it seemed to be because of decreased carbohydrates – not because of diminishing muscular fitness.
In other words, if you’re wanting to lose weight but not lose muscle, a carnivore diet plus resistance training could serve you well.
9. Plants actually do contain materials that can be hard on the gut.
This is not meatatarian propaganda: I confirmed with several doctors and a dietician friend.
This doesn’t mean plants aren’t nutritious. What I think the future will discover is that we need to prepare certain plant foods in the right ways so as to avoid gut and other problems. Meat, on the other hand, seems quite gentle on your digestive system (though obviously it needs to be prepared well, too).
Please note that I am not advocating you change your diet and ditch plants, especially if you have no real health issues. What it does mean is that people who tell you plants are the only way to go may not be correct. If nothing else, it seems that different diets work well for different people.
10. My self-control (and overall conscientiousness) improved.
Maybe it’s the addictive nature of carbs, or maybe it’s the daily practice of saying no to anything but meat and salt. Either way, I find myself just a bit more conscientious on a day-to-day basis since starting this diet.
I’ve confirmed similar experiences to other folks who’ve tried low carb, restrictive diets, so maybe there’s something here?
11. My meat-only diet healed me.
My mild auto-immune issues have subsided after only one month on the Carnivore Diet.
This was my main reason for trying Carnivore, so this is exciting. Skin is no longer dry, scalp is no longer itchy. I find I don’t even need a moisturizer or much of a cleanser to keep my skin in decent shape.
I’m not the only one. Even before starting this diet, I’ve heard dozens of healing stories. It sounds like there are thousands more, mostly auto-immune related and some of them quite severe.
Western medicine and Veganism, eat your heart out
The high-fat, meat-only diet is helping thousands heal from issues that may have been caused or exacerbated by plants, carbs, and sugar.
Here’s bonus number 12 for you.
I can thank the carnivore diet for hope. Hope that not only can my body heal from unexplained and annoying issues that I thought I’d be stuck with; but also hope that we can, with the internet and experimentation, figure out what foods work for people and get as healthy as we can even as a society.
Western medicine has been failing us on the auto-immune front for some time (though it’s coming around). I’m grateful – and hopeful – that we don’t have to wait for it to catch up.
I’m excited for the future of health research to catch up to what many carnivorists are experiencing, particularly concerning the gut-biome!
Got some thoughts or questions? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram and make this a conversation!
