I’m Huw Davies, live in London, have 2 kids and a dog. I’ve been a near-full-time parent for the last 12 years or so, while maintaining a low level of coaching work. I’m a Level 3 triathlon coach and ex-coach educator for Triathlon England; did a level 1 run coaching cert years ago with UK Athletics, that’s probably expired now; qualified as a reflexologist and practised for a while in the 90s, but don’t do that any more; certified kettlebell instructor; certified carnivore coach. Ex-rugby player, men’s lacrosse player, cricketer, squash player, triathlete, cyclist, runner, ultrarunner…So now it’s kids, kettlebell, strength and conditioning, some endurance clients too.
2) How did you eat before Carnivore.
As an idealistic student I became a vegetarian. Later I shared a house with vegans, and was in practice a vegan for a short while. Living in France and Spain cured me of my vegetarianism, thank god, and when I took up triathlon, in my 30s, I ate a high-volume, high-calorie, high carb, high toilet visiting diet. As I later got into coaching I started learning about the dangers of grains, and gradually moved towards low-carb, then paleo, then keto, then relaxed carnivore, and now fairly strict carnivore. This took place over the course of my 40s. I am a slow mover when it comes to changing habits!
3) Why did you try Carnivore to begin with.
On the one hand it was an evolutionary step, as I was looking to improve, improve, improve. So it went LCHF, paleo, keto, carnivore, each step a step closer to an optimal WOE. On the other hand, I’d had an MCL injury (medial collateral ligament at the knee), that I’d re-injured and which caused my knee to swell up to the size of a grapefruit at the slightest provocation. So one day, during my keto phase, I just said F**k it, I’m binning all carbs, I want to see my knee again. Early 2017, that was, and it’s been really good ever since.
4) How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet.
Very simply. I’m not perfect, but from day to day I eat from a fairly narrow range of regular items: steak mince from my butcher, bacon, and eggs. At the moment I eat a lot of butter and salt and Lo-salt. When I can afford it I buy rib-eyes in bulk and eat one or two a day. Rib-eye has the best flavour for me. I managed to give up coffee and tea, which I’m convinced helps a ton, and I rarely drink, maybe a glass of wine every 4-6 weeks, which is also a very good thing in my opinion. I eat twice a day, at around 11 and 7, and that usually is fine. Today I was hungry at about 10 am, so I ate my meal then – I’ve learned not to clock-watch like I did when I was doing intermittent fasting – Oh, I can’t eat until the minute hand hits the 12.
5) What benefits have you seen since starting the Carnivore Diet.
Despite being a lifelong athlete/sportsman, and on paper in decent shape almost all the time, I think I was suffering from chronic global inflammation, and probably other carb-related issues. I’ve had constant back pain since a bad injury aged 18 – that has gone – and constant neck pain from about the age of 30, at times so bad I contemplated contemplating suicide (!) – that is gone. No carby mood swings and grumpiness (my kids might not agree about the grumpiness!). Better body composition, more muscle than when I was a (pretty decent) triathlete. The brain fog thing I lost when I started keto, so I can’t really ascribe my mental clarity to carnivore per se, but it certainly is a part of being carnivore, the sense of peace, the clarity etc.
6) What negatives have you found with the Carnivore Diet.
I find myself drinking loads of water – apparently high protein and high salt lead to this – which means I get up to go to the loo twice a night. And obviously what people think when they find out that I only eat meat. Everyone suddenly becomes a f**king nutrition expert and warns you about er, arteries, er, cholesterol, er, gout, er, constipation and all the rest. It can get wearisome. (But it’s worth it a million times over).
7) Do you exercise on the Carnivore Diet, if so how do you find it and what do you do.
I have played sport and/or raced all my life, up to birth of second child, so I have always trained fairly hard. Nowadays I train twice a day: a fairly intense kettlebell session in the morning, and a strength session in the afternoon. I love to train, I love kettlebells, and I no longer have any desire to swim, bike or run. I walk about 6 miles a day with the dog. I’d love to take her for a multi-day hike somewhere one day.
8) What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet.
First, just go for it, try it out – what have you got to lose other than a load of fat and a load of bad moods, and a load of bad skin and a load of brain fog? It has to be worth a good (60-day) try. Second, be patient and persistent and work with the process, not your imagined goals.
9) Do you think Carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet.
Unlikely. There is a strong anti-meat narrative pushed by very powerful and influential and evil people, and while they are funding veganism and manipulating the narratives, pushing it in the media, and making films like The Game-Changers, then carnivore is unlikely to hit the mainstream. I predict that it will grow, though, and be less marginalised.
10) Anything you would like to add, and where can people follow you.
Thank you for the interview! I really appreciate it.
I’m crap on Instagram, but anyway, I’m at huwcarnivorecoach.
I have a website, huwcoach.com, which is live but I’m still developing bit by bit.
I’m on MeatRx.com’s coaching page now for carnivore coaching. Huw D.
I do Zoom sessions a lot now, mini-sessions for mobility and strength, so your readers are welcome to contact me to join a group.
Thanks again, enjoyed this!
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
If you are not eating meat, at least eat eggs and dairy… it might be the only thing stopping you from looking like a bobbled headed lollipop with weird eyes that are both sunken and popping out at the same time like a lot of the long term vegans look like.
But alas you might well end up with a lot of the issues vegans get.
So just eat some damn meat please haha.
You might not have to go all the way to the darkside and become a carnivore… but you might have too if you have abused your body for too long.
Jacquie “The biggest thing for me is listening to my body and looking at Carnivore as a lifestyle not another ‘diet’. I mainly eat beef (lots of ground beef, NY strip) and just cheaper cuts of red meat. Most times I don’t tolerate dairy or eggs too well (which is so sad because cheese is SO good lol) but if it is at a party or if I am out etc. I may have some. I typically eat a higher protein to fat ratio and then will have higher fat days when I need them (where I’dd add bacon or crispy beef trimmings or ghee etc). I eat either once or twice a day and fast daily. Some days I can eat 3 or more lbs of meat other days I’m good with 1lb or may fast all day. I take beef liver capsules a couple times a week and salt my food. I am always so satisfied and satiated and what I crave is meat! My palette has completely changed.”
Kat “I chose to follow a nose-to-tail way of eating. My staples are any cut of beef (we invested in a local regeneratively raised 1/2 steer), either raw liver/raw kidney/heart, whole eggs or just raw egg yolks (we have our own chickens and access to local pasture raised eggs when needed), suet, and Redmond Real Salt. Occasionally I have raw Iberico Pork fat (from White Oak Pastures) or heritage pork (from our local farmer or White Oak Pastures) and salmon roe (we source it from Vital Choice). I also make broth weekly from the bones we have/leftover bones and chicken feet.”
Dale “I differ from others in that because I came from such a malnourished, underweight state I don’t do zero carb carnivore, although it’s what I definitely feel best on. I consume large amounts dairy and also eat honey. Now I’ve rebuilt my nutrient stores, reversed many negative health problems and got my vitality back I want to focus on weight gain. So milk, cheese, cream, yogurts and a little honey are great foods for achieving this. I eat nose to tail and mixture of raw, cooked and seared. Usually depends on my appetite and how good quality, tender or fresh the meat is.”
Veganism sounds awesome on paper doesn’t it, it seems perfect. You can get fit and healthy, by getting loads of yummy and colourful fruit and veg, you do not cause the deaths of animals, and you have a better carbon footprint.
Unfortunately in the real world and if you dig a little deeper, the message of veganism falls apart.
It is arguably slightly better than the Standard Western Diet but pails in comparison when compared to Paleo, Keto and Carnivore.
It arguably kills more animals than omnivores and certainly kills more than carnivores do.
The environmental claims are dubious to say the best, shameless lying at worst.
It always amuses me that Veganuary is in January. I live in the North-East of England. There are no fruit and vegetables from the UK in my local supermarket at the moment, but there are cows in the field at the back of my house. So Veganuary actually promotes globalisation of the food supply where huge corporations have their dirty fingers in all the pies. I cannot have a consistent year round supply of seasonal local fruit and veg in my country, that meets all my nutritional needs.
I do agree there are issues with factory farming of animals, but that is because their are a stupid amount of humans to feed.
Real world vegans
There are vegans that can do veganism for all their lives and stay relatively healthy. However, this is not the norm. These people are outliers that are robust enough to handle it.
The vest majority of vegans suffer huge health issues and have to move on to other diets, whether they like it or not.
I am no vegan expert but I have noticed a couple of common patterns with vegans who become ex-vegans.
1/ Age declines… people can usually cope with veganism in their teens and 20’s, in their 30’s seemingly random health issues start to appear, so they tend to go stricter and stricter vegan because it is the “healthy option”, then in their 40’s and 50’s bad stuff starts happening.
2/ Health declines… they take it up and feel great for a year, then 1-3 years they notice energy and digestive issues, 4-5 years mental health issues increase along with more serious energy and digestive issues, then as the years increase so do the doctor trips for seemingly undiagnosable issues.
Carnivore to the rescue
If everyone just grew up on meat, potatoes and 2 veg like my grandparents did when they were young… that would probably mean 99% of the world would be in good health.
The problems is the food supply on the standard western diet is so poor it is causing so many issues that you have to go really strict with diets like Keto and Carnivore to avoid them. The vegan diet goes even further away from what I consider to be healthy, so when things breakdown they breakdown badly, so you do have to swing all the way the other way to carnivore to correct the damage done by veganism.
Carnivore Diet success stories
I have 34 stories from Ex-Vegans, showing that a meat-based diet can help you heal from issues caused by veganism. You can check the stories out here: https://ketogenicendurance.com/tag/ex-vegan/
Isabella “I wanted to heal the damage and weight gain veganism caused. I got my period back, healed cystic acne, lost 25 lb, and cured my depression and chronic fatigue. I no longer bloat, suffer from mental fog, and mood swings.”
River “I grew up eating a standard American diet… I became a vegetarian by age 20 and full-blow vegan by 21. I spent 5 years trying to dial in the perfect vegan dietary approach… only to find myself totally malnourished, skinny, anxious and depressed. I tried junk food vegan, whole food purist vegan, high fat, low fat, high carb, mucas-less, vegan paleo, vegan keto, raw vegan, fruitarian, has an interest breatharian… I sought to continue improving and tweaking the vegan diet to one that made me feel the best. Every time I tweaked it I thought “This is it! I feel great now!” But the feeling didn’t last… and I had to keep searching and searching… until I realised I was searching in all the wrong places….”
Alma-Jade “The lure of a “Garden of Eden” diet can be very attractive, making it seem like cultivated, hybridised and modern fruit and vegetables are the most nutrient-dense foods, and that all animal foods and all of animal agriculture are eco-terrorism and the cause of our chronic disease epidemic. Complexity gets thrown away for black-and-white thinking, and there is no room for nuance. It is very hard to see the label when you are in the jar.”
If you would like to share your ex-vegan story then please contact me directly.
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
Hello! My name is Jacquie Lawson- I’m from Toronto, Ontario Canada. I am super excited to share my journey to health with you and how I got there through the Carnivore way of life. I love living an active lifestyle (running, the gym, hot yoga) and also just keeping busy day to day. I love and create music, value time with family and friends and appreciate the little things in life like walking my lazy little pug or a sizzling Ribeye!
2. How did you eat before Carnivore
My mom is a nurse and has always tried to have ‘healthy’ meals and options around as I grew up but it was still pretty much what you could call the SAD style of eating all through my growing up. I ate what was served to me, whatever was out at parties, what I craved, and LOTS of candy and sour skittles LOL! I started getting interested in “healthier” food options mid high school and tried pretty much every approach: (Smoothies, protein powders, healthy high-carb and low fat, vegetarian, dairy free, gluten free, wheat free , skipping meals/days of food etc.) with no real improvements- SHOCKER. That style of diet continued all the way up until I was in college. In college, all that went to the wayside and I ate the most processed and garbage foods I ever have and much too often. I hated the way I felt and looked: (weight gain, depressed, unmotivated, horrible acne, knee pain, fatigue) and my inability to control what I ate. I would get fed up and try to run every day for a week and then the cycle would all start again. It was not until 2 years ago when I went Keto and focused more on nutrition. After Keto I came across Carnivore/Zero carb.
3. Why did you try the Carnivore Diet to begin with
I had been doing Keto and Low-carb for a while and found many benefits compared to all the other crash ‘diets’ I had struggled with in the past. However, I found tracking macros and calories very exhausting and toxic as it became obsessive for me. I had gained weight towards the end of Keto even after losing weight with it, as I was overeating Keto treats and nut butters and never felt satisfied. I would tell myself to get back on the ‘clean’ keto-train and then by the end of the week I would go crazy eating whatever I didn’t let myself have earlier. I was also really skipping out on protein without realizing, and was struggling with an eating disorder (bulimia). I came across one of Dr. Ken Berry’s videos about his journey into Carnivore as well as Laura Spath and Shawn Baker – I was intrigued. It sounded nuts but I decided to go for it straight from Keto and haven’t gone back ever since.
4. How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet
The biggest thing for me is listening to my body and looking at Carnivore as a lifestyle not another ‘diet’. I mainly eat beef (lots of ground beef, NY strip) and just cheaper cuts of red meat. Most times I don’t tolerate dairy or eggs too well (which is so sad because cheese is SO good lol) but if it is at a party or if I am out etc. I may have some. I typically eat a higher protein to fat ratio and then will have higher fat days when I need them (where I’dd add bacon or crispy beef trimmings or ghee etc). I eat either once or twice a day and fast daily. Some days I can eat 3 or more lbs of meat other days I’m good with 1lb or may fast all day. I take beef liver capsules a couple times a week and salt my food. I am always so satisfied and satiated and what I crave is meat! My palette has completely changed.
5. What benefits have you noticed
The benefits are truly countless. Weight loss and body composition was a significant one. I initially gained a bit of weight at the beginning as my body was very much deprived of nutrients. But after adapting to this way of eating there was almost a ‘woosh’ effect with my weight and I look the leanest I have ever looked with the least amount of effort (seriously none). Carnivore also fixed my relationship with food and healed my struggles with Bulimia and disordered eating and over-exercising to compensate for overeating on ‘bad’ foods. Weight loss, Clear skin, deep/better sleep, knee pain gone, Strong hair, skin and nails, lean muscle definition and abs, improved workouts, reversed my depression and the list really goes on and on.
6. What negatives have you noticed
Basically no negatives. Seriously! The only thing would be sometimes eating in social setting can be tricky but there are always ways around it and I’ll take that as the only negative any day with all the benefits Carnivore brings!
7. Do you exercise and if so how do you find it and what do you do
I do workout every week and love the gym/keeping active BUT I keep it very simple and efficient. Per week- I’ll do 2-3 days where I lift weights and resistance train and then 3 days where I’ll walk or run for about half an hour. I do also walk most mornings just to clear my head and start the day. (could be anywhere from 10mins to 30mins.) There were times back in the day where I would spend two hours or so 6x a week in the gym with little results- YIKES!
8. What advice would you give someone who wants to start the Carnivore Diet
Yes, it may sound crazy- but JUST try it because feeling frustrated, stuck and bummed about all the things that haven’t worked it even crazier! Eat meat and drink water. Eat what you crave, move your body every day (I love walks) and don’t overthink/complicate things. Trust me- it’s simple and you don’t need to struggle. I found it very helpful to join a Carnivore Facebook group (i.e. World carnivore Tribe) and just watching all kinds of YouTube videos from amazing Carnivores that I found I can relate to.
9. Do you think the Carnivore Diet will ever be accepted mainstream
I think that small steps in the right direction (sharing results, showing real science, simply informing people, sharing, sharing, sharing) can really impact people and could change the way that society looks at the consumption of meat. There will always be people and big food companies that want to continue demonizing the association with eating meat but we can simply share how it has benefited us and the rest will follow.
10. Anything to add- and where can people find you
Yes! You can find me best through my Instagram! @jacquie__fit I am always just a message away if you have any questions or comments or things to chat about! I’m also newly on Youtube as Jacquie Lawson and You can also reach me via email at: fitjacquie@gmail.com
JACQUIE LAWSON/ INSTA: jacquie__fit
Starting weight: 160 lbs. Current weight: 134 Lbs.
I’m Katleen (Kat) Reid. I live in the US with my husband, along with our 4 horses (2 Shires, 1 Friesian and a mini horse), our 3 dogs and 4 chickens. We run a residential remodeling business from at our 14 acre farm and also partner with our animals in life coaching and health coaching. I hold a masters in physical education and physical therapy from the University of Brussels, and I am also a certified functional medicine health coach (currently in the process of becoming National Board Certified) and a certified MeatRx Coach (animal based nutrition).
As long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the human body, health, nutrition and nature. My journey from physical education through physical therapy and personal training lead me to different routes that ultimately merged again through Health Coaching; I worked as a researcher at the University of Brussels (faculty of biometrics and biomechanics) and worked on documenting the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in boys and girls between 3 and 17 with overweight and obesity, followed by co-creating a multidisciplinary intervention program with a small group of children. Once I graduated as a physical therapist, and started my own practice combined with work in a back- and neck clinic, I started looking into ways to get to the root cause of my clients’ issues and was passionate about supporting them to return to a life in which they could thrive at all levels. Even though I loved my work as a PT, I felt that oftentimes I could not access the core issue with my chronic patients, not even through adding modalities like functional training, coaching and by working with our other specialists like ergonomists and psychologists. I felt I lacked skills and knowledge as a young PT. Little did I know at the time that nutrition – an overlooked core lifestyle factor – could have been a key factor in their healing process and overall feeling of well-being and how they perceived themselves and life in general.
My professional life and personal love for adventure did take me on a quest of exploring our natural state of health and the roots of what causes discomfort and illness and what can regenerate our natural state of well-being. Today at the age of 40, I am happy to combine my past and current experience and ever growing knowledge with a broad spectrum of health and lifestyle coaching.
How did you eat before Carnivore.
Before Carnivore, I had been keto adapted for 5 years. Over the course of those 5 years, I started out with the typical bacon, eggs and cheese approach, which quickly transitioned to a dairy-free whole foods approach in which I would eat fresh organic veggies, local organic and pasture raised meats/eggs, lots of olive oil, ghee and Bulletproof Brain Octane, coffee, and the occasional homemade almond flour cookie substitutes or homemade coconut ice cream and treats like dark chocolate 🙂 I barely ate processed foods though. I did feel great in general, but I remember I wished I would have less cravings and less ups-and downs in my mood and energy (which I blamed on my cycle at the time).
Going even further back in time, I can say that I grew up in a very health conscious family. I grew up in Belgium and we did eat an omnivorous diet. My parents kept “candy” as an occasional treat (birthday, Christmas, …) so I did not grow up eating lots of sugar or processed foods. In my teens, my parents switched to a low-fat/low sodium diet driven by their doctor and so I of course ate the same meals. I do remember that this was the onset of crazy cravings. This was also the time that I believed I was going to save the planet by becoming a vegetarian, so from my 16th through my 23rd, I ate a low fat, low sodium vegetarian diet. Once I went to University at the age of 19, I ate really unhealthy for a few years, which I believe was caused by living with my roommates and enjoying tasty food that I had missed at home (fried food, sandwiches, lots of cookies and chocolate). Once I graduated from University and started my work-life, I got back to whole foods and fresh home cooking. I then also had access to local meat and the fact that it was local and organic, I was back to eating meat again around the age of 24. Between that time and my move to the USA at 32, I felt good! Then, in my first years in the USA, I started eating with my husband and I would describe this diet as a combination of a low fat bodybuilding diet (oatmeal, protein powders, lean meats, ….3 meals and 3 snacks a day) and lots of restaurant food and prepared meals (nevermind exploring all the American food I had never seen!). I gained 16 lbs in my first year and started getting digestive issues and lots of colds. My skin started breaking out and I felt bloated almost all the time. With all this discomfort, I also experienced constant cravings for sweets, chocolate and nut butters. So this discomfort I tolerated for 2 more years until I got the flu. I did not heal from it and my doctor suggested me to take anti-biotics. It was the second time ever in my life I took an anti-biotic and I decided it was beyond time to make a change! I was active, I was happy BUT, my nutrition and overall well-being were worse than I had ever experienced. I made it a point to start homecooking again. This was also the time that the ketogenic diet was becoming popular through Jimmy Moore and the books by Phinney and Volek. It sounded too good to be true, but with my research background and both my husband’s and my own upbringing and the fear of (saturated) fat, it took us a while to feel comfortable putting the ketogenic diet into practice. So we did our research, dove in deep and the rest is history 🙂 Over the course of those 5 years, I lost those 16 pounds and felt great again. Little did I know though that another level of “great” was waiting for me …
Why did you try Carnivore to begin with.
I tried Carnivore on January 1st, 2019 out of pure curiosity. This was the result of a few YouTube videos my husband and I watched the month before. We looked up Dr. Shawn Baker, the interviews of Jordan Peterson and Michaela Peterson and Dr. Shawn Baker on the Joe Rogan show and we were hooked. My husband felt excited about the clarity and simplicity of this way of eating. I was intrigued by the results I heard about, but felt a bit sceptical … I was feeling so good and was afraid of loosing this … Also, I was halfway my Functional Medicine Coaching curriculum and was convinced I needed my colorful veggies (phytonutrients, anti-oxidants), fiber and very balanced diet. I was also taking about 10 supplements to “optimize” my health. So at first I decided I would support my husband and eat my first meal of the day “carnivore” with him, and have my big colorful salad as my second meal. On the third day, I had also digested all the available videos by Dr. Paul Saladino and his info gave me more confidence to go all in and try it for a month. I thought: I can easily adhere to this way of eating for a month and not get in too much trouble 🙂 Let’s go for it and decide at the end.
And I haven’t looked back since!
How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet.
I chose to follow a nose-to-tail way of eating. My staples are any cut of beef (we invested in a local regeneratively raised 1/2 steer), either raw liver/raw kidney/heart, whole eggs or just raw egg yolks (we have our own chickens and access to local pasture raised eggs when needed), suet, and Redmond Real Salt. Occasionally I have raw Iberico Pork fat (from White Oak Pastures) or heritage pork (from our local farmer or White Oak Pastures) and salmon roe (we source it from Vital Choice). I also make broth weekly from the bones we have/leftover bones and chicken feet. And I do supplement with glycine to balance out methionine and with bone meal (weekly) as a calcium source. I certainly want to add that – when eating keto before – I was taking at least 6 supplements constantly. Since going carnivore, I only take glycine and calcium (bone meal) on days I don’t eat any tendinous tissue or egg shells or soft bones and will occasionally use collagen powder too.
I have experimented with coffee (been coffee-free from August through December) and added back some decaffeinated coffee in the morning – which does not seem to impact me negatively. I used to drink red wine occasionally when going out, so I also left out wine fully for the same amount of time as the coffee, and allow myself now to have a glass when eating out or occasionally during a movie night. I don’t feel a negative impact when I consume 1 glass maybe once every 2 weeks or spread out more.
As for water, I seem to drink about 1.5L-2L a day, and this can be a mix of our own well water and San Pellegrino/Gerolsteiner.
I give myself free choice before every meal, yet so far I keep gravitating toward eating 100% animal based because it makes me feel so good. If I would get in a situation where I have no choice over what to eat, I do have non-negociables like: fried foods, vegetable oils, processed foods, grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds. I refuse airplane food entirely and choose to fast during traveling.
If I really want something different or a treat, I would choose between Rebel Ice cream, full fat Greek Yogurt, red organic wine or bacon 🙂 Not a bad line-up of treats if you ask me. However, looking back at the past 13+ months, I had only 3 days that I chose either the ice cream or yoghurt and all three times they left me with inflammation, digestive discomfort and I haven’t included these items any more since. I like feeling great too much.
What benefits have you seen since starting the Carnivore Diet.
A stable mood, a solid energy and a complete lack of cravings and an overall positivity. A clearer skin and a natural desire to eat only one to two meals a day; I gravitate towards eating early, so for me that means between sunrise and noon-ish. This pattern has also improved my sleep and mental focus in the afternoon! I also love the simplicity of this way of eating. The limited amount of choices is incredibly freeing and I spend so much less time planning, shopping, preparing and actually eating. Don’t get me wrong I am a foodie at heart and still love being creative in the kitchen. BUT, it is so freeing to work with less ingredients and need less food, have no waste and still create beautiful and tasteful plates.
Another beneficial side-effect has been being involved a growing community of friends who live a similar lifestyle and experience a shared joy, love respect and awe for life.
What negatives have you found with the Carnivore Diet.
None so far. I don’t miss anything. Also, where I hear some people finding it challenging in social situations, I personally don’t sense this being an issue for me. Also, going out to restaurants (we are very picky and go out to mostly just one, maybe twice a month) is a non-issue as the chef is always happy to adjust the plate. And this is something I notice being really common in the US: restaurants easily adjust according to dietary preferences.
We don’t have vegan or vegetarian friends or family members, so when we are hosting and food is part of it, everyone is happy with ribeyes or a roast. And we always suggest to BYOV (bring your own veggies).
Do you exercise on the Carnivore Diet, if so how do you find it and what do you do.
Yes I do! And I have been active my whole life.
In my first year of eating nose-to-tail carnivore, I did keep my activities and exercise the same, meaning I did my regular daily farm chores, seasonal farm chores and a daily average of 20,000 steps and lifting heavy things (read: functional farm fitness). With that, I did notice my body composition change to getting leaner and a little more muscular.
Now, in my second year I added weight lifting again. I have always put on muscle with ease on any type of diet, so I am curious how my body composition will adapt. I feel strong, I have plenty of energy in the gym and I recover really well. If one thing, I would say I recover better than I can remember from before Carnivore. Now, while increasing my strength workouts, I am already blown away by how easily I can play with my macros and my workout intensity. There is a very clear and clean action/response as long as I respect my recovery and sleep.
What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet.
If you are simply curious: Go for it, try it for a month!
A part of me would love someone interested to try it “all in” for a month and then decide what’s next. Depending on what diet the individual comes from, it may be a pretty radical change and mean a week to two weeks of feeling “weird” – things like the keto-flu, diarrhoea or constipation may occur during the transition. However I believe that anyone can stick to something new for at least 21 to 30 days and ultimately feel the difference. I would advice to write down how you feel at the start. Go in detail from head to toe! And take note of any and all changes along the way.
If you need healing, take it slow.
When someone is looking to heal issues and maybe looking to make a long term lifestyle change, I would recommend a different approach. I would ease into it more, and look at “long term” success and compliance and look at all areas that contribute to someone’s feeling of well-being. I would also recommend to consult with a doctor experienced in this way of eating to help with establishing and understanding one’s baseline profile (and follow up quarterly or a few times a year) and possibly a coach to help with the transitions and adherence. Aside from professional support, joining a carnivore community is extremely powerful and fun!
Do you think Carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet.
I believe so. It has already proven to be a very powerful therapeutic diet, temporary elimination diet and more and more people are showing up who have followed a type of either strict or carnivore-ish diet for 5 or more years. I believe that the current lack of large studies keeps us a bit hesitant when considering this diet as a long term lifestyle. Meat has still a “scary” taste and we need more data within a carnivore context to show all benefits. Our bodies simply operate differently in an “animal-based-nutrition” context. But I have hope for the future!
Also, I wonder how the term “carnivore” will evolve over the next years. Will it be defined as “only” animal products or will it become more “animal based” with the occasional inclusion of certain plants? I would already be elated if the current carnivore movement results in expanding research, debunking myths, raising awareness around healthy food choices among the public, and showing consumers honest data to then make their personal choices. We may always be on a quest about what is best to optimize our individual health, but I believe a certain amount of variables are known and many are very close to be proven.
As for myself, I am also curious if I will keep feeling this great or if I need to make seasonal changes at some point. As for taste and satiety however, it is the easiest and most satisfying way of eating I have ever experienced.
Anything you would like to add, and where can people follow you.
I love our carnivore community. I am mostly active on Instagram, and I am blown away by the support and inspiration people offer and share. Everyone seems to want to help because this diet has helped them so much in the first place. I believe there is something to feeling good and the gratitude that comes with regenerating ones own health. You can not NOT share it!
I don’t know if a 100% carnivore diet will ultimately be for everyone, at any time, or forever. I think this is what personal experiments and future research will reveal. What I do believe is that it is the purest, most nutrient dense and bioavailable way of eating. It offers a way of experiencing oneself and life in a very grounded and very connected way, without all the “noise”. And I wish for everyone to – at least once in their lifetime – get to experience this.
Following my personal values I am also an advocate for regenerative farming, and when it comes to choosing my animal based food sources, I support my local resources first and look beyond when needed.
While I am building my personal brand, for now you can find me and connect with me on Instagram (koach.kat). In the very near future I will add a YouTube channel and a Podcast and a Website/Blog to it 🙂 People can work with me as a health coach, which can cover any and all of the areas that make up our lifestyle. In my coaching and facilitating the personal growth of my clients, I do focus on reconnecting with nature and living life in line with one’s own nature.
Within the carnivore context, I am contributing as a coach to the MeatRx.com community. I am also part of Dr. Paul Saladino’s team as a health coach, empowering clients on their journey into carnivory.
And for those who love conferences: I hope to see you in person at White Oakchella, at KetoCon or at CarnivoryCon this year!
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
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Carnivore Fit Expanded edition – my eBook and Paperback looking at why meat is good for you, why plants are bad, and how to exercise on zero carbs.
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My name is Tani, @taniblue_artist on Instagram, I am a 46 yo mother of a 15 yo daughter. Widowed for 10 years this May. I am an artist and dancer, have been an aerialist and am currently retraining in classical ballet with a view to teaching and journalism in dance.
How did you eat before Carnivore.
B.C. Before Carnivore.
I was raised a vegetarian by my parents in the 70’s. I am fairly certain my mother was vegetarian while I was in-utero too. I was born anxious, I was also born with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome but I was not diagnosed until I was 42. It is a collagen disorder. It seems that vegetarianism was probably the worst dietary choice my parents could have made for me, outside of full veganism. As a child I was extremely hypermobile per EDS but I had a myriad of issues not connected with the syndrome. Migraines, I remember having a blinding ‘sore heads’ from about 4. I thought it was normal, because my mum also had headaches. I had insomnia as long as I can remember. I had extreme tantrums that would be accompanied by out of body experiences right through to adulthood. My hands always shook. I would see auras and feel like I was a giant balloon at school, and all sorts of odd hallucinations and imaginings. I had weird learning issues, they thought I was dyslexic, but I was not. I just couldn’t quite remember things right, I guess we now know this as brain fog. I found ingenious ways to keep up with the other kids. I would have extreme wheezing attacks if we did lots of running at school, nobody noticed, I thought it was just normal puffing as I doubled over unable to breath. I had stomach aches. All the time.
Sanitarium (the 7th day adventist company) is big in Australia, I remember, pre-primary school, eating sloppy weetbix soaked in reconstituted powdered soy milk. I would have the worst tummy aches. My mum would make the most amazing home made stone milled whole wheat bread, it was nearly indigestible for me and made my tummy hurt. But I ate it. We fortunately ate home grown veg so that was toxin and glyphosate free. My favourite food was egg yolks with salt. I hated eggwhites. My little brother liked the whites so we would swap.
When I was between 9 and 11 my parents split. My mother was diagnosed as anemic and so we started eating some lean meat, mostly skinless chicken. We were veg focused though and had nuttelex (margarine) as our bread spread. By 14 I had pretty severe depression. I didn’t really know why. (we did have some very bad life experiences but still it didn’t make sense). I had constant bouts of conjunctivitis, mouth ulcers, and chronic hay fever. My stomach was always a bit bloated and I was nearly always constipated in my teens. I was diagnosed by a friend at ballet (I started dancing at 3, on a doctor’s orders for the hypermobility) with scoliosis. At 16 I had a spinal fusion and had to quit ballet. This saw a rapid decline in my physical and mental health. At 17 my eyesight began to rapidly deteriorate (I was studying fine art) so I had to get glasses. In my early 20’s I developed cystic acne, still had constant migraines and started to seek help for my stomach which was switching between diarrhoea and constipation. I was self medicating (alcohol mostly) to try to deal with the migraines and depression and insomnia and pain.
An allopathic naturopath got me off wheat and kept me away from dairy. It helped a bit. At 20 I joined the circus. I trained as an aerialist. I was very strong. But, I injured my ankle and kept performing on it for a few months. I left after a year and had a severe limp for several years. I thought it was normal to take years to heal, it always took me so long to heal from anything (this is partly due to the EDS) At 22 I was medicated for depression, I took the meds for about a year. By 25 I was on crutches from severe hip pain. A specialist wanted to do surgery. I said no. I put it off for 17 years and had my hip replaced at 42. The initial damage to the hip would have been from the scoliosis and the ankle limp, impacting on the hip causing spurs and then osteoarthritis, I treated it with chiropractic. For EDS and scoliosis chiropractic has been an absolute godsend. I was also diagnosed with osteoarthritis around this time, I have it everywhere.
I lived off grid in my late 20’s with my partner, we ate all sorts of hunted foods like hare and rabbit and duck and deer. My gut was quite a bit better and my migraines less and sleep better, but I was still drinking frequently and eating tons of veggies and vegetarian meals.
I had a baby at 30. My pregnancy was perfect, which is astonishing, a drug free and fast delivery (perhaps because of all the dance training and high pain threshold I developed over decades of chronic pain), while I was pregnant I could eat as much dairy and pastries as I wanted with few ill effects bar constipation. All my food reactions came back after delivery. By my mid 30’s my migraines were so bad I would have them 6 days out of 7. I had chronic diarrhea, I was medicated for cystic acne with a type of hormonal pill and had severe PMT. My stomach would swell so bad and the gas was utterly horrific. I was tested for celiac but it was negative. I stopped eating all grains around this stage.
In my later 30s I had a bone test done at a chemist. She said my density looked extremely low and I should get it looked at by a doctor. The doctors refused to believe I could have anything wrong with my bones ‘so young’. So it was 7 or so years more before I got a dexa. When I was finally tested I was diagnosed with full blown osteoporosis in my spine and osteopenia in my hips at 42. I was still eating a ‘whole foods healthy fats low protein’ diet at this stage. My husband (we broke up but were still very close)passed away when I was 36. I developed severe PTSD. I kept a business running, just. But within 2 years my body had deteriorated so much that I had to close my business. I had shingles. I could barely walk. And my gut was getting worse. I was mostly in bed for nearly 4 years.
At one point I was eating Keto, I loved it, no one knew about it then. My brother introduced me to it. My peers told me I was insane, that I needed soluble and insoluble fibre to be healthy. But I felt incredible! For the first time in my life my toilet experience was “normal”.Of course eventually I was convinced to go back to LFHC after about 3 months. HUGE MISTAKE. I was so sick I also dabbled in a bit of juicing, a bit of raw vegan, but mostly just stuck to the usual veg and fruit laden low meat diet. I had got rid of legumes by now though, they would just kill me.
After I had my hip sorted by cutting it out and putting in a metal one, I went to a gp and talked of my stomach ills (by this stage I had been bleeding from my rectum for about a year) and of my concerns about my bones. Miraculously she listened. I was tested. I had pylori, we got rid of that. I had fructose and oligos malabsorption and I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. The bones of a sickly 90 yo. I was put onto FODMAPS diet. It helped, quite a bit. I did FODMAPS for about 2 years. Plus insane meds for ulcerative colitis/proctitis. I had a friend tell me about EDS, I was genetically tested and found to have the syndrome at the same time.
Then I stumbled back on to keto just through looking up foods constantly on the internet.I experienced even more improvements. I did that for about 8 months. Then in November 2018 I stumbled upon and started with Carnivore. I had heard of it years before and thought it was insane but I am pretty much willing to try anything now I am in so much pain and so sick of it.
Why did you try Carnivore to begin with.
So I started ‘dirty’ carnivore. BAM game changer! I had developed rosacea acne after a stressful incident a year before. That was the first ailment to go, in about 3 weeks. I had also developed sjorgens syndrome when I was little, that also went (it is just dry mucous areas, eyes, mouth, privates)I had migrating tongue and severe ulcers even on Keto, gone in a few weeks on Carnivore. All migraines, gone. Insomnia, gone. I sleep solidly for at least 7 hours a night, for the first time in my life. The ulcerative colitis is still healing, and I still have small flare ups but it is so much improved. I am getting rid of egg whites at the moment and this seems to be helping (only been off them 4 days). Severe memory loss, is so much improved. My healing time is improved. Trauma reactions have been reduced. I am still triggered by the same things, filling forms, loud noise, crowds etc but so much less so, I am able to navigate these things so much better, although I suspect there might be a bit of ADHD as well, but of course ADHD can also be treated with HFLC. Depression is gone. That went with Keto. Anxiety and “overthinking” is gone. I think I even need to get a new glasses script, my eyesight seems to be changing. And there is probably so much more, that I will think of after I submit this. Oh and I already look 5 years younger and as a pale redhead, I don’t sunburn at all any more.I literally do not need sunscreen even at the height of Australian summer. This is incredible to experience. I used to burn in 5 seconds of sun exposure.
How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet.
What do I eat at the moment? Mornings I have coffee blended with 2 egg yolks, a huge chunk of butter, a few tablespoons of colostrum and some gelatin. I usually have two of these. Lunch I will have a burger patty, or steak, some sort of seafood and recently added in a variety of cheeses high in K2. When I first added these in a few weeks ago, I had a HUGE oxalate dump. It was intense and painful. I drink lemon water to help with the oxalate overload. For dinner I will have some more meats. I also have a bit of whey protein isolate. Eggs done different ways. LIVER! I have been eating a little raw liver pretty much the whole time, it is incredible. I am coming at this from a very medicalised point of view. I am eating a ton of calories. I dont track, because I think I would be horrified. I suspect I am eating about 2000-2500 cal a day. I am 4’11 (stunted growth plus scoliosis, my mother is about 6 inches taller than me, my daughter is about 4 inches taller) and I weigh 53kg.
I have recently stopped eating – blueberries, cacao, sugar free sauces including tomato sauce, black tea and egg whites and I have very little stevia. This is because of my suspicion that oxalates have been my biggest problem all along. I have only recently found this information. I drink a bit of milk kefir and goats milk and yogurt. I try and get the best quality and grass fed when I can. I am extremely low income so I seek out direct bulk and plan very carefully.
Do you exercise on the Carnivore Diet, if so how do you find it and what do you do.
I do about 15-20 hours a week of dance classes and am studying a certificate in dance, I walk outdoors every day and do a small amount of cross training at home, if I stop training my EDS symptoms – chronic pain etc go nuts. I am looking down the barrel of more surgery, on my foot this time, my ankle is bone on bone and cysts have formed. This was from a twisted ankle 18 months ago (just before Keto). So I am still dealing with extreme arthritic pain in my ankle, my knee is playing up. I still see a range of specialists for EDS symptoms, BUT I am actually in the best health of my entire life. I think that it is going to take a long time to heal 40+ years of damage but it has started and I am so excited, but I am also so sad and angry. I was never ever meant to be this sick. Yes, my genetics have had an impact, but the healing I have experienced this past 6 months had been utterly profound. Life changing. I can now actually start looking at gainful employment as my health improves, because I am not on the toilet all day every day. Telling people you are unemployed because of your bowel movements is pretty bloody mortifying.
Weight has not played any part in any of these choices and changes for me. My weight has been pretty consistent all my life, but my health has always been awful. What I have noticed since carnivore is my muscles are denser and I don’t get tired from exercise and I rarely get sore muscles.I have lost a lot of adipose tissue from my hips and upper arms that I thought I was stuck with due to aging and my boobs have changed shape, still small but firmer. All my skin is looking better!
I also had to nap every day up until starting carnivore, sometimes for hours or even all day. I no longer need naps, another improvement that means I can look at gainful employment. The impact to my capacity to make any kind of living has been devastating. I think this is so important to note. My quality of life as an adult has been severely messed with, and I am seeing this more and more in young adults now, people who should be in their prime!
What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet.
My main advice, if you are really unwell and looking at this, is start slow. Go Keto first, gradually remove foods. Oxalate dumping is painful and can be dangerous (I recently found out). The transition is easier too. There was a mild transition period with FODMAPS, then for Keto it was about 3 months of adapting for me (most people it is about 2 weeks) and then carnivore came pretty easy overall from there.
If your gut and skin are playing up, I believe this is a sign of deep underlying damage. You have probably been sick for years but it is starting to show on the surface. Carnivore type diets may not be for everyone, but as far as my ancestral history is concerned, and my reactions to the changes, it is definitely for me. And probably for life by the looks of it.
Do you think Carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet.
I do think carnivore will end up mainstream. Even as the big multinationals push for more fake food and earth destroying monocropping, I think the pushback is going to be huge soon. Too many of us are getting too sick from the last 60 years of BS food guidelines and crap on the shelves (which I never ate!). They nearly killed me for goodness sakes, which is bonkers! I ate the “healthiest” diet on the planet my whole life and I nearly ended up with bowel cancer (still at very high risk) and mush for bones. I do think that ancestral diets will return with force, maybe sooner than the multinationals can reckon with! I certainly hope so, and this is why I am sharing my experience.
Anything you would like to add, and where can people follow your journey.
I post regularly in my stories and feed on instagram. My focus is ballet, health, diet and art. @taniblue_artist is where you can see what I get up to and how I am progressing.
My final word is please feed your children ample quality meat and animal fats. I was the experiment in the 70’s and the experiment failed, terribly.
Thanks for reading my story.
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
I am an ambassador for the lifestyle brand Descended From Odin, have a look at their apparel and accessories: Click here and get 10% off with the code “ketogenicendurance”
Most of my life till I moved out from home at 21 I was eating even worse than the standard western diet. Being one of four siblings to a single stay at home mother we had very little money. I was raised on oven chips, turkey dinosaurs, cheap white bread and endless amounts of tea and biscuits. When I had money of my own I initially went crazy and tried to make up for years of malnourishment in the most instinctual way possible, I filled myself with takeaways, ice cream, sweets, chocolate, cakes, cookies basically any calorie-rich foods I could. I did finally gain some weight after being incredibly skinny all my life. However, this didn’t address the major issue, which was the complete lack of nutrients I’d always been lacking. I naively looked to plants as my savior. They’d always been heralded by government food charts and common wisdom as the source of good health and vitamins. After a brief search online for healthy ways of eating I was inevitably met with a barrage of plant-based propaganda. I naively bought into the health claims. I became vegetarian for around 6 months and the more time I spent online the more extreme the propaganda I was exposed to became, health was no longer the driving factor; ethics and morality were. Social media groups dedicated to plant-based eating had a hierarchy. Vegetarians were looked down upon by vegans. There was a stigma for drinking milk or eating cheese. Still being young and impressionable I believed the lies of fellow commentators and youtube personalities. Before I knew it I was a fully indoctrinated cult member. This lasted 4 years with a hiccup at the 3-year mark. One night my health was failing so miserably that my partner rushed me to a walk in centre they didn’t have a clue what was up with me, they sent me to my GP, they couldn’t seem to find any cause for my symptoms and sent me to hospital. The hospital took my bloods, I explained to them my diet and asked if that could have had any impact on what was happening to me. They dismissed it of course and said diet has little impact on health, all they cared about was that I didn’t smoke and did plenty of exercise. I asked them to specifically check my vitamin levels and low and behold they came back and said I was on the low end for vitamins A, B12 and not particularly high on anything and in particular they noted my cholesterol was low with an HDL of 40. They told me this was great and many people wished for low HDL. I was sent home the next day with zero guidance or solutions from the medical staff they said I was in good health and it was all in my head. Deep down I knew the solution was meat. I ate meat for a couple of months, not good meat, mostly processed and cheap. Nonetheless, I felt somewhat good, not great but better. I developed a bit of a belly and wanted to get rid of it fast, I knew veganism was a quick fix solution. So I cautiously gave it a second chance. I felt great initially and then ran back into the same ill health problems. I was experimenting with many types of veganism during this period; high fat low carb veganism, the 80/10/10 diet and even the most insane Dr. Morse raw fruitarian which I couldn’t handle even 5 days of. I always had plenty of whole foods, lots of starchy vegetables, lots of cruciferous veg, wholegrains and easily had at least 6-12 portions of fruit per day. TLDR;
20 years – Poorest version of Western Diet
0.5 years – Vegetarian
4 years – Veganism
Currently 9 months Carnivore
3) Why did you try Carnivore to begin with.
Dr Jordan Peterson inspired me after I heard of his experience on the Joe Rogan podcast and that of his daughter. I could really relate to all the symptoms he was mentioning about himself. It absolutely fascinated me. I was searching for dieting solutions within the narrow band of veganism. So this all meat solution just completely blew open that limited paradigm I’d locked myself into. It was such a revelation. I quickly looked for more information, found Shawn Baker’s podcast episode with Joe Rogan too, then quickly stumbled upon Primal Edge Health and Frank Tufano. It was revelatory. I was absorbed and immersed by all this mostly common sense nutritional info that had never penetrated my echo chamber all those years. I stayed up all night learning as much as I could. I got up the next morning headed to my local supermarket bought a ribeye steak and some smoked mackerel and never looked back. There was zero transition period, I didn’t ease myself in, I just jumped in the deep end and was surprisingly fine. I suffered some Ketogenic flu at the end of that week and the digestion took a while to get going as I had none of the necessary bacteria for breaking down meat. For 21 days I had nothing but steaks, the occasional fish and water. I was on top of the world. I cried whilst eating that first steak. It was the first steak I’d eaten in my entire life.
4) How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet.
I differ from others in that because I came from such a malnourished, underweight state I don’t do zero carb carnivore, although it’s what I definitely feel best on. I consume large amounts dairy and also eat honey. Now I’ve rebuilt my nutrient stores, reversed many negative health problems and got my vitality back I want to focus on weight gain. So milk, cheese, cream, yogurts and a little honey are great foods for achieving this. I eat nose to tail and mixture of raw, cooked and seared. Usually depends on my appetite and how good quality, tender or fresh the meat is.
5) What benefits have you seen since starting the Carnivore Diet.
So many, most importantly in mental health. I was in the midst of deep depression and my social anxiety was off the charts. I could go full weeks at a time without leaving the house and lie in bed for over 24 hours straight at my worst. I just wanted to hide from the world. Within 1 week of going carnivore the depression lifted completely, the anxiety was drastically reduced. Brain fog has completely disappeared, concentration, mental sharpness, and short term memory have greatly increased. Sugar used to give me terrible mood swings, they are now a thing of the past.
Digestive issues were the next greatest relief. The constant bloating, gassy pains, stomach aches, heartburn, indigestion and frequent trips to the toilet are no more. I had terrible psoriasis on my hands that has completely cleared up. Fungal infections have cleared up. Tooth sensitivity is no more, gum disease gone. Chronic fatigue has been resolved, I’m no longer on a glucose rollercoaster of ups and downs needing afternoon naps to get through the day. My circulation and body temperature has improved. Joint pains have gone, I’d always get pains in my ankles, hands, and feet after consuming large amounts of sugars and grains. No longer hungry all day, my appetite is a little too stable, I often have to remind myself to eat. Cravings are gone.
6) What negatives have you found with the Carnivore Diet.
Gaining fat is pretty difficult, but this is a bonus for most people. Coming from a lifetime of malnourishment I’d like to gain some weight. So I include a lot of dairy to get around this issue. It is also expensive. On a vegan diet I could eat for 1 month with what I spend in one week on carnivore, but you get what you pay for.
7) Do you exercise on the Carnivore Diet, if so how do you find it and what do you do.
I’ve always done lots of cardio, long distance running, and football (soccer). I’ve not noticed much increase or decrease energy wise. The changes have been mental, I’m more competitive, decisive and confident. My current aim is to drop the cardio and focus on resistance training to meet my weight gaining goals. I rarely work out, I’ve been to a gym once in my life and hated it. However, the limited pull ups and push ups I’ve done at home have yielded surprisingly decent results considering how little time and effort I put into them. You can’t help but gain musculature with this way of eating.
8) What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet.
You’ve nothing to lose. Try 21 days. Even if it’s not for you, you’ll learn so much about your body’s needs and requirements. It’s an elimination diet, a blank slate on which to build upon and find out what foods you can and can’t tolerate. It’s the ultimate fine-tuning. I feel it attracts people who’ve tried and failed other diets across the spectrum.
9) Do you think Carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet.
Never. Not unless civilisation collapses. Meat will continue to be demonised, there’ll be a meat tax in the near future and it’ll slowly be phased out altogether as we head into this Brave New World of synthetic slop and cardboard carbs. Pretty bleak predictions haha, I hope I’m wrong.
10) Anything you would like to add, and where can people follow your journey.
You can follow my food journey on instagram @ancestraleating
Or my main account over at @silphwave
Oh and don’t forget to subscribe to Pewdiepie aha
Thank you for letting me share some of my nutritional journey.
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
I am an ambassador for the lifestyle brand Descended From Odin, have a look at their apparel and accessories: Click here and get 10% off with the code “ketogenicendurance”
Nice to meet you. We’re Dylan and Andrea, also known as The BBQ Diet. We’re a married couple who met in law school and are both practicing lawyers. Our diet is primarily BBQ meats that we smoke ourselves in our backyard. Andrea grew up in North Carolina and Dylan has roots in Texas, so BBQ sauce runs in our veins.
2) How did you eat before Carnivore.
Andrea was a vegetarian for 9 years during her teenage and college years. Before that, she ate a typical Standard American Diet (SAD). Dylan ate a mostly SAD diet throughout his life, with some brief forays into vegetarianism and veganism.
Dylan was the first of us to experiment with a ketogenic diet. He learned about keto from a bodybuilding perspective as an easy way to cut weight. Andrea was originally very skeptical (and not a fan of the keto breath). Around that time, we started learning about zero-carb and the Carnivore Diet. We listened to Dr. Shawn Baker’s first interview with Joe Rogan. We were intrigued and began doing some research of our own. At the end of 2016, we decided we would try the keto diet, this time together, as a New Year’s resolution. We originally planned to eat keto for 2-3 months until we cut some weight. At that point, we were going to ramp up our weightlifting routine and go back to carbs to bulk.
After a couple of months, we were in love with keto. Andrea cured lifetime issues with hypoglycemia and mild epilepsy. We both felt amazing, with tons of energy and a no more brain fog at work. We were able to begin incorporating fasting into our routine, which we loved. We continued doing research and learning more and more about the low-carb way of eating. We became more and more convinced that keto was an optimal way to eat.
After 2.5 months of eating a keto diet, we went to a family reunion. We had lost a bit of weight and decided it was time to execute our plan: quit keto and begin bulking and lifting heavy with carbs. We thought it would be too hard and awkward to keep up the keto diet around family and while traveling. We spent the reunion eating the carbs we thought we missed during our 2.5 months of keto. We felt awful. We got major sugar hangovers. We lost our ability to fast. Hunger came back. We hadn’t been hungry for months. We suddenly remembered what it was like to be hangry, to have food cravings, and to be a slave to constant eating.
So we decided to go back to a ketogenic diet indefinitely. We looked into keto bodybuilding and bulking and decided to try it. In our research, we kept running across the Carnivore diet and how it was superior to keto in some ways. We started following some Carnivores on Instagram and becoming interested in Carnivore for gaining muscle and getting some additional marginal health benefits.
3) Why did you try Carnivore to begin with.
After researching it obsessively, we tried Carnivore for a couple months completely strict. We enjoyed the strict diet and didn’t mind the restriction. However, we did miss some things. Since then, we have oscillated between periods of strict Carnivore and periods where we eat about 95% animal products and 5% keto additions like vegetables, sauces, keto desserts, etc.
4) How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet.
We are lucky to not have any serious health issues. Therefore, we do not need to be very strict with our diet. We do not notice any adverse health effects from occasionally eating things like dairy, some vegetables, fruits, nuts, or artificial sweeteners. Some vegetables do give us some issues like bloating or gas and we avoid those. We avoid processed foods and processed sugar at all costs. These things make us feel awful when we try to incorporate them again.
On workdays, we eat one-meal-a-day (OMAD). This saves us a ton of time. We don’t need to wake up earlier to make breakfast and eat breakfast. We don’t have to worry about complicated meal prep or packing lunches. We can work through lunch breaks and leave work early. Then we get to come home and feast all night on delicious smoked meats. We absolutely love how simple and time-saving it is. On the weekends, we usually eat more meals because we have more time.
5) What benefits have you seen since starting the Carnivore Diet.
Andrea always suffered from hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and low blood pressure. If she didn’t eat every few hours, she would get dizzy, nauseous, and eventually pass out. She always carried snacks with her, just in case. She would get way hangrier than your average person because when she got hungry and her blood sugar dropped, she began feeling extremely sick. Since going keto/Carnivore, she has been completely cured of these issues. She can now easily fast until dinner. Longer fasts are not an issue, either. We have both done multiple 24-hour and 48-hour fasts. We have done a handful of 72-hour fasts and one 96-hour fast. Andrea can do these extended fasts without experiencing any of the symptoms she used to experience when she would go without eating for a mere 4-5 hours.
We have both experienced body composition improvements on the Carnivore diet. We have both gained weight but it seems to be almost all muscle. Some say that you gain body mass in the form of bone density, etc. This could be. All we know is that we gained, but it does not seem to be fat.
The Carnivore Diet helps us to feel our best while being so simple and satisfying. Because we are both lawyers, we are very busy. We have very little free time. The Carnivore Diet simplifies our entire life. We grocery shop about once a month. When we do, we do not have complicated grocery lists. We go straight to the meat department and buy up what is on sale to freeze. Every week, we pull out what we want to eat from the freezer. Cooking becomes extremely simple. We usually smoke 15-20 pounds of meat on the weekend and then eat that throughout the week. We come home, heat up leftover barbecue, and eat. We supplement with things that are easy to prepare quickly, like eggs, ground beef, cheese, and heavy cream.
We love everything we eat. Smoked meat, steaks, eggs, cheese. It’s all delicious. We never get tired of eating these things. We never get bored. We’re excited to eat every time we sit down to a plate of meat.
6) What negatives have you found with the Carnivore Diet.
We experience some judgment from our families. They worry that we are being unhealthy.
Occasionally, we want to attend a social engagement or have foods we used to love. This isn’t a huge negative for us, though. We are lucky to not have any serious health conditions that would be affected by a cheat. For Thanksgiving at Mom’s house, or when friends are going out, if we want, we just “cheat” and enjoy the meal.
7) Do you exercise on the Carnivore Diet, if so how do you find it and what do you do.
We both try to exercise frequently. Dylan does Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. We have been in the process of moving, starting new jobs, and buying a house for the past 6 months. We have been transient. It has made it hard to commit to any gym or serious lifting program. We prefer to lift heavy but have been settling for an inconsistent kettlebell routine while we’re moving around. Next month, we are investing in a home squat rack and some other home gym amenities. We are very excited to get back into a consistent lifting schedule.
8) What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet.
Do it! You can do anything for 30 days. If it doesn’t work out for you, you only spent a month trying it out. You have the chance that Carnivore will cure you of some issues or conditions that you thought were chronic or incurable. You will likely see many benefits like clearer skin, more energy, and better brain function. You have a lot to gain and not really anything to lose.
If it would help you, try going keto first. Keto is much more manageable at first. You don’t have to give up everything you love right away. We think going keto first has some advantages. Keto is generally higher fat and can help you adapt to burning fat quicker.
Whether you go straight to Carnivore, or try a low-carb or keto protocol first, be sure to give your body plenty of time to adjust. You will likely experience some negative symptoms at first, like digestive issues or tiredness, while your body is adjusting. This is normal. Just push through and try to experience what it is like to become fully adapted to this way of eating. Drink plenty of water in the first couple of weeks and consider supplementing with electrolytes. Research the “Keto Flu.” Most of your negative symptoms (cramps, aches, headaches, lethargy, etc) are likely caused by a water or electrolyte imbalance.
The reason that everyone recommends a very strict first month is because cheating in that first month can affect your adaptation to burning fat and make your adjustment symptoms a lot worse. If you cheat, you will not be breaking your addiction to carbs and sugar. You will be continuing to feed the addiction. Instead of experiencing a release from constant cravings, they will likely persist.
It takes about 4-6 weeks to fully adapt to burning fat for fuel. Do not try fasting before you are fully adapted. Do not judge how you’re feeling on the diet until you experience full adaptation.
Once you are adapted to being in ketosis, you can try adding in some foods you miss, if you like.
9) Do you think Carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet.
We don’t think that Carnivore will ever be mainstream but we do hope it will become more normalized and accepted. Unfortunately, there are so many bogus fad diets out there that most people are skeptical of anything labeled as a “diet.” Therefore, we think many people will continue to view Keto and Carnivore with skepticism until they try it out for themselves.
Keto and Carnivore are truly different from other “diets” because your entire body metabolism changes. You switch from burning carbs for energy to burning fat for fuel in ketosis. This shift is accompanied by myriad hormonal and neurological changes that do not occur on any other fad “diet.” Perhaps if enough people experience ketosis for themselves, the word will get out that these ways of eating are not “just another diet.” We hope so!
10) Anything you would like to add, and where can people follow your journey.
Follow us at @thebbqdiet on Instagram!!
If you’d like to get in touch or ask us any questions, Instagram is the best place. Send us a DM there or leave a comment!
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
I am an ambassador for the lifestyle brand Descended From Odin, have a look at their apparel and accessories: Click here and get 10% off with the code “ketogenicendurance”
My name is Landon; I’m 30 years old. I live in Northern Utah and work in Salt Lake City. I love hunting, fishing, and camping. I was born with a heart condition that has been a thorn in my side. I was diagnosed at 18 years old with Bipolar 1 and generalized anxiety.
2) How did you eat before Carnivore.
I ate the Standard American Diet for the most part. I tried to eat a normal healthy diet off and on and always failed. I have tried Low Fat, Vegetarian, Vegan, Herbalife, Freelife, Slim Fast and nothing worked. When I was in the hospital for surgery or psych ward stays, they always told me to limit my meat intake and to eat more fruits, veggies and whole grains. I was 380 pounds and in July of 2017 I tried Keto for a few months and it was better than anything I had tried. I lost 60 pounds and was doing great until I went to my old primary care and he freaked out on me about my diet and freaked me out. I went back to eating a “normal” healthy diet. I would stick to keto or carnivore for a week or two and then go back to eating regular food. I couldn’t stay consistent because I didn’t have the will power anymore. It was a terrible decision. I was depressed and had a lot of anxiety. December 31st I was back up to 360 pounds and disgusted with myself. I had always been a big kid, but this was ridiculous.
3) Why did you try Carnivore to begin with.
In April of 2018 I developed an issue that Doctors still can’t pinpoint. I was having severe chest pain and my arms and legs would go numb. I would get brain fog, fatigue, dizzy spells, chronic headaches, couldn’t sleep, and my concentration was all over the place. I was very sensitive to light which affected my work life and would get dull pain in my jaw. I was in and out of the Doctors office and emergency rooms. They had no clue what was happening and said to just come back if it gets worse. I would get sent home feeling just as terrible as when I went in. I was spending thousands for no answers. My blood pressure was high, and my blood sugar was creeping back up. I was in and out of psych wards and mental health facilities. I had lots of medications for my head and my heart. I had really bad sleep apnea and snored so loud my siblings growing up would throw things at me to get me to stop. I was just sick of getting pills that didn’t work and just getting sicker. I decided to just try things my way.
4) How do you personally approach the Carnivore Diet.
I didn’t want to get bored and have any temptation with junk. So on January 1st of this year, I switched. I would eat brisket, ribs, bacon, burgers, wings, cheese, raw milk, crab, lobster, salmon, deer, elk, etc. If it came from an animal in any way, I was eating it. I don’t count any calories or macros. I usually eat one meal a day, but sometimes I ate sooner if I was hungry. I don’t restrict myself. I eat like a king and love it. I drink a lot of raw A2 milk, and have done two raw milk fasts. I used to take Omeprazole daily, and I finally was able to completely stop it. I now use HCL and Raw milk to fix my stomach issues.
5) What benefits have you seen since starting the Carnivore Diet.
I restarted my Carnivore journey on January 1st. My blood pressure on January 2nd was 163/98 with a BPM of 84. Today it was 121/73 with a BPM of 68. I’ve lost 59 pounds so far this year and a total of 79. I have lost 7 inches from my stomach and 5 from my chest. My blood sugar ranges from 65 – 85. I no longer sleep with my cpap and am as quiet as a mouse. I’m off all my Bipolar and heart medication. The only pill I take is HCL. I’m happy for once and feel pretty great. I haven’t had any episodes for a few months and have been able to stay out of the hospital. I still don’t know what has caused all those issues, but I know that eating 99.99% meat keeps my symptoms away. My cardiologist is happy with my weight loss, and my heart is as healthy as it’s ever been. She knows about my diet and is completely fine with it.
6) What negatives have you found with the Carnivore Diet.
None really. I go out to eat, and people give me weird looks for not wanting sides. So I usually get the sides and give them to the people I am with. I rarely eat out though, so it doesn’t affect me much. I just prefer to make my food.
7) Do you exercise on the Carnivore Diet, if so how do you find it and what do you do.
I do not. I am going to start soon. I am now 1 pound away from being under 300 pounds and feel that I can exercise without feeling like I am dying now.
8) What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet.
Give it a solid 3 months. I didn’t stick to it, and it was horrible. It won’t work if you only do it half the time. I lost 0 pounds my first two weeks. It was beyond frustrating. I knew I had messed up my body, and it needed to heal. I stuck with it and then I lost 29 pounds the next two weeks. I don’t consider it a diet. I don’t starve myself like I did on my other diets. I eat until full and eat amazing food! If you give it a few weeks, it becomes very easy. Read and research for yourself. There is lots of information available online. It will help you tremendously.
9) Do you think Carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet.
Sadly no, people have been told that meat is terrible and it’s going to take a lot to change that view. I ate like my old cardiologist wanted me to because it was heart healthy. Now I know that couldn’t be further from the truth. I still have brief moments of doubt. It’s hard to go against everything you have ever known, especially when your heart is involved. Luckily I have very supportive friends and family. They don’t eat like me, but they respect my lifestyle.
10) Anything you would like to add, and where can people follow your journey.
You can find me on Instagram @dino_the_carnivore and I am always available to talk or help with any questions you might have.
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
I am an ambassador for the lifestyle brand Descended From Odin, have a look at their apparel and accessories: Click here and get 10% off with the code “ketogenicendurance”
My name is Arla! I am 44 and the mom of two teenagers. I love essential oils, hiking, yoga, traveling, and hanging around positive people. I have my own business in health and wellness and love it!
How did you eat before carnivore?
I grew up not liking anything “green”. I didn’t like the taste or the way it made me feel. At the age of 18 I ate my first salad after gaining weight in college. I was told this was what I had to eat to lose weight. When I was in my late 20’s I ate the standard American diet. When my children were young, overnight I went vegetarian at the age of 32. It wasn’t because I didn’t like meat it was for the animals. It was a long seven years. I started off as a terrible vegetarian. I learned later to make salads the way I liked them. I began to add back in meat after I continued to break out in miserable itchy rashes. I went on an elimination diet my doctor put me on. In the end, I was down to apples and all my body wanted was meat. I listened to my body and incorporated it back in my diet over the next few years. I became a Holistic Health Coach and began to eat what I considered “healthy and clean”.
Why did you try carnivore to begin with?
I heard about this way of eating from one of my best friends who was having great success with her colitis. We had been friends for many years and I have seen her struggle first hand. I decided to “try” this insane diet for 30 days.. because I love a good 30-day challenge! I had also decided this would be great for research. The first few weeks were a disaster. My body went into freak out mode going from eating carbs/sugars to no carbs/sugars. I was determined to do this challenge like a BOSS! By the third week, I had feelings of clarity and euphoria. By day thirty I was beside myself with how much better I felt. This way of eating was against everything I had ever learned. I decided to continue.
How do you personally approach the carnivore diet?
I began this way of eating last year. It turned into a lifestyle. I begin my day with coffee in the morning and heavy whipping cream. My favorite foods are grass fed beef, eggs and ribeye with salt (these were also my favorites as a child). I usually eat a few times a day and do a natural daily intermittent fast. I have to say I love the way I feel! It is important to me to have so much gratitude for the animals that provide us with these nutrients!
What benefits have you seen since starting the Carnivore Diet.
Some of the benefits I felt were:
My cravings for carbs and sugars went away
My anxiety levels were dramatically reduced
The bloating had disappeared (this was incredible to me)
No rashes
My body became leaner
My poop was normal
A sense of clarity
Minimalism
Feelings of peace and calmness
More energy
I used to have daily stomach aches and it was “normal” to me. I realized this was NOT NORMAL. Since going carnivore, stomach aches are a thing of my past.
What negatives have you found with the carnivore diet?
At times it has been awkward to go out to eat but I usually have a big meal prior to heading out with friends. Other than that it’s very simplistic. I enjoy doing so much in life. I feel like this gives me more time freedom. I used to spend tons of time food prepping, chopping and stressing about what to make. Now it’s just simple. I have to admit I’m still scared to use a grill but it’s on my list to learn.
Do you exercise on the carnivore diet? If so how do you find it and what do you do?
Of course! I feel it’s so important to move the body! I love to hike and practice yoga. I am starting to incorporate weights. This is a very new venture for me and I’m excited to begin.
What piece of advice would you give someone who is interested in trying this diet, but hasn’t taken the leap yet?
I would say if they are ready for a change to give it a thirty-day trial! GO ALL IN! They can decide from there to continue with carnivore or add certain foods back in and see how they feel.
Do you think carnivore will ever be accepted as a mainstream diet?
I don’t know. I think more and more people are having massive positive changes in their health with this way of eating. The word is getting out and people are curious. I’m interested to see where it goes and how the research evolves. I will continue to honor my body and do what feels right for ME.
Anything you would like to add, and where can people find your journey?
Feel free to follow my journey on Instagram @carnivarla
Ketogenic Endurance – I hoped you enjoyed this post.
I am an ambassador for the lifestyle brand Descended From Odin, have a look at their apparel and accessories: Click here and get 10% off with the code “ketogenicendurance”
