carnivore diet

Anyone tried this?

Been whole food plant based ( well about 90% clean, still have the odd hot sauce for favour no dairy at all and no meat ) did this for health reasons and lost 17 pound since Dec but hasn't cured some problems I was hoping it would help.

Still struggle with some metal health issues, dry skin and couple of other little bits of problems, so been thinking of trying some thing new and heard about the Carnivore diet elimination, theory behind it is some people struggle with some plant foods so you cut all carbs out for a while, your symptoms should improve in around 30 - 60 days, some weight loss too if over weight and then you would add back into your diet one food at a time and find out the problem foods, some people never go back as they feel so good on this diet.

its interesting concept and really easy rules, eat around 2 pounds of beef a day and drink water, buy fatty meat to have a good intake of fat.

Anyone tried this before, what do you all think, something that is doable, seems pricey but cheaper to find the cause of my problems than pills or to at least see if its my diet, having no meat since December has made no difference so it must be something plant based that's causing the problems surely?
 
Last edited:


I am in no way an expert but that sounds like it wouldn't do you any favours in terms of mental health or skin issues.

Appreciate it's only short term but don't you think you might have a host of new problems eliminating fruit and veg from your diet?
 
I’m not an expert, but carbs give you energy. A massive carb deficit for 2 months would leave you on your arse?

Is this just the aitkens diet?
carbs generally give you fast energy, you can use fat and even protein for energy.

As the OP says, it's an elimation diet. It may help with dry skin issues but I can't imagine any restrictive diet would be good for mental health issues.
Joe Rogan said he couldn't trust his farts coz the explosive diarrhoea was that bad.
Just the first few days wasn't it? I can imagine just being constipated tbh. I try get 180g of protein a day, mainly from animal products and even that bungs me up. Need a hefty portion of popcorn to get things moving.
 
I am in no way an expert but that sounds like it wouldn't do you any favours in terms of mental health or skin issues.

Appreciate it's only short term but don't you think you might have a host of new problems eliminating fruit and veg from your diet?

The idea is to cut out all carbs and if the problems go away it means something I was eating was effecting me, then I would add the foods back one at a time until I discover what foods are the problem.

carbs generally give you fast energy, you can use fat and even protein for energy.

As the OP says, it's an elimation diet. It may help with dry skin issues but I can't imagine any restrictive diet would be good for mental health issues.

Just the first few days wasn't it? I can imagine just being constipated tbh. I try get 180g of protein a day, mainly from animal products and even that bungs me up. Need a hefty portion of popcorn to get things moving.

yup spot on.


its interesting reading looking into this but like anything no one diet is good for everyone, i hope using this as a first step to work out whats good / bad for my own body, but darn beef prices are scary, anyone know of a good place for affordable beef or where the hell you can buy beef bones these days?
 
I did the diet where you only eat beef, so steaks pretty much 3 times a day.

I felt better in general, hunger was a lot easier to manage and i lost a fair bit of weight.

Couldn't continue it because I got fed up with steak.
 
I did the diet where you only eat beef, so steaks pretty much 3 times a day.

I felt better in general, hunger was a lot easier to manage and i lost a fair bit of weight.

Couldn't continue it because I got fed up with steak.

what was it like in the short term mate, any problems?

Been reading you need bone both alongside it at the start but my local supermarkets don't carry beef bones so trying to work out if is needed or not?
 
I did it twice, first time for 6/7 weeks I think, maybe longer, it was fine, like I said I felt better, hunger was a big plus, it was very different and far more manageable than normal. Unintentionally lost a fair bit of weight due to not wanting to eat my own body weight in beef daily.

Im not sure what the bone is required for? I hadn't read anything regarding that at the time that I did it.

As someone with no nutritional knowledge or expertise what so ever, I think It is an OK idea for what you're wanting to achieve, If you cut everything for 2 months and then start to add back in while documenting the differences in yourself.

Cost wasn't excessive either, fair few places online that offer bulk amounts of steaks.
 
carbs generally give you fast energy, you can use fat and even protein for energy.

As the OP says, it's an elimation diet. It may help with dry skin issues but I can't imagine any restrictive diet would be good for mental health issues.

Just the first few days wasn't it? I can imagine just being constipated tbh. I try get 180g of protein a day, mainly from animal products and even that bungs me up. Need a hefty portion of popcorn to get things moving.

Two weeks I think he said
 
I did it twice, first time for 6/7 weeks I think, maybe longer, it was fine, like I said I felt better, hunger was a big plus, it was very different and far more manageable than normal. Unintentionally lost a fair bit of weight due to not wanting to eat my own body weight in beef daily.

Im not sure what the bone is required for? I hadn't read anything regarding that at the time that I did it.

As someone with no nutritional knowledge or expertise what so ever, I think It is an OK idea for what you're wanting to achieve, If you cut everything for 2 months and then start to add back in while documenting the differences in yourself.

Cost wasn't excessive either, fair few places online that offer bulk amounts of steaks.

Said online it was to make a bone broth to add back minerals and salts that I will lose the first couple of weeks since going from high carb to 0 carb means I would drop a ton of water weight which will flush needed salts out of the body, settles down after 2 weeks though the guy online said.
 
Said online it was to make a bone broth to add back minerals and salts that I will lose the first couple of weeks since going from high carb to 0 carb means I would drop a ton of water weight which will flush needed salts out of the body, settles down after 2 weeks though the guy online said.

Ah right, I didn't do that, was fine as far as I can remember.

 
The idea is to cut out all carbs and if the problems go away it means something I was eating was effecting me, then I would add the foods back one at a time until I discover what foods are the problem.



yup spot on.


its interesting reading looking into this but like anything no one diet is good for everyone, i hope using this as a first step to work out whats good / bad for my own body, but darn beef prices are scary, anyone know of a good place for affordable beef or where the hell you can buy beef bones these days?
Have you spoken to a qualified dietician?
 
Re your dry skin are you on any meds? They can severely affect the condition of your skin as I found out. Also I don't know your age but as you get older your skin can get drier and that's not just for women. In addition you may not be getting on with the soaps and gels you are using, many people don't get on with parabens and sulphates, many toiletries can be very drying.

Is your mental health purely down to diet or do you suffer from SAD? That could be a factor and maybe looking at light therapy could help or even getting out and looking up at the sky can sometimes help.

There are many factors that can affect both your body and your mind. Good luck finding your triggers.
 
Be very careful with these diets, I would imagine you'll lose quite a bit of weight which is the number one thing you can do to ensure your own health, however by going from a restrictive plant based to an even more restrictive carnivore diet you are f***ing with the bacteria in your gut.

What will happen is that you cut thing out of your diet, when you eat them again it makes you feel a bit sick so you'll think oh right that's what was affecting me so I'll never eat that again but what you've actually done is just reintroduce something you could have been eating all the time but because you stopped it of course your stomach will react to it a bit no different to drinking tap water when on holiday because your gut isn't used to the bacteria.

For the mental health a some people with psychosis, addiction problems and other stuff like depression or mood instability report that not eating carbs helps their mood, it's not exactly clear of that's placebo yet but the ketogenic diet can be helpful to people who suffer from epilepsy so it almost certainly will have some impact of the way you produce dopamine and other chemicals, but as with all things of your mental health foundations aren't in place none of these smaller things will help, do you have good friends you can trust? Do you get a good night's sleep, do you have sex or wank regularly? Do you eat alone or with family? Do you get out of the house and leave all electronic devices at home often? is your house clean and tidy with nice lighting especially at winter. Get the basics right before you start looking for the marginal gains like diet or medication.
 
Thanks for the replies and insight, very helpful and just started reading the "fat of the land" to gather more info.

So my last carb meal was Thursday 7pm, so a couple of days in for me and my wife and some quite interesting results so far.

Wife lost 10 pounds I lost 6 ( I would expect that to be 3/4 water weight and some fat. I lost an inch from my waist, think maybe I was bloated before?

biggest change is the pain my wife was in with her hip, she has been to hospital , had tests and all sorts, on pain killers non stop and finds it hard to move. after 2 days pain gone completely she is now 100% on board with this diet due to the lost pounds and being pain free for the first time in years, maybe a placebo effect? I don't know but happy to keep trying this to see what happens after 30 days, my mood is still the same, but no longer comfort eating and no longer hungry between meals which is a plus I suppose.

No all plain sailing, the toilet due to the change over has been hard work, my body is shedding water like nothing but from my rear end, its like having a good clear out and I can no longer trust my farts, plus I think due to the water loss I have caused a slight imbalance in my electrolytes as I had leg cramp last night for the first time in ages.

couldn't afford to go just beef, so kept eggs , pork and chicken in the diet atm.

Going to keep this updated with the good and bad incase it will help others and as a little record for myself but so far ( very early days ) the plus outweigh the negatives
 

Back
Top