Carnivore Yes or No?

lukedavis19

Good morning all,

So i have been a Yoyoer for many, many years and have tried every diet under the sun!

I have done plenty of research and cannot come up with a definitive answer on The Carnivore Diet. Everything I have learned screams no! But after 30days of actually following it, the results kind of speak for themselves. I guess I am just worried about any long term health ramifications.

tomcustombuilder

Some people have great luck with it. The bottom line with any diet is you need to take in fewer calories every week consistently than you burn if you want to lose fat, the carnivore diet is no different. It really comes down to eating in a way that you can stick to permanently. I know friends that love carnivore.

neanderthin

If what you mean by success is weight loss, then no, any diet can do that and a carnivore diet is, in that context, just another diet after all, and what drives weight loss is simply, a calorie deficit. But the no would therefore apply to every conceivable diet on the planet and where we have reduced everything down to the heat signature of a particular item in a bomb calorimeter, and using this to addressing the symptom of excess adipose or being fat is the primary focus but without addressing any reason why you need to actually lose weight.

I support a diet where whole foods dominate and a diet that is predominately based in animal products and at this time have been on a lower carb/ketogenic diet for over a dozen years after trying to figure out my own health over a few years and found that with the health issues I was having, that this way of eating solved pretty much every single concern, which is the main reason why people today have in their n:1 personal journey ended up trying carnivore and with great success.

Giving you my simple explanation in no way explains the hard sciences that are reflected in every single diet and looking there tells the story why people on the carnivore diet have good success with many of the problems associated with metabolic syndrome.

As far as ramifications for long term health, the jury is still out and always will be but not for just the carnivore diet but for every single diet on the planet. There is no current data regarding health "risks" that's reflected in a cause-and-effect relationship for any long term health or mortality for any diet. It's common to hear for example that the keto diet has no long term studies so be careful you might fall down and diet of a heart attach, that's the level of intelligence that dominates main steam media, and why it's imperative that people do their own research.

Maybe you could explain further what you mean by "the results speak for themselves".

AnnPT77

If the carnivore diet suits a person, that's great. As with any rather specialized diet, there may be extra nutritional issues to consider, such as whether it's necessary to consume organ meat (offal), and if so, how much.

I'm not saying this applies to you, but it always concerns me when someone adopts an unusual eating style without informing themselves about nutritional issues that may be especially applicable to that style. I'm not picking on carnivore here, as I'd say the same about fully plant based eating, vegetarianism, etc.

Unfortunately, when a particular eating style has received significant popular-press attention, or extra attention in some large social sub-group, people sometimes adopt the style feeling it's the thing to do based on what they've heard/read . . . but they don't inform themselves of all the relevant implications.

Personally, I eat in very nearly the opposite of the carnivore style. I lost weight fine, my fitness level is higher than typical for my demographic, all my health markers are very good . . . and perhaps most important to me subjectively as an unapologetic hedonist, the carnivore style would very likely make me want to jump off a tall bridge into shallow water out of sheer misery. Therefore, I wouldn't consider it, unless utterly essential for reasons I can't currently imagine.

I'm sure those who enjoy and benefit from the carnivore style would feel the same way about eating the way I eat. Personalization of tactics, IMO, is key to success when it comes to eating style.

I have to say, I'm curious: If you're finding carnivore excellent for you, and are full speed ahead that way . . . why the poll? Why does it matter what other people think, or want to do themselves?

FWIW, I didn't vote, because none of your options apply to me. I think people can and should find their own best way, and ideally nail down any specialized nutritional issues that may be relevant to maintaining their good health.

neanderthin

Why on earth would anyone ever consider such a crazy restrictive diet. Well, that's a rabbit hole that for the people that actually benefit and have made that journey don't consider it to be restrictive and who for the most part actually embrace the simplicity and it's mostly because health trumps all other concerns.

It can and is in the beginning a transition where many health concerns are immediately recognized, within a day or two which is the main impetuous to continue but if a person has no immediate or obvious health and metabolic issues it's basically a no go simply because the justification has no teeth.

For the average person looking to just lose weight and all the others that have tried and failed in quick fashion, which is what actually happens most of the time, it makes their brains fall out wondering why people would even consider it. A diet like this will continue and for the most part aways be just a confusing, cryptic, perplexing or impossible diet to understand and believe it or not almost every person that are actually benefiting from the carnivore diet actually believed that as well which for many lengthened their time to engage from months to years, it's part of the rabbit hole.

AnnPT77

I hope that wasn't a response to my post, because I didn't say it was "confusing, cryptic, perplexing or impossible to understand" diet, or a "crazy restrictive" diet. I don't even think that. The fact that I don't want to do it is not a criticism of the eating style for those whom it suits or benefits.

I simply don't understand why someone who is considering or practicing an eating style concerns themselves with whether or not other people like, support, or follow that style. Eating styles are not a popularity contest. That's extra true if someone's choosing to eat the way they do for health benefits they personally experience.

While I think my way of eating - which is not carnivore - is also fine for those it suits or benefits, I don't think I've ever urged someone here to adopt it . . . in fact I know I've sometimes done the exact opposite. Routinely, I tell people eating in "my" style to pay attention to factors that might make it a little more complex to get overall good nutrition, though not prohibitively complex. That concept applies to other styles, not just "mine".

Admittedly, there are few ways of eating I'd argue with. During the "Freelee the Banana Girl" era, that was a fair example. In some cases less extreme, there can be legitimate debates from a research perspective, but I don't think that's the intent of this thread.

I do think part of the problem with rabbit holes is once deep into them, all a person sees are other rabbits, or maybe rabbits plus rabbit-predators. I don't think it's that binary.

neanderthin

No Ann, generally I like and agree your most of your advice, although I do find you try to appeal to the widest audience possible quite frequently. Your description of what a rabbit hole might consist of was, I thought quite interesting. But again no Ann your post didn't influence my post in the way you think it did, it's was for the probable defamatory diatribes that usually follow a thread like this, which is quite normal thus my descriptors for some people that may be confused, lol. I generally like to defend my beliefs and the shortcomings that come with that.

neanderthin

Also when you said you were an "unapologetic hedonist, the carnivore style would very likely make me want to jump off a tall bridge into shallow water out of sheer misery." I had to laugh to myself because I thought when I read that if I had to eat broccoli and soy for the rest of my life I'd rather poke my eye out with a sharp stick. Seriously Ann that made me laugh.

PAV8888

I hope you both make it out intact neither flattened and tenderized nor sharply poked!🤣

robertw486

Carnivore! No way

lukedavis19 wrote: »

Good morning all,

So i have been a Yoyoer for many, many years and have tried every diet under the sun!

I have done plenty of research and cannot come up with a definitive answer on The Carnivore Diet. Everything I have learned screams no! But after 30days of actually following it, the results kind of speak for themselves. I guess I am just worried about any long term health ramifications.

If everything you have learned screams "no", there is probably a reason for that.

The below video is from someone that literally wrote a book on carnivore, but he no longer follows that diet. It was posted in another thread by @watts6151

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzX_NS7EwF0


I think there are plenty of lower, lowish, and regular level diets with carbs that are the much better long term alternative. And if anyone does chose to start eating in a way that eliminates major food groups, I feel they should do enough research to address nutritional deficiencies, since most of those diets can expose them more rapidly.

neanderthin

Yes, Dr. Paul Saladino wrote a book called "The Carnivore Code: unlocking the secrets to optimal health by returning to an ancestral diet". After about 5 years and now living in Costa Rica he complained he was experiencing decreased testosterone levels, sleep issues, and joint and muscle pain, which led him to reconsider the diet and now he eats mostly fruit as carbs and around 300g's of it a day and he feels better. Now he promotes a diet that includes meat, organic if possible, fruit, honey, and raw dairy. It's not unusual for people to switch their diet if they're experiencing health issues, it's done all the time.