I’m on my second month of my carnivore journey and starting to feel good. I’m controlling my diabetes, which wasn’t too bad. My main reason for going carnivore is it seems easier for me than counting macros, etc on keto. I get meat, cook it and eat it. It helps that I do love meat! One of the things that I have been lax on is that I love a couple of cups of coffee in the morning and I like to have some keto condiments with my meal - usually it’s Primal Kitchen brand. This afternoon I’m breaking out the smoker and smoking a couple racks of pork ribs. I’m rubbing them with a rub I make that contains a bit of Lakanto sweetener and when done, I’ll add enjoy it with some Primal Kitchen bbq dipping sauce. I’m still a carnivore(ish) newbie. Can someone tell me if there is a problem with eating like this? Will I be cast off into the wilderness by the carnivore community? Or should I just chill and enjoy the ride?
99.9% Carnivore but with keto ketchup, bbq sauce, mayo and a few other condiments
I heard so many bad things about some carnivore communities, they even may have problem with strictness, don’t worry about them.
Do what works for you best, I say 
I do carnivore-ish myself (on my best days. never managed to stick to it for more than 2 weeks in a row) and as I don’t feel bad even on high-carb, my body happily handle the tiny condiment or whatever I throw at it. Today I eat stew, well that’s not carnivore, I probably get 3-4g plant carbs from it, it’s the furthest I go on my carnivore-ish and it’s quite fine. (I go further without problems, I just don’t call that carnivore-ish.) For me. Some people need to be stricter.
I am not tolerant with sweetener on carnivore-ish but I have a few condiments where it is present. They are irreplaceable (I mean, nothing is even remotely like them, obviously one can live without them) and nice, I could skip them but a tiny bit occasionally is worth it for me. But I don’t use them willy-nilly for sure as I don’t need it.
It’s possible that you change later anyway. I need to do things a bit gradually. I couldn’t even go to my original 40g net carbs keto from high-carb and it wasn’t that simple on carnivore either. So I had to do it slowly and not perfectly, with off days. I still got very nice benefits and anyway, it’s better to do it almost right than giving up as it won’t be perfect.
Real life answer is it makes no difference, your WOE should always be tailored to you. Whether Keto, Carnivore or otherwise, there’s always cookie cutter purists that feel the need to tell other’s their not doing something “right”. Screw that! Do what works for you.
That is a design people make to control end results regardless of your chosen WOE. It makes no difference whether you eat “normal” Keto, Carnivore or Vegetarian for that. You eat more than your maetabolism can burn off… You gain! Eat less, and you lose.
If you’re one of the ones that can actually trust your hunger and satiety signals, and it doesn’t screw up your goals, then you’re good. Many of us can’t, or can’t to the point where we can constantly trend in the direction we want to go. If I went by my hunger (or) satiety, you’d see me on TV being cut out of my house and being on my 600lb life!
Chill and enjoy the ride.
You might find, as time goes on, you lose your taste for the condiments and rubs - or, you might not.
If you find you’re not seeing the results you want many months down the line and you suspect one of the ingredients in these condiments/rubs might be the culprit, then you can experiment leaving them out.
Some spaces on the internet can be less relaxed, but most of the carnivores here wouldn’t have an issue.
I doubt you’ll be cast into the wilderness, lol! Many people who are 100% carnivore eat that way because they have to—plant-sourced foods of any sort simply don’t agree with them. Some of those people can safely drink coffee, and do, whereas others drink only water. You have to go with what works for you. As for spices, a lot of long-term carnivores used them when they started but eventually found themselves losing the taste for them.
It basically comes down to what works for you. Unless you have a serious problem with phytochemicals, you can probably continue with the spices without trouble. You can call yourself “relaxed carnivore,” “carnivore adjacent,” or “mostly carnivore,” if you like.
According to “chat gpt”
Many animals are not exclusively carnivores but are primarily carnivores, including:
- Bears
- Big cats (lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars)
- Hyenas
- Foxes
- Wolves
- Falcons
- Hawks
These animals may supplement their meat-based diet with fruits, berries, or insects, depending on what is available in their habitat and the time of year.
Animals that are exclusively carnivores, meaning they only eat meat and do not consume plants or other organic matter, include:
- Snakes
- Spiders
- Scorpions
- some species of fish (such as barracuda and piranhas)
- some species of birds of prey (such as eagles and owls)
- some species of seals and whales
- some species of lizards (such as the Gila monster)
It’s important to note that while these animals are considered to be exclusively carnivorous, their diets can still vary depending on the availability of prey in their habitats.
I’d rather identify with the first animals on that list than the second.
chill and enjoy the ride.
condiments are not your meal. A few condiments you do well on and ‘keep you on big ol’ meat /seafood fish or fowl for all your main meals is fine. A tiny bit of condiments puts you in ‘relaxed carnivore’. So you are fine. Many need this to get established on carnivore and longer ya go, many times ya drop alot of that stuff like many of us do. I used low sugar ketchup when I started, now ya can’t get me to touch that stuff HAHA
Thanks for all the great advice. that puts my mind at peace a little bit more.
I can see you’ve had a lot of good input already, so I’ll just say, if your body is feeling good, then you are doing something, or a lot, right. I don’t think we need to fit our WOEs into boxes, or follow a certain formula, it is whatever works for us, and if we’re headed down the wrong path, then I’m sure our bodies will tell us. After starting keto I became better at listening to my body, and eating intuitively.
I tend to eat like a carnivore myself because I am ever drawn to the simplicity of that food, and cooking, beeing rubbish in the kitchen. So most of the week I eat purely like a carnivore. I did try to reinstate a few vegetables that I would have at the weekend, but I am once more finding myself losing interest in them. I still enjoy my almonds in the morning though. But the reason I eat mostly carnivore isn’t because of an inability to digest plant foods, it is merely that I love and prefer the taste of meat, particularly the fattier cuts, oh and cream my bit of heaven. It’s the fat I seem to want all the time. I do hope I will be proven in time by my own body how right and healthy this WOE is because taste wise I would give it 10/10.
I was using a lot of mayo and sugar free ketchup my first 7 months on carnivore. Started listening to Dr Chaffee and he convinced me to go 100% . He really feels that 5 or so percent makes a big difference so I’m now not using any condiments only eggs,meat,salt and water. I also gave up my lemon flavored electrolyte powder.
The results are that I’m droping fat off my body and feeling much better with more energy. I do not miss any of the condiments but like everyone said above you have to do what’s best for you. For me it’s 100 % carnivore for now on.
Great stuff.
That was the experience I had last year before I got sick. I was already quite close to 100%, but dropping that last thing or two made a big difference.
Some of us are completely unable to go 100% but 99% is still better than not doing it at all 
This thread shows nicely that it’s super individual how we look at percentages. Having condiments with sweeteners is definitely NOT 99.9% for me as it’s not for weight… But not 95% either. I can’t stick a percentage to it but it’s somewhere in-between for me.
But I never understood what people mean when saying such things especially when it’s about carnivore + vegs as it’s totally not the case here (though condiments and spices are mostly vegs… at least mine… okay, it can be water, vinegar and sugar as well…) Volume, weight, calories, carbs? 
It’s good percentages don’t matter Just that how we feel and what we can do. Of course one shouldn’t say “I can’t do it” without trying! But it may be okay to do thing gradually if we are very sure that it’s the best for us. IDK if I mentioned that I am curious about full carnivore (and long term. not the few days I am able to do at a time) so I train myself. I push sometimes more, try harder. And getting better, I hope. So I do try to put a toe out of my comfort zone as great things may happen that way. I can’t know until I try and succeed!