Another Carnivore Thread

#1102

Keep in mind I am a newbie still… But I doubt boredom will be a serious issue in the future. We will see. My experiences this far are interesting and promising.

Honestly? I don’t know. I cut out plants - and I suddenly lost my existing boredom with my food. I was truly surprised. Less variety made my food more exciting :smiley: I guess carbs interfered with lots of things.
It’s surely individual, maybe subject to change, obviously food choices matter a lot too.
I eat some cheese though but very little meat at the moment so my food has way less variety than yours, probably. And it’s perfect for now. If I have enough meat, cheese loses pretty much of its importance.

I am a hedonist and I need variety. Much less in extremely low-carb but I do. And I have it.
I have little experience with meat but eggs are my most important staple food and I have plenty of good recipes (carnivore would be way harder without my low-carb times rich in eggs). Now I added meat and I got my flatbread, it filled some void. If I use some different meat, it gets different, I don’t even need spices, just salt and quite tasteless meat works too, eggs are tasty enough, meat adds a hint of flavor (it’s more recognizable than alone) and texture.

If I ever get bored for some reason, I just need to buy some different meat. There is a huge variety, it’s hard for me though as I only buy meat from a good farm - but I can buy fish from a shop as caught fish is available even in the nearby small villages. I could buy some salmon if I really wanted/needed and that’s nothing like the super lean white fish I ate today but with my cooking methods even that was nice just not awesome, I can live with that.
I could eat veal or tender lamb, duck or rabbit, goat or seafood, roosters and hens and tender, very young chicken, even wild animals (I prefer deer despite my fav meat is pork. wild boar is just too lean and boring to me. deer is somehow special), various organs, I can cook and fry and bake and add spices and condiments (including onions and garlic, those are super tasty so a little goes a long way. I need such things for not very tasty meat only, most dishes of mine has no spices, just salt. I love to add something to my omelets. Meat or cheese or mustard but if I fry it in lard, that’s often enough and nothing is wrong with a boiled egg, it is good even without salt, all alone)…
I admit I would quit the “only beef and water” style the second day (if I was very determined to last that long). But a bit more relaxed one is enjoyable and I was never bored this far (one week? :smiley: but I had that when I ate a near carnivore meal vs a normal keto one) despite my meat variety was limited, just smoked pork (I love it so much even a little makes a huge difference), chicken, beef and lean fish, not even any organs yet and I use super simple recipes.

Probably some people get bored of it after a while… Especially with stricter rules unless they love beef as I love eggs and pork and needs way less variety I do.
Of course, some people consider eating just fuel. I almost never accept below 9-10/10 meals. Normal people are between these two extremes but we can change. If it would be about my health, I would sacrifice very much. If my hedonism, convenience and other important things clash with health and well-being quite seriously (I mean, it’s not just some article about what is bad or something, I KNOW and maybe feel it significantly harms me), health is the winner, no matter what. I am just lucky I enjoy the food that is good for me pretty much. At least some of them. But if beef would be my only way, I would learn to like that, I already found some nice dishes after my first less than stellar ones. So I do what is good for me and my mind will ensure I will enjoy the hell out of it, usually. But if I have choices (I always had), I choose the easier, tastier, less boring way.

I eat for fuel sometimes, I guess everyone do. It’s just super rare and I still need tasty food for that even if I don’t enjoy it, just realize it’s good. I can’t eat bad tasting or tasteless meals. Well, unless I am starving since weeks or something. But it’s very, very individual.

#1103

I can’t say I am all in with being a hedonist :slight_smile: but I need variety.

Variety is the spice of life.

I took that literally. A lot of pure carnivore don’t do spice. I do. I find any of the same meat I eat, add a shake of spice of life on it and the flavor changes immediately.

I required this on my walk into carnivore. It satisfied my need for variety. TASTE was my variety change needed. Not the actual meal. Chicken with some Italian spice on it is totally different than chicken with a bit of garlic butter on it. So that worked for me.

Now I am way more years onto plan…I don’t require that kind of variety in my spice on my meats at all. I dropped 99.5% of all spice from my life. I kept in that .5% of that taste I truly love. Ones I do well on and satisfy me all the time. That .5% is a part of me now. ALL the change in TASTE I need to ‘add variety’

just chatting it out cause that is how it went down for me.

many find a ton of different ways to fight boredom. I did it from the spice rack on my meat and seafood. Main food always was meat/seafood, I changed up spice to ‘get the heck thru’ my needs of boredom and wanting other foods.

just how it went down for me mostly :slight_smile:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #1104

@monsterjuice I wasn’t sleeping very well during December as I began cutting back on vegetables and eating more animal foods. I wake up 1 1/2 - 2 hours after I go to bed, toss half asleep all night and end up with 4-5 hours max. I don’t think any of that is high quality REM sleep. I recover pretty fast after I get up. Last night I took a sleeping pill when I woke at 1:30 after going to bed about 11:00. Got a few hours in and woke again. I’ve been more hungry and had 2.5 meals several times with that half meal late because for some reason I have been getting ravenous in the evenings when before my stomach was calm. I’ve been pushing my big beef meal later in the afternoon since I am giving TRE/IF a break for now focusing only on appetite and not timing.

Yesterday I woke up really hungry and ate a big meaty breakfast at 6:30am, something I did early on with KETO and eventually shifted back to 9-10am easily for my first meal. I also ended up eating four times. Just a little hard salami and Parmesan Cheese at 9:00pm last night because my stomach was roaring even though I ate a pound of beef and was full at about 6:00pm. I cut out coffee several hours earlier than usual too. Last night when I woke at 1:30 I was clammy and itchy, quite uncomfortable. I haven’t had this happen for many months, since my early KETO days. I’m pretty used to being a bit of a chronic insomniac for the last 13 years at least, maybe longer. But I really thought as I got closer to a pure Carnivore WOE that things would get better, not more restless. It really hasn’t been long enough yet I guess. I’m sticking with the plan. :cowboy_hat_face:

#1105

adaption time. It has to work its way out of you. Every one will absolutely be different on the timing it takes for healing.

Eat. Just eat the meat and seafood as you need. Never not eat. That is key to this plan.

now for me personally, I could not eat even if starved like 3 hrs before I knew I was gonna go to bed. Cause it would give me that icky feeling of having eaten too close to lying down. More of a ‘food in throat’ kinda feeling.

Drop deli meat. Drop cheese as a go to. Key when we truly change into carnivore eating is eat the real meat and seafood. If you are hungry you just cut a chunk of that pound of beef you did eat before, (if you have it in the fridge) and eat more of that beef :slight_smile: Your feelings in your tummy and overall well being is different on that lb. of beef you ate vs. deli meat and cheese. It absolutely is a different effect for some of us.

It is like…hmmm, as your body heals on carnivore, your hormones and inflammation and more start to ‘balance’ and at the same time your body is NOW becoming more energized but ‘wonky’ thru toxin type dumping adaption------it becomes a true…crazy situation. We are healing, changing internally, getting results like more energy but then it gets zapped against that with toxins leaving the body.

darned if ya do and darned if ya don’t :slight_smile:
combo changes in the body from good to bad like toxins leaving but the body is healing and changing can UPSET sleep and more very easily.

I love your posts cause you know you and what it will take to change and get true results with time one needs to learn these truths. Your last line of sticking to the plan! Stellar! Cause that is what it takes to find your best but you document how it is going down for you while handling the internal body changes.

I really like your posts :slight_smile: :slight_smile: You got that gung ho feeling in them. Keep on trucking thru the crazy and see where I land and that is what it takes to walk into carnivore and give it the time to work for us!

(Ashley) #1106

I had the same issues with keto, and you know I’ve mentioned im also a chronic insomniac! Hopefully it’ll adjust with time like I did with keto! I just feel like my body doesn’t want to rest but my eyes do lol. Hopefully it’ll get better soon, I’m not giving up on this woe yet, I figure it’ll be a few weeks to a month change but being mostly carnivore I didn’t think non dirty carnivore would do this. Guess I was wrong. I don’t have the hunger though, I think holding onto so much body fat has me covered. I have about 70-75 lbs to lose!

#1107

Variety in spice isn’t very important for me and I probably would live for long with a few kinds of meat and other animal products (my few biggest favs) but it’s important how I prepare and combine them. Texture is super important for me. I already lost many colors, it’s good I can look at other things than my food :smiley: I always loved when my food was colorful, it’s more limited now. Good thing warm yellows and browns are my favorite colors…
I usually use mustard not for taste but some replacement for vegetables, a different feel, some juicier stuff on my fried, drier food. As time passes, I use less and less as it loses this role. I always were like this. I eat almost anything alone but I really love to combine different things. Wet with dry and vice versa, usually but I can’t eat beef stew alone, I need some drier stuff with a subtle taste to balance things out. If my food isn’t too dry or too wet or too salty, too rich or something, I can eat them alone.

I love spices but I still don’t use them too much as I use tasty ingredients that rarely need more than some salt and if they are too lean, fat. Tasty food is tasty without adding spices (I need salt though). I wonder if people buy tasteless meat and other food, they overindulged their taste buds or their taste buds aren’t sensitive enough. Vegans often say meat is tasty only because it has spices. And I pity the poor ones who met only tasteless meat in their life. I find most plants extremely tasty but really good meat wins against them, ridiculously easily at that. And a spicy mostly tasteless meat becomes something tasting like weak spice (or how should I say it) anyway. It may be nice in some cases but nothing like originally tasty food with spices. Some tasty meat with spices are really good though, I love those, they are just very good without the spices as well. And meat with little flavor gets better using spices - but it probably won’t be really good. Spices never saved my food, they just enhanced it a little in most cases or provided some variety now and they. They aren’t my everyday items. They would be if I was a vegan, probably, I have some great plant-based main dishes and they contains so much spice I was a bit worried about my carb intake on keto. I easily use more red and black peppers and other spices in a big portion of a spicy dish than salt for a week. I am a Hungarian, after all. Color the food red with red pepper! :smiley: Head cheese is quite red due to this. In Hungary as other folks doesn’t know how things should be made :). Sausage is often a vibrant red, it’s beautiful. There is a food, oh English words vs Hungarian traditional foods… Pork skin with lots of fat on it, no meat, it gets cooked in bigger blocks and totally covered with pretty red pepper. It’s good and I don’t like skin with fat only, I prefer it with meaty parts. But it’s good, my Mom made it for me once, she was happy with that stuff without this preparation but that’s pure, raw fat!!! I am not a Hungarian enough for that (of course people ate it with white bread and earlier in history, brown bread and whatever they had. And onions, just like bread and lard.)
But I can break tradition, I am experienced with that. I will eat red pepper for sure but I really don’t need it every day if I eat meat. Almost all my vegetarian dishes has red pepper though… It is that country I guess. Even tomato soup has it and it is eaten with sugar (and no idea what it does in it, actually. making it Hungarian? :D) Deviled eggs has it, all stew inevitably has it (it doesn’t matter if it’s vegetarian or not), it’s in the definition of our stew versions, without red pepper, it’s something else.

I would feel very odd in a country where red pepper isn’t in nearly everything, probably. In BIG amounts if possible. I don’t use spicy ones so there is not really such thing as too much red pepper… Even though I would survive without it, of course, I can adapt.

Garlic and onion is my very special “spice vegetables”, they make a lot of things WAY better.
10-30 years ago I had a different relationship with onions. I ate a lot. 1 big onion for 1 egg just made a perfect omelet. Or 2 onions, that worked too. It drastically changed on low-carb and especially keto. I don’t even use onions in my eggs anymore. They are too sweet. But stews need it, just like many meaty dish. In moderation.

It’s a nice topic and I barely scratched the surface… Though I usually use only red and black pepper. I love others too but use them rarely, often just in a single dish. I have so many spices I never use, I don’t know why, stupid hoarding habits (no, I am a collector, I have one from every type)…

I have black salt. It was cheap and never saw it before so I bought it. I know vegans use it to make something more similar to eggs (fat chance) but what I would do with it? Once I’ve read mixing salt may improve taste, I don’t know if it works with this special one…
Maybe I will use it for decoration/art one day. Once I used sugar to make something pretty (crystals are nice). And bigger pieces of spices and oily seeds to make an advent decoration.

#1108

remember this also. It is not just a month to a clear body.

In that the more we hold onto us the more we will feel effects that aren’t just ‘dumped’ overnight and they won’t ever be.

from the net… We now know that toxins can be stored in body fat tissue . And that these stored toxins - now out of our circulation - can still cause health issues in the body.

As we lose we release more and more. So never this narrow on any of this. It is a true and firm change of our bodies OVER big time on what it takes for US and how our path goes :slight_smile:

Just things to consider. Cause even those on longer (like 2-3 yrs carnivore) can’t understand why they are ‘not there yet’ like others.

Cause we are so individual on each of us that we must walk the carnivore healing in our own time. This is really important.

just chatting it out and throwing out something that might be of interest to you :slight_smile:

#1109

Just saying for all here on carnivore.

As we lose lbs. we dump more toxins that we thought would not be there………so when we heal more with carnivore, when the body finds balance and decides it is time to dump some lbs. because it is time and they need to go now and we heal enough for our bodies to direct our healing in that fashion…drop the fat now cause the body can and will…we can almost experience another adaption time we never knew existed for us.

So keep that in mind at all times. Carnivore fixes things fast for many but long term, on what we need will vary and how our body dumps toxins as it must will never be the same for all or on a set timeline…therefore that ‘30 day’ give it a go carnivore should be more like ‘90 day’ for more truth…but for many of us out there, it can be a 12 month truth, or a 24 month truth of what it takes.

Zero carbers always say ‘Keep the Faith’ cause it is the truth of what it takes for YOU.

Thing is if we never leave carnivore ALL will find their set point of truth and physical well being but one must put in that time and effort to hold it, hence keep the faith! No 2 will be the same ever on our internal bodies and how it must change for better health and time limits on doing just that.

Beauty of carnivore. You will get there but in your own personal time!

just throwing out chat talk for all of us carnis. This is stuff we need to know and understand and give it that focus we need when we need it. All based on our own timelines.

being individuals we can’t just think it will ever all be ok and the same. Our journeys on our bodies will and can throw us a loop.

#1110

I have a very good guess about my salt intake in the last ~9 days.
I add 3g salt per day to my food myself (it’s not a guess, I measured out 30g salt 9 days ago and I still have some left but very little. The interference of not living alone isn’t significant, I make sure of it).
I eat about 2g in my food.
So, it didn’t change, I still eat around 5g salt per day. I feel I eat very salty as my food was less volume in carnivore and it’s easy to oversalt tiny stuff, especially my little lard snack, I will make a salty lard mix…
It feels just right as always did. Not like I can do much about my salt intake, not easily, at least, it’s my comfortable amount.

#1111

Feeling fabulous. Went for a trail run and took a dip in the lake. Yes, it was cold.

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Today I got in an hour and a half on the trail before my dip. My last meal was mid day yesterday. I’m about to cook up a big hunk of chuck roast and just had some liver.

This is not really fasting… this is not needing to eat because I ate plenty yesterday. Now my body is ready for some food so I’m going to eat 2 or 3 lbs of beef, maybe some eggs, then I probably won’t eat again until tomorrow.

#1112

and that is carnivore :slight_smile: one never intentionally fasts cause our bodies tell when to eat and not eat…we should just listen!

Great post…wonderful pic, but I am NC and Brrrr……I just got back from SC and the beach…Brrr….heck yea that lake had to be chilly~ you brave person you :slight_smile:

You sound wonderful bob and that is just so great, happy for you!!

(mole person) #1113

Are you eating too much protein? These are both symptoms that I get when I overdo lean meat. The simple PKD rule is your plate should be 35% white fat, the rest red meat. It works for me very well.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #1114

@Ilana_Rose I know you’re probably right with that. I think I ate a pretty good amount of fat but no tracking anything so I am just guessing. I got hungry and ate maybe and ounce each of Salami and Parmesan Cheese to kill it around nine. I had a New York steak, about a pound with a tablespoon of grass fed butter on top for dinner, an couple hours before that some smoked Turkey thigh (homemade). Breakfast was two kinds of sausage, bacon and eggs cooked in bacon grease. It was the hungriest day in recent memory. I know lots of processed pork there, I’m working through my freezer and using up stuff so it will clean up soon. Yeah, lots of protein yesterday. :cowboy_hat_face:

(mole person) #1115

@David_Stilley I was also really super hungry at the start of carnivore. I was eating three meals a day for a bit. Once I sorted out the fats it helped a lot. I’m back to OMAD now and don’t even get hungry much at all anymore.

#1116

I am very hungry when I don’t eat enough protein (bigger eating window requires more) or calories. My rare low calorie days make my next day more sensitive at that. I better have lots of delicious protein and it’s damn hard to stick to even almost/dirty carnivore without lots of proper (fresh) meat sometimes. Whatever, I keep my first meal carnivore, my day keto (<20g if possible but it is) and do what I can to avoid feeling I’m starving.

I suddenly realized I didn’t look at the Facebook page of the “beef farm” today.
Yay!
I ordered a lot of mutton as they will butcher some sheep next :smiley: A lot compared to my freezer capacity, we can’t cook any right away (again) so all the meat must fit into it.
I only need to wait a week this time! It’s a relief.

I don’t think I ever ate mutton or it was 30 years ago and I don’t remember. My near future is exciting.

Is it something mutton is especially good for? I ordered ribs, neck and leg (hopefully they didn’t run out of them yet). Stew is a given and I guess soup is a good idea too… Drier stuff didn’t really worked for beef last time (super thin slices fried after cooked for some time were okay though. I suspect I am NOT a steak person but I will be certain if I eat a surely well prepared one, it seemed easy but maybe I used the wrong part, well of course, I bought the cheapest ones and they were fine for other dishes) and I have no idea what to expect from mutton.
But I expect good things :slight_smile:

#1117

There is a physiological mechanism for increased hunger on a higher protein diet. I think it is when the protein macro gets higher than 30%. Especially in people who are at goal weight and are not carrying much excess body fat to buffer any fat metabolism needs. People with excess body fat may not get the same degree of physiological disturbance.

My base understanding is that the amino acids may induce an insulin response to protein intake? In the low available fat environment that insulin response drives hunger.

I’d love it explained more clearly (I am pre-coffee). It speaks to the effects of protein sparing modified fasts and rabbit starvation, I think, as well? But it needs its special contextual set up to come into effect.

I’d have to ask someone like @amwassil Michael who was explaining it to Bunny recently. (Ironic in the context of rabbit starvation).

This post really makes no sense yet.

Some comparisons between a higher fat ketogenic carnivore diet, and higher protein in the fat:protein ratio in the slides toward the end of this presentation:

(Full Metal KETO AF) #1118

@FrankoBear If Bunny finds out about it I’m sure she’ll tell you what’s up!

:laughing::joy::joy::joy::grin::wink::cowboy_hat_face:

(mole person) #1119

Very interesting. I’m on the lean side at 104 lbs and yah, when I ate a lot of protein at the start of carnivore I was really hungry a lot, eating too much, and weirdly craving stuff. Also, I had a return to pre keto brain fog, lower mood, and crappier skin.

#1120

I was super satiated when I started, way too much, it was a bit uncomfortable to be so full all the time.
But I didn’t eat more protein I usually do. Only in percentages as I ate less food I normally do.
I am borderline overweight.
Eggs and meat are my top satiating food items and carbs make me hungry. Eating very high protein is something I can’t do, too satiating (at least with all the fat I inevitably eat with it but protein is way more important than fat anyway regarding satiation. Lots of fat isn’t effective without lots of protein, the opposite is, I guess, I have only a tiny experience with low-fat keto days).

I am fat adapted since long and it has a big effect on my satiation and hunger, no matter how I eat. There are probably lots of personal factors. For example, I was always good at being satiated for long when well-fasted, even on high-carb. Carbs make me hungry and more uncontrolled but I need to eat them first.

#1121

I had written this the other day, and forgot to post it…so here is my little corner of the world on New Year’s Day…

Off topic. But here is a pic of what things look like here on Jan.1,2020. Its 10F outside, nice and sunny. I love Michigan!
Got a foot of snow the other day, so everything is covered in a lovely blanket of sparkles.

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