Carnivore and loose stool

diarrhoea
(Ryan Hoover) #1

Can anyone help with some guidance. I was keto for three years and had perfect stools. Lots of plant matter. One year on carnivore (which I LOVE) and I still have really loose stools. I have tried ascorbic acid, food enzymes, milk thistle, berberine, and even fiber. I don’t want to supplement but don’t see any other option. I am currently cutting out eggs and dairy just to see what happens. Folate helped but didn’t cure the problem.

(Elizabeth ) #2

Maybe try cutting back on your fat for sure, any soft dairy is not a good idea but an ounce of hard cheese can help some people.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

You may possibly be getting too much salt. A lot of carnivores find that they get enough salt in their diet without having to salt their food. Try cutting back and seeing what happens.

#4

agree with E on this one cause your fat intake usually will dictate the stool situation for most of us and a year into this, haven’t you kinda done that by now? that little experiment of eating less fat and seeing where ya stand? wondering if you tried that. Plus adding a side dish like seafood or chicken, a leaner meat to your fattier meat can make a good meal to combat that situation also.

And what are you cooking your food in…like are you doing a steak cooked in alot of butter than dipping the steak in that butter? Just meaning sometimes we over fat ourselves, I know I can do that sometimes :slight_smile:

A year in, it truly should be all about your fat intake and how you balance out how you cook your meats and if you do add some leaner meats/seafoods into your menu.

Are you on any prescribed meds? Sometimes those can be something a person must deal with?

Also what you drink…just water or are you pushing the envelope on drinks? Back to basics of meat/seafood and watch fat intake and control dairy tightly and experiment on yourself is the way to go and hope you get great results!

best of luck…hope you get yourself situated better.

(Ryan Hoover) #5

This is interesting. I am at 7 grams no sat per day. Drinking salt water. I will cut back and see if that helps. My energy fell went I went from Keto to Carnivore so I kept upping essential electrolytes.

(Ryan Hoover) #6

I have tried lean meats, fat meats. Ive done 30% protein to 50% protein (lowering fat). I try and stay away from rendered fats and get it from animal sources where its whole. Even bought suet and at that.

No meds at all.

I do drink more coffee than I would like although I switch to decaf after my morning espresso. And I drink Zevia sodas but only 1-2 per day. About 2 liters of water per day, mostly when I’m at the gym.

I cut out chicken but do eat salmon and pork…all locally sourced. I eat sardines, beef liver, oysters…whole animal products. I live in a place where I can source all my protein locally.

(Ryan Hoover) #7

I have cut back on fat before but energy plummeted. I eat 1.5 oz of hard cheese per day. Thats all. But I am going to cut dairy and eggs out. I’ve never had any food allergies that I’m aware of other than bloating from veggies.

(Ashley) #8

Is that no salt? That could be your problem, high amounts of that can cause bathroom issues!

(Ryan Hoover) #9

I do use about a teaspoon of NoSalt per day for potassium. Otherwise its Redmonds Sea Salt.

(Ashley) #10

I read that as 7g of no salt, which I was like woah to! Thanks for the clarification!

(Bunny) #11

Steatorrhea could be the problem of the diarrhea like symptoms because your not really digesting the fat or what little or more fat your eating so you may want to consider digestive enzymes like lipase and the best source of a lipase besides your pancreas is Avocados to breakdown the smaller fatty acids and glycerol your pancreas sourced lipase cannot? (90% of your pancreatic lipase enzyme output has been lost or compromised for some reason?)

Avocados are awesome :avocado:

More lipase (breaks down fat), the more solid your stool will be! Your loose stool is the product of undigested fats (over-production of bile?) hence, “Steatorrhea.“

Just like pineapples contain bromelain which is a protease which is good at digesting proteins or meat? :pineapple:

References:

[1] “…About 90% of the pancreas is dedicated to making digestive enzymes. Cells called acinar cells within the pancreas produce these enzymes. The enzymes help to make proteins, fats and carbohydrates smaller. This helps the guts (intestines) to absorb these nutrients. …” …More

(Elizabeth ) #12

You might want to try cutting out the zevia It could be the sweetener even though it’s considered natural it could still be a problem. I know you’re looking for carnivore solutions :slight_smile:

(Not a cow) #13

I just recently cut back on my magnesium citrate in my electrolyte mix. Basically salt and magnesium, more to keep cramps down, but I was up to 2 teaspoon per day. Cut back both to 1 teaspoon a day and seems to have helped a little and still no cramps. It’s an n=1 for me, don’t know if it will help but I notice you said you were upping your electrolytes for energy. Just a thought.

#14

curious…when you started carnivore way back in the day…did you ever drop coffee and go in with a total elimination menu? Reason I ask is cause excess coffee, even if decaf can definitely be a factor and cause the D.

If you dropped it and had no D when ya started and added back this could be a big issue…or if you never dropped it, and haven’t yet to see if this is it, this should be your big change.

it is the coffee probably cause it does make digestive issues for many, hit the net and check it out cause coffee can cause the D.

I say drop coffee and stevia. While stevia on the net says it is more likely to help with D than cause it…but coffee on the internet says it can easily cause D.

wondering how you started this lifestyle and if you dropped coffee or kept it always?

Your menu sounds great, your playing around with lean meats, fat sources and such and I don’t think this is the main concern at all…I think the main concern is ‘I do drink more coffee than I would like’ and probably them Zevia sodas ain’t helping in truth either.

I would drop both…go from there. I know, tough thing to handle needing to drop those to get a true reading on how your body does eating very clean on meat/seafood only. If I wanted to see some clean zc eating truths, I would start there for sure. Best of luck!!

(Ryan Hoover) #15

This is great info but 1) I wasn’t like this on Keto when I was still very high fat and 2) I am currently taking lipase. I have eaten avocados but on carnivore they don’t seem to help.

(Ryan Hoover) #16

True. but currently I’ve cut down to 1/2 Teaspoon of magnesium.

(Ryan Hoover) #17

If I’m totally honest, and I so appreciate all the comments, I do have a fear that this could all be about coffee. Cutting it out seems like an impossible task. And…I drank more coffee on Keto and didn’t have an issue. I don notice that if I have a cheat day and eat some fibers veggies or even crappy carbs, my stools are much better for one day. I’m beginning to wonder if I should just go back to Keto but I love the convenience of carnivore.

#18

yea you are saying some key factors here. on keto your coffee was better for you because of some veg…and when ya cheat up with some veg on carnivore your stools are better…and if Keto is your thing and you feel ok on it, then going back is an option for sure.

See with zero carb the whole darn key to this plan is not cheating, and not excessing on coffee or whatever one might drink etc. that could monkey with us. On ZC we need ‘clean zc’ for our bodies to truly fat adapt as it needs and with some items we do keep or eat extra can truly effect our adaption and we quite never get there doing it that way. So clean zc is a huge factor in seeing if this plan is best for you and it ain’t easy deciding sometimes how you wanna roll.

So one option is drop the coffee, go all in strict meat/seafood and see how you do if you want that way or going back a tiny bit, making a more carnivore keto plan might suit you better?

you have options :slight_smile: never worry about that, you have options to work out any menu that suits your body and your lifestyle so just work on your path a bit and see where you land. We do have to enjoy our eating plan kinda to make it stick, and we all have to find just that for ourselves and from what you are doing, I can easily tell you will land in a great eating plan for yourself!!

(Elizabeth ) #19

I agree with Fangsy, you can suck it up for 30 days and just do beef and water, cut out coffee cut out salt cut out everything else and just suck it up and then start to add things back in one at a time and see how you feel.