Carnivore tips anyone?

carnivore
(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #1

On doctor’s orders, I must spend the next 14 days on 2 meals/day of pure carnivore (meaning not even fats except animal fats) and then slowly transition to a low lectin diet to see if this helps me. I am even more limited because I cannot use any animal fats to cook right now, so unfortunately steaks on the cast iron pan are out until I can use butter or oil again.

Current diet is 2-3 lattes a day (yes I’ve titrated down so I won’t have withdrawals!), if I have a meal before dinner it’d be a brunchy type of eggs/avo/hollandaise/cheese/meat combo, otherwise I might just snack on cheese until dinner which is generally some combo of meat and non-starchy veg. Late night snacks might include dark choc, low carb ice cream. I’m probably forgetting something but whatever.

2 meals per day of just meat/fish/chicken is fine by me, though it might get a little boring since I can only really add salt. But I’m a newbie at carnivore, never done it before. Anything unforeseen you can warn me about? Any tips? I’m all ears.

(Polly) #2

Hi. Just want to wish you all the best with your carnivore transition.

(If you don’t mind me asking)Why are you unable to cook with animal fats at the moment?

My inclination would be to choose fatty lamb chops and fattier cuts of steak as well as canned oily fish in brine or spring water. If there is some issue for you with fat content generally then this suggestion won’t help you.

Also steak seared on both sides on a smoking hot griddle pan does not need to be finished with butter (although it is nice that way). It could just be rested for 10 to 20 minutes before tucking in.

#3

Only 14 days? That can’t be very boring, there are so many kinds of meat to choose from… ONLY meat? That’s very strict, I need my eggs but if it would be a must, I would survive 14 days on meat only I am sure. Of course it’s very individual but you are already used to eat mostly animal food, you just need to skip the others. You may miss those, I don’t know but you can achieve a nice variety with meat only. I need variety even on carnivore but interestingly, just skipping plants immediately made my woe more interesting despite it became more limited. It may not make sense to everyone but carnivore changed my attitude to food, it still needs to be exciting and tasty and variety is needed but it’s even more fine not eating everything than before and I don’t even miss most of my old favs. At least it can’t be so hard for 1-2 weeks. Even I could do 2 weeks!

Even no added fat isn’t a big problem if you like fatty cuts. I only use salt when I roast my fatty pork as it simply doesn’t need anything else, all the flavor I could possibly need is in the meat (and I am a hedonist who thinks making good things even better is the proper way to live. but I can’t enhance my roasts anymore and it’s good as they are already irresistible most of the time, good thing meat gives me a proper clear stop sign). I never got bored of that yet but I don’t eat that every day, there are other animals, organs… Sometimes I depend on eggs more… Even then, I rarely use added fat, I pair my eggs with some really fatty meat.

If your choice of meat is leaner for some reason, then I don’t know, that’s not my style. When I have leaner meat, I use something fatty as side dish.

I just do on/off carnivore(-ish) since a while (carnivore-ish is being my default), hopefully the real carnivores will give you all the help you need. I am just experienced with avoiding added fat on carnivore as I should do that myself. Ridiculously easy with all those fatty cuts…

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #4

Hey Polly, thanks for the kind wishes! I’m transitioning back to Sydney from summer in Canberra, so I’m staying with folks who have religious dietary restrictions, so I can’t use (say) commercial tallow. I will call the butcher and find out if they can hook me up with some extra chicken skins or fatty offcuts, but frankly I just oven-roasted chicken and steak and it turned out pretty delicious.

Good idea on the canned oily fish in brine.

Yeah the only trouble I have with the smoking hot cast iron is that I really thought you kind of need some fat/oil to finish the sear. Also, I’m wondering what I’m going to clean and season the cast iron with afterwards; usually I try to use butter, but I worry that even having that seasoning on it will break my strict carnivore diet the NEXT time I use it.

Thoughts?

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #5

Very good points, thank you. I will try mix it up, and of course I can eat fish to my heart’s content, and barramundi here in Australia is a particularly delicious fish. So I’m not panicking! I just have to figure out a way to do steak in my cast iron pan without tallow. You think a fatty cut of meat will cook fine on cast iron?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #6

I thought butter was an animal fat. Of course, if you’re keeping kosher, butter and lard are out, but that shouldn’t prevent you from rendering suet to make your own tallow.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #7

Curious, however… Two weeks isn’t long and you could live without cooking easily, even carnivore. For example, just buy roast beef and have it sliced a bit thicker than usual and eat that. No cooking required on your part. Or get corned beef for a bit more fat.

Why is “steak in my cast iron pan without tallow…” a requisite? Microwave it. Sous Vide it in a kettle or pot of water.

(Bob M) #8

When I sear steak, I take a very small amount of tallow heated to liquid and paint that on the two sides of the steak. I then sear the steak.

It’s also possible to sear without any “oil”/tallow, but I’ve never done this.

I do think that allowing searing but not allowing a tiny bit of tallow seems…strange?

(Vic) #9

Here is a tip or 2 for you,

Enjoy the hell out of it.

Eat 3 ingredients a meal, example : steak with a slice of cheese and an egg.
Next meal steak with shrimps and a chicken sausage.

Use your imaginations, forget the dogma and combine anyting you want, raw or cooked.

There are more (real food) animal product’s out there than plant product’s.

Limit proccessed meats, a small bit to add flavour, fine.

You can actually do this for years and never be bored.

Boredom is the carb addiction devil wispering bad things in your ear.

#10

AMEN to that!

(Laurie) #11

If the steak or other meat has a strip of fat on the outside, you can hold the steak perpendicular for a few seconds and grease the pan with that. Or you could remove the strip of fat and reserve it for greasing the pan several times.
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(Bob M) #12

While I think this is a good idea, what is the difference between this and taking tallow, heating it up, and painting it onto the surface of the meat? They seem the same to me.

That’s why I don’t understand the idea you can’t use tallow to cook with.

(KCKO, KCFO) #13

Chicken shmultz is wonderful stuff with a high flash point. Tallow fits the bill. Bacon grease is great for searing steaks too.

Good luck with sorting it all out.

Your dr. sounds cool to me, your lucky to have one that doesn’t scream when you mention keto or carnivore.

(Bob M) #14

Unfortunately, very high in PUFAs. If it’s liquid at room temp, there will be a lot of PUFAs.

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #15

Oh I’ve been on low carb for 5 years. This is a new phase of troubleshooting. This doctor’s name you would recognise, but I do have a local GP who is low carb friendly too.

I’d also note that, in NYC, when I told any doctor about my diet, even if they resisted me they still knew I knew more than they did about nutrition. It’s nearly impossible to scream at a well-informed patient.

The trouble is that a lot of people find out about keto from social media and don’t really know what they’re doing. Frankly I don’t even like the term “keto,” and I just think the less sugar and starch people eat, the better, which I gather is Taubes’s view too.

(The terrible state of nutritional “science” is really bad for science and medicine in general. I can totally understand someone going on a LCHF diet, getting “screamed at” by their doctor, and then questioning everything the doctors and public health apparatus is saying. Vaccines, for example. I can very well imagine people doubting everything, even where the evidence is good, because nutritional “science” has done a terrible PR job for science and medicine.)

#16

I eat a lot of brisket, and when I re-heat it I just cut a chunk of fat off of it and use that to grease the pan. Highly recommend it :slight_smile:
Good luck!

(Gabe “No Dogma, Only Science Please!” ) #17

Yes! I haven’t in a while, but in the past I’ve tended to fry up the leftover fat until it gets crispy. You’re right, I just need a good bit of brisket and I’ll have plenty of fat for the next two weeks!

I must say, I’ve had a tragic migraine today. Could be related, might not be. I’m getting plenty of salt but perhaps I’m missing other electrolytes. My doctor recommended 6mg boron but I haven’t been able to get it. What other key electrolytes should I be taking? Mg? K?

#18

I guess it should but I almost always roast my meat in the oven as it’s almost no work and I get 2-3+ kg lovely meat that way even in my minioven… I fried fatty meat without added fat but just a little amount cut into small pieces…
So I haven’t the experience you seek.

#19

get out your grill. cook it. done.
no added anything LOL
if not meaning anything other than animal fats then cut off a bit of the fat off a steak, or render a tad of chicken fat then cook in pan.
This is not hard at all truly. Just do it :slight_smile: More power to you!!