@Alecmcq
Use egg yolks.
On keto I’ve thickened with xanthan gum, arrowhead flour, glucomanan flour. But also egg yolks. And even though hubby is a starchitarian 
he loves gravy thickened with yolks.
Clean Carnivore Crew, January 2022
JJFiddle
(Judy Thompson)
#422
JJFiddle
(Judy Thompson)
#424
In Dr. Saladino’s book he discouraged turmeric specifically. I’ve been taking turmeric and boswellia for pain and it really works but cut it out a week ago. Now I’m wondering if I’d have had such a bad episode this morning if I’d taken it.
I’m going to start it again tonight, what do y’all think? I mean, heart patients would still use nitroglycerin, which comes from foxglove.
My meds are light, just 2: a muscle relaxant and a nerve calmer. I’ve quit all the vitamins and still take 5-htp (a seritonin precursor) and magnesium. It has lightened my load considerably! But is this “we don’t take supplements” thing just for kids under 60?
One of my biggest hopes on this woe is getting rid of inflammation. I read once, if we could get rid of inflammation, we would all live to be 150.
At that point I think the turmeric could go.
Naghite
(Michael)
#425
Not sure if it was the long dog walk this morning in NEGATIVE 26 C! Anyway, was quite hungry today, here are my meals
Beef cheek, bit of liver and two testicles
Fresh pork belly, beef heart and eggs
1lb beef ribeye with a 8 oz cheese chaser
Nice to see so many involved this month.
Ketodaisy
(Daisy)
#426
My advice would be “don’t take dr Saladino’s advice” . He should not be a voice in the carnivore world in my opinion. I personally don’t know much about turmeric but if it’s helpful to you and doesn’t cause you any ill effects, use it. Dr Saladino jumped into carnivore with the nose to tail or nothing approach, eating copious amounts of organs and preached it as a religion. Then when he got sick from eating too many organs, he said “everyone MUST eat honey and fruit to be healthy on a carnivore diet!” and has preached it as a religion, while still eating copious amounts of organs and honestly looking more and more unhealthy (and frankly quite crazy!!!) for the past year. At this point, if he told me the sky was blue, I’d walk outside just to be sure. And there are many in the carnivore community who agree
Shinita
#427
I didn’t read further so I will be a repetition, oh well.
My culinary answers are usually answered with the same: eggs. Egg is my thickener. Egg is my flour. Egg is my bread. Egg is my life 
Partially but they are important.
But I never use gravy, I don’t need it and it’s not really a thing here I think so I am not experienced with that. But egg yolks can make things denser. Or not, there are interesting cases when 2 thick stuff becomes thin when mixed (egg yolk and mascarpone).
And in the beginning of my carni times my weight does absolutely nothing unless I am after some serious overeating with carbs. I lost my water weight changes some years into my on/off keto.
But it’s normal to lose some weight I suppose.
Hi guys, I am free and ate at noon! A tiny bit. Alvaro (my SO as we have someone new again and I don’t underestimate people’s curiosity, mine is huge, after all) loves to have his lunch at noon and he was already hungry when his curry got ready. It’s winter so he couldn’t buy cheap veggies for it, he used some but way less than normal and chicken breast. Considering my appetite problems now, I decided to have a small amount 
It was nice. There are few ways to feed me chicken breast but this dish does the trick. It made my leftover fish quite edible too, yay. I like fish curry but our curry always included lots of vegs (and originally never any meat, it changed since I tried carnivore ;)). But this less veggy version opened the way to even meatier ones Alvaro seemed open to the suggestion. He has his carby side anyway but adores his veggies too just like I did until the end of 2019.
Apart from the curry, my plate is similar to yesterday’s, I eat the same items but carefully, I started eating earlier partially to avoid being very hungry while not being able to much at once.
I even allowed coffee way before sunset but I need this break now. And it’s hard to avoid coffee when I already ate. It’s such a nice end especially when I am not satiated just can’t stomach more food, I use some yolks and butter and it’s part of my food and easy to consume…
I will buy this Greek yogurt again, it’s quite nice and comes handy when I have appetite problems (but don’t dislike dairy at the moment. I rarely do as I almost never overdo dairy). Yum.
Shinita
#428
Wow.
I don’t even know about gurus as I do things my own way anyway… I love the taste of honey minus the overly sweetness but my body is pretty sure about not liking carbs let alone pure sugars (I tested honey in December as always. I only have honey at that time as I bake Christmas cookies for the Christmas dinner, Alvaro’s mom loved them. It’s quite low-carb but has a little honey). Fruits are my darlings but the same, better than honey though. But there aren’t the point, I just got carried away as usual. HOW idiotic and anyway, there is no such things as everyone must do the same. We are different. Our circumstances are different. We are different from ourselves 10 years ago…
It’s for people who don’t need them, more like. Do what works for you… Maybe it changes later.
(Kids under 60 
)
FrankoBear
#429
This is at the top of our homestead block. I build tree guards to keep the kangaroos out.
Some interesting things happening. I had a bad inflammation flare up and was back at the doctor. My joint pain has now improved a lot by taking conventional medication of prednisone. But I do not enjoy the side effects. It’s stress in a pill. My fasting blood glucose this morning was 130 mg/dl (7.2) - retested it 3 times. Blood ketones were 0.4 mmol/L. The prednisone has pumped up my blood glucose. This is how cortisone users become diabetic. This medication course is just for 5 to 7 days. I can empathise with anyone who is on cortisone treatment long term.
Staying on plan. Almost OMAD yesterday/Saturday with a late breakfast at 5pm of 3 pasture fed eggs and bacon. But had 100g beef and chicken liver pate at about 7pm. 2 coffees but I have frozen the cream into ice cubes and that is controlling (reducing) the cream dose as I have iced coffees during this latest summer heat wave. Today, was hot again, 2 iced coffees with 1 cream ice block in each. All the supplements and CBD oil plus prednisone. NoFUN breakfast of 3 pasture eggs and bacon. Dinner at 7pm of 250g fillet steak, 2 slices of sheep milk halloumi cheese, and some nibbles of Spanish Manchego cheese. Rain water to drink.
I was walking Billie along the beach and she kept getting away from me and running off to play with people and dog friends. I realised I was lagging as the surfing boardshorts I usually wear that were a tight squeeze at the beginning of January were loose and kept slipping down. I have to remember to keep taking face photos, but prednisone can result in a round face.
Ketodaisy
(Daisy)
#430
Haha I completely missed this line! I have found that I need supplements right now. I take k2/d3 in still trying to (unsuccessfully) fix the teeth buildup thing. I take copper for my hair (and maybe I’m crazy, but it seems to be helping!). I take iodine and it has been life changing. And then I’ve been keeping you all apprised on my sleep supplement experiments. Currently the cortisol manager, 5htp, and magnesium. I will say I got the best night sleep in a very long time last night. I’ll do that part of my daily post here because it’s worthy to be posted early! If I didn’t need supplements I certainly would not be taking them.
Sleep 1/22
Supplements: cortisol support taken in morning and early afternoon, (total of 600 mg ashwagandha, 400 mg rhodiola rosea root extract, 200 mg l-theanine). 200 mg 5-htp and 400 mg magnesium glycinate taken at 10. In bed at 10:31, on back, no earplugs. Prayer and breath. Up to pee at 1:10 and 4, right back to sleep. I only got up at 1 because my husband woke me when he came to bed. I think if I was wearing earplugs I wouldn’t have woken at all. Deep and dream filled sleep the whole night until about 5/5:30, then I kept waking up until I got up a few minutes before my alarm at 6:40. Very restful night sleep!!
FrankoBear
#431
Hi Alec, My understanding is that the initial change may be part of adaptation. So, if you are urinating a bit more than normal, it may be water weight loss. However, carnivore ZC can drop insulin further after a low carb ease in, that will result in some sodium loss (as you know from keto), and water loss, but may also reduce any inflammation in the body further, especially if an inflammatory response has been stimulated by doses of a plant-based reactive antigen. The chart looks good. It is sign-posting a path to follow, I think.
Fangs
#432
@Ketodaisy
interesting on the cortisol manager info. Good you are out talking to others on what might work and throwing away some of the more crazy suggestions 
but yea, experience of others just chatting it up can sure help us find some solutions that might work for us!
Your food pics are stellar as usual!
@JJFiddle
Yes, feeling the health hit after eating more crappy can easily SHOW us which way we have to eat for a better day…but alot of carnivores who come finding this lifestyle are here for big specific reasons ya know. So if carnivore works and fixes one’s issues, that backward walk into a low carb lifestyle almost can’t happen. Yes some can go backward into a keto/lc life again, but if one is searching usually and hits into carnivore for health fixes and more, most times going back truly isn’t an option. Carnivores truly know who carnivores should be
Yea key on supps is since carnivore is the biggest elimination menu one will eat, it is best to start it with NO supps…your body gets off them, your body heals and hormones rebalance etc on carnivore and later down the line, if you wanna try a supp for whatever reason, when you do try it, you know real fast if it is friend or foe, needed or not needed ya know. If we go into carnivore on tons of supps, how does one know if they are good for us or needed? So it is best to get rid of supps, start a new fresh body on carnivore lifestyle eating plan and then later, when ya got carnivore under your belt, if something is still off then you research a bit and see if a supp might help them but you can truly gauge how you do on it.
OK-----you got me wondering, gotta ask…drinking some alcohol is vital to my marriage…haha…kinda not seeing that point LOL
ok on supps like tumeric
One thing I do on ‘plant supps’ is truly research them. the cons…the pros we know are out there, but the cons are alot of times more hard to find…after researching tumeric in easy form, then I would go find out what this plant/root is all about…a dive a tad deeper.
Ginger root family. It contains Zingibain, which when checked is used alot in meat tenderizing products because --from the 'net: Meat tenderization occurs due to zingibain’s rapid proteolysis of major muscle proteins within meat, especially [actomyosin] and [Type I collagen], which is found in [muscle joints]
SO this in the ginger family tumeric root has tendency to break down proteins, chews up the proteins for tenderizing meat, WE ARE made of meat HAHA and of course once we learn this tidbit we can then research even deeper the more stuff ‘in the ginger root family’ and how it contains things we might not want in our bodies.
Heck I researched broccoli on a plant level and it is scary what is in broccoli LOL but of course one has to follow the real science of what they are ingesting to find out truths on what really is ‘that plant extract/oil supp’ they are taking. Yea I am the type that does this kinda thing HA
think of it like this too, plants we eat can be very inflammatory to some of us, so if that is true and we find carnivore, aren’t supps just in a pill form of concentrated plant inflammatory intake? We get off plants for health improvement yet we rely on concentrated plant extract supps to fix us? Again, all I am saying is get off all first then add back later…that way we find what always works for all us individuals on carnivore and find what suits us best.
@Karen18
OK, I’ll bite. What is an electric lunchbox? I can’t picture what that could be LOL
Sounds like a nice outing to Sherwood Pines and very cool you got a cafe that will work with you on your meals 
@Shinita
love the landscape shots from your window. You are very rural area but it seems very pretty and natural. No hub bub from a big city
I get you easily on ‘food taking up your time’ in your day but that can easily be controlled by you. Stop doing it HAHA I know many love to track and evaluate all they eat in their day etc. but in the end, with carnivore you truly don’t have to do it. I let go of all baggage and went with ‘eat meat, all I want, when I want, don’t eat when not hungry’ and just live your life and forget ALL the other food stuff in your day that takes time and effort. I also can get bogged down with too much food info around me when the family wants this food and that and I have to cook etc. and more and I think…omg this food focus in my face is enough to drive me nuts…is when I tell them to fend for themselves more and leave me alone…hey, they will make it, they can figure it out and it puts me right into my path to take food off my focus. Carnivore is no food focus for me…I just eat and don’t worry about one other thing mostly.
@Azi
You are home now!! You will get back in your groove and yea, trips like yours and stress while there and that fall and more, yes I feel ya getting nailed a bit, but you are home doing your thing…and your pool! I so want that pool at my home
@Alecmcq
yes very normal to lose from keto to carnivore. You might lose a bit more also. First is water weight of course ditching carbs and second you might lose some again cause your body is healing from inflammation from probably foods it doesn’t enjoy on keto. Carnivore is elimination menu so anything you do add back later will show you truly how it works for your body or against you. But keep carnivore, you will find many great benefits further down the line from mental clarity to an overall well being of health and body composition changes to leaner and meaner all while eating so well! Keep on truckin!!
@Naghite
Brrr on those temps!
Beauty pics of your meals!!
@FrankoBear
we got deer issues eating stuff, you got 'Roo problems! too funny to read a Roo can do that much damage but darn I am sure they could kill trees fast!
WOWZA on the surf shorts slipping down!!! FB there is nothing better than that feeling LOL I remember vacuuming in the house and I stretched out the vacuum and my jeans slipped right down to my knees! I never been happier in my life HAHA I also am thrilled carnivore is giving you results now and you are eating so well…you are working the plan, getting thru some med issues you gotta handle and you are finding your best path forward and having your shorts start to fall off…you are doing great FB!!
---------------big post already HA
keep the rest short
today is BIG ribeye. Did not get to it yesterday…WHAT!
second meal I have pork chops I must cook today, don’t wanna lose them.
I made chili for family. I ate about 1/2 cup…that taste was nice so I jumped on a tad and BOOM, within an hr heartburn. Had to take a tums. Yea yea yea I know me, I shoulda done it LOL but I did. Believe me, I shoulda just kept it ‘clean january carnivore’ but I spiced it up and paid the little price.
So ready for my Lion Feb. with KD! Keep it tighter and I know tighter I do so much better for sure.
Eh, thru it all I am doing very well, feeling good and just trucking along.
Fangs
#434
yea that spice I still love the taste. I get no weirdo mouth numbness, just ‘exciting’ in the gob and horror on the tummy and the final out of the body ain’t a peach tho…gives me mushy butt. I AM SO happy with the bathroom on carnivore but I do spicy spice like that and I pay for it on the back end HAHA too much info? I am sure it is HAHA but in the bitter end, the end of what we do produce shows SO much on what our intake should be
Septimius
#435
I think vitamins and supplements is such a weird one. I absolutely take the point that it feels insane to forgo all plants and then rely on concentrated plant supplementations.
I also think that it’s important to note that the RDA requirements might not be wholly the same on carnivore; as is famously discussed with Vitamin C uptake/requirement when glucose is competing on the same pathway - or that the food sources we eat aren’t perhaps recorded faithfully, such as meat apparently containing zero.
@VirginiaEdie has been very open in these threads about their changes with magnesium, salt, and fluid intake.
I find that if I don’t consume copious amounts of salt, I suffer with migraines. I seem to have a number of triggers, but salt is something very reliable that I can point to, focus on, and reduce my migraines by about 90%.
So with some experimentation, I generally conclude that whilst carnivore can be done without supplementation and many longterm carnivores don’t supplement, I wonder if some of us are coming from so far behind the starting line (i.e. depleted of many nutrients and minerals) we need a bit of help to get us up to par.
I guess I am saying:
- only you know your body
- experiment mindfully
- what works now might change in the future as you heal on the carnivore plan
One thing I notice is that if I add iron supplementation, I have no cravings for liver. If I add choline supplementation, I have no cravings for eggs. If I add DHA/EPA oil supplementation, I have no cravings for fish.
Super interesting.
JJFiddle
(Judy Thompson)
#436
@Fangs what a great article on turmeric and your commentary too! I’m like you, researching things from all sides. Have skimmed a few books on carnivore, now Judy Cho and Maria Emmerich, whose writing led me here from PSMF in the first place. I’ve done keto for 10 years and SO happy my house will never smell like cauliflower again! Ugh!
Your little forays into chili (Fangs), and fruit & honey (Shinita) give me faith.
@Shinita - yes, the pics from your windows are amazing! Looking at that view every day, who could ever be depressed? And
@FrankoBear, yours too. And congrats on the loose shorts.
I didn’t know all that about prednisone but I know about cortisone. I think I’d avoid it almost as much as statin drugs LOL!
robintemplin
(Robin)
#437
Wow, that’s interesting! Specific supplements replacing specific cravings. You need to follow that thread and see where it leads. For instance… Think there’s one that would replace alcohol ?
Fangs
#438
@Septimius
wonderful post!!
yes how we come in, how ‘wrecked’ we are and more has tons of effect on ‘surviving carnivore’ but key factor is start carnivore off all supps etc. cause when we do just that, we can add back and ‘see’ but of course one should never stop Dr prescribed meds.
Unless we start from 0 on carnivore, we truly can’t start fresh and heal fresh with our hormones and repair work to the body but I SO agree with ya, as individuals at some point, we WILL require a diff. approach and an add here or there that suits us to a T in supp form or just how we do actually eat, our food choices but all that comes with a bit of time on a very clean eating plan.
Did you notice also you are adding in chlorine, iron, oil supps and not adding in those ‘total plant concentrated’ supps? You are adding in specific actual ‘carnivore type’ supps vs. adding in all plant based stuff as in choline is in meat for sure along with plants but the plants that contain choline, if you took a supp with that in mind, then that supp carries other plant crap in it…so yea I love your supps!!! Carnivore supps on a non plant ingest level kinda. You are very fine tuned!
@JJFiddle
I feel ya on cauli smell and brocc smell! funny story, back in my low carb days my friend and kid came over for a sec and I was cooking broccoli for my food and when I let them in, the kid said real fast…‘do you own a hamster?’ “I can smell ya own hamsters” and I laughed like a maniac and said I was cooking broccoli HAHA Yup, brocc smells like the bottom of a hamster cage. Believe me it wasn’t hard to never eat that crap again!!
Well funny thing is in year 1-2-3 I could easily do spices/herbs a bit and do fine…now into year 5 my body is saying heck no cause the cleaner and longer I go…it shows me more and more real fast
@robintemplin
I think there is no ‘replacing’ for alcohol in that it is a poison to the body. Your body absolutely does not want it in it, I truly think it is more of a mind issue to stop that ‘behavior’ more against and amongst the ‘physical’ dependency on it ya know. Not sure if I said that right in a way LOL but I think that if one’s body is wanting a nutrient like iodine, one might eat a tad more seafood to balance it and it is a nature draw to eat that way but alcohol falls more of a dependency vs what the body actually requires for survival. Kinda like eat the best ya can for body and mind health, and when more healed we can use the ‘big ol’ noggin brain’ to help us further.
I know I had to work thru my own issues on that stuff 
ugh
robintemplin
(Robin)
#439
@Fangs You’re right, of course. I just got to wondering about all the things I have given up… good and bad (very bad). And of course, as an alcoholic I would probably have turned down any such supplement, because I was in love with my addiction.
Septimius
#440
Haha, top marks - I wondered if anyone would spot that!
I think changing your way of eating is such a big transformation, and none of us want to make a misstep - and one of the things that’s really difficult is sifting through the information that’s out there.
I really do feel for anyone who connected with Saladino’s book, only to come online and find him preaching something not really true carnivore any longer; as we talk a lot about n=1, it’s clear he’s found something that’s working for him, but not everyone is entering carnivore with his level of muscle, body fat, age, health profile etc.
I really connect with both Kelly and Amber - not only is it really useful to hear, as a woman, from other women because our hormonal profiles are so different to men - but also because neither ever seems to be selling anything.
And I think that’s such a difficult topic - sometimes it’s really difficult to work out who is on a grift with supplements, and who has found something which has revolutionised their life and is just trying to share their knowledge.
@robintemplin - the other one you might be interested (because I remember you supplement with collagen) is that if I supplement with collagen, my interest in chicken wings plummets. If I take it out, after a while I start thinking about chicken wings again.
Alcohol is a very strange substance. I can’t decide how much of my interest in it is social (not necessarily peer pressure, but how I associate ‘an evening of no obligation’ with it), how much is a sugar craving, and how much is how relaxed it makes me feel.
I have had long periods of abstinence (years and years), and I find it quite easy to stick to a rigid schedule (i.e. you can only drink on Friday evening) - but I recognise that rigid schedules like that can cause FOMO (i.e. if I don’t drink on Friday then I have no opportunity to drink this week).
I’m trying to be a bit more relaxed about it. I don’t want to give it up entirely just yet, but I think it can be something that’s once every month/two months/three months and not necessarily every week.
Azi
(Linda )
#441
Cywes is not into supplements by pill unless blood work shows you need it he says we should get it from Food because everything has consequences including man made vitamins…his only exception is fish oil…
Too many ppl take this and that because it’s the in thing to do.
So the only thing I take is the occasssional electrolytes drink and krill oil when I remember…