Keto to Carni and back again?

(Robin) #1

Hey, I’ve been carnivore ZC for 3 months now. Have decided to go back to my regular keto. I enjoyed the simplicity of carni, but didn’t feel as good on it… physically, mentally, etc. I know 3 months is not considered long enough for the body to acclimate… but I’ve decided that For Me… I was fixing something that wasn’t broken. So I’m going back to my starting point… basic (dirty) keto. I say dirty because I buy meat from the deli… processed and precooked. That really fits my lazy lifestyle. Also, on carni, I was craving/eating later in the day due to hunger and that affected my sleep. I am disappointed, as I saw this as a challenge and I am competitive…with just myself. But this feels like a good decision. Plus, ,my hubs and I have had raging colds for a week (thanks to our holidays visitors) and going back to keto was a comfort and more satisfying.

Why do I feel the need to justify this? I got this!
Right, guys?
Guys??

(Bob M) #2

If 3 months isn’t good enough, then what is?

(Laurie) #3

Yes, it needs to work For You. I can’t eat most plant foods because of gut issues. I thought this made me a carnivore, but after a spin on the carni threads I got the, uh, message that I wasn’t. And I had no motivation to be a “real” carnivore. I just wanted to avoid pain and toilet troubles, and I was already accomplishing that.

I do understand how having hunger/cravings at the wrong time of day can mess us up. Some of us need to make managing that a priority.

You won’t find a support group of people who are doing exactly the same thing you are. Some paths are lonelier than others. But you have my support, and that of many others here.

#4

My two cents.

I love pure carnivore but I feel I have more flexibility with keto. Here’s an example from today, normally at work, if I want to buy lunch from the local mini supermarket, I end up with cooked chicken legs. Today I couldn’t face that, so from the deli section I took hard boiled eggs, goats cheese, stuffed olives and a few jalapeños. It was lovely, although I stayed away from close contact with colleagues after that.

(Bob M) #5

I eat close to carnivore, but there are more options with keto, as @Jamesbrawn007 said. For lunch, I had beef, goat’s cheese, olives, natto, pickles. For dinner, I’ll eat all carnivore (turkey, maybe canned fish).

I’m “carnivore adjacent”, but feel that moving all the way to true carnivore would be difficult. I’d miss the pickled mushrooms I make, for instance, which I use to flavor my beef lunches. And olives, I’d really miss olives.

(Robin) #6

@islandlight As we have already discovered, you and I are apparently twins separated at birth. Veggies and nuts give me gut issues. Not worth it.

#7

Whatever floats your boat! :smiley: It can even change during our life!

I experiment since more than a decade, I had a few woe and my body pointed me into the right direction. It wasn’t quick, to put it lightly and I changed during those times.

My old keto was unavoidable but not very successful (except the fat adaptation part. that was nice. I still ate too much, it’s me). I had to go lower and I won’t ever come back to keto or low-carb as default I imagine. But I don’t do carnivore fully or for long. On/off carnivore-ish is just fine for me, I just want to keep my off times shorter and less frequent :smiley: (And my carnivore-ish times as strict as I need at the moment, I like to ditch dairy.) But I go into the right direction and get benefits anyway.

Processed meat is okay in my books, I have them on my strictest carni style too. They are usually in tiny amounts and lose importance anyway so why not to use them if they make things better? Without them I would go off way more often. And no one can take away my precious dry sausages…

Sometimes I find a strict (okay for a while but no way I would do it for long) experiment useful too.

So there are options. We may do things more relaxed, we may go off (okay, I imagine many people would hate to do that. but it’s how I roll. I can’t NOT go off here and there and I find it okay anyway), we may try stricter or less strict things, change our default woe…

Many of my big changes happened because I just lost interest in some of my old favs. Who knows why. Like, all vegetables except tomato and onions (and spices like PAPRIKA! :smiley: that’s basic. I lost interest in black pepper in no time but paprika must be present. I can eat without it just fine but it’s nice sometimes and why would I give it up? It would make no sense).

I send it before I start deleting parts again…

#8

lol

(Michael) #9

I did 4 months of carnivore for IBSD issues. Took months on carnivore to get progress, but now that I have made some progress I can at least test foods to see what causes issues. While I am certainly carnivore leaning, I would like to add in a few nuts into my diet if possible for Vit E and maybe even one vegetable or other fruit, if possible. Very slow progress, but after over 10 years and multiple specialists that did not help I have hope. Net scoop though, we are on very similar trajectories at the moment, I would say I am shifting to ketovore.

Having said this, I could live on carnivore options alone and be happy. I have a fairly complete carnivore menu worked out, but if I can be a bit more flexible and be mostly carnivore, why not?

(Edith) #10

If you don’t categorize yourself as a carnivore, then you don’t have to feel guilty if you want to enjoy some olives or whatever every once in a while. That’s the problem I run into, guilt.

#11

Oh. Guilt is totally foreign to me if it’s about food… I may be displeased with myself if I eat something I decided not to, without a good reason, it’s not like it doesn’t matter to me but guilt, that sounds very much not hedonistic. And it’s my food, my business.
When I stopped being a vegetarian, I stopped doing things 100%. Way more pleasant this way.
I still have challenges when I stick to stricter rules for a while but even then, it’s mostly “as far as I can do it comfortably”.

My biggest displeasure is related to calories anyway. I tend to eat too much compared to my needs. That’s one big reason I go for carnivore as I eat the least amount there. But many other things are tempting. I have my goals and as long as some off carnivore eating doesn’t bother them, I am fine with them, theoretically. It’s still often useful to be stricter than that.

(Robin) #12

I suppose after reading all the replies, I could easily call myself a ketovore. All I am adding back in is processed meats and some cheese and eggs.

(Karen) #13

You got to do what you feel is right for you. Only you know your body and your lifestyle and perhaps keto fits in better with the latter. I got so many cravings on keto and totally opposite to you, none since being carni. What is good for one isn’t always good for another. Xx

(Robin) #14

Yes please… don’t edit. Your posts make my day!

#15

I should have thought you wouldn’t mind… But I always write way too much about me… I try to control myself, not like I am ever good at that.

Never figured out what exactly ketovore is but it wasn’t important for me. But I would think that’s a meat-heavy ketoer. They still can eat vegetables as business…? My carnivore-ish allows only a few grams of carbs from plants? I don’t have a definition, I eat TINY amounts and that’s it. Mostly unavoidable stuff in my meat/egg dishes. Processed meat, onion in my stew, eggs in purgatory (my SO eats most of the tomato in the pan)… But I keep even these at a minimum. Still useful when things get a bit boring. Or when my SO wants those dishes (or something way carbier and I rather make these. he isn’t choosy), it would be too much to expect me NOT tasting them. Especially that our rare beef dishes are usually stews. I won’t skip that!
But my default is just eating my simple meat and egg dishes. So ketovore sounds a too relaxed label for it. Not like labels matters that much but I like to call my style somehow and I needed my own word and loose definition for it.

Oh yep, it’s nice I don’t have all those keto carbs to mess with my mind and body :smiley: I am perfectly fine on normal keto as long as I am freshly out of carni or don’t start to add too much non-carni food… That’s why an off day or my tiny extras are usually fine. But in the beginning (all the time until now? I am an optimist. but I truly see changes already) being a bit more loose often triggered a slippery slope… I have so many experiences with them! Keto is way too loose for my mind even if not for my body as I keep my carbs lower. And suddenly I go too far. I am too impulsive, I need certain rules. Flexible but not too flexible ones. Or not always flexible. It’s flexible when I can afford to be flexible. It actually makes things a bit complicated but I just can’t be strict all the time, no matter what, it’s against my personality.