Hi all,
TL;DR: I have decreased skin turgor on carnivore. It is not a fat, salt or hydration issue. I suspect it is some kind of deficiency since it resolved 2-3 days after reintroducing plants. What would you say is the most probable cause?
My story:
I started carnivore for the second time now.
First time was to try and cure a recurrent corneal erosion that is not caused by an injury (instead probably some autoimmune condition). However, I also was curious about what it does to my other conditions, such as atopic dermatitis, digestion issues, migraine, joint pains. And also I thought it would be nice to lose some weight although I am not overweight. I went all in and started on a lion diet for 3 months. Only fatty meat, salt and water for a proper elimination diet. Also liver once a week for extra vitamins and bone marrow sometimes for more fat.
Most of the things that one can read about came true:
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Transitional phase was not nice with all the minerals leaving with the water (Yes, I know, salt. Playing with the quantities did not do much though.)
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Dermatitis disappeared in the first week, came back worse than before and then slowly disappeared again. And it stayed away for 6 months after I changed to a “normal” diet with a lot of crap in it.
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Digestion got better but never resolved on carnivore. I suspect too much fat. I wanted to do it right so I took extra care to eat enough fat. But after the diet it was perfect for a good amount of time.
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Joint pains disappeared and stayed away for some time but came back. But not in all places and not as bad as before.
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Migraine never came back
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Weight went down dramatically. But also my hunger. I was so sick of meat that in the end I had to force myself to eat and I am sure I did not get to 2000 calories/day which is probably less than I need. So the weight went down more than I wanted.
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No side effects except for bad skin turgor
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Unfortunately the diet had no effect on my eyes
Reintroducing food was pretty easy. I started eating everything again within two days with no issues. The skin turgor normalized within 2-3 days with the introduction of plant food.
Since some time after quitting the diet everything came back (except for the migraine) I am trying to do this a second time but now with more variation. So basically I do not eat plant products. I do eat lamb, beef, chicken, fish, dairy, eggs. I still try to get the fatty cuts but I do not put so much emphasis on fat as before and my digestion is fine this time and I felt crappy about two days in the first week. Which is way better than the last time. But the damned turgor issue came back the same week I started. As said, I experimented with the amounts of fat, salt, water and even some liver when doing it the first time and couldn’t get rid of it. Any suggestions what else I could try?
Also, if you are interested in some details regarding my story, ask away.