Ok I'm convinced and determined to do this.... O M G!

(Jane Srygley) #1

I never in a million years thought I would be open to a carnivore diet but I’ve read enough now that I think I should try this.

  1. I think I need to get off sweeteners and stop feeding my massive sugar addiction
  2. I feel like keto with all the funky fun foods and sweeteners isn’t really doing it for me (still hungry and not losing weight as I would like to)
  3. I’m 56 years old and feel like I need to make a real commitment instead of constantly keeping one foot in addictive/emotional eating
  4. I really want to heal my body of obesity and inflammation

Here is my plan. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, thanks.

Allowed foods:

  1. Beef, turkey, chicken, fish, shellfish, etc.
  2. Extra virgin olive oil, MCT oil, avocado oil and ghee
  3. Lettuce for a daily salad
  4. Apple cider vinegar combined with one of the oils for my daily salad
  5. Water and plain or flavored seltzer
  6. Olives (0 carb only)
  7. Eggs
  8. Goat and sheep cheese

What do you think? Thanks in advance!

(Steak and iron) #2

This just sounds like whole food keto. Nothing wrong with that of course, but this isn’t zercarb or carnivore.

(Jane Srygley) #3

Why do you say that? I thought carnivore included eggs and cheese and sometimes zero carb veggies…?

(Steak and iron) #4

Zerocarb/Carnivore is animal products only, not actually just keeping your carbs to zero. There are animal products like cheese, eggs, and organ meats that contain carbohydrates that are allowed as well.

the point of zerocarb/carnivore is to eliminate food substitutes like you are doing but also to eliminate inflammatory phytotoxins present in vegetables and to identify food sensitivities you may not know you have.

(Marianne) #5

This is going to be long, and I always say I’m not going to do that, but can’t seem to keep it short. Since you seem to be looking for advise, just wanted to let you know what helped me.

If you are hungry, you aren’t eating enough. Increase your meal sizes and selections; if you are still hungry after a few hours, eat something. Try to eat enough at mealtimes to not feel you need to snack.

How much weight do you want to lose? That may have something to do with in part of the rate of your loss.

All I can tell you is my experience, which I have tweaked over 3.5 months to where I don’t even give it a second thought. I started out feeling like I needed to find step by step “instructions” so that I could make sure to do it “correctly” like I do many other things. If this saves you any time anxiety, God bless.

For me, the entire way of eating amounts to keeping your carbs under 20g/day (I eat cleanly [no processed food, clean meats], and never was a big fan of veggies. The only carbs I get are from a little cream in my coffee, some cheese, and some broccoli, cole slaw or salad with dinner.) Try to drink plain water only, or coffee or tea, no sweeteners. I stopped drinking just because I didn’t want to mess around with my plan, but there are special occasions when I will enjoy some cocktails.

In the beginning, I ate three meals a day, whether I wanted to or not - which I had never done before. No snacks. No processed keto foods. Eggs, bacon, sausage, salad, some cheese, pepperoni, mayo, blue cheese dressing, butter, rippled meat, a little veggie cooked in butter. The possibilities of what you can create are endless. (Check out the trilogy thread - the meals people prepare are amazing!!!)

After a couple of days, my driving cravings for sweets, carbs, binge and emotional eating went away completely; they became merely a thought. After about 1-2 weeks of eating 3xday, I just did not physically want to eat that much or often (I still lost weight). I wasn’t hungry or driven in any way by food, or thoughts of food. My meals were great, but I didn’t obsess about eating, what I was going to eat, the “program,” my weight, etc. Although I followed macros somewhat in the beginning, I never did count calories then or now. After a couple of weeks, I stopped following macros.

If you are invested, read through this forum and do some research that interests you. This forum provided me all the information I needed, in layman’s terms; the rest was just interesting factual info. I picked up from other sites/videos.

Good luck. I hope you keep us posted.

(Jane Srygley) #6

That is what I’m interested in doing, but my understanding is that lettuce, olives and coconuts are free of phytotoxins/lectins. Am I incorrect in that assumption?

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

@AuntJane the olives and coconut probably, the lettuce probably not. The reason: plants ‘want’ us to eat their fruits which is the way they propagate. They use us (animals) to distribute their offspring. On the other hand, plants do not ‘want’ us to eat the equivalent of their bodies, what we call vegetables. So ‘fruits’ mostly OK, ‘vegetables’ not so much. Of course, most fruits are loaded with sugars to entice us, so only the few that aren’t loaded are on the LC menu. Olives, coconut and avocado make the OK list. Does that help? As for what is or is not acceptable to the carnivores is of no concern to me. So no advice on that. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

(Steak and iron) #8

They contain fiber which is a no no on Zerocarb. Lettuce also contains phytic acid which inhibits mineral uptake.

(Alec) #9

Jane
Why not go the whole hog and do just 1 and 7 only for a month and see how you go. I reckon you should be bold here… :+1:

(George) #10

I agree with @Alecmcq I’ve been doing 1 and 7 for almost a month now after my loss slowed down, and today I’m feeling like my pants and wedding ring are significantly looser. I’ve also increased my caloric intake a few days ago. Worth giving it a shot.

(Kirk Wolak) #11

I agree. It gets tricky, and we DONT want to become word police.

But Zero Carb and Carnivore split away from each other.
Carnivore (to me, and I am 99% carnivore) means meat and animal based products.
I do allow MCT Oil, no eggs, no dairy. But I see no issue for those who can tolerate it.

Coffee is considered neutral by many.

So, if you go to communicate about being carnivore, your plan is to be mostly carnivore.

As much as I loath the vegans/vegetarians, I totally understand:

Ovo Lacto Vegetarian
Ovo Pesce Vegetarian

You are QUICKLY saying what you eat in a codified “Venti Carmel Skim…” kinda way!

And as others point out. Dairy has carbs. Not fair to call that Zero Carb, unless you are eating only heavy cream or some such.

So I tell people I am 99% carnivore or Mostly Carnivore. I will eat an avocado without worry, but 99% of the time, I am eating Meat, Water, Coffee. I don’t even use butter!
But will to use collagen or exogenous ketones. So not a purist by any measure.

I will eat what my body will tolerate.

Good Luck to you!

(Kirk Wolak) #12

The ONLY warning I have is that ONCE you eliminate a food for long enough, it is NOT so easy to re-introduce.

I did the Paleo Medicina (PKD) Program. No bacon, Sausage, Pepperoni for 21 days. And now my body is reacting to them. Is this “hyper” reaction because I withdrew them, or is this a “noticeable” reaction because I felt better without them? (I suddenly have joint pain when eating them. I gave them up for a few days and feel better again!)

So, there is risk in removing some things if you are highly reactive and easily inflamed.

I recently just gained 13lbs in 2.5 days eating 3 days in row, stuff I normally eat on an ADF schedule! The DOSE Determines the Poison! I was in ketosis the entire time, and my glucose hit like 124 max (I believe), based on my CGM.

So, there is risk for some people.

(Jodi) #13

Carnivore is no plant foods. Nothing wrong with your plan if you want to do it, but you should consider giving it 100%.:blush: I do meat, water & salt only and I feel amazing!

(Elizabeth ) #14

Carnivore is only animal products no plant material at all :slight_smile:

(Jane Srygley) #15

I did not know that!!! Thank you!!!

(Jane Srygley) #16

If I’m going to be completely honest here, one of my biggest issues is WTF to have for breakfast! I take it carnivore doesn’t even allow for bulletproof coffee… This makes me sad… Not being big meat eater to start with and then going to this is a big jump, even if I keep #1-7!

(mole person) #17

This isn’t really carnivore. It’s just a very restricted keto diet. That doesn’t mean it won’t help you but I think that the reason that people get so much weight loss success with carnivore is being circumvented with this approach and thus may affect the benefits that you achieve.

Carnivore is no plant matter, period. So all the plant oils, the lettuce, the apple cider vinegar, and the olives are out.

However, it can be even more restrictive than that. Many carnivores completely give up dairy. There are various reasons, but one of the main one applies to weight loss. Many, many people can’t lose weight while consuming dairy. It may be the high insulinogenic effect of dairy or it might be it’s hyper-palatability but it definitely stalls loads of people.

I’m carnivore myself right now, and in the month or two before I went really strict I did ‘carnivore adjacent’ which is closer to what you are suggesting. No salads, but I did use spices and garlic, and tiny amounts of onion and tomato in the flavoring of my meat dishes. I also had cheeses.

What I can tell you from that experience, and subsequently going fully strict, is that what the carnivores say is 100% true. Going 99% carnivore is just a form of torture. You think about eating all the time and want more of the things it’d be best if you were having less of. Further, since there is no hard line between plant and animal that governs your diet, rationalizations can begin to creep in.

Something just switches when you start thinking “things from plants are not food for me” and “no other carnivorous animal eats dairy after infancy”. The food you can eat becomes only meat, salt and eggs. All of that tastes good when you are hungry but stops as soon as you’re not. You stop thinking about food all the time. It’s pretty amazing.

It’s hard to give up the idea of making foods hyperpalatable, but that really is the problem for lots of people.

(Elizabeth ) #18

Well many people have bad reactions to plant oils I highly recommend you remove them. I will cook three or four pounds of meat for dinner and if I’m even hungry in the morning I will eat the leftovers. I usually don’t eat any breakfast I normally have one big meal late morning and the second early evening. For example this morning I had half a pork chop and the remainder of a ribeye. But honestly, if you don’t like meat carnivore’s probably not going to be the right way of eating for you, those of us that choose to eat this way tend to see it as a lifestyle, a way of eating that works for us, not a short-term diet. I never feel deprived or restricted I look forward to every meal and even if it’s hamburger I microwaved it’s delicious if I’m hungry :slight_smile:

(Polly) #19

Thank you, Ilana_Rose, for this post. I am dabbling on the edges of Carnivore at the moment and planning to take the plunge in a few weeks when some social events are out of the way. Seeing that you took a month or two to acclimatise is very reassuring.

(Steak and iron) #20

Depends how far you want to go. For example, Amber O’Hearn herself still drinks coffee and she’s basically the poster child for Carnivore.