I found it ironic that this is actually the same argument Carnivores use to describe people eating a diet with vegetables. Some people can tolerate them even though they are inferior.
as for me, I’m giving “animal-based” a good try for the month of January.
hmmm, would you consider having a carb day and see how you feel? I do think there is some merit in the idea of doing carbs and switching up your hormones temporarily and then getting back to ZC for some. I personally would try it. I’m not sure what I would eat to carb-up but if I felt like you I would try knowing that I would be back to ketosis really quickly.
I’ve had plenty of times over the years doing keto where I’d have a “carb up” and it’s usually when I haven’t been eating enough and my hunger gets the best of me and I’d end up eating a box of cereal or something. The whole premise of ZC is to get thorough the adaptation to really experience the benefits. So not sure if adding carbs would help things.
I guess when I’ve heard the premise behind carb’ing up it was that the hormonal changes that happen can be beneficial short term. Especially for women. Maybe it wouldn’t be an entire box of cereal, but a rather a sweet potato. But I don’t have much personal experience with it. There are lots of people who cycle, especially athletes so it would be something I’d consider especially if I was a runner. I’d also consider seeing my naturopath. It might not be only diet related.
This thought is a vegetarian meme, and has been debunked. The minimum daily requirement amount of carbohydrate required in the human diet is 0.0%
You may be thinking of the fact that the brain and certain other organs require a minimum level of glucose to function, but this requirement is easily furnished on demand by gluconeogenesis in the liver, and does not require carbohydrate to be present in the diet.
Yes I agree with this, and the issue I’m facing is not that I think ZC is fundamentally wrong or lacks sufficient nutrients, it’s more mental for me and I’m struggling with the low energy and apathy I’m feeling at this point.
I hear you! And as someone with his own, different issues, I feel for you. Hope you get it sorted. And I hope all these great posts can give you support—and maybe some useful bit of info, too. Here’s some virtual bacon to cheer you up: 
@Jason_Fletcher those on ZC are not encouraged to take vitamins since meat has everything you need. I do take electrolytes and get plenty of salt plus some high quality fish oil .
You eating organ meats? and if so what ones and how much?
What is your goal for going ZC. If you received the benefits but need to supplement vitamins then do it. There is no point in becoming dogmatic about it. People also can live without vitamin C supplementation on ZC but if you cant no point of harming yourself. Plus if you don’t like organ meats you will need to supplement.
There is plenty of data out there about the disadvantages associated with too much protein. Here are a few. Note that none of these are from vegan/vegetarian advocates.
Hereditary hemochromatosis could be a factor if it is iron over load. The genes run in my family but have yet to be a problem for me.
I do not buy into the 100% plant based diet ideology. I’m not thinking that our body requires carbs. I’m thinking that there are nutrients and fiber (necessary for good gut health) that vegetables are good at supplying. More importantly, I’m convinced by LC diet health care practitioners (and there are many) that believe that too much protein isn’t ideal for maximizing health.
There are no nutrients the body requires that cannot be supplied in a zero-carb diet. The two most famous examples of this are the Masai and the Inuit, whose traditional diets included no plant-based foods whatsoever. The idea was further proved by the experiment in 1927 (I believe) on Stefansson and Andersen after they returned from living among the Inuit for several years. The nutritionists of the time couldn’t believe that they hadn’t caught scurvy, and locked them up in a ward at Bellevue Hospital in New York City for a year, on which they ate only meat (mostly organ meat) and animal fat under strict observation. The experiment was considered a failure, because the two men obstinately refused to develop scurvy or in fact any other nutritional disease. The only time the two men didn’t feel at peak form was an episode when they were persuaded to eat muscle meat only; they started feeling terrible, but a dish of organ meat put them right as rain again. The Inuit themselves, in fact, ate mostly the fatty organ meats and gave the lean muscle meat to their dogs.
I don’t know what happened to Andersen, but Stefansson and his wife eventually retired to a quiet New England village. He continued his moderate-protein and high-fat diet with great success, and was once heard to remark that it was lucky for him that his neighbors in the village were afraid of fat, so that he got his pretty much for free from the local butcher.
Fiber is NOT necessary for good gut health. Another fallacy.
Read The Fiber Menace or check out some of the links on the website I already mentioned.
Our bodies are adaptable. A zero carb diet can encompass all known essential nutrients so it is within the range of intakes that many humans can thrive on - unlike a vegan diet for example.
You don’t HAVE to go the full carnivore yourself. but unless you have evidence to show that a zero carb diet is deficient you can’t tell anyone that they CAN’T.
As for protein levels, there is no relationship between zero carb and protein level. There are zero carb low protein formulations and zero carb high protein formulations. A good Aussie wagyu steak is 96% (by calorie) fat and 4% protein by calorie, a lean sirloin 58% (by calorie) fat, 42% protein.
I personally don’t need to eat a lot of protein to stay in nitrogen balance, but the range of human variability is dramatic. And while too much protein will certainly kill you, you would have to eat over 1.5 kgs of those lean sirloins every day for several weeks before the effects of ammonia intoxication started to show. And I’m not sure you could even give yourself a paper cut with the wagyu.
Thank you @richard. I don’t like the idea that I’d be harming myself by eating “too much” protein certainly. But it seems like one self regulates this fairly well on ZC especially when eating fatty meat. Eating this way is much more challenging than eating keto as you’re confronting the limits of what you can tolerate and why you want to eliminate the things on keto that increase its appeal, like variety, sweet tastes and easier social engagement. ZC is difficult in these senses, but it does force you to see the things that maybe haven’t been contributing to success. I for one have a sweet tooth and also, enjoy variety that comes from eating vegetables. But including these in my regular keto eating style would lead to uncontrollable cravings for more and more keto treats and digestive discomfort from all the vegetables. So for me it’s worth seeing if I can mitigate these and simplify things while addressing some long standing dysfunctional behaviors around food.
I plan to attempt both a month of carnivory and vegetarianism some time this year just not at breck, or ketofest.