Skin issues on carnivore diet

#42

Did you try carnivore + fruit but without veggies?

#43

@dr_wtf: Not yet, but it is something that I intend to try in the near future.

#44

I do that sometimes in the summer, when local fruit are ripe. Hasnā€™t bothered anything that I can tell. Iā€™ll usually have fruit in the afternoon then and a carnivore dinner.

(Jon ) #45

@irenicus I am experiencing the same issues! Iā€™m 13 days In and my skin in going through the worst changes! Iā€™ve never had acne issues but on this diet I am have face acne (small under the skin pimples that are difficult to pop and are sore to the touch) Iā€™m having bumps on my head, in my beard, and back of neck. I like this diet but this is a high price to pay. I can find any YouTube videos on this specific experience either. Do you have any personal updates?

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #46

Take a look at the Web site of Sally K. Norton. She is an M.P.H. with both personal experience and up-to-date information about oxalate dumping. She has a number of videos and other resources on her site, which you may find helpful.

(Edith) #47

Yup, just what I was going to say. :grinning:

(M) #48

Do you eat butter? My skin was best when I ate fresh king and sockeye salmon, queen crab half an avocado, pecans and EV coconut oil (hated eating it but I have to say it made my skin really nice).

Since then, Iā€™ve added 2 tablespoons Kerry gold butter and pastured eggs, small bit of potato (grass fed beef and corn soy free chicken when I can find it) and my skin is going bad again. However my mercury level has risen too, and b12 dropped during this time. I canā€™t figure out whatā€™s making my skin bad. Mercury, eggs, or butter. I know that I do not like the smell of melted butter and eggs, it really turns me off (though it used to be my favorite breakfast when I was a kid and eating toast with the yolk and butter) yet buttery potatoes is ok. Iā€™d be curious if you ate butter too and if this could cause skin problems.

#49

@Jdurrell: No significant updates right now. I do a lot of experimentation but the process is slow when it comes to food. I do not believe the problem is related to oxalate dumping as I stated previously.

@KetoPescatarian: I eat butter occasionally but there were long periods (months) when I did not eat it and the problem persisted. So butter is not the cause as far as I can tell. At this point I doubt that the problem is caused by one particular food, it may also be some kind of a disbalance or malnutrition issue (vitamins, minerals, amino-acids?). Who knowsā€¦

(Robin) #50

It may be something not related to keto. Even if the timing is suspicious, we still have issues that pop up like everyone else.
Maybe look beyond your diet.

(M) #51

If it was the bit of carbs actually taking away your problem, maybe a little avocado would do the same thing as the fruit/potatoes or rice? The only thing I can think of is that they helped you retain more water or had potassium. I hope you can figure it out.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #53

There isnā€™t any nutrient found in plants that isnā€™t also found in meat. And in meat, many of these nutrients are often found in a form more available to the body. By contrast, there are several vitamins we need that are found only in meat and not in plants.

The other problem with plant foods is the vast number of phytochemicals that are either toxins or anti-nutrients. These are not a problem with meat. One study done in the 1980ā€™s by the manufacturer of Alar was able to show that most vegetables commonly eaten in the U.S. contain large quantities of carcinogens that are far more dangerous than the Alar put on them by growers to protect them from insects. It was a sufficiently good study to convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow Alar to remain on the market.

#54

There is no essential nutrient we only can get from plants. The same for meat. As far as I know.
It doesnā€™t mean an individual wouldnā€™t need one or the other or both but itā€™s very possible to skip one or the other without any problem.

MIGHT lead. Yeah, just like ANY other diet. All of them can be done wrong. Itā€™s harder with carnivore as meat is so very nutritious. But itā€™s not for everyone, sure.
Fiber isnā€™t essential for the human body but many seem to need it. I donā€™t. If someone needs plants for some reason, eat it, sure. But for many of us, good riddance (I do eat plants for joy. sometimes convenience. definitely not for nutrients, why would I use that? I have my great carni food). I like that I donā€™t need to worry about nutrients on carnivore. Of course, carnivore can be done wrong too. I could starve myself or eat little protein or try to live on eggs only (some nutrients would be missing). I still think eating wrong is harder on carnivore :wink:

(M) #55

Chlorophyll is detoxifying, gets rid of heavy metals.

If you do carnivore with no plants, I would try very hard to get meat with least toxins and eat as our ancestors did, grass fed and organ meats, pasture raised, no chemicals. Iā€™d include fish for magnesium and potassium.

#56

I eat cheap supermarket meat (and some processed stuff from a pig farm sometimes), itā€™s the healthiest diet I can afford but it works very well when I stick to it (and interestingly, even if I take off days. that effect would deteriorate but I typically come back immediately and if not, still very soon). I am thankful for my sturdy body :wink: As long as I donā€™t add (much) plants, I am fine, apparently.
I didnā€™t hear that about chlorophyll but I wouldnā€™t get much from plants anywayā€¦ I disliked most green leaves even as a vegetarian.
My eggs are from okay sources though, thatā€™s important to me. They donā€™t even cost more than the worse ones nowadays but I never cared. At least my eggs should be fine.
I only change things if my body tells me at this point.

(M) #57

I feel importantly about eggs too for some reason. I am wondering why you do? What is in the egg you want to make sure you are getting?

For me itā€™s not just nutrients and taste but I feel better knowing it was wild and under the sky. I can feel the difference nutrient wise eating grass fed and pastured. I donā€™t like to be a food snob. Itā€™s hard to go back when you know what food should be like but isnā€™t. I wish so much this food was available to us all as normal every day food.

#58

Where Iā€™m at, I canā€™t find grass fed grass finished even if I wanted toā€¦

(M) #59

What area are you in? I order most of my meat online. Alaskan salmon comes from Washington. Bison I recently got comes from Wisconsin. Eggs and poultry Iā€™ve finally decided come from grocery store however. Unless Iā€™m passing through an area that has farm fresh food.

#60

Germanyā€¦ I asked my butcher and he basically said, why would anyone do that? It reduces the revenue. Also German cows seem to regularly run marathons since they are so lean.

#61

I donā€™t so much want eggs anymore, they just happenā€¦ I LOVE them and they are so very versatileā€¦ I canā€™t eat meat all the time.
I have been eating 7 a day on average for 10-something years (I didnā€™t eat meat most of the time, not like it changed any on carnivore) and itā€™s impossible for me to keep their number low. Since I manage to eat much meat (itā€™s better than eggs, nutrition, satiating, I can base my day on them unlike on eggs), I put effort into minimizing my egg intake so it dropped. (I still eat much but it canā€™t be helped. But itā€™s less now.)
It has many essential nutrients but I get that from meat too. But eggs add variety, I can use them as bread, pasta, my mandatory desserts are based on eggs tooā€¦ Impossible not to eat them every day.

Itā€™s a valid reason to choose the better one - and even if you donā€™t feel it but know you eat something better. I understand that and agree.
I either eat cheap meat or starve (well I could go back to some near vegetarian carbier diet but I simplified a bit. and I wouldnā€™t want to, I hate going back to a worse diet) so my choice is pretty easy! I assure you, if I had money and farm meat would be available in proper amounts (I know 2 good farms more or less nearby but they very rarely butcher an animal to sell, they mostly make their own smoked items, I can buy those any time but that canā€™t be a significant amount of my diet), I would buy good meat only. Or almost only, sometimes I see something tempting in the supermarketā€¦ Farms donā€™t have everything.

Itā€™s interesting that I used to feel cheap meat tasteless. Our neighbour had pigs and I tasted that superior stuff and I rather became and stayed vegetarian afterwards. Decades later I happened to try carnivore for reasons and I realized I immensely enjoy even cheap pork. I still had almost all the reasons for vegetarianism but I am a selfish one and I knew my vegetarian keto is just way too carby for me (with way too little vegs)ā€¦ I did started carnivore without any proper meat (I had the occasional liver and some smoked pork, at some point even beef but thatā€™s way too expensive for me. from farms), it wasnā€™t so easy. My weeks when I had less than 0.25 pound of meat, especially :smiley: I canā€™t do that. I needed about half a pound. (I was unable to eat much more than that anyway.)
I changed since. Some of my meat comes from good sources, most of it doesnā€™t but as I wrote, I have availability problems too, not merely financial. Maybe it will change one day, I hope so.
Until then I am very glad my body has no problem with my food. I am healthy and feel okay. I could use more energy though.

Ouch. I donā€™t think we have that problem but I canā€™t even get any beef from the local butcher. He only sells chicken and pork, just like local supermarkets. I am glad I can find turkey occasionallyā€¦
I want beef, I need to go to the city or a beef farm but the latter is way farther away, we wonā€™t go there willy-nillyā€¦ But they have good, super fresh meatā€¦ A few times a year. We have a few hour window to orderā€¦ Except organs and some less popular cuts, they last for a day or somethingā€¦

Yep, availability, that isnā€™t so good.

Theoretically itā€™s possible to order even fancy meat like bison from a company (itā€™s a meat you donā€™t get easily in Hungary, itā€™s not a thing here), they come with a fridge truck and the prices are unsurprisingly highā€¦

But I would want pork anyway. And the pig farm has the same problem, very few animals compared to the demand.

At least I can get deer from the supermarket. I buy that as I canā€™t afford beef. Deer is more fun anyway though it makes a less good Goulash (I have off days, you see). Once I have found mouflon.

#62

Have you checked if any local farms might near you sell beef? Thatā€™s where I get mine, itā€™s called a ā€œMischpaketā€, so you get a mix of different cuts. To my surprise, itā€™s quite a bit cheaper than supermarket beef. Plus, itā€™s a nice feeling to know where the animal is from and where/how it lived.