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Beginner Tutorial
How did I start The Carnivore Diet?
I’ll start by saying that The Carnivore Diet isn’t a religion or ideology unlike the flawed Veganism movement, It’s simply a path to better health. This isn’t an article attempting to dogmatize the diet but rather just my 4 years of personal experience doing the diet alongside the facts to get you the best outcome mentally and physically while on it.
I started my health journey as a vegan in the summer of 2019, which lasted about a week. This made me feel a little better but I started to notice general cramping and some of my issues were still prevalent. I then found keto on Google which explained how to enter ketosis and do the diet by eating less than 20 carbohydrates a day. It sounded really interesting and I didn’t have any meats just eggs at the time so I just ate an egg and didn’t eat anything the rest of that day. So I woke up and noticed that some things were improving, so I went to the store and got some stuff like bacon, cheese, eggs, sausages and chicken and just made those my daily meals. My asthma, dandruff, ashy skin, lower back pain, and general joint pain all then went away following this diet.
My health improvements compared to the standard American diet vastly improved however something was still off in certain areas. I would do it for like a week or two or a month and then cheat. I was constantly drawn to food, a powerful attraction, always screenshotting food and recipes scrolling through Instagram. I was constantly binging on the old foods I used to eat and eventually, I figured out over the years that I had to be doing something wrong. I felt the best I ever felt in my life but something just kept compelling me to cheat.
I never really bought into eating plants as they always made me feel groggy, so my goal was to get as close to zero carbs a day as I could on keto. I essentially considered myself a carnivore eating the items I listed above. It wasn’t until I realized that things like lactose and spices which are in processed meats/cheese were affecting me. People will always say “Oh that little bit isn’t gonna hurt” but it WILL. All carbohydrates are broken down into sugar, negatively affecting our bodies from the moment of ingestion. I believe in a natural approach to most aspects of my life personally and my diet above would be the equivalent of me eating fresh meat all day and then deciding to throw a few grains of white sugar in my mouth at the end of the day thinking “It can’t hurt that bad! It’s only a little bit”, it’s just asking for problems.
We shouldn’t accept sugar on our meat because that’s not how nature intended us to eat meat. When I finally started buying fresh nutrient-dense ruminant meat like ground beef and steak with no additives everything was perfect. When I used to look at carbohydrates on keto it would always provoke a reaction, that simply stopped happening once I decided to eat meat (fat, protein) and eliminate carbohydrates. I haven’t cheated since.
This will be a quick article going over how to do The Carnivore Diet in the most efficient way and break the mental connection with carbohydrates. I will show you how I’ve been able to eat nothing but ruminant meat since September 2021.
What do I need to know?
Carbohydrates ARE addictive and the more you eat the more the rope will continue to pull you back in. Every time you eat carbohydrates you rapidly spike your blood sugar/insulin, beginning a vicious inflammatory cycle within your cellular metabolism. Carbohydrates are also a detriment to your gym performance as they will deter proper fat adaptation. Follow the steps below and something that I can only describe as magical will happen, you’ll completely mentally disconnect from carbohydrates and attain the best health/performance of your life.
Fresh Meats!
Buy fresh meat with no additives, preservatives, or artificial ingredients. Stores usually have their meats processed on shared equipment opening you up to allergens from things like wheat or they’ll spray it with some sort of preservative like ascorbic acid which comes from a plant. The packaging should look something like the picture below. You should be able to find something like this in stores and be sure to make sure it’s not wrapped in paper. If you can’t find it in stores you can order it from a farm online.
Throw it all away!
Anything in your house that is NOT fresh meat needs to be thrown away. The sooner you stop thinking of any sugar as food for you to eat, the better. Our ancestors once walked this planet where the only two options for food were large animals or fruits/plants that may or may not be outright poisonous. When all you eat is meat, that is all your brain knows and you will never think of this way of eating as restrictive again.
Lots of Fat!
You need to eat plenty of fat, fat is the key to satiation. It is also what fuels us as while on a carnivore diet you will be primarily running on ketones. It’s a major component of why this way of eating is so successful for many. You are just not hungry for extended periods of time with stable blood sugar levels. You are also staying in your natural state of ketosis which promotes mental clarity and sustained efficient energy. It would be best if you ideally ate meats that have a higher fat-to-protein ratio. 70/30-80/20 ground beef is perfect. I eat two pounds of ground beef daily. Ribeye steaks also contain plenty of fat with protein. You should be eating a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight and your fat intake should be higher than this. For example, I’m 140 pounds trying to bulk so I currently eat 152 grams of protein to 160 grams of fat. This is about a 1:1 ratio of fat to protein in grams which is what you should aim for.
Do not be afraid to add extra fat if you wish. I’m trying to bulk up at the moment so I’m adding a bit of additional fat. Do NOT use butter or ghee there is lactose in these products as it can NOT be fully removed. Eating any type of sugar will prevent you from having zero cravings. That also means no bacon or any other processed meats these foods have sugar all over them! 100% suet, tallow is ideal.
Stock up on meat if you can.
You need to stay prepared, I buy 60 packs of ground beef every month. Buy the meats you like and cook them how you like consistently. Don’t allow yourself to get into a position where you are out of food and trying to experiment with something that you just don’t need to subject yourself to like fast food or processed meats. Sugar and seed oils do not belong on meat and nothing beats the day-in and day-out satiation of nutrient-dense meat.
Use metal utensils for cooking.
Cook in a stainless steel pan with stainless steel utensils and eat in a stainless steel bowl. Nonstick pans WILL leech chemicals into your food no matter what it says. If you cook in a stainless steel pan then your worst worry is inorganic elements which are not inherently harmful as opposed to other chemical-filled pans. You also want to avoid paper plates, forks, etc. as they are made of cellulose. You should also not use cast irons as they are full of vegetable oils.
Cold turkey or Slow transition?
You should NOT slowly transition into this way of eating. Your glycogen stores only take 4 days to empty. During and after that, your body will start utilizing primarily ketones, a sign that you are adapting back to your natural state of ketosis. There are ZERO reasons to delay this process. The worst side effect you will have during this transition process is a mild headache or diarrhea, which is evidence of the shift in your gut microbiome. It is temporary, it will NOT kill you and it will serve as a reminder that this way of life is not something to hop on and off. The consumption of inflammatory sugar is NOT going to help you transition to The Carnivore Diet.
If you continue to eat sugar you will never empty your glycogen stores and never allow your body to utilize ketones the way it wants to. You’ll always be constantly bouncing between reducing and increasing your ketone usage if you continue to eat sugar and you do NOT want that. This is why a lot of people report having issues in the gym with keto because they are constantly bouncing around with their carb amount/fuel source. You want to be in your natural state and allow your body to use its more efficient fuel source ketones, to its full capacity as soon as possible.
The transition process is letting all the dietary sugar flow out of your body which takes 4 days and utilizing primarily ketones as fuel. Every cell in our body is capable of using ketones except our red blood cells. Transitioning as soon as you can will allow you to feel stellar overall and great working out. It takes about 2 weeks for you to return to your normal baseline in the gym.
You don't transition by holding on, you transition by letting go! Let the sugar flow out of you in 72-96 hours and return to your natural state of ketosis.
Electrolytes/Water?
You do not need to consume mineral water or consume any extra minerals in this way of eating. Everything you need is in red meat. The purpose of food is to nourish our body with everything we need to live and meat contains everything. Our ancestors lived in several ice ages on permafrost far from the ocean where the majority of that water was ice melt or precipitation. Their water was pure and for that reason, you should drink purified/distilled water as well. You do NOT need to use any electrolytes and you do not need to sprinkle rocks aka salt on all your food. Just because something has minerals doesn’t mean we need those, salt water has plenty of minerals but that will completely overload your body and kill you. Minerals are contaminants in the water that we should filter out ideally.
What will the result be?
Zero cravings
Your brain will be mentally disconnected from carbohydrates. It is absolute and complete freedom from hunger and cravings for sugar. The reason I’ve been able to eat nothing but ruminant meat since September 2021 is that I have eliminated all sugar sources. It is now impossible for my brain to crave sugar. You will experience the same if you decide to take my advice.
Mental clarity
Your brain will be running on primarily ketones as opposed to primarily glucose. This takes about 24 days to occur. Ketones produce more energy than glucose and you also don’t have to worry about advanced glycation end products inflaming your brain from dietary sugar consumption.
Maximum amount of muscle mass you can have
Meat is highly bioavailable. This means that nearly everything you absorb from the meat will assimilate into your body and muscle structure. If you pair this with training your physique will be even more outstanding.
Zero plaque on teeth
You will develop zero plaque on your teeth. Plaque can only develop on our teeth as a result of bacteria mixing with sugar. This will not occur by eating only meat allowing you to enjoy your best dental health and get rid of your toothbrush as well.
No damage to the body/Stable blood sugar levels.
You will have stable blood sugar and insulin levels. Plants, milk, and fruit are the only foods that spike your blood sugar rapidly; this leads to elevated blood sugar levels. This also stiffens and inflames your tissues, vessels and organs via glycation. By removing these sources of food you will be able to avoid any of these damaging things from happening within your body.
Meet all nutritional requirements
Meat is the purest substance that a human can put in his mouth. It is toxin-free and contains all essential nutrients in perfectly sufficient amounts. Grass-fed grass-finished beef is ideal as it's the product of the animal's life under the most natural conditions. In my experience, once you taste grass-fed grass-finished beef you will have a hard time going back to meat finished on grain and usually processed with antibiotics and hormones. I've found grass-fed grass-finished meat to just have a pure fresh taste. However, the only thing that's required to mentally disconnect from sugar is the consumption of fresh meat with nothing externally added to it after death.
Extra Tidbits
If you follow all the instructions mentioned in this guide, you should no longer have any need for products like sunscreen, deodorant, toothpaste, soap, lotion or makeup. (please do not use this ladies, it’s chemical garbage that you don’t need around your lips) I have never been sunburned eating this way. I also used to sweat a lot when working out but now I no longer sweat at all! My natural scent smells great even during workouts, never funky. The only thing you need to clean your body and make your skin shine is water! Also, believe it or not, my teeth have shifted firm back into place, removing my overbite and allowing me to bite down soundly ever since I’ve decided to eat this way. The Carnivore Diet may not be able to fix a lifetime of damage but it’ll certainly return you to your best state of health possible.
What are you waiting for?
The mental clarity you will experience will be just glorious and nothing will ever convince you to betray this ketogenic state. Even though I would always eventually cheat on keto and be so frustrated at myself when I did, I always wanted to return to the way I felt in ketosis and feel that bliss. Eating just fresh meat and water will finally break that connection to sugar and open you up to a life you never thought possible.
So what are you waiting for? Eliminate the macronutrient called carbohydrates and eat fat/protein exclusively to mentally disconnect from carbs and live a healthier life. The path forward for a better society where we all are truly in tune with the world and not suffering from the emptiness and pain that carbohydrates bring us is right in front of us. Too many people are losing their lives and sanity being victims of the mass production of these manmade sugary foods.
Our ancestors never had to deal with this constant streamline of food advertisements that are everywhere from social media to television along with fast food restaurants on every corner. If our ancestors ate fruit/plants, their cravings would not drive them to eat massive amounts of sugar as the ideas of food like the ones we have created simply didn’t exist back then.
If you eat any amount of sugar in modern times you will establish a connection to all these foods and open yourself up to irritability/cravings. No matter how strong your willpower the cravings will and do come for you every time. I’ve done the diet for 4 years and tried various variations and strategies and this is the only thing that allows you to free yourself from that and have zero cravings. You must unplug yourself fully from this poisonous food environment.