#7 Carnivore + Fruit Diet Experiment

Quick Summary of 1 month observations

Ok... for those interested in my thoughts/experience of my month carnivore + fruit diet experiment... 🥩🍗🫐🍓

Caveat #1: I’m not dogmatic with this stuff. (No one should be, a lot of our understanding of the human diet has been re-written over the last 10-15 years and what we welcome as new truth will likely be updated and refined next 20+ years...)

Caveat #2: A month barely gives one any real insight...

Caveat#3: The carnivore diet is an elimination diet, separating the positive effects that come from removing harmful foods vs adding excess meat sources is difficult.

Background: There’s been some interesting insights from ultra-distance runners as well as other athletes moving toward a (total) carnivore diet. There are theories on the harms of vegetables. I’ve only scanned some of the research and have no strong opinion. There’s a lot we don’t know and it’s hard to conduct a good diet study.

Dietary Plan: Allowed: Meat (salt/pepper/garlic), fruit, water, eggs, coffee. Time restricted eating: 6+/- hour eating window; 18+/- hour fasting window. 

Observations:

- Mental Clarity ⬆️⬆️

- Workout energy – slight ↗️* 

- Sleep – no noticeable change

- Mood ⬆️⬇️

- Bloating ⬇️⬇️

- Weight – Slightly ⬆️

- Food budget ⬆️⬆️

- Satiety ⬆️⬆️

- Cravings ⬇️⬇️

- Insulin spikes ⬇️⬇️⬇️

- Migraines ⬇️⬇️

(*Note: lower back injury prevented any running/sprinting whole month)

Overall takeaways: 

Moving forward, I will lean into a meat-based diet. Many of the positive aspects were probably a combination of elimination diet plus higher protein. But—hard to conclude what I eliminated that made it beneficial. Was it sugar? Was it dairy? Was it flour? Or 1-2 particular vegetables?  A combination? Was it just the dosage of 1-2 of these?

My mood was noticeably better about 90% of the days. Interesting data point...  

Noticeable lack of bloating was nice.👍🏻👍🏻

Stable glucose levels was a great feature. 🤙🏼

Higher satiety and lower cravings prevented overeating most days. But it’s hard to put down a second steak that tastes so good!

I only pooped 6 times in March—a few stomach pains first 3-4 days, but no major episodes. The fruit addition made it more bearable and likely helped prevent the bouts of diarrhea most experience with 100% carnivore diet. 💩

We ate so well. I smoked/grilled meat everyday. I work from home so this was both feasible and enjoyable. 

However, budget for groceries was higher as well. 📈So not always feasible for people. Still cheaper that restaurants. And social/restaurants can be difficult with this restrictive diet. But I have no friends. 😢

Closing

Some of the current carnivore or carnivore+ enthusiasts have provided some good insights, theories to consider, and of course, some to distrust. From Paul Saladino to Dr. Shaun Baker to Zach Bitter to Mark Sisson, these guys piqued my interests, a

s did the Inuits and other traditional tribes.

Most of us don’t get enough protein... I recognized my usual protein intake is probably too low. I’m not trying to gain muscle mass, but rather maintain and stay lean and light as I age. So my protein demands are much lower than powerlifters, bodybuilders, etc. But need for higher protein intake is noted and I’ll continue with that. 

I don’t think I’d ever go full carnivore. I have a sweet tooth and I like bread. So I will aim to reduce how often and how much I eat those types of things, but not eliminate. I’ll continue to keep high protein intake daily. I think we all agree reducing levels of daily bread/pasta/dessert/sugars yields positive results. Balance...✅✅✅