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What is Carnivore? Food Choices Documentation -- Modern Humans Documentation -- Ancient Humans Historical References Professional/Clinical Teachers Influencers Some Facebook Groups Some Reddit Subreddits Some Podcasts My Way of Eating Observations and Other Notes Conditions Addressed Successfully |
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What is Carnivore? The carnivore way of eating is a ketogenic elimination diet consisting of at least 70% animal-based foodstuffs. A ketogenic diet has higher amounts of fat (60-70%) and protein (20-35%), and small amounts of carbohydrates (5-10%, equalling no more than 50 grams per day) than a standard diet. An elimination diet is one in which most foods are removed and then a few slowly added back in to see what dis-ease triggers come from which foods. The "Lion Diet" is the most extreme version of carnivore consisting of nothing but beef or other ruminant animal meat, water, and salt. In between the "Lion" and a more animal-based regimen is what the majority of carnivores use. Sometimes those of us who eat even a few carbs are referred to as "dirty" carnivores -- we wear that with pride. (The relatively few raw meat eaters can be militant about their choice, as can some Lion Dieters who claim that theirs is the only true form of carnivore.) Whichever version is used as an elimination diet, the body can get a rest from the standard wide range of foods which can contain inflammatory properties, allowing the body to be able to naturally detox and heal. After satisfactory progress is made, the person can choose if he or she wants to carefully and slowly add back in some of the eliminated foods to see what personal reactions may then occur. Judiciously adding a few foodstuffs back in can pinpoint the kind and range of dis-eases these foods were unknowingly resulting in in the first place. Obligate carnivores are animals that are biologically required to eat meat to get essential nutrients for their survival. Examples are cats, snakes, crocodilians, sharks, weasels, seals, toothed whales, birds of prey, spiders, and dragonflies. Facultative carnivores (aka mesocarnivores) primarily eat meat with the 30-70% balance of their diet consisting of non-vertebrate foods which may include insects, fungi, fruits, other plant material, and any other food that is available to them. Examples are dogs, most bears, and raccoons. All facultative carnivores are omnivores, but not all omnivores are facultative carnivores. And herbivores usually have multi-chambered stomachs and longer digestive tracts to be able to ferment and break down the virtually 100% plant foods they need to eat. Hypercarnivores are animals whose diet consists of at least 70% meat. All obligate carnivores are hypercarnivores, but not all hypercarnivores are obligate carnivores. The difference between humans and true hypercarnivores is that fat is far more important to our survival than it is to that of hypercarnivores. Early humans, especially, had to exercise far greater selectivity than hypercarnivores with regard to the species, age, sex, reproductive state, and overall condition of the animals they targeted and the body parts they processed and consumed. At times and in contexts where plant foods were scarce or unavailable, hunting wasn't just a matter of opportunistically killing an animal and bringing home the meat. To survive the coldest months of the year, hunters had to provide fat in substantial quantities on a regular basis -- in fact, as much as 60% or more of total calories. Humans in the fall ate the fatty animals (which had put on weight to last the winter), along with some seasonal berries and other plants so that the humans could survive through the winter into the sprintime with its bounties. It can be and has been debated whether humans are carnivores or omnivores. With the range of health and living environments humans have shown, there simply is no single perfect diet for everyone. Despite the carnivore way of eating being shown to be optimal for many people, especially those with various otherwise untreatable autoimmune dis-eases, for the general population a more facultative carnivore/omnivore diet seems to be the best choice. But without the ultraprocessed "foods" and debilitating types of plants so common today. Some people say that there is no way the world's population can all become carnivore. That is a strawman argument which doesn't matter: many people will not change their diets because of long-standing religious or cultural or familial beliefs, personal philosophical feelings, local availability including seasonality, local pricing, addiction to sugars and sweeteners, or because of adherence to the authoritarian models of medicine. Fine, they do them. There is plenty of meat for the rest of us. The carnivore way of eating is high fat, medium protein, and zero or ultra-low carbohydrate (less than 20 grams per day). This results in a decreased need for insulin, which on the "Standard American Diet" (SAD), aka "Standard Australian Diet" or simply "Standard Western Diet" is constant and elevated due to daily carbohydrate ingestion of up to 300+ grams per day. To become "fat adapted" one needs to be on a carnivore way of eating for at least 90 days. By that time, you no longer experience "hangriness" between meals, sleepiness after meals (especially lunch), and you can go for several hours without needing to snack. The constant standard need to eat throughout the day -- partly pushed by commercial "Big Food" -- goes away and the inflammation resulting from large amounts of circulating glucose from carbohydrates being continually chased after by high amounts of insulin becomes a thing of the past for many on the carnivore way of eating. Blood sugar crashes after meals is also just a memory. Most carnivores gravitate naturally to just needing one meal a day (OMAD) or two (2MAD) instead of "three squares" plus snacking. The common advice is to eat a meal until you are comfortably stuffed, and then end right there. Eat again when you are actually hungry. We are very much aware that our home and work schedules do not always allow the latitude each person may require for an optimal way of eating. There is actually great flexibility with this way of eating. This Ancestrally Appropriate Diet is the way of eating on which humans evolved. It is simply the Perfect Human Diet. Many of us follow a high-fat, moderate-protein approach because fat provides much of our energy when carbohydrates are removed. You can eat mostly meat without being strictly carnivore. There's nothing wrong with choosing a different approach. Keto, ketovore, and animal-based diets all have their own variations. Carbohydrates don't provide satiation; they are a short-term fuel. Hence you have to continually ingest them ("need to snack"). Beef, butter, bacon, and eggs (BBBE) are protein and fat that do provide satiation; they are a long-term fuel which helps you feel full. You no longer need to snack because you are no longer constantly hungry. (Although the old habit of eating when bored does need to be broken sometimes...) Think of all the genuine nutrient-dense meat that truly satiates you which you can buy with the money you save from not having to purchase snack foods and chips, candies and sweets, gums and breath mints, baked goods and pastries, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks, specialty coffees or teas, desserts, pasta and noodle dishes, grains and starchy vegetables, fat-free or zero-sugar foods, or fried fast foods. No need then for the majority of over-the-counter treatments or prescription meds, either. Meat is 85-95% digested by our bodies. (That works out to only 2-5 oz left over after a 32 oz/day intake.) Very little waste is left, along with a little intestinal lining which is constantly being renewed. Bowel movements every few days to maybe once a week. What comes out is mostly small, relatively odorless scat, not the huge smelly plugs of nondigestible fiber. No more bloating or constipation. Because meat is not fermentable (and it does NOT "rot" in your colon), it cannot feed pathogens. People who have had a colostomy before becoming carnivore can readily identify the remains of plant foods in their colostomy bags by sight and smell and volume (much gas produced). Animal foodstuffs, however, only become a mild, unidentifiable, gas-free, somewhat thick liquid. And anyone who has never tried this for even a few months doesn't know squat and doesn't have to be listened to. "I don't have to check it out because I don't want to ruin my health" or "My doctor recommends a balanced diet with lean meat and lots of whole grains and fruits and vegetables." What about all the multiple-year carnivores around? If there were major short-term or medium-term problems we would have seen and heard about plenty of them by now. Just about any of us who've been carnivore for at least 6 months has more personal experience and knowledge of nutrition and biochemical evidence than even the longest practicing standard-education doctor. Virtually all the research on fiber, cancer, RDAs, etc. is based on the vast population that follows a more-or-less standard glucose/carb-heavy western mixed diet. Admittedly, there is very, very little official clinical data for carnivores and zero-fiber. The unadjusted transfer of results (including lab values) from one diet to another has not been proven. For example, the assumption is that the Recommended Daily Allowances of nutrients (RDAs) established for people on a high-carb Standard Western Diet automatically apply to someone on an ultra low-carb carnivore diet. The RDAs do NOT apply across the board because of the switch from being the predominant glucose-fueled to the less-studied and recognized ketone-fueled. The changes resulting from the difference in fuel-sources has not been sufficiently evaluated to say we are automatically nutrient deficient. Be aware that most of the reference ranges for lab tests are based on the average from a mostly less-than-healthy population, the "normal" in this country. Very few values for a healing carnivore way of eating have been put forth. The current population is not as healthy as the authorities pretend it to be. The wide-spread use of prescriptions and major presence of chronic illnesses are a big indicator of that. "Normal" does not necessarily signify "healthy." Such an interest in carnivore/ketovore ways of eating as we see these days is also an indication that the status quo and health recommendations of the past 40+ years even when conscientiously adhered to are not working. The carnivore biochemistry does differ a little bit from Standard Western Diet biochemistry, that which essentially all of Western reductionist medicine is based upon and from which "normal" lab values are derived. "Pure" ketogenic lab values for [a new] "normal" health are yet to be fully tabulated. The fact that so many of us carnivores have NOT keeled over from heart disease, gout, scurvy, diabetes, kidney failure, terminal constipation, osteoporosis, cancer, starvation, etc. within a couple of years as old school nutritionists/doctors would have us believe/warn us about but, instead, we have mostly improved seemingly incurable chronic conditions means that this is unexplored and potentially useful country. There are an estimated one to five million carnivores world-wide. Wile there are very official or published clinical studies or papers on the carnivore way of eating, it is possible to find hundreds of thousands of n=1 study results from testimonials, interviews, and Internet postings/comments. At least 65 years currently for Maggie White, 52 years for the late Augustus Owsley "The Bear" Stanley III (1935-2011, auto accident, carnivore since 1958), over 40 years for Rick Rodriguez, 24 years for Joe and Charlene Anderson, over 20 years for Dr. Anthony Chaffee, 17 years for Dana Spencer Shute and Charles Washington, 16 years for L. Amber O'Hearn and Kelly Hogan, 15 years for Dr. Robert Kiltz, 13 years for Danny Conway, 11 years for Prof. Bart Kay, 10 years for Ede Fox and Dr. Shawn Baker and Dr. Elizabeth Bright, 9 years for Ella Bruce, 8 years for Lauren Knight Hughes and Bella Ma and Raymond Nazon and Miklaila Peterson and Dr. Ken Berry and Dr. Judy Cho and Laura Russell, RN. They are among many, many others, most of whom have more recently started and continue to be healed by the carnivore/zero carb/zero fiber way of eating. Every day we all know people who have followed the officially sanctioned diet but who still develop and die from innumerable diseases. The usual pronouncement is that none of these people ate properly, they should have eaten less or moved more, they should have taken their medications. The old/current system blames failures on the people/patients -- not itself. Carnivores have seen through this b.s. and are actively changing our health. Will we die? Of course, we will -- eventually. But until then we will have less painful and multi-syndrome lives than the average person who appeals to medical authorities to not go outside the official prescribed box of how biology is "supposed" to be. Live in fear of what may happen, take all your side-effects-ridden prescriptions, avoid exposure to the sun, etc. Enjoy your sugar addictions. Instead, WE boldly go forth and discover more quality health. See Also: "The Carnivore Diet and Its Spiritual Dimensions" (https://carnivoredaddy.com/how-the-carnivore-diethe-carnivore-diet-and-its-spiritual-dimensions/). [The entire carnivoredaddy.com website has value.] "One of the biggest misunderstandings about carnivore is the idea that there's a single correct version. Eat the same cuts. Same ratios. Same schedule. Same rules. In reality, carnivores adapt to geography, culture, climate, and access. Humans have always eaten animal-based diets differently depending on where they lived." "Spiritual Carnivores -- Buddhist Ex-Vegetarians Describe Their Experiences With Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Diets (https://openheartopenheart.blogspot.com/2020/05/spiritual-carnivores-buddhist-ex.html?m=1). "Like some other things in buddhism, I think that vegetarian diet is something that the monastic establishment pushed into buddhism and by doing so made an idealistic disservice for those who require more energy than monastics do." "Spirituality and Eating Meat" (https://web.archive.org/web/20250217234505/https://www.meatmydiet.com/spirituality-and-eating-meat/). "The REAL Origin of the Anti-Meat Message," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvGWb20MI1k Cows, pigs, chickens, etc. would never have existed/experienced physical life in the numbers they do today if we didn't want to get the meat and other products from them. We are also then enabling them to see and feel the world through human eyes and muscles. We are/should be thankful for their contributions to our lives and health through nutrient-dense meals that are prepared and eaten with gratitude and love. We thank and bless all the animals who provide us with our meals. And gratitude to the ranchers and butchers who prepare this for us. "The Truth About Long-Term Carnivore | Dr. Eric Berg," Lauren Johnson, 25 Sept 2025. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkFu_Gf4K6E) "If We're Omnivores, EXPLAIN THIS!," Kent Carnivore, 27 Jul 2025. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNTIAO_zDQ) "What Version of Carnivore Should You Choose?," Jenny Mitich, 9 June, 2024. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByFQL7ZZ2i8, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT0pHXwavZg) "The Biggest Arguments Against Carnivore And What the Evidence Actually Shows," Judy Cho | Nutrition with Judy, 27 Aug 2026. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiT0vy6ZMVw) "Every Reason Humans Are Meant To Eat Meat Explain In 17 Minutes," Max German, 2 Jan 2026. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74m7pln-sWU) See Just Eat Meat resources by Michael Golstein. * A definitive website is Travis Statham's Meatrition.com, since at least early 2022. A VERY DEFINITIVE SITE: WhyCarnivore.com, since at least mid-2023. Hardison, S. Alexander "Becoming Human: The Case for Hypercarnivory," June 21, 2025. https://grokipedia.com/page/Carnivore_diet |