Getting started on the carnivore diet tips by coach Raymond N

How To Prepare For The Carnivore Diet

Preparing for the carnivore diet means that you should have as much meat in your refrigerator as possible. Buy a lot of meat snacks (please avoid the sugary ones, if possible):

1. Beef Jerky
2. Biltong
3. Droewors
4. Pork Rinds
5. Cheese sticks
6. Cheese crisps

When shopping for any of these “processed” snacks, avoid the following:

1. Sugars: anything that ends in “-ose” is a sugar
2. Monosodium glutamate, yeast extract
3. Anything you can’t pronounce
4. Vegetable oils, canola/sunflower/soybean oils

What To Eat On The Carnivore Diet

• Any animal product is allowed on the carnivore diet. “If it has a mother, you can eat it” is the saying example: beef, bison, chicken, pork, lamb, fish, offal, eggs, dairy
• Grain-fed beef or feedlot pork, chicken is allowed on the carnivore diet
• For those who want to choose grass-fed beef, then it is recommended to have extra fat added due to the leanness of grass-fed beef in general
• Spices are allowed due to the need for “variety” early on in the carnivore diet. Spices means anything that is in powder form. Accent or MSG is not allowed. Avoid this ingredient if any of your spices have that or yeast extract. These increase cravings
• It is recommended to eat a 1:1 ratio of weight of protein to fat. So for every protein amount, you need to make sure you have fat to follow it. It is ideal to err on the fat side if in doubt. Example: add/cook ground beef patty, chicken, and fish with butter
• Have a side of beef trimmings, bacon, and pork rinds with lean-fat meals.
• Fat creates satiation and prevents “hangry” situations. If you notice you are more moody than usual the next day, it usually means you have not eaten enough, specifically fat.
• Dairy is allowed on the carnivore diet, although milk is discouraged (liquid sugar) for Carnivores. Replace milk with heavy cream.
• Heavy cream, cheese, and butter are great ways to add to your fat intake if tolerated.
• Be very aware that with cheese and heavy cream, you can have too much, so limit the amount of these, if possible, during the transition.
• Honey is not recommended in the transition period.
• Honey will spike insulin and therefore increase cravings and may cause you to lapse. Honey is, IMO not a carnivore food. It is made by bees that chew pollen and regurgitate honey.

Tips For Transitioning To The Carnivore Diet

If coming from the Standard American Diet (SAD) or vegetarian, or vegan diet, be very aware that the carnivore diet can be a shock to your body. Ways to minimize that shock include the following:

Vegans:

• Begin with adding eggs to every meal for at least three days, then for three days, graduate to bacon, then finally, last three days red meat.
• Have full carnivore-only meals. For example, have breakfast with just bacon and eggs. Do that daily for the next three days
• Have two full-carnivore meals for the next three days
• Then finally, attempt a 100% carnivore for a full week.

SAD (Standard American Diet):

• Coming from the SAD diet, my advice is to add one single banana per day for the first week. Then wean off that banana on the second weak. Dropping from one to every other day to none
• You can also follow the vegan protocol to ease your journey.
• Many people ask why not use avocado instead of banana.
• Avocado is high in fat, and as you transition, you have a hard time digesting fat, so adding too much fat will tip you over to queasy.
• The fiber in bananas will ease the burden of not having fiber all of a sudden and offer enough such so that the transition is not slowed down too much.
• Sugar in the banana is not a significant concern about increasing cravings.
• Supplements

Supplements recommended for the carnivore diet may include the following:

• Electrolytes or Salt
  • This is probably one of the most important to begin your journey.
  • This will prevent you from having some negative effects such as diarrhea, fatigue, keto flu, etc.
• Betaine Hydrochloride
  • It can help with digesting a heavy meat diet.
• Ox Bile
  • It can help if you cannot handle the extra fat, which may cause a queasy and constantly rumbly stomach.
• Vitamins
  • Vitamins are not really needed, but if they make you feel good, continue taking them while being aware of the fillers in any supplement.

Supplements can help during the transition but keep in mind that once you transition, you will not need any.

Fasting and exercise

• We do not recommend fasting/exercise until you’ve transitioned
• If you are used to intermittent fasting, then put a hold on it if you can
• If you insist on doing any of these, just realize that this can/will increase cravings and can easily knock you off the carnivore diet