Hi there,
I’m 23 years old from France, and four months on the carnivore diet.
Diet past: I will try to make it short. I stopped eating meat pretty early, red meat around 16, thinking of doing good and looking to improve my athletic life, as the media were starting to claim the danger of meat.
What followed then was a progressively eliminating animal product diet, with some very bad digestive health at some point, and I ended up raw fruitarian at 22 years old (with some exceptions in my diet at some time).
I was oh-so convinced that it was the optimal diet.
My general health wasn’t bad. I was in good shape, active, and could perform in sports, even in the cold, and was in better health than most of the people around me. I am a strong willing person, so I guess that’s why I was still active.
The Awakening: Cravings For Meat And Benefits Of Animal Products
But that changed during last winter when I had to admit that something wasn’t working and that it wasn’t sustainable. I started craving meats and reading articles about the benefits of meat and, in general, animal products (Weston A Price Foundation).
Transitioning To Keto And Discovering The Carnivore Diet
I reintroduced animal products but was still eating large quantities of carbohydrates in all forms, which resulted in weight gain. Anyway, my health was getting better, so I switched to a keto diet, and I started to lose some fat. I don’t remember how I found out about the carnivore diet, but I decided to give it a try about four months ago.
One of my motivations was to lose the fat I gained. So what I mostly ate was beef, lamb, chicken, organ meats, raw cheese, raw butter, raw milk, yogurt, tallow to cook, and bone broth.
Benefits:
- Better sleep
- Better mental
- More energy
- Very good adaptation to cold climate
- Better sex life and, I guess, a better hormonal functioning
- Not hungry all the day
- Good digestion overall, no gas
- Lost some fat
- Gained muscle mass (I wasn’t looking to gain some as I was already athletic, but with all that protein, I think you just can’t avoid it)
- I probably forget some other benefits.
Side Effects And Concerns
Some side effects would be constantly thirsty, so want to pee numerous times throughout the day, hard to find a balance between constipated and loose stools, and some muscle cramps/contractions during exercise, even with a copious amount of salt eaten and magnesium supplementation as recommended, but why would you need to supplement if that’s the optimal diet?
Anyway, I will keep going with this way of eating, don’t know for how long, I guess as long as I’m happy with it, I would like to lose a little bit more fat in some areas but don’t want to get too big in muscle. I just hope this woe is not causing any damage to the body as we don’t have yet any LONG term study.
So to conclude, very happy overall after this four-month experience, never felt better.
Meat heals. Thanks.
