My Way of Eating I started the carnivore way of eating mid-December 2023 at age 68, so I took one month to transition (to basically clean out the cupboard and start increasing meat). So far 98%+ carnivore, with about 75% of my diet being mostly 80/20 medium-rare-cooked ground beef, including 3 to 4 burgers most days for lunch at work (lightly cooked the night before). I've found the 73/27 mix is sometimes too greasy and 90/10 is definitely always too dry for me. I do a mix of several different brands of fresh or frozen pre-formed burgers. Infrequently I might have included one slice of cheese (muenster or gouda) with them, but most recently I found that eating any amount of cow or even sheep cheese results in me gaining a little weight. I look for beef as the only ingredient -- some might have added some spice when they are processed. I've never had any digestive problems, my go-to "first alert." I usually fry the burgers up in tallow I collect from my dinner ground beef, refrigerate unfiltered, and reuse for a bit, supplementing with purchased in-glass tallow. I do two meals a day (2MAD), ground beef for dinner might sometimes include a few hard-boiled or over-easy eggs added or have some ground pork rinds sprinkled on the final plate. Otherwise the meat is, again, lightly cooked and then I might add a little Grey Poupon mustard. I prefer the favor to plain or spicy brown mustard (which I absolutely used to love.) I used to add a little bit of pure sour cream (Daisy brand) or some plain grated parmesan/romano (4C Foods), but the sour cream does not sit well anymore. Another 23% or so of my diet is very lightly cooked shaved steak in tallow or butter, lamb shoulders in butter, lightly cooked oven-broiled ribeye steak or a slow-cooked picanha steak or beef roast or brisket, wild-caught sockeye salmon fillets in butter, overeasy or hard-boiled eggs by themselves, pork rinds (chicharrones), a couple 8 oz cans of canned oysters -- sometimes with one sheet of nori seaweed for lunch every Saturday, fairly clean bacon, sardines in water, shrimp, plus small amounts infrequently of hot dogs, kielbasa, SPAM, corned beef hash, etc. (The 2% non-carnivore -- a "strategic inclusion/buffer" -- is an occasional avocado (but not guacamole which I can't do); clean sauerkraut (with maybe 3 forkfuls at most, but 18-24 hours later I get a few quiet rolling fart puffs and I fart a little more until it it gets passed out), a few macadamia nuts, some mushrooms, and nori seaweed; perhaps 12 frozen small wild blueberries for breakfast locally-sourced and eaten in-season for a few weeks in summer.&bsp; I do go a few months sometimes without having added any of that 2%. After several months I discovered I could no longer do soft cheeses or plain yogurt -- even if cooked as chaffle or not -- without getting GI problems. :( The 2% does NOT include any bread[ing], pasta, flour, grains, rice, yeast, cereals, crackers, chips, candies, corn or popcorn, HFCS, added natural or synthetic/artificial sweeteners, honey, snack bars, protein powders, liquid or frozen dairy, nut butters or milks, legumes, pulses or beans, tomatoes or peppers, soups, coffee or teas, ketchup or mayonnaise, salad dressings, sauces, fruit juices or jellies, gummies of any type, citrus or tropical or tree fruits, margarine or seed oils (whose residues -- including excessive amounts of Omega-6 and linoleic fatty acid -- from a previous SAD can take at least 4-7 years to get out of your system), sea foods packed in oil, multi-vitamin supplements, fortified/enriched or otherwise processed packaged foods. None of that stuff anymore. Personally, I do not drink coffee (a tea made from raw or roasted tree beans), something many other carnivores do without otherwise stressing. Didn't smoke or drink much alcohol before, hardly any sodas (since pre-two liter days: mostly only about a can of root beer or Sprite once or twice per year) or no coffee or energy drinks, very few fried foods, and fairly clean not so SAD w/very little morning eye gunk/crust. Father was a grocer and mother a registered nurse, Polish and Hungarian heritages respectively. Started a several year subscription to Prevention magazine back in college, took various supplements and vitamins most years since then. RESULTS: Didn't have many overt health issues just metabolic ones, but I finally got rid of 15 lbs of stubborn Dad belly (which I had for 30 years) by age 69. This included loosing enough girth off my left ring finger for me to need to get a wedding ring adjuster insert to prevent the band from flying off again. I am off of 2 of my 3 BP meds (started these in 1999 with 1 Rx, eventually became 2 and then 3, switching the type of pill with every move/doctor change). That last prescription was dropped in the first half of September 2026 from 10 mg down to 5 mg, and within 2 weeks I could tell the small amount of edema in my feet was gone. Lots of minor pluses from this (much less flatulence and bloating; usually smaller scat bowel movements or a single large easy one once or twice a week w/virtually no brown on the wiping toilet paper and no explosive or wet farts resonating in or spotting on the porcelain, virtually no smell or "skid marks" on my underpants; stopped major snoring; much more resistant to sunburns (so I am increasing my sun exposure even without a hat, and it has been years since I used sunscreen or sunglasses); can feel cold but not get chills or goosebumps (the one time I had a fever with chills the feeling was not as intense as it used to be). No blood sugar drops before meals or if a meal is delayed ("hangriness"); no post-lunch sleepiness. Very little armpit smell even after several days w/o deodorant, no soap or shampoo only water used during once-a-week showers (maybe twice or thrice-a-week in the summer, especially if I've been doing a lot of yard work) though I do my face and armpits with sensitive-skin baby wipes practically every night before bed and change my underwear and socks daily; decreased foot odor and sweating; virtually no summer crotch heat rashes; decreased size armpit (axil) skin tags. More endurance so I can occasionally run/jog the last block to the bus stop without getting even a little winded. No bad breath even without toothpaste; very few floaters in my eyes; hardly any hiccups anymore, nor any more infrequent canker sores, biting of inner cheek while eating or tongue fissures/cracks. Some possibles: teeth slightly whiter; chronic scaling of left great toe nail seems lessened; a little lightening of liver spots on the back of my hands. No change yet in the color of my light brown and gray hair. Old scars still visible; no speed-up of contemporary healing of cuts or bruises; no decreases in tinnitus; eyesight still less than optimal; still need that small blood pressure medicine. Had previously been on a mostly once-a-week shower schedule for two years w/soap and every other time w/shampoo. Tongue scraped many mornings for some forty-five years. Had walked about 1 mile each way morning and afternoon to bus Monday through Friday and occasionally at least once on a weekend for almost 8 years. No joint aches/pains for over a dozen years (it's because I like my job, according to one source), and stretching most mornings with a little yoga and tai chi for almost forty years. Always had good sense of balance; never had GERD/heartburn, diabetes, cancer, or autoimmune diseases. Always been an early riser. No real long-term sense of having brain fog. No cravings or hunger pangs between meals or need for snacking or desserts. No allium breath (onions or garlic), no need to cleanse my mouth after a meal to get rid of a taste. Virtually no use of analgesics for over nine years, except for a 325 mg aspirin each day from the middle of January to the end of February 2026 to prevent deep vein thrombosis following my plate and screws surgery for a fractured ankle gotten slipping on a patch of black ice. The heavy-duty pain pills given to me post-surgery were only used for 5 days, with those last two days being only a single pill before bed just in case. The fracture is about 95% nicely healed, thanks to my diet and 6-days a week self-promoted therapy of some 2 or 2-1/2 miles a day up to the bus stop and back, with my emotional-support cane for inclines. Still taking zinc [Nature's Way Zinc Chelate 30 mg, zinc bisglycinate. I take three capsules a week.]; magnesium [Upnourish Magnesium Glycinate 500 mg, with 70 mg Mg per capsule. I take four at night.]; and K2+D3 supplements [Bronson Vitamin K2+D3, 90 mcg Vitamin K2 (as MK 7 Menaquinone) and 125 mcg (5,000 I.U.) Vitamin D3 (as Chlecalciferol). I take two in the evening after dinner]. When I don't get so much salt I have a brief shin splint, or in my toes. This is the biggest challenge I've had with carnivore: making these pains consistently and persistently go away. Currently using Redmond's Real Salt. From April 2024 until December 2025, I added 4-5 drops of Lugol's 2% at a time in water. Beginning in mid-March 2026, I am now doing 3 drops a day. In about 8 oz hot water (don't like cold) first thing in the morning wirth some salt. I had been doing a second dose of iodine at night right after work about an hour before dinner, but no longer. As a video pointed out, carnivores need less iodine because we are not eating any of the plant foods with goitrogens ([non-fermented] cruciferous vegetables, almonds, any form of soy, millet, peanuts, sweet potatoes, bamboo shoots, strawberries, peaches, and pears, among others). I've never been a coffee drinker -- and I do hot water throughout the day also -- so I've gotten use to the "-ine" aftertaste (reminiscent of iodine's cousin, chlorine) when I add iodine. No previous autoimmune or thyroid issues. Can't really tell about increased energy from that. (In 2008 I supposedly had an allergic reaction -- very low blood pressure -- to the iodine contrast medium for a cat scan for kidney stones. Much later I found out my strong negative reaction was common to the gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs), NOT to the iodine.) My wife has increased her meat intake, but many issues from a rougher childhood and into adulthood, and she'll admit she's addicted to sugar/carbs for comfort. She cannot always keep meat down, even simple plain cooked. She is also sensitive to added salt, unlike me. Why not cheat? I'm soon to be age 71, in good health, carnivore for over two-and-a-half years. I can fondly look back on the wide variety of foods I've eaten throughout the years and holiday seasons. I still enjoy the smells and can appreciate the products, but there is no way I want to get bloating back with extra time on the toilet. My very few and small veerings off course these past two-and-a-half years with chemical factory type ingredients has got me convinced. I haven't had much of a sweet tooth for a long time. To each his/her own, I am comfortable, and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season. Meat on. Please know that nobody has ever died because of a lack of carbohydrates for their sweet tooth. Lower your carb intake every day. My family still eats a standard western diet and there are a number of sweets on the counter and pantry at all times, but that doesn't appeal to me anymore. I will also confess that I did a 75% fruitarian diet about 45 years ago. After 18 months I had to leave it because every day at the warehouse office where I worked I literally had to will myself to cross the warehouse because I was so weak and I lost a bit of weight. I never was particularly heavy. I didn't have health insurance so I never had labs done. This was in Phoenix, AZ where I had a lot of access through grocery stores and the local co-op to citrus and tropical fruits (including papayas, mangoes, pineapples, cherimoyas, and guavas), grapes, raisins, tamarinds, dates, fresh and dried figs, fresh or dried coconuts, some apples and tomatoes and avocados, etc. The other 25% of my diet at that time was mostly alfalfa sprouts, some seaweeds, some nuts, and an occasional Taco Bell order of beans with cheese. I kept notes for all this as "The Ideal and the Real Fruitarian," which remains incompleted and unpublished. Information primarily from Arnold Ehret ("Mucus-less Diet"), Morris Krok (from South Africa), and Dr. Johnny Lovewisdom (South America). Some dental enamel marring remained afterwards. This also is part of my older dietary volcabulary which I don't have to add to. |