My First Week Eating Like A Carnivore

I’m not really sure what prompted me to eat like a carnivore. I recently finished a post 12 reasons to stop eating grains and the lectin part stuck in my head. In the mail a copy of [amazon_textlink asin=’006242713X’ text=’The Plant Paradox’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’jphphc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’da57684c-b2bb-11e8-aac5-1d06e22b1bc9′] was on it’s way to my house. The Plant Paradox isn’t a carnivore eating strategy but Dr. Gundry explains all of the ways that plants defend themselves from being eaten. It got me thinking.

If you’ve been following me for some time you’ll know that I’ve eaten AIP~ish since 2015. I have rheumatoid arthritis and AIP (the autoimmune protocol) is focused on gut health and not eating things that could cross the gut’s barrier and create an autoimmune response. Sarah Ballantyne explains the science for why a leaky gut precedes autoimmune disease here.

My reasoning for trying a carnivore approach was:

1. To eliminate lectins
2. To eliminate fiber in case it was acting as a gut irritant

First let me say that I was fat adapted before adopting this eating strategy so I didn’t have a carb flu or any of the symptoms that someone would get from switching from a high carb diet to essentially a zero carb diet. If you end up curious about how to make a gentle transition to a low-carb eating strategy that’s one of the topics I coach people on.

On the third night of my carnivore eating strategy I felt different. While laying in bed that night I was acutely aware how relaxed my abdomen felt. Typically my stomach/abs feel like they’re on perma-flex. For years my acupuncturist has always put a pin in the center of my abdomen just under my rib cage. That area is usually tight, now it’s soft and squishy… In 3 days.

I did have one night with poor sleep because I’m guessing I had a huge cortisol dump. The body releases cortisol when it’s stressed “the fight or flight response” in order to pull glucose out of storage and make it available in the blood. Since then I haven’t been ZC (zero carb), an abbreviation I’ve learned that they use online. I’ve made a point to add a few teaspoons of honey to my morning tea. I also have some peaches from the tree in our front yard that I have eaten here and there; no more than 1 in a day. (Local ripe fruit doesn’t try to damage your intestines.) My goal has never been zero carb; it’s been an experiment in removing lectins and fiber. The peaches haven’t seemed to bother me.

Since that one night of poor sleep I haven’t had any issues. Perhaps in another week or two I’ll try another meat only day and see what happens. Yesterday I tried a sweet potato, peeled, to see what would happen. I also had some coconut cream with melted dark chocolate and water….i.e. hot chocolate. Today my stomach doesn’t feel quite as relaxed as it had. Unfortunately, I don’t know what the culprit was because I tried more than one thing. I know better but coaches aren’t always perfect. Today I’m back to my meat only diet until I feel the relaxed sensation in my abdomen again.

What I’ve Learned From Reading The Plant Paradox

Why You Need To Eat Local Seasonal Produce

Remember those peaches I mentioned? Gundry explains how a lot of our produce is picked before it’s ripe, transported, and then gassed to “ripen it” and put it on store shelves. If you’ve ever eaten a local strawberry versus what they sell in a supermarket you know there is a night and day difference. Before a fruit is ripe it is bitter which acts as a deterrent for animals to eat it. When fruit ripens, usually in the red – orange color spectrum, it is a signal to animals to eat it. (It’s also why most food packages are red – orange; food companies know that you’re wired to eat when seeing those colors.) Before food is ripe it contains gut damaging lectins. Gluten is the most popular lectin people try to avoid but lectins are found in more than just wheat, rye, and barley.

For now, any produce that isn’t local and in season I won’t be eating.

Why You Need To Avoid Plants With Seeds On The Inside

Plants have a defense mechanism where their goal is to have their seeds survive the digestive tract (lectins) and get planted in a nice heap of compost (i.e. poo). Things that we consider to be vegetables are actually fruits  because they have seeds on the inside (cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, etc).

Vegetables with seeds are off my list for now.

Did You Know That Your Meat Can Contain Lectins?

This is one of those things that fires up a health coach when I read a comment where someone believes that the source of their meat doesn’t matter. It matters. It matters in so many ways. Conventional meats are fed grains (corn and soy) and the lectins in those plants become a part of that meat. Not to mention the antibiotics and pesticides in the meat. The proteins in some GMO’s are lectin proteins so on top of the naturally occurring lectins in “organic” grains fed to your organic beef and chicken, non-organic meats also contain the lectins of GMOs. Add in the environmental impact of factory farms and the source of your meat begins to make a huge difference.

Organic meats aren’t good enough. We need to eat animals that are raised in their native environments, a pasture. Cows are supposed to eat grass, not grain and chickens aren’t vegetarians. Shop locally, find a local farmer, ask them questions until you’re satisfied. If you live in a food desert I also recommend Butcher Box. I received an order from them just the other day because they’re a bit cheaper than my local farmer’s market.

They ship their meat with dry ice and my orders have always arrived still frozen. Yesterday we had a little homeschool fun with the remaining dry ice in our box.

Pasture raised animals are the most environmentally friendly thing we can eat. If you don’t think so, because there is so much propaganda out there, then you need to read Defending Beef It’s not the cow; it’s the how.

I am only eating pasture raised meats for now.

How Long Will I Eat Like A Carnivore?

Honestly I don’t know. My goal is to hopefully see a change in my gut health. Ultimately I’d like to keep this relaxed abdominal feeling while eating plants but I feel I need to figure out which plants are friend vs foe. For now I’m going to stick to pasture raised meats and try adding vegetables one at a time and see how it goes. Someone suggested a food allergy test but from what I’ve read a food allergy test won’t uncover the same things that an elimination diet will.

For now, my energy is great and I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. If you really think about it a pasture raised animal is healthy and has all that it needs so why wouldn’t you?

Supplements While Eating Carnivore

If you’ve read Primal Fat Burner you already know that eating snout to tail you can get all of the nutrients you need from an animal. Am I eating snouts and tails? No, but I am taking Ancestral Supplements Beef Organ Capsules because organs are the most nutrient dense food on the planet.

Vitamin Profile of Liver From Ancestral Supplements: (lots more info on their website)

• 5099 IU (100% DV) Vitamin A per serving
• 14 mcg (250% DV) Vitamin B12 per serving
• 120 mg Choline per serving

VITAMIN PROFILE

• Vitamin A – 5,099 IU
• Retinol -1385 mcg
• Retinol Activity Equivalent – 1391 mcg
• Alpha Carotene – 3.1 mcg
• Beta Carotene – 65.0 mcg
• Beta Cryptoxanthin – 3.6 mcg
• Vitamin C – 0.4 mg
• Vitamin D – 4.5 IU
• Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) – 0.1 mg
• Vitamin K – 0.9 mcg
• Thiamin – 0.1 mg
• Riboflavin – 0.8 mg
• Niacin – 3.7 mg
• Vitamin B6 – 0.3 mg
• Folate – 81.2 mcg
• Vitamin B12 – 14 mcg (250%)
• Pantothenic Acid – 2.0 mg
• Choline – 120 mg

MINERAL PROFILE

• Calcium – 1.4 mg
• Heme Iron – 2.2 mg
• Magnesium – 5.0 mg
• Phosphorus – 108 mg
• Potassium – 87.6 mg
• Sodium – 19.3 mg
• Zinc – 1.1 mg
• Copper – 2.7 mg
• Manganese – 0.1 mg
• Selenium – 11.1 mcg

Because I’ve read Dirty Genes and I suspect that I have a MTHFR snippet I know that greens (B-vitamins) are critical to methylation. You do get B-vitamins in liver but I always felt great after eating dark greens before going carnivore. I’m honestly one of those people who craves kale.

I’m not completely finished with Gundry’s book so I haven’t tried eating greens yet. Thus far he has mentioned that plants know when they’re being eaten and they’ll release bitter compounds to ward off predators… If anything I’ll definitely cook any greens I try in the near future.

I have had some moringa tea. If you’ve never had it I’ll warn you that it tastes like grass. It grows on your as you sip it but if that’s not your thing I recommend mixing it with peppermint or spearmint tea. Before I bought a bag of moringa I drank these which does not taste like grass. Now I have a bag of moringa which is ok but I’ve been mixing moringa that I brew in a french press with peppermint tea. I don’t mind the grassy taste of moringa but I do like it better with a hint of mint.

Why Moringa?

Here are it’s PROVEN health benefits:

• Antioxidants and Anti-Inflammatory Compounds
• Balances Hormones and Slows The Effects of Aging
• Helps Improve Digestive Health (#1 thing I’m after)
• Balances Blood Sugar Levels
• Protects and Nourishes The Skin
• Stabilizes Mood and Protects Brain Health

Tastiest Green Supplement

I have had these Amazing Grass Effervescent Mixed Berry Tablets before but I haven’t tried them yet during my carnivore experiment. Honestly, I had them packed away for a recent hunting trip and I’ve been looking for them this past week. I found them the other day and they’re on my list of my first greens to try.

In the past I have purchased other products from Amazing Grass; I like to add their powdered greens to our son’s food on occasion. So far he hasn’t noticed. While I’m not a fan of the sweetener in the effervescent tablets they do make for a mess free portable green that tastes better than any other powders I’ve tried. The powder I linked above does taste green which I can get down on it’s own but it’s not as enjoyable. Hidden in food though, it’s taste is a non-issue unless you add too much. They make other effervescent flavors but I haven’t tried them.

Why have I been focused on greens? If you eat your greens then all the scary things you hear about meat and cancer go out the window.

Not that I think I’ll get cancer from eating meat for a week but I do believe in the protective properties of plants. I’m a huge Terry Wahls fan and I strive to balance vegetables according to her Protocol. For me, realizing how relaxed my abdomen can feel I simply need to figure out which vegetables are working for me and which aren’t.

This is why my business tag line is “Discover Your Shade of Paleo”. We are all individuals with different genetic make-up. What works for one may or may not work for another. I think one of the largest mistakes ever made was when our government put out a blanket statement for a diet for everyone. Doctors have to follow the government’s guidelines or fear liability issues. There are doctors out there who write books that show why our dietary guidelines aren’t based on science and how they’ve never been based on science.  If your doctor doesn’t believe that food plays a role in your health or disease state, that it’s genetic and nothing can be done about it, then I suggest looking for a new physician.

Results From Going Carnivore:

I used to be cold all of the time, especially with cold hands and feet, and that has gone away.

Eggs used to make my joints hurt for 3 days before I began this experiment. I ate eggs the other day and the day after my joints didn’t hurt…

There’s a lot less poo…

The first few days I felt hungrier than before but now about 1-2 lbs of meat a day is enough for me. I think I ate 3 lbs on one of my hungrier days.

I feel great.

This is my n=1 experiment and I simply wanted to share what’s going on because there isn’t much out there to support this way of eating. There are a number of groups online where others are eating this way so there is a lot of anecdotal evidence, but be wary of some of the advice you get. Before you make any abrupt dietary changes talk with your health care provider.

Some people complain about leg cramps and headaches when eating this way and many attribute this to missing electrolytes. I hadn’t had either of these issues but I’ll let you know in future posts if I do. One of my favorite drinks that I make is something I call Paleo Gatorade.

In a quart sized mason jar add

• 1/4 tsp of Himalayan salt
• 1/4 tsp of potassium chloride
• contents of 1 magnesium (sulfate, citrate, etc) something that ends with -ate) capsule
• Fill it with filtered water

You can add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice to it.

It tastes like Gatorade without the sugar.

 

Wow! I just published this article and another coach introduced me to Georgia Ede, M.D. I found this video and had my skirt blown up:

Originally posted on September 7, 2018 @ 13:10

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