I Survived 30 Days of Eating the Carnivore Way

A Recap

Well it is a month later and I am here to tell the tale. The tale of eating nothing but meat, eggs, dairy and fruit. Animal based carnivore.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

At the beginning of January, my husband and I took on the challenge of #worldcarnivoremonth and changed our eating habits to animal based carnivore.

Read more about the Carnivore diet in my first post - Have your Heard the News.

I was asked many questions when I announced that I would be trying carnivore: Why are you eating this way when you do not have to? What about fiber? Seems extreme?

I took this challenge as research. There has been so much chatter on this way of eating, I wanted to check it out for myself. This was about gathering data and having knowledge in case I had clients who had questions, well then I might have some answers. *One a side note, I have also eaten primarily plant based in the past as well*

Oh and by the way, I also enlisted my husband to join me in the challenge. So some of the feedback comes from him.

Week One:

Week one was interesting and a little eye opening. First of all, I didn’t plan accordingly. We had just arrive back in Texas from being home for Christmas so it was a little scattered. We found at the end of the first week that we felt hungry all the time. We realized that we were not eating enough and still had a mindset of previous protein portion sizes on our plate. Previously we would eat a 6 oz steak and have other foods on our plate to fill us up. We were still thinking 6 oz and should be thinking bigger to feel satisfied. So we upped the amount that we ate at meals and that definitely helped. For me, I felt a little fatigued around day 4, day 5. But that was probably because I was not eating enough for my energy expenditure. My husband struggled a bit with the lack of variety. (That was based on poor meal planning..Whoops). But having said that, many carnivore eaters are good with little variety and it works for them.

Week Two:

This week I was more prepared. I researched and planned to have a bit more variety for meals. And we definitely felt more satisfied after meals. Never felt stuffed and ‘full’. But satisfied. We also went out for dinner this week to experiment how hard it was to eat out. It was pretty easy considering we chose a steakhouse and a Texas BBQ. I realized that I did not feel bloated and my pants fit a little different. My husband still felt good with no big changes to report. Although he was missing his cereal. (Yes to my chagrin, that is his vice). He did manage to curb that by eating what the Carnivore community calls -Porky puffs. Porks rinds, whole cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. He also added a little honey. He was surprised at the taste and it curbed what he was looking for.

I also want to note that we did not have any major health concerns that might present with different changes when going on this diet. Some people do report around day 10 feeling ‘flu-like’ which is usually because of a depletion of electrolytes. We did not experience that as we do take a healthy dose of good quality sea salt or electrolytes.

Week Three:

Week three has us in the groove. This was becoming normal for us. One of the questions I had was about bowel movements. How were we not constipated if we had no fiber in our diet. Now it isn’t like we had no fiber, we were still eating fruit. But we were not getting the recommended daily intake. We had increased our fat intake but using more butter, beef tallow in our cooking and it is the fat that also helps move things through your system. Bowel movements may not have been daily because we didn’t have the same amount of waste or fiber to eliminate and still felt like we had eliminated what we needed to.

Week Four:

After week four, I did find my energy was good and I found my sleep was deeper. Feeling rested when I woke. Week four complete and feeling fine!

Final Words and Recipes

Did I miss certain foods? Sure. But I think it is more due to having not having variety, and missing different textures and flavors on our plates. I did buy a mini waffle maker, that I used to make ‘chaffles’ that were a good substitute for a bun, if I really needed one.

Do I think that 30 days is long enough to conclude the benefits of the diet. No, I don’t think 30 days is long enough but it does entice one to keep going. My husband has said he would like to continue eating more animal based for another month.

My challenge for this month was to see if it really was a sustainable way of eating and I have concluded that, yes it is especially eating in the home. You can do this eating out but you do have to be choosy on the places that you go to, research menus and ask for substitutions, which most restaurants will do.

Our grocery hauls were roughly the same in regards to cost and I also did find that we had much less food waste, which was interesting as well.

I found some new recipes to add to our repertoire that helped with variation.

• Chaffles - Mix together: one large egg, 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Pour half the mixture in the mini waffle maker. Makes 2 chaffles

• Tuna Patties - Mix together: one can of tuna, drained, one large egg, 1/3 cup shredded cheese. You can also add some finely chopped dill pickles. Form into patties. Melt butter in a frying pan on medium heat and place patty in hot pan and flip when browned. 5 mins a side.

• Chicken Pizza Shell - Mix together one can of shredded chicken or 1 lb of ground chicken, one large egg and 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. You can also add oregano or basil as seasonings. Once thoroughly mixed. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment and flatten and shape out in a circle. Bake in the over at 400 for 25 minutes. Once baked then you can add your meat and cheese (pineapple if you are a pineapple pizza person) and bake again until cheese is melted and browned.

  *This does sound very weird but was a great substitution for flour pizza shell.*

  

  Overall, this was a good experience for me and I wouldn’t say to no to a client who wanted to eat this way. I would say, give it a try and see what happens.

  Let me know if you have any questions on my experience in the comments below. I would be happy to elaborate more.

Danni