Here are my new thoughts about the carnivore diet since Dad’s improvement
1. If you are quite sick (by quite sick I mean you have an autoimmune disorder or autoimmune symptoms, or mental health issues) – going straight carnivore might save you a lot of pain and suffering. I went extremely low carb and basically fixed my issues and dad’s, and my husbands, but basically, everything we reintroduced made us incredibly sick, and the last 3 years have been hard. Not as hard as being really ill, but quite emotional, and quite frustrating. I never lost hope that food was the answer (and it is), but it was difficult. If you’re really ill, you might want to start with: meat and water and salt for at least 30 days. Then see how you feel, and decide what to do next. You need to get healthy before you can start listening to your body and learning what you need. I really believe all meat can do that the quickest. 30 days isn’t much if a time commitment to solve something seemingly unsolvable.
Obviously, there are no scientific studies on an all meat diet, not really anyway. You’re not going to be able to go to a doctor and have them tell you it’s a good idea. They’ll probably tell you you’ll die. Who knows. Everyone will judge you. Everyone judges you when you stop eating gluten or dairy, try not eating vegetables and see what kind of judgment you get.
But it’s only a month, and man is it effective. Then you can reintroduce different plants (I’d probably start with berries and greens I guess), wait a couple of days and see how you feel. But I think this is the fastest way to stop suffering. You can do step by step elimination – gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, etc. But honestly, fuck being sick. Get rid of it fast. Who cares about the foods you like.
2. If your only symptom is weight gain or problems gaining weight, I also think the easiest thing to do is to go carnivore and see how you feel. But this seems to be less of a complicated issue than mental health and autoimmune problems. Going low carb should help you lose or gain weight anyway.
3. I’ve been worried about suggesting an all meat diet to people (for obvious reasons). All I can tell you for sure is: I feel great, Dad is getting better, mom’s arthritis is gone, and it seems to be extremely effective for basically any health problem. Check out meatheals.com to see a ton of testimonies. There are no studies to back this up, so going the science route isn’t going to help. Maybe in the future, there will be. I believe there’s a company in Hungary testing out the meat diet to treat autoimmune disease so hopefully those studies will be available asap. I’m not worried about cholesterol. I was worried about dying from the multiple autoimmune disorders I had. I was worried about suicide from the depression that runs in my family. I was worried about my mom eventually needing her knees replaced. I was worried about my skin basically falling off my face. Idgaf about cholesterol, and I don’t think there’s enough evidence anywhere to claim any health problems related to eating meat. (Feel absolutely free to comment below with links to articles that show what your concerns are.) Being sick is horrible. Being alive is amazing. Not being exhausted all the time, not trying to cover up acne, not being miserable, bloated, overweight, arthritic, angry, and hopeless is awesome. Not waking up and laying in bed waiting for the doom to envelope you is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. You can try it out and go back if you want, but if you’re suffering, what is there to lose?
4. For those of you who have had only moderate success with removing things from your diet, I see absolutely no downside (except socially) to eating meat for a month.
5. All this being said, I do believe you can solve most (and some people may be able to solve all) of your food problems going low carb. I’m going to write a post roughly outline what I believe are the worst foods to the least damaging foods. Cutting out the top ones will improve you. I’m just starting to believe that carnivore might be best for really sick people.
Thanks for the support. It’s so nice to hear from people who have managed to fix their anxiety. Going the food route is a hard road, and you get a lot of flack for it. So good for you guys. Keep it up. And if it’s not working, try carnivore. Good luck to everyone.
Also, I will post more testimonies, if yours isn’t up, it will be.
More soon!
Just saw this:
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Mikhaila has been very transparent in admitting that her diet is based on experience, not scientific data. IMHO, science has been corrupted by corporate dollars — most people are skeptical. Look at the paid-for food pyramid that has left a whole generation overweight and diseased.
Mikhaila, There HAS been a once-famous study on the all-meat diet. Gary Taubes’s in Good Calories, Bad Calories, writes about it extensively. Here are the results pub. in 1930 (2 famous Arctic explorers took part – tested for ketones during that year, etc.):
http://borntoeatmeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Steffanson-Bellvue-Experiment.pdf
CLINICAL CALORIMETRY.
PROLONGED MEAT DIETS WITH A STUDY OF KIDNEY FUNCTION AND KETOSIS
BY WALTER S. MCCLELLAN AND EUGENE F. Du BOIS.
(From the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology in Affiliation with the Second Medical (Cornell) Division of Bellevue Hospital, New York)
(Received for publication, February 13, 1930.)
INTRODUCTION:
Two normal men volunteered to live solely on meat for one year, which gave us an unusual opportunity of studying the effects of this diet. The term “meat,” as used by us, included both the lean and the fat portions of animals. The subjects derived most of their calories from fat…It is well known that the Eskimos have lived on an almost exclusive meat diet for generations.
Certain explorers in the North also have subsisted for long periods on meat.
Dr. Vilhjalmur Stefansson in particular has demonstrated that it is feasible for travelers in the arctic region to “live off the country,” which means living on meat alone. The experiences of Stefansson and his companions have been given in his book “The Friendly Arctic”
He spent over 11 years in arctic exploration, during 9 years of which he lived almost exclusively on meat. Stimulated by this experience, Stefansson and Andersen, the latter a member of one of the expeditions, voluntarily agreed to eat nothing but meat for 1 year while they continued their usual activities in the temperate climate of New York…. [etc. Entire study is contained in the pdf above]
Lost a few pounds, even better blood pressure, lost gingivitis. NO ILL EFFECTS WHATSOEVER, ONLY GOOD. From Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories, p. 456, reminds reader of pp. 320-26 where it was discussed that animal products contain all the amino acids, minerals, and vitamins essential for health. Issue of needing exogenous Vit C? Only a problem in presence of high carb.
Yes! Isn’t that study mind blowing! Actual historical experience of cultures (Inuit, Masai) is treated as anecdotal. But this studies was done with ‘western’ science, in a hospital for a year! Amazing. We have much to learn from Evolutionary Biology.
Inuit life expectancy is extremely low. The longest living people in the world had a plant-based diet with a small amount of meat.
Remember. Healthy eating does not include fast food, sugar or other processed types.
Homecooked food is the best.
It’s extremely low *now* because they don’t eat the way they used to.
Read Upton Sinclairs Book The Fasting Cure. He talks about beef in it
As I said above, there’s a ton of genetic variation in nutritional requirements, so fine-tuning is needed. I know a gal with an immune disorder who can only tolerate beef and tallow. Literally. It’s the only thing that keeps her functional and the smallest deviation can put her in bed for a week or more. One the other hand, I eat very high fat and medium protein but need a bit of carb (and I mean a **bit**, like 1/4 cup of white rice every 3 or 4 days) otherwise I tend to get ‘keto cramps’ even with mineral supps. So it’s totally and individual thing. I am a ‘young senior’, on absolutely no meds whatsoever, and most people guess my age at ten years younger. Carbs are the devil!!
Mikhaila’s idea of paring down to the minimum for a month, then testing foods one at a time is sound. There’s plenty of books and blogs out there for guidance. What do you have to lose but your aches and pains?
What if the IgG test shows beef intolerance?
I’m not sure what to think about this. I’ve had one person message me saying their IgG test showed a sensitivity towards beef. I had horrible horrible reactions from the food that showed up high on my tests, so my gut feeling would be avoid it. Try other meats? Try to reintroduce it later and see what happens? But I’m not sure what to think about this to be honest.
My family were ranchers and we raised and ate lots of beef plus an occasional pig. My mothers cousin Honey was also raised on a ranch too. She was a teacher and in her twenties got real sick and it took years to find she had acute porphyria that required a low protein high carb diet. She had 3 daughters with same condition. Eating too much protein injured their nervous systems. Sad. Goes to show all people are different.
I am on low carb high fat and meat and feel better with more energy than for a long time. Ranch raised meat eater.
Love your blog Mikhaila. What you guys are doing actually kind of sounds like the original diet of “wild” humans before our agricultural domestication ~10,000 years ago. There are still lots of people in the world that hunt and forage for health, and fun! I’m no expert but I enjoy a lot of podcasts on the topic. One good one is Rewild Yourself with Daniel Vitalis. It’s easy to find on iTunes. Just wanted to share that because I have the feeling you might be interested!
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