Some people are able to go straight from the standard American diet to the Lion Diet. Some people can do it but that comes with a host of unpleasant transition symptoms due to metabolic changes getting into ketosis, microbiome changes, withdrawal from carbier foods and sugars, etc. I find the sicker you are the worse the transition symptoms are as well. What I suggest doing instead is at least a month of these two weaning diets. These are the two diets I used and my family used for a few years before the Lion Diet (before we realized we could only just eat meat and that worked better), and it helped massively with symptoms although wasn’t effective enough for complete remission.
Stick with these foods exactly, they seem to be the most tolerable foods for people that are still on omnivorous diets. Most foods on this list are on other diets like the autoimmune paleo diet, specific carbohydrate diet, GAPS diet. There’s a lot of overlap but these are the foods that caused the least amount of reactions compared to other plant foods. These are also the types of food you’ll want to introduce first if you plan on weaning off of the Lion Diet. Also be sure to check this out for recommended purchases to make cooking easier! At minimum buy an air fryer. Seriously. And check out the recipe section.
Weaning Diet Step 1
(1-3 months depending on how you adapt)
- Any ruminant meat including but not limited to:
- Beef
- Veal
- Venison
- Elk
- Bison
- Lamb
- Mutton
- Turkey
- Chicken (try to get chicken that isn’t fed corn and soy like the product linked)
- Duck
- Wild game is fine too, elk, moose, etc. (not wild boar)
- Wild salmon (not farmed! This is important as farmed salmon can be fed soy and that can cause reactions.)
- Wild cod
- Wild halibut
- Tuna – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
- Organ meat – chicken liver tastes the best I find but calf liver is good too (don’t eat too much organ meat or you can overload on Vitamin A)
- Wild herring – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
- Wild sardines – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
- Wild mackerel – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
Vegetables (all organic!):
- Lettuce
- Arugula
- Arugula microgreens (arugula sprouts)
- Cucumber
- Swiss chard
- Seaweed –check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just olive oil and salt
- Cilantro
- Collard greens
- Broccoli
- Turnips
- Cauliflower
- Parsnips
- Sweet potatoes
- Spinach
- Cassava
Fruit (all organic!):
- Olives – check the ingredients! Be super careful about which brands you buy here too, many have preservatives and flavors and dyes.
- Peaches
- Pears
- Plums
- Apples
- Pears
Vinegars:
- Apple cider vinegar – try to get the organic stuff so there aren’t dyes and flavours added
Oils:
- Coconut oil – get unrefined. And try to avoid the Nutiva brand. It’s everywhere but it doesn’t taste as good, and I’ve had ones that have gone bad before.
- Olive oil – make sure your olive oil is pure olive oil. Sometimes it’s also soybean oil!
- Tallow – this is the ideal oil you should use. Sulu tastes the best in my opinion and is the least likely to be rancid. If you buy tallow and it tastes greasy or bad in any way, it’s probably rancid.
Spices/Seasonings:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Marjoram
- Parsley
- Oregano
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Turmeric
- Basil
- Bay leaf
Other:
- Baking soda
- Black tea
- Milk oolong tea
- Vodka (unflavored – many add sugar – Tito’s would be my recommendation)
- Any unflavored soda water (I drink Gerolsteiners)
- Cassava spaghetti (best to just not eat spaghetti anymore and keep meat as the primary part of your meal but there are noodle options that will work with this diet
Snacks:
- Sweet potato chips (made with coconut oil and salt)
- Baked apple chips
- Coconut manna
- Coconut milk (no guar gum)
- Coconut aminos (tastes like teriyaki sauce)
- Carnivore Crisps
- Carnivore Snax
- Naked Jerky (my favorite)
So there you are for a weaning-in diet. Tip: roasted fruit from the above list with cinnamon and honey or coconut sugar is delicious if cooked in the oven. Or ditch the sugar altogether once your taste buds adapt to a sugar free diet.
Any meat recipe in the lion diet recipe section.
Do the above diet for 1-3 months and see how you feel. This is enough for some people. Some people can put their chronic health issues into remission by doing the above diet. At minimum you should see some improvement.
If you still need to get more restrictive to get your health issues under control move on to step 2. Step 2 is even more restrictive, and reduces carbs further. If the previous diet didn’t put you into ketosis, this one should.
Weaning Diet Step 2
(1-3 months depending on how you adapt)
- Any ruminant meat including but not limited to:
- Beef
- Veal
- Venison
- Elk
- Bison
- Lamb
- Mutton
- Wild game is fine too, elk, moose, etc. (not wild boar)
- Wild salmon (not farmed! This is important as farmed salmon can be fed soy and that can cause reactions.)
- Wild cod
- Wild halibut
- Tuna – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
- Organ meat – chicken liver tastes the best I find but calf liver is good too (don’t eat too much organ meat or you can overload on Vitamin A)
- Wild herring – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
- Wild sardines – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
- Wild mackerel – check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just salt if there’s anything added.
Vegetables (all organic!):
- Lettuce
- Arugula
- Arugula microgreens (arugula sprouts)
- Cucumber
- Swiss chard
- Seaweed –check the ingredients! Make sure there’s just olive oil and salt
- Cilantro
- Collard greens
- Spinach
Fruit (all organic!):
- Olives – check the ingredients! Be super careful about which brands you buy here too, many have preservatives and flavors and dyes.
Vinegars:
- Apple cider vinegar – try to get the organic stuff so there aren’t dyes and flavours added
Oils:
- Coconut oil – get unrefined. And try to avoid the Nutiva brand. It’s everywhere but it doesn’t taste as good, and I’ve had ones that have gone bad before.
- Olive oil – make sure your olive oil is pure olive oil. Sometimes it’s also soybean oil!
- Tallow – this is the ideal oil you should use. Sulu tastes the best in my opinion and is the least likely to be rancid. If you buy tallow and it tastes greasy or bad in any way, it’s probably rancid.
Spices/Seasonings:
- Salt
- Marjoram
- Parsley
- Oregano
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Turmeric
- Basil
- Bay leaf
Other:
- Baking soda
- Black tea
- Milk oolong tea
- Vodka (unflavored – many add sugar – Tito’s would be my recommendation)
- Any unflavored soda water (I drink Gerolsteiners)
Snacks:
- Carnivore Crisps
- Carnivore Snax
- Naked Jerky (my favorite)
Follow Step 2 for a month or stretch it out if you need to, and then you’re ready for the lion diet. Transition symptoms are much, much lessened if you wean into the diet but the longer you take to get to the lion diet the longer it can take to start feeling better. That being said, both of these diets should improve your symptoms.The choice of how fast to start the lion diet is up to you. Regardless, on either of the above diets you should be trying to fill up on as much ruminant meat as you can at each meal as opposed to the other foods.
