When to start reintroducing foods
The purpose of the Lion Diet is to put yourself into remission. Once you've accomplished that, that's when reintroducing is suggested. There are many people that stay on the Lion Diet or a carnivorous diet that includes other animals, long term, with zero issues. That being said, you do want to see if you're less reactive than you once were, as I believe that likely shows true healing.
At minimum it's recommended to stay on the Lion Diet for 6 weeks, and remission can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6-7 months. It depends on the condition, the root causes of said condition, and what medications are being taken. Steroids (oral, injected, or topical) can cause a lengthier recovery, as can psych medications. If you are off all medications, and not suffering from a withdrawal of some type (usually psych meds or steroid induced), and remission hasn't been achieved by 6-7 months on the diet, then there is more digging to do. I would start with gut testing (the GIMAP stool test that includes Zonulin plus H Pylori is fantastic, you can order it yourself) and look for mold exposure and CIRS testing. Both tests are worth looking into for anyone on this diet anyway, also worth doing if you’re unable to reintroduce the below foods without symptoms popping up. Obviously going back to a standard American diet is never recommended as that will cause symptoms regardless of how healed you are.
How to reintroduce
The foods in this guide are the ones that causes me the least amount of reactions compared to other plant foods. The foods also end up being recommended on other diets including the autoimmune paleo diet, specific carbohydrate diet, and GAPS diet. There's a lot of overlap, but these are the ones that seem to be tolerated fairly easily for a first reintroduction, and they're the foods you'll want to introduce first if you plan on weaning off of the Lion Diet.
Start with the foods below, and if that goes well, further reintroductions should be much easier. Regardless of what you're reintroducing, you should still be filling up on as much ruminant meat as you can at each meal as opposed to the other foods.
Go slow and add one thing at a time. Make sure you give your body a few days to adapt once reintroducing and monitor for new symptoms. If that goes well, slowly ramp up the amount you're eating each day. You can start with as little as half a teaspoon of cooked vegetables each day and increase from there.
For vegetables, pressure cooking organic carrots and parsnips in broth and drinking the broth is a very slow and careful way of reintroducing them. Peel and cook everything. If you have a gut disease, pressure cook your vegetables. For other conditions, pressure cooking isn't necessary, but they still should be peeled and cooked.
Stick with these foods exactly. Check the ingredients on anything packaged (canned fish, olives, seaweed, oils): if there's anything added, make sure it's just salt.
What to reintroduce, in order
Work through these in order. Don't move to the next group until the one before it is going well.
1. Meats
Start with meats. Any type of bird, and wild fish. Not pork, not dairy, not eggs. Make absolutely sure the fish is wild and not farmed (even organic farmed should be avoided). Farmed salmon can be fed soy and that can cause reactions in sensitive people.
- Chicken (ideally pasture raised, not fed corn or soy)
- Turkey
- Duck
- Wild salmon
- Wild mackerel
- Wild cod
- Wild halibut
- Wild herring
- Wild sardines
- Tuna (check the ingredients, just salt if anything is added)
- Organ meat (chicken liver tastes the best I find, but calf liver is good too; don't eat too much or you can overload on Vitamin A)
2. Cooked, peeled vegetables
Pressure cooked in broth if you have a gut disease. Peeled and cooked for everyone else. Cooked arugula is great for low oxalate, easy to digest greens, and very tasty.
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Beets
- Turnips
- Sweet potatoes
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
- Cassava
- Arugula (cooked)
- Swiss chard
3. Cooked, peeled fruit or berries
- Apples
- Pears
- Peaches
- Plums
- Nectarines
- Berries
- Honey
- Coconut (coconut oil, unrefined; coconut milk with no guar gum; coconut manna)
Tip: roasted fruit from this 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.
4. Egg yolks, then eggs
Start with yolks before introducing whole eggs. Duck egg yolks are even safer. Skip this step entirely if you have autoimmune or psych issues (see below).
5. Fats, seasonings and the rest (all organic)
- Tallow (the ideal oil; if it tastes greasy or bad in any way it's probably rancid)
- Olive oil (make sure it's pure olive oil, sometimes it's also soybean oil)
- Seaweed (check the ingredients: just olive oil and salt)
- Olives (be super careful about which brands you buy, many have preservatives, flavors and dyes)
- Apple cider vinegar (organic, so there aren't dyes and flavours added)
- Salt, pepper, marjoram, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, turmeric, basil, bay leaf
- Lettuce, raw arugula and arugula microgreens, cucumber, cilantro
- Black tea, milk oolong tea
- Unflavored soda water
- Unflavored vodka (many add sugar)
- Baking soda
- Cassava spaghetti, macaroni, glass noodles (best to just not eat spaghetti anymore and keep meat as the primary part of your meal)
- Sweet potato chips (made with coconut oil and salt), baked apple chips, coconut aminos
Things to be careful with
- Dairy, eggs, soy and grains. If you have autoimmune or psych issues, save these for basically never. The GAPS diet is a good place to look for reintroduction ideas, but I don't recommend reintroducing dairy for those with autoimmunity.
- Pork. Not a reintroduction food. Same goes for wild boar; other wild game (elk, moose, etc.) is fine.
- Fermented foods. If you have histamine intolerance or an issue with aged meat, fermented food may also be an issue.
- Farmed fish. Avoid it completely, even organic farmed.
- Anything with additives. Preservatives, flavors, dyes, guar gum, soybean oil hiding in olive oil, sugar in vodka. Read every label.
If a food gives you new symptoms, drop it, go back to what was working, give yourself a few days, and try the next thing on the list. If you’re unable to reintroduce anything, do those tests I suggested at the top. Remission in and of itself is a huge win but finding the underlying problem is still a necessary part of this.