So I’m onto the next stage of food weirdness.
I’m on day 5 of only eating meat.
What is the Zero Carb Diet?
Literally, it’s people who only eat meat and animal products (this can include dairy). Obviously, it won’t include dairy for me. I still think dairy is evil. Some people have been doing this diet for 20 years. There are tribes that only eat meat as well (Inuit, Massai, etc.)
How do they not get scurvy and vitamin deficiencies?
It’s possible that some of the vitamins we need are actually vitamins we use for metabolizing glucose. For instance, vitamin c competes with glucose, so it’s possible that people who don’t eat anything with glucose need far less vitamin c. There also is small amounts of vitamin C in meat
There are a lot of questions about this diet, but people seem to thrive on it.
I’m going to try it out for a month and see what happens.
I have a couple of theories/questions:
1. People who thrive only eating meat have extremely damaged microbiomes and can’t tolerate plants. Meat doesn’t need a microbiome to be digested, so eating meat eliminates the microbiome problem. Plants need to be broken down partly with a functioning microbiome (especially carb-y plants). I don’t believe people are carnivores. I do believe that you need a good microbiome to help you digest plants. Antibiotic use, birth control use, C-sections (among many other things), over generations, is BAD. It’s cumulative too, which concerns me. I obviously have a microbiome problem (Not being able to take probiotics is a big clue). I was born C-section so my microbiome is going to be a little funky. Or a lot funky. Then my baby, born naturally, breastfed, is still going to have a funky microbiome because she inherits it from me! Generationally, through antibiotic use and whatever else, we’re screwing over our children. It’s terrible. Anyway, I think maybe that’s the reason for this new microbiome-less diet. If anyone has any info on the microbiomes of carnivorous people, comment below, that’d be really interesting.
2. Maybe people on the zero carb diet haven’t tried the safe foods. A lot of the stories I’ve read are people trying to reintroduce fruit and nuts and then declaring all plants are harmful to them. What happens if you reintroduce coconut oil? Lettuce? Is that still going to bother you?
Why am I doing this?
1. I haven’t been able to get as well as I felt before the pregnancy. I’m at an 8/10. I was able to get to a 9.5-10/10 before the pregnancy. I was able to tolerate more and now I can’t without a reaction. I feel good but not AS good as I did before. This is probably from a microbiome change. There’s evidence that your microbiome gets less diverse during pregnancy. This is something I REALLY didn’t need. (See this article for more info: “The first trimester gut microbiota is similar in many aspects to that of healthy non-pregnant male and female controls, but by the third trimester, the structure and composition of the community resembles a disease-associated dysbiosis that differs among women”… GR8)
2. Every time I try to reintroduce probiotics it fails miserably. Even baby amounts. There’s something really wrong if you can’t tolerate probiotics in any form in any amount. I can’t even do homemade sauerkraut (and I don’t have a problem with red cabbage so it’s not the cabbage).
3. I don’t seem to be getting less sensitive, which makes me think I’m not healing, I’m just not irritating myself. I need to move onto the healing stage.
Plan of action:
1. Meat for a month, see if I feel any better/different.
2. Eat lettuce after a month and see if that irritates me. (Arthritis, digestive problems)
3. If it turns out (my limited) plants are bothering me, I’ll continue with the all meat diet and theoretically allow my gut to heal. Bone broth, and meat. THEN I’ll attempt to add in probiotics and some plants once I’m healed.
I know that when I have a reaction I can’t digest plants properly. I also know that almost all plants give me an autoimmune disorder and severe depression and skin issues and makes my life literally not worth living. I wanted to try all meat a while ago but was unsure about the vitamin thing. After some research though I feel a bit better and am more than willing to give it a try:
http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf+html
https://zerocarbzen.com/resources/ – This guy really knows his stuff
http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/food/vegetables/
Nobody else is doing this that I know (dad seems to be tolerating his foods excellently, and so is my husband). So I’ll give it a try and let you all know how it goes. Next month I’ll either feel 100% or I’ll go back to what I’m eating now. I’m also going to do stool testing for my family to see if that’ll show me anything of use.
UPDATE: March 2018 – Carnivore diet still going strong. Only beef and salt and water (Lion Diet) at this point. Feeling good. Oct 2023 – Still doing the Lion Diet. Haven’t died yet.
Hi Mikhaila
Here is a website re-histamine intolerance https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11175/everything-you-need-to-know-about-histamine-intolerance.html
and a website re-probiotics and histamine
I emailed you a year ago and you were very supportive re- my diet and depression. I haven’t done the full elimination diet but will in the new year because like you I am convinced it is food related. You may already know about the histamine thing but wanted to pass on info. Take care
After pregnancy, it takes a while for your body to get back to before, if it ever does. Anything you can do to get it augmented and replenished will help. Making a baby takes its toll. I lost a total of an inch of height from carrying both of my babies. Don’t forget that taking care of baby means you have less energy for taking care of you. Ask for help whenever you can get it. Good luck and feel better.
Good luck, I hope it works out for you.
How interesting and inspiring. Good luck!
I’ve been eliminating a lot of foods too, but even broccoli makes me gassy, and I’m itchy all the time (I eat occasional carrots & potato). I’m gonna go zero carb too or only leafy greens. I’m also allergic to asparagus although they are low carb. Plants are weird!
Plants are weird. I found the easiest plants to digest were lettuce and arugula, cilanto, etc. But recently (like I said) I’ve had issues with those too. I’ll keep everyone updated on this diet though!
Hi Mikhaila,
It’s worth mentioning that traditional meat eaters tend to eat the whole animal, organs included. Organs are full of vitamins and minerals, much more than the muscle/skeletal meat. Liver is the best source of Vitamin A, and it’s not a precursor like Beta Carotene found in veggies, so it’s absorbed more easily. They’re hard to take but if you can stomach them, they might be a good addition.
On an unrelated note, I contributed to your Patreon and wasn’t sure if you’ve sent out emails yet because I didn’t get one. I’m hoping it didn’t go to spam :/ If you haven’t gotten to it yet, no worries! Hope you and the baby are doing well!
I’ll look into the patreon thing! Thanks! I can stomach liver fine. I actually enjoy it now.
Very interesting. I’m wondering if all the antibiotics, steroids and painkillers I’ve had over many years have severely damaged my microbiota, and am willing to try this nothing but meat thing too. Have you ever looked into a flora transplant from healthy human microbiota? It saved my mother’s life after the hospital gave her C-diff because they had an outbreak, but you can’t get it in Canada unless you have C-diff. Of course it is readily available in the United States for those who want one.
I’m going to see how this zero carb thing goes and depending on how I feel, that’s the next step
Don’t you worry that eating meat only (no vegetables and fruit = no fibers – correct me if I’m wrong) would do more damage to your microbiome?
Leave a comment