The Bastard Refugee Carnivore Experience: Phase 1B
I’m going to call phase 1 successful. There is more work to be done, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. I found that after day 3 my appetite fell off significantly. I would almost have to remind myself to eat. Energy and flexibility improved even without exercise. General stiffness and aches disappeared. Essentially no early morning wake ups to grace the pisser with a golden steam of kidney essential oils. I would say that over all, the results gave me a general sense of wellness.
I adhered to a strict / semi-strict carnivore regimen for three weeks. At the end of the three weeks, I had lost over a pound per day. Almost 9% of my initial total body weight and over 45% of my goal weight loss. I didn’t feel like I needed a break, but as a matter of practicality, I took one. We had a road trip scheduled. I’m sure that gas station carnivore is possible, but it just didn’t seem fruitful to stress over it too much.
I stuck to the carnivore plan loosely with two notable deviations. One stage of the road trip was to visit my Grampy in New York for his 90th birthday. It was great to see him and everyone else, as always. A few miles from his house, in Saratoga Springs, there is a magical place called Farmer’s Daughter Drive-In. One of my early childhood memories is going there and eating black raspberry soft serve.. It has become a tradition for us to go there if we’re in town and they are still open for the season. Who am I to break tradition? That was deviation number one. Deviation number 2 was partaking of an Amish buffet in Ohio when we were on the way home. I kept it mostly carnivore, but the volume was excessive. Gotta get your money’s worth, right? Again, tradition. At the end of the next few weeks I had dropped another 4-5 pounds despite my indiscretions. That puts me over half way to my goal.
So now, phase 1B begins. Nothing too dramatic. Just a refocusing. I have a few weeks on the road working and don’t want to be vulnerable to distractions, so I tapped into triplet power and we did some meal prep. My plan is to eat mostly one meal a day (OMAD), taking care to stay on top of hydration and adding a daily multivitamin. OMAD is a very doable version of intermittent fasting. We’ll see how it goes.
Let’s play a schizophrenic game of Q&A, where I ask questions and then I answer them myself.
What are some of the key features of the carnivore diet?
In the simplest form, you eat only meat. More liberal versions allow eggs and full fat dairy.
The carnivore diet is a ketogenic diet. Cream and butter do not contain carbohydrates. Milk contains lactose. Low carbohydrate but full fat and protein are the goal.
Eggs contain a negligible amount of carbohydrate. You’d have to eat more than 83 eggs in a day to throw yourself out of ketosis. Anyone ever see “Cool Hand Luke”? Paul Newman? Anyone? He ate 50 eggs in an hour in a prison bet. If you were to eat that many eggs, you would be exceedingly unpopular the next day. Egg farts are no laughing matter. That is, If you even survived trying to eat all of those cackleberries.. According to a 2019 article in Newsweek, a 42-year-old man in India died after eating egg 42 of a 50 egg challenge. Best not to taunt fate. It’s not worth running the risk of being nominated for a Darwin Award.
Possible benefits that I have seen attributed to the carnivore diet include improved digestive health, decreased inflammation, improvements in mood and energy levels, improvements in insulin sensitivity, increased testosterone / libido, and weight loss.
What are the key features of ketogenic diets?
Drastic reduction in the amount of carbohydrates consumed in a day leads to a metabolic shift from glucose based metabolism to fat based metabolism. These can be severely restrictive, but ketosis can typically be achieved at less than 50 g carbohydrate / day.
All of the foods acceptable on the carnivore diet are acceptable on the ketogenic diet but more variety is available. Low carbohydrate vegetables.. Nuts and seeds. Avocados. Berries. Oils and vinegars. High cocoa chocolate.
Potential benefits of the ketogenic are seen in people desiring weight loss, with cancer, with heart disease, with acne, with diabetes / pre-diabetes, with epilepsy / other CNS disorders and with polycystic ovary syndrome, among others.
Why did I chose the carnivore diet?
Meat is delicious.
I can produce meat year round on the farm and can find locally produced products with ease (not that I intend to do this forever).
In order to break out of a rut, sometimes you need a jolt to your system. A reboot.
The carnivore diet and other ketogenic diets serve as multipliers of the weight loss that you see with other calorie restrictive diets. In fact, with the ketogenic diets, weight loss can occur even in the absence a calorie consumption deficit. Witchcraft?
What is the key to weight loss?
Consume fewer calories than you burn in a day: It’s simple, but it’s not easy.
While exercise has many benefits, generally speaking, sustained weight loss isn’t one of them. The key to maintaining a healthy weight is dietary.
In general, ultra-processed foods and super-refined products are bad for you. These are often carbohydrate based. Excess carbohydrate consumption and obesity, which is one of its consequences, play a significant role in the development of the chronic illnesses that plague our society.
Ok. Everything is under control again. Back on my meds and the voices are subsiding.
Do you have any opinions one way or the other about the carnivore or ketogenic diets?
If you were to plan to do carnivore for one month, which food would you miss the most?
