So many of you have asked for more info on this, but let me start off by saying…I am not a pro at this, nor am I a doctor. I’m just sharing our journey and what I’ve learned in the short time that I’ve been doing this. My sister is the one that told me about the Carnivore diet, which I am very grateful for!
*affiliate links in this post
I’ll add some of the things here that have helped me on this diet, that I will also discuss throughout the post. (just tap on the highlighted, bold print, and it will take you there)
Electrolyte Packs (no sugar and no artificial sweeteners)
I still take my enzymes, before I eat, but I’m hoping that I can get off them eventually.
We use this parchment paper (that my sis told me about) without all the toxins in it.
This is the salt I use and that’s recommended a lot
My sister has been doing this diet for over four months and when she told me all of the things that have improved for her and how she’s feeling so much better, I wanted to try it too.
I wasn’t planning on writing a blog post about this, so I don’t have great pictures. But I did snap some screenshots of things that I’ve shared in videos on Instagram. This l is a screen shot and on the left is me right before I started and the picture on the right is almost at three weeks after staring.
I started this about 3 1/2 weeks ago and my inflammation went down so fast. Can you even believe how much my inflammation went down in less than 3 weeks? I could actually tell a difference in just a few days. I’ve been gluten-free for over 10 years and have gone through spouts of not eating dairy as well, and nothing has helped me like eating a carnivore diet has!
The first thing I noticed from this diet is that I could wear my earrings without my ears getting red, itchy, and puffy. I’ve had red, itchy, puffy ears for years when I would wear earrings, like every time, not just every now and then. And, it was totally gone in two days of staring this diet!
Basically, the short story is…I eat lots and lots of meat, fatty red meat mostly, but I also eat pork and other meats too, as well as eggs, butter, and very sparingly some dairy, like plain yogurt (I love the sheep’s yogurt that my sis told me about, and it’s lower in carbs than other yogurts), kefir, and even more rarely, some raw cheese. I love this mayo (we get ours at our local Fry’s) and it’s so good on some grass fed burgers topped with grillos pickles from Costco, or with hard boiled eggs. We had crab legs with butter one night and it was so yum! It’s been nice to just mix it up and find new things we can have as we go…but, we try to focus mostly on meat, meat, and more meat, especially fatty red meat. And, we just eat until we are “comfortably stuffed” as Dr. Ken Berry says to do. It’s amazing how when doing this, it keeps us from being hungry so often throughout the day.
I also cut out all seed oils, and didn’t realize how bad they were for us until I watched some of the videos that I did! Whenever I go out to eat, I always ask what they cook their meat in to make sure they’re not cooking it in seed oil, and if they do, then I just ask it to be cooked in butter instead. My sister gave me that suggestion, and I’m so glad she did, because I wouldn’t have thought that meats would have been grilled in seed oils until she told me.
I also make sure to check the ingredients on things such as yogurt, etc., to make sure I’m getting the purest form, without additives or sugar. The food industry loves to put sugar in things, so I just make sure whatever I’m buying has no sugar, or artificial sweeteners. There are some people that do strictly meat, with no dairy, for carnivore. I think if dairy causes issues, then it probably needs to be something that is taken out, but I seem to do fine with eating it sparingly, and in small amounts. Our focus is definitely on meats, not dairy. We’ve had so many great things, beef brisket, beef tri tip, ribeye, beef ribs, pork ribs, bacon, flank steak…and I could go on and on. We love the variety!
For exercise, I basically just go walking, nothing huge…just trying to stay active.
I used to get up in the morning and eat grains for breakfast, and now I eat meat and I actually look forward to what meat I’m going to eat for breakfast now, rather than what am I going to put on my oatmeal. I admit, at first I had to change my mindset and just stick with it, even though I thought to myself, “I can only eat meat?” My mindset changed pretty fast the better I felt and now I don’t even crave fruit anymore, even only after three weeks.
When I first started, I didn’t know how I was going to get by without eating fruit. I actually ate a half a cup of organic black berries or strawberries in my yogurt occasionally for the first week and a half. And, I’m not saying that I will never eat berries again, but if I do, it will be sparingly and in very small amounts. I try to stick with organic blackberries and strawberries, if I do eat them, because they are lower in carbs.
Some of the doctors will talk about how it’s good to wean off of carbs, because you can get “keto flu” from your body detoxing carbs. Also, when starting out, we made sure that we were replacing the electrolytes that we were losing. I take these mineral drops every day, and Trav loves these electrolyte packs! I basically did go “cold turkey” into it, as did Trav, minus a little bit of berries that I had here and there. I do feel like I had a little bit of the “keto flu” going on, because I felt awful after the first week, with detox stuff going on. I’ve heard Ken Berry, MD say a lot of people will give up because of the Keto flu but I pushed through and I’m so glad that I did! My sister had “keto flu” as well. You can have all sorts of symptoms, just like you have when your body is detoxing anything. I was already feeling so much better in so many ways that I knew I wanted to continue on.
Another huge thing that I’ve experienced is…I used to get bloated every night and had horrible gas! I mean, just ask Trav and Brylie, the gas was horrifying. I am not even joking you, my gas and bloating, went away, day one…and, Trav is pretty excited about that too, ha.
Another huge thing that I’ve already noticed is my leg arthritis is gone! When I would sit on the floor to play with my granddaughter or anything else that I would be sitting on the floor for, I would get up and I could barely walk at first because my legs hurt so bad. I would have to wiggle my way out of the pain for the first seconds of getting up. I don’t have that anymore! I sometimes actually get up thinking in my mind that I’m going to have it, so I brace myself, and then realize that it’s gone! It’s amazing! Praise God!
Also, before carnivore, I used to want to eat like every two hours throughout the day, I was so snacky and would eat six or seven times throughout my day with all of my snacking and I was hungry all the time! Now? I usually eat 2x most days, 3 at the very most, and am not hungry at all in between. It’s like a dream come true, seriously!
We made “carnivore” pizza the other night and it was amazing! It’s not something that I would eat every day because of the cheese, but it’s such a great replacement for regular pizza! I couldn’t even believe how good it was! Trav loved it too, and that’s really saying something because he is very picky about food.
I used my brother-in-law‘s recipe from Instagram, I’ll add the link, here. He has the recipe in the write up of that reel.
The photo below is after eating the pizza. Before I did this diet, and when I would eat normal pizza, I would be so bloated that night. I’m not even flexing my stomach muscles here and you can kind of see my abs. I’m just in awe about it all! I’ve lost 8 pounds in three weeks and Trav has lost 12. We weren’t doing it just to lose weight, it just happened… I’m glad to have all of that inflammation gone and it’s nice to not feel puffy all the time.
As for Trav, he’s been doing it too because he had high blood pressure for over a year that his doctor was going to put him on meds for….He decided to try this because he heard it could help with high blood pressure and he didn’t want to take med. His blood pressure normalized/was down 50 points in the first couple days and has stayed normal since! WOW! Praise God for that too! Salt is recommended on this diet and Trav couldn’t believe that he could have so much salt with high blood pressure. It’s actually the other things that are causing his high blood pressure. If you listen to the videos going around about it, you’ll understand.
I’m definitely not telling you that you should do this. I’m just sharing our journey so far with it. If this is something that you think you’re wanting to try, I highly recommend listening to a lot of the videos going around from the doctors that are doing carnivore, and there are so many other good life coaches out there talking about it too that have been doing it for a long time. I search up videos on YouTube and podcasts. Some of the great ones to start with are Dr, Ken Berry, I’ll add a few of his videos here, here, and here. Dr Shawn Baker is also great! I’ll add a great resource of his, here. Dr. Anthony Chaffee is another great one, I’ll add one of his videos, here! Just search these docs on YouTube or Podcasts and more videos will pop up.
Going back to my old diet is not something I want to do after experiencing how good I feel! I’ve never been able to find anything in my whole life that has taken away my inflammation like this diet! And, as it may feel restrictive, I’m with Ken Berry when he says, all the things that he was dealing with before doing this diet were more restrictive. I’ve even noticed my hair is barely falling out anymore! I’m excited to continue to see where it takes me on my health journey! I would love to hear in the comments below if you’ve done this and how it’s helped you too.
I know this is as a lot of info about our journey in a short post, but again, I would definitely start watching videos about it with those docs I mentioned and they will give you so much information about it all. I’ve listened to so many things where people have been healed from all kinds of things, even autoimmune diseases, from eating a carnivore diet. I just wanted to share our experience since we are seeing so many health benefits from it and I thought maybe it could help you too!
A question that I’m seeing a lot is “how do I get fiber on this diet” and “can it cause constipation”? …It can cause constipation and diarrhea at first, but then your bowels are supposed to normalize to it over time, and you definitely poop less because your body is absorbing/using a lot of what you eat. Here’s a great video from Dr. Ken Berry about the myths of us “needing” fiber. There are also many other videos about “poop and the carnivore diet“, just search that on YouTube and they will pop up. 
Hey we started working with a functional nutritionist about a year ago. She started us with paleo and some natural water soluble supplements. We felt amazing after the first 2 weeks! Then we my husband wanted to switch to carnivore I wasn’t on board but was cooking the meals for him and the first few days I would add vegetables to my plate but then I started just eating meat
and my inflammation disappeared too! My husband has afib for years and our nutritionist has cured him of that and my high blood pressure. We did a DNA test and found out we both have the MTHFR gene, which 50% to 65% of the population have a variant of, keeps you from absorbing B9(folate)a deficiency in folate can cause isdues such as heart conditions infertility cancers and depression! It’s all been so interesting!
If your interested in a DNA test and more info on join this group on Facebook
@bedrockyourbodytoaheathieryou
We have cut out all seed oils, artificial sweeteners sugar and grains!
We started paleo and both have lost over 40 pounds but carnivore has by far been the easiest to follow!
I had an undiagnosed back pain for over a year and was afraid it was gonna be cancer, found out I was all clear from all the tests, but took this as a wake up call in my life. I was grossly overweight and turned my life around right then, for the first time ever I was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure and I weighed 425 pounds. That was January 11 of this year, today (approximately nine months later) I’m down 150 pounds, but I’m not strictly carnivore. I eat some of the high fiber/low carb vegetables, but basically no carbs and I’ve never felt better. I have no pain anywhere. I’m no longer diabetic not even prediabetic and my blood pressure is low low low definitely in the healthy range. I’ve struggled with weight my whole life, but the reason why this works for me is because like other people have mentioned and eating protein. You’re just never hungry, I eat one time an day and drink tons of water. Good luck people you can do this!!!
Please share how the nutritionist cured your husband’s afib! That would be such a help to us!! Did the atrial fibrillation stop with a specific dietary change? You mentioned that you began on the Paleo diet, and then you and your husband went to carnivore. Was this when he stopped having afib?
Thank you in advance!!
This is so intriguing! Thanks for sharing. I’m definitely going to do some research.
I have so many questions. Does this diet significantly raise cholesterol and eventually cause heart issues? Does it set you up for colon cancer with all the red meat?
Do you use any spices other than salt? I’ve really been considering doing this- i hope you will share more of what you’re eating in your IG stories! Love your blog!
Wondering if you got rid of all your other food in the house when you started? I’m so interested. I’ve read about others who have done it and cured their issues.
We have been doing this for the last couple months and the hardest part for me is when our grandson comes over and we have no snacks… but we feel so much better and save a ton of money not buying junk food.
My sister in law is doing this diet. She recommends it also.
This is intriguing! Do you eat very natural beef or just what you get at a regular grocery store? Thanks!
I’m wondering what your doctor or nutritionist’s advice is on how to avoid the problems that occur from taking in too much protein in one sitting. Do you focus on just a smallish amount of meat and then rely on fats to add the calories you need? I ask because at two separate times, with two different family members and two different Urologists, These family members were told that our bodies aren’t meant to take in that much protein at once and it was why they each suffered with a sudden kidney stone problem while on their protein heavy diets. They had never had stones before btw and never had them again. So, these protein heavy diets scare me. I’m wondering if there’s a way around this issue though?
Hi there, my daughter and her husband have been carnivore for about a year now. She lost 80lbs and is in the best health she has been in her adult life. She suffers from multiple medical issues. Cronic migraines, autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia. She is in her 40’s. Her doctor totally supported her choice especially when she saw the results. The protein issue is fabricated. Many carnivore supporters say they eat until they are full and have never experienced or heard of too much protein. Your brain needs fat and cholesterol to thrive. I hope this helps. Blessings Mary
My husband has been a Carnivore for 3 years now and he says he feels “the best he has ever felt.” For reference he is 62. While he did indeed loose about 50 pds he stays on this lifestyle bc of the benefits to his over all health. He does have a yearly physical with his Dr and his numbers/ blood work are all great! He takes zero medicines. Prior to changing his lifestyle, he took 800mg Motrin every day to take edge of joint pain. For the past 3 yrs he has not had to take Motrin at all!!
We were all skeptical of this “diet” he calls it LIFESTYLE – but how can you argue with his health and how he feels?!
He researched like you have done and he says he will never go back to the other way before.
I will add that he does have the occasional beer, especially on a hot Summer day. But that is not an every day cheat- as he calls it.
Best of luck to you and Travis!
The best suggestion I can give you is to go to Dr. Ken Berry’s YouTube channel and research for yourself. Others to check are Neisha Salas- Berry, and Maria and Craig Emmerich. They will best explain about (Dr Berry actually lists true research papers) studies about how most research in regards to persons diets are what/how people believe they are eating healthy. It is just from their recollection of the past week/month/year of the research questions. Cholesterol tests are usually from people who have followed the SAD(standard American diet) way of eating, only to have their cholesterol numbers through the roof. Someone commented about eating extra protein. Extra protein plus insulin spiking
carbs? All considerations to keep in mind. I was a diligent low carb(25 my or less/day) and felt great. Then I got The ‘Rona, and fell off into an abyss of feeling like crap, but sheer laziness has kept me from resuming. My only fault, wholly.
Hi! I’ve been curious about this for some time, especially when I’ve heard Mikaila Peterson talk about how it’s healed her of all sorts of disorders. As a side note I got rid of Instagram so I don’t get to see your updates- congrats on your grand baby! Can you do a blogpost about that?!:) Blessings!
Hi my name is Eileen and the story that is being told about the carnivore diet it true i started this diet when my daughter told me about it and i could say in the first 2 weeks all the pain in my body due to inflamation rheumatoid and other medical conditions went away i never felt as good as i did til stared this die and although i had to stop for a little while i am starting again it again with my daughters help
Congratulations and I truly appreciate your testimony. I’ve been on carnivore for for 33 months. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Pain Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Sleep Apnea, Anemia, Osteoarthritis, Asthma, and Morbidly Obese. You can’t imagine how life was for me. I lived with those diagnoses for 20 years of my life. I was on 30 mg of Morphine 3xs a day, Celebrex, and medications for my Asthma. I had the CPAP machine for my sleep apnea and so the cherry on top was Clinical depression. I suffered from anxiety and I had the audacity to be a vegetarian because my doctor said I need to eat more salads and lots of grains. To make a very long story short, I’m 140 lbs lighter, zero medication, no asthma, sleep apnea gone and quite active. So please continue to share your story as I continue to share mine because there is nothing more greater than real life testimony. God bless you and I wish you continued success with your health endeavors.
My daughter started the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) elimination diet last January because of her chronic eczema. There’s a lot of info and cookbooks available on this. Her elimination phase was 90 days. Within 3 weeks her eczema was gone and she list weight and felt great. She’s following the protocol to add back in food one at a time, to test fir reactions. She’s found a few foods that cause her eczema to flare back up. Meanwhile, her diet is varied, many vegetables, fruits, and protein. I tried it too, and never felt better. My elimination phase was 6 weeks I also lost weight without trying. I love how much better I feel and my labs are better also. My inflammation is in the low normal range. It’s a very good, healthy diet to let your gut biom rest and your immune system reset.
My cousin has been doing the carnivore diet for about 6 months and has been raving about great he feels and the disappearance of pains that have plagued him for years. My husband and I decided to try it for the pure health benefits. It’s only been 2 weeks but my plantar fasciitis and sciatic pain have disappeared. I was able to walk 5 miles with a friend last week with no issues. The same walk in September saw me having to sit on an ice pack multiple times that day to ease my sciatic pain and wearing my boot to bed for a solid week. The ability to walk pain free is something I thought was lost to me without the benefit of shots which I wasn’t too thrilled about, so I am a believer!