The Art of Carnivore

Famous podcasters like Joe Rogan, Lex Friedman, Jordan & Mikhaila Peterson, and more, speak about it. 

Doctors like Dr. Shawn Baker, Paul Saladino, and others, practice it. 

And, athletes like the world-class mixed martial artist George St. Pierre, pitcher Noah Syndergaard, and Rugby star Curtis Sironen perform better on it. 

If you spend more than ten minutes searching social media for new health trends, you’ll quickly find The Carnivore Diet: a meat-only diet emphasizing the importance of eating nutrient-dense foods.

It sounds crazy, even potentially extreme, but the benefits people cite seem just as insane:

• Reversing Type II diabetes
• Eliminating digestion problems
• Enhanced cognitive performance
• Reduced inflammation in the body
• Improved metabolic health & weight loss
• Putting IBS, Crohn’s, and Ulcerative Colitis in remission

Don’t believe us? Check out this post by Dr. Shawn Baker. The comments are remarkable!

For many people, starting a diet like The Carnivore Diet seems like a method of last resort. However, even people looking to optimize their health have found increasing the amount of meat in their diet and eliminating certain foods incredibly beneficial for performance across various measurables from sleep, energy levels, and performance in the gym. For some people, it’s also just an excellent tool to utilize for a few weeks at a time throughout the year to refocus their intensity on their health. 

If we’ve captured your interest, keep reading to learn more about implementing some basic frameworks to start experimenting with The Carnivore Diet. 

Here’s a “no frills” look at what The Carnivore Diet is, how to get started, and why you should consider it:

People often refer to the Carnivore Diet as an elimination diet because it removes ALL of the highly processed foods from the dietary options and replaces them with animal-sourced foods, mainly:

• Elk
• Eggs
• Beef
• Lamb
• Bison
• Bone Broth
• Bone Marrow
• Butter, Ghee, & Tallow
• Organ meat (liver, heart, brain etc)
• Seafood (wild-caught salmon/oysters/shrimp)
• Pork (low PUFA / soy & corn free / pasture raised)
• Poultry (low PUFA / soy & corn free / pasture raised)

In many respects, people adding this level of nutritionally valuable foods into their diet should expect noticeable improvements in energy levels, satiety, mood, cognitive performance, and more. After all, increasing the amount of saturated fat intake, Vitamin B levels and Vitamin A (retinol) invites these types of benefits. 

However, another major key of The Carnivore Diet is what you AREN’T eating:

1. NO Processed Sugars
2. NO Processed Grains
3. NO Processed Oils

The elimination of these foods noticeably reduces inflammation as well as gut irritation in the body. Many people benefit from this alone. However, adding in an abundance of nutrient-rich foods serves your body well, particularly as it relates to sustaining the diet overtime.

When people talk about The Carnivore Diet, they often reference no need to count calories or a need to limit the amount of food you eat. For people bouncing from diet to diet, this concept is completely foreign to them – “what do you mean I don’t need to count calories?”

Well, a huge benefit of eating large portions of meat is the amount of protein and saturated fat consumed on the diet, leaves people feeling satiated and nourished. A shared insight from carnivores is often how many of them typically feel less inclined to snack or graze throughout the day and have almost no food cravings…they are actually nourished! 

So, if you aren’t tracking calories, what are you tracking? Most carnivores track the amount of protein they consume (recommended to be around 0.8 to 1.0g per lb of desired body weight). 

Many often work to eat roughly 1.5 to 2.5lbs of beef per day, depending on the person’s height, weight, and gender. 

Getting an adequate amount of protein and eliminating seed oils, refined sugars, and grains does require a bit more planning ahead. In fact, a shared theme amongst carnivores is many of them tend to cook most or all of their meals (since its cheaper and typically you don’t have to worry about having something cooked in canola oil or sunflower oil). 

One of the biggest challenges people run into with The Carnivore Diet is eating on the go. If you have access to your kitchen throughout the day, it’s great, but on the run it can put you in some precarious spots. Many people opt for fasting or bringing some jerky snacks (or Carnivore Bars) with them. It does make the diet a bit more challenging, however, most people find that their ability to go long periods without food expands on The Carnivore Diet.

So, we got you to this point and now you’re interested in trying it out for yourself.

Here are 5 tips to help you go carnivore for the next 7 days:

1. Find 3 recipes to master over the course of the week

• Try a slow cook recipe to cook in bulk like a chuck roast or stew, a quick and easy recipe like a taco salad, and a favorite recipe like a top sirloin cooked in cast iron.
• Order meat from your local farm (shoot for roughly 10 to 14lbs for the week)
• Cook all of your meals

• A cast iron pan and a dutch oven make these very easy
• Avoid the gym, walk plenty, and get plenty of sleep these days

• Focus your attention and willpower on improving your efforts in the kitchen
• Drink plenty of water & tighten your eating window to 4-6 hours

• Drop some butter in your coffee or bone broth to get your day started with a bang. It’ll give you plenty of energy throughout the day without having to cook a big meal in the morning. 

SHOP CARNIVORE BARS 

*Thanks to Brett Ender and Harrison Gray from The Meat Mafia for writing this blog post! They are the hosts of The Meat Mafia Podcast and are also part of our affiliate team, use their code "MAFIA" at checkout to receive 10% off your order!