30 day Carnivore Diet Experiment

Right, here we are. On the brink of something new!

Jason and I, as of 6am tomorrow, are trialing a new Way of Eating. The trending and potentially controversial, meat based diet. We are choosing a period of 30 days (to start) and will be updating at the end of each week. We will be taking before and after pics and measurements. With no expectations and a full open mind, tuning in to our body intelligence ie. paying close attention to how we feel and what effects this way of eating has on our bodies. We're picking to try this one based on what we already like to eat and what we have available to us in large quantities.

No calorie counting, no Macros calculations, eating to satiety and eating according to hunger.

We will be primarily consuming grass fed beef & lamb, free range bacon (read here why we don't want to eat un marinated pork) and free range chicken. Organic as possible. We will also be consuming as much seafood as we (Jason) can personally gather. We will be having some free range eggs and cheese and butter. I'm not going to actively persue processed meat, as often its treated with all range of crap. We should all demand our animal products have been ethically treated. No one wants to eat sick meat.

Will drink water obviously (with CMD), bone broth (now I'm 30, I'm aware of my collagen requirements). Some carnivores still consume coffee. Again, this really is a 'listen to your body' diet. If you feel like killing someone as a result of your caffeine withdrawal, it isn't worth it. You'll be suffering carb withdrawl in the early days, so you don't want a double banger! Some people drink spirits and wine, again. If you feel lousy after consuming them.. then your body is saying no no no.

Other carnivore diet followers just eat red meat and nothing else. Or do a kind of elimination diet where they primarily just eat beef and add things in periodically to see how you actually feel at the introduction of different foods. Some eat no supplementary foods like herbs/spices etc. We will flavor, because this needs to be a sustainable way of eating (so we don't get so bored that it drives us to the edge).

But wait?! Don't we NEED plant foods in our diet?? What happened to 5+ a day? Lets have a look at where this information came from, are there actually any scientific information that tells us plant foods are essential for a thriving human? A Psychiatrist and nutrition blogger Georgia Ede digs deep into plant foods and the evidence behind eating them / or not over at "diagnosis diet".com. She also has a few youtube videos on the subject.

But wait?! Doesn't eating red meat cause Colon Cancer?? The W.H.O says so. We can examine the actual study that informed the World Health Organization on this topic, over on the Human performance Outliers podcasts with Dr Shawn Baker & Zach Bitter (Episode 21). As you can see.. not everything is black and white when it comes to nutritional science. Research follows trends and is funded by food industry partners.

But wait?! There's no scientific evidence that a full carnivore diet is healthy for you! It is true that this diet itself has not been studied in an industrialized civilization. We can look to native cultures around the world that sustain themselves mostly on Meat and animal products, and we can look at their overall health. But in all fairness. I can't find any conclusive studies on full carnivore westerners over a period of a lifetime. So what we do have is a large base of anecdotal evidence in the form of personal testimonies and transformation pictures. Over at the Meat heals website: many people are telling their experience of healing chronic disease through carnivore diet and lots of "before and after pics" of weight loss. You can also find more at: Zerocarbzen : carnivore diet website for testimonials and more resources. Likewise there are plant based diet website sites that promote a full plant diet and its healing abilities.

Down to the bones of it, you will find 'evidence' for and against almost every way of eating. The Health and Fitness industry is sooooo saturated. You have highly intelligent and qualified individuals doing research and making claims that are contradicting each other. Given this, it is hard to believe that there is one universal diet that will suit every person of every age of every ethnicity. The only thing you can really do is try things out for yourself and be objective in your results. If your body starts showing signs of not being happy (pain, inflammation or illness), then examine what you're doing. Don't be blinded by this thing you've clung to as part of your identity. Be flexible to consider all forms of whole foods nutrition. Its actually ok to be wrong, because you learn!