Health and Nutrition
Here’s Why I Follow a Keto-Carnivore Diet.
I explain how a keto-carnivore lifestyle with time-restricted eating transformed my health and fitness sustainably.
We are unique and need customized diets.
We need to customize our diets based on our body types and nutritional requirements. No single diet meets the requirements of everyone.
I don’t see diet as a political, ethical, or philosophical matter. In my opinion, it is a health and well-being matter. Therefore, I don’t argue about diets and recommend my diet to anyone.
I respect everyone’s diet and expect the same from others. Some of my loved ones are vegetarian or vegan. I dearly support them and do the same. In addition to carnivores, I wrote articles to empower herbivores and omnivores to enter ketosis and benefit from its remarkable benefits.
In addition, I support vegan writers to contribute to my significant publication, Illumination, on Medium and amplify their content. I published hundreds of articles about the value of plant-based diets.
So I am not a typical carnivore but a person with empathy and compassion for every person on this earth. Diets should not be used to discriminate against people. The key point is nutritional biochemistry, which can be obtained both from plants and animal products. The goal is to prevent nutritional deficiencies in any type of diet.
Let me share my sad yet powerful story to give you a perspective. By the way, I never recommend my diet to any as diet is a personal matter.
Throughout my life, I tried many diets. Unfortunately, none of the diets or dietary approaches I tried based on mainstream nutritional advice worked for me. They all left some damaging havoc which I had to fill in a costly way.
I discovered the optimal diet for my fitness, excellent health, life satisfaction, and high performance with self-experimentation, curiosity, and courage.
This is my true story hoping it may provide insights and valuable perspectives to others who might have suffered like me unknowingly with misinformation.
I learned that diet is an individual matter, and we need to customize it based on our genetics, body type, and lifestyle goals. I’d like to share some unfortunate experiences first so that my points make sense to you. My goal is to inform you not to praise my diet.
Unfortunate Experiences with Some Diets
Some diet regimes surprisingly, genuinely, and regrettably damaged my health. Therefore, this is one of the most compelling cases in my life.
Let’s take the fruitarian diet as an example. I ignorantly followed a fruitarian diet for a few months. Unfortunately, it caused me to lose one of my teeth in the third month.
I was only in my mid-twenties. Even though this was an inappropriate diet for me felt great initially, but after a few months, just eating fruits turned out to be dangerous for my health.
The Fruitarian diet was energizing and exciting, but my blood markers were all over the place. I learned that it was not a sustainable diet and hence gave up after three months.
Then I tried a vegetarian diet, thinking it was the healthiest diet as touted in the media during that time. But, alas! It was another big mistake for me.
With all due respect to my vegetarian and vegan friends, it was one of the worst diets for me. Being a vegetarian for four years made an awful impact on my health, emotional stability, mental clarity, and performance.
There could have been many reasons for this; however, one critical piece of information was that my genetic makeup did not support being a vegetarian. I was carb-intolerant, and I reacted to some plants.
As soon as I started eating a bit of meat, I immediately felt better, and my health turned average. However, I was still not satisfied with my overall performance.
Then I heard about some commercial diets where that deliver food to our homes. The amount of food is small, as their diet is based on portion control. I was starving all night, and hunger feelings were driving me crazy. Several times at night, I visited the fridge but forced my willpower to overcome the hunger feelings.
It was painful and the wrong choice for me. Yes, this portion-controlled diet worked a bit at helping me lose a few kilos, but it did not do anything worth mentioning here. My physical, mental, and emotional performance suffered.
Discovering Unusual Diet
Why would I call this an “unusual diet”?
My primary reason is that the diet I mentioned in this article is not mainstream, and it has perceived side effects such as causing high cholesterol and hence is potentially linked to cardiovascular risks, even cancer. Scary, isn’t it? However, fear does not rule my life! I choose to be brave to manifest the best version of myself.
My unusual diet is also [hypothetically] associated with cancer. My family, friends, and colleagues were so concerned about my diet that they encouraged me to stop my unusual diet. I refused all offers politely.
I intuitively sensed the magic in this new diet.
When I started researching the topic using my favorite PubMed.gov site, I noticed that the cholesterol and cardiovascular risk claims were only based on epidemiological studies.
For example, I did not find any empirical study on just eating meat causing cancer. Instead, other factors seemed to be the culprit for the associated claims, e.g., smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and bad cooking practices such as burning meat.
I used to believe the perceptions floating in the media, several sources on the Internet, and even some in non-rigorous scientific publications or fake studies.
However, when I started to review the medical and nutrition literature, there was hardly any evidence for these unsubstantiated claims. They were all referring to the fact that more research is required. With my personally acquired new knowledge and growing curiosity, my confidence in transitioning to this diet became very easy.
My aim here is not to keep aside a new type of diet or blame other diets but to reveal how this unusual diet became beneficial for me and how it resolved my debilitating issues like a panacea.
I have no association with any dietary group, association, or people. My only concern related to this issue is my health, performance, and happiness. I feel obliged to highlight that this diet made one of the most significant impacts on my health in improving my overall performance. Let me briefly explain this journey and how it manifested smoothly.
The transition from a ketogenic to the carnivore diet
After trying many other diets, mentioned earlier, it was serendipitous to come across the Ketogenic (Keto) diet. The most significant contribution of the Keto diet for me was that it helped me become fat-adapted. This was the foundation of my successful transition to my unusual diet. However, it was not a panacea.
For several years I tried Keto and enjoyed it immensely. I never felt hungry or moody on this diet as my insulin was under control, and my blood sugar was at optimal steady levels.
Initially, I had minor keto flu symptoms, but as soon as I learned the importance of dietary salt and minerals and took action, the symptoms quickly disappeared.
Having an average of 1.5 nmol ketone levels floating in my bloodstream, I felt clear in my thinking, and my inflammation symptoms considerably reduced. This was a massive win in my sensible biohacking journey!
As the Keto diet made me fat-adapted, I felt naturally ready to try the Carnivore diet. During that time, I did not know the name Carnivore, as it only appeared around two years ago in the media, but I called it an all-animal-based diet excluding dairy and eggs — in other words, an all-meat diet including organ meat and bone broth.
I removed the plants (vegetables and fruits) from my Keto diet. Revealing this to my family and friends created substantial concerns. However, my fat intake was still high, but the source was only animal fat.
When I was following the Keto diet, I drank a few spoons of olive oil every day and ate several spoons of butter. I stop drinking oil or eating butter, but I am still in optimal ketosis without bloating in my unusual diet.
With this background, let me explain my customized diet.
Embracing a keto-carnivore diet
Moving from a traditional ketogenic diet to a keto-carnivore was easy, almost effortless, for me. The main change was cutting the plant sources from my diet. This included plant fats such as olive oil, seed oils, and nut oils. My fat source became only animal fat. I enjoy staying in ketosis.
In the beginning, I was eating eggs and dairy in butter and kefir format. I used to love drinking homemade kefir. One day, I decided to remove eggs and dairy and my favorite kefir. It was hard to give up kefir, though.
I religiously believed in kefir’s health benefits, especially for gut health and immunity; however, later, experimentally, I learned that dairy was not aligned with my genetic makeup, so I sadly said goodbye to my beloved kefir. I still remember the heavenly taste, though.
Removing plants, dairy, and eggs left me with only meat sources. But they helped me survive and thrive. First time in my life, I felt terrific physically, mentally, and emotionally. My performance was skyrocketing. I found the panacea!
What do I eat in this diet?
Let me explain what I eat on this unusual diet to survive and thrive. I eat 100% animal meat, animal organs, animal fat, animal bones, fish, and seafood. That’s it!
My main diet includes mainly meat, bone, fat, and organs from cows and sheep. In addition, I eat fish and seafood three times a week.
I learned how to create a variety of dishes by combining these food types. Like many others, I thought it might be boring, but it was more than expected.
Never dull moments in the Carnivore diet for me. As a side effect, I feel fully satisfied. My binge eating habits naturally and effortlessly disappeared. It turned into a wonderful life! The carnivore diet has been the best tool for adding real meaning to my life. I wish I had known it when I was younger!
The main organs I include in my diet are the liver, brain, kidneys, heart, and bone marrow. Eating these organ meats helped me get all the essential nutrition, minerals, and vitamins that may be lacking in muscle meat.
Recently I have been pleased that some leading doctors on the Internet support eating organ meats. For example, one of my favorite doctors online (Dr Paul Saladino) calls this diet “eating an animal from nose to tail”. I found his messages about a carnivore diet on the Internet potent and an excellent confirmation of my unusual diet.
I am so glad that there is a name for my unusual diet now and many people are trying it and gaining benefits from it. It is called the Carnivore diet. However, there needs to be some clarification about using this name. I plan to cover those details in another article in my brand-new publication here.
I enjoy watching inspiring videos from Dr. Sean Baker on YouTube, a talking the talk and walking the walking type of person whose caring views I immensely respect.
I was also impressed by Mikhaila Patterson’s, Amber O’Hearn’s, and Dr. Sean Baker’s transformations. I can closely relate to the experience of these practical, bold, and inspirational leaders. Their stories validated my situation.
I also want to mention unique organ meat dishes and their importance to our health, presented by Frank Tufano. Frank taught me how to eat some raw organ meats. It was an exciting exploration of my sensible biohacking journey. But I stopped doing that and always cooked meat.
In addition to eating meat, I boil cow or lamb bones in a slow ceramic cooker for 24 hours and drink a cup of bone broth daily.
Drinking homemade bone broth every day provides several health benefits. The significant advantages are improving my digestion and sleep quality due to balancing my glycine content.
I seemed to lack glycine in my previous diets, even in the Keto diet. Therefore, I had sleeping issues during the Keto diet. A well-formulated keto-carnivore diet resolved my sleeping issues naturally.
Boiling bones for 24 hours in the slow cooker also makes the bones very soft and crushable. I put the soft bones in a food processor like Nutri Bullet, which turns them into tiny pieces like flour. Crushed bones provide my daily natural calcium intake.
My childhood arthritis disappeared, to the surprise of my rheumatologist, who said that the arthritis symptoms never improved. My belief in conventional medicine was a bit shattered; therefore, I started taking traditional advice with a pinch of salt.
I experienced many immune-triggering ingredients in vegetables, especially spinach, and kale, which I used to eat, and even stupidly drank the juice of these vegetables a lot, thinking that conventional health practitioners still recommended the healthiest food on earth.
I didn’t know oxalates could be harmful to my sensitive genetic makeup. Paradoxically, my favorite vegetables, like spinach and kale, made me suffer the worst.
By the way, adding crushed bones to a bone broth soup makes it creamy and delicious when processed in a Nutri Bullet. Alternatively, I sometimes add a spoon of bone meal powder, which can be purchased from a health shop if I run out of soft bones at home.
Fish and Seafood
I eat fish three to five times a week. The main fish I eat is wild-cut salmon. Occasionally, I eat other fish, such as mackerel and sardines.
My primary sources of seafood are prawns. Prawns are low-calorie food but provide complete high protein when I want to increase my protein intake on fish and seafood days.
Despite my belief in the quality and comprehensiveness of this diet, I still have a few supplements. One essential supplement I have, especially when I do not eat fish, is a few fish or krill oil tablets.
I know the critical benefits of omega-three fatty acids on our brain and reducing inflammation in our bodies.
What do I refrain from in this diet?
Even though there is hype on the benefits of bacon as a carnivore meal, I do not eat any processed meat. However, some people love it as it can be delicious. I respect their choice.
I am also meticulous in not overcooking or burning meat, as the side effects of overcooked or burnt meat are well documented. I usually cook my meat in an electric oven for 15–20 minutes. I love my stake raw to medium and love eating my fresh salmon raw at home or blue in a restaurant.
Apart from harmful effects, overcooked meat or burnt barbecued meat is a turn-off for me. Therefore, my cooking methods for all meat types are raw to medium, especially steaks and salmon in an oven.
As mentioned earlier in my elimination diet regimen, I also don’t eat any plant additives, spices, eggs, or dairy. I even stopped my favorite tea and coffee.
I enjoyed black and green tea so much, but now my body has no desire. It is the same for fantastic-smelling coffee.
Giving up tea and coffee naturally happened by my body's intelligence; I did not make any additional effort. So let me share the benefits I gained from my diet.
Benefits from the Keto-Carnivore diet
Just eating meat, organ meat, fish, eggs, and seafood has helped me feel like the best version of myself. No diet has made this much difference in my life; therefore, I am determined to continue it until I notice any negative implications. I believe it is the most sustainable diet for me.
So far, I haven’t experienced any adverse effects. Far from adverse effects, my blood markers turned to an optimal state, my well-being improved, and my performance in all domains substantially grew.
In summary, the key benefits of the Carnivore diet for me have been digestive comfort, mental clarity, reduced-fat percentage, increased lean muscle mass, reduced inflammation, and reduced pain in muscles, joints, and ligaments.
In terms of digestive comfort, the most significant contributor was eliminating bloating. It is great to have a flat stomach. First time in my life, after a half-century, I clearly noticed my six-packs with the help of the carnivore diet.
Based on the benefits and transformational changes in my health, I have no intention of adding plants, dairy, or eggs to my diet as long as I can keep this version of myself, making me happy, joyful, stoic, high performing, and satisfied.
Side effects of the Keto-Carnivore diet
Overall, I did not experience any side effects so far over many years. However, one minor point I work on is to address any potential excessive urea in the blood, which may be caused by extra protein intake every now and then.
As I usually eat fatty meat and organ meats, it is rare for me to over-consume protein. My body knows when to stop as far as protein is concerned. It creates noticeable satiety.
As imposed by my parents in my childhood, I usually don’t leave any food on my plate. In the carnivore diet, ironically, there were times I had to stop and leave some of my favorite rib-eye steaks due to reaching a physically noticeable satiety point before finishing my meal. I don’t throw out my leftover rib-eye, as it is costly in Australia. Instead, I warm it up a little and eat it at my next meal.
However, as a precaution, I add three grams of citrulline malate to my water if I think I have overdosed on protein. Citrulline is an amino acid component of the urea cycle in the liver and helps to remove the urea. I tried ornithine and arginine a few times, but they did not make any difference. I prefer citrulline, as the sour taste is appealing to me.
I tested for urea multiple times and noticed that urea in my blood was at a healthy level. I believe daily intake of citrulline malate maintains it well. As a pleasant side effect, this unique amino acid has a tremendous impact on my performance in other domains, which I don’t want to go into detail about in this article.
Fear of fat and cholesterol
I enjoy eating animal fats to my satisfaction.
My butcher thinks that I may die from cholesterol as he gives me kilos of animal fat to me instead of tossing them into the rubbish bins. It is free because no one wants to buy animal fat due to fear of cholesterol.
There is still a huge fear of cholesterol in society.
I learned that some of the studies on cholesterol were fake and out of context. It is a controversial and significant topic.
I have no fear of dietary cholesterol; instead, I embrace it. Every cell in our body needs cholesterol. Our body produces extra cholesterol when there is no cholesterol covering food intake. It is a natural process.
I learned by experimenting that eating cholesterol may not possibly increase my cholesterol. After losing the fear of cholesterol, my testosterone levels doubled even after chronologically aging for additional years.
I learned that there might be times we needed supplementary digestive enzymes, especially in the transition period.
Digestive Enzymes for Keto-Carnivore Diet
As mentioned earlier, I was on the traditional ketogenic diet for several years. As a result, I was overeating animal fats, especially when I had one meal-a-day plan.
In one of these instances, a friend of mine who is a sports nutritionist introduced me to a digestive enzyme complex. Later, a holistic dietician prescribed me a digestive enzyme formula that worked wonders for me.
The supplement included vital enzymes such as Amylase, Protease, Lipase, and other enzymatic ingredients like Betaine HCI and Ox Bile Extract. In addition, there were a few other enzymes, but they were not major ones.
After a fatty meal, my indigestion symptoms disappeared when I took a digestive enzyme supplement. My stomach and gut were happy. I understood it was not essential for everyone, but it worked well for me.
Since I mainly eat animal fat with some protein and almost no carbs (except a tiny amount in the liver), I only needed Protease and Lipase. Later, I discovered pure Lipase in three different formats: Lipase, 1, 2, and 3. This well-formulated product made a real difference in improving my digestion during the transition period.
I understand that the primary purpose of digestive enzymes is to break down food for energy. It was interesting to read from the nutrition- and diet-related publications that digestive enzymes can decrease inflammation, reduce symptoms of IBS, and even ease arthritis pain. Therefore, I tried and enjoyed the benefits. However, after being a full keto-carnivore, I did not need supplementary digestive enzymes as my body can naturally produce the right amount. I am well-adapted.
Salt is critical in the keto-carnivore diet.
I didn’t know how important salt was for our body, especially when I was in ketosis. Learning about the importance of salt and increasing my salt intake was a lifesaver for me. Salt helped me to overcome my keto flu and become fat-adapted in a very short time.
After increasing my salt intake, some muscular pain, especially in the early mornings, after 12 hours of fasting, disappeared.
Minor headaches disappeared after sipping a glass of saltwater with one teaspoon of Himalayan Pink Salt, Sea Salt, or Redmond Real Salt.
I learned to take salt after perspiring, especially in the sauna or after HIIT-based cardio or weight training. It is a habit for me to carry salt in my emergency bag.
My blood pressure is normal, at the low end. For any reason, whenever my blood pressure goes down, I drink a glass of salt water, and it helps to turn my blood pressure back to normal.
Conclusions and Takeaways
I don’t write about diets as it is an individual matter. In fact, this is my first article on a keto-carnivore diet. I want to share more details on my upcoming articles for information only.
I aim to explore and share emerging scientific studies on a carnivore diet. There needs to be more historical and established research on the carnivore diet.
However, some visionary scientists started fascinating studies, and I want to cover the glimpses and raise awareness in our publication here.
I don’t like politics, hype, condemning, judging, or having trivial arguments on carnivores versus other diets.
Instead, my vision is to explore the potential benefits and opportunities for health, fitness, performance, and overall life satisfaction with an open mind, experimentation, and scientific findings. Some people thrive on plant-based and some on animal-based diets.
As a practicing keto-carnivore, I have empathy, compassion, and full respect for all dietary and lifestyle choices. My premise is we are different. Everyone is unique, and no single diet fits everyone’s requirements and genetic types.
However, sharing knowledge, experience, and insights, and broadening perspectives, may create new opportunities.
There are so many unknowns in life and a plethora of misinformation in our society. Frankly, I had to unlearn 90% of what I learned to be able to reinvent myself and live my life with joy and happiness.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a happy and healthy life
I’d love to obtain your feedback on these types of transforming stories. Please link your articles in the comments section.
Let me refer you to Paul Saladino — MD, who articulates his personal carnivore experience compellingly in this YouTube video.
People keep teasing me for many years, highlighting the dangers of a carnivore diet but touch wood. I haven’t experienced any of those things despite my regular checkups. Medical doctor Kevin Berry made a video about those allegations.
Isn’t Fiber Essential
Fiber is one of the most frequently asked questions for the carnivore diet.
I shared my experience with cutting fiber from my diet in this article.
I explained fiber and carb intolerance in a longer article.
I link an informative presentation from a medical doctor explaining why fiber is non-essential.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
I documented my experience in a new article to provide information to beginners.
Here is a glimpse of my fat loss journey.
As I believe in the value of ketosis for all types of diets, I also wrote about the keto-vegan diet for ketosis.
And I wrote about the keto-omnivore diet for consumers of both plant and animal products.
Here are my perspectives on hormones that I have been studying for many years.
How a Leaky Gut Might Lead to a Leaky Brain and Lower Risks in 7 Steps
Besides aiming to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and writing about neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine, one of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
I aim to educate, create awareness, and empower my readers to take control of their health and well-being.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, and Major Diseases.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
Disclaimer: Please note that my posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
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