Four month update of my ‘diabetic carnivore’ experiment! This post will sum up the first 4 months of my Full-Carnivore experiment including…
- blood sugars
- nutritional summaries (calories, protein, fat, carbs)
- energy levels, sickness, bowel movements, etc
For over four months, since February 10, 2017 I have not eaten the flesh of plants. I’ve only eaten animal based foods, primarily meat (beef, pork, poultry, fish), eggs and the occasional cheese. I’ve drunk water, black coffee and the occasional glass of wine.
Above is a gorgeous chuck roast, I grilled it slowly for an hour, over a bed of charcoal. The flavor and texture were amazing! During the four months I’ve eaten a fair amount of beef liver or other organ meats including chicken hearts and chicken livers.
Meat Lessons
As you read this post you should be asking yourself, “How does this experiment help me? What insights can I glean?”
I want you to think critically about your own situation but here are main points I want people to consider.
- Eliminating Inflammation: Since 2009 I have stated, “If the way you are eating requires you to take a drug (OTC or prescribed), you should try ‘low carb paleo‘. Eating low-carb, real foods is less inflammatory, than typical diets. After doing ‘meat and leafy green’ experiments I even suggested trying eating only meat and leafy greens… if you still required drugs, to reduce inflammation even more.Today, after my four-month full-carnivore experiment I suggest this…
If the way you are eating requires you to take a drug I suggest you give full-carnivore a try for 30 days.
A full-carnivore diet has helped many improve their health and their lives. After 30 days, evaluate your health and fitness, and adjust if needed. That’s exactly what I did… and I’m on month 5 now. :)
- Breaking Addictions: The most difficult part of improving your health, especially for diabetics … breaking the addictions to sugar and grains.I KNOW. I know this personally because I too had to break the chains of food addictions. Additionally, I have helped many and know of many more people who struggle with breaking the sugar and grain addictions.From many personal anecdotes of people who failed to break the chains with ‘low-carb’, they were able to successfully break free … with a full-carnivore diet.I can tell you this from my personal experience. The more I ate only meat … the more I only wanted meat to eat. There is something about eating only meats…Try it for 30 days! It just might change your life. It may not be for you, but there is ONLY ONE WAY to find out. Try it.
Carnivorous Nutrition Breakdown
I have maintained a food journal since April 1st, meticulously recording my foods consumed using a digital scale. The only exceptions were a few special occasions such as weekend beach trips, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, when I didn’t take a scale with me to social gatherings.
Note: Even at the beach I was very close on calculations, only one meal did I have to guess my ounces of meat consumed.
At no point during the first four months did I attempt to eat to certain ratios.
I simply recorded what I ate. I never worried about fat, protein or carb ratios. I just ate what I wanted and recorded it.
The picture above is my food journal for two months, month 3 and 4. While I don’t expect major changes I will be adding a twist for the next two months, still full-carnivore. More on that later.
Macros and Ratios
Looking at the picture above, some things stand out… way out! :) Historically I’ve been approximately:
72% of calories from fats
26% of calories from protein
2% of calories from carbs
I discuss my historical nutritional charts in this post, “Diabetic Food Journals“.
Note: The chart above is only for the last two months, but the percentages should be representative of the full four months. I did eat more meat the first month or two but that shouldn’t affect percentages.
Full Carnivore Percentages
- Fat 52% of calories – a big drop from 70%. I can tell you this — it wasn’t noticeable. Every day eating fatty meats, I didn’t miss a drop …of fat. :)For the majority of people on the planet … that is VERY HIGH FAT! But based on my 72% historically, that’s quite a bit lower. However this number is only 37g of fat lower than my historical average of 167 grams.That’s why I dislike using “%”, percentages can be revealing but I prefer to look at ‘grams consumed’.
- Protein 45% of calories What? Historically I’ve been @ 27% protein… so yeah, 45% from protein is a HUGE increase. We will look at protein in more detail below.
Nutrition: My only concern is making sure I get enough protein. Of course, eating an all-meat diet, getting enough protein is not a concern. :) Actually, eating an all-meat diet… I have no concerns. I know I’m going to eat enough protein, I know I am going to eat ‘low carb’ and I know that I’ll get enough fat. I am only food journaling for science. ;)Full-Carnivore = worry free eating… for me.
Nutrients
I don’t believe the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDAs) are correct. However, if you think the RDAs are accurate, in this post, “Carnivore RDA Chart” a friend detailed how the RDAs can be met eating only animal products. Translation: We don’t need plants to survive, nor thrive!
Please don’t tell me we need fiber… I’ve eaten less than 10g of fiber per day on average for 8 years… and I thrive. :)
Typical Day
I’ve averaged 238 grams of protein… per day! …. that’s a big increase over my historical totals. Historically I’m in the 128 gram range. During my ‘diabetic carnivore’ experiment, I’ve been consuming about 100 grams more per day!
Below is an example of the foods I’ve eaten.
Honestly, not every day is as ‘balanced’ as this. This particular day I ate pork, eggs, beef and fish. Beef and eggs are what I have eaten the most, with poultry, fish and then chicken coming in last.
Diabetic Carnivore Blood Sugars
What would a diet with 100 grams more in protein … do to my blood sugars?
My blood sugar goal every day is 60-90 mg/dl (3.3 to 5.0 mmol/l), I explain why in this post, “Truly Normal Blood Sugar“.
I’ve recorded daily overnight fasting blood sugar readings since March 13th.
Experiment Average: 84.6 (4.6 mmol/l), respectable.
Yes, I’d like to be lower than this, but for an average… not horrible. If you’ve read any of the previous posts you probably know that my blood sugars started out much higher.
The first couple of months my blood sugars averaged 88, with many days in the 90’s.
Then about mid May, it was as if a flip switched and my fasting blood sugars began decreasing. Since the middle of May I am back to ‘normal’ fasting blood sugars, 70’s to low 80’s typicallly (3.9 to 4.6 mmol/l).
Fasting Blood Sugar Averages
As you can see from the data above, a big difference from the first 30 days and the last 30 days, 9 point difference.
Even more amazing, are the individual days… I’ve eaten well over 300 grams of proteins some days, and had blood sugars in the 70’s!!! Even while eating a high protein meal late in the evening.
The other day, after eating 272 grams of protein… I woke up to a 71!! I still find it hard to believe!
Here is a post where I shared 24 hours of blood sugars, “24 Hours Diabetic Carnivore”, including blood sugars after intense exercise and high protein meals. Thanks to test strips from “TotalDiabetesSupply.com”, I will continue doing full-carnivore experiments. :)
Diabetic Carnivore LIVES
In other words, the diabetic carnivore experiment … continues! :) I see no reason to stop my full-carnivore experiment.
Health and Fitness
Despite eating only animal products for over four months — I still THRIVE!
I workout intensely most days a week, energy levels are still strong. The last time I was sick was in 2016 … not even sniffles on full-carnivore. Still drug and insulin free…of course. :)
Bowel Movements
Less garbage in, less garbage out.
Bowel movements are ‘normal’ for me. I’ve been very low fiber since 2009 … I’ve not noticed any change over all in my bowel movements. Neither consistency or frequency. Frequency varies, some times it will be daily for a few days…. and then there are times it will skip a day or two.
As I stated earlier – I see no reason to discontinue my full-carnivore experiment.
I continue to thrive, in every way.
If you suffer from an illness or ailment, if you take a drug (OTC or prescribed) … I hope you’ll give full-carnivore a test run for 30 days… I did. :)
Future Carnivory
As noted I’m going to stay full-carnivore. I am going to change things up just a bit by limiting my calories to 2,000. My body composition is changing, just a little too slow for me. So I’m going to ‘experiment’ with reducing calories but maintaining high levels of protein.
More about this in an upcoming post where I will discuss protein in more detail.
Ciao!
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