PLEASE NOTE: The information in this blog is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Consult your healthcare provider if you’re seeking medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment.
If you want people to think you’re crazy, tell them that you follow a carnivore diet. You’re guaranteed to hear questions like…
Are you nuts?
What about all of the saturated fat?
How will you poop without the fiber and vegetables?
While these are all valid questions, the carnivore diet is immensely popular for a reason. People all over the globe are struggling with serious health issues, and this is one avenue that can lead to actual results.
In this article, we’ll examine carnivore diet benefits and risks and determine whether it’s the best option to consider.
What Is the Carnivore Diet?
The carnivore diet is a way of eating that only includes animal products while avoiding highly processed food, fruit, vegetables, grains, and other plant based foods. It includes small amounts of carbohydrates from dairy or sometimes none at all.
Popularized by Shawn Baker, Paul Saladino, and others, the carnivore diet is popular among those looking to improve their gut health, lose weight, and naturally manage diabetes and other serious health conditions (1).
One of the main carnivore diet benefits is its simplicity, given that you only consume one food group: animal foods. These are the primary foods you’ll find on a carnivore diet food list:
- Meat & Seafood: the cornerstones of the carnivore diet, meat and fatty fish are jam packed with bioavailable nutrients.
- Organ Meats (Offal): an often overlooked aspect of the carnivore diet is organ meats. Liver, heart, kidney, and other organs are packed with beneficial nutrients like vitamin A, iron, selenium, and zinc (2).
- Dairy: while not always included, milk, yogurt, butter, kefir, and other dairy products are popular on a carnivore diet given their taste and nutrient density.
- Eggs: one of the more popular protein sources on a carnivore diet, eggs are a great source of vitamin D, B vitamins, choline, and iodine (3).
The carnivore diet is considered a low carb diet, as foods like milk, yogurt, or butter may be the only sources of carbs.
Despite the amount of foods that are excluded on a carnivore diet, it can still be a powerful tool to improve your health.
8 Carnivore Diet Benefits
For some, carnivore diet benefits can be notable. Potential benefits include:
- Nutrient Density
Animal foods are some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet and can meet most human nutritional needs (4).
In particular, meat is an incredible source of B vitamins, iron, zinc, selenium, all essential amino acids, and other nutrients needed for your body to function optimally (5, 6). Diets that are rich in these nutrients are related to better markers of chronic disease (7).
Another study on more than 218,000 adults found that regular meat consumption can improve longevity (8).
2. Elimination of Processed Food
Junk food has no place in the carnivore diet. This leads to the removal of highly processed foods that are connected to diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and other serious health challenges (9, 10).
3. Reduction of Antinutrients
Plants contain synthetic compounds known as “anti-nutrients”, that can hinder nutrient absorption, and some can be toxic or fatal for humans when consumed excessively (11, 12, 13).
The carnivore diet leads to a dramatic reduction in antinutrients such as oxalates, lectins, tannins, and phytates (14, 15).
4. Weight Loss
Obesity is a huge problem globally, killing almost 3 million people per year, which can also lead to serious consequences such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (16, 17).
Compared to standard protein intake, higher protein diets can also be more effective for weight loss and improved body composition (18, 19).
For people with obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome, reducing carbohydrates can assist with weight loss and glycemic control (20). Low carb diets have also been shown to be effective for weight loss, but their benefits can wear off after about 6 months (21, 22).
Losing weight and keeping it off is notoriously difficult (23).
5. Improved Gut Health
One of the most common reasons for starting a carnivore diet is to improve digestive health (24). Both the carnivore and ketogenic diet are being explored as promising treatment options for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)(25).
Here’s one testimonial from a man in South Africa about a zero-carb diet (26)
“My overall health has drastically improved. I had constant stomach issues eating even small quantities of vegetables and these have basically gone [away] after going zero-carb. Depression and brain fog have gone and probably for these reasons alone I will not change the way of eating”
6. Improved Cardiovascular Health
Low carbohydrate diets appear to be helpful for risk factors of cardiovascular disease in the short term (about 6-12 months)(27, 28).
Diets high in refined carbs have shown an association with heart disease and hypertension (29). While the ketogenic diet, which is similar to the carnivore diet, may be able to reduce the risk of heart disease (30). This is in part due to it’s ability to fend off obesity and other major risk factors.
High-level studies have also shown that unprocessed meat has no negative effects on cardiovascular risk factors (31).
7. Better Mood & Brain Function
Followers of the carnivore diet regularly experience improvements in focus, memory, and mental clarity (32). Nutrients in beef (and other animal foods) can also positively affect cognitive development (33).
8. Simplicity
As the focus is solely on animal foods, options such as a lion diet or a carnivore diet can be incredibly simple to follow. This can lead to notable time savings when shopping, cooking, and meal prepping (34).
What are the Risks of a Carnivore Diet?
The carnivore diet can be incredibly helpful, but it’s not the ideal human diet. A number of difficulties can come from this way of eating.
Short Term Challenges
Switching to a carnivore diet can lead to uncomfortable symptoms as your body adjusts.
Similar to the “keto flu,” starting a carnivore diet can lead to flu-like symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and insomnia (35). Digestive issues like diarrhea or constipation are also common at the beginning (36).
Long Term Challenges
One of the most important long-term concerns of a carnivore diet is inadequate nutrient intake. While animal foods are loaded with nutrients, some carnivore dieters may not be getting enough vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iodine, and other crucial nutrients (37).
If you’re not eating organs or dairy products, then vitamin A, calcium, and other nutrients may also be lacking (38).
Due to the lack of carbohydrates, a carnivore diet can also deplete your glycogen stores (39). Carbohydrates are usually the main source of energy production in your body, and glycogen stores can be eliminated within 24-48 hours of no carbs (40, 41). For some, this can lead to fatigue and difficulty exercising.
Some long-term, low-carb diets have also been connected to kidney damage, impairment of physical activity, and osteoporosis (42).
Aside from potential health complications, the carnivore diet can be tough on your social life, given that it can be hard to travel or eat at restaurants and stick to the diet.
Saturated Fat
The most common critique of the carnivore diet is its saturated fat content. Since the 1980s, health officials have advised people to limit saturated fat to less than 10% of their caloric intake to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease (43).
Even though these recommendations were based on faulty evidence, this guidance has stuck around and led to major fears surrounding red meat, butter, and other animal foods.
But, the idea that saturated fat causes cardiovascular disease has been crumbling. The scientific literature is now filled with statements such as:
“Multiple reviews of the evidence have demonstrated that a recommendation to limit consumption of saturated fats to no more than 10% of total calories is not supported by rigorous scientific studies” (44)
“Based on the scientific evidence, there is no scientific ground to demonize SFA as a cause of CVD. SFA naturally occurring in nutrient-dense foods can be safely included in the diet.” (45)
So, many of the negative claims about meat are misleading, contradictory, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong (46).
How To Avoid Carnivore Diet Pitfalls
Finding a balance between carnivore diet benefits and pitfalls is crucial. Here are some tips to help you avoid common roadblocks from this diet.
Transition Slowly
Instead of becoming a full-fledged carnivore overnight, it can be helpful to slowly remove foods. This enables your body to adapt to the changes, and you may even discover that you don’t need to follow a fully carnivorous diet to feel your best.
Focus on Variety
Following a carnivore diet that only focuses on a handful of foods may be convenient, but you could be missing out on important nutrients. To help avoid nutrient deficiencies, consider incorporating a wide variety of meat and seafood options.
We primarily suggest consuming meat and organs from grass-fed, grass-finished ruminant animals. This ensures that the animals are raised on ancestrally consistent diets instead of grains like corn or soy.
Incorporate Dairy and Organ Meats
Another great way to increase variety on a carnivore diet is to include organ meats and dairy products. These foods offer you added nutrients that may be lacking in muscle meat, such as calcium and vitamin A.
If you don’t like the taste or don’t have access, organ meat supplements are popular on low-carb diets (47).
Heart & Soil organ supplements are 100% sourced from regeneratively raised, grass-fed & finished cattle, and free from hormones, pesticides and artificial ingredients.
Work With a Medical Professional
As with any major dietary change, it can be helpful to work with a medical professional before or during your carnivore experiment. Conducting lab work may help you identify nutrient deficiencies or underlying conditions that may be worsened by a meat-heavy diet.
Use Supplements
Given the potential for nutritional deficiencies, strategic supplementation can be a powerful tool for a carnivore dieter. Again, this is where working with a professional can be helpful as it helps you avoid blindly taking supplements that may be a waste of money.
Another strategy to consider is the animal-based diet.
The Animal-Based Diet vs Carnivore
If you’re interested in the benefits of the carnivore diet but want to avoid its pitfalls and restrictive nature, consider trying the animal based diet instead.
The animal-based diet is a truly ancestrally consistent diet that consists of meat, organs, fruit, honey, and raw dairy.
Many carnivore dieters reach a point where they’re experiencing unpleasant side effects or have stopped seeing significant benefits. When looking for a longer-term option, the animal-based diet is typically their final destination.
The animal-based diet consists of high-quality animal foods such as meat, organs, eggs, and raw dairy, alongside fruit, honey, and other low-toxicity plant foods.
This way of eating is not only incredibly nutrient-dense and flexible, but it can also help improve gut health, weight loss, and much more.
The Carnivore Diet: A Short-Term Tool On Your Path to Optimal Health
Although it seems crazy at first, a carnivore diet can be a useful short-term tool with a variety of health benefits. By just focusing on nutrient-dense animal foods, tens of thousands of people have been able to improve their weight management, mental health, gut health, heart health, and more.
Even with all of the benefits, it can be difficult to sustain a carnivore diet over the long term.
For these reasons, the animal-based diet shines bright as a better alternative due to its flexibility and sustainability.
Subscribe to future articles like this: