When you first hear about the carnivore diet, your first reaction might be: “I can only eat meat?” And yes, this will be the basis of most people’s carnivore diets, but the umbrella extends to any animal-based foods. If you are looking to do the carnivore diet long-term, products like dairy, eggs, and honey all count as carnivore. If it comes from an animal or insect, you are safe.
Carnivore diets can look different for different reasons. If you are looking to use the carnivore diet as a strict elimination diet, then just meat, salt, and water are recommended. This is because meat is the least-offensive food to humans and provides a lot of nutrients, making it one of the easiest full elimination protocols. You can always look at introducing dairy and eggs at a later stage, but this is a very individual decision based on your own reaction to those products.
Remember that some people are allergic and react badly to them. It can also get tricky when eating out if you want to do it 100% correctly because a lot of processed meats like burger patties and sausages often contain other plant fillers, and many sauces contain something that can throw you off the carnivore diet.
This is why many people stick to home-cooked fatty cuts of beef, lamb, pork, or chicken to ensure that they do not accidentally ingest any plant material for at least the first month. If you do decide to go with the meat, salt, and water elimination protocol, remember that it becomes very important to increase your fat intake because protein alone is not enough for your body to run on.
Now looking at long-term carnivore adherence, you need to remember that in order to get all of the essential nutrients, organ meats do become important. Liver, kidney, bone marrow, and heart are great examples of very nutrient-dense foods and help prevent possible nutrient deficiencies when you include them in your diet.
If none of these sound appetizing to you, there are desiccated organ supplements you can take to ensure optimal nutrition. Looking at a carnivore diet with the nose tail lens can make it a lot more interesting and varied than just steak and eggs, giving you the opportunity to try new things and recipes that might just end up becoming your new favourite food.
