Carnivore Week 1 Thoughts

 Week 1 of the carnivore "experiment" done, completed on a diet of beef and lamb, with water, black coffee and salt the only other ingredients.

So how was it? 

All in all not bad. Here's the tldr; more detail below

Pros

Meal prep is very easy

Weight loss

Better energy

Food consumption awareness

 Cons

Slight intestinal discomfort 

Less bowel movements

Boring

Difficult if not at home

Slightly anti-social 

The Detail

While it appears there's more cons that pros, the pros are pretty significant and the cons pretty minor. The most noticeable effect was weight loss - 3kg for the week. Now most of this is probably fluid but this is still significant. It's highly likely that I wasn't eating as many calories as usual, but I definitely didn't get hungry as often. I usually do an OMAD type fast most days anyway and continued that this week.

TMI section. Related to this (I think) was a very reduced frequency of bowel movements. Not constipation,  as there were none of the symptoms of this, but it just seemed like there was significantly less waste product to be moved. This could be a pro but was a bit disconcerting to start with.

There was also some slight intestinal unrest. Very minor and I'm guessing this will disappear as my body adjusts.

Energy levels seemed a bit more consistent - not necessarily more energy, but less fluctuations during the day.

Especially on the first couple of days I became aware of how often I opened the fridge. I wasn't hungry, and didn't get any cravings so this was just a habit

Probably the hardest part of this was that, for me, this was quite boring. I like different foods, and cooking, so just prepping and cooking like this soon became a bit boring, though it did free up some time to do other things.

Week 2

So onto week 2. This week will include eggs and other meats, so a bit more variety which is exciting.

 

Carnivore Experiment

 Something a little different, and not tech related.

I've been seeing a lot of stuff online about the carnivore diet, and on initial reading it makes a lot of sense nutritionally and biologically. The carnivore community can be a little intense, like most of these sorts of communities, so I haven't dived too far into those, but figured I'd give it a short trial to see what it's all about.

We tend to eat a reasonably low carb diet anyway, though Christmas and New Year certainly didn't stick to that, and I don't have any significant health concerns that I'm trying to heal, which seems to be a common reason for switching to carnivore.

Before starting out though I thought I'd get some basic, baseline, tests done then depending how it goes repeat them at the end. My primary comparison is against the markers for metabolic syndrome (https://healthify.nz/health-a-z/m/metabolic-syndrome/), rather than the seemingly more common focus on total cholesterol.

Diagnostic Tests

Cholesterol

 Total cholesterol is at a point where doctors would be reaching for the statin prescription pad, but that won't be happening so I'm not concerned about that. In my case HDL was higher than recommended and triglycerides were lower (both good) so I'm not concerned with this

Blood Pressure

Blood pressure was a bit high but I had just had coffee and walked down some stairs. Something to keep an eye on as this is a risk factor for metabolic syndrome.

Weight/BMI/Waist Measurement

BMI is a bit on the high side, but waist measurement is lower than the marker, so again not too concerned. Weight has jumped a little over what I like over the festive season so this coming down would be a good thing. 

Blood Glucose

This one was also fine, though towards the higher end of fine so something to keep an eye on 

The Test

First off, this is not very scientific and also not very intense. The plan is to spend about 3 - 4 weeks eating this way to see how physically and mentally sustainable it is, and if there are any immediately noticeable effects. I acknowledge that there's often an adjustment period and effects might not be noticeable immediately, but I'm just looking to see what the lifestyle is like. Also, I'm not cutting out coffee! So here's the plan:

Week 1 - Basically the Lion diet. Red meat from ruminants, salt and water (and coffee). This is the most intense form of carnivore so jumping straight in will give an idea of the mental requirements of this style of eating.

Week 2 - More in line with a standard carnivore diet. Other forms of meat and eggs. I'm going to keep avoiding dairy and processed meats like bacon and just see how introducing some small changes impacts the mind and body

Week 3 - Adding dairy. This will be a good test to see if dairy does have any negative impacts

Week 4 and beyond - Who knows? I might decide enough's enough after 3 weeks, or could be a full on, intense, convert

 

So, onto the test. Just a note that the area I live in has a strong agricultural sector so all red meat we buy is grass raised and generally local within about a 100km distance so is all relatively low carbon footprint