I wrote my first article on this subject around 7 weeks ago. I was ecstatic about the changes my body has gone through and wanted to share with others that are thinking of taking this diet on.
I’ve now been on the carnivore diet for over 10 weeks. The original benefits discussed in the first article have largely stayed with me. As a reminder, those were better sleep, no acne, weight loss, hunger control, improved concentration, and better mood. About a week ago I have decided to start adding broccoli to the diet 🥦. The main reason is that I am not 100% sure if this diet is truly that healthy for you.
One person that I respect in terms of nutrition advice is Dr. Rhonda Patrick. In a podcast, she mentions that many of the benefits that people see on the diet might be because the carnivore diet tends to lead people into intermittent fasting and eating less (though, after recording my meals, I don’t think I eat that little with 1700~2000 calories/day). Additionally, there have been no studies made on people eating like this. Lastly, the benefits I am seeing on the carnivore diet can also be observed on the ketogenic diet. And, unlike the carnivore diet, the ketogenic diet has been studied over and over and over again…
As I went down my journey, I also learned that meat causes an increase in growth hormone in the body. While growth hormone can be beneficial for brain and muscle, it can also proliferate cancer cells if you are susceptible to getting those. In another talk, Dr. Rhonda Patrick mentioned a study in which some people ate meat and others didn’t. The people that ate meat had a higher chance of getting cancer, but only in conjunction with another unhealthy lifestyle factor (smoking, drinking, obesity, being sedentary). I don’t have any of those unhealthy lifestyle factors and I try to do some physical activity every day, which makes me believe that the extra growth hormone is more beneficial in my case. However, I would advise the general (sedentary) population against so much meat.
Blood results
I also recently found out that I am a Lean Mass Hyper-Responder. That means that my LDL and HDL Cholesterol skyrocket on a low carb diet. Let’s just dive into my blood results.
If you know anything about Cholesterol, looking at my numbers you’re probably thinking I’m at death’s door. Initially, these numbers worried me as well. But then I found out about Lean Mass Hyper Responders and how there are thousands of us: fit healthy skinny people whose LDL goes to “dangerous levels” after implementing a High Fat Low Carb diet. After reading the site and listening to Dave Feldman’s talks, I’ve come to the conclusion that… I don’t know 🤣. Since my triglycerides are low, it would seem to indicate that my body needs to produce all that LDL Cholesterol.
Let’s get a bit nerdy
When someone transitions to a Low Carb High Fat diet, your body starts needing something called VLDL to deliver triglycerides in your body. Triglycerides are fat-based energy. If you eat carbs, your body generally uses glycogen for energy (since it’s easier to handle). However, when you eat low carbs/high fat, your body has to use the more difficult triglycerides for energy.
So, my body needs VLDL particles to transport the triglycerides to the cells. Since I exercise daily and thus have a higher energy demand than most people, my body ends up requiring more VLDL particles than a sedentary person on a similar low-carb-high-fat diet.
After the VLDL particles deliver the triglycerides, it becomes an LDL particle (LDL-C). Additionally, if a body has more VLDL particles, it ends up having more LDL-C being transported around the body together with the triglycerides. This explains why my LDL would be higher, while my Triglycerides are remarkably low, relatively. The Triglycerides are getting depleted from use, yet there’s no denying that more LDL is needed to provide them.
My blood result numbers seem to indicate that I am needing and using a lot of fat for energy. Additionally, it doesn’t make sense that something that happens to so many healthy people can be dangerous. Nevertheless, we don’t actually know, so why risk it?🤔
Time to say goodbye
I’m going to transition into a ketogenic diet. About a week ago I started adding broccoli into my diet and so far I feel just as amazing. In about a week or two I’ll add some other vegetable and slowly lower my protein. The urine test I did also indicated that I barely made it into Ketosis (0.5mm/L ketones), but I’d like to see that number grow. I’ll be attempting to stay very low carb (<25g) while lowering my protein and thus hopefully increasing my ketones.
Conclusion
I absolutely loved this diet! It definitely changed my life and my relationship with food. However, I would probably not suggest this diet to people that generally don’t exercise. If you do exercise, going on this diet for a month or two or three could definitely be the reset you need!
Always be mindful of your body. Use your body to experience life fully and don’t disrespect it with lack of exercise or an improper diet. Do whatever you can, but do what works for you!
PS — Strength
As a quick aside, it took me about 9 weeks to get back to my pre-diet strength. The way I judge that is from my bench press. It went from 110lbs x 3 down to about 95lbs x 5 and now finally back up to 110lbs x 2.