People start a carnivore diet for multiple reasons, differing goals and individual expectations and desired outcomes. Finding your optimal version might require some tailoring.

A carnivore diet often results in of sacrifice from your end, and your results need to reflect the effort you are making to reach your goals. Anything less than feeling optimal is probably not going to keep you motivated and on this journey. 

There are a few the classic mistakes that novices and veterans alike can unintentionally make. If you simply make a point to sidestep these pitfalls, you will experience greater levels and healing and joy from following a carnivore way of life.

Insufficient Electrolytes

Sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium are vital for keeping your metabolism humming along smoothly. Electrolytes are important for (to name a few)

·       Ensuring optimal muscle function

·       Stabilising the nervous system

·       Adequate hydration

·       Maintaining stable pH levels

Imbalanced electrolytes can result in

·       Fatigue

·       Brain fog

·       Irregular heartbeat

·       Numbness and tingling

·       Cramping

·       Muscle weakness

·       Headaches

Insulin usually acts to increase water retention through aldosterone. When insulin levels are lowered, electrolytes are lost as water is lost. Salt, which is made of sodium and chloride, is particularly important to supplement. A high-quality mineral salt, like Himalayan or Redmond, would also provide a few extra minerals in trace amounts. You could also source a sugar-free electrolyte supplement that contains functional amounts of the four key minerals. 

Restricting Calories

The carnivore diet is a great tool for rapid fat loss. Red meat promotes satiety often resulting in unintentionally cutting back to 1000 calories with no hunger or cravings. But, simply because you have the option to keep lower calories significantly, doesn’t mean it’s going to be optimal. 

The main goal of a carnivore diet is to provide abundant, bioavailable nutrients, promoting a state of healing and prime performance in the body. In order to achieve this, you need to be eating enough meat. This keeps the metabolism functioning optimally, keeps fat burning consistently and, as a great side effect, leaves you with ability to lose weight whilst seemingly eating a large amount of food.

Too few calories signal the body that it’s in a state of famine. Nutrient deficiencies that existed before the diet, fail to rebalance. The side effects of those deficiencies including lethargy, hormone imbalances, gut dysfunction, and the like continue to persist eventually leading to you abandoning the diet feeling as if it definitely did not work for you

With carnivore, you want to resist simply eating till you’re full. Make sure you’re getting through large, fat-filled portions giving your body all the tools it needs to get to optimal health.

Fasting Too Much

Fasting is easy on a carnivore diet. You’re eating slow-metabolising energy-dense foods, and avoiding those that spike and crash blood sugar. It appears the perfect fit for a One Meal A Day (OMAD) approach. More time not eating should net you more fat loss, as well as metabolic perks such as raised autophagy.

Enter the hormone cortisol. Carnivore, as a low carbohydrate diet, is a stressor on the body. Fasting itself is a stressor. The combination of the two can be a little excessive. Acute pulses of cortisol are perfectly healthy for the body, and cortisol is critical for the immune system and daytime wakefulness. However, excessive streaks of cortisol can wreak havoc on a stress-sensitive dieter.

A few symptoms of chronic cortisol include

·       Insomnia

·       Tired and wired

·       Water retention

·       Irritability

·       Anxiety

·       Poor recovery

·       Muscle loss

This does not mean you need to quit fasting while on carnivore, simply be aware and don’t overdo it. Two meals a day with a 16-18 hour fasting window would be far more optimal for the body, by better managing stress levels and allowing more nutrient absorption.

Undereating Fat

Many people stepping into carnivore will have the pre-conceived notion that lean meats are ideal: a flat-iron steak may look like the superior option over a greasy ribeye, egg whites over yolks and butter gets scrapped. This results in a  more high protein, moderate fat approach.

This kills the diet.

Protein is not an energy source – it is used to build and maintain structure. With the elimination of carbohydrates, fat becomes the primary energy source.

Yes, you do have thousands of fat calories locked away in various storage depots, but, especially in the early stages of the carnivore diet, the body is not yet able to access them effectively. The body first needs to become fat adapted before it can begin to optimize its own fat stores. That’s a process that can take time. Eating fat helps bridge the gap until that happens.

Too Little Red Meat

Ruminants, like cattle and sheep, have the edge over monogastric animals, like chicken and pigs, due to the former’s intricate digestive system. When cows eat grass, they can effectively recycle the green stuff several times by shuttling it back and forth between the mouth and stomach. Then the rumen, the first of their four guts, uses specialised enzymes and bacteria to break down the mesh into detoxified, bioavailable nutrients.

If the cow feeds on grain, the result won’t be too different, thanks to the converting capabilities of the rumen. You’re still getting plenty of healthy saturated fat, as well as negligible amounts of toxic Omega 6.

Monogastric animals store food much as they’re fed, meaning grain and seed filled feed translates to high amounts of Omega 6. When these animals aren’t on a species-appropriate diet, they produce poor quality meat.

Bear in mind that this doesn’t mean you need to only eat red meat and things like chicken and pork but for people looking to rescue their Omega 3:6 ratio, it might be worth eating primarily ruminants for at least a few months.

Too Much Or Too Little Organ Meat

Liver and other organ meats are an incredibly valuable source of micronutrients and are the perfect addition for adding in much needed nutrition to your body. Liver is far and away the most nutrient varied and dense food on the planet

Think of organ meats as the medicine of the carnivore template. Each of them have their own unique collection of nutrients, and they can be used as a way to target underlying issues in the system. Eastern medicine has the notion that you eat the organ to treat your corresponding one, and that ancient wisdom isn’t far off the mark.

Organ meats can also serve to balance out any inflammatory effects stemming from the vast amounts of muscle meat you’re consuming. Collagen from beef heart, for instance, can counter methionine levels in muscle meat. Copper in liver, can oppose the zinc in your steak. 

Organ meats can also be delicious. It just needs the right recipe, along with a mind that’s not expecting the worst

But you can always have too much of a good thing. Drinking too much water can put you at risk for dying of dehydration. Eating a half-stick of butter may cause some bowel urgency. Eating liver by the pound, can result in hypervitaminosis and copper toxicity. 

The symptoms include

·       Nausea

·       Vision problems

·       Insomnia

·       Inflammation

You only need small amounts of liver to feel the benefits because it’s so incredibly nutrient-dense. A few ounces a week will more than cover your needs. You could even take a week off, and be none the worse. The human liver does a great job of storing away nutrients for later use. 

Not Allowing Enough Adaptation Time

Carnivore is an elimination diet, and it’s the best one around. That means you can expect a profound upgrade to your physical and mental wellbeing, but it may take some time to achieve this. You’re removing food-based toxins, and eliminating glucose as an exogenous fuel source. You can expect to experience a few withdrawal symptoms, especially the first few weeks.

A metabolism that’s been worn down over years of misguided food choices, isn’t going to be repaired overnight. That process can be challenging and you may even feel that there no way you can survive without your favourite carbs. This is where you need to be diligent and ensure that the diet is optimal resilient for your preferences so that you are somewhat supported during the  transition phase.

The good news is you should only need to do this once. Becoming fat adapted can take time, but once it’s a functioning part of the metabolism, it’s there to stay, as long as you don’t follow up your carnivore journey with an extended period of carbohydrate binging. 

If you’re struggling, keep going. You’re on the right track. Complete fat adaption can take a matter of months, but the worst of it will be over in a few weeks. Detoxing can take longer, but that’s very individual. That could take a year, potentially even longer, but if you’re enjoying how you feel on your carnivore diet, that problem takes care of itself.

Avoiding Supplements

The carnivore diet is very diverse and dense in nutrients, practically meeting all your requirements. Meat alone is often enough to power you to peak health, but that’s not always the case, and it’s not something you want to assume. Don’t be dogmatic for the sake of it

While meat will tick the vast majority of your boxes, there can be cases that call for an extra supplement or two. 

·       Betaine HCL can help you digest that half-stick of butter

·       Caffeine can spike your morning cortisol and set you up for a healthy daily rhythm

·       Spore probiotics could rebuild a damaged gut

·       L-Theanine can wind you down for the night

·       Vitamins provide a surplus of nutrition that can help repair serious deficiencies

Modern environmental toxins and chronic stress levels create a different playing field from that if days past, and you can’t always go with what is ‘ancestrally appropriate’.

In Conclusion

Avoid combining carnivore with restrictive dieting, add salt liberally, and be patient. There’s nothing you can’t figure out within the first few weeks. The results might start as a trickle, but they’ll soon stack up to very noticeable shifts Simply be mindful of a few potential pitfalls, and you’ll be there in no time!