Food Freedom Friday Edition 352 - The Carnivore Diet & Gut Health

Recently there has been much talk around gut health and the microbiome and how the bacteria that populate your gut have a profound influence on your overall health and the strength of your immune system.

In fact, every part of our body, both external and internal, is home to different colonies of microorganisms. These single-celled entities are what compromise the human microbiome and include bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Each of these microbes has a specific function, such as fighting pathogens, breaking down and helping to digest and absorb nutrients, and strengthening the immune system. 

The most diverse microbiome environment exists in your gut. You have your own unique array of organisms that have been nurtured and evolved with you over your lifetime. The types of microbes that live in your gut depend largely on your lifestyle and personal health history, what you eat, your environment, and the medications you take. 

There is a strong and definitive link between your gut microbiome and your well-being – both physical and mental. These microorganisms are integral to the body’s response to a variety of conditions, including:

·       Sleep Quality

·       Mood

·       Diabetes

·       Anxiety

·       Depression

·       Autism

·       Digestion

·       How you respond to medical treatments (such as chemotherapy and immune-suppressing medications)

Your Microbiome & Immunity

One of the most important functions of your microbiome is in supporting the strength, integrity and regulation of your immune system.

The immune system includes cells that, by responding to threatening foreign substances, protect you from diseases and medical conditions.

Through the course of your lifetime, your immune system has evolved along with your gut microbiome and flora. This interrelationship is essential for the development of beneficial microorganisms and the elimination of pathogens.

The Carnivore Diet & Your Microbiome

While you first start building your unique gut microbiome from birth, it does change over time and in fact even has small shifts from one meal to the next. Somebody on an omnivore diet will have an entirely different microbiome than somebody on a plant-based diet. Larger changes directly correlate to your lifestyle, environment and your long-term diet. However, a few short days on a different eating plan can trigger shifts and changes in your microbiome.

Following an omnivore diet will result in an entirely different microbiome than if you were following a plant-based diet.

This variation occurs because your gut microbiome is responsible for breaking down and absorbing foods. Therefore, different foods call for different microbiomes to effectively process the foods that you are eating.

When you follow an omnivore or plant-based diet that involves eating many different vegetables and grains, your gut will need a variety of organisms that are able to break down the different ingredients.

When it comes to meat, the flesh of all animals is relatively similar and therefore eating only animal products requires fewer types of microbes. As a result, while following a carnivore diet, your gut flora will have a less diverse microbiome.

Unfortunately, there are no studies supporting whether this can is beneficial or detrimental to your health. This is due to both lack of studies along with this being a relatively recent field of study – there is much about the gut microbiome that is known, but even more that is still unknown. However, it is possible explore some of the dietary changes it causes, and we can extrapolate health benefits based on this. 

The carnivore diet is a no-carb, appropriate-protein, high-fat lifestyle. The effect of this change in eating style is that your body no is no longer sourcing energy from sugar, as sugar is now largely absent.

Instead, your gut break down fat and extracts energy through this pathway, a metabolic process is known as ketosis,

Researchers are examining the effects of ketogenic diets (which include carnivore diets) on gut health and the microbiome. The results, so far, are diverse.

Some studies report that ketosis could contribute to balancing the bacterial composition of your intestines. However, other research shows that eating one group of foods only leads to less diverse gut flora, which is not conclusively a positive or negative outcome.

These changes in the gut microbiome happen within a few weeks of following a specific diet. Unfortunately, there are not enough studies supporting the long-term effects of an all-meat diet on your gut to make a claim regarding whether it is ultimately beneficial or not. 

Benefits Of A Carnivore Diet On Gut Health

There are many positive impacts that following a carnivore diet does have on your gut health. These include:

Eliminating Sugar

When following a strict carnivore diet, you’re not eating any sugar or foods that ultimately turn to sugar in the bloodstream (carbohydrates). As you eliminate sugar from your diet, you are effectively removing the most prolific threat to a healthy gut.

People often use much more sugar than they realize, including in in coffee, tea, sandwiches, sodas, and even fruits.

This complete removal might seem a little extreme at first, but it can help your gut clean out all the residual sugars and focus solely on digesting protein and fat.

Reduced Bloating

The main offenders that create bloating are fibers, legumes and large sugar molecules like lactose in dairy. There is nothing worse than enjoying and savoring a delicious meal only to b met with suddenly feeling bloated. This condition regularly affects over 30% of people worldwide and happens due to a poor diet or other specific intolerances.

As you eliminate fibers, legumes, and dairy products from your diet, you can finally enjoy your feeling of fullness without any accompanying pain or discomfort.  

Reduced Inflammation. 

For some, the carnivore diet can greatly reduce inflammation, both in the digestive system and throughout the body, making it a possible solution for those with autoimmune disease and other inflammatory conditions as a way to calm the system while putting other measures in place.

No More Processed Junk Foods & Artificial Additives

Of course, the quality and type of meat that you are going to buy depends entirely on preference, availability and budget.

No matter what cuts or types of meats you choose, eliminating cookies, pasta, sodas, candies, and pastries can remove most processed foods and additives, which will certainly help to clean up your gut.

By getting rid of such foods, you will experience improved energy along with increased weight loss.

Possible Negative Effects

Some studies suggest on the surface that a heavy meat diet can cause negative side effects to gut health. This change in the gut microbiome might be mistakenly interpreted as necessarily meaning it's bad.

It is entirely possible that your body will be less reliant on certain bacteria and that the changes that could be measured won't actually have a negative effect.

At the same time, as with any other diet that makes extreme changes to your food intake, you do need to pay careful attention to any negative changes that may happen.

While its benefits are undeniable, a strict carnivore diet might not be an optimal choice for everybody. It can frequently come with some gut-related side effects that you should take into consideration before starting. 

Lack Of Fiber

Some types of fiber are important for gut bacteria as it helps them flourish and multiply. The common idea is that by "starving" these microbes, you could end up with digestive issues.

However, on the carnivore diet, you may be a lot less dependent on many of these microbes, especially those that are heavily involved in breaking down carbs and starch.

Fiber is also responsible for increasing the production of postbiotic short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). On a regular mixed diet, these are critical in many ways.

As they may function as anti-inflammatory metabolites, they play a central role in closing holes in the colon. They are also tied to balancing blood sugars, which is particularly important for diets that heavily involve carbs.

While SCFAs are indeed important on a mixed plant and meat diet, are they really as critical on the carnivore diet? The answer is, unfortunately, not 100% clear yet. Some supporters of the carnivore diet believe that the body may be able to turn animal products into SCFAs, but more research is needed to confirm this.

Digestion Problems 

Due to the lack of fibers, constipation can be a side effect of a carnivore diet. This will depend a lot on the diet you changed from if the previous diet was high in carbohydrates many times people end up with diarrhea.

In some other cases, diarrhea issues are far more prevalent and causes are mixed. This issue can occur due to the gut microbiome changing to manage meat processing better but the higher quantities of fats you may be eating compared to what you ate previously may result in some short term challenges.

When you’re on an entirely meat-based diet, you source our energy from fat. On average your body breaks down fats in a much slower rate than carbohydrates, like sugars.

This process results in an increased amount of fats and water in your gut that, without processing, will leave your body quickly.

Final Thoughts

Much like any other diet, a carnivore diet can have a significant impact on your gut health. Indeed, eating only one group of food requires a much less diversified gut microbiome. The health benefits of these changes are currently espoused by endless testimonials throughout the world. 

If you're in any way concerned that your gut health could be compromised because you're missing specific vitamins, minerals, and fiber, then don't dismiss this diet completely. By getting some high-quality supplements that don't introduce carbs, you'll still be able to support your gut and put your mind at ease.