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I don't lean one direction or another. I just eat everything. If you love meat only and feel good, go for it. But I have questions....
Personally I have a life long endurance sport background and have always consumed carbohydrates from breads, pastas, and tons of fruits and vegetables. I've always eaten meat, but it's been "in addition to". Dairy is perhaps the one food group I limit a little bit. Dairy (milk and cheese specifically) is a noticeable drag on my aerobic capacity at max effort.
The meat only thing seems wholly unsustainable for long term health. What's the longest anyone here has done that?
To make sure I'm reading this right...you just eat meat, lift weights, avoid seed oils, and think you're going to be healthy forever?
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198 sats \ 9 replies \ @kytt 2 Mar
2 years of eating 2 ribeyes/day and nothing else:
  • lost fat & gained muscle without trying (before adding exercise)
  • incredible post-workout recovery
  • improved reflexes
  • brain fog disappeared
  • baseline (minimal) anxiety disappeared
  • insane energy
  • perfect sleep
  • perfect digestion
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17 sats \ 1 reply \ @Ice9 OP 2 Mar
What is your workout? Primarily weights with goal of more muscle mass? Any aerobic stuff?
I understand the mechanics of how the weight loss and muscle gain happens on this type of diet. But surely there are some vitamins and minerals you end up missing. Personally I question the long term affects, but hey, two years is a long time. I'd love to hear from you or someone after 10 years.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kytt 3 Mar
Plenty of people do this long-term with no ill effects. The only thing I supplement is magnesium because our soil is stripped of it anymore and I don't have a spring nearby. I'm sensitive to semi-low potassium levels (always have been), so I supplement with that when I'm working out a lot.
I've not worked out much recently because of work and the new baby, but that'll probably start back soon. I've done mostly powerlifting-esque workouts in the past, but will be switching to lower weight, higher reps (low total volume) when I start back so I can workout more often, and daily if I prefer, and experience less injuries.
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What made you stop? ... Or maybe still going?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kytt 3 Mar
I still so pretty animal heavy. I just splurge sometimes because wife. I have been getting more strict lately and have finally dropped ~20lbs.
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What's your ribeye purchasing and cooking process? I'm not having a lot of luck with mine.
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34 sats \ 2 replies \ @kytt 3 Mar
I'm not sure what you mean about the purchasing process, but I season with salt/pepper and either grill it or do reverse sear:
  • oven @ ~300⁰ for 30-45 min
  • put butter on skillet first, THEN set to high heat
  • once butter starts to caramelize, throw the steak on it for ~1 min each side
  • done
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I just feel like I may have bought some not-so-great ribeyes.
So, you do it in the oven, THEN sear it in the skillet? Interesting.
Thanks!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kytt 3 Mar
Yeah, some feel that way, but sometimes the cooking process can fix that. Doesn't hurt to try other cuts too. Whatever works. I just prefer to stick with ruminant meats because they're most nutritious.
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I buy a whole ribeye 12-15# and cut into 2” thick steaks (about 2# each). Salt each side with coarse salt. Sear each side about 3 minutes, usually still red/raw in the middle.
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The longest was one meal.
Just reduced sugar/carbohydrates consumption. And feel good since then
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120 sats \ 1 reply \ @m00ninite 2 Mar
I was having some health issues that required an elimination diet to determine whether what was ailing me came from food. I only ate chicken with salt & pepper for a week and started to go insane after the third day.
I think the carnivore thing is absurd. A non-strict form of keto makes more long-term sense.
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Eskimos are absurd?
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Steak and eggs every meal for over 1 year now. Never felt better. I recommend Dr Anthony Chaffee , Dr Shawn Baker and Dr Ken Berry. Meat only is the most sustainable. Including any carbs is just feeding and justifying the sugar junkie addiction.
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No worries on cholesterol and hardening of the arteries as you get older?
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @dgy 2 Mar
Yes, reducing or eliminating carbs completely brings significantly improvements for your well-being. There is a lot of literature about that (The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz, Fiat Food by Matthew Lysiak etc.) and you can always try it out yourself on yourself.
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Meat only about 6 mo. Was in full keto, then switched to animal based adding fruit and honey, so maybe 100g carbs per day for the last 2 years.
Eskimos were fine eating seals and fish...can't really grow and plants.
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What made you add fruit and honey? What benefits are you seeing?
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Less muscle cramps after working out.
Supposedly increases insulin sensitivity and raises testosterone, but I haven’t had blood work since adding it.
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I did a month straight once and it felt great. Really did. I just am a huge lover of cooking and eating and I like variety.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @dtonon 2 Mar
you just eat meat, lift weights, avoid seed oils, and think you're going to be healthy forever?
I agree, it's quite weird. Just look for the healthiest and longest-lived populations and see what they eat. As far as I can see, in all historically meat is just a complement in a varied diet. Nutrition is not the only factor, but it is one of the main ones.
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10 sats \ 7 replies \ @doofus 2 Mar
I love to eat baby spinach, so not very long.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @jase 2 Mar
Spinach one of the worst and dirtiest in terms of pesticides
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You may want to do a little research on oxalates if you're eating a lot of spinach.
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Will do, never heard of it
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“In humans, oxalic acid is produced as a waste product and excreted in the urine. It occurs as the result of the breakdown of the amino acids glycine and hydroxyproline and of a molecule called glyoxalate in a process termed the glyoxalate pathway. In a small number of individuals with a rare genetic disorder known as primary hyperoxaluria, or PH, mutations in this pathway lead to much larger endogenous formation and excretion of oxalates (100mg to 600mg per day). People with primary hyperoxaluria suffer from the formation of frequent and severe calcium oxalate kidney stones, often leading to permanent kidney damage or renal failure as well as oxalate deposition in bones, joints, bone marrow, and other tissues outside of the kidneys. This is a condition known as systemic oxalosis.
“Plants also use oxalic acid as a defense weapon against predators.
2,3
Oxalic acid crystalizes into multiple shapes in both plants and humans. One of these is the raphide form depicted in the graphic below that shows the foods with the highest concentrations of oxalates. Raphides are basically microscopic needles, not exactly the type of thing insects, animals, or humans want to be biting into.”
Excerpt From The Carnivore Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Optimal Health by Returning to Our Ancestral Diet Paul Saladino, MD
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There's the book Toxic Superfoods, great info. You can also listen to some interviews with the author, she's great.
There's a condition called oxalate dumping, which can hit people who go full carnivore (which has zero oxalates). Your body is getting rid of the toxin - oxalates - which is causing damage in many places. But the process itself can cause issues.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @doofus 5 Mar
Thanks for the information. The top of the list has a lot of the foods I thought were the healthiest.
Have you ever had kidney stones?
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Not kidney stones, but I've had some other oxalate related symptoms. There's a lot of them. Oxalates are far more dangerous than people think.
Interestingly, oxalates first came up as an issue when rhubarb (which has a lot of oxalates) became a fad, in the early 1800's. People ate a lot of rhubarb pastries, and developed oxalate toxicity symptoms.
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Hmm, not sure how long it's been. I did it for 60 or 90 days a year ago. Doing it again right now, but can't remember when I started... Maybe after Christmas?
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I'm eating carnivore (meat, eggs, some dairy, seafood), and have been doing that for about 3 months. My plan now is to keep it up. There's just far too many benefits to ignore. See some my other posts on the topic:
If you're interested in specifically in how low-carb works for endurance sports, look into what Tim Noakes has to say. He's a scientist from South Africa, known for being the person that invented "carb-loading", and has now done a 180 on it, and advocates a low-carb diet. He was actually persecuted by the health board in South Africa for offering non-mainstream advice.
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There's a recent lecture by long-time ketogenic diet researcher Jeff Volek. He studies things like rates of glycogen replenishment and how that differs in low-carb athletes versus high-carb athletes. He talked about that specific topic in a lecture recently uploaded on youtube. Also worth mentioning in this context: World Strongest Man 2017 winner Eddie is currently doing the carnivore diet. He has been doing it for about a month and a half at this point while training twice daily for an upcoming MMA bout. He also keeps up with strength workouts. I was pleased to learn that 8+year carnivore doctor and top level athlete himself was advising Eddie. Shawn's book "the carnivore diet" may be a good intro to the main ideas and rationale behind this way of eating. I'd also recommend doctor Ken Berry in general and more particularly his recent debate against Joel Khan on a youtube channel by the name of Lauren Knight Hughes or something similar to that. I didn't see much if anything wrong with the case he made.
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I've heard of Tim Noakes, but haven't read that. I'll have a look. For a time while I was racing I would do an early morning session with no food intake since the previous evening. Three weeks of that wrecked me and I had to stop. Hard to implement for endurance sport, but I know some do.
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I am also reminded of a podcast interview with a guy who documented himself running 5 marathons in 5 days fasted. He didn't eat anything for the whole 5 days. He was not an athelte. He just wanted to make a point about fat stores and hormones. There alot of misinformation on the subject of diet and atheltic performance but luckily we've got guys like Tim Noakes, Jeff Volek and many others dispelling these myths and common misconceptions that have misguided so many people
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There's a recent lecture by long-time ketogenic diet researcher Jeff Volek. He studies things like rates of glycogen replenishment and how that differs in low-carb athletes versus high-carb athletes. He talked about that specific topic in a lecture recently uploaded on youtube. Also worth mentioning in this context: World Strongest Man 2017 winner Eddie is currently doing the carnivore diet. He has been doing it for about a month and a half at this point while training twice daily for an upcoming MMA bout. He also keeps up with strength workouts. I was pleased to learn that 8+year carnivore doctor and top level athlete himself was advising Eddie. Shawn's book "the carnivore diet" may be a good intro to the main ideas and rationale behind this way of eating. I'd also recommend doctor Ken Berry in general and more particularly his recent debate against Joel Khan on a youtube channel by the name of Lauren Knight Hughes or something similar to that. I'd probably agree with most of the statements if not all them he made in that debate.
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I experimented with carnivore a couple of years ago. It helped me get rid of the extra weight accumulated during lockdowns. I gradually went back to my optimal weight within a few months. I still eat predominently meat and eggs, occasionally fish...