3 Reasons The Carnivore Diet Isn’t Working For You
Learn how to make it work for YOU.
Unless you’ve been under a rock in the health space in the last several years, the new trendy diet for everyone to try is a carnivore diet. It was Atkins 20 years ago, then vegan came along, then paleo and keto. Over the last couple of years, people wanted to take things to the utmost extreme, and go completely carnivore. Full disclosure, I personally have tried it. I did it for about a month, and throughout this article, I’ll touch on some of my experiences and some of the things that I took away from it. I’ll also touch on things I’ve seen from working with patients that have resorted to using the carnivore diet for their health issues.
Right now, a lot of people use the carnivore diet as a means to try to help with gut issues, skin issues, brain fog, focus, and cognition. The big proponents of it attribute its success to the harmful compounds in plants. These “plant defense mechanisms’’ prevent us humans from eating and fully assimilating them. Whether or not that’s actually valid and a good idea is a topic for a whole other article. Today we’re going to discuss three reasons why the carnivore diet might not be working the way you expect it to and may not be the best option to address your needs.
Reason #1: Endotoxemia
This sounds like a really fancy word, but if you break it down, endo- means within, within the body, and toxemia means poisoning. Endotoxins are present in the cell walls of certain kinds of bacteria. Every time we eat food, there is a die off of bacteria in our gut. Certain foods will favor the growth of some species, whilst simultaneously starving the growth of others. Sometimes this die-off results in the release of these endotoxins from the cell wall of bacteria. If you have an environment where there is intestinal permeability, “leaky gut”, these endotoxins can make their way into the bloodstream and that can lead to systemic inflammatory responses (1). In other words, you get the symptoms of brain fog, joint pain, and swelling seemingly at random places.
A meal both high in saturated fat and carbs is almost the perfect storm for creating endotoxemia, especially in someone with existing diabetes or insulin resistance (2).
The reason I’m talking about endotoxemia in the context of a carnivore diet is it can take place after a meal high in saturated fat alone (2). Why’s that important with carnivores? You have people eating a lot of eggs, fatty steaks, higher-fat ground beef (80/20 or 85/15), and potentially a lot of bacon. Don’t get me wrong, fat is important, but if you overdo it on the saturated fat in a meal, think bulletproof or “keto” coffee, there could be some health consequences.
When I did a carnivore diet experiment, typically, my first meal would consist of bacon, eggs, occasionally an avocado (I wasn’t doing “full carnivore”), and 3/4 of a pound of 85/15 ground beef. Basically, a lot of saturated fat at one time, and an hour later, I would be lethargic, fatigued, and have super high amounts of brain fog. I thought the carnivore diet was a “fix-all” diet so I was just really confused why any of this was happening. Come to find out, as we’ve talked about, if you overdo the saturated fat in one meal, endotoxemia can take place and you’ll get systemic inflammation as a result, inflammation that manifests, as I said earlier, brain fog and fatigue.
Reason #2: Protein Fermentation
In this instance, I’m going to talk about too much protein and specifically, too much protein fermentation occurring in the large intestine. What does all that mean? One of the benefits that carbohydrates and fiber provide to the human body, is a fermentable substrate for our gut bacteria. The bacteria ferment these fibers, similar to making beer or wine where there’s fermentation that takes place to create the alcohol and produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These SCFAs are incredibly beneficial for human health. One of their main roles for GI health is acting as a fuel source for the cells that line our gut. This is really important for situations such as leaky gut. If you overdo protein, you get protein fermentation, called putrefaction, which has been shown to create some potentially harmful compounds.
Our gut bacteria have to have a fuel source; if carbohydrates are around, they will ferment those. If you’re eating minimal-to-no carbs, and you’re not in ketosis (more on this later) they’re going to ferment protein and amino acids. How can I prevent protein from being fermented? Digest and absorb it! Protein starts becoming digested in the stomach, and most of it takes place in the small intestine. The small intestine is also where protein (specifically amino acid) absorption occurs. If your body isn’t able to digest your protein (maybe because you’re eating too much or not producing enough stomach acid), you won’t absorb it as efficiently, and some will make its way to the large intestine (where it shouldn’t be), and putrefaction occurs.
In comes ketosis. Ketones can directly act as a fuel source for the cells that line the gut. Why is this important? Ketones don’t have to be fermented by gut bacteria before our enterocytes use them for fuel. While carbs have to be fermented and turned into SCFAs first. Ketones can get into the party without going through the bouncer.
So if you are eating enough fat relative to your protein intake, you can set yourself up to produce ketones. This has huge implications in the context of the carnivore diet. When I started it, I was eating way too much protein, not enough fat, and was getting symptoms of putrefaction (lots of gas). I’ve seen this same issue in some of my patients: they eat very lean cuts of meat, and their protein intake becomes anywhere between 50 to 60 percent of their total calories. Once you get to that level, not only are you likely experiencing protein fermentation, but you also start to overrun the Urea Cycle. The Urea Cycle is how our body gets rid of excess nitrogen as a result of protein consumption.
The carnivore diet is tricky if you want to do it properly. It can be difficult to find the balance between not eating too much protein, eating enough fat, but not overdoing a large amount of saturated fat with it, and that’s hard to do when you’re only eating animal products.
Reason #3: Dietary Solution To A Non-Dietary Problem
Say you’re having a lot of skin issues or joint pain, and your hope of going on the carnivore diet is to resolve those issues. If the reason you’re having these issues is because of autoimmunity to some plant compounds, then the carnivore diet may be helpful. But, if the reason you’re having lots of skin reactions is that you have dysbiosis, an overgrowth of harmful or opportunistic bacteria, then diet can only get you so far. Diet changes can’t kill everything.
There are even some pathogenic bacteria that thrive in the presence of bile. Why is that important? On a carnivore diet when you’re eating high amounts of fat and saturated fat, your gallbladder releases bile to help break it down. To my point, if some of these pathogenic bacteria thrive in the presence of bile, and you’re always stimulating bile to be secreted because of how much fat you’re eating, guess what? Your carnivore diet is not fixing the root cause of all of your problems.
I commend these people for taking ownership of their health and trying to do whatever they can to support their health, but sometimes diet is not the reason you’re having issues. They could be the result of a particular bacteria, virus, or fungus that’s living within the gut that you have to deal with. In some cases, using specific herbal antimicrobials, probiotics, and in some instances, even synthetic antibiotics may be necessary to kill that thing off.
If you’ve been doing this diet longer than 3 months and have only gotten 10 percent better, that’s a problem. We don’t know the long-term implications of eating lots of saturated fat, high protein, in the absence of fiber, or any sort of plant material. If you’re not seeing much change in your symptoms, whether they be skin, cognition, or joint pain, it’s important to work with a clinician who has knowledge of the carnivore diet. It’s also helpful if they’ve tried it, so they know what you’re going through and can help educate you on some of its pitfalls.
As I mentioned, I tried the carnivore diet and hoped that it would fix my unresolved knee pain, some depression/lack of motivation, and brain fog. Come to find that, if I readdressed my purpose in life, that was going to be helpful for my depression and if I just laid off so much high-volume snatching and pistol squats, my knee pain might get a little better over time.
If you’re tired of doing all these restrictive diets without seeing the improvements YOU deserve, head on over to The HIVE Natural Health Center. Our practitioners understand the nuances of the carnivore diet and know how to tailor it to YOU.
As always, Trust in Your Gut.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are for educational purposes only, and are not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. Do not apply any of the information in this article without first speaking with your doctor.
References
- Costantini L, Molinari R, Farinon B, Merendino N. Impact of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on the Gut Microbiota. Int J Mol Sci. 2017;18(12):2645. Published 2017 Dec 7. doi:10.3390/ijms18122645
- Netto Candido TL, Bressan J, Alfenas RCG. Dysbiosis and metabolic endotoxemia induced by high-fat diet. Disbiosis y endotoxemia metabólica inducidas por la dieta rica en grasa. Nutr Hosp. 2018;35(6):1432–1440. Published 2018 Dec 3. doi:10.20960/nh.1792
