Q&A: 9 Questions On Starting the Carnivore Diet – Ben’s Parents

Q1: What can I eat on Carnivore?

A1: Basically, you can eat any animal protein, whether it’s fish, beef, pork, poultry, eggs or cheese, salt, and water. However, if you are trying to figure out what is creating inflammation in your body, red meat (ruminant animals), salt, and water are the least inflammatory ways of eating. 

Q2: What can I drink on Carnivore?

A2: You can drink whatever you would like, honestly. Plenty of carnivores drink coffee or tea in addition to water. However, if you are metabolically damaged and are looking to heal your body and determine what in your diet is potentially causing inflammation, the safest bet is water and salt as a drink. I like to drink seltzer water and regular water, but I also use flavored electrolyte salts.

Q3: Are there supplements that I should take?

A3: I don’t take many supplements. I use creatine daily as it is the most studied supplement in history. It is known to help keep water in your muscles, help you workout longer, reduce overall inflammation, and help with memory and cognition. I also take vitamin D3 with K2 since I don’t spend nearly as much time in the sun as I should.

I also take a magnesium glycinate supplement to help with relaxation at night. I sleep better. I take it in powder form just before bed with water. 

Q4: How do I order at restaurants?

A4: If you are looking to just eat red meat, salt, and water, you can simply ask the wait staff what their meat is cooked in. If they say they use oil or vegetable oil, simply request that they cook your meat in butter or nothing at all and ask for no seasoning except for salt. Most restaurants will happily oblige with the request.

Q5: What kind of oil or fat can I cook in?

A5: If you aren’t strictly eating just red meat, salt, and water, you can cook in any animal fat really. You could use butter, ghee, lard, tallow, bacon fat, or any other animal fat to cook in, and it will be better for you than any plant-based oil. If you are strictly eating just red meat, salt, and water, sticking with tallow or ghee works well.

Q6: Can I eat potatoes ever again?

A6: Truthfully, that answer is 100% up to you and what you feel is worth it. Nutritionally, there’s literally nothing in a potato that can’t be found in a more bioavailable form in animal protein. Personally, eating a potato for the taste isn’t worth the impact on my body and how I feel. If you are metabolically healthy and like the taste of a potato, you can eat a potato. 

Q7: Do I have to eat vegetables?

A7: Again, that’s 100% up to you. There is literally nothing that you can find in plants nutritionally that you can’t find in a better, more bioavailable form in meat, fish, or dairy. Animal products are nutritionally superior to plants in every way, so if you want to eat vegetables because you enjoy the taste of vegetables, that’s up to you. To me, the negative impact of eating vegetables on my body, the bloating, the gas, the physical discomfort, isn’t worth it, especially since I can get superior nutrition and none of the crappy bodily side effects from just eating meat.

Q8: How long should I do this for?

A8: To really see a difference, you should try it for at least 30 days, at a minimum. To understand the impact of removing all potentially inflammatory foods from your system, it would be 90 days at a minimum. But honestly, how long you choose to continue in the way of eating should be based on how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally. If your health means more to you than the taste of sweets, bread, or vegetables, then do it for longer. That’s what I’ve decided to do with my way of eating. Being healthy, avoiding cognitive disorder, and putting off the potential diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, which runs in my family, is far more important to me than the fleeting joy of eating sweets or any other kinds of carbohydrates.

Q9: Who are some experts that you would recommend?

A9: There are a lot of great resources you can look into. Judy Cho (Nutrition with Judy), Dr. Shawn Baker, Dr. Ken Berry, Michelle Hurn, Maria, and Craig Emmerich are all fantastic resources with great websites, books, and thousands of testimonials from people who have healed themselves through the carnivore diet.