Some were vomiting, others keeled over with abdominal pain or rushed to the toilet with diarrhea. A few soon became totally incapacitated, went comatose, or convulsed violently.
After a few hours, a few of the boys had to be rushed to the emergency room as parts of their circulatory systems shut down. Days later a few students were still suffering hallucinations.
The good news is that eventually, all the boys and their caretakers recovered.
What caused this horror show of maladies? The humble green potato. Or, more accurately, an entire bag of humble green potatoes that had been stored improperly since the previous summer.
Why do Potatoes Get Green?
The green hue that potatoes can get is from chlorophyll. It forms through photosynthesis when potatoes are exposed to light. AKA when they’re improperly stored. Traditionally, potatoes were stored underground in root cellars to protect them from light exposure.
Ironically, chlorophyll isn’t toxic. Rather, it’s a sign that natural plant defenses called glycoalkaloids that form alongside chlorophyll are present. In green potatoes, these compounds are solanine and chaconine.
These plant toxins are found most concentrated in the skin, sprouts (eyes), and around any blemishes. But they can also be found in the flesh just beneath the skin, as studies of the schoolboy poisoning revealed.
How Many Green Potatoes Does It Take to Harm You?
After reading the anecdote above, you may be wondering just how poisonous green potatoes can be.
The amount of green potatoes it takes to cause poisoning depends on things like your age, body weight, and overall health.
Some people can experience symptoms of toxicity from consuming as little as 1 mg of solanine per kilogram of their body weight. And 3 milligrams per kilogram (2.2 pounds) can be enough to kill.
This comes out to around 68 milligrams of solanine to produce toxicity symptoms in a 150-pound person. For that same person, 302 mg can be a fatal dose.
The chart below lists the chaconine and solanine levels in popular potato products.
FOOD TYPE
CHACONINE
SOLANINE
TOTAL GLYCOALKALOID CONCENTRATIONS
POTATO CHIPS (1 OZ BAG)
.36-.88 mg
.29-1.4 mg
2.7 -12.4 mg/ 28 gram bag
FRIED POTATO SKINS (4 OZ)
4.4-13.6 mg
2.0-9.5 mg
6.4- 23.1 mg/4 oz
It’s worth noting that the American Food and Drug Administration has not established upper levels of solanine allowed in foods. But Health Canada has determined a maximum of 20 mg per 100 grams of potatoes.
How do Green Potatoes Affect the Body?
When you consume green potatoes, the solanine can enter the bloodstream, where it weakens and breaches the membranes of red blood cells. Once within the cells, the solanine destroys the part of the cell that creates its energy–the mitochondria.
This cell-rupturing process is one of the factors linking solanine intake with a condition called intestinal permeability.]
Intestinal permeability, AKA “leaky gut,” is identified as one of the root causes of systemic inflammation and autoimmune disorders. When your gut lining is compromised, pathogens, including solanine itself, easily enter the bloodstream and are carried throughout the body.
Though low-level exposure to toxins in green potatoes is not likely to cause acute toxicity, consuming small doses of plant toxins over time can lead to them accumulating in your body. This is especially true for solanine which studies show takes a long time for your body to break down and eliminate.
In addition to your intestinal membrane, solanine can damage another lesser-known but equally important membrane called the glycocalyx. This thin hair-like membrane surrounds every cell in your body, and the health of the glycocalyx is linked to critical bodily functions from heart health to fertility.
Not surprisingly, animal studies have found that consuming glycoalkaloids, including solanine, can cause birth defects.
Symptoms of Green Potatoe Poisoning
Consuming 1 kg of green, damaged, and/or sprouting potatoes can result in acute symptoms of solanine poisoning.
Mild to moderate solanine poisoning is associated with symptoms, including
Headache
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Apathy
Restlessness
Drowsiness
Fever
Low blood pressure
Weakness
Tremors
Symptoms of extreme solanine poisoning include
Birth defects, including spina bifida
Heart failure
Death
Cognitive impairments associated with solanine poisoning include
Confusion
Rambling
Incoherence
Stupor
Hallucinations
Dizziness
visual disturbances
What Do You Do with Green Potatoes?
To avoid exposure to plant toxins from green potatoes, it’s best simply to discard them. Potatoes are inexpensive and easy to find for most people.
Though the USDA states that it’s okay to consume green potatoes as long as you peel the skins, remove the sprouts, and slice away any green color, it’s better not to risk it.
It’s worth noting that if you improperly prepare green potatoes or simply miss some areas where solanine is present, it is neutralized by cooking like other food contaminants.
One way to tell if solanine is present in a cooked potato is to be aware of the bitter flavor–the more bitter, the more likely the potato is contaminated.
How to Properly Store Potatoes?
As we touched on above, root cellars have existed for thousands of years because roots must be stored in cool, dark environments.
We’re talking zero light and a temperature between 45º to 50º Fahrenheit.
Though potatoes can be stored for months, It’s best to consume potatoes within 3 to 5 weeks at the very longest.
And since there’s no way to know how long store-bought potatoes have been sitting in industrial “root cellars” before you purchased them, it’s best to seek fresh potatoes from local farmers and farmer’s markets.
Green Potatoes: The Bottom Line
When it comes to potatoes, green does not mean go!
The green color of potatoes is a sign of the presence of solanine–a potentially harmful plant toxin.
If you eat a lot of green potatoes at once, you can experience symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and more severe reactions like hallucinations, convulsions, and, in the worst cases, even death.
Low-dose chronic exposure to green potato toxins can damage your intestinal lining, opening the way for widespread systemic inflammation.
To reduce the risk of consuming green potatoes, store them in a cool, dark place and eat only fresh potatoes. It’s always a good idea to inspect all potatoes and make sure there are no green hues and that all sprouts have been removed.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AdobeStock_333446072-scaled.jpeg17052560Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-29 23:49:542023-12-22 21:27:27Can you Eat Green Potatoes? Dangers and Symptoms
Cheese has been a beloved food worldwide since its invention nearly 10,000 years ago. However, if you’re among the millions of people turning to a low-carb diet like paleo, keto, or carnivore, you may wonder about the carbs in cheese. Or even asking the question, “Does cheese have carbs?”
The short answer: While some types of cheese have low-to-no carbs, others can be surprisingly high.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the carbs in cheese, explore the different types of cheese and their carb contents, and discuss the potential health implications of consuming cheese as part of a low-carb diet.
[TOC]
Health Benefits of Eating Low-Carb Cheese
Before jumping into our list of high and low-carb cheeses, let’s explore just why cheese deserves your consideration.
Cheese is so common that most of us aren’t aware that it’s actually a healthy, nutrient-dense whole food with numerous clinically studied health benefits.
The notion of cheese as a healthy food might be especially strange for those of you who have been indoctrinated by bogus low-fat diet fads. So, let’s take a minute to debunk the “fat is bad” dogma.
Dairy Fat is Healthy
If you’re already enjoying the benefits of a low-carb diet rich in fatty whole foods, the idea that dairy fat is healthy and nourishing is old news. But for the rest of you, here are a couple of major studies to consider.
In 2010 a major meta-analysis (gold standard of research) was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers examined 21 previous studies involving 347,747 people, with a follow-up period of between 5-23 years. The study concluded that consuming saturated fats (including dairy fat) was not significantly associated with stroke or heart disease.
In 2020, a bellwether paper published in the leading Journal of the American College of Cardiology, concluded, “Whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, eggs, and dark chocolate are SFA-rich foods with a complex matrix that are not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The totality of available evidence does not support further limiting the intake of such foods.”
In a 2017 meta-analysis examining 9 large-scale studies on the health effects of consuming cheese concluded, “Our findings suggest that long-term cheese consumption was not associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality.”
A 2013 meta-analysis looking at the effects of low-carb, high-fat diets found that they are clinically effective for combating numerous disorders, including metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, acne, PCOS, and neurological issues, including epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease.
Benefits of Consuming Cheese
Not only is cheese not harmful, it has been shown to offer numerous health benefits. Let’s take a look at some of the most studied benefits.
Reduces Risk of Diabetes
The massive 2009 European Nutrition (EPIC) study examined data from 16,835 healthy and 12,403 diabetic participants across 8 European nations.
Researchers identified an inverse association between eating cheese and fermented dairy with incidences of diabetes. In simple terms, more cheese, less diabetes.
Interestingly, the data got remarkably detailed: Consuming only 55 grams of total cheese and/or yogurt was associated with a 12% reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes.
Reduces Blood Pressure
Even cheese with relatively high carb concentrations, like Grana Padano (essentially a parmesan cheese), has been found to reduce blood pressure.
A 2018 study found that eating 30 daily grams of Grana Padano was as effective at lowering blood pressure as prescription antihypertensive medications.
What’s more, this is an extremely salty cheese–equal to consuming a serving of potato chips. Salt can increase blood pressure, but the effects of the cheese offset the sodium.
Weight Loss
A large 2018 study with data from over 2,500 men found that after five years, participants who consumed higher amounts of cheese had a lower body mass index.
Similar findings were revealed in a meta-analysis of 16 studies that showed cheese and other high-fat dairy products appear to lower the risk of obesity.
If you’re wondering how a high-calorie food like cheese aids in weight loss, just think of how filling cheese is.
Aged cheeses like blue cheese and camembert contain special compounds that can reduce inflammation, thereby protecting your brain.
A 2018 study discovered that oleamide and dehydroergosterol found in Camembert reduced inflammation in areas of the brain associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia, leading researchers to deem cheese containing these compounds as a neuroprotective food.
Not surprisingly, a 2021 study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that consuming cheese is associated with improved cognition as we age.
Supports Heart Health
Studies show that regularly consumed dairy fat (like you find in cheese that is both high and low in carbs) is associated with a reduced risk for heart attacks.
One of the keys to the cardioprotective benefits of cheese is likely the presence of vitamin K2.
For every ten micrograms of K2 you consume daily, your risk of heart disease decreases by 9%.
This is an area where the carbs in cheese don’t really matter. However, soft cheeses generally contain more K2, as you’ll see in the list below.
Carnivore Diet Cheeses High in Vitamin K2
Per 100 grams
Jarlsberg cheese
80 mcg
66%
Munster Cheese
80 mcg
66%
Soft cheeses (brie, camembert, gouda, creamy blue cheese)
59 mcg
49%
Edam cheese
49 mcg
41%
Cheddar
24 mcg
20%
Anticarcinogenic
Cheese made from grass-fed dairy can be a great source of a beneficial fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
Studies have found that CLA can significantly inhibit cancer and tumors in the stomach, prostate, breast, and liver.
The presence of CLA in cheese is likely a factor in the results of a 2005 study that found that women who ate four servings of high-fat dairy per day benefit from a 34% reduction in the risk of colon cancer.
Another study on young men found that consuming 5.6 grams of CLA per day reduced inflammatory markers associated with cancer.
The vitamin K2 in cheese may be another key factor in its anticarcinogenic properties, with new studies suggesting that K2 can impede the spread of various cancers, including prostate cancer.
Carbs in Cheese? Top 4 Low-Carb Options
These 4 delicious low-carb cheeses provide more than healthy fats and proteins.
Modern research is catching up with what traditional cheese-making cultures have known for millennia–that cheese provides a special blend of powerful nutrients produced in the culturing process that you cannot get in any other food.
1. Blue Cheese
The carbs in blue cheese are negligible, with only .2g per 100-gram serving.
So if you’re eating only a couple of tablespoons (30 grams) at a time, you can consider blue cheese zero-carb food.
Like other specially cultured cheeses, blue cheese contains between 2900 and 4700 different beneficial bioactive peptides that get created as enzymes break down dairy proteins.
These bioactive compounds are likely factors in the numerous studied benefits of blue cheese, including
lower cholesterol levels
Prevention of inflammation in arteries
reduced blood clotting in veins
reduce joint pain and arthritis relief
One compound called spermidine, found in high concentrations in blue cheese (262 nmol/g) has been found to provide both cardioprotective and anti-aging properties.
Nutrients per 100g of Creamy Blue Cheese
Calories
425
Fat
43.3g
Saturated Fat
26.7g
Carbohydrates
.2g
Protein
13.3g
Fat: protein
3.25:1
Significant Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid)
1.7mg 35% RDA
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
0.4mg (36% RDA)
Selenium
8.6µg (16%)
2. Muenster
How many carbs are in muenster cheese? Only 1.1 grams per 100 grams.
The highest quality and most nutritious Muenster is made from unpasteurized “raw” cow’s milk in the summer in autumn. This is how it’s been done since it was invented by monks in northeastern France in the Middle Ages.
Yes, Muenster cheese can be particularly stinky, but that’s a sign of the kind of enzymatic breakdown that produces beneficial bioactive peptides.
Munster is also the top dog when it comes to boosting your vitamin K2 intake: 801 ng/g.
Carbs in goat cheese? This one’s easy. Zero, zilch, nada.
Goat cheese has been consumed in the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. And it remains a popular ingredient in dishes from Greece, Italy, and other neighboring countries.
Historians believe that goat cheese may have been one of the earliest types of cheese produced, as goats were among the first domesticated animals.
Recent studies have shown that goat cheese may improve heart health, boost the immune system, and aid in weight loss.
Additionally, goat cheese is typically lower in lactose than cow’s milk and doesn’t contain casein. This makes it a great alternative for people with lactose intolerance or milk protein allergy.
Nutrients per 100g of Goat Cheese
Calories
332.5
Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Carbohydrates
0 g
Protein
19 g
Significant Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin A
(1,464 IU)150% RDA
4. Goat’s Milk Gouda
Does Gouda cheese have carbs? Not when it’s made from goat’s milk!
This common, traditional cheese from Holland becomes a specialty superfood when made from goat’s milk. This makes it a great option for people seeking A2 alternatives to cow’s milk.
And studies have shown that goat’s milk is also high in medium-chain fatty acids, which are easily absorbed and metabolized by the body for energy, making goat’s milk Gouda an excellent choice for athletes or anyone looking to boost their energy levels.
Midnight Moon from Cypress Grove is a gouda that has been aged six months, creating a nutty, buttery flavor and a “sweet” caramel finish.
“Midnight Moon” is one of the tastiest low-carb cheeses we’ve ever tried. It’s nutty, caramelly, and goes extremely well with zero-carb snacks like cured meats.
Nutrients per 100g of goat milk Gouda
Calories
378
Fat
42g
Saturated Fat
24.5g
Carbohydrates
0g
Protein
28g
Fat: protein
1.5:1
Significant Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin A
25% RDA
Carbs in Cheese? 4 High-Carb Cheeses
These four common kinds of cheese have more carbs than most types of cheese. Though canned and processed cheese should be eliminated. The other natural cheeses are healthy despite their carb content and can still be consumed in moderation on a low-carb diet.
1. Canned Cheese
Carbs in canned cheese? You betcha—1 gram per tablespoon, or 7 per 100 grams.
But beyond the carbs in canned cheese, there are other reasons why it should be eliminated from both high and low-carb diets.
For one, canned cheeses are highly processed industrial products. In fact, by law, they only have to be 51% actual cheese.
What’s the rest of it, then? Stuff like reconstituted dairy proteins, artificial emulsifiers, and toxic seed oils.
The macros are not super keto-unfriendly: 6g of protein, 2 grams of carbs, 5 grams of protein per serving. But you can get these from much healthier whole foods.
2. American Cheese
Carbs in American cheese: 9 grams per 100-gram serving.
Like canned cheese, American cheese is a highly processed industrial product. It often contains additives and preservatives.
The low-quality dairy products used to make American cheese is sourced from factory farms where animals are subjected to poor living conditions and fed with hormones and antibiotics.
Compared to traditional, unprocessed cheeses, American cheese is low in essential nutrients such as protein, calcium, and vitamins.
Nutrients per 100g of Kraft Singles American Cheese
Calories
330
Fat
24.5 g
Saturated Fat
14 g
Carbohydrates
9g
Protein
18 g
3. Cottage Cheese
Unlike the processed cheeses above, cottage cheese isn’t off-limits due to nutritional and quality issues.
However, on a zero-carb or low-carb diet, you’ll need to beware of how quickly the carbs in cottage cheese can add up. Especially if you’re like most people who find it so yummy that they can’t help but devour an entire carton in a sitting.
1 cup of full-fat cottage cheese contains 6.8 grams, along with a mega-dose of 24.6 grams of protein. Remember that low-carb eating calls for high-fat and moderate protein. If you eat too much protein, your body just turns it into glucose.
It is possible to find higher fat cottage cheese (8%). But if you want to enjoy cottage cheese on low-carb diets go ahead and boost the fat yourself by adding heavy cream or creme fraiche. If you have it with more savory faire, add olive oil, sour cream, and chopped olives.
Type of cottage cheese
Calories
Carbs
Fat
Protein
8% Milk Fat Keto Cottage Cheese
300
6 grams
18 grams
28 grams
4% Full fat
281.2
6.8 grams
9 grams
25.6 grams
2% Reduced fat
162
10 grams
4 grams
20 grams
1% Reduced fat
144
6 grams
2 gram
24 grams
Nonfat
144
14 grams
0 grams
20 grams
Low fat with pineapple and cherry
195
26 grams
2 gram
18 grams
Low fat with garden vegetable
196
8 grams
8 grams
22 grams
4. Parmesan
How many carbs are in Parmesan cheese? More than most people think.
100 grams of parmesan contributes 14 grams of carbs.
Yet, it’s so savory and flavorful that most people only use small-ish amounts. Considering that is only contributes 0.9 grams of carbs per tablespoon, parmesan cheese is actually a decent low-carb option.
And as we mentioned above, it may provide cardioprotective peptides.
Carbs in Cheese: The Bottom Line
Does cheese have carbs? Some do, some don’t. But even unprocessed higher-carb cheeses like parmesan and cottage cheese can be enjoyed in moderation on a low-carb diet.
That said, the lowest carb cheese on our list are also the types that contain the highest levels of beneficial bioactive peptides and vitamin K2.
Some great low-carb cheese options include blue cheese, Muenster, goat cheese, and goat gouda.
By incorporating these cheeses into your low-carb meals and snacks, you can enjoy delicious and satisfying dishes while still staying within your carb goals.
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The meat and greens diet is one of the trending variations on the meat based-eating phenomenon known as the carnivore diet.
The meat and greens diet was first popularized by psychologist Jordan Peterson when he spoke about his #meatheals journey on the Joe Rogan podcast in 2018.
Since then, this eating plan has been praised for its simplicity, effectiveness, and potential health benefits, like improved mental clarity, reduced inflammation, better digestion, and weight loss.
Let’s explore the meat and greens diet, including the principles behind it, its benefits, and potential drawbacks.
[TOC]
Origins of the Meat and Greens Diet
A large body of research suggests that all-meat and meat-based eating is the way early humans ate for nearly 2 million years until the agricultural revolution only 10,000 years ago.
During the vast majority of human existence, our ancestors thrived on a diet of mostly fatty meat from huge animals known as “megafauna.” We’re talking about 2,000-pound chinchillas and twenty-foot-tall sloths.
Not coincidentally, humans turned to agriculture during the period when the mega-fauna populations collapsed. Studies show that human hunting is responsible.
Our evolved ability to thrive on an all-meat diet still persists to this day. Our bodies are nearly identical to our paleolithic ancestors.
And we can still see examples of carnivores with the traditional Inuit diet of only seal, walrus, whale, and fish. African pastoral tribes like the Maasai consume only meat, milk, and cows’ blood.
These traditional carnivore dieters demonstrate markers of health and an absence of disease that are the envy of modern Western societies consuming a “plant-based” omnivorous diet.
Early polar explorers like Viljelmer Steffanson and pioneering nutrition researchers like Thomas V. Mann and Weston A. Price promoted the benefits of meat-based traditional diets since the early 1900s.
Meat and Greens Goes Mainstream
But it wasn’t until around 2015 that this way of eating struck a major chord within our modern world.
As a guest on the Joe Rogan podcast, Shawn Baker inspired Rogan to go carnivore, along with thousands of his listeners. The flame was lit.
One of these listeners was Mikhaila Peterson, daughter of the popular psychologist Jordan Peterson.
Mikhaila was desperate to find relief from a bevy of autoimmune and mood disorders that had afflicted her since her early youth.
To her surprise, eliminating all plant foods and consuming only beef, water, and salt resolved juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (that had resulted in hip and ankle replacements as a teenager!), depression, brain fog, and hypersomnia. By 2017, Mikhaila was able to get off all of her medications.
Her famous father took note and began experimenting with the “lion diet” himself.
Then, when Jordan was a guest on Rogan’s podcast, he explained how he eliminated everything but meat and greens from his diet, then even got rid of the greens for two months.
Peterson listed the maladies that this elimination diet relieved, including lifelong depression, anxiety, psoriasis, gingivitis, floaters in his eyes, and gastric reflux. He also lost 50 pounds and dramatically reduced his food cravings.
Jordan Peterson has since practiced adding back in some cooked leafy greens and reportedly maintains this meat and greens approach in the long term.
How to Do the Meat and Greens Diet
One of the highlights of the meat and greens diet is its simplicity: You eat only meat, greens, water, and salt.
Many people allow for grass-fed butter, but others keep it all meat by cooking their meat in tallow.
By meat, we’re not just talking about lean muscle meat. On any low-carb diet, you will have to get most of your calories from fat.
Interestingly, this protein constraint is a vestige of how we evolved eating giant, fatty animals, as we mentioned above. This has led researchers like Amber O’Hearn to suggest that we aren’t just natural carnivores; we’re actually “lipivores” designed to thrive on a fat-first diet.
Once adapted to this meat and greens diet for 30-90 days, many people experiment with adding in full-fat dairy, eggs, pork, poultry, and seafood.
Benefits of Meat and Greens Diet
Though studies haven’t been done directly on the benefits of the meat and greens diet, this way of eating is essentially a restricted version of a ketogenic diet.
Ketogenic diets have been the subject of hundreds of studies over the last century. Clinical benefits of the high-fat low-carb keto diet include
It’s also worth noting that other nutrients found in greens are poorly absorbed by the body.
While more bioavailable forms of nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin K, and Zinc are readily found in animal products.
Possible Drawbacks of The Meat and Greens Diet
Though the meat and greens diet may be an effective elimination diet for many people, there are some possible drawbacks to watch out for.
Oxalates
Oxalates are compounds found in abundance in leafy greens. They help plants regulate their internal mineral content and defend plants against pests and predators.
Studies link oxalates with lupus, leaky gut, and rheumatoid arthritis.
In fact, many people on a typical (non-greens) carnivore diet experience “oxalate dumping” symptoms when they cut plant foods, including leafy greens.
Continuing to consume oxalate-rich greens may reduce one of the most beneficial features so the typical carnivore diet–the elimination of all plant toxins and antinutrients.
A 2012 study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology exploring the purported benefits of fiber for constipation concluded “the previous strongly-held belief that the application of dietary fiber to help constipation is but a myth. Our study shows a very strong correlation between improving constipation and its associated symptoms after stopping dietary fiber intake.”
Sure, fiber can slow down digestion, thereby reducing glycemic spikes when consuming high-carb foods. But in the context of a zero-carb carnivore diet, these benefits are moot.
Bacterial Exposure
Leafy greens are routinely contaminated with bacteria like Listeria, E. coli, and Klebsiella.
One 2016 study examining 105 samples of imported fresh fruits and vegetables, found that 60% of fruits and 91% of vegetables were contaminated by harmful bacteria.
The Meat and Greens Diet: The Bottom Line
The meat and greens diet is a variation of the meat-based carnivore lifestyle.
However, by consuming greens you may be limiting the health benefits that come from eliminating plant toxins and antinutrients. It’s worth noting that many leafy greens are high in a particularly harmful plant toxin called oxalic acid.
If your goal is to completely reset your metabolic health with a meat-based elimination diet, eliminating all plant foods, at least for 30 days, may be a better option.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AdobeStock_589078244-scaled.jpeg14352560Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-23 23:35:082023-12-27 21:33:50What is the Meat and Greens Diet? Benefits & Drawbacks
If you are looking for a way to optimize your health and transform your body, then this 30-day carnivore meal plan may be the answer you’ve been seeking.
This comprehensive meal plan provides all the tools you need to start your own carnivore journey and experience the transformative power of this unique way of eating. Let’s get started!
[TOC]
Getting Started on the 30-Day Carnivore Diet Meal Plan
This 30-Day carnivore diet meal plan is focused on ruminant meats and healthy fats. While pork, full-fat dairy, and fish play supporting roles.
This meal plan is aimed at providing all your nutrient needs while adding in some gastronomic variety. It is designed to be used by beginners and carnivore diet vets alike.
The week four shopping list and meal plan is an example of budget-friendly, low-cost carnivore eating.
You’ll also notice that we list only two meals per day. Most carnivore dieters find these superfoods so satiating that they only need to eat once or twice.
5 Tips for Success on the 30-Day Carnivore Diet Meal Plan
These five tips will help you unlock the powerful benefits of the carnivore diet.
Commit! 30 days is a good start. After that, see if you can extend it to 60 or 90. Keep in mind that it will take at least a few days to a couple of weeks for your body to adjust to this way of eating, depending on the diet you’re transitioning from. Just as importantly, if you fall off the carnivore wagon, don’t beat yourself up, just begin again with your next meal.
Connect with a carnivore community. This is where you can boost your motivation, ask specific questions, and get detailed, experience-based responses.
Get rid of temptations! Clean out your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Resistance takes energy, so removing temptations saves you the energy that would be spent on resisting them.
Stock up! Use the shopping lists below and treat yourself to a carnivore diet shopping spree. There’s a special satisfaction that comes from filling your basket with the most nutrient-dense foods on earth.
Keep going! One meal after the next, stick with it. It takes time to build a habit. It’s ok if it’s not easy. Lean into it and enjoy the ride.
30-Day Carnivore Diet Meal Plan Food List
Meat
Fatty cuts of red ruminant meat like ribeye and NY strip steak, 70/30 ground beef, t-bone, lamb, bison, and goat. Pork products like bacon and pork belly are also great but are more supplemental choices since they don’t possess optimal fatty acids like ruminant meats.
Animal fat
Remember that the carnivore diet is actually a “keto carnivore diet,” meaning that it requires consuming high-fat, moderate protein, and low-carb foods.
Look for the most marbled cuts of meat and drench your food in butter and tallow.
Some carnivore dieters choose to lay off dairy for the first couple of weeks to a month. But if you tolerate dairy well there’s not reason to skimp on full-fat cheeses and heavy cream. Blue cheese is a great choice–it provides thousands of bioactive peptides that support longevity, among other health benefits.
Organ meats
Organ meatsare nature’s original multivitamin, providing an incredible abundance of bioavailable essential macronutrients like vitamins A, E, K2, D, and C.
Liver, in fact, is so nutritious it may be best enjoyed as a supplement. Other organ meats include kidney, pancreas, brains, tongue, tribe, and bone marrow. On a carnivore diet, organs can make the difference between thriving and mineral deficiencies.
Seafood
Fatty seafood like salmon and sardines can provide important omega-3 fatty acids.
Salt is an essential part of the carnivore diet. Salt your meals liberally to help with the transitional phase when your body flushes water-weight and electrolytes along with it.
Foods to Eliminate on a Carnivore Diet
The carnivore diet eliminates all non-animal products, including:
Ground beef & organ meats patties (liver and kidney) with cheese
Saturday
Carnivore diet pancakes (recipe here) with 3 egg blue cheese scramble
Ground beef & organ meats patties (liver and kidney) with cheese
Sunday
Carnivore diet waffles and bacon
1 lb Ribeye drenched in butter
Week 4 Budget Shopping List and Meal Plan
The week 4 shopping list is designed as an example of low-cost carnivore for when you’re on a budget. It drops the cost by substituting premium cuts of meat like lamb chops and ribeye for more affordable but still nutritious cuts like brisket and skirt steak.
1 lb Ground beef and liver patties with cheddar cheese (recipe here)
Saturday
Sardines, eggs, and leftover brisket pot roast
Skirt steak and fried liver drenched in butter
Sunday
Carnivore diet pancakes (recipe here) with 3 egg blue cheese scramble
Skirt steak drenched in butter and blue cheese with a can of sardines
30-Day Carnivore Diet Meal Plan: The Bottom Line
This 30-day carnivore diet meal plan provides a roadmap to all-meat diet eating for carnivore beginners and vets alike.
By eliminating processed foods and plant foods and consuming only the most nutrient-dense foods on earth, you are aligning your modern diet with the foods that humans evolved to thrive on for nearly 2 million years.
Congratulations on taking this profound step in reclaiming your overall health and wellness.
The carnivore diet, also known as the zero-carb or all-meat diet, calls for high-fat, high-protein animal products such as red meat, fish, eggs, and fatty dairy. Not what most people think of cheap food. Yet, with a little shopping savvy, the carnivore diet cost can be a LOT lower than most people imagine.
In this article, we’ll break down the cost of the carnivore diet and provide some smart tips for keeping costs down.
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Carnivore Diet Cost vs. Processed Food Cost
One of the myths about the processed foods at the center of the Standard American Diet, is that people eat them because they’re cheap.
But when you compare the cost of processed foods with the cost of whole animal-based carnivore diet foods, the numbers suggest a different story.
A 2018 analysis of various studies on the addictive nature of carbs suggests that eating high-carb foods increases brain activity in neural pathways associated with addiction. [9]
Whole, animal-based carnivore diet foods, on the other hand, increase satiety, break carb addiction, and supply your body with the macro and micro-nutrients you need to thrive.
Processed Food vs. Whole Animal Product Substitution Chart
The chart below compares costs between processed foods and carnivore diet foods as of 2023
Processed Junk
Cost
Whole Carnivore Food
Cost
14.5 oz package of Oreos
$9.99
16 oz. 73/27 Ground Beef
$3.96
12 pack of coca cola
$13.50
32 oz heavy whipping cream
$4.98
18 oz Honey Nut Cheerios Cereal
$6.80
24 Kirkland Signature Eggs Eggs
$5.79
14.5 oz Doritos
$5.50
16 oz. Great Value Thick Cut Bacon
$4.24
2 x 22 oz Digriorno Stuffed Crust Pizza
$21.00
32 oz. USDA Choice Top Sirloin Steak
$26.99
27 oz. Pop Tarts
$5.00
16 oz Murry’s Dansk Blue Cheese
$6.00
89 oz. Tropicana Orange Juice
$7.00
24 oz pork belly
$6.80
1 Gallon skim milk
$3.25
1 lb Sweet cream butter
$3.98
18 oz. club crackers
$4.98
Kerry Gold Cheese
$5.28
48 oz. Bryers Ice Cream
$4.97
2 Cans of Sardines in water
$2.24
Bagle Bites Party Size
$13.00
1 lb Fresh Atlantic Salmon
$10.68
TOTAL
$94.99
TOTAL
$80.94
Carnivore Diet on a Poverty-Level Income
The table below details the average monthly food assistance that impoverished families can receive from the U.S. government.
For a single, qualifying person, the average monthly benefits are $195 worth of US Government SNAP benefits (AKA food stamps).
So, we’ll need to create a carnivore diet cost-effective shopping list that meets these caloric and macronutrient demands.
For good measure, we’ll also try to build in some variety–you could probably do alright by eating nothing but pork belly, but who the heck wants to do that?
The chart below lists actual products from Costco and their prices. We chose Costco because it sells in bulk and has over 700 locations. But we bet you could do even better if you shopped sale sections at local markets.
Food
Cost
Calories
60 Eggs (Costco)
$13.59
4,680
6 lbs Pork Spare Ribs (Costco)
$9.24
7,584
10 lb USDA Choice Beef Brisket (Costco)
$39.40
7,040
10 lb 73/27 Ground Beef (Costco)
$26.40
14,000
4 lbs of Sweet Cream Butter (Costco)
$13.99
13,032
6 lbs Skirt Steak (Costco)
35.64
6,000
10 lbs Pork Belly (Costco)
$34.00
23,490
TOTAL
$172.26
75,826
Helpful Tips for Keeping Your Carnivore Diet Costs Down
Buy in bulk: As you can see from the above example, buying meat in bulk can save you money in the long run. Look for sales at your local grocery store or visit a wholesale club.
Choose cheaper cuts of meat: Cheaper cuts of meat are often just as nutritious as the more expensive cuts. Ground beef, brisket, chicken thighs, and pork belly are all cost-effective winners. Organ meats are actually more nutritious and cheaper than even the richest muscle cuts.
Shop around: Compare prices at different grocery stores and meat markets. You may find that one store has better prices on certain items than another.
Consider frozen meat: Frozen meat can be cheaper than fresh meat, and it can also last longer in your freezer.
Buy from local farmers: If you have access to a local farm or farmer’s market, you may be able to purchase meat directly from the farmer. Sometimes this means buying an entire side of a cow and storing it in your freezer. You’ll get a mix of premium cuts like ribeye along with less premium cuts like chuck and brisket, but all for the same low price per pound.
Cook in bulk: Cook large batches of meat at once and store leftovers for future meals. This can help you save time and money.
Eat only two meals a day. Carnivore diet foods are incredibly satiating, so most people naturally end up eating only once or twice. This eating pattern eliminates snacking, thereby reducing how much you eat and, in turn, spend.
It’s also worth noting the cost savings of not buying other foods, like fruits, vegetables, grains, and processed foods, which you eliminate on carnivore.
Carnivore Diet Cost: The Bottom Line
Meat and animal products are the most expensive items on most menus. Yet, if you’re a savvy shopper, you can stock up on the most nutrient-dense foods even when you’re on a tight budget.
By simply pulling into your nearest wholesale bulk store, 2500 calories of carnivore diet staples like eggs, beef, butter, and pork can cost you around $5.74 per day.
And when considering the remarkably low cost of the carnivore diet, it’s also worth considering the astronomically high cost of treating the medical conditions that the carnivore diet can alleviate.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AdobeStock_137328629-scaled.jpeg17092560Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-19 22:45:142023-12-22 21:10:29How Much Does the Carnivore Diet Cost? Budget Tips and Tricks
Breakfast is a notoriously high-carb meal with the likes of croissants, muffins, bagels, oatmeal, pancakes, and cereal. But on the carnivore diet, breakfast, like every meal, is virtually a zero-carb affair.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best carnivore diet breakfast ideas to help you start the day off on the right foot. Let’s dig in and discover the surprisingly various world of carnivore diet breakfast!
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1. Carnivore Breakfast Sandwich
The carnivore diet breakfast sandwich is packed with protein, healthy fats, and key vitamins and minerals like zinc, vitamin B, choline, and vitamin K2– in short the vital nutrients that help make going carnivore so beneficial.
This 448 calorie recipe provides 36 grams of fat and 33 grams of protein. So if you’re eating only twice a day, as many carnivore dieters do, you may want to double it.
That said, when you’re savoring this carnivore diet breakfast sandwich, you’ll be so entranced by the savory umami experience that is crisp bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, and a runny egg, nestled between two juicy sausage patties, you won’t be thinking about any of the tech specs
These delectable muffins only require 3 simple ingredients. These guilt-free muffins offer a light and crispy texture which is rare when eating only dense animal products like meat and cheese.
These carnivore diet breakfast muffins also store well, making them great carnivore diet snacks.
If you thought the three-ingredient muffins above were simple, try these two ingredient carnivore diet breakfast pancakes.
And like the muffins, these pancakes can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Add in some shredded beef, and they double as a carnivore diet wrap.
This ingenious recipe was developed by pioneering carnivore enthusiast Kat of Minimalist Eating. It’s part of an eating plan that helped her overcome hypothyroidism and an autoimmune low blood platelet disorder.
Carnivore tortillas stuffed with beef and cheese? Yes please!
Here’s another recipe inspired by Ash Eats. The faintly crispy and surprisingly foldable tortillas are made from pork rinds. Load them with ground beef, shredded beef, ribeye steak. Or go old-school with scrambled eggs and bacon.
Ingredients
Eggs
Pork rinds
Grass-fed ghee, butter, tallow, or lard
Sea salt
Water
Steak, shrimp, fish, and/or bacon
Sour cream
Cheddar cheese, or blue cheese
After you make the tortillas, simply add in meat (ribeye is incredible in these) and scrambled eggs, and top with sour cream and cheese.
12-15 Tortillas: 64g fat | 140g protein | 0g carbohydrates
Who knew pork rinds were such a great stand-in for grains? They even make fantastic carnivore diet breakfast waffles.
Well, officially, it’s called a “paffle”. P for pork, get it? Load it with butter, and you’ll get some much-desired crisp with a rich, salty finish. Yum!
In a large bowl combine beef or pork and salt in a large bowl
Mix ingredients together and form into 12 meatballs–using your hands works best
Place six meatballs on each sheet
Press the meatballs flat
Place one boiled egg in the center of each flat meat circle.
Wrap the meat around each egg–use care to close up all gaps or holes
Bake for 10-15 minutes–until the top appears cooked
Flip each ball and cook for another 10 minutes
To make them crispier place under a broiler for 5 minutes. To add more complex flavor, top it with creamy blue cheese and broil.
7. Carnivore Breakfast Pizza
Carnivore Breakfast Pizza Recipe from LowCarb Abode
Pizza and the carnivore diet. How many of you thought you’d never hear these two terms together?
It’s based on a 3-ingredient carnivore flat “bread” and topped with bacon, cheese, and mozzarella. Crack a couple of eggs on it while baking and you’re in carnivore diet breakfast heaven.
No doubt one of the richest and most satiating breakfast foods before begging “carnivorized” this all-animal breakfast quiche is one of the most satiating meals we’ve ever tried.
This recipe was perfected by our friend and keto-carnivore master chef Maria Emmerich
Ingredients:
Crust
1 ¼ cups powdered pork rinds
1 ¼ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese or hard Gouda cheese
1 large egg
Filling
1/2 cup chicken broth or beef bone broth, I used Kettle and Fire
Though a diet based on animal products may sound restrictive, the carnivore diet breakfast is actually one of the most creative all-meat meals of the day.
Pancakes, waffles, tacos, and quiche are all fair game when it comes to the talents of creative carnivore chefs.
But you don’t have to be a great cook to whip these up. Just strap on an apron and follow along to start off your ancestrally aligned day.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Screen-Shot-2023-04-18-at-8.06.16-PM.png11881482Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-18 22:14:222023-12-22 21:07:59Top 9 Carnivore Diet Breakfast Ideas to Help You Start the Day Strong
A fasting method that is gaining attention is the 40-hour fast, also known as a “prolonged” fast.This type of fast involves abstaining from all food for 40 hours straight, with only water and possibly some electrolytes. Though recently popular, there’s nothing new about fasting.
In pre-agricultural communities, humans evolved to endure regular periods of food scarcity. In more recent history, the practice of fasting has been used as a religious and medical practice for thousands of years.
Fasting has numerous studied benefits, including:
Increased insulin sensitivity
Cellular repair & renewal
Weight loss
Prevention of chronic disease
Improved cognition
Reduced inflammation
In this article, we’ll examine the 40-hour fast, including proper preparation, health benefits, and possible side effects to look out for.
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What is the 40-Hour Fast
The 40-hour fast is a temporary food restriction diet where you abstain from food and caloric beverages over a 40-hour period of time.
The 40-hour fast is a type of intermittent fasting, an eating plan that alternates between eating and fasting over a specific time.
You may be more familiar with shorter fasting periods, such as the 16-hour fast or 24-hour fast, both of which have specific use cases and health benefits.
The 40-hour fast is the longest duration commonly practiced with intermittent fasting.
How to Do a 40-Hour Fast?
The standard approach to the 40-hour fast is to begin at sundown on day one and break the fast at sundown on day 3.
Your circadian rhythm is your body’s 24-hour internal clock that regulates several bodily functions, including metabolism, sleep, and digestion.
Syncing your fast with your circadian rhythm can help boost your metabolism, improve the quality of your sleep, and increase immunity.
It is typical to incorporate a 40-hour fast once or twice per month. However, a prolonged fast like this may not be right for everybody. It’s best to try a shorter fast like circadian rhythm fasting or 16:8 to observe how your body responds to calorie restriction.
How to Prep for the 40-Hour Fast
Fasting is all about time-based calorie restriction. But to optimize your metabolic health, it’s just as important to nourish your body with nutrient-dense whole foods, before and after a fast.
Zero-calorie fluids are 100% acceptable on the 40-hour fast. In addition to water, this includes black coffee and tea, both of which can help reduce cravings.
On longer fasts like the 40-hour fast, dehydration can become an issue. Your body will likely begin flushing fluids as it unlocks glycogen (a type of carbohydrate) stored in your muscles.
This makes drinking plenty of fluids (with electrolytes) essential to preventing dehydration and other unwanted symptoms. Simply adding a pinch of sea salt to a glass of water in the morning can do wonders.
What Happens to Your Body on a 40-Hour Fast?
During a calorie-restricted fast, the key thing to understand is the metabolic flip that occurs in the body. This means that instead of metabolizing energy from the food you’re eating, your body begins to break down stored fatty acids into powerful energy molecules called ketones.
In this altered metabolic state, ketones are the new fuel source for muscle and brain cell function.
Studies show that ketones preserve muscle mass and improve body composition for overweight individuals.
Health Benefits of a 40-Hour Fast
When you follow a calorie-restricted diet, you trigger various regenerative processes in the body. These processes have the power to increase longevity, improve immunity and prevent chronic disease.
Below we’ll explore the most significant body processes activated by a 40-hour fast and why they matter.
Cellular Repair and Renewal
Fasting supports autophagy, from the Greek meaning “self-devouring.” Autophagy is a cellular process of breaking down and destroying damaged or abnormal cells and recycling them into new cell parts and fresh cell growth.
Additionally, autophagy removes infectious and toxic bacteria and viruses.
Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas, regulates the amount of glucose in your bloodstream. Glucose in the bloodstream quickly becomes toxic.
Glycogen, the storage form of glucose, gets depleted when your body is fasting, and insulin levels are reduced. This is an extremely good thing because chronically elevated insulin levels are associated with
Research suggests that fasting is effective at improving insulin resistance. Fasting can even be used as a treatment for numerous chronic diseases associated with insulin resistance.
Improving insulin sensitivity, or the body’s ability to transport blood sugar effectively, is associated with many benefits, including:
Improved cognition and neurological protection
Reduced water retention
Improvement of diabetic symptoms
Lower risk of heart disease
Clearer skin
Resolution of PCOS
Improved Cognition
Fasting optimizes neuron plasticity and resilience during this altered metabolic state and may prevent neurodegenerative diseases.
Studies suggest fasting improves cognition, reduces brain damage, and even enhances recovery after a stroke.
Reduced Inflammation
Fasting reduces oxidative stress in the body, which can benefit chronic inflammatory conditions
In the United States, 60% of the population has at least one chronic inflammatory condition. These include heart disease, stroke, respiratory diseases, cancer, obesity, and diabetes.
A 40-hour fast can aid in preventing inflammatory diseases by:
Reducing circulating monocytes (inflammatory white blood cells)
Studies demonstrate that the anti-inflammatory effects of fasting make it an effective therapy for multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other inflammatory disorders.
Weight loss
Fasting has been shown to increase metabolic rate by 3.6-14%, meaning you burn an additional 100-275 calories per day.
When you fast, not only are you reducing calorie intake significantly, you’re increasing the breakdown of stored body fat (triglycerides) as energy, or fatty acid oxidation.Insulin drops and norephedrine rises during this process of fat oxidation.
As mentioned earlier, this crucial metabolic flip can work wonders to shed those extra pounds, especially belly fat.
It’s been shown that intermittent fasting can help you shed up to 9.9% of body weight.
Part of this metabolic shift is an increase in metabolic rate (how quickly your body burns calories), by up to 14% in some studies. This is significant because while fasted your body is burning calories even while you’re at rest.
Possible Side Effects of the 40-Hour Fast
While the 40-hour fast is safe and effective when done well, there are some side effects to look out for, including:
Hunger pains
Fatigue
Dizziness
Nausea
Dehydration
Keep in mind that certain populations with the following lifestyle and medical conditions should avoid a 40-hour fast, including:
Women who are pregnant, breast-feeding, or attempting to conceive
Hard training athletes
People with type 1 diabetes
People with low blood pressure
People with a history of eating disorders
If you take any medications, including anti-inflammatories, insulin, blood pressure, or blood thinners, it’s wise to check with your doctor about how they might interact on a prolonged fast.
After the 40-Hour Fast: What Foods Should I Eat?
After completing the 40-hour fast, gradually reintroduce foods so as not to overstimulate the digestive system. Think of the nourishing foods that we gravitate towards when we’re under the weather.
Here’s a list of nutrient-dense foods that will support new cell growth and promote ketosis and stem cell health:
The 40-hour fast has the potential to support the healing of numerous metabolically rooted disorders and will promote cellular regeneration. The 40-hour fast is linked to health benefits like reduced inflammation, weight loss, cellular renewal, and disease prevention.
It’s wise to build up to this type of fast by trying out shorter fasts and seeing how your body responds. However, a prolonged fast could become an integral part of your wellness routine, with the potential to even reverse chronic disorders while increasing longevity.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AdobeStock_551403685-scaled.jpeg19222560Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-15 22:56:152023-12-27 21:11:26The 40 Hour Fast: How to & Benefits
Think of the 3-Day Egg Diet as an “entry-level” keto experience. It’s too short to call it a true diet. So, is it worth it?
The 3-Day Egg fast may give you a sense of what it’s like to cut carbs and consume an abundance of whole fatty foods.
But it’s not really long enough to promote many of the studied benefits of low-carb, high-fat eating, like protection against certain cancers, neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease.
In fact, three days might be just long enough to induce some of the side effects of a metabolic transition into ketosis, like headaches, low energy, and irritability. If you’re new to low-carb eating, it can take about a week for your body to adjust.
One benefit you will likely experience on the 3-Day Egg Diet is rapid weight loss from shedding water weight.
In this article, we’ll explore what a 3-day egg diet is, how to do it, and the possible benefits and drawbacks.
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What is the 3-Day Egg Diet?
The 3 Day Egg Diet is a short-term variation on the longer 30-day egg fast keto diet developed by former keto podcaster Jimmy Moore in 2010.
Moore experimented with the diet when he discovered that eggs have a complete amino acid profile along with providing essential nutrients like B vitamins, vitamin D, the incredibly important and rare vitamin K2, and Choline.
The concept of the Egg Diet is simple– eat a bunch of nutrient-dense eggs. But the title is misleading. The 3-Day Egg diet includes keto butter and fatty cheese.
Eggs, on their own, provide about twice as much fat as protein per calorie.
Variations of creamy cheese like blue cheese and triple cream brie can have a 6:1 fat-to-protein ratio.
Why 3-Days?
Three days is the minimum amount of time it takes most people to transition from a high-carb Standard American Diet to a low-carb, high-fat diet.
It will take a few days for your body to rebalance electrolytes, upregulate bile to process the extra fat you’re eating, deploy the hormones necessary for triggering your body to breakdown fatty acids into ketones, and starve off the sugar-loving bacteria in your gut.
By eating only eggs, butter, and cheese for three days, you can be assured that you are giving your body exactly what it needs (macro and micronutrients) to make the transition.
Jimmy Moore’s original egg diet rules have undergone countless tweaks over the years. There used to be a provision where you could enjoy three sugar-free soft drinks–but we know that diet sodas are unhealthy industrial products and that we’re better off without them.
All things considered, the consensus regarding egg diet rules looks something like this:
Eat at least 6 whole eggs per day (pasture-raised if possible)
Supplement each egg you consume with at least 1 tablespoon of butter (grass-fed if possible)
Supplement each egg with at least 1 tablespoon of full-fat cheese (consider raw cheese)
Have your last meal at least 3 hours before you go to bed or just before sunset. This will leverage your body’s internal circadian rhythm to optimize digestion. You’ll also stimulate autophagy–a vital process of cellular repair and renewal that only occurs when your body enters a fasted state over night.
What to Eat on the 3-Day Egg Diet?
Though we already covered this above, it bears deeper exploration.
Since you’re only eating 3 foods, it’s important to eat the highest quality eggs, butter, and cheese that you can find. These will be
pasture-raised eggs. Organic is also a good option
Grass-fed butter
Fatty cheese from grass-fed cream
Best Eggs
Pasture-raised eggs have the best nutrient profile. Organic is a standardized and easily accessible option, while labels like “hormone-free,” “farm-fresh,” “cage-free,” “antibiotic-free,” “natural,” and “fertile” mean little to nothing at all.
Compared with conventional eggs, pasture-raised eggs contain
2/3 more vitamin A
Two times more omega-3 fatty acids
Three times more vitamin E
Seven times more beta carotene
20% more vitamin K2 than grain-fed hens
Values per 100 grams
Vitamin E
Vitamin A
Beta Carotene
Omega-3s
Eggs from Caged Birds
.97mg
487IU
10mcg
.22g
Pasture-Raised Eggs
3.73mg
792IU
79.03mgc
.66g
Best Butter
Pasture-raised grass-fed butter has been shown to provide significantly more nutrients, including
26% more omega-3 fats
500% more CLA,
More vitamin K2.
Butter from raw milk contains a unique anti-stiffness factor known as the “Wulzen factor.” Modern research attributes this effect to the synergistic ways that fat-soluble vitamins E, A, and vitamin K2 co-activate to decalcify soft tissue, among other vital processes.
Best Cheeses
If you were to pick one cheese to gorge on during your 3-Day Egg Diet, make it creamy blue cheese.
Many types of blue cheese are loaded with between 2900 and 4700 special bioactive peptides.
These compounds have been found to offer powerful health benefits, from cardiovascular protection to reverse aging of your organs.
One of these beneficial peptides, called spermidine, is especially concentrated in blue cheese at 262 nmol/g.
If blue cheese isn’t your thing, then it’s best to simply choose the creamiest cheese–but you may want to stay away from standard cream cheese since it’s generally highly processed.
Here’s a chart showing the fat/protein/carb ratios of some popular choices.
Nutrients Per 100 grams (3.5 oz)
Creamy Blue Cheese
Cream Cheese
Triple Cream Brie (Saint Andre)
Cheddar
Swiss Cheese
Parmesan
Fat
43.3
35g
42g
33g
31g
28g
Carbs
.2g
1g
0g
3g
1g
14g
Protein
13.3
7g
10.5g
23g
27g
28g
Fat: Protein Ratio by grams
3.25:1
5:1
4:1
1.4:1
1.1:1
1:1
Foods Prohibited on the 3-Day Egg Fast
This part’s simple: EVERYTHING THAT IS NOT EGGS, BUTTER, OR CHEESE.
Health Benefits of the 3-Day Egg Diet
As we mentioned above, 3 days is a really short period of time to harvest the benefits of a dietary change.
That said, you’ll likely notice a lot of changes during these three days. These changes will likely be to your mood, energy, and digestion due to the transition from a carb-based Western diet to a fat-based egg diet.
You can mitigate uncomfortable side effects by drinking plenty of water and liberally adding extra salt to your meals.
Additionally, you will likely experience a couple of notable benefits even in this short time frame.
Rapid Weight Loss
Studies have found that people on a ketogenic diet initially experience rapid weight loss of up to 10 lbs in 2 weeks.
This is largely due to a diuretic effect that occurs when your body releases glycogen stored in your muscles. Glycogen is a type of carbohydrate, and each single glycogen molecule is connected to numerous water molecules. So when your body releases glycogen, it flushes stored water.
Though losing water weight will help you firm up in the beginning, staying with a low-carb, high-fat diet has deeper and longer lasting weight-managing effects.
One 2013 review of numerous studies found maintaining a diet with less than 50 grams of carbs per day offered much greater long-term weight loss than low-fat diets.
Overcome Carb/Sugar Cravings
Eggs, butter, and cheese are all highly satiating foods. This means they’ll keep you feeling fuller for longer.
At the same time, the egg diet eliminates all processed foods that have been engineered to override satiety signals, triggering overeating.
A 2011 study found that people on a very low-carb, high-fat (VLCHF) diet experienced significantly reduced carb cravings compared with people eating a low-fat diet.
In a 2011 study, the low-carb group had significant reductions in all-around hunger compared with a low-fat diet group.
Microbiome Reset
One of the most significant effects of the 3-day egg diet is that it starves harmful bacteria in your gut, helping your gut microbiome to reset.
This occurs because you’re eliminating all fermentable fibers and carbs–the fuel for proteobacteria.
Studies have found that eliminating fermentable fibers also increases beneficial bacteriodetes in the gut. These helpful microorganisms reinforce the gut membrane and protect against harmful endotoxins.
3-Day Egg Diet Sample Menu
This sample menu will give you an idea of what an actual egg diet can look like in practice.
We confine eating to two large meals since these foods are so supremely satiating–it’s likely you won’t want to eat more than twice.
Day 1
Meal 1
4 Egg omelet topped with as much creamy blue cheese as you want.
Optional 2-3 egg scramble with 2-3 tablespoons of butter.
Day 2
Meal 1
3-4 eggs cream cheese griddle pancake. Use 3-4 tablespoons of non-processed cream cheese and 2 tablespoons of butter. Go ahead and add plenty of fresh (no-sugar) whipped cream.
Meal 2
3-4 ggg salad. Make with 4 tablespoons of carnivore mayo. Feel free to add plenty of salt and pepper.
Crustless quiche made with 5 eggs. Top with plenty of cheese. You’ll have leftovers!
3rd Day
Meal 1
3-4 good ol fried eggs. Use 2-4 tablespoons of butter. Top with cheese of your choice
Meal 2
2–4 deviled eggs and the leftover crustless quiche from the day before.
The 3-Day Egg Diet: The Takeaway
The 3-Day Egg Diet was designed as a turn-key approach to low-carb, high-fat eating.
For three days, you consume only eggs, butter, and cheese.
Sounds crazy, but you’ll get plenty of macro and micronutrients, and you won’t have to worry about macro-ratios or portion size.
Most people experience rapid weight loss due to the diuretic effects of ketosis. At the same time, another short-term benefit is the ability to reset your gut microbiome, which can help you overcome sugar addiction. The sugar-loving harmful bacteria in your gut will be starved to death and replaced with beneficial bacteria.
That said, if you’re really looking to take control of your health and wellness with a low-carb dietary intervention, stopping at 3 days would really be selling yourself short. You might as well add in ribeye steak and call it a carnivore diet. It will be healthier, more sustainable, and more delicious.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AdobeStock_388892571.jpeg11941592Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-13 20:18:392023-12-27 20:43:09What is the 3 Day Egg Diet? How to, Benefits & Draw Backs
You may have heard of the meat and fruit diet from “animal-based” enthusiasts like podcaster Joe Rogan and “Carnivore MD” Paul Saladino.
This approach to eating is promoted as an ancestrally aligned way diet plan that supports hard-training athletes in replenishing their glycogen stores after intensive workouts.
But even meat and fruit diet enthusiasts state that this is only one version of a “carnivore-adjacent” diet.
Is the meat and fruit diet right for you? That depends on how well or not your body tolerates certain plant toxins and carbs.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits, drawbacks, and variations of this approach.
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What is the Meat and Fruit Diet?
The meat and fruit diet is an approach to ancestral eating that is at once simple and complex.
On the one hand, it calls for eating only meat and fruit.
On the other hand, the types and quantities of meat and fruit you consume on the diet can result in remarkably different benefits and drawbacks.
The idea here is that fatty ruminant meats have a near-perfect ratio of healthy fats and complete proteins. Ruminant meats also offer an abundance of bioavailable nutrients like zinc, B vitamins, iron, selenium, and nutrients only found in meat like CoQ10and carnitine.
Other meats like pork, fatty fish, and poultry can also make a supplemental appearance, though they are less nutrient-dense and have less optimal fatty acids.
Meat and fruit enthusiasts consume between 1 to 2.5 lbs of meat per day.
What Kinds of Fruit and How Much?
The types and quantities of fruit people eat are less standardized.
Some meat and fruit enthusiasts consume only small quantities of high-vitamin C fruits like kiwis and guavas that contribute less than 50 grams of daily carbs. This low carb intake maintains the metabolic state called ketosis.
Other meat and fruit dieters focus on non-sweet fruits like coconut, avocados, and squash.
Some fruit and meat dieters eat up to 300 grams of carbs a day from sugary fruits like pineapples and apples.
While others still only consume fruit once every few days or just before a heavy workout.
All of this points to one of the key draws to the meat and fruit approach–its flexibility.
Where Did the Meat and Fruit Diet Come From?
The meat and fruit approach to a meat-based diet was Popularized by “Carnivore, M.D.” Paul Saladino as an evolution of his approach to a carnivore or meat-based diet.
After years of consuming and promoting a meat-only diet with lots of organ meats, Saladino found that his electrolyte levels were haywire.
After moving to Costa Rica and experimenting with eating fruit, Saladino came to believe that some insulin increase after eating helps the body to hold onto electrolytes and is important to synthesizing key antioxidants like glutathione.
After adding fruit and honey to his diet, Saladino checked routinely monitored his insulin and blood sugar levels. He found that his fasting insulin was the same as when he was a strict carnivore (2.4 miu/ML). When wearing a continuous glucose monitor, he found that his glucose was actually lower than it was on a fully ketogenic diet.
Currently Saladino still bases his diet around fatty meat and organ meats while allowing for as much fruit as his body craves. In a 2022 podcast episode, Saladino described eating a pineapple, two mangos, papaya, and other fruits adding up to 200-300 grams of carbohydrates in a day.
The podcast host Joe Rogan is another meat and fruit enthusiast who claims that these two food groups make up 90% of his diet.
In a conversation with the popular neuroscientist and health communicator Andrew Huberman, Rogan explained that he liked his experience on the standard carnivore diet but that he found that it interfered with his heavy lifting workouts.
Huberman responded that he did great on a just meat “carnivore diet.” And when he tried adding fruit and honey, it “sent his appetite” through the roof, and he couldn’t stop eating. But that, like Rogan, it impeded his heavy-lifting workouts.
Both Rogan and Huberman agreed that one of the keys to the benefits of an only meat carnivore diet is that it’s extremely satiating, so you tend to eat fewer calories.
They reference the psychologist Jordan Peterson–a former guest on the podcast–as someone who doesn’t do heavy weight lifting and does great on the all-meat “lion diet” of just steak, salt, and water.
Huberman also pointed out that on a low-carb diet, your adrenaline and epinephrine levels increase, which makes you more alert and move more. The more movement, the healthier we are.
Things to Keep in Mind About Eating Fruit on the Carnivore Diet
Fruit is sweet and colorful because it’s actually meant to be eaten by animals. Enticed by fruit, predators eat these plant parts and spread the seeds far and wide.
Vegetables are often bitter and need to be cooked to become edible, and they are not meant to be eaten by predators.
For most people, moderate consumption of certain fruits is probably harmless. However, some people may have sensitivities to certain fruits and plant toxins.
Fruit has been a part of the diet of hominins (pre-human ancestors), and early humans. However, part of what separated humans from our more monkey-like ancestors is that we learned to scavenge and hunt for fatty meat. This rendered fruits a much smaller part of our diets, especially as we migrated to colder regions where fruit was much more scarce.
The fruit that our ancestors had access to was also much smaller, more fibrous, and far less sugary.
What we think of today as fruit is actually a marvel of industrial engineering. It’s been bred to be large, sugary, and to resist decay, leading to the term “frankenfruit.” [3]
Do You Need to Get Nutrients from Fruit? Nope!
Though most fruits contain some antioxidants and vitamins, studies show that these compounds are poorly absorbed and used by the body.
A 2009 study found that “phytochemicals as dietary components are not essential for short-term well-being.”
This is because the human body is specially evolved to obtain and synthesize vitamins and antioxidants sourced from animal products. Many of these require dietary fat for absorption, including vitamins A, D, E, and K. The plant varieties of these nutrients exist in formats that the body is not evolved to readily absorb and utilize.
Our bodies experience phytochemicals from fruit as non-nutrient xenobiotics. This is a fancy word for unwanted foreign substances. And we rapidly eliminate them.
Though antioxidants are generally good things to have in our bodies, when we’re metabolically healthy, anti and pro-oxidants are in balance, and we don’t need to overcompensate.
When you cut carbs it’s likely that you won’t need to increase anti-oxidant intake.
Vitamin C in Meat?
Contrary to popular belief, fresh meat has plenty of vitamin C.
2007 research published in “Meat Science Journal” found that fresh beef provides approximately 1.6 mcg/g of vitamin C in grain-fed meat and 2.56 mcg/g in grass-fed meat. If you’re consuming 1000 grams of meat ( 2.2 lbs) per day on a carnivore diet, you will be getting between 16 mcg and 25.6 mcg of vitamin C.
This is more than sufficient to prevent vitamin C deficiency.
Beef Muscle Meet (1000 grams/2.2 lbs)
Amount Vitamin C
% sufficient to prevent scurvy
Grass-fed beef
25.6 mcg
256%
Grain-fed beef
16 mcg
160%
Meat and Fruit Diet Carb Chart
If you want to maintain ketosis on the meat and fruit diet, this chart can help you focus on low-carb fruits.
Low carb fruit
Fructose content
Fiber content
Raspberries
(½ cup)
3 grams
4 grams
Blackberries
(½ cup)
4 grams
4 grams
Avocado
(1 whole)
4 grams
14 grams
Strawberries
(8 medium)
6 grams
2.8 grams
Plum
(medium-sized)
7 grams
0.9 grams
Clementine
(medium-sized)
8 grams
1.3 grams
Kiwi
(medium-sized)
8 grams
2.1 grams
Cherries
(½ cup)
8 grams
1.3 grams
Blueberries
(½ cup)
9 grams
1.8 grams
Cantaloupe
(1 cup)
11 grams
1.4 grams
Peach
(medium-sized)
13 grams
3 grams
Fruit and Fruit Products to Avoid on the Meat and Fruit Diet
There’s a difference between eating fresh whole fruit and drinking fruit juice or consuming dried fruits.
Fruit smoothies and dried fruits are extremely concentrated sources of sugar.
A 2019 study found that drinking a single 100 ml glass (⅓ can) of a sugary drink (including pure fruit juice) was linked to an 18% increase in overall cancer risk and a 22% jump in the risk of getting breast cancer.
The Meat and Fruit Diet: The Bottom Line
The meat and fruit diet is a variation of the all-meat carnivore diet.
Some people add fruit to the carnivore diet in order to inhibit ketosis. The belief is that long-term ketosis may make it difficult for the body to properly maintain and balance electrolytes.
From this perspective, eating fruit helps regulate insulin levels. At the same time, you continue to eliminate most plant toxins and antinutrients from veggies while maintaining your intake of nutrient-dense animal products.
The meat and fruit diet may be especially beneficial for hard training athletes who need to replenish the glycogen stores in their muscles to maintain performance.
However, the meat and fruit diet is loaded with sugar. The research is clear that high sugar diets are the root cause of the metabolic disorders and chronic inflammation that a true carnivore is so effective at combating. We encourage people to explore and discover what works best for them, but we don’t recommend consuming large quantities of fruit.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Screen-Shot-2023-04-12-at-11.06.16-PM.png8441612Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-09 20:53:142023-12-22 21:00:53What is the "Meat and Fruit Diet"?
Are you tired of fad diets that promise quick results but leave you feeling unsatisfied and deprived? Maybe it’s time to consider the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet.
This ancestral way of eating focuses solely on animal-based products and has been shown to improve weight loss, increase energy levels, boost sex drive, and dramatically improve various physical and mental health conditions.
In this article, we’ll explore the world of the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet, and its benefits, and offer you the tools you need to get started.
[TOC]
What is the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet?
There are many versions of meat-based “carnivore” diets. What sets the zero-carb approach apart is that you eliminate any animal products that contain carbs. On carnivore this means cheese and milk products.
Part of the beauty of the zero-carb carnivore diet is its simplicity.
In other words, humans were carnivores for a lot longer than we’ve been grain and veggie eaters (only 10,000 years). Not to mention the processed industrial foods like toxic vegetable oils and added sugars that have only been around for about 100 years.
Don’t I Need Carbs?
Conventional dietary guidelines call for eating a so-called “balanced” diet.
What this means in practice is constantly eating meals and snacks of high-carb fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Yet, all these carbs are in fact, “non-essential.” In nutritional terms this has a very specific meaning–that we DO NOT NEED THEM. We’re more than capable of surviving and thriving without all this sugar.
On the other hand, what we can’t survive without is fat and protein. These are the only two “essential” macronutrients.
Now doesn’t it seem just a bit suspicious that mainstream guidelines call for cutting essential fat and increasing non-essential high-carb foods?
Thankfully, even when considering the highly charged debate around high-fat low-carb vs. “balanced” high-carb diet proponents, the science generally prevails.
For example, according to The textbook “Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids,” published by the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, “The lower limit of dietary carbohydrate compatible with life apparently is zero, provided that adequate amounts of protein and fat are consumed. There are traditional populations that ingested a high fat, high protein diet containing only a minimal amount of carbohydrates for extended periods of time (Masai), and in some cases for a lifetime after infancy (Alaska and Greenland Natives, Inuits, and Pampas indigenous people). There was no apparent effect on health or longevity. Caucasians eating an essentially carbohydrate-free diet, resembling that of Greenland natives, for a year tolerated the diet quite well. However, a detailed modern comparison with populations ingesting the majority of food energy as carbohydrate has never been done.”
That said, many people practicing zero carb carnivore diet make space for cheat/treat days that include some high-carb whole foods like french fries fried in tallow and keto-friendly homemade ice cream.
A cyclical zero-carb carnivore diet was developed by bodybuilder Vince Gironda back in the 1950s when it was originally called the “steak and eggs diet.”
Why Go Zero Carb Carnivore?
Many people choose the zero-carb carnivore diet because it has the power to dramatically reduce inflammation.
The theory behind going carnivore follows that over millions of years, our genetics evolved to regulate inflammatory responses in the context of a hunter-gatherer lifestyle characterized by a diet of low-carb, high-fat foods and low-impact movement.
Returning to an ancestral diet combined with evolutionarily aligned lifestyle habits like low-impact movement and meditation are seen as ways to rebalance the bodies natural inflammation cycles.
These early adopters promoted the benefits of carnivore diet to their patients and communities after experiencing and witnessing benefits including
Steady energy throughout the day
Mental clarity
Improved mood and relief from chronic depression
Improved markers of heart health
Overcoming fertility issues for men and women
Better recovery after exercise
Clearer skin
Better digestion
Reduced inflammation
Now, major institutions are taking note. In 2021, researchers at Harvard University polled 2,029 people practicing a zero-carb (or nearly zero-carb) carnivore diet for at least 6 months.
The researchers concluded, “Contrary to common expectations, adults consuming a carnivore diet experienced few adverse effects and instead reported health benefits and high satisfaction.”
Key findings from the study include
93% improved or resolved obesity and excess weight
93% improved hypertension
98% improved conditions related to diabetes
97% improved gastrointestinal symptoms
96% improved psychiatric symptoms
The Harvard study reflected findings from a 2019 survey by Revero–a carnivore diet coaching platform. Revero polled data from 12,000 zero-carb carnivore dieters practicing for at least three months.
96% of participants experienced full or significant improvement in all diseases
95% improved gastrointestinal conditions
96% improved skin allergies and disorders
79% eliminated or reduced medications after 3 months
93% improved mental health and mood disorders
91% lost weight and reduced body fat
2 Key Factors Behind Carnivore Diet Benefits
There are two key factors behind the benefits of a zero-carb diet that deserve to be highlighted.
Eliminates Plant Toxins
Cutting out plant foods eliminates exposure to natural plant defense mechanisms and compounds that are harmful to humans.
Popular plant foods contain gluten, lectins and phytates that damage the delicate intestinal lining leading to intestinal permeability, AKA leaky gut. Pathogens and toxins are then able to enter the bloodstream where they are carried throughout the body leading to widespread inflammation.
The chart below details the effects of various plant toxins.
The zero-carb carnivore diet turns the traditional food pyramid on its head. And in doing so, it promotes a major metabolic shift into ketosis.
To make this way of eating sustainable, it is important to eat lots of fat. The problem is that most people think of meat as only muscle meat.
But our ancestors focused on fatty meat. And this penchant for fat (not protein) as our primary fuel source is reflected in our biological limits on getting calories from protein. Yes, there’s a limit on the protein that we can eat before getting protein poisoning–it’s around 35% of our total calories.
This means that you’ll aim to get around 80% of your calories from animal fats.
This isn’t to scare you but to make sure you find the carnivore diet sustainable and enjoyable while eliminating any possible side effects that come with such a major shift from the standard Western diet.
The Zero Carb Carnivore Diet: The Bottom Line
The zero-carb carnivore diet is an ancestral way of eating that re-aligns our physiology with the dietary patterns that we evolved to thrive on.
Modern diets that are high in sugars and carbs and plant toxins have been linked to numerous inflammatory diseases, AKA “the diseases of civilization.” These include heart disease, cancers, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and psychological disorders.
When you cut carbs and focus on whole animal products, you dramatically increase your intake of nutrient-dense whole foods.
These carnivore foods provide an abundance of hard-to-get nutrients in near-perfect ratios and the most bioavailable forms.
Numerous studies reveal that reducing carbs can support a range of health markers, including reduced inflammation, improved energy, and improved digestion.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AdobeStock_572461123-scaled.jpeg17072560Liam McAuliffehttps://www.doctorkiltz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logo-Dr-kiltz.pngLiam McAuliffe2023-04-07 22:22:172024-01-08 06:08:40What is the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet?
