By Marcy Lilly
A quick overview of some Zero Carb Carnivore Diet FAQ.
1. FOOD: What do you eat: Anything from the Animal Kingdom (meat, poultry, eggs, cheese, HWC)
For a weekly menu suggestion: See a Sample 1 week zero carb carnivore menu plan here.
2. QUANTITY: How much do you eat: as much and as often as you want. No limit. Too little will sabotage your efforts.
3. ADAPTATION: normally takes 30 days, but can last for a couple of months: fatigue, nausea, headaches, cramps, light headedness, heart palpitations, intense thirst. Your body is changing from sugar burning to fat burning.
4. How soon can I expect HEALING: as long as it takes. It didn’t take you only 30 days to feel this way, right?
When my husband tells me how long a project will take I automatically count that it will take 3x as long. Expect that it will take you 3x as long as you think it will take to heal. Then you might be pleasantly surprised.
5. BEEF: Grass-fed or Grain-finished: it doesn’t matter to us what you eat. Whatever you like and can afford.
6. LIVER?: No, it’s not a miracle cure. Again, eat the meat you like. Don’t force yourself to eat it, if you have never liked it, thinking it will help the healing go faster.
7. MACROS: why bother? Meat has exactly the right ratio of everything for you. No counting calories, macros, points, etc.
ZERO CARB is the absence of plants. Everything we eat has traceable carbs. But the minuscule carbs in meat or dairy is handled differently by the body and doesn’t cause the diseases that plant carbs cause. We don’t count those trace animal carbs.
8. POOP: No fiber needed. Rule of thumb: Too much fat= diarrhea.
Too lean= constipation.
Don’t expect to “go” every day. Every 3 or 4 days is normal.
9. WEIGHT LOSS: this is all about hormones, not food. Anyone can lose weight by restricting, but it’s not sustainable.
Obesity and being Under weight is Internal Starvation. Malnourished.
Focus instead, on your body: joints, aches and pains, skin, sleep, energy, digestion, vision, bowel habits, libido: all of these will improve on ZC, without the scale moving.
Measure yourself instead of using the scale. So many report little weight loss, but significant clothing size difference.
Once your hormones are agreeing with each other and are happy, you will lose weight. Some lose weight quickly, others struggle.
10. HIGH PROTEIN Diet: No. It a high fat/medium protein diet. If you look on the label of meat, it may show more grams of protein than fat forcing you to mistakenly conclude that meat is high in protein. Protein contains 4 calories per gram and fat contains 9 calories per gram.
11. SIGNS OF HUNGER: Fatigue, sadness, melancholy, mood swings, tiredness, muscle weakness, carb cravings, thinking of carbs. Not having cravings does not mean you are not hungry. In the early days of ZC, fix some meat at breakfast, lunch and dinner, try a bite or two. If you don’t want it, fine, save it for later.
12. SUPPLEMENTS: not needed. Meat has everything you need. We save money by not taking any, so save your money.
It’s best not to fiddle around with supplements as they can cause problems of their own, and can hinder Adaptation.
Potassium: what we don’t need is excreted through our urine. The Maasai and the Siberian Reindeer people have survived for many thousands of years without any Potassium supplements.
The science is done on people eating a grain-based diet, is not relevant to us.
Magnesium: Meat is a rich source of magnesium. No need to add more via a supplement.
Vitamin C: 1 lb beef has 10 mg Vit C.
USDA assumes there isn’t any. New research finds that adding a small amount of milk and meat to the diet dramatically improves the supply of nutrients — specifically protein, calcium, zinc, iron, vitamin A, B2, B12, and D.”
Eat meat, and leave the milk alone.
13. CRAMPS: part of Adaptation. Some things you have to endure. You aren’t missing electrolytes, you are adapting. Some find eating more helps. Some find soap at the foot of the bed helps. Supplements or adding salt to water is not advised. Let your body sort out the mess you have made.
14. SCURVY?: Fresh meat prevents scurvy.
15. Intermittent Fasting: We do not fast.
IF Definition: “Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an umbrella term for various diets that cycle between a period of fasting and non-fasting during a defined period. IF can also be used with calorie restriction for weight loss.”
Fasting Definition: “Fasting is a willing abstinence or reduction from some or all food, drink or both for a period of time.”
KEY WORDS: willing abstinence.
We eat when hungry. We don’t eat when not hungry. That’s not fasting. That’s just not being hungry.
For more information on the zero carb carnivore diet, please join us in our Facebook Groups – Zero Carb Health, Zero Carb: Living the Good Life, Zeroing in on Health
