Category: Life

Focus on the Zen

By Dana Spencer, a 12+ yr ZC Carnivore

I see so many people struggling on the Zero Carb Carnivore diet who really just need to get out of their own way. Some of you are focused on the wrong things or living in fear. Fear of weight gain, fear of scurvy, fear of saturated fat, fear of what your family, friends or doctor is going to think of your meat diet.

Too many of you are hyper focused on your looks and how much you weigh. Every time you put on a pair of tight pants you just want to cry and all day long those uncomfortable tight pants that dig into your fat belly when you sit down are constantly reminding you of how fat you are. I get it, I have been there, it sucks.

By: Stephen V. (2017)
While visiting Hawaii you may learn about a famous surfer and water-man named Eddie Aikau. There is a saying in regards to whether the surf was too high, “Eddie would go!” He wasn’t crazy or suicidal. He just knew the surf break very well. He was raised to respect the danger, and learned the secret was not to fight the ocean. Instead humble yourself and use its power to accomplish your goals. Hawaiians on surfboards and outrigger canoes amazed the Europeans who first saw them. No where on the planet had anyone ever conquered the water that way.

The Dirty Carnivore

Steak By – Dana

With all the new “Carnivore Diet” hype and the discovery that actually being a full time ZC carnivore is hard and in most cases, unnecessary, I thought I would bring back the original term used to describe people who were almost Carnivores. Re-introducing, the “Dirty Carnivore”.

Dirty Carnivore was a forum created, maybe back in 2010 (I forget the year) by somebody who could not give up her non ZC foods. This was a perfect example of Carbohydrate addiction. She felt better on a mostly meat diet, but felt some harmless low carb nuts, dark chocolate and veggies should be allowed. This same thing is going on, again, today. So many people want to be carnivores, but are finding it is not as easy as it sounds, because of acculturation and addiction to carbohydrates.

Zero Carb Carnivore Diet and Cheating.

No Cheating By, Dana

The Zero Carb diet is an all or nothing diet. There is no “almost ZC” or 90% ZC, or ZC 4 days a week. If you are cheating and eating plant foods and or zero carb artificial sweeteners, you are not Zero Carb, you are Low Carb. It takes several weeks/months of 100% Zero Carb to become completely fat adapted and realize the amazing benefits that a plant free, chemical free, diet can do for you.

The Zero Carb Carnivore diet is similar to AA, Alcoholic Anonymous. ZC is basically AA for carbohydrate addicts. ZC is a diet for carb addicts and Zero Carb Health is a recovery, support and educational group for people (addict or not) trying to give up carbohydrates and get healthy.

When I started this diet 10 years ago, my carbohydrate addiction ended when my blood sugar stabilized. Blood sugar swings from eating carbohydrates is what drove my addiction. So, once they were gone, this diet was very easy for me. I never wanted a carbohydrate after my blood sugar got under control.

I soon learned that this was not the case for many people. Eliminating carbohydrates did not cure their carb addiction, like it did mine. This is when we realized that some people have a real addiction to carbs, just like alcohol/drug/smokers are addicted. This is why we are so strict about keeping images of carbohydrate “trigger” foods and posts about cheating, out of the group. Just like an alcoholic doesn’t want to hear about other alcoholics giving into drinking or seeing pictures of their favorite drink all over the place. We try to keep ZCH a carb free, safe zone.

Carbohydrate or sugar addiction is no different than an alcohol or drug addiction. The addiction infects every cell of your body and your brain. It takes about 90 days for the brain to break free of the immediate effects of an addictive substance. So, if you can’t make it 90 days or so of ZC then you are not even close to overcoming your addiction and becoming fat adapted. It takes the body weeks and months or years to detox from the damaging effects of years and years of the over consumption of carbohydrates and sugar.

When you keep cheating and feeding that addiction your body remains in a state of turmoil. Your body will not adapt to clean fat burning if you continue to feed it carbs. You think that 1 piece of dark chocolate or avocado or whatever, once a week or once a month has no effect on you, yet here you are complaining and upset because you are not seeing the results you want. Guess what? That 1 bite of sugar is obviously a huge problem for you! The fact that you can’t stop yourself from cheating should be a clue that you have a problem. But, that is why we are here, to help you get over your addiction. We are not here to give you gold stars for being ZC for 100 days. We want to help people ditch their sugar habits, but we can’t help anybody unless they are honest.

Not all of us are addicts. Those, like myself, who pretty much had an easy time transitioning to meat only, are not addicts. Those of you who keep cheating with sugar are bonafide addicts. Every bite or sip of sweetness is completely derailing any progress and putting you and your body right back at day 1.

So, stop fooling yourselves. If you cannot control cravings and continue to cheat over and over, you are not ZC and this diet will not work the way it is supposed to. You are “trying” to be ZC. There is nothing wrong with that. Your cheating experience is valuable because it is the most common problem. The struggle is real. Your honesty can help open up the discussion on how to help others with the same problem.

This diet is not easy. Most people have a very hard time. Most people can’t do it for very long. Don’t beat yourself up, just do the best you can and be honest about it. We are here to help you. If this diet makes you miserable and you see no benefits then it’s simply not for you.

For more information about the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet, join us in our Facebook Group.

The Human Natural Diet and the Evolution of the Zero Carb Diet. (Part 6)

Tri-Tip The Human Natural Diet and the Evolution of the Zero Carb Diet. (Part 6)

(Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4), (Part 5)

by, Dana

Ten years ago, when Zero Carb was just starting, Kimkins was the popular fad diet. Kimkins was a low carb, low fat diet. Most people who come to the Zero Carb diet, did so via a low carb and or a low fat diet, so many of our members were low carb, low fat or Kimkins refugees. Due to the fear of saturated fats, high cholesterol and heart disease, we had to stress eating fat. Eating animal fat is healthy, the human body loves animal fats. Animal fats give our bodies the fuel it needs to build a strong healthy body and brain. But people were conditioned to eating skinless chicken breasts, lean pork and fish, because those were the healthy white meats. We had to tell people to add fat in the form of butter, lard, tallow or bacon grease because if you do not eat enough fat, you will have no energy, and you will eventually give into carb cravings or quit the diet, altogether. Most of us added fat to our meals. It was like our bodies were fat starved. We craved it. We seeked out fat scraps in restaurants, butcher shops and grocery stores. We were fat crazed!
Read More

Recognizing Hunger on a Zero Carb Carnivore Diet

Hungry By – Caitlin Tilton

HUNGER CUES

We’re learning “body” hunger instead of “head” hunger!

Head hunger will tell you that _____ carbs are what you are hungry for, right? We think we’re fighting cravings when we stand firm and don’t give in to those kind of signals. Or we feel like a failure if we do give in to those signals and eat _____ carbs.

We MUST begin to realize that this is actually “body” hunger. On a mixed diet, including carbs, and especially on a low calorie or restricted diet, our bodies are starving at the cellular level. They’re not getting the optimum fuel. So our cells cry out for fuel! It often takes the form of carbs, right? A candy bar, bread, juice/soda, pasta, etc. (Usually I avoid naming carbs, so overlook this, for the purpose of this discussion.)

When our mind/head suggests a certain carb, we call that a craving. Often it is so strong that we cannot focus on anything else until we locate that particular food and satisfy that craving.

Zero Carb – Surviving Social Situations and Holidays

~ By Caitlin Tilton

There are all kinds of tricky situations – we completely understand! Family gatherings, social, business lunches, etc. There are cultural differences to consider, in some cases, also.

For big parties, the office holiday party, church pot luck dinners, and similar – these are often the easiest to deal with. As has been said before, most people don’t even notice! In the early days, do yourself a favor and eat BEFORE a meal. It will be so much easier on you if the choices are limited.

Bring one dish you can eat. Cheese platters, (with pepperoni, sausage, and crackers, if necessary), deviled eggs, shrimp, meatballs, crust-less quiche, sliced deli meat platters, a roast beef, there are really a lot of party foods you can bring, if appropriate.

The Zero Carb Diet is Not a Cure All

By – Caitlin Tilton

Some recent musings. Hoping to clarify our position and clear up misunderstandings.

1. Eating a meat-only diet (referred to as Zero Carb or ZC) will not cure everything. We have never stated that. In fact, if we did state that, we would open ourselves up to lawsuits. Keep this in mind.

2. Eliminating carbohydrates and eating only meat IS the single best thing you can do for your overall health. We absolutely stand behind this statement.

3. Expecting miracles in a few days or weeks is unrealistic. Many people do experience immediate relief from troublesome symptoms, such as gastric distress, insomnia, fatigue, etc., but many others do not.

Most obese and overweight people will lose weight. If you have multiple health issues, it’s possible that you won’t see rapid weight loss at first.

Our Data For The Nequalsmany Zero Carb Carnivore Experiment

Rumors are going around the Zero Carb Community about a Doctor, Shawn Baker, wanting to conduct an experiment ( nequalsmany) to collect data about people who eat a zero carb carnivorous diet, specifically, meat and water. This could be exciting for those of us who live this lifestyle. We would love for our diet to get more exposure about how healthy it is, because we are tired of being in the closet about it, being shamed, condemned and bullied by doctors, family and loved ones.

I have to say I am not too excited by the Data he wants to collect. We have 10 years of observation and testimonials from thousands of people to easily produce the Data being sought.

We already know the results of this experiment.
Read More

Zero Carb Ordering from McDonald’s

By Marcy Lilly

A la Carte MENU CHOICES:

McDonald’s burgers are 100% beef.
No fillers. (Don’t be foolish and believe all the stories out there)

The seasoning is 86% pepper, 14% salt.
There is NO msg, or anything else mixed in.

They are cooked on a special “plate” which has no oil or butter, and are cooked in their own juices

Order the 1/4 pound patties. If they have trouble, tell them it’s an add-on, on the
a la carte menu. The manager may need to help. That’s ok…it’s a teaching moment, so the next time you go in, they will remember.

If you use this same store every time, eventually you can go through the Drive Thru because you have taught them that the Crazy Burger Person is ordering! 😂😂