The Challenge is self guided. It’s set up around what I learned when I started the diet in 2007.

The more I read, the more confident I became about this diet being healthy. So the daily posts are mostly about education and giving you the tools and knowledge you need for success.

Before starting the challenge, take time to clear out tempting foods, stock your fridge and freezer with meat you enjoy, and keep it simple. You don’t need elaborate recipes, expensive ribeyes, or complicated rules. Focus on fatty meat, nothing sweet, and zero carb consistency.

Eat well, go for a walk, get some good sleep, and start tomorrow with a calm, committed mindset.

This challenge isn’t about willpower or restriction. It’s simply about removing carbohydrates, fueling your body with nutrient dense animal foods and giving your body the conditions it needs to heal and re-balance

Stay consistent, and trust the process.

I have created a Carnivore Challenge Quick Start Guide PDF download that’s available in my Etsy store for just $7!

It’s not required, most of the information is already on the Zero Carb Health website, this guide just puts it all together in one place.

Tomorrow you begin. Keep it simple, and take it one meal at a time. If you have questions, want to share your meals and experience join us in the in the Zero Carb Health Facebook group or Page.

After years of trying every diet in existence, I finally went back to the diet with the most success, Atkins. I had done Atkins in the past, but all of the fat scared me. This time I decided to actually read the book to find out why the diet worked.

I was sick of counting carbs and calories, so I just ate foods I knew didn’t have any carbs, which is meat, cheese, seafood, etc. I was also including lettuce and cucumbers because I would make chicken or tuna salad and liked the crunch of lettuce.

But, I was doing my own “healthy” version of Atkins, low fat! My goal was to stick to Atkins Induction (less than 20 carbs per day) for 2 weeks.

The first few days I wasn’t feeling great, hadn’t pooped in days, was feeling sluggish, bloated and fatter. But, I pressed on.

Then I got to the part in the book where he basically says you need to eat more fat on this! He even has a “Fat Fast” version of the diet in one of his books that is supposed to jump start fat burning.

So, I ditched the low fat foods: mayo, cottage cheese, blue cheese dressing, chicken breast, turkey bacon and went full fat everything! I WAS IN HEAVEN!

By the 10th day, I think I was only down 3 lbs, but I looked 15lbs thinner, especially in my face.

I also felt amazing and I had no digestive problems.

I had lifelong digestive pain, bloating and gas. I thought it was normal. When I realized carbohydrates and fiber caused it, I never wanted to eat a carbohydrate again! Being free from that pain became my “why”.

That’s when I realized ”NOTHING tastes as good as being healthy feels!”

This isn’t “bro science”, it’s how the stress, cortisol, and fuel management systems work when protein is removed from an already zero carb metabolism.

On a zero carb carnivore diet:

• insulin stays very low
• glucagon stays high
• you burn fat all day
• blood sugar stays stable
• cortisol stays regulated
• your body gets consistent protein for repair

This is already a fasting-mimicking metabolic state.

Your body loves this state. It’s safe, fed, stable, and hormonally calm.

But when you remove food, especially protein, you flip a switch.

Fasting Removes the ONE Fuel Zero Carb Eaters Still Need: PROTEIN

In strict ketosis (zero carb diet), your body gets:

• glucose needs from gluconeogenesis (protein → glucose)
• structural repair from dietary amino acids
• hormone production from protein and fat
• enzyme turnover from protein

When you fast:

Protein intake goes to zero.

But protein requirements do not go to zero!

So where does the body get protein?

From lean tissue and organ proteins!
(muscle, connective tissue, digestive enzymes, immune proteins)

This triggers a stress response… and here’s where belly fat enters the picture.

Fasting Raises Cortisol Significantly, Even in Deep Ketosis

Cortisol rises during fasting for several reasons:

• to mobilize glucose
• to liberate amino acids
• to maintain blood pressure
• to keep the brain energized
• to help the liver produce glucose from tissue

This cortisol increase is NORMAL during fasting.
But for zero carb people, it’s amplified because:

• they have no glycogen
• no dietary protein
• no carb buffer
• the body must break down tissue faster
• stress signals rise sooner

High cortisol tells the body:

“We’re in a scarcity situation.”

This activates belly fat storage.

Cortisol Shifts Body Composition Toward BELLY FAT

Cortisol doesn’t just increase fat breakdown, it also increases fat storage, especially in the visceral (“belly”) region.

Evolutionarily:

• belly fat is the most metabolically active
• easiest to mobilize
• safest for storing emergency energy

So during intense metabolic stress the body stores emergency fuel around the organs even while losing muscle from protein shortage.

This is why women who under eat, restrict protein, or fast too long often say:

• “I’m losing weight but my belly looks worse”
• “I’m getting softer around the middle”
• “My stomach looks puffy even though I’m eating less”

This is cortisol-driven redistribution.

On zero carb, you rely heavily on daily protein.

When fasting:

• you lose lean mass
• your basal metabolic rate drops
• your mitochondria downshift (you NEVER want to make your mitochondria unhappy!)
• your body becomes more conservative with energy

Lower metabolism means your body prefers storing fat in the easiest place:

The belly area (visceral fat)!

So even though you’re eating zero carb the rest of the time, the cycle becomes:

Fasting → muscle loss → slowed metabolism → belly fat accumulation

This happens EVEN without carbs!

Fasting Raises Blood Sugar (Cortisol Effect)

This is the sneaky part.

Cortisol:

• raises blood glucose
• increases gluconeogenesis
• reduces insulin sensitivity in muscles
• reroutes energy to central fat stores

This means:

Fasting can cause higher glucose and lower insulin sensitivity…
despite eating a zero carb carnivore diet.

This cortisol-driven glucose instability tells the body again:

“Store more fat around the organs.”

For Women, This Is Magnified 2-5×

Especially during perimenopause/menopause, when:

• estrogen is lower (estrogen buffers cortisol)
• progesterone is lower (progesterone is calming)
• thyroid is more fragile
• muscle loss accelerates
• stress response is stronger

So fasting produces:

• bigger cortisol spikes
• faster thyroid suppression
• more muscle loss
• more visceral fat deposition
• worse blood sugar in the morning

This is why many zero carb carnivore women over 40 say:

“I gained weight or can’t lose fat on the Carnivore Diet.”

This isn’t fat from food, it’s stress induced fat storage and muscle loss caused by under eating, restricting protein and or fasting.

Why Fasting on Zero Carb Leads to Belly Fat Storage

– Zero carb metabolism already mimics fasting

– Removing protein triggers muscle breakdown

– Muscle breakdown triggers high cortisol

–  High cortisol = increased visceral/belly fat storage

– Stress hormones raise blood sugar

– Slowed metabolism shifts body composition toward belly fat

– Women are far more sensitive to this pattern, especially 40+

Bottom Line

For people eating a zero carb carnivore diet:

Fasting isn’t a stronger version of the diet, it’s a stressor that cancels out many benefits.

In zero carb adapted metabolism, fasting and restriction often leads directly to belly fat storage through cortisol and muscle loss.

You can LOSE weight but GAIN belly fat because the composition shifts.

For more information about the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet join us in our Facebook Groups : Zero Carb Health and Zeroing in on Health.

Cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone

• Cortisol is produced by your adrenal glands, small glands that sit right on top of your kidneys.
• It’s part of your body’s “fight or flight” system, released in response to stress, low blood sugar, inflammation, or even just waking up in the morning.
• Its main purpose is to help you survive by making energy available when you need it most.

What cortisol does

Cortisol affects nearly every tissue in your body. Its main jobs include:

• Raising blood sugar when energy is needed (by stimulating the liver to make glucose).
• Mobilizing fuel – breaking down fat and protein for energy.
• Reducing inflammation (in short bursts).
• Regulating blood pressure and fluid balance.
• Supporting alertness and wakefulness (especially in the morning).

Think of cortisol as your body’s “built-in stimulant and energy manager.”

Cortisol follows a daily rhythm

In a healthy person, cortisol is highest in the morning (giving you energy to wake up and get moving) and gradually drops throughout the day, reaching its lowest point at night when it’s time to rest.

If you live under constant stress, don’t sleep well, over train, or under eat, that rhythm can get disrupted keeping cortisol elevated at the wrong times.

Why chronically high cortisol is a problem

Short-term cortisol spikes are normal and helpful. But when stress becomes chronic, cortisol stays elevated and that can cause:

• Higher blood sugar and HbA1c
• Insulin resistance
• Muscle loss and fat gain (especially belly fat)
• Poor sleep and fatigue
• Suppressed immunity and slow recovery

Essentially, cortisol is beneficial in short bursts but damaging when it never turns off.

Cortisol and ketogenic diets

When you first switch to a zero carb carnivore or ketogenic diet, your body may release a bit more cortisol temporarily to help maintain blood sugar while you adapt to fat metabolism.

That’s normal and short-lived.

Over time, most people on a well-formulated carnivore diet actually see lower baseline cortisol because inflammation drops, blood sugar stabilizes, and the body becomes metabolically calm.

Summary

• Cortisol is your body’s master stress hormone, essential for energy, alertness, and balance.
• Short-term cortisol keeps you alive. Chronic cortisol keeps you tired, inflamed and metabolically stuck.

Learning how to manage stress, rest deeply, and fuel properly is as important for your health as eating right because even a perfect diet can’t offset a body that never feels safe enough to relax.

How does cortisol raise HbA1c?

Cortisol’s job is to raise blood sugar

Cortisol is your body’s main stress hormone, released by the adrenal glands when you’re under physical, emotional, or metabolic stress.

Its purpose is to increase energy so you can respond to that stress. (run from a tiger)

It does this by:

• Stimulating gluconeogenesis, your liver making glucose from protein and fat.
• Reducing glucose uptake by muscles and other tissues (to keep more glucose available for the brain).
• Breaking down muscle into amino acids that can be turned into glucose.

So cortisol’s overall effect = higher blood glucose (sugar).

Chronic cortisol = chronically elevated glucose

When cortisol stays high for too long, from ongoing stress, lack of sleep, illness, overtraining, or even under eating, blood sugar remains slightly elevated much of the time.

Even if you don’t notice it on a single fasting glucose test, your average glucose over weeks and months rises.

HbA1c reflects long-term glucose exposure

Hemoglobin A1c measures how much glucose has attached (or glycated) to your red blood cells over their lifespan (about 120 days for carb eaters).

The higher your average blood sugar, the more glycation occurs and the higher your A1c.

So when cortisol keeps glucose circulating longer or higher than normal, more of it sticks to hemoglobin, pushing your A1c up.

Stress and insulin resistance

Chronically elevated cortisol also makes your cells less sensitive to insulin, especially muscle and fat cells.

That means glucose stays in the bloodstream longer, again contributing to a higher average and a higher A1c.

This effect can happen even in people who eat zero-carb or carnivore if they’re under constant stress, not sleeping or eating enough.

Summary

Cortisol raises HbA1c because it increases blood sugar production, decreases glucose uptake, and promotes mild insulin resistance.

Even if you’re eating perfectly, chronic stress can keep your blood sugar slightly higher on average enough to affect your A1c reading.

That’s why stress management, adequate sleep, and restful recovery are just as important as diet for optimal metabolic health.

You can be eating zero carb and still see elevated A1c if your body thinks it’s in a constant fight-or-flight mode.

How chronically high cortisol can cause weight gain or prevent weight loss even on a zero carb carnivore diet.

Cortisol’s Role in Energy Regulation

Cortisol is your body’s primary stress hormone, produced by the adrenal glands. Its job is to:

• Raise blood glucose when needed (for example, during fasting, low carb intake, or stress)
• Mobilize fat and protein for fuel
• Help manage inflammation

Short-term, this is adaptive and even beneficial. But when cortisol stays chronically elevated, the system shifts in ways that promote fat storage instead of fat burning.

Glucose and Insulin Effects

Even on a zero-carb diet, cortisol can raise blood glucose by stimulating gluconeogenesis (the creation of glucose from protein in the liver).

If this happens frequently:

• Blood glucose stays mildly elevated.
• The pancreas releases small but consistent amounts of insulin to control it.

Over time, this high-cortisol/high-insulin environment makes it harder to burn fat, because insulin suppresses lipolysis (fat breakdown).

So even if you eat a zero carb carnivore diet, stress can mimic the metabolic effects of eating carbs (cake).

Muscle Breakdown and Slower Metabolism

Cortisol also promotes the breakdown of muscle tissue to supply amino acids for gluconeogenesis (turning protein into glucose).

Less muscle mass = lower resting metabolic rate, meaning:

• You burn fewer calories at rest.
• The same food intake can now lead to weight gain or plateau.

But I eat plenty of protein, how could this be happening!?

Cortisol’s Role Is Catabolic, Not Just Compensatory

Cortisol doesn’t just mobilize nutrients when there’s not enough dietary intake it’s a catabolic hormone, meaning its default action is to break down tissue (especially muscle) to ensure the body has raw material for glucose production and stress response.

So even if you’re eating plenty of protein, chronically high cortisol still signals the body to break down muscle tissue for amino acids. The reason is priority: under stress, your body values maintaining blood glucose above preserving muscle.

Why Dietary Protein Doesn’t Always Protect Muscle

If cortisol is persistently elevated:

• Muscle protein breakdown increases (via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway).
• Protein synthesis decreases (since cortisol inhibits mTOR — the growth pathway).
• Gluconeogenesis ramps up — the liver converts amino acids (from both diet and muscle) into glucose.

Even if you’re consuming a high-protein diet, those amino acids can be:

• Pulled preferentially into gluconeogenesis instead of muscle repair.
• Combined with suppressed anabolic signaling (from mTOR inhibition and lowered testosterone/IGF-1).

The net effect can still be muscle loss, or at least reduced lean mass over time.

Note:

Gluconeogenesis is demand-driven it only ramps up when your body actually needs glucose.

The myth? Cutting protein prevents it from “turning into sugar.”

Reality: Eat less protein, and your body simply breaks down your own muscle to meet the demand driving catabolism and further tanking your metabolism.

It’s About Hormonal Context, Not Just Nutrient Availability

Think of it this way:

So even with adequate protein, the hormonal environment determines what happens to that protein whether it rebuilds tissue or gets burned for energy.

• In a high cortisol environment adequate protein is necessary but not sufficient for muscle maintenance.
• Chronic cortisol:
  • Inhibits protein synthesis (via mTOR suppression)
  • Stimulates muscle breakdown (via proteolytic enzymes)
  • Promotes amino acid diversion to glucose production
• Lowering cortisol (via rest, recovery, stress control) can restore protein balance even if diet stays the same.

Fat Redistribution

Cortisol changes where fat is stored:

• It promotes visceral fat (around the belly and organs), not subcutaneous fat.
• Visceral fat cells have more cortisol receptors and are more insulin-sensitive.
• This type of fat is metabolically active and can itself increase cortisol production a vicious cycle.

Sleep, Hunger, and Appetite Hormones

Chronic cortisol dysregulation also:

• Disrupts sleep → raises ghrelin (hunger hormone) and lowers leptin (satiety hormone)
• Increases cravings for carby foods (even if you resist them)
• Raises overall stress eating drive and lowers metabolic flexibility
• Can lead to over eating

Summary

What Helps

• Adequate calories: Chronic under-eating keeps cortisol high.
• Proper sleep: 7–9 hours consistently.
• Stress management: Walking, sunlight, deep breathing, self care, etc.
• Avoid excessive fasting or over training: Both are stressors that can keep cortisol elevated long-term.

For more information about the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet join us in our Facebook Groups : Zero Carb Health and Zeroing in on Health.

Related post: Why High Fasting Blood Glucose Is Normal On A Carnivore Diet

How can HbA1c be high but blood glucose be normal?

It’s absolutely possible for your HbA1c (A1c) to be higher than expected even when your day-to-day blood glucose readings look normal, especially for people eating low-carb, ketogenic, or carnivore diets.

Let’s break it down simply and clearly:

What HbA1c actually measures?

Hemoglobin A1c doesn’t directly measure blood sugar levels.

It measures how much glucose has attached to your red blood cells (hemoglobin) over roughly the past 3 months.

The idea is: the higher your average glucose, the more sugar sticks to those red blood cells.

BUT, A1c can be influenced by factors other than blood sugar!

Carnivore and low carb diets often extend red blood cell lifespan.

When you’re eating a nutrient-rich, zero carb carnivore diet, your red blood cells can actually live longer than average.

New science – long term blood cells living even longer.  They don’t know, but preliminary science shows it’s a thing.

Since they hang around longer, they have more time for glucose to attach even if your blood sugar is low or normally high because of your carnivore diet. (See Post on why high blood sugar can be normal) So your A1c can appear artificially elevated, not because your glucose is high, but because your red blood cells are healthy and living longer.

Differences in red blood cell turnover.

Anything that changes how long red blood cells live, like iron levels, B12, folate, or oxidative stress , can affect A1c readings.

If red blood cells live longer → A1c goes up.

If red blood cells turn over faster (shorter life) → A1c goes down.

So people on a carnivore diet, who often have excellent nutrient status and low oxidative stress, can naturally show higher A1c values despite stable glucose.

A1c reflects an average, not swings or patterns.

HbA1c doesn’t show you how stable your blood sugar is, just an average.

Two people can have the same A1c, but one may have big swings (high highs and low lows), while the other is rock steady all day.

Carnivore or keto diet eaters often have extremely stable blood sugar, so their “average” might seem a bit higher, but it’s steady and healthy, not spiking and crashing.

Better markers to look at.

If your A1c seems high but your daily glucose is normal, check other markers for context:

• Fasting insulin – should be low
• HOMA-IR – low = good insulin sensitivity

If those are good, your metabolism is likely very healthy, and the A1c is just misleading in your case.

A high A1c with normal glucose doesn’t always mean you have a problem.

It can mean your very healthy, your red blood cells live longer, your blood sugar is steady, and the test just doesn’t reflect your real-time metabolic health.

What makes red blood cells live longer?

Red blood cell lifespan isn’t fixed; while the average is around 120 days, it can vary quite a bit depending on health, nutrition, and oxidative stress.

Here’s what’s known to make red blood cells live longer and why that can happen in people following low-carb or carnivore diets:

Lower oxidative stress.

High blood sugar, inflammation, and oxidative stress all damage red blood cells and shorten their lifespan.

When you simply remove sugar and lower carbohydrates from your diet, oxidative stress drops dramatically.

Less oxidative damage means red blood cells don’t break down as fast, so they live their full, healthy life cycle (or even slightly longer).

In short: low glucose = less oxidative stress = longer-living red blood cells.

Better nutrient status.

Carnivore, ketogenic and well-formulated low-carb diets are typically rich in the nutrients that support red blood cell health and production, such as:

• Iron (especially heme iron)
• Vitamin B12
• Folate
• B6 and riboflavin
• High-quality protein (amino acids are crucial for new red blood cell synthesis)

When your body isn’t nutrient-deficient, new red blood cells are made efficiently, and old ones stay functional longer.

Reduced glycation and membrane damage.

On high-carb diets, constant glucose exposure “glycates” (sticks sugar onto) red blood cell membranes, making them stiffer and more fragile.

These glycated (sugar coated) cells are then removed early by the spleen.

When glucose exposure is low (due to eating less carbs), glycation is minimized, and membranes stay flexible, so cells circulate longer without being destroyed.

Stable energy metabolism.

Ketones and fatty acids produce less oxidative waste than glucose metabolism.

That cleaner energy environment reduces wear and tear on all cells, including red blood cells, extending their lifespan and improving function.

Lower inflammation and immune activation.

Chronic inflammation and infections increase red blood cell turnover, your body breaks them down faster.

Carnivore, zero carb and ketogenic diets tend to lower systemic inflammation, which reduces unnecessary red blood cell destruction and prolongs survival.

In summary:

Red blood cells live longer when the body is in a healthy, low-stress, low-glucose, nutrient-rich environment, which is exactly what low-carb, ketogenic and carnivore diets create.

So, if your HbA1c runs higher, it could simply reflect that your red blood cells are healthier and living longer, not that you are prediabetic or unhealthy.

For more information about the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet join us in our FaceBook Groups : Zero Carb Health and Zeroing in on Health.

Related post: Why High Fasting Blood Glucose Is Normal On A Carnivore Diet

It’s normal, and even expected, for fasting blood glucose to be slightly higher (typically 80–110 mg/dL) in people following a well-formulated Zero Carb carnivore or ketogenic diets, compared to the lower end of the normal range (70–85 mg/dL) often seen in carb-fed individuals. This is not a sign of diabetes or insulin resistance; it’s a physiological adaptation called physiological insulin resistance.

The body adapts to using fat and ketones, not glucose

If you are not eating carbohydrates, then your body makes what it needs.

When fat-adapted, your muscles, heart, and brain run mostly on fat and ketones. Because of that, your muscles don’t need as much glucose. This means glucose tends to stay in the bloodstream a little longer, which can make fasting glucose look slightly higher even though insulin levels are low and metabolism is working efficiently.

This state is sometimes called “physiological insulin resistance” or “adaptive glucose sparing.”

It’s not the same as pathological insulin resistance (like in prediabetes), because:

• Insulin levels are still low.

• Post-meal glucose stays stable. (no spikes)

• There’s no fat gain, inflammation, or energy crashes.

“Physiological insulin resistance is an adaptive, energy-efficient state where glucose is spared for obligate tissues while ketones fuel the rest — resulting in normal-range hyperglycemia with low insulin and excellent metabolic health.”

The dawn phenomenon (morning rise in glucose)

Another reason for higher fasting glucose is what’s called the dawn phenomenon.

In the early morning, your body releases hormones — mainly cortisol, epinephrine, and growth hormone, to prepare you to wake up and start your day. These hormones tell your liver to release glucose into the blood for quick energy.

On a carb-based diet, insulin quickly balances this out.

But on a ketogenic or zero-carb diet, insulin stays low, so the liver’s glucose release can push fasting readings up a bit even though this is completely normal and healthy.

This is adaptive. It’s your body saying:

“I’m running on fat and ketones. Let the glucose float around for the few cells that need it.”

Zero Carb Carnivore eaters often have excellent metabolic health despite higher FBG

In long-term keto or carnivore diet eaters, a slightly higher fasting glucose doesn’t mean poor health.

The key markers that show what’s really happening are:

• Low fasting insulin

• Low triglycerides

• High HDL cholesterol

• Stable glucose throughout the day

Together, these indicate efficient fat metabolism and insulin sensitivity, even if fasting glucose looks “borderline high” by standard lab ranges.

If you’re following a ketogenic or carnivore lifestyle, remember this: a slightly higher fasting blood sugar doesn’t mean something’s wrong. It’s just your body adapting to a different fuel system, one that runs on fat and ketones instead of carbs.

What matters most is how you feel, how steady your energy is, and whether your markers, like insulin, triglycerides, and HDL, show that your metabolism is working efficiently.

When to Worry (Red Flags)

This adaptation is healthy unless you see:

• Fasting glucose >126 mg/dL consistently

• HbA1c >5.7%

• Excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue

These suggest underlying issues (e.g., T2 diabetes, cortisol excess, or poor keto implementation).

Health isn’t about chasing perfect numbers. It’s about living in a way that supports long-term balance, energy, and clarity, and that’s exactly what a carnivore or zero-carb lifestyle can do.

Related Post: Why Your HbA1c May Be high on a Carnivore Diet.

For more information about the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet join us in our Facebook Groups : Zero Carb Health and Zeroing in on Health.

The real enemy isn’t seed oils, it’s carbohydrates and chronically high blood sugar.

What Are Seed Oils?

Seed oils are cooking oils extracted from plants like soybeans, corn, sunflower, safflower, and canola. They’re commonly used in processed foods, fast foods and baked goods.

Critics argue that seed oils cause inflammation and metabolic issues. But here’s the problem: there’s little evidence that seed oils alone are responsible for modern health problems.

The Real Problem: High Blood Sugar

Let’s cut to the chase:

• Seed oils don’t raise blood sugar.
• Carbohydrates do.
• And it’s chronically high blood sugar that leads to inflammation, obesity, and chronic disease.

So why are carbs often ignored in this conversation? Because pointing the finger at bread, pasta, cookies, and soda would threaten entire food and medical industries. Think about it. If enough people stopped eating processed foods and got healthy, that means less processed foods being sold and less doctor visits and medications. That can add up to a lot of money lost to those industries.

Déjà Vu: Red Meat Was Blamed Too

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this play out. For decades, red meat was wrongly blamed for heart disease and cancer. Meanwhile, the real culprit, over consumption of carbohydrates, was largely ignored. Seed oils are just the latest scapegoat.

A Cookie made with butter is still a cookie!

Swapping canola oil for butter in a cookie doesn’t suddenly make it a health food. It’s still packed with flour and sugar, the real drivers of blood sugar spikes, insulin resistance, and metabolic damage.

My Zero Carb Carnivore Seed Oil Experience

When I started Zero Carb 18 years ago, I ate a lot of mayonnaise—Hellman’s and Duke’s, specifically. I don’t like avocado mayo, macadamia nut mayo, or homemade “healthy” versions.

Today, I rarely eat mayo, but when I do, I stick to the brands I like. I’m healthy, I’m not worried about ¼ cup of seed oil per year killing me or having any effect, at all, on my health.

Here’s the bigger point: if you’re eating a serious zero carb carnivore diet, your food is almost entirely seed oil–free by default. So why is this even an issue? Why is the Zero Carb community even talking about seed oils?!

Are Seed Oils Actually Healthy?

For those who want “studies,” research shows that seed oils can actually support heart health and are healthy! They aren’t the poison they’re being made out to be.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00394-017-1386-2

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000252

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25161045/

The Bottom Line

Seed oils are not the cause of poor health. Carbohydrates are.

If you want to avoid inflammation, obesity, and chronic disease, focus less on seed oils and more on reducing carbs and sugars.

An insulin response is how your body reacts when insulin is released into the bloodstream. This typically happens after you eat, especially when you consume carbohydrates or sugars, but it can also be triggered by smelling food, seeing food, thinking about food or in anticipation to eating carbs.

When you eat, your blood sugar (glucose) levels rise. In response, the pancreas releases insulin. Insulin helps cells in your body absorb glucose from the blood to use for energy or to store for later use. As a result, blood sugar levels drop back to normal.

But if your blood sugar is already normal the insulin release causes a brief low blood sugar situation that triggers hunger/cravings.

Just the smell, thought or sight of food can trigger an insulin response!

The smell/thought/sight of food triggers the release of insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar. This is known as the cephalic phase of insulin secretion.

For the science geeks: The cephalic phase of insulin release is a physiological reflex that causes a rise in insulin levels in response to food-related stimuli, such as sight, smell, or taste. The smell/sight/taste of food triggers a short-term inflammatory response in the brain. This response activates the vagus nerve, which increases insulin secretion.

The smell, sight and even thought of food can also trigger salivation.  Example: Think about biting into a lemon, your mouth watered just by THINKING about it.

The insulin response to food is a result of the body anticipating glucose entering the bloodstream. The insulin release is relatively small and peaks within 2–5 minutes of smelling food.

So, what does all of this mean and why does it matter?

I have been in the Zero Carb carnivore space for 17 years.  I have seen many of the same people come and go, with disappointing results, and I have seen a lot of people still here who just can’t lose weight no matter what they do.

If you can’t lose weight doing the Zero Carb Carnivore diet as we suggest, your problem is not the diet.  No amount of tweaking the diet, macros, calories, sardines or iodine is going to help.  Your problem is your environment, acculturation and your perception of it.  Your environment and thoughts are either creating insulin responses that lead to hunger and over eating, or your environment and thoughts are creating stress, that leads to high blood sugar and fat storage.  Stress is like eating cake for most people.  Some people lose weight when under stress, but most people, like me, gain when under chronic, daily stress.  That being said, you are not doomed, you just have to figure out how rewire your thinking, acculturation’s and perceptions by creating new healthy habits.  Easy to say, not so easy to do.

What is “Acculturation”?  An example is having to have a “treat” after an accomplishment, having to have “cake” for your birthday, having to have an after school/work “snack”, having to have pumpkin pie for the holidays……the list goes on.  You can automatically get an insulin response after work because you had a habit of snacking after work so your body expects food.  You have lived your whole life in a culture/ environment with these habits, it is hard wired into who you are. These habits simply need to be changed.

Acculturation is what makes the holidays so difficult on this diet.  We want the familiarity and comfort to indulge in our favorite family tradition foods with our loved ones.  Many people feel deprived and can’t resist the temptations to have just 1 bite of Grandmas apple pie.

How do you resist?  I did it by training myself to see carbs as poison because, for me, they are.  Carbs make me fat and sick!  If you were allergic to nuts you wouldn’t eat them.  News flash, if you are here, you are allergic to carbs, they make you fat and sick, don’t eat them.

Long before I started the Zero Carb Diet, I loved pasta, but I knew it was a problem for me.  I convinced myself that pasta was gross wet slimy dough.  If you think about it, it is!  Plain pasta with no sauce tastes like wet slimy dough, it’s the sauce we like, not the noodles.  That’s how I got over my pasta problem. I changed my perception of it.

Just like a nut allergy.  You love nuts or peanut butter, but out of the blue, you get sick and find out you have a nut allergy that will get worse and can kill you if you keep eating them.  That immediately changes your perception of nuts and you stop loving them.  Cravings for nuts magically gone forever because you learned they can kill you.

I changed my perception of all carbs.  I do not think about them, taste them or wish I could eat them.  I see them as the poison they are.

Just because it says “Zero Carbs” doesn’t mean it’s safe to eat on a zero carb diet.  Artificial sweeteners are a perfect example.  They may not raise blood sugar (in some people they do, I tested this years ago), but they absolutely create an insulin response to the “taste of sweet”.  Artificial sweeteners feed your sugar addiction and can make you over eat due to the insulin response, or they can make you store fat because of the elevated blood sugar response to the “taste of sweet”.

Recreating your favorite carb food with ZC alternatives is a problem and I notice many of the people who can’t lose weight are always making these things.  If it looks like cheesecake (bread, noodles or whatever carb dup), smells like cheesecake and tastes like cheesecake, guess what? Your body thinks it’s cheesecake and responds accordingly with insulin and or glucose.

I developed a lot of Zero Carb recipes.  I think they are useful in the first 2 years of this diet to help people stay on the diet and not feel deprived during the holidays.  Recipes are also a great way to trick your family into eating this way.  But, if you are still making these things regularly after 2 years and not seeing the results you expected, then the recipes are a problem for you.  Just eat plain meat.  If after 2 years plain meat doesn’t appeal to you then you are using food as entertainment not fuel.  That’s why you can’t lose weight.   You are cooking all these carb looking and smelling ZC foods and your body thinks you are eating carbs and responds accordingly with insulin and or glucose.

Biologically, we are all the same.  This diet should work the same for all human bodies.  Where we are different is our minds, perceptions and environment.

An example of this would be, one of our long time Zero Carb veterans.  She was a cake decorator!  It was her job, she didn’t see or perceive the cake and frosting as food, it was art.  She was totally disconnected from thoughts or smells of food as if it were paint and clay.  This diet worked as it should on her body and she is still ZC today.  

On the flip side I have seen members who are always baking or cooking for other people and they can’t lose weight on this diet.  The difference is these people have not mentally or emotionally disconnected from the smells/tastes/and past enjoyment of these foods and their bodies behave accordingly with insulin and or glucose responses keeping their bodies fat and unhealthy.  Our bodies are the same; it’s our minds that create different environments, perceptions and hormone responses.

To further exasperate the problem of not being able to lose weight or get healthy on this diet is people accepting that they are “different” and this diet doesn’t work for them. That’s bull shit!  Once you accept it, you own it and those negative thoughts alone will prevent fat loss.  Biologically, this diet works for all of us.  You need to understand that.  Knowing that opens the door to change and give you hope to find the answer for you.  Accepting that this diet won’t work for you, closes the door to change.  There is something in your environment that is preventing healing and you need to figure out what it is and change it or stay where you are. 

The Zero Carb diet is easy, all you can eat of fatty meat, cheese, bacon, eggs, sausages, seafood, butter steak, chicken, etc.  What’s not to like?!  Just don’t eat carbs, plants or anything sweet.  The hard part is changing your thoughts, environment and perceptions to allow the diet to work. 

For more information about the Zero Carb Diet join us in our FaceBook Groups : Zero Carb Health and Zeroing in on Health.