The Zero Carb Health approach to the zero carb carnivore diet is based on the natural human diet. The one our healthy, disease free ancestors ate. It’s not about ketones, blood sugar, macros or calories. The goal is to live a happy healthy life free from disease and constant thoughts of food.
Our meat eating ancestors did not have high ketones or low blood sugar, yet they were healthy and fit. If you are not eating carbohydrates you are on a ketogenic diet. Just because your ketone levels might be very low does not mean you are not in ketosis. The current trend of trying to reach high ketones and get your blood sugar low is likely sabotaging your health, not helping it. By purposely trying to achieve something your body is uncomfortable with you are working against homeostasis. The body likes homeostasis. (Homeostasis, from the Greek words for “same” and “steady,” refers to any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival.)
It is IMPOSSIBLE to naturally maintain high ketone numbers, especially if you are on a zero carb diet, where you don’t have carbohydrates as a macro to manipulate. You have to constantly manipulate fat/protein macros, feeding times and calories to get high ketone readings. The body does not want to be producing lots of ketones so it will adapt to your tweaks so it’s not over producing which will bring the numbers down. How can this be healthy if the body is constantly fighting to bring ketones down? There is zero science or history on humans maintaining high ketone levels in the long term.
Blood sugar. Normal fasting blood sugar is below 100. Mine is around 98. 98 is not high, it’s normal. When on a zero carb diet instead of getting easy glucose from your diet your body is making the glucose levels that is needs via gluconeogenisis (making glucose out of protein) and insulin is low because the body is producing the amount of glucose it needs for your level of activity. Most of us long term zero carb carnivores have stable blood glucose levels in the 90’s, and our insulin levels are low.
When eating too many carbohydrates your body is being force fed more glucose than it needs, so insulin is high as it tries to bring down those high glucose levels. The root cause of insulin resistance, metabolic disease and bad health is high insulin. High insulin is bad.
People on zero carb diets shouldn’t be trying to lower their blood glucose. If you are not eating carbohydrates, your blood glucose stabilizes to a level where your body needs it. It will just happen naturally, UNLESS you have high cortisol. Cortisol raises blood sugar. Cortisol can’t really be controlled by diet. A Zero Carb Diet can help reduce inflammation and can help with anxiety and stress which would naturally lower cortisol, (see post “Focus on the Zen”) but trying to purposely reduce your blood sugar levels by manipulating macros and calories on a zero carb diet is disrupting homeostasis and likely raising cortisol.
Although I don’t agree with the plant based dietary recommendations, this is a great post explaining why high cortisol is bad.
Low blood sugar (below 70) is not healthy. Low blood sugar is more dangerous than high blood sugar. When your blood sugar gets too low, your body produces cortisol to raise blood sugar. So those of you eating a zero carb carnivore diet trying to force your blood sugar levels lower than where your body wants it are causing cortisol to rise to increase blood sugar. There is Zero science and history suggesting a blood glucose level, in a healthy person, of 80 is better than a level of 99.
The Zero Carb Carnivore diet is very simple. Just eat meat, no plant foods and no sweeteners. Adaptation and healing can take a long time. Be patient, relax and enjoy the diet and the all the little benefits that go along with it. If you are not enjoying the diet, then you won’t stay on it. This diet is not for everybody. If you don’t see any benefits after 3 months and you are not happy there is likely something else other than diet that is causing your problems. You can be eating the healthiest diet in the world, but if your lifestyle or your attitude is unhealthy, you will be sick.
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