“Eating meat sounds so restrictive only to those who are behind the veil. Once that veil is lifted, one realizes that this really is the only way to be free of restrictions.” – Margot, 9/09.
I guess it’s time to defend Zero Carb Health (ZCH) and Zeroing in on Health’s (ZIOH) position on the Zero Carb Carnivore Diet. With the new surge of interest in the Zero Carb Carnivore diet, sparked by Dr. Shawn Baker and his podcast with Joe Rogan, we are seeing old familiar term’s used to describe our way of eating and specifically aimed towards the original Zero Carb groups (ZIOH and ZCH). Dogmatic, religious, narrow minded, too strict, cult, militant, zealots, etc.
Now, that we are through Bakers’ first World Carnivore Month, a 30 day all meat carnivore challenge, and “March Meatness Month” we are seeing the expected fallout. This diet is not easy. To quote The Bear: ” I must warn all of you that it is very unlikely that very many will be able to eat as I do over the long term, or in fact, to follow any diet for long which is much different from the one you were trained to as a baby/child. This is because diet is learned much the same way language, dress and behaviour is, and is buried deep and inaccessible, a part of your acculturation/socialisation. The very thing which makes us human is that deep and almost instinctive complex of behaviour.” After 10 years experience of moderating Zero Carb groups, The Bear was right, acculturation is a bitch, most people won’t stick to this way of eating for very long and carb addiction is real.
The bulk of this new wave of carnivores are fitness oriented and the median age is younger than we are used to seeing. Most 20-30 something’s are not yet experiencing the damage their diets are creating, so they really have no good reason to be carnivores except for wanting to be a meat eating, bad ass like Shawn Baker.
I think we can all agree that a ketogenic diet, a diet that primarily uses ketones for fuel instead of glucose, is a healthy diet for humans. Technically, a ketogenic diet allows for some carbs, 20 – 100 grams per day. A ketogenic diet is easier to accept, if up to 100 carbs of plant foods is allowed. Zero Carb was created for those of us who are so insulin resistant, metabolically damaged or addicted to carbs, that we can’t handle any carbohydrates. We learned that the few carbohydrates from animal foods were tolerable and didn’t cause cravings, but the carbohydrates from low carb plant foods, created inflammation and cravings for more and more and more and more. It was not until we dropped all plant foods, oils and sweeteners, that we experienced, not only freedom from constant food cravings, but miraculous healing of ailments we had endured for years.
Those of us who have been Zero Carb for years do not think of this diet as restrictive. This diet freed us from restriction because we no longer want those foods. We eat anything we want and feel no guilt! Steak, prime rib, cheese, shrimp, Blue cheese bacon burgers, fish, oysters, bacon, BBQ brisket, chicken wings, pork ribs, lobster and butter. We no longer see plant foods as food. We do not feel deprived or sad that we can’t have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. We don’t want pumpkin pie, not because it’s not ZC, but because we will suffer for days after eating it. To us, plants foods are poison. The suffering we experience from eating sweet foods, plant foods or carb laden foods, is not worth it. Zero carbers eschewing carbohydrates is no more dogmatic than an alcoholic giving up alcohol!
We are not selling anything. We all have jobs and lives that have nothing to do with Zero Carb or diets. We have dedicated our time and money, simply, to share our long term experiences on this amazing, easy path to optimal health. We don’t participate in these groups to convince anybody that zero carb is the healthiest diet. We do this to help the people who have already decided they want to try it. No one has to follow our path, we are just sharing our experience for fellow biohackers looking for health. But, if people want to experience the success that we have, then they must follow the path that we know works best. All we ask, is for people to give it a try for at least 30 days. If people can’t or don’t want to be Zero Carb, the way we defined it, we are OK with that, go be low carb. Don’t hang around and argue with us about why it’s OK for you to eat avocados. If you can eat avocados and feel great, good for you, you are not a Zero Carb Carnivore. Go be low carb or Keto in some other group and leave us alone.
We know this diet is not for everybody. If you feel best eating meat and plant foods, then good for you. Bashing us because we are so strict and calling us dogmatic is not cool. It just shows that you don’t need to be ZC or you never tried ZC long enough to understand why we only eat meat.
