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I eat eggs, bacon, beef, and salmon. More than half my calories, maybe more than 75%, come from beef. One thing you notice is that because there is no fiber o

I eat eggs, bacon, beef, and salmon. More than half my calories, maybe more than 75%, come from beef. One thing you notice is that because there is no fiber or sugar (or carbs of any kind) in the diet, you end up basically never farting -- and the volume of your poop decreases by something like 80%. You also hold a lot less water weight, your tolerance for alcohol decreases dramatically (although if you were strict about the diet you wouldn't be consuming alcohol anyway), you seem to have much less nasal congestion, and heartburn completely disappears. And your skin feels better. I've looked into it, and this diet is nutritionally complete -- it is not lacking in any vitamins or minerals. Fresh meat even contains some vitamin C. You can eat some sardines from time to time for extra calcium. On the whole I can't recommend this diet enough -- you end up in phenomenal shape.

sdenton4 3y ago
On the other hand, global warming (methane emissions from beef), water crisis (water to grow feed, instead of water to grow food), and wanton animal cruelty (most meat and eggs are industrially farmed and ethically dubious). It's a diet with lots of externalities, which really shouldn't scale up - Atkins and Paleo were disasters, really. (And it's worth reading about the long term research on the Atkins diet: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet ) Worth considering whether you can get similar effects with, say, 50% of the calories coming from plants. It sounds like you're mainly after carb- or gluten-free, which is quite doable without resorting to an all meat diet.
- nightski 3y ago
  Meh beef emissions are 3% of the emissions in the U.S. That and they could even be far lower with food additives. Globally it's higher but that is because of poor farming practices and very loose/negative regulation. I did keto for 8 years and it was fantastic. I am no longer on it for other reasons that have nothing to do with the diet itself.
- Chiba-City 3y ago
  [dead]
botanical 3y ago
This can't be healthy, can it? Plants give trace minerals, vitamins necessary for life. Not to mention the high-cholesterol and high-blood pressure cauding diseases of the heart by eating a meat-only diet. It's good to cut down on carbs but this seems extreme. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carnivore-diet#downsides https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carnivore-diet#downside...
- newsclues 3y ago
  It doesn't seem healthy if you are accustomed to the standard American diet. One overlooked factor is bioavailability of nutrients, not just how much there are in food. Lots of plants are high in X, but it's not very bioavailable, but nutrients in meat tend to be highly.
  - tashoecraft 3y ago
    It doesn’t seem healthy from basically every diet across the world. The amount of cultures, in history, that consumed only meat is incredibly tiny. Ignoring that, just the cost alone will be extreme. Oh it’s fine for you, you’re probably consuming garbage meat. Oh you only buy “grass fed” you’re probably buying grass pellet fed meat that has been shown to not have the nutritional diversity of actual grass fed meat. How is, eat a balanced diet, mostly plants become so controversial.
    - purpleflame1257 3y ago
      It became controversial because Big Food co-opted "balanced diet" in the mid 20th century to demonize animal fat and lionize agricultural fat and sugar. All the extreme diets you see are a reaction to that. There is absolutely nothing wrong on a dietary level with the majority of "traditional" diets--whether that is the fish, miso, and rice of Japan or the English meat and two veg. The problems come when you get to introduce a million cheap, tasty calories in the form of added fats and sugars.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
shlant 3y ago
you sound no different than every other diet of the month fanatic - overselling the benefits while downplaying any downsides
- ta988 3y ago
  That's mainly because any dramatic change feels like a change and they haven't seen the downsides yet. Some downsides take decades to develop with some diets. And the argument of "now I feel so much better" I have heard it with absolutely every kind of diets. Vegetarians now eating meat. Meat eaters now vegetarians. Paleo. Gluten-free. Crude/Raw...
- swader999 3y ago
  Atkins, low carb, paleo, keto, carnivore -- diet of the month. Sure but they are very close to the same thing and these have been rolling along for decades. Intermittent fasting and some new drugs are the only things in recent years that seem novel imo.
mistrial9 3y ago
this is ill-advised and often actually dangerous over time - source: witness to similar approach and after several years an adult damaged their stomach and GI tract (at least)
manmal 3y ago
Your microbiome diversity is not going to love this. You‘re killing off swaths of the strains your ancestors have passed on to you.
- jononomo 3y ago
  No, you are. I’m doing it right.

sdenton4 3y ago

On the other hand, global warming (methane emissions from beef), water crisis (water to grow feed, instead of water to grow food), and wanton animal cruelty (most meat and eggs are industrially farmed and ethically dubious). It's a diet with lots of externalities, which really shouldn't scale up - Atkins and Paleo were disasters, really. (And it's worth reading about the long term research on the Atkins diet: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet ) Worth considering whether you can get similar effects with, say, 50% of the calories coming from plants. It sounds like you're mainly after carb- or gluten-free, which is quite doable without resorting to an all meat diet.

nightski 3y ago
Meh beef emissions are 3% of the emissions in the U.S. That and they could even be far lower with food additives. Globally it's higher but that is because of poor farming practices and very loose/negative regulation. I did keto for 8 years and it was fantastic. I am no longer on it for other reasons that have nothing to do with the diet itself.
Chiba-City 3y ago
[dead]

botanical 3y ago

This can't be healthy, can it? Plants give trace minerals, vitamins necessary for life. Not to mention the high-cholesterol and high-blood pressure cauding diseases of the heart by eating a meat-only diet. It's good to cut down on carbs but this seems extreme. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carnivore-diet#downsides https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carnivore-diet#downside...

newsclues 3y ago
It doesn't seem healthy if you are accustomed to the standard American diet. One overlooked factor is bioavailability of nutrients, not just how much there are in food. Lots of plants are high in X, but it's not very bioavailable, but nutrients in meat tend to be highly.
- tashoecraft 3y ago
  It doesn’t seem healthy from basically every diet across the world. The amount of cultures, in history, that consumed only meat is incredibly tiny. Ignoring that, just the cost alone will be extreme. Oh it’s fine for you, you’re probably consuming garbage meat. Oh you only buy “grass fed” you’re probably buying grass pellet fed meat that has been shown to not have the nutritional diversity of actual grass fed meat. How is, eat a balanced diet, mostly plants become so controversial.
  - purpleflame1257 3y ago
    It became controversial because Big Food co-opted "balanced diet" in the mid 20th century to demonize animal fat and lionize agricultural fat and sugar. All the extreme diets you see are a reaction to that. There is absolutely nothing wrong on a dietary level with the majority of "traditional" diets--whether that is the fish, miso, and rice of Japan or the English meat and two veg. The problems come when you get to introduce a million cheap, tasty calories in the form of added fats and sugars.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

shlant 3y ago

you sound no different than every other diet of the month fanatic - overselling the benefits while downplaying any downsides

ta988 3y ago
That's mainly because any dramatic change feels like a change and they haven't seen the downsides yet. Some downsides take decades to develop with some diets. And the argument of "now I feel so much better" I have heard it with absolutely every kind of diets. Vegetarians now eating meat. Meat eaters now vegetarians. Paleo. Gluten-free. Crude/Raw...
swader999 3y ago
Atkins, low carb, paleo, keto, carnivore -- diet of the month. Sure but they are very close to the same thing and these have been rolling along for decades. Intermittent fasting and some new drugs are the only things in recent years that seem novel imo.

mistrial9 3y ago

this is ill-advised and often actually dangerous over time - source: witness to similar approach and after several years an adult damaged their stomach and GI tract (at least)

manmal 3y ago

Your microbiome diversity is not going to love this. You‘re killing off swaths of the strains your ancestors have passed on to you.

jononomo 3y ago
No, you are. I’m doing it right.