Yes, I accepted the challenge. Going 30 days with animal based foods only.
Why? For the experience. For the purported mental and physical benefits. Some people may be shocked. My mother won’t be happy about it. She told me once that a friend of my uncle went on this diet many years ago (this way of eating is not new) and that everyone commented that he looked fantastic. Then the next thing they knew, he died.
Well. First things first. What did he die of? Accident? Illness? Disease? If so, was it a preexisting condition even before he started the diet? Or perhaps he did not stick to the diet and went back to eating loads of carbohydrates mixed with high fat foods? If someone decided to become a vegetarian and then died shortly after, can we blame the diet for their death? That would be too simplistic.
As far as I know, nobody has died from practicing the carnivore way of eating. We all die eventually one day. In fact many auto-immune and mental health conditions have been resolved by observing the carnivore diet. It is a meat based, zero carbohydrate diet, which is nutrient dense and is a species appropriate diet. Mankind thrived on meat since prehistoric times.
I have done my fair share of reading and research and I know that this diet is safe. I will be eating meat and animal fats. And no, I will not be overeating to the point that I consume too much proteins and fats.
Trust me, it is not easy to over indulge in proteins and fats. You become satiated very quickly. It is not like carbohydrates where you can keep eating and eating. I can easily eat 12 donuts in one sitting but I am already full after two hard boiled eggs.
So to kick off my challenge, I had a late lunch of one sirloin steak (about 150g raw weight, not that I am counting, just for context) and two fried eggs.
Those cubes of stuff are fat from the steak. You know how a sirloin steak has a strip of fat on the side? I ripped it off, cut the fat into cubes and fried it. Beef “chee yau char” like that hah…hah…
Now for some ground rules and exceptions for the sake of transparency. On a strict carnivore diet, only salt is allowed as seasoning (some carnivores don’t even salt their meat) and no coffee or tea is consumed, only water. In my case, I will make exceptions as follows :
1. I will season my food to taste either with salt or soy sauce and even spices.
2. Very the sorry, I will not give up coffee or tea. They have no calories (I always drink my coffee and tea neat, no sugar, no milk) and I do not have any problems with these two beverages.
3. I will add the occasional onion or garlic or spring onions or cilantro for extra flavor.
4. I will continue to take vitamin supplements even though some carnivores claim that we can get all nutrients from meat. Maybe if the meat is of high quality and very fresh it could be true but I can’t be sure of the meats I eat will be of the same.
5. I will still eat processed meat such as bacon, sausages and beef patties (making sure sausages and beef patties do not contain any fillers like soy protein or additives like msg). These will be consumed sparingly just for variety.
As for condiments like chili sauce and ketchup, absolutely no no because these contain sugar and additives. And in keeping with the spirit of carnivore, I will not be consuming any plant materials (except for those mentioned in my exception listing).
What can I eat? Beef, pork, chicken, duck, turtle (if can find), seafood, eggs, cheese and butter. Anything as long as it is an animal based product.
I believe there are a number of Malaysians practicing this way of eating but keeping it real quiet due to the controversies surrounding this diet.
I came to know of this guy, William, who was interviewed by Revero.
In addition to being a carnivore for 30 days, I will also implement intermittent fasting into my protocol. So there will not be any eating out or food delivery for the next 30 days.
Today’s lunch was so nutrient dense and satiating that no dinner is required.
