If you read my first blog, you will know that I have experimented with vegetarian and vegan diets previously. Unfortunately, neither served me well and the more typically regarded healthy foods I was eating the worse my overall health and eczema became. My diet during this time consisted of grains, green juices, oats, beans, veg (silly amounts of kale and spinach) and natural sources of sugar like fruit, honey and maple syrup. Whole food plant based, nothing processed was entering my body. So lots of the “good stuff” but an alarming lack of fat and certain nutrients. I am by no means advocating the following diet for everyone but am just talking about my personal experience . I have been on the carnivore diet for quite a while now which has helped me reclaim some of my health which was damaged by eczema and my iteration of the vegan diet. I eat what is referred to as a ”nose-to-tail” carnivore diet meaning I try to eat the whole animal, including various organ meats and less popular cuts. The carnivore diet is based exclusively on animal products and commonly leans most heavily on red meat such as beef and lamb. I won’t delve into answering the most common questions I get like “Aren’t you getting enough vitamins and minerals” , “how do you go number 2 with little to no fiber”, “Aren’t you worried about your cholesterol” but I too asked myself all these questions before and continue to throughout my journey on this diet so if anyone is interested or has any questions about the diet feel free to email us using the shortcut at the bottom of this post!

This diet is in my opinion best used as a short to medium term intervention and elimination diet. People, especially those with compromised autoimmunity such as myself, are much more likely to be intolerant to plant foods compared to animal foods (with the exception of eggs and dairy). When you strip your diet back to nutrient dense foods such as red meat and organ meats and incorporate some intermittent and extended fasting, it gives your gut and digestion a break and some time to heal. Once this healing has taken place and/or you have identified the foods you struggle with you can add more plant matter back into your diet and find your optimal diet through continued experimentation which is the direction I hope to move in. I do have moments where I wonder if I have gone mental being on such an extreme diet, but then I think of the state of the public health of the west and the state of my health after following a “balanced” diet and a vegan diet. We clearly do not have it all figured out and alternative views should be explored rather than shut down. As a diet and approach to nutrition and health that has very recently gained popularity, the carnivore diet is lacking in empirical evidence proving its effectiveness but there is a growing interest in this and a burgeoning pool of compelling anecdotal evidence where people have reversed very severe diseases. Look on the MeatRX website for testimonials about how and what a primarily animal based diet has healed.

I try to be as conscious as I can be of any bias I have when approaching the subject of nutrition but have caught myself several times becoming dogmatic in my beliefs. What I see when digesting various documentaries, YouTube videos and podcasts on both the carnivore diet and veganism. What I see in the comments on both types of videos is scores of people gleefully proclaiming the drastic health benefits they have felt from their chosen dietary intervention. This is one thing that leads me to believe that the success hordes of people are experiencing on both the extreme ends of this dietary spectrum is perhaps more to do with what you are excluding rather than what you are including.