As 2019 comes to a close, many people have their New Years Resolutions lined up for 2020. As usual, health and strength are at the top of that list. In 2019 I personally experienced a huge percentage of my friends start to regain their health by reintroducing animal products into their diet. For those friends, I have a challenge for 2020.
Every January now somewhat started by the Doctor and Author of “The Carnivore Diet” Shawn Baker is World Carnivore Month. January was picked to help people get a kick start on their resolutions as well as help people redirect to a healthier lifestyle following the holidays.
Last year I participated in World Carnivore Month and it was the first full month in my journey that was zero carb. By the end of it I was extremely proud of myself and I felt great. This year I enjoyed the holidays a little bit but now am starting my World Carnivore Month early.
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The whole idea is to allow people to start the diet at the same time. Doing this you end up with a lot of support online in forums which is often enough to keep people dedicated to getting healthy. I know a lot of people interested in trying the carnivore diet as an elimination diet, if that’s you give World Carnivore Month a go!
For those who aren’t familiar with the carnivore diet its a way of eating that includes anything animal based and nothing plant based. Those who eat this way generally consume a lot of saturated animal fats and even some make the bridge to consuming raw meat and fat which is even more dense in nutrients than cooked meat.
Sure, at first glance eating a diet of only meat sounds a little ridiculous. We are trained to believe that our bodies run on glucose and that fat is bad. But actually our bodies run more efficiently on fat, as I’ve learned in my last 1.5 years experimenting with this way of eating.
What’s allowed in World Carnivore Month?
- Beef
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Pork
- Lamb
- Veal
- Fish
- Insects
- Dairy Products
Not allowed?
- Sugar
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Grains
- Vegetable Based Oils
There’s a lot of science supporting the diet mostly based in research to do with anti-nutrients and oxalates. Like anything living, plants too try and defend themselves from being eaten and since they can’t scream or physically fight, their only recourse is chemical. Many of us are sensitive to these plant chemicals and this is where things like chronic pain and arthritis among many other syndromes are rooted.
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I first came across the diet in a serious manner via Jordan Peterson. Before that it just seemed like something invented to piss off vegans and be edgy but when I heard about the healing Mikhalia Peterson experienced from the diet, I was in. Since then I’ve put a lot of my health issues including symptoms of: Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and heart disease into remission. I dealt with chronic pain daily that only returns when I reintroduce carbohydrates.
Most people do not need to maintain a diet of only meat to be healthy, I think it’s only reserved for very sick people. But I do think most people have food sensitivities they aren’t aware of and a month on the carnivore diet is the perfect way to identify those intolerances. After you go the full month, start reintroducing things one at a time. So say one new food every 2 or 3 days. Sometimes food reactions take more than 24 hours to occur, as they do for me and many other people.
Through doing something like this I’ve discovered interesting things personally and I would guess everyone is different. For example, stevia is a part of the keto diet which is similar but I get extremely sick when I have it. Cane sugar however only spikes my blood sugar and causes no other reactions. I can tolerate gluten itself but not the yeast used to make bread. These sorts of situations are very common and you don’t become aware of them until you do a proper elimination diet.
So this January, if your goal is to get healthy, try World Carnivore Month or better yet go for 6 weeks of the New Year as a full elimination diet so you can get closer to becoming your best, healthiest you.
