The carnivore diet, an eating plan centered around animal foods and excluding plant-based products, has gained popularity for its potential benefits. As a natural product of bees, honey technically qualifies as an animal food. However, its place within the carnivore diet is a topic of debate. This article explores the nuances of including honey in a carnivore diet, examining its potential benefits, drawbacks, and practical tips for consumption.
Understanding the Carnivore Diet
The carnivore diet emphasizes the consumption of animal foods, including meats, organ meats, animal fats, fish, seafood, and certain dairy products (depending on individual tolerance). Strict versions of the diet limit intake to meat, salt, and water. The foundation of the carnivore diet rests on the idea that human ancestors primarily consumed meat and that our bodies thrive on high levels of protein and fat. Proponents claim benefits such as weight loss, improved health, and reduced pain, although scientific evidence supporting these claims remains limited.
Is Honey Carnivore? Examining the Technicalities
The question of whether honey aligns with the carnivore diet elicits varied responses. Raw honey, an animal product, technically fits within an animal-based diet. However, it's not typically considered a staple carnivore food. Carnivore diet foods are rich in protein and/or animal fats. Honey, in contrast, is primarily a carbohydrate source, high in natural sugar. The strict carnivore diet excludes plant foods and, consequently, most carbohydrates.
Despite not being a primary carnivore food, honey fulfills the basic requirement of being animal-based, distinguishing it from plant-based foods. This is underscored by the fact that honey is not considered vegan. While its production depends on bees gathering nectar from flowers, the bees themselves create the honey.
Honey on the Strict Carnivore Diet: A Rare Exception
While honey is an animal food, its consumption isn't generally advised on the strict carnivore diet. This is primarily due to its high carbohydrate and sugar content. The carnivore diet typically restricts carbohydrates, which are predominantly plant-based. The strictest form of the diet permits only meat, salt, and water.
Read also: Comprehensive Guide to Sugar on Keto
However, more lenient versions of the carnivore diet may allow honey in moderation. Other animal-based diets, like the paleo diet, often include honey due to its natural and minimally processed nature.
Potential Benefits of Honey on a Carnivore Diet
If you crave sweetness, honey can satisfy that desire. Beyond its sweetness, honey offers potential health advantages:
- Natural Sweetener: Honey stands out as one of the few naturally sweet animal-based products. It offers a natural alternative to refined table sugar and artificial sweeteners.
- Source of Energy: Honey's sugar content provides a natural energy source. However, the carnivore diet primarily relies on animal fats for energy, similar to the keto diet.
- Immune Booster: Honey is often recommended for colds and flu due to its immune-boosting properties. Research suggests its therapeutic effects may be beneficial in combating COVID-19.
- Strengthens Digestive System: Honey acts as a prebiotic, nourishing beneficial gut bacteria and potentially aiding in relief from IBS and other digestive ailments.
- Antimicrobial Properties: Honey is a potent antimicrobial agent, with research confirming its effectiveness against bacteria.
Practical Tips for Incorporating Honey into a Carnivore Diet
If you choose to include honey in your carnivore diet, consider these tips:
- Eat in Moderation: Use honey sparingly, primarily as a sweetener for tea or coffee or as an occasional treat in carnivore desserts.
- Opt for Raw Honey: Raw honey offers more benefits than pasteurized honey, containing bee pollen and propolis, which provide additional health benefits. Raw honey also boasts antioxidant properties. Be mindful of potential pollen allergies due to the presence of bee pollen.
- Combine with Animal Foods: Maximize the nutritional value of honey by pairing it with other animal foods. This ensures a balanced intake of essential nutrients while enhancing flavor and meal versatility.
Navigating the Nuances: Different Perspectives on Honey
The inclusion of honey in a carnivore diet sparks debate within the community. Some argue that honey's close association with plant nectar makes it unsuitable, while others highlight its animal origin and potential benefits.
Ultimately, the decision rests on individual goals, needs, and preferences. Some individuals may choose to exclude honey entirely due to its carbohydrate content, while others may incorporate it in moderation as a natural sweetener or for its potential health benefits.
Read also: Troubleshooting Carnivore Diet Diarrhea
The Carnivore Diet: More Than Just Meat
The carnivore diet centers around animal-based foods like meat, fish, eggs, and low-lactose dairy, while excluding fruits, vegetables, grains, and other plant-based foods. It assumes that the human body functions best when fueled by high levels of protein and fat.
Although the carnivore diet lacks scientific evidence to back up any of these claims, proponents believe that it can improve:
- Body weight
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Diabetes
- Skin complaints
- Pain
- Digestive issues
- Arthritis
What to Eat
A person following the carnivore diet might consume:
- Meat, such as lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, pork, or organ meats
- Fish and seafood, such as salmon, mackerel, tuna, sardines, herring, crab, or oysters
- Other animal products, such as eggs, bone broth, bone marrow, or lard
- Low lactose dairy, such as butter, heavy cream, or hard cheese such as Parmesan
- Water
Some followers also consume salt, pepper, and other seasonings that do not contain carbs.
Honey is not allowed in a strict carnivore diet, but some proponents include it because it comes from an animal source, despite being high in glucose.
Read also: Aspartame and Ketosis
Foods to Avoid
Any foods that do not come from animal sources are excluded from the carnivore diet. These include:
- Fruits, such as bananas, berries, citrus fruits, apples, or avocado
- Vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, or peppers
- Grains, such as rice, wheat, bread, quinoa, cereals, or pasta
- Nuts and seeds, such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds
- High lactose dairy, such as soft cheese, milk, or yogurt
- Legumes, such as beans, lentils, peanuts, or soybeans
- Alcohol, such as wine, beer, or liquor
- Sugars, such as table sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, or agave syrup
- Plant-based oils, such as sunflower oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or canola oil
- Beverages other than water, such as soda, tea, coffee, or fruit juice
Exploring the Types of Honey
Honey isn't just honey; numerous varieties exist, each with unique flavors, colors, and textures. These variations arise from the different flowers and plants bees collect nectar from.
- Wildflower Honey: Made from the nectar of wildflowers, it has a strong, mixed flavor.
- Clover Honey: A common type with a mild, slightly floral taste and pleasant aroma, derived from clover plants.
- Lavender Honey: Widely used in cooking for its subtle scent and taste, made from lavender blossoms.
- Acacia Honey: A light-colored honey with a mild, sweet, floral taste, coming from the nectar of the black locust tree.
- Manuka Honey: A native New Zealand honey with a strong, distinctive flavor and medicinal properties, made from the pollination of manuka bush.
- Buckwheat Honey: Dark and full-bodied with a strong, molasses-like flavor and rich in antioxidants, derived from buckwheat flowers.
- Orange Blossom Honey: A light citrus-flavored honey used for both culinary and medicinal purposes.
- Eucalyptus Honey: A bold, slightly medicinal-flavored honey that helps alleviate the symptoms of colds and respiratory issues.
- Sourwood Honey: A honey with a distinct, spicy, buttery flavor profile, made from the nectar of the sourwood tree found in the southeastern US.
- Heather Honey: A dark-colored, strong, mildly bitter honey made from heather plants found in Scotland and other heather-rich regions.
A Balanced Perspective: Considering the Broader Picture
The carnivore diet offers the idea that animal-based foods are not bad for us, but are rather the keystone of a healthy diet. People avoid dairy because of how they react to it, but it is clearly an animal food. Honey has come to occupy a similar space in the carnivore diet, but for the opposite reasons. People avoid dairy because of how they react to it, but it is clearly an animal food. Honey is avoided less as a result of sensitivity and more because of its associations. Others condemn honey for being too close to being a plant food. Even though it is produced by bees, they argue that it is too similar to the plant nectar bees make it from. Yet at the same time, nutritional vegans wonât eat honey because to them, itâs an animal food. In a rare scenario, animal-only diet ideology and plant-only diet ideology are avoiding the same food.
Honey and Carbs: What You Need to Know
Honey is about 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose. It is high in nitric oxide metabolites, especially when it is raw and unfiltered. Nitric oxide metabolites deficiency may play a role in histamine responses and allergies, inflammation, and influence metabolic function. Honeyâs nitric oxide metabolite content may be one of the reasons it behaves differently than pure sucrose when consumed, but this is overlooked when we assume foods found in nature are the same as eating pure sugar.
One of the biggest advantages of carbohydrates is electrolyte management. Without carbs, it can be difficult to dial in your salt intake well enough to stave off electrolyte depletion in the long term. Carbohydrates can also help out with athletic performance. Carbs help replenish muscle glycogen, which may be why power athletes find it difficult to train in a state of ketosis. Carbs can also aid with bulking. While many carnivore adherents do lose fat and have good muscle mass, significantly increasing muscle seems to be very difficult with zero carbs. Including some white rice, honey, or other low toxin carbohydrate sources (like fruit) can go a long way towards adding on muscle.