The carnivore diet, an extremely restrictive eating plan, has gained popularity due to claims of weight loss and improvements in various health conditions. It centers around the consumption of meat, fish, eggs, and limited amounts of low-lactose dairy products, while excluding all other foods, especially plant-based ones. This article explores the carnivore diet, including its potential benefits and significant downsides, with a focus on the role and benefits of steak within this dietary framework.
What is the Carnivore Diet?
The carnivore diet is a restrictive diet that only includes meat, fish, and other animal foods like eggs and certain dairy products. It excludes all other foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds. Its proponents also recommend eliminating or limiting dairy intake to foods that are low in lactose - a sugar found in milk and dairy products - such as butter and hard cheeses.
The carnivore diet stems from the controversial belief that human ancestral populations ate mostly meat and fish and that high-carb diets are to blame for today’s high rates of chronic disease. Other popular low-carb diets, like the keto and paleo diets, limit but don’t exclude carb intake. However, the carnivore diet aims for zero carbs. Shawn Baker, an American orthopedic doctor, is the most well-known proponent of the carnivore diet.
Following the diet involves eliminating all plant foods from your diet and exclusively eating meat, fish, eggs, and small amounts of low-lactose dairy products. Foods to eat include beef, chicken, pork, lamb, turkey, organ meats, salmon, sardines, white fish, and small amounts of heavy cream and hard cheese. Butter, lard, and bone marrow are also allowed. Proponents of the diet emphasize eating fatty cuts of meat to reach your daily energy needs, and organ meats such as liver, to ensure intake of vitamins low in other cuts of meat such as vitamin C. The carnivore diet encourages drinking water and bone broth but discourages drinking tea, coffee, and other drinks made from plants.
Foods Included and Excluded
The carnivore diet includes only animal products and excludes all other foods. Specifically, someone on the carnivore diet can eat:
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- Meat: Beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork, etc.
- Organ meats: Liver, kidney, sweatbread, tripe, heart, brain
- Fish: Salmon, mackerel, sardines, crab, lobster, tilapia, herring, etc.
- Other animal products: Eggs, lard, bone marrow, bone broth, etc.
- Low-lactose dairy (in small amounts): Heavy cream, hard cheese, butter, etc.
- Water
According to some proponents of the diet, salt, pepper, and seasonings with no carbs are allowed. In addition, some people choose to eat yogurt, milk, and soft cheese, but these foods are typically not included due to their carb contents.
All foods that do not come from animals are excluded from the carnivore diet. Restricted foods include:
- Vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, green beans, peppers, etc.
- Fruits: Apples, berries, bananas, kiwi, oranges, etc.
- High-lactose dairy: Milk, yogurt, soft cheese, etc.
- Legumes: Beans, lentils, etc.
- Nuts and seeds: Almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, etc.
- Grains: Rice, wheat, bread, quinoa, pasta, etc.
- Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, etc.
- Sugars: Table sugar, maple syrup, brown sugar, etc.
- Beverages other than water: Soda, coffee, tea, fruit juice, etc.
While some people incorporate some of these foods, a strict carnivore diet does not permit them.
Steak Benefits on the Carnivore Diet
Within the carnivore diet, steak stands out as a central food. As a nutrient-dense food, steak provides a concentrated source of protein, essential fats, and micronutrients. The benefits of including steak in a carnivore diet include:
- High-Quality Protein: Essential for muscle building and repair, supporting metabolic processes.
- Rich in Micronutrients: Contains iron, zinc, selenium, and B vitamins, vital for overall health.
- Satiety: High protein and fat content promotes fullness, which can aid in weight management.
- Energy Source: Provides energy through fat, especially important in the absence of carbohydrates.
Potential Benefits of the Carnivore Diet
Due to the limited research on the carnivore diet, it is difficult to state the diet’s benefits. They can only be assumed based on the knowledge we have about other diet and macro nutrients. Certain aspects of the carnivore diet may lead to weight loss. Specifically, some studies have shown that high-protein and low-carb diets can promote weight loss. This is mostly because protein, as well as fat, can help you feel more full after meals, which may lead to reduced calorie intake and subsequent weight loss. Protein can also increase your metabolic rate, helping you burn more calories. Therefore, following the carnivore diet would likely cause you to feel fuller and eat fewer calories overall - at least in the short term.
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- Weight Loss: The carnivore diet can stabilize blood sugar (glucose) levels by preventing the blood sugar spikes after you chow down on carbs or sugary foods. If you’re not eating carbs, your body turns to burning body fat for fuel in a process known as ketosis. This can lead to increased metabolism and weight loss.
- Blood Sugar Management: Due to the removal of highly processed carbohydrates in the carnivore diet, you might see some early benefits such as improved blood pressure, reduced belly fat, and improved cardiovascular health.
- Chronic Disease Control: Research links a high-carb diet - particularly from sugars - to various chronic diseases. Taking your carb count to zero addresses that specific risk factor.
- Better Mental Health: Some studies connect meat consumption to lower rates of depression and anxiety. Many also talk of achieving greater mental clarity while on a carnivore diet.
Risks and Downsides
Due to its highly restrictive nature and complete elimination of the majority of food groups, there are many downsides to the carnivore diet.
- High in Fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium: Given that the carnivore diet consists solely of animal foods, it can be high in saturated fat and cholesterol. Saturated fat may raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol, which may increase your risk of heart disease. Moreover, some processed meats, especially bacon and breakfast meats, also contain high amounts of sodium. Eating a lot of these foods on the carnivore diet can lead to excessive sodium intake, which has been linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure, kidney disease, and other negative health outcomes.
- May Lack Certain Micronutrients and Beneficial Plant Compounds: The carnivore diet eliminates highly nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, all of which contain beneficial vitamins and minerals. What’s more, diets that are rich in plant-based foods have been associated with a lower risk of certain long-term conditions like heart disease, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes.
- Does Not Provide Fiber: Fiber, a non-digestible carb that promotes gut health and healthy bowel movements, is only found in plant foods. Thus, the carnivore diet contains no fiber, which may lead to constipation as a side effect. Additionally, fiber is incredibly important for the proper balance of bacteria in your gut. Overall, following the carnivore diet may harm your gut health.
- May Not Be Suited for Some Populations: The carnivore diet may be especially problematic for certain populations. For example, those who need to limit their protein intake, including people with chronic kidney disease, should not follow the diet. Also, those who are more sensitive to the cholesterol in foods, or cholesterol hyper-responders, should be cautious about consuming so many high-cholesterol foods. Furthermore, certain populations with special nutrient needs would likely not meet them on the carnivore diet. This includes children and people who are pregnant or lactating. Lastly, those who have anxiety about food or a history of disordered eating should not try this diet.
- Heart disease: The carnivore diet is high in saturated fats that can raise your “bad cholesterol” (LDL) levels and put you at higher risk for heart disease.
- Cancer: Eating large amounts of red meat has been linked to increased risk for colorectal cancer, which can be divided into colon cancer and rectal cancer, as well as several other types of cancer.
- Digestive problems: Meat takes longer to digest, and slowing down that process can lead to constipation. Plus, the carnivore diet lacks fiber to help keep things moving along.
- Muscle cramps: The lack of key nutrients in a meat-based diet can lead to electrolyte imbalances that cause muscle cramps, as well as dizziness, fatigue and general weakness.
- Kidney function: Eating a diet high in animal protein can place added stress on your kidneys, which may affect their long-term filtering function. Eating more meat also may contribute to kidney stone formation.
Sample Carnivore Diet Menu
Here’s a five-day sample menu for the carnivore diet:
Day 1
- Breakfast: eggs, bacon, sardines
- Lunch: turkey burger patty, salmon jerky, beef tips
- Dinner: filet mignon, crab, chicken liver
- Snacks: a small amount of Parmesan cheese, jerky
Day 2
- Breakfast: shrimp, eggs, a small glass of heavy cream
- Lunch: strip steak, tuna fish, beef jerky
- Dinner: lamb chops, scallops, beef liver
- Snacks: a small amount of hard Cheddar cheese, bone broth
Day 3
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- Breakfast: eggs, salmon, turkey sausage
- Lunch: sweetbreads, pork chops, mackerel
- Dinner: turkey burger patty, a small amount of Parmesan cheese, bone marrow
- Snacks: hard-boiled eggs, shrimp
Day 4
- Breakfast: trout, shredded chicken, bacon
- Lunch: beef meatballs, small amount Cheddar cheese, salmon jerky
- Dinner: crab cooked in lard, filet mignon
- Snacks: sardines, beef jerky
Day 5
- Breakfast: eggs, chicken and turkey sausage links
- Lunch: lamb roast, chicken liver, pork chop
- Dinner: flank steak, scallops cooked in butter, a small glass of heavy cream
- Snacks: bone broth, turkey jerky
Expert Opinions and Recommendations
Health professionals generally recommend a more balanced approach. If weight loss or blood sugar control is the goal, a modified low-carb diet that includes nutrient-dense vegetables and healthy fats may offer similar benefits with fewer risks.
- Registered dietitian Kate Patton, RD, LD, emphasizes that different foods offer different vitamins and nutrients. Eating a variety of foods helps your body get the nutrients it needs to be at its best. The carnivore diet overlooks entire food groups that offer many health benefits, and eating only meat and animal-based products can leave your body nutritionally deficient in some areas.
- Kathleen Zelman, MPH, a registered dietitian nutritionist, states that while this diet can probably help you lose weight, it also can lead to nutrient deficiencies and is not sustainable. She notes that you just can’t stay on it very long, as it’s too restrictive - and too boring - to follow long-term.
- Dr Eden Barrett, a public health nutrition researcher and dietitian at the George Institute for Global Health, notes that the chance of deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C and folate, is really high. You’re also virtually eating no fibre, a nutrient that evidence shows is protective against heart disease, certain cancers and a lot of chronic diseases, as well as crucial for digestive health. There is also the risk of consuming too much animal meat, which can be high in saturated fat and has also been shown to be associated with risk of cancers.
- Associate professor Emma Halmos, a research dietitian at Monash University, clinically sees a lot of patients who have followed the carnivore diet who are not eating enough fibre and have subsequently developed gastrointestinal symptoms or gastrointestinal disease.