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Carnivore diet reduces bloating

cigana

Senior Member
Messages
1,095
Location
UK
I tried the carnivore diet for 8 weeks and it has substantially reduced my bloating. After more than a decade of trying things, including low-carb, this is the only thing that has worked to reduce bloating.
 

Bansaw

Senior Member
Messages
521
I tried Keto a while ago, it did reduce my blood glucose, but caused other issues.
I have bloating every day, no matter what I eat; and I don't really know how to deal with it : (
 

BrightCandle

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
I found the same, carnivore was really good for the 4 weeks or so I did it. But the crash that followed was horrendous and was my second big crash. Carnivore played a big part in it. I ended up on FODMAP to eliminate the problems and identify the problems and it was basically everything.

But then last year after the OMF/Healthrising reports on microbiome changes I started to take probiotics seriously, starting with pills and then having to get substantial with probiotic foods (real ones usually home made). That resulted in a gradual improvement in my GI (and other) symptoms. 8 months after starting that I am a lot improved and I don't have major bloating, pain and constipation anymore. I think its something to try, find probiotic foods you can take in even in small quantities and just grind on ever more going gradually and see what impact it has. ME made me lactose intolerant and Kefir cured that.
 

hapl808

Senior Member
Messages
2,053
Quite different than Paleo.

The baseline of Carnivore is just beef and salt, but some people also add other meats, some do any animal products like eggs, etc. Lots of info online.

I didn't have a huge crash afterward, but I just didn't love how it made me feel and no real ME/CFS improvement. Although fascinating that your body adjusts to such a limited diet quite effectively. I did feel less bloated maybe, but I felt kinda meh otherwise.
 

hapl808

Senior Member
Messages
2,053
I think that eating vegetables with your meat is important .... even if they do bloat you.

That's why I tried Carnivore for myself. The 'common sense' of eating vegetables is fine, but common sense would also tell us to get out and exercise and stop thinking about being sick, and that didn't work out so well for me as I kept crashing worse and worse.

(Just FYI, the whole basis of Carnivore is that vegetables are actually bad for you - sounds crazy, but some people have seen remarkable results for various autoimmune issues.)
 

hapl808

Senior Member
Messages
2,053
The 'common sense' of eating vegetables is fine, but common sense would also tell us to get out and exercise and stop thinking about being sick, and that didn't work out so well for me as I kept crashing worse and worse.

I'm being partially facetious, but I really do believe in trying things for myself rather than getting lost in theory. You can tell me what's good for me, but I really judge by if I try it and it improves my health or makes it worse. Trial and error is pretty much our main tool.
 

Booble

Senior Member
Messages
1,397
I'm being partially facetious, but I really do believe in trying things for myself rather than getting lost in theory. You can tell me what's good for me, but I really judge by if I try it and it improves my health or makes it worse. Trial and error is pretty much our main tool.

*shrug*
I don't think the benefits of vegetables are necessarily seen or felt in the weeks that you eat them.
Kind of like how the drawbacks of smoking aren't noticed until, well, too late.

Glad you pointed out that you were being facetious as the benefits of vegetables has been pretty much confirmed at this point.
 

GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
I started carnivore 5 months ago but didn't go strict - eliminating bacon and then sausages 2 weeks ago. My meal last night was the first time I have not had a runny nose whilst eating in years. And later when I went to bed, I fell asleep easily (after drinking 150ml of warm pure cream :yum: (testing dairy for first time - all good)).

I'm starting to become a true believer, this (zero carb) strict carnivore diet really does heal people. :)

Strict carnivore is only: ruminant meat, salt, water and bone broth (or marrow) <- for calcium.

Dr Anthony Chaffee says "95% of the results on carnivore come from eliminating the last 5% of carbs.". I also learn that people with autoimmune conditions need to initially go strict carnivore in order to heal their gut.
It takes time for you gut to finish healing (up to 6 months) before you start noticing other improvements in health, and after that your health just gets better and better.

Try it for 7 days with the expectation that after completing a week, you'll then go on to complete 30 days. I may seem impossible but if you find it resolves your issues - I'm sure you'll want to stick to it long term.

How & Why:
Can the Carnivore Diet Treat Autoimmune Diseases?

Results:
YouTube search: carnivore diet for autoimmune health just gets better and better
 
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CSMLSM

Senior Member
Messages
973
Try it for 7 days with the expectation that after completing a week, you'll then go on to complete 30 days. I may seem impossible but if you find it resolves your issues - I'm sure you'll want to stick to it long term.
I feel in the long term this will not be healthy but I understand what you are doing here. Intermittent fasting can achieve some of the same goals and be less disruptive to your body.
You want to get your liver to become more functional at storing and metabolising glycogen and utilising fat for it.
During fasting Leptin will be lowered and Leptin increases FAAH which degrades Anandamide and Oleamide.
The gastrointestinal improvement I am less sure of but it is likely the affect of the cannabis plus the lack of carbs/sugar for the bad bacteria in the gut.

Great this is working for you I am interested to know more.
 

Crux

Senior Member
Messages
1,441
Location
USA
After a year on carnivore, I began to have nosebleeds, sensitive gums and sinuses, along with dizziness, etc.
Found it was low vitamin K, Folate, Calcium, and more. These nutrients can be found in carnivore, but they need to be sought out.

Any diet can have deficiencies, I think it's a good idea to monitor intake of them.

Carnivore diet did reduce bloating.
Interesting that I smelled strongly of butyrate, though. Bees followed me .
 
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GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
This week I've had numbness and tingling in my legs from the knees down. I haven't had this symptom for many years. Today it has resolved after eating liver. I'm attributing this (and fatigue, irritability, depression and abdominal discomfort) to being symptoms of dry beriberi - a Thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency highlighted to me by this video.

The last time I had this (4 years ago) was several months into a pescetarian keto diet after regularly eating salmon cooked rare. And guess what, in the last 3 weeks I've eaten 2 dozen 208g salmon fillets cooked rare.
pubmed: certain food products such as tea, coffee, raw fish, and shellfish contain thiaminases - enzymes that destroy thiamine.


A carnivore diet only meets 50% RDA for Thiamine, however carnivores need less because unlike glucose and amino acid metabolism, Thiamine is not consumed in fat metabolism. However, what would happen if you were consuming too much lean meat and not enough fat? . Your body would convert the excess amino acids into energy and that consumes Thiamine, so you would need more. Isn't amino acid metabolism the primary cause of fatigue in ME/CFS? So we don't want to encourage that.
 
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GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
I've been carnivore for 6 months. Whilst I was losing body fat, I was slowing improving and I was also gaining muscle eating OMAD. Then I noticed muscle loss :eek: the path to anorexia! So to correct this I ate more often and I choose oily fish to combat more brain fatigue and that lead to the Thiamine deficiency. At the same time I became more hungry and I also gained fat. :ashamed:
carnivore aurelius: If you find yourself with an insatiable hunger, you may not be eating enough fat. If this is you, try eating fat first to satiation, then adding in the muscle meat after.

So now I'm doing an N=1 experiment where I'm eating twice as much fat trimmings as I am muscle meat. And eating half as much because of caloric density of fat. Also adding a slice of liver daily.

Maybe, becoming fat adapted could lead to a full recovery. :hug:

Why is it that carnivore is good for MS, Autoimmune Diseases, Anxiety, Depression, Type 2 Diabetes and more? but so far not ME/CFS - maybe we need to limit protein intake to discourage amino acid metabolism.
 

GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Just a quick update: I got ill from eating too much fat. :ill:

On carnivore diet, when you eat something you shouldn't, you really know about it. I feel awful. It's hard to deal with, but the reality is your body is better able to detect bad food and defend itself. It's a positive for your health.
 

GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
I've had CFS for 26 years. Last 2 years I've been progressively spending more time in bed to preserve energy. I still manage to shower myself but it's a real struggle. I been on carnivore diet for 6 months. When I started it gave me hope and the ability to do some exercise. A week ago I increased my fat intake but really over did it.
  • For last 6 days, I've felt awful. Had loose bowels for 4 days. Today was a little better.
  • Drinking more water than usual but still have dark urine. A lot of burping and some farting.
  • I've lost 3 kg in 4 days. Still have same muscle bulk, appears to be all fat loss.
  • Now only 51.7 kg, 180 cm male. I look anorexic but a friend assures me I'm not.
  • Mottled skin rash and skin sores I haven't had for at least 6 months have returned.
  • I feel incredibly calm, like I've smoked cannabis only its been steady for days. - zero carb zen.
  • No interest in food. Yesterday, I tried to eat but couldn't. My body made sure I didn't eat. Imagine receiving a plate food, you take one bite and then it's taken away. I got really upset over it.
  • Today I managed a tiny slice of beef liver at lunch, another slightly larger slice for dinner. Then feeling like I may be able to stomach some fish, I when shopping for Salmon. Slowly I managed to eat it.
  • Whilst this has been a horrible week for me, brain and muscle function is improving. Every day I notice a small improvement: Eyesight, brain function, calmness, sleep, no muscle pain.
When this started a week ago, my intuition said 3 weeks and I will recover. Fingers crossed.
 

GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
2 days later on 1st Oct, I had an incredible day in which I felt totally normal despite being overworked.

I had disassembled my laptop to repair the hinge of the LCD. Needing more light to see, I switch on the kitchen light only to discover the light was broken (so I thought). Several trips to hardware store, first a new fluorescent tube, then a new starter - nothing worked. Turns out I had bumped the circuit breaker switch for the lights whilst switching back on another circuit. After all my messing about, the old light now falling apart, had to be replaced.

I bought an LED flat panel to replace the old light and it has taken 3 more days (3rd, 7th & 8th) to finish the job. The 3rd was another physically hard day working mostly core strength. I had no concern about overdoing things because I felt completely normal. I also reassembled my laptop and was tempted to post something saying I already felt cured, but didn't for fear of creating unnecessary stress for myself.

After plastering and painting these last 2 days, today I finally finished the job of mounting a new kitchen light.
Kitchen_Light.jpg
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,895
2 days later on 1st Oct, I had an incredible day in which I felt totally normal despite being overworked.

I had disassembled my laptop to repair the hinge of the LCD. Needing more light to see, I switch on the kitchen light only to discover the light was broken (so I thought). Several trips to hardware store, first a new fluorescent tube, then a new starter - nothing worked. Turns out I had bumped the circuit breaker switch for the lights whilst switching back on another circuit. After all my messing about, the old light now falling apart, had to be replaced.

I bought an LED flat panel to replace the old light and it has taken 3 more days (3rd, 7th & 8th) to finish the job. The 3rd was another physically hard day working mostly core strength. I had no concern about overdoing things because I felt completely normal. I also reassembled my laptop and was tempted to post something saying I already felt cured, but didn't for fear of creating unnecessary stress for myself.

After plastering and painting these last 2 days, today I finally finished the job of mounting a new kitchen light.
View attachment 49548

That looks really nice. Good for you that you were able to do it. That's a huge accomplishment!

Your good results with carnivore are convincing me to try it again. I am starting today. Well, right now I think I will move towards carnivore by cutting out starch, more a low carb diet.
 

GreenEdge

Senior Member
Messages
566
Location
Brisbane, Australia
2-3 weeks ago I managed to prune a small tree. I was getting light headed towards the end - I thought it was due to elevated ketones. I did not consider getting low on energy, not able to produce enough ketones as a possibility. I should have had a rest before cutting up branches and putting into green waste bin. That night my back locked up and since then I've been mostly resting, waiting for back to recover.

During this time, I've noticed muscle weakness, sore throat and headaches. Any exercise has made things worse and recovery times keep getting longer. It seems bed rest is now the only way out. This has changed my thinking on exercise.

Day by day chronic fatigue has returned and this co-insides with a heavy feeling in my gut. When I get hungry that feeling is also there. I think long fasts might be required to give the gut time to heal.

I've had a taste of good health so now I'm more determined to achieve it again.