I'll keep that in mind, thanks! The only reason I ate some carbs was because instead of feeling energetic during meat only meals, I was getting really tired. I have some homemade electrolyte water now, and that seems to help. If my BP raises too much, I drink the electrolyte water and if it drops too low, I have salt water only.
This is most likely traditional Keto flu. Your body needs to adapt to fat burning (again, as a child you were perfectly able to do so). Any amount of fast digestible (net) carbs will prolong this process, or might stop ketosis for days. You'll feel better for the moment, but keto flu might last longer. And do make sure that you're eating only if you're hungry. You do need to kickstart ketosis to adapt to fat -- if Carnivore doesn't work well enough, fasting a few days should do the trick.
Are you getting tired after meals that are basically fat only? Say a bulletproof coffee with plenty of butter or coconut oil. There are a couple of things that can go wrong when eating protein. The word is "can", not "will", I'd assume only a minority is affected. But still...
- For some people, the liver will convert a lot of protein into carbs and/or insulin will raise whenever they eat protein. Those people have to limit their protein, because it works a bit like sugar. The exact process is unknown, but it is a side effect of insulin resistance. (This should stop if you eat keto long enough. But it could take a while.) Ben Bikman talks about this. But if you feel fatigued after a meal, you could have an Insulin spike.
If this was the case for you, it might be better to transition to moderate-protein Keto first (it's much easier to limit protein on Keto than on Carnivore). After a few months you should be fine and be able to transition to Carnivore, hopefully.
- Some people can't handle a lot of protein for a different reason: Kidney trouble. Kidney function improves noticably on Keto, but it may take a while. Same solution.
- I think I wrote this a while ago, but not sure in which thread. If you don't have enough stomach acid you won't be able to digest protein properly. Betain HCL helps with that. There is a DIY test for lack of stomach acid.
- Histamine intolerance might be a thing, and you could even react to preservatives. I don't think there is any issue with fat, but some meats are on the high histamine list I think. Do you prepare all your meat fresh, or do you consume food that was made lasting (bacon, sausages etc.)? If the latter, does it make a difference if you leave them out for a while? (I'll have to admit that I know little about histamine intolerance, better google this to make sure. I might be wrong.)
If I was in your place I'd to stick to Carnivore for at least 2 more weeks, and limit net carbs to 20g a day at most. However, if your issues haven't resolved themselves or they become to bad in the next days, there is another road: Go low carb (not keto) for up to 2 months. Do eat some carbs, but preferrably only once or twice a day and not more than 100g unrefined carbs (rice, potatos or legumes) a day. In fact that's what I did (simply because I didn't know about keto at the time), and I had no keto flu at all! For some people this will already train the body to use fat as fuel again, and after this phase it might be easier to transition to Carnivore. As long as you don't return to 300+ grams of refined carbs a day, your progress is not wasted.
Don't worry about weight loss or gain. Some people even gain weight on Carnivore (or Keto) for the first few weeks or even months. This often comes from muscle buildup, which is a good thing and offsets the loss of water and fat. Or you might get some nutrients that you were lacking before. Eventually, weight loss will come (for those who have weight to lose).
