Hey jalanlong - my best wishes.jalanlong wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 10:14 am So yesterday I started what I hope to be 30 days of the Carnivore Diet, just to see if all of the health claims from people like Joe Rogan would be true for me too. I definitely need to lose about 50 lbs, cut my addiction to sodas/empty carbs and change my health.
Have any of you ever done this diet, another diet that is far removed from the Standard American Diet, or any other sort of bio-hacks and how did it go?
I have a lot of experience. Over 10 years strict carnivore. Now, a bit less strict, but probably 90% carnivore. It's been very good to me.
Just so you know what to expect, you are going to feel like shit for at least 2 weeks. Assuming that you aren't a spring chicken anymore, it may be 6 or 8 weeks. If you can manage to keep your trial going for 60 days instead of 30, you'll have a better comparison to see if it is for you or not.
Here's the killer: Your body processes carbohydrates for energy much differently than it does fat. It actually requires mitochondrial and brain chemistry changes to use fat effectively. You don't have those changes yet, and it will take a while for them to develop.
In the meantime, your body will panic. It will start searching for glucose in whatever form it can get. You can expect to lose around 10 lbs of weight in the first couple of weeks. Almost all water. Stored glucose in your body is bound with water and it will be released as you harvest it. Your liver has a glucose reserve. You may notice long periods of elevated heart rate and anxiety. That is your body pushing epinephrine (adrenaline) to get your liver to let go of the glucose in a fight or flight response.
You may lose a lot of fat because your body is ripping up fat molecules to get to the glycerol and throwing away the rest. Your piss will smell like acetone from the discarded acid chains.
You might feel fuzzy in your thinking or not as sharp as usual. The brain is a huge glucose hog, and until it converts over to ketones it won't be at 100%. The good news is that once it's running on ketones you will be sharper than ever.
Aches and flu like symptoms for awhile - again until you rebuild your mitochondria.
Your bowel movements will be all over the map the first few weeks. All of your gut flora that depend on carbs will die and leave in a hurry... likewise the volume of food that you eat will be significantly reduced, so don't expect the same regularity that you had before. Eat plenty of fat and drink plenty of water.
That's about it! I don't mean to scare you, just don't expect the transition to be smooth sailing. The change affects every level of your body down to the cellular level. The good news is that it is totally worth it. You will be in the best shape of your life and have the highest mental capacity.
Mark