The Ultimate Checklist For Starting Carnivore

The Guide to getting it right

This guide is for those who are about to, or contemplating the idea of, hopping on the carnivore train. And this might all seem a bit unnecessary, because carnivore is a hard diet to mess up. You’re effectively hemmed in and forced to pick from a half dozen ingredients, each of which contains the full spectrum of amino acids, along with a host of micronutrients. Meanwhile, you’re barred from eating inflammatory, nutritionally bereft foods.

Not sure what makes the cut? See the full Carnivore Diet Food List for what to eat and what to leave off the plate.

Try as hard as you like, it’s going to be virtually impossible to overeat with this setup. Weight loss should be a formality. All that systemic inflammation you’ve accumulated over the years takes a big hit.

One way or another, however you put this diet together, a stint at carnivore is largely changing you for the better.

But there’s plenty of wiggle room sitting in the corridor between ‘serviceable’ and ‘optimal’. An all-meat affair possesses incredible potential. To put it simply, carnivore can elevate your mental and physical performance to a transformative level. Just as long as you manage to dial it in.

So before you go all-in on buttered steak, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind. They’re not all strictly necessary, but from my experience, each of them should assist your quest to build your best version of carnivore.

1. Start Strict, For At Least 30 Days

Carnivore functions brilliantly as a hard reset, being the ultimate form of an elimination diet. And in order to make it work, you need to stick to the no-plant rule, while treating a few potentially inflammatory animal products with suspicion. Doing so will give the body complete respite from trigger foods, cutting down on systemic inflammation, and allowing it the chance to heal itself.

The gut microbiome will also be taken through a major shift, with carb-reliant populations being starved out of existence, potentially eliminating cravings altogether. All this can be yours, as long as you have the discipline and willingness to give carnivore a serious attempt.

2. Ditch The Sweeteners

Certain artificial sweeteners, like stevia and erythritol, may be technically zero carb, but they can still tangle with your microbiota in unexpected ways. Meaning you don’t get to purge the cravings altogether.

Beyond that, zero-calorie sweeteners continue to capitalise on and reward your search for sweetness. Whereas, if you were to ditch them altogether, the brain can then start to switch towards other rich flavours. Like the savoury depth of a buttered ribeye.

3. Add In A Coffee Detox

Coffee gets a strange pass in the carnivore community, despite being a plant product filled with plant toxins. Caffeine can have significant effects on performance, by raising alertness and reducing the perception of effort. But much of that morning stupor might have been self-inflicted through coffee in the first place. As a potent stimulant, caffeine is perfectly capable of disrupting sleep cycles.

There’s a strong case for ditching caffeine for the first 30 days. You’re virtually guaranteed to see improvements to sleep, reductions in anxiety, and eventually, better daytime wakefulness.

4. Two Meals A Day

If you’re going to jump on the ancestral diet, then you might as well ditch the thoroughly modern three-meal setup. Humans are thoroughly adept at going long stints without feeding, just as long as we’re not relying on nutritionally bereft foods that spike and crash our blood sugar. Three meals can be hard to fit in on this diet, since you’re going to feel incredibly satiated after a healthy portion of high-fat red meat. Two meals, ideally spaced 6 hours apart, is the better template.

5. Don’t Go Crazy On The Fast

Carnivore will raise your cortisol. As does caffeine, heavy lifting, cardio, and intermittent fasting. When it comes to fasting, 16-18 hours is more than enough hormetic damage to produce positive adaptations. Push further and you’re running the risk of chronically elevated cortisol. As far as fat loss goes, you’re already low carb and fuelled by ketones. There’s no need to overdo it.

6. Don’t Restrict Calories

In the optimal carnivore diet, weight loss is a happy side-effect, a consequence of a healthy, functioning metabolism. The problem is that it’s incredibly easy to undereat when you’re selecting exclusively from satiating dense foods. Shooting low on the calorie count may induce greater initial weight loss, but you’re continuing to signal to the body that you’re in a state of famine. Eat to satiety. Let the body heal.

7. Keep A 1:1 Fat To Protein Ratio By The Gram

The days of chicken breast are done. Protein isn’t an energy source, it’s a building block. The role of fuelling the body should be left to carbs and fats, and we’re missing out on the former for several good reasons. That means you’re going to need to make sure that you’re loading the body with enough fat to maintain steady energy levels across the day. Aim for a gram of fat for every gram of protein as a starting baseline.

8. Use A Pure Fat Source

Getting that hallowed 1:1 ratio is going to be a tall ask if you simply opt for meat and eggs. If you were to take your pick of a few pure fat sources, the ketone life becomes much easier. Can’t deal with butter? Go with beef tallow or suet.

9. You May Need Digestive Enzymes To Absorb Fats

As you can imagine, you’ll be digesting far more fat than you’ve ever attempted before. This can lead to a classic side effect: loose stools. Normally this resolves over the first few weeks. If it doesn’t, it’s often an issue with a lack of bile acids. That’s easily fixed with a few caps of Betaine HCL before mealtime.

10. Skip The Probiotics To Begin With

There are plenty of probiotics on the market. I’d just caution against using them during the opening month of carnivore, since you’re effectively purging various populations of gut bacteria by robbing them of their daily grub. Let the dust settle, then figure out whether you need further protocols.

11. Consider Supplementing Magnesium

Magnesium is a critical electrolyte that’s necessary for muscle function, blood glucose regulation, and immune support. The world’s soil has been rapidly depreciating, and activity depletes it steadily. A few tablets to support a healthy lifestyle is entirely justified.

12. Prioritise Red Meat

There still happens to be one food that trumps the rest: ruminant meat. Beef, lamb, goat, venison, and bison. What you’re getting is an array of essential macronutrients and micronutrients, alongside a distinct lack of antinutrients and inflammatory triggers. And they’re affordable enough to dish out in mammoth portions.

13. Moderate Pork And Poultry

Pork and poultry lack the rumen that converts Omega-6-rich grains into stable saturated fat. Bacon from standard pigs can be pretty high in Omega 6. Add it to your breakfast sparingly.

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14. Stick To Organic Eggs

Eggs can be a tricky one. Some people struggle with the whites (biotin inhibition, potential gut inflammation). Shopping for organic eggs gives you the best Omega 6 profile. Free range means practically nothing, look for organic instead.

15. Get The Small Fish

The bigger the fish, the higher the heavy metal content. Anchovies and sardines are your best bet for a natural Omega 3 source with negligible mercury accumulation.

16. Watch Out For Dairy Intolerance

Dairy can be a prime source of inflammation. Lactose and casein won’t jive with many people. Avoid milk, yogurt, and cheese for the first month, then reintroduce carefully. They’re worth having if you can tolerate them.

17. Get Collagenous Meats

Collagen is great fuel for the skin, hair, and gut. It also helps balance out potentially inflammatory levels of methionine from muscle meat. Brisket, braising steak, chuck roast are all good options.

18. Liver Is Optional, Not Required

A tiny portion of beef liver covers the micronutrient boxes that muscle meat leaves open: Vitamin A, copper, and more. A few ounces a week is more than enough. A pound a day puts you at risk of hypervitaminosis A.

19. Consider Trying Out Other Organs

Heart contains CoQ10 for mitochondrial function. Kidney has the DAO enzyme for histamine breakdown. Brain is a great source of DHA. Organ meats can be used to tick off RDAs or target specific metabolic issues.

20. Salt To Taste

Salt is a key player on a low carb diet. When insulin drops, aldosterone drops, and the body flushes electrolytes. Salt counteracts this. Think of it as insulin’s replacement during the transition.

21. Salt In The Early Weeks Only

Salting to taste often won’t be enough, especially for those exercising regularly. A decent electrolyte blend (sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium) during workouts and potentially before bed is a good insurance policy while you adapt.

22. Add In Mineral Water

Mineral water and hard tap water contain traces of many essential minerals that round out the diet nicely. Combined with red meat and organs across the day, it places you in a great position for reaching the apex state of nutrition.

23. Lower Cortisol In The Evenings

Your cortisol levels will be elevated on this diet. That’s fine if it’s high in the morning and declines steadily. If it doesn’t come down by evening, you’re into the sleep-breaking ‘tired and wired’ dilemma. Arrange your routine to support the cortisol cycle. Training in the evening might be a bridge too far. Consider meditation and warm baths.

24. Brace For Withdrawal

The first few weeks of carnivore can be bumpy. When the body’s had a lifetime of reliance on glucose, it’s going to struggle to make the switch towards fat metabolism. That means weeks, potentially months, before you’re at your true potential. You’re also likely to see blowback from starving the gut bacteria. Take the side effects as symptoms of a body healing. Be patient.

25. Add Progressive Strength Training

If you’re going to take on the ancestral diet, live the lifestyle. Weight training represents the most effective use of your time for physical exertion, and it’s unmatched for its ability to assist fat loss. If you want to be lean, muscular, insulin sensitive, and free of chronic stress, lift heavy weights.

26. Increase Training Intensity Gradually

Your performance in the gym will probably take some tanking during the initial transition. Restrict intensity initially by increasing rest intervals. Prioritise your big lifts so you don’t lose strength, and fill the rest of the session with isolation exercises.

27. Take Measurements, Pics, And Scale Weight

Scale weight doesn’t tell the whole story. Measurements and pictures reveal changes in fat loss and muscle gain more accurately. For maximum benefit, use all three.

Wrapping Up

This list will be your best friend for the first 30 days of carnivore, and potentially more. When it’s working, there’s little reason to shift gears. The only real adjustment from here would be to bring the carbs back in, and that’s a question to tackle further down the line. Till then, get your eggs in line, as well as the steak, the fats, the organs, the salt, and trust the process.

Carnivore Foundations Series

This is part of an ongoing series on what to eat on carnivore, and why.

• The 10 Best Foods On The Carnivore Diet
• You Can’t Do Carnivore Without High Fat
• Ten Animal Foods That Aren’t As Good As You Think
• What I’ve Changed My Mind On After Four Years On Carnivore

If you want to put together your own metabolic revival, follow me on Twitter or Instagram, or find out what the coaching programme involves below.

Related reading: 6 Of The Best Carnivore Recipe Ideas.