A Typical Breakfast and Fat

 

This is a typical carnivore breakfast for me. Sometimes it's 3 poached eggs with less meat. Today it's 2 soft poached eggs, done in the cups with lard, with some bacon, beef and cheese. Today the cheese is gouda. Sometimes it 's havarti, or cheddar or edam. Last week I had a small piece of smoked gruyere. Its was okay but not as good as many others. My favourite is garlic and herb harvarti, although this gouda is very good and creamy! I often melt the cheese over the eggs, not today. I have been enjoying this creamy gouda lately, as is. 

The beef is about 1/4 of a steak, grilled on cast iron on the stove in lard. Not a lot of fat in this one. I might consider adding a lot of butter to the top of low fat beef (and licking the plate. I always lick my plate when there's lots of melted fat on it. Like I said in an earlier post... I don't eat out much. lol) I have lately been eating butter by itself. It's delicious cold and hard, not so much at room temperature. I also put quite a large chunk of butter in my coffee now. It's also delicious! I don't know if I could go back to drinking it with just cream. I've gotten so used to the great, melted butter on top. I wonder if salted lard would be good, cold and hard... hmmmm... probably not so much, but worth a try. It's a LOT cheaper than butter.

I'm being creative about ways to eat more fat, but it's hard. It's probably the hardest thing about the carnivore diet, trying to eat enough fat. I prefer to eat hard cheeses as the fat content is higher, with less water. I do occasionally eat cream cheese with a high fat content and 14% fat sour cream. I also eat high fat greek yogurt, 10-11% fat when I can get it. I sometimes drain the high fat yogurt to condense it down thicker and dryer. That condenses the fat even more.

I eat more dairy now than I used to. I'm wondering if that's a good thing with North American dairy containing so many growth hormones given to the cows. I have read that eating an over abundance of non-organic dairy could result in cancer in reproductive organs, male and female. Oh well, I'm too old now to worry about long term health concerns from diet and I like my dairy too much to cut it out. It's a good source of fat too.

My Favourite Meal

 

Meatloaf is my favourite meal! I make it with ground beef but I add lard, chopped bacon, and cheese for the extra fat. I put in a lot of eggs, as well, since there are no carbs in it. The bacon adds a lot of flavour too and it's so tender and juicy with the added fat! It has the added benefit of making a good sandwich for hubby, who doesn't eat strictly carnivore. It also makes great meatballs! 

 

 

Cooking Bacon

 

I cut the entire package of bacon in half with the scissors before I cook it. It makes cooking evenly so much easier and makes the pieces easier to handle in the pot too.

I have recently started cooking my bacon in a little water to start with, just a couple of inches, enough to boil it for about 5 mins. This removes a lot of the salt and nitrates in the bacon. After boiling it, I drain off the water. I keep this, let it cool and remove the fat from the top. Bacon fat is prime stuff! None of it gets wasted and the boiled fat has less nitrates and salts in it. I know this because I can taste the difference. I don't have anything against salt but I like my pink Himalayan salt, not the curing salt. I'm more concerned with the nitrates.

After the water is drained off, the bacon keeps frying in the pan normally until it's nice and brown. I fish out all the bacon pieces and scrape the bottom of the pan. Then I pour off the grease with all the little pieces in it. That's great stuff too but, because it has the little bacon pieces in it and is not clean rendered fat, it needs to be kept in the fridge. I usually separate it into little pieces and freeze it. I have a bag in the freezer full of bacon fat pieces for cooking. It gets used all the time, for everything. 

 

 

Boiled Pork Buttons

This morning, while cooking bacon, I also boiled a package of pre-seasoned pork buttons. I boil these for about 15 minutes. I find the seasoning a bit too strong for my taste. Boiling removed a lot of it and tenderizes the buttons. I drain off that water too, cool it and skim off the rendered fat. Today I have three bowls of fat to cool. The boiled bacon water, frying bacon fat and water from the pork buttons. I am considering combining the three into one pot, boiling it again to render the fat again. Then cooling and removing one chunk of seasoned pork fat. I could render it a few times, cleaning it thoroughly but I don't see any reason to do that. I'll probably freeze it in pieces and add it all to my bag of pieces in the freezer. No reason to just make more work for myself unnecessarily.  

I like to cook ahead like this, so I always have choices in the fridge, ready to go. It makes this diet so much easier to do. It makes any lifestyle easier  to have the food cooked ahead of time, ready to eat.

 

 

Carnivore Chicken Nuggets

 

 

These are my carnivore chicken nuggets. They turned out very well, I think. These are made with three ingredients: cooked chicken, eggs, grated hard cheese. I also coated them with finely ground pork rinds. 

 

 

 

I made way too much of the mix, so I froze some of it uncooked, in small batches. I can take out enough to make just a few when I want them. I could have made them into nuggets, then froze, but I was tired of working in the kitchen and so just froze them like this. I took the frozen squares and put them all into a freezer bag. 

 

 

 

These were good but very "eggy". I have read that using mostly egg whites will take away that "eggy" flavour. I used the yolks too for the nutrition. These are excellent dipped in sour cream!  

I didn't eat all of these, so I froze a few of the cooked ones for another future meal, too.   

My Favourite Way To Eat A Roast

 

My roast beef slices

I bought a small slicer at the thrift store a few weeks ago. It has been a great asset! It made a good job of slicing this beef roast. This is my favourite way to eat roasts of any kind - sliced and grilled on the barbecue. It's about -25c outside with around two feet of snow. We still barbecue, a lot! 

I slice pork roasts and barbecue too. If weather just doesn't let me barbecue, then I grill them on a cast iron skillet. I cook pork thoroughly, although it's no longer necessary in Canada, as all the pork sold here commercially is radiated now. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but that's the way it is. At least I don't have to worry about getting parasites from pork anymore. 

I like the beef roasts and steaks very rare on the inside and seared crisp on the outside, so that takes high heat. I barbecue the beef slices on high for about 2-3 minutes on each side. I use my own spice mix on them with the pink salt. They are delicious! 

My spice mix is pepper, thyme, oregano, parsley, garlic powder. I also use fresh diced garlic when I have it. I never eat onion. I like onion but it doesn't like me. 

 

The Carnivore Diet

I am on the carnivore diet. I have done this a few times. I lose weight FAST when sticking to it. It's not a hard diet to stick to, for me anyway. I tend to eat that way most of the time, avoiding white flour and sugar. Either of these things can give me a bad migraine headache if I eat too much in a day or on an empty stomach. Switching to full carnivore wasn't that much of a change. I have also been avoiding vegetables and fruit, as much as possible for a long time, as either of these are hard to digest. I find my entire digestion system works so much better, calmer, on the carnivore diet, no gas, bloating, constipation. So, in addition to losing weight, it's better for me.  

 

Another benefit of cutting out carbs is the difference it makes in my arthritis. My arthritis is so much better without the carbs. Carbs aggravate any inflammation you have in your body, including arthritis. Its getting better now, and it's only been a few weeks. It should get even better as the months go by.

Then there's the Roundup (glyphosate) issue. All wheat farmers in North America finish their wheat with glyphosate so it's ready to harvest all at the same time, one harvest. It stays on the wheat and is never washed off, so you get the full impact of it in the flour. (I think this is one of the main causes of the greatly increased gluten sensitivity on this continent.) Here's something to think about. Using glyphosate to finish the wheat all at the same time, saves the farmer a lot of work, time and money. If it's outlawed (which I hope it will be) wheat and wheat products will become more expensive, more in line with the cost of organic bread now. There's also the issue with bleaching white flour. It leaves a chemical in the flour that causes headaches. Yet another reason to quit eating baked goods. 

I stopped eating seed oils a long time ago, since they have been proven to be toxic, especially when heated, but are contained in most commercial baked goods and some processed meats. Animal fats are so much better for you - lard, tallow and real butter. (Some butter brands are faking it now, adding powdered milk and culture, less cream. Some have seed oils in them. Read the labels. Eat real high fat cream butter)

All this to say: I'm on the carnivore diet, probably for the long haul this time. I do occasionally take a few bites of something sweet, but right now, with about 20 lbs to lose, I won't be. When I get to my perfect weight, I'll loosen up a bit on the absolutely no carb rule... maybe. I'm getting adjusted to eating just carnivore now and might not want to go back to something that's going to give me indigestion and bloating every single day. I still eat a couple of small squares of very dark (85-90%) chocolate once a day. It stimulates stem cell growth, which helps heal damaged cells. This little bit of chocolate still gives me a bit of gas, so it will only last as long as I have the chocolate here. When it's gone, I won't buy more. 

My version of the carnivore diet is this: Most fatty meats, eggs, and some dairy. The dairy has to be high fat and very low carb. It necessary to read the labels. I use whole milk to make my own high fat yogurt, with cream added. Otherwise it doesn't get used. This diet also requires eggs, almost daily, so eggs and some dairy are allowed, although I know I will lose the weight faster if I cut out all dairy and I may do so. Eggs are actually recommended, lots of them, daily. I eat soft poached eggs at least every other day and try to put them in a lot of what I make. The carnivore soup I eat is always "egg-drop" for noodles. 

Another thing the carnivore diet recommends is a serving of beef liver and a serving of  salmon weekly. I aim for that, although I don't always get it. Beef liver is best. I like Pillars herb liverworst (pate). It's good mixed with sour cream and used as a dip for pork rinds, but it does contain potato starch, nitrates and onion powder, so I may drop it in favour of pure beef liver. Wild caught pink salmon does come in a can, so it's easy to get. The fresh flanks work too, but are very expensive. I try to eat about a quarter of a can of salmon a week, but I don't always make that. I don't like salmon, so I tend to avoid it. I do like the flanks, baked in garlic butter! 

Another thing the carnivore diet recommends is Himalayan pink salt, always, on everything. It's the only salt I use now. It has a nice flavour and contains a lot of the minerals and trace elements we need. 

Because I don't always follow the perfect carnivore diet rules, I take vitamins with minerals. I also take extra vitamin D3, since I live in the far north and it's winter. We get very little sun up here now and I don't drink milk.  

The key to not being hungry while dieting is the fat, eating as much fat as I can. When I feel hungry or get a carb craving, I eat fat. It's my primary energy source on the carnivore diet, not sugar. It will also keep the digestion working properly. I have developed a taste for bites of pure, cold, hard butter and butter in my coffee. It is so good! 

Drinking a lot of water helps the digestion as well, but the fat is the important thing. I drink a large glass of warm water every morning as soon as I get up. It helps to keep things working properly.

Lots of fat is very important. It's the most important thing to eat on the carnivore diet. It prevents a lot of the problems that cause people to quit the carnivore diet. Not enough fat is the main cause of digestion problems on this diet, or so I have read.

I only drink coffee and water; no sodas, teas, juices or drinks of any kind, but I have always done this. Tea, without sugar, would also be acceptable, but ordinary black tea has too much acid for me. I don't tolerate it well, so I don't drink it. Fruit juice is so full of fructose sugar and it causes me a lot of indigestion. Herbal teas are ok, without sugar. "Sugar" includes honey, molasses, natural sugar, sweeteners, anything high on the simple glycemic index. No sugar, period! Anything that's not animal based and high in fat is restricted, including "healthy" fruits and veggies. Dried spices are ok. I use a lot of garlic, some parsley, thyme, etc. in cooking. Pepper has a lot of oxalate so I'm working on cutting it back. Ditto for the fresh garlic. A purist would not even eat the spices, but I do a little.  

The variety in the diet comes in the types of meat available.  Mixing it up at every meal keeps me happy. Hot dogs are allowed, the ones with low sugar, and bacon also without a lot of sugar used in curing. 

I eat a lot of pork. I especially like pork belly, sliced thin and fried in lard until they are crispy dark brown, then salted. They aren't cured so don't have any sugar or nitrates from curing. They are a delicious crispy snack, and cheap! Pork ribs and buttons are also good, done in the slow cooker until they fall apart. Mix these meats on a plate with a little of the expensive ones, beef and fish, and it makes a nice meal. A little of each on the plate. A couple of pork ribs, one small piece of chicken, and a few bites of beef, and some cheese slices on the plate, make a nice meal. I don't usually have that much of a variety together. I'm good with a bowl of ground beef - bacon meat loaf, topped with sour cream! Yum! Everything on the above sample plate could have sour cream on it. I put sour cream on everything (high fat, of course).

I avoid processed meat when possible, but I do eat some bacon and occasionally hot dogs (no bun) and only occasionally, smokies. I have begun to cook bacon by boiling in water first. I find this removes a lot of the sugars and salts used in curing. I keep all bacon fat for cooking but usually use clean lard. I buy pure lard in the 50lb box from the Wholesale Store. It's a lot cheaper than buying it in one pound packs at the grocery store and it last a long, long time. We use lard for all our cooking and I add it to things like meat loaf and ground turkey meatballs, to get the extra fat I need. 

I save real butter for special things since its so expensive and many brands of butter are fake, made with powdered milk and culture for the flavour, mixed with some cream. It would not have the high fat content of real butter. Again, read the label. I put butter in my coffee. It's delicious! I will occasionally eat just a clump of cold, hard butter. It's good, but takes getting used to. I'm beginning to love it as a quick snack!

Bacon grease adds amazing flavour to everything. I now put finely chopped bacon in my meat loaf too, which I make without carbs. Extra eggs keep it together well and help give me the eggs I need. It's important when making meatloaf to let it sit and cool in the pan. It will absorb all that fat and juice as it cools. Don't drain if off! 

All said, I'm happy on the carnivore diet. It takes some adjustment for the first few weeks. Knowing this, I gradually removed the carbs from my diet and increased the fat gradually. I did this for several weeks. I think I have avoided all the negative digestion issues I had when going on the carnivore diet previously. It was much easier this time. 

I know from previous experience that the weight will come off fast. It's not the fat that puts on weight, it's the carbs. I do still get a few carbs in the fresh garlic that goes on everything, and all the dairy that I eat and the coffee. I drink about 4-6 cups of coffee a day, all with real cream and butter. (That much coffee is not a recommendation on the carnivore diet, it's just what I do.) Coffee depletes the magnesium in your body, so I'm working on cutting it down to two cups a day, early morning and late afternoon, when I need the pick-me-up.

Doing without coffee would be the thing that would sink me. I can easily not eat carbs. It's not hard to stay on the carnivore diet, since fat and protein keep you full longer. If I eat a lot at every meal and snacks, lots of fat and no carbs of course, then I'm not hungry for anything else, but I do love my coffee!

I find, in the long run, that the carnivore diet is cheaper on the grocery bill. It can be done cheaply. I know meat is expensive, but so are all those "other" things. I don't buy bread, crackers, buns, desserts, cookies, jam, relish, pickles, veg oil, vegetables, fruits, drinks, frozen pizza, any convenience foods, soups, tomato sauce, potatoes, rice, pasta, tacos, burger buns, fries, ice cream and so many other things that I would otherwise be eating. If I find I need a snack to keep my energy up when I'm out, I'll get a small coffee with 2-3 creams. I can also buy pork rinds at any grocery store. It's a great lunch if I have to grab lunch out somewhere. I rarely buy cooked foods out, usually only when travelling.

All in all, I like the carnivore diet and it works! It takes the weight off fast and helps reduce my arthritis pain. And it's so easy to follow. I'm not hungry and with all this great meat to eat, I don't feel like I'm deprived of anything. Using a barbecue for a lot of the meat helps too. It makes everything delicious! I also use my slow cooker frequently and quick fry a lot of things in the cast iron skillet.

If you are planning on undertaking the carnivore diet, be warned. There is a transition period. Your body will take a few weeks to rid itself of all the toxins it has built up through a continuous intake of flour and sugar, to dump the oxalate from vegetables and to adapt to the intake of extra fat and protein. That is why a commitment of three months, minimum, is usually asked before making a judgment. It takes that long for you to start reaping the true benefits of eating this way. Weight loss comes fast and early, but there are so many other things to be gained when you drop all sugar and flour from your diet. 

The first common downside of a quickly changed diet to carnivore is this: severe, explosive diarrhea, but it doesn't last long and is controlled with the diarrhea pills, so go gradual into full fat-no carb. It's the intake of a lot of meat and fat all at once that causes it. Going slow and gradually changing is the key to avoiding this common side effect. If you suddenly dump all carbs and add a lot of fat and meat to your diet, you will probably experience this late in the second or the third day. I have read that it's common, so go slow. 

Another side effect of starting the carnivore diet is called the "Carnivore flu". You feel like you have the flu - achy all over, drained of all energy. Its common and usually occurs in the first few weeks and will possibly last for a couple of  weeks. Its withdrawal from sugar. This is what I have learned from my studies, but I have not experienced much of this. Fatigue, yes, but not the flu symptoms, however, as I said, I started gradually and didn't eat much sugar or white flour to begin with. 

Losing weight quickly will drain you of your energy, no matter how you do it. It's just the way it works. It's a good time of year to start this, when things are slow. 

After looking at these photos, anyone who asked me what I eat or don't I ever get bored, hasn't been paying attention to the photos. The list is endless and these things are all delicious!  

The photos on this page are not my own but come from a free photo site of which I am a member.