I see you're quite passionate about the carnivore diet but I'd suggest some adjustments to the diet guide that address key health concerns:
Could you add a section about kidney stone prevention? The carnivore diet significantly increases kidney stone risk due to high animal protein intake, acidic urine, and zero plant-based alkalizing compounds. Studies show 5.9% incidence rate vs 0.25-0.3% in general population: Incidence and Characteristics of Kidney Stones in Patients on Ketogenic Diet: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Could you include guidance on fiber supplementation? Since carnivore diets provide zero dietary fiber, users miss the 23% reduction in all-cause mortality and 26% reduction in cardiovascular mortality that fiber provides. Consider discussing supplementation strategies: Dietary fiber intake and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis
Could you include guidance on digestive health management? Since fiber feeds beneficial gut bacteria and prevents constipation, carnivore dieters may need specific strategies to maintain gut health without any plant foods: Dietary fiber intake and total mortality: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
Could you add a section on micronutrient monitoring? A nutrient analysrt in multiple essential nutrients including thiamin, magnesium, calcium, vitamin C, folate, and potassium (you can even see it in the nutrient table in the guide). Regular blood work and targeted supplementation may be necessary: Assessing the Nutrient Composition of a Carnivore Diet: A Case Study Model
Could you include cardiovascular monitoring recommendations? Given the significant dietary shift, more frequent lipid panels and blood pressure monitoring could help track how individuals respond to higher saturated fat intake, since responses vary considerably between people. Meta-analyses show both processed and unprocessed red meat consumption are associated with increased CVD, stroke, and heart failure risk: Red meat consumption, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis and Health effects associated with consumption of unprocessed red meat: a Burden of Proof study
Could you add a section on cancer risk awareness? A comprehensive analysis of 148 studies found red meat increases breast cancer risk by 9%, endometrial cancer by 25%, and colorectal cancer by 10%. Users should be aware of these risks for informed decision-making: Consumption of red meat and processed meat and cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis
As with most highly restrictive diets there's lots of bloodwork and supplementation required to make sure you don't damage your body long term and while it may be much harder than having a more varied diet it may be useful if you don't have any other choice.
@[email protected] Originally expressed these concerns in a comment but due to some federation issues outside of our control it didn't federate properly, so I'm reposting it here so it can be seen by everyone.
My original reply that no one but me could see:
To skim the papers
List of things this diet changed for me
I recall seeing this set of studies before. I think I got that list from an LLM when I was trying to challenge my beliefs
If you try carnivore for 90 days it's hard to go back to another way of eating. So it felt so good - every health thing evaporated, my ability to do stuff went up, my ability to deal with adversity with a clear head is immeasurably improved
So I felt I needed to check myself. What if the mainstream advice was correct? So I asked an LLM for an assessment of carnivore and it gave me a list an awful lot like that and I was disappointed. Nothing was pertinent. All of the comparisons were normal diet versus bad diet that is characterised as low fibre, but is better described as high sugar; or ketogenic (lots of seed oils and coconut oil to treat mental illness) versus healthy people
I don't want to know about how bad versions of the standard diet are worse than good versions
I want to know about people on zerocarb compare to the alternatives
So far we only have the first LMHR study which compared carnivore dieters' heart health to matched controls from the general population and showed no harm from carnivore to heart health. The second LMHR study compared the carnivore dieters to themselves from a year before and found that the diet was not related to cardiac plaques
So the studies that say (unspecified) high meat intake causes whatever aren't convincing
There are too many bad epidemiological papers that define practically all junk food as meat and find (unsurprisingly) that a high junk food diet is unhealthy
There are too many studies that compare someone eating the standard diet, running on sugar, but also eating high fat and pretending they're like someone who eats no sugar and runs on fat. We're on a different metabolism.
Yeah, I noticed this too. It's amazing how I never thought I had a reflux problem before, but now that it's gone I realize how bad it was. If I cheat (or use too much spice) I get reflux and its like a nice feedback loop telling me not to cheat.
If I was a billionaire I'd setup these studies. Fund a third world prison for 10 years, divide the kitchens between low fat, plant based, low carb, zero carb... and record every metric possible. No other way to do this then some lock-in group, and its hard to find volunteers for a decade so it has to be someone insuitutalinized
Literally every diet is better then the standard western diet, not much value in the epidemiology coming out comparing against the high sugar, highly processed, low protein diet.... It's not much of a baseline, its sensational but not clinically significant.
I know eating pixie sticks and coke all day is going to be healthier then binging on cocaine and meth... publishing papers about it isn't going to help inform my choices or improve my health.
I'm not sure this group was carnivore, it was long term ketogenic, which has a overlap with carnivore but it's guaranteed in the data. Probably lots of plant based foods still in this group.
Very well said!
Thank you for going over that like you do with papers. I like to have my beliefs and positions challenged. I want to be the best me