5 Unexpected side effects of the Carnivore diet

The carnivore diet can seem like an extreme diet when compared to other modern approaches to health, despite the fact it's most likely the diet we not evolved on but thrived on. Even with that in mind, the transition from a Standard American Diet to the Carnivore Diet can have some unexpected side effects.

You can’t eat as much

For some, the carnivore diet can seem quite restrictive. After all, you’re pretty much limiting yourself to a few food groups, all of which are animal based.

When you’ve eaten animal food only for some time, you’ll begin to notice that you don’t need anywhere near as much food as you used to.

Why? It’s hard to say but we can speculate.

If you have some weight to lose, you might find yourself not wanting to eat for 24 or even 48 hour periods at a time and it’s most likely because your body has learned to use up your fat stores and those stores have become the preferential source of energy.

It’s also possible that your switch to what is probably the most nutritionally dense food on the planet simply means that you require less food. It would be interesting to see what the recommend daily intakes of a carnivore would actually be because it most likely differs from the standard American diet.

You might get a tan

This is one of those weird phenomenon that everyone in the carnivore community talks about but no one is sure why.

For some reason, your skins reaction to the sun is much different, almost always better. Carnivores often report that they can not only withstand more sun exposure than they could before but their skin starts to tan.

Again, its hard to say what the cause is but it’s most likely caused by some kind of light sensitive defence mechanism     in the plants we consume.

You’ll feel empty

This sounds like a massive downer, and it is for some time. But then, eventually, you begone to realise that the emptiness you feel isn’t necessarily emptiness, it’s a lack of inflammation.

Instead of the emptiness going away, it eventually subsides and becomes your new normal.

This feeling are more than likely associated with lower blood volume, less glucose and insulin in your system and less plant toxins.

Whatever it is, it’s certainly a strange feeling for some time but your body will adjust and get used to it.

You’ll crave weird stuff

The first few weeks on the carnivore diet are much like NOT being on a carnivore diet but you’re not eating plants.

That means you carry on eating things like steak, eggs, pork, lamb and maybe even some dairy.

But once you’ve been at it a while you’ll find yourself craving weird things like liver, chicken feet, kidneys, tendons, ligaments and bone marrow.

At first it can seem a bit weird but after some time and trying bits here and there, you’ll not only get used to it but weird carnivore foods will become a staple of your diet.

You’ll poop less

Save the best for last. Poop.

Poop is probably one of the most talked about topics for newcomers to the carnivore diet. Often reporting that they poop so little or sometimes not at all.

The Carnivore diet is a low residue diet which means that once your body is done taking everything it can from the food you consume, there’s not much waste leftover.

Plus, with the absence of fibre which isn’t able to digest in the human digestive system, you’re not left with much to poop out.

Say goodbye to 20 minutes of toilet time with your phone because you’ll be in and out of there in a few minutes, just like nature intended.