Skeptic

So, I wanted to thoroughly read this entire post a few times over before replying, but WOW!!! Major thank you right here! I just learned several things. Between the salt in the electrolyte water I drink, and the bit I put on my food, I would estimate that I am getting right around 2 tsp a day of Himalayan pink salt or Mediterranean sea salt, depending. Nothing I eat is processed, so I cant think of any other sodium that would be sneaking in. The USRDA states 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon per day of sodium for adults. Wow. I would sure like to see similar studies conducted on those eating a proper carnivore diet!!

Brilliantly! I went from 8.9 down to 6.1 currently, and it keeps trending down lower. Shooting for the fives at my next appointment.

I'm on a permanent "lower my A1C challenge"

I also use salt to tase on my food, and it is in the electrolyte water I mix up daily as well. Something I have never really found a lot of referenced info on in the last 2 years though, is the effect of salt on blood pressure. Just as western medicine villifies saturated fat and cholesterol (which we all here know is a total load of nonsense) the same thinktanks also publish a lot of information in regards to the evils of salt, and how it is no good for us, as it raises blood pressure, etc ...so they say. Anyone have any good articles to the contrary?

I am new here, but these are not helpful comments.

Gosh, didnt mean to hurt any feelings! Finlandia and Kerrygold are the best widely commercially available butters, but if you live anywhere near dairy country, you may find that other more local butters are superior. I personally like the Cabot extra creamy premium butter, and my local favorite is Breakstone's out of Walton, NY

As I progressed into the carnivore diet, my tastes definitely changed. Whereas I used to buy the cheapest butter I could find, now I buy the top grade stuff, and let me tell you, its worth it. I can now tell just by tasting meat if it is fresh or not the relative fat content, and if has come from a local butcher or the grocery store. Its an acquired skill, you might say. Trust your body. Cooked meat will still give you plenty of nutrition, but you DO lose a lot of the value by overcooking. Raw is actually best, if you can do it. I thought it was gross at first too, but here I am, eating a pound of basically raw ground beef at lunchtimes, with a half a stick of top quality butter and loving it. Never felt better. I actually crave it.

Had not heard of these folks until just now. They have some fantastic articles on their website! Just this one here would answer so many questions for those just starting this diet! https://carnivorebar.com/blogs/carnivore-bar-blog/i-started-carnivore-why-am-i-feeling-so-fatigued#blogSec

Saladino seems to get a lot of press, and he does ruffle a lot of feathers , but let's say I am skeptical of his motives after examining some of his work. This is not the first time I have visited his site, and I will say that he does seem to get things right on the page the above link takes you to. In my opinion, nothing listed on that page is ideal to eat. Another way to say it is that I do not believe that anything listed there will improve your health by consuming it. Can you eat mushrooms? Yes, you can of course, but I dont believe we should. I have cut mushrooms out of my diet, and precisely for the reasons listed by Saladino. I see that he is still promoting the eating of fruits, which I do not personally see as beneficial to our health. Fruits bring with them fructose, which is far more damaging to our bodies even than glucose! Can you eat an apple in season? Of course you can, but we are right back to the mushroom questions again. I dont personally believe we reap any benefit by consuming fruits either, so I disagree with Saladino in that regard. Then there is this video about "needing carbs" after which I pretty much stopped listening to him. Very interested to hear what other's take is!

Our current recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of baking soda to 3 Tablespoons coconut oil and between 5 to 15 drops of peppermint oil. The peppermint doesnt really add anything to my knowledge, but sure makes it more inviting at teeth brushing time. Multiply the recipe as needed. If youve never brushed with baking soda toothpaste before, it is SALTY stuff! I add extra coconut oil now to tame it down a bit, as the original recipe called for equal amounts of coconut oil and baking soda. WOW that was salty.

Thats a nice feeling, aint it? Gosh, soak that in! I havent been around long enough to have gathered this, but it sounds like your doc knows all about your diet? If so, where does one find a carnivore-friendly doctor? All mine seem to want to do is tell me I need carbs and statins

I have never tried the simple recipe with olive oil, but I would assume it would make a bit of a "soup" rather than a paste. My bathroom stays at about 70F, and at that temp the coconut oil is just barely firmed up. A few times when I have been surprised by a warm day and the woodstove has been stoked full for sub zero weather, I will come home to 85 or 90 degrees indoors, which makes the coconut oil liquid and the baking soda all falls to the bottom of the mixture. When I make a new batch of toothpaste, I pour it into one of those 1/4 pint jelly jars where I can dip the toothbrush in the jar and grab some paste. Body heat turns the coconut oil to a complete liquid in seconds anyway, so I really dont see why olive oil would not work, provided you dont mind shaking the jar before each use to get the baking soda mixed back in.

Yes, but it's not a hard solid. At room temp it's quite pliable.

A few years ago I read several articles about folks that had cleaned up their diet and no longer needed deodorant. I scoffed. About 2 years ago I read a different article about folks that no longer used shampoo on their hair. I scoffed. Last year, I read a different article about people discontinuing use of toothpaste who were on the carnivore diet. It was at that point that I actually began contemplating the possibilities. I since have found out that if you do not "strip" the oils out of your hair with shampoo constantly, your scalp produces much less oil, and things settle down. I havent personally used shampoo in the last year, and no complaints from anyone. I also simply scrub my fingers through my hair under the shower and call it good. I feel better, my hair LOOKS better, and when I run a comb through it wet and let it dry, it will stay put for the most part without any product in it. More win. My wife and I were using Tom's of Maine toothpaste, which I always enjoyed, and was about the only brand we could find that was made without the needless flouride, but we have kicked that to the curb in favor of our make-your-own "homesteader" variety which is just baking soda in some coconut oil with a few drops of peppermint thrown in. It works fang-tastic, and is actually reducing the plaque on the back of my lower front teeth! Dont think Ill be going back to the Tom's. To be completely truthful, we DID both quit using deodorant (as a test) for about two weeks, and were pleasantly surprised that we could get away with it by just regular daily washing. There was a small amount of natural odor on days that we had worked really hard, but not overpowering. We now have begun making our own deodorant (which we LOVE!) Its just baking soda, shea butter, arrowroot powder, a small amount of beeswax as a binder, and we like some almond oil in there too. I can post the recipe if anyone is interested.

I run my pressure canner quite often, so I saw those Ball jars and got excited! I thought for sure that was what you had done, my mistake. I wonder how much the canning process would change the tallow? I wonder if anybody else on here does pressure canning?

Every year we put a whole beef in the freezer. In years past, I didnt know nearly as much about the importance of fats as I should have and so wouldnt request the extra fat. Of course that has all changed, and now I have packages of fat in my freezer too. I have simply been adding the fat to burgers as I make them up and things like that, but I have been at a loss as to other ways to use it. Nutritionally, I know raw is best, and I am guessing a bit of nutrition may be lost in the rendering process, but Ill bet that tallow is shelf stable in the pantry! This here is a great idea.

Even small rises in glucose readings all add up to an A1C a bit higher than 5 of course. Some day I may hit 5, and its a great goal! From digesting proteins in beef to the small amount of sugars present in milk and cheese, I am currently at 6.1 but I know I can go lower. The way I figure, I would rather have one tiny tube now, than several much larger tubes later in life. I use a Tandem pump, which uses a constant feedback Dexcom CGM, so I can see a real time graph of where I have been over the last 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours. Tandem DOES has the option to be constantly linked via a smartphone, but I personally decline that option as I dont prefer to be that connected either. Back when my numbers used to trend much higher, I had rejected the idea of a pump and CGM because I didnt want anyone to see when I would "cheat" and eat sugars and pig out on carbs, but a true A1C pretty much tells the story anyway. At even a 7 or below, you have to be close in your control, so I figure there is no longer anything for me to hide. You definitely have to have the "want" to, but it is always the choice of the individual. Just sharing what has worked for me, in case anyone finds value in it.

I do 4 eggs every morning, over *real* easy. I make sure the white is getting firmed up, but leave the yolk runny. They are the best with bacon or sausage on the weekends of course In my opinion, you cant overeat eggs.

Wow. Sounds like you are getting things down to a science, so to speak. The fasting is superb, and will do SO much good. I used to be on the long and short acting insulin myself, so what you are saying is very familiar to me. I have heard that dry fasting is far superior to water fasting, but that is not said to detract in any way from a 7 day fast. Most excellent!! As for the gluconeogenesis, I should have specified. Gluconeogenesis and ketosis are states that can occur simultaneously. Gluconeogenesis is the body's way of producing its own glucose via the breakdown of triglycerides, in precise amounts. If you research about this, most articles will say that it typically occurs when the body is in a fasted state, but it can also be when you do not eat carbohydrates and sugars and thus have no excess glucose in your system that is readily available. To be absolutely fair, I dont know for certain if what I experience is technically gluconeogenesis, or glycogenolysis (where liver glycogen is broken down to produce small amounts of needed glucose) but the effect is noticeable in my physiology as long as I do not consume carbohydrates or sugars to knock me out of ketosis. When in ketosis (fasting or not, it doesnt seem to matter) I can go out in the morning and go to work, and watch my blood sugars via the CGM graph. I will stay pretty level until I hit the point where any basil insulin delivery from the pump is no longer needed, at which time the pump will suspend delivery. I will say that this may be an advantage of the pump as opposed to long acting injections, as they are not something you can "take back" once administered of course. Anyway, after this, my numbers will trend down toward the 70s or even mid high 60s, before boosting back up gently, no glucose tabs required! I can continue this way all day if I like, never dropping "low" I will often break for lunch if hungry, but as long as I stay within the limits of the ketogenic diet, and stay in ketosis, once I get past the initial small rise (from processing the protein from lunch) its back to business as usual and my numbers will stay in the 90s until the day is done. This opens up all new windows for work, fasting, exercise, you name it.

The struggle is definitely real. Cravings can be merciless, and I am no exception. I get the same cravings and they are no joke. Quitting carbs was easy for me compared to quitting sugar. Here's my take: I would suggest you are in the midst of "the worst of both worlds" By that I mean you can see the vast improvement from carnivore on your numbers, but feel like you're missing "the good old days" on carbs and booze. The flip side is the guilt trip once you've gone off the wagon, not to mention feeling awful the next week. I would suggest a varied approach, rather than continuing the current cycle, but it's up to you of course. I can say definitively, for me at least, that my cravings went away 90 % by the third week. Your mileage may vary. All that said, if you're getting A1C numbers between 6.5 and 7 with the current status quo, that's impressive.

I appreciate the kind replies. As a T1, there have been struggles, yes, but ultimately I think it has led me to a different (perhaps spelled "deeper") understanding of the carnivore diet. Glad to be here, and hope I can bring some of my experience to the table, while gaining some answers to questions I will surely have going forward.

Hi folks. I always seem to be the one who reads posts with questions and says "hopefully someone that knows will chime in" but in this case, I think I can help. SO, type 1 for the last 20 plus years. I have fought with lows nearly as much as highs over this time. What is worse is that no one in the medical establishment ever mentioned a word of this to me, so I was simply ignorant. Several years ago, I thought that a Tandem pump with a CGM was the solution, but I was still over/under correcting for carbohydrates. There are so many variables. I was terrified of dying in the night from lows, so I took my drs advice and would "liberalize" my glucose levels. I was definitely not aware of animal based eating at the time, and downed all kinds of garbage. Carbs of course, but processed foods galore, seed oils, vegetables, fruits, coffee (hot bean water) ...the list goes on. The SAD diet, which modern western medicine has little to no problem with, yet they will flip out if you tell them you are eating a carnivore diet. Once I cleaned up my diet, the insulin pump/CGM combo began REALLY showing its worth. Once you are animal based for a while, and your body gets adjusted, things get easier. For clarity, Im talking about NO carbs, as well as being fat adapted, where you get very hard stools without purposely adding in fats in a minimum of a 1 to 1 ratio. Once your body re-learns how to operate on fats instead of on glucose, your body will regain its ability to make its own glucose when necessary through gluconeogenesis. This fixes your trouble with lows, *without* the need for glucose tabs. Trust me, I used to carry em too. A word of warning from my personal experience, if you eat any sugars or carbohydrates, it will kick you out of ketosis (as mentioned above) and your new found gluconeogenesis abilities will be put on hold. This can be dangerous if you are on insulin, and are not prepared for what comes next. Example: If you go out for a burger with friends, for instance, and eat the burger with the bun, POOF, goodbye ketosis. I personally would be waking up at about 2am with my sugar level in the basement (sub 50) Ask me how I know. This is where your doctor will come in and say "see, you NEED carbs" but I say let clearer thinking prevail. Without the carbs from the bun, you (I) would have been fine. No highs to deal with, and self correcting lows! Carbs arent the solution, they are the problem. Happy to be able to offer my two cents *EDIT* I should also clarify that it does not take me more than 6 to 12 hours to recover back into ketosis, should I have something sugary or carby. Im not advocating carbs and sugars, but I know we are all human, and old habits do die hard.

I find that its an ever sliding scale for me. Ive been carnivore for right about 2 years now, and in the beginning, preferred my meat fully cooked. Nowadays, I get it a little warm in a pan or over the fire and thats just right. I like to leave it out at room temp a while before cooking, so it isnt freezing in the center, but thats me. Way more nutrients left in there without all the heat so Ive heard.

Hi folks. Just joined and wanted to say howdy right proper. My screen name is appropriate, as I have always been a skeptic, which is (I believe) why I am where I am now. I've been carnivore for about 2 years so far, and nicely fat adapted. Type 1 diabetic, but I have my A1C down to 6.1 from the 8.9 it was 4 years ago! Cholesterol IS elevated, but I understand that is to be expected rather than feared. No statins for me. I feel good, and it FEELS good to find this place with other like minded people. After doing a lot of reading here in the last day or so, I have to say that I have been encouraged to join the group. Good info and enthusiasm, with real honest replies. I love it! Looking forward to it. -John the Skeptic