Scott F.

No truer words have been spoken. Scott

Most of them do. I use the plain. I am sure the flavored ones will taste like straight sugar. I don't use them often just when I feel like I am going to fall way short of my protein target. I hadn't thought about making my own and going that route sounds more appealing. Thanks for sharing. Scott

I just bought it on Ebay for $5. Cheap enough. Scott

I use a protein powder when I do use the protein drinks. Ingredients are key as some are loaded with carbs and sugars. I don't really count calories but if protein is XX amount per gram and you get 30 grams per serving the total calories on the ingredients should be really close to that number for protein. I use Bulk Supplement non-flavored protein powder. It is 30 grams per serving which works out to about 120 calories, but the total is 130 per serving. 10 extra calories from fillers and I am sure the stuff that makes it not taste like crap. Some of the powders will be 120 calories from protein but be 150-175 total. That is where they can sneak the carbs and sugars in on us. And since most of us believe carbs and sugars are an addiction, having them slipped in on us is not a good thing. I have never made one from scratch, but it actually sounds good. I'm deep into this fast, and although I am not hungry, a homemade shake sounds good and is probably a good way to break the fast. Between Google and Youtube I am sure there are some solid ideas. Thanks for prompting my brain. Scott

My NMO/SD and MS are basically the same with the biggest difference being Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder attacks the eyes and the optic nerve. It derives from an extremely overly active immune system. I was on pain and inflammation medicine from 2018 til 2024, six/seven weeks into Carnivore. Just six or seven weeks and although the foods were carnivore strict, I was still using drink mixers to get in the water, I no longer needed the medicine. As far as the auto-immune disease NMO/SD I have been pain and inflammation free for the last ten months or so. My immunoglobulin numbers, some were way low and other were way high, the low meaning my immune system was just not doing anything and the high meaning it was attacking both good and bad tissue, have inched back toward the 'green' or normal. I have blood tests coming in May and if the trend continues, I may be in the green and normal again. Some put it off on it is the weight that is lost and that there are better ways to lose weight. That may be true, but for me, I lost a bunch of weight on a couple different occasions and the pain and inflammation continued to persist. Six/seven weeks of Carnivore and it disappeared/stopped/no longer an issue. Carnivore has been life changing for me. I doubt I ever eat any other way. I am worried if I go to another way of eating and flare up, maybe Carnivore will not be as effective the next time. I don't feel comfortable with that type of gamble. I know as soon as we tell people who we eat everyone becomes a doctor/medical nutritional exert. I don't know enough to recommend Carnivore to people with other medical issues and I probably have passed the point of telling people about it for weight loss. For NMO/SD and MS I know what it is like to be on the downside of those two and it is not pretty. Really rough. Not to be funny but I have ended up pain free because I threw the bun, mustard, mayo and ketchup off my hamburger and just ate the hambuger. So true, but so hard to sell. Scott

I'm working tonight, going to the gym in the morning and then to the feed store. I should get home mid to late morning and I plan to eat soon after. It will be eggs of some sort. I normally try to eat 8-10 eggs a day. Over the last three days the chickens are way out front. We have eggs everywhere in the kitchen. Sunday will be catch up time. Scott

I'm about 74-75 hours deep and just woke up coming off nightshift. I feel really good and don't feel the least bit hungry. I am going to stretch it out to 96 hours. I will eat a small lunch tomorrow when I wake up and then we have a big family gathering tomorrow at the cabin. It will be meats galore coming off the grill. I am sure I need to eat light coming out of the fasting, but I doubt I will. LOL Especially if it is a fatty cut of anything coming off the pit. The only regret I have with this fast is that the ketone meter didn't come in on time. I'm interested to see ketone levels at stages as well as to how deep I get into ketosis. I am down six pounds since Tuesday and the last two times at 70+ hours the weight loss was minimal. However, it did spark a fall, and I lost 5-6-7 pounds the following week. If that happens this time, I will be in the neighborhood of losing 100 pounds in just shy of 11 months. Next week will be my four dayshifts that are affectionately called 'hell week'. All the day shift people are there, meetings scheduled for no more reason than to schedule the next meeting, maintenance activity in a constant buzz, and all interrupts production but at the end of the day the first question is why did production fall off? Amazing how some things slip by some people. This week always leaves me drained, so much so, the first day off is Friday and it is normally wasted as I am just too tired/worn out to do anything. A wasted day most of the times. After the last two fasts I have been full of energy throughout the four days, even going to the gym before shift around 4AM, and that Friday still had energy to burn. It lasted into the weekend before I came off that "post fasting high". (not sure that is a thing but it the first words I think of to describe it). If I am anywhere close to that this upcoming week, I'm sold on ~72 hour fasting (at least once per month for now) People should look into "carnivore + fasting". Scott

I do the same in the grocery store. This last month my wife did 30 days on carnivore and did really well as far as sticking to the diet. At 30 days she was done as the 'lack of variety' and how much she likes vegetables/pastas/rice and such. As she re-stocked on the non-carnivore items I too was all about the labels. It seems like the world revolves around high fructose corn syrup, seed oils and derivatives of sugar, but still sugar. Both of us dread the grocery store. it is time consuming and expensive. The carnivore changed so much of that for me. I come in the door head straight to the meat section skipping the breads and produce and sauces and vegetables. I swing thru for toiletries, from there over to the eggs, butter and occasionally cheese, and out the door. In and out in no time. LOL Scott

No truer words have been spoken. Scott

Salt, not slat in the above post. About 69 hours deep in the fast and I feel really good. Night shift went off with plenty of energy and this morning I hit the gym on the way home. I started feeling the work earlier than usual and sort of cut it short for today. I think maybe a combination of 69 hours into the fast, the 12-13 hour night shift and I didn't sleep my normal amount yesterday. I am sure any one of the them could have drained my tank a bit but I'm thinking the combination of the three. This time around my blood sugar didn't get as high as last time. After 8 hours I was at 70 then 85 afterwards. which has been the highest reading on this fast. This morning after work it was 78. This time around I'm at 6 pounds lost since I ate at lunch time on Tuesday. My last meal was six eggs vs. the red meat I did the last two times. If I hit a fall next week like I did the last two times I will be pushing the 100lb lost mark. Straight craziness as with carnivore I don't feel like I am trying all that hard. There are a lot of days I have energy to burn and could walk a bit further, increase the amount I run during the walk, increase the amount of pushups along the walk or even ramp it up in the gym. Again, straight craziness. I'm about to crash for the day and have to work tonight. When I wake up I will decide if this is my first 96 hour fast or maybe eat at work tonight. I haven't decided. If the energy level is there next week like the last time a 72-96 hour fast on my three nightshifts each month will become my new norm. I always say I don't preach or teach the diet, nor do I get up on the pedestal, but sometimes I feel like other people just need to know. Straight craziness. Scott

If my story would interest anyone I'd be happy to talk about it. The fact I went in with zero expectations other than weight loss and then considering where I am at now is sort of ironic. Scott

Dr. Chaffee has a couple good videos on it, and I think Dr. Berry talks about it as well. There are a number of videos on YouTube about carnivore and MS. I will try to find it, but it went into detail on the L-Arginine and L-carnitine and how the immune system gets fooled by the molecular make-up between a plant and a protein. The body then mistakes one for the other and attacks the protein on the myelin causing the lesions. The lesions can be anywhere on the brain or along the spine. Diagnosis is always hard because the symptoms can be all over the place and can actually come and go during the diagnosis period. I was put on a cholesterol medicine in August of 2018 and within a few days the symptoms were mounting. I stopped taking the medicine because I checked all the boxes of the possible side effects. From there the symptoms worsened to the point I was in the bed for days on end with no real relief other than pain medicine, which left me even more zombie like. Carnivore seems to help so many different auto immune issues because it helps remove inflammation and most auto immune issues stem around some sort of inflammation. Some refer to it as leaky gut, but a lot of inflammation comes from food leaving the stomach not completely digested. Inflammation is the natural reaction. At the same time on the 'not so good' diets we need all these vitamins and mineral and anti-oxidants and the oxidants usually stem from the plants. The plants have evolved as well and the very things they developed to survive are the things that negatively affect our gut. Vicious cycle from there. I end up spending some dead time at work surfing the net. I will type in CARNIVORE + ______________ and then fill in the blank and see what pops. Stanford and St. Mary's are doing studies on the carnivore approach. I have read mostly because so many people are reporting the positive effects and some members of the scientific community are digging into the possibilities. The benefits seem endless. Scott

I'm drinking just water but eating some salt here and there. I have never been much on coffee and I'm from the south, we "thicken" our teas with sugar. Close to syrup in some places. LOL Just water and slat during the fast. Scott

I understand the fatigue. I had the same symptoms for several years but they would come and go. By the time I got to the doctor they were gone and diagnosing an autoimmune disease is difficult enough and trying to do so with symptoms that go away is even more difficult. I had loss of motor skills in my left arm that sent me into stroke protocol what felt like a hundred times. Explaining the issue and then trying to convince a doctor I am not having a stroke was always quite difficult. In Sept 2018 I woke up on Labor Day and I was as blind as a bat. I was freaking out. I tried to get out of bed and my left arm was just hanging there and then the pains in my neck and spine started. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. After a few hours my vision started to return but the pain and lack of mobility remained. Soon after that my right thigh and right shoulder felt like my skin was on fire. I am not sure a cutting torch would have been any hotter. The cat scans started, followed by MRI's, visual evoked testing, spinal taps, bloodwork, etc., etc, and I got a diagnosis in late December. Those three-four months were a tough go. I do a rituxin/rituxamab infusion every six months. Other than my right forearm always tingles with a burn sensation I have been OK. Fatigue and lack of energy was on again off again and it sort of happened regardless of my approach or whatever I had going on with work/life. I was basically always either tired or getting tired. My son tried carnivore and lost 12-14lbs or so rather quickly so I saw carnivore as another hack to lose weight. I am a boring eater so 'just meats' sounded easy. I didn't read anything or research or ask, I just started eating meat. The weight started falling off almost immediately. After three or so weeks I started watching videos and reading carnivore articles, and I will admit I was thinking most of them were quacks or hacks because they all stopped mid-stream and asked me to either subscribe or buy something. There is a lady from England who stopped all her MS medicine and as I was not believing her it dawned on my I had missed my taking my medicine. (I took the pain and inflammation medicine as necessary because the gabapentin made me zombie like). I chalked it up as a coincidence. Then a few days later I realized I had not needed it again, and again being a nay-sayer at heart, I thought coincidence. By week 5-6-7 I had not taking any of the gabapentin-Neurontin or prednisone. And from there I have not taking any of the medicine since late May/early June of last year. I still do the infusions but since Carnivore my immunoglobulin number are inching back toward normal. Really low on one test and really high/overactive on another since 2018 and the last couple show signs both needles are moving back toward the middle. I try not to say what I am going to do tomorrow, as inevitably the intentions crash, but I don't really see me coming off carnivore, even to a lesser carb/sugar diet. I ate a trash diet my entire life and I am not sure exactly what built up/did enough damage to trigger the onset of NMO/SD. I am sure there are any number of things I could re-introduce and be OK. Finding out which ones is a bigger gamble for me that I am willing to take right now. I am hanging out on the carnivore side of the fence and choosing not to rock the boat. LOL I'm glad the good Lord showed me this light. Scott

During the first two fasts my weight didn't drop all that much but once I started eating I had a fall of 4-6lbs over the next few days. This time at around 32 hours I was down 4lbs and I just went over 50 hours and I am down six. I just woke up from working last night. I got 4-5 hours of good sleep and I feel pretty good. One of the things that has happened since early on with carnivore is that when I wake up, I wake up. No dragging, or lagging around trying to get going. When my eyes open I am ready to go. Most days after night shift I sleep 6-7 hours. I am not sure if the fasting altered that or I just happened to wake up a tad early today. With the fasting I am seeming to pay attention to everything, all the details. Scott

The crash at 71 hours I still don't understand. Then the next one just afterwards I had super levels of energy for four or five days afterwards. I still wish the ketone meter had come in this time. I'm sort of itching to know the "numbers" vs. just seeing excess with the strips. 8 hours in and my first glucose reading was 70 and then at 18 hours in it was 85. At about 32 hours in it was 82 and about 40 hours in I am down to 72. The 70 and 72 numbers are mid-shift and tonight it was mid-shift replacing a 2" valve up in the overhead. Sort of strenuous. At 40 hours I feel good, have plenty of energy and all seems well. Hopefully it continues. Scott

Sold. Scott

We are in this current discussion. My wife just did a 30 day carnivore stint and for now, it is just not her cup of tea. My son does it on and off and his wife is not interested. We live next door to one another and share a common freezer. We are looking into going in halves between the household for a 1/2 cow and then go from there. We did the math and ours worked out to be in the $5.70 a pound range. I am sure that is dependent upon location. I agree with all the points you made and I feel like we will be heading that way soon. Our two households are 3/4 non-carnivore but we go thru a boat load of red meat. Scott

We have similar stories. I was diagnosed with NMO/SD in 2018 which is basically the same thing as MS but also attacks the optic nerves and the eyes. Symptoms and medical issues with lesions, motor control issues, pain and inflammation are pretty much the same. I started carnivore because my son did, and it just sounded like an easy way to lose weight. The weight peeled off quickly and the pain and inflammation I had experienced sort of disappeared. I stumbled upon videos of other MS patients claiming all the positive results from Carnivore and I didn't really think it would be all that. (Dr. Chaffe has a couple good ones) Then it dawned on me I had been a week without taking gabapentin/Neurontin or prednisone. Then another week without it and within 6-8 weeks of being on a carnivore diet I was no longer using the pain and inflammation medicine. My immunoglobulin numbers indicated part of my immune system that should react was completely overactive causing the lesions as it attacked proteins on the myelin and the other part was just hanging out not reacting to anything. In the last ten months both the overactive AQ4's/Img/Iga numbers have moved their need back toward the middle and the lay around parts are more active. I did a couple 72 hour fasts and the last one left me with crazy amount of energy. Like the ketones were on super charge. I'm currently on another fast about 32 hours deep. I feel great and was able to get in a fairly good workout this morning and then got in some solid sleep today. Do you feel a difference between 72 hours and 96 hours? I have read say there are some diminishing returns after 72 hours. Depending how I feel this time around I may stretch it out to 96. I think I am going to start using my TUES-WED-THURS night shift rotation as my monthly 72-96 hour fast. Welcome. Congrats on your progress. Thoughts and prayers with your continued success with MS. Scott

I slept most of the day and woke up sort of thinking on how I felt due to the current fast. That changed into the younger or better question. I think I sort of landed on mentally I feel younger with all the positive benefits from Carnivore and the working out and physically I feel better with all the benefits from eating Carnivore and working out. I am not sure I could have 'not answered the question' and straddle the proverbial fence any better than that. LOL Scott

Not that I am a pro nor a personal trainer. I would look into stretching and using bands vs. lifting weights or even machines. If it is a joint and bone issue that normally comes from current impact activity or the results of previous impact. Even swimming would be a good option. I'd still move some things around in the diet and move the needle with fats and electrolytes for the energy concerns. It has only been ten months for me and I have made a number of adjustments, some intentional and some not so much. Dialing the fats and the electrolytes up and down seem to be my triggers. At some point I hope I can be smart enough to settle down into a more consistent approach. I'm experimenting and learning so that might be a few months down the road. Good luck and I hope you find out what works best for you. Scott

I have never heard a correlation between carnivore and sun burn. I'm ten months in and did carnivore thru the summer last year. I'm a ginger guy and burn easily. If I were to go out shirtless (beach/lake) I burn, I hurt, I peel and then I think I am a shade whiter afterwards. Been like that since I was a kid. I am a 'shirt all the time guy' now. As my posts suggests, I like to experiment and find out. I will give it a whirl in a month or two and see if I have the same correlation between carnivore and the sun. If I show up in pain, with my shoulders hurting from the typing with my fingers, I will know I don't fall into this category. LOL I guess we learn something new everyday. Thanks for the input. Scott

If there is an underlying medical issue it may be more than 'just starting carnivore again'. I'm ten months in and don't think I have enough experience to offer advice nor 'teach the way' LOL. In my personal experience, fat and electrolytes have been a constant process of dialing in to what suits me/works for me. If my fat intake drops low over a period of days I get constipated, but when I do go it is followed by several loose stools over that same day. Loose enough that what was enough water intake is now not enough water intake. From there I have some cramping. I dial it in, get a good stretch, and then inevitably I repeat. I am only ten months in and have tried different approaches within the 'meat, salt and water' eating. As of late I have increased eating trying to hit a protein target to go along with a lifting program. When I eat more, I go more. I think carnivore worked best for me when my approach was eat when I am hungry and then eat til I am full. Within a couple months I was eating once per day and I had incredible benefits and some normalcy with my stools. I don't think my body is as near as efficient eating more trying to hit a protein target. I am not sure it should work with excess. Good luck. Welcome back. Hopefully you can find your path. It is almost like I found mine, but intended and inadvertent tweaks leave me with bathroom issues. Scott

During the night my blood sugar inched back up from 70 to 85. That was about 18 hours into the fast. I went to the gym this morning after work. I got in a pretty good hour. This morning the gym was packed and it is hard enough for me to sit idle to rest between sets and just about impossible to wait for someone to finish my next machine/station. I sped up what I was doing but cut the lift short a bit. About to crash and sort of wondering how the fasting and the lifting are going to collide when I wake up this afternoon. Unchartered waters for me. Scott

Those were some of the things going thru my head. After a hard workout am I sore because I worked out hard or I am older. it is hard to go back in time and say I could have lifted or did this much and not be sore, so maybe I feel older. Then, my brain flips and I think back then it would have taken more to get to the sore/worn out point and I would have been much younger, so it is the load not the age. The it flips again and I am I feeling older after the gym or did I just not eat right or drink right leading up to the gym to make me 'feel older'? I was doing hamstring work last week and cramped so bad it felt like my hamstrings and claves were lifting the weight without me helping, just by contracting. it was all I could do to get off the machine. I walked like Tim Conway golfing' all the way to the water fountain. One of the gym guys says, "you are not as young as you use to be". That is very true, but if I had drank water and ate slat like I should have I would have not cramped at all so in my mind age didn't factor (except maybe I am old enough to know better which is an entirely different problem, LOL). Again, great question. I'm still undecided. LOL Scott