Hi all, I am new to this site. I am coming up on almost 2 years on the Carnivore diet. Over the past 5-6 month the majority of my bowel movements have been loose, seemingly out of nowhere. Prior to that I had the typical carnivore bowel movements. I almost always have diarrhea within an hour after eating a meal. I have lowered my fat and upped my protein and vice versa trying to see if that was the answer, no changes. I have added in an Ox Bile, Betain HCL, and Lypo Gold - at times this barely helps, adding some solids in the stool but still mainly liquid. Over the past 3 months I have been essentially lion diet (meat, salt, water) I do still do LMNT 2 times a day and have 20 oz of coffee in the morning.

Outside of this, I feel great. Bloodwork is good but I have another draw next week to see if any changes. Energy is great. Sleep is great. BP the lowest it’s ever been, resting BPM at 45-55. Overall health and wellness outside of my bowel movements is tremendous. I love the diet, it works great for me, and I do not want to come off of it… ever.

All that said, this has been pretty frustrating and beginning to become a concern. I know it’s common for new carnivores, but I haven’t seen anything out there about long term. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

Sean

Welcome to Carnivore Talk Sean.

I have been carnivore for a little over two years myself. I will occasionally get loose but for me it’s because of too much fat.

I’m not sure what it could be in your case since you’ve already experimented with your fat ratios but since this is an elimination diet you might look at what’s not essential to your diet.

You might try dropping the LMNT for a while. The magnesium or potassium could be causing an issue. I personally don’t thing that someone who has become fully fat adapted should be taking a supplement unless they are deficient in something or trying to fix something. I was taking LMNT and the. For cost reasons I switched to KetoChow and a blood test showed that I was in the danger zone for having too much potassium in my system. Now I only take LMNT when I know I’m going to be out in the hot sun working all day and sweating. If I don’t I’ll end up with muscle cramps.

The other thing to look at would be your coffee consumption. I know that’s a hard one to give up but I could be worth a try. But I’d try giving up the electrolytes first.

Welcome. Just over 14 months for me.

I had the loose stools in the beginning as I went cold turkey/hard switch. It eased up within a few weeks to a month. Like Geezy, mine will get loos when I up the fat content and probably surpass whatever "my number" for fat happens to be. I'm guessing that is a floating number as it will factor with the protein for a ratio.

For the last few months, I have been somewhat forcing myself to eat close to 200 grams of protein. When I eat a lot my stools are solid and finished off sort of loose. Then it is 4-5 days before I go again.

I'd check out the videos by Dr. Chaffee and Dr. Berry on the subject and their advice on using Magnesium as a supplement. I used it early on and I think it worked.

Best of luck.

Scott

My thoughts are in agreement with what has been said above already. Electrolytes are something that is very much needed in the beginning, especially when transitioning to a carnivore diet. But as time goes on the need for electrolytes decreases. Try reducing your LMNT to once a day instead and then if you still feel fine with the reduced consumption then reduce it again to one every other day, etc. Remember you can get an electrolyte panel and see what your electrolyte needs are. You may need to reduce one, and maybe raise another, and if that is the case you will have to resort to individual supplements instead of a product that blends them altogether.

Coffee is a known culprit. Coffee stimulates colon contractions, and caffeine can give some people a slippery slope in their insides, lol. But even decaf can have a laxative effect. It could be that after 2 years-ish of healing, now you're becoming sensitive to the toxins in coffee. Many of us who are strict carnivore notice that they become more sensitive to various plant products over time.

I would highly recommend doing a water fast 24-72 hrs or however long you can to maybe reset your system

before eliminating coffee/electrolytes.

This is an elimination diet and carnivores are just as susceptible to certain things causing gut issues.

Like mentioned above electrolytes are usually needed for transitioning to carnivore from sad diet.

As mentioned coffee could be the issue as well.

So with that said I would eliminate 1 thing at a time for 30 days and see if that makes a difference.

If not then eliminate the other for 30 days and see how that works.

Another thing is are you drinking black coffee, butter in it or cream?

Please update us on your progress.