Hello, everyone. I recently started carnivore as an extreme elimination diet to see if it would clear up some eczema. It seems to have had a strong impact on my lipid panel and I wanted to get an idea of what is a normal change in cholesterol as a result of eating carnivore.

Here is my lipid panel:

Date Cholesterol Triglyceride HDL Chol LDL Chol Non-HDL

5/26/2025 210 189 54 118.2 156

4/20/2026 Started Carnivore

5/26/2026 350 201 35.6 274.2 314.4

6/26/2026 439 180 34.1 368.9 404.9

I started carnivore on about 4/20/2026

Is that spike typical, or do I have something else going on? Are those numbers ok as long as I am otherwise healthy, or is carnivore just not for me?

The lipid panel was a little messy on the initial post. This is more clear: Lipid Panels.pdf

In a word, yes, that can be normal. As your body is getting adapted to a high fat diet your cholesterol numbers can be a little wacky but it’s nothing to be concerned about at this time. It’s recommended that you shouldn’t get a blood test done until you’ve been carnivore for at least six months or even a year.

Even after that it’s likely to be higher than what the medical establishment considers normal but carnivore aren’t normal.

Give it time.

Even on carnivore it can have several factors. The elimination part is the biggest factor. A lot of the things you are no longer eating were a big part of your fuel source. When stopped those a switched to carnivore your primary fuel switched from sugars and carbs to fats. At any one given moment it stands to reason there will be more fat in your blood stream as fat is moving. Not really a medical term but moving fat is not as big as issue as stored fat.

If you are eating a higher fat moderate protein approach to carnivore then again, the fat goes up and initially the cholesterol follows. At least that is how mine did. In the first 12-18 months I was on a cycle where I would get a HAZMAT/work physical every six months and bloodwork for my autoimmune issues every six months. Fortunately they staggered so I was getting a lipid panel every three months. The first three or four were sort of all over the place, up and down, and didn't seem to be following any pattern. Maybe around 12-15 months my triglycerides and LDL dropped and my HDL went up. (I also went thru a stretch trying to eat enough for 200 grams of protein in a day. The first part I went lean meat and sort of not the carnivore way as it was higher in protein than fat. My cholesterol followed the pattern of how I was eating. When I adjusted for the fat content my most recent test showed my HDL dropped a few points and my LDL and triglycerides made a slight increase.

Also a couple times my lipid panel was the after fasting 72+ hours and that test had higher triglycerides that I normally see but once I was back eating they eased down.

Like Geezy said, it is probably not the best idea to do lipid panels early on, unless if there is a medical condition that warrants it, because the first stages of carnivore will have numbers all over the place.

Good luck.

Scott