Low Energy on Carnivore Diet

[John4]

Hello I am new to the carnivore diet and experience agitation and uncomfortability when I do cardio.  When I cheat on carbs by eating rice or bread, I notice I gain much more energy, my skin glows, and working out is no problem.  If I were to continue eating carbs these effects go away.  I was wondering if my body is getting this uncomfortability due to it not being use to ketosis?  I have been on carnivore diet with a fruit or two a day, for about two weeks.

[Geezy]

I would say that the odds of you being in ketosis is quite slim if your are eating that many carbs.
You are definitely eating too much sugar. Any amount of carbs are sugar so add those carbs to the fruit and you are up there.
You are feeling the way you do because you are still in a transition stage and your body doesn’t like it.
It is used to being fueled glucose from the carbs and sugars you ate on SAD. It’s an addiction that results in a roller coaster of energy and cravings. When you eat that way your blood sugar goes up and the dopamine effect in your body is euphoric. When it drops you begin craving more and that is an addiction. That is why you are feeling better after consuming some carbohydrates. No different than being a drug addict and getting your next fix. The only way to stop that addiction is to cut out all sugars sweeteners and carbs.
Your body has been fed bad food for a long time now and it will take a little time to get over that. It can be harder for some than others but in the end it’s all worth it.
It really doesn’t take that much time of abstaining to rid yourself of this addiction. Everyone is different but it took me about 60 days to be completely free. I recently decided to stop dairy because I was finding it addictive and it took me about 3 weeks to stop the cravings.
You can do this if you really want to but your biggest enemy is yourself. You have to have the mindset that that you cannot fail. Nothing can deter you from your goals. Nobody is coming to save you so you have to save yourself.
Be resilient and be committed to your health.
Now go light the fire, burn the beast and be happy.


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[Miranda]

This might sound totally off the wall, but I was thinking about vitamin c today. and scurvy and the mechanism that caused the sailors to get it. The body deals with carbs in a way that implies they are injurious. For one they compete with the transporters for vitamin C. Vitamin C it needed for repair and fighting infections. If you are assaulting your body with something it has no requirement for, you can expect it is going to need more C to do more repairs. 

If I were low in energy I would think more about hormones and how to get them balanced.

Hormones need fat. 

Proper hormone balance also requires attention to sleep hygiene and stress management. 

By sleep hygiene, I mean getting light directly into your eyes when the sun is low in the sky, and using amber glasses in the evening to help cortisone levels drop back down as they are naturally supposed to before bed. 

Edited June 8 by Miranda

[John4]

9 hours ago, Geezy said:

I would say that the odds of you being in ketosis is quite slim if your are eating that many carbs.
You are definitely eating too much sugar. Any amount of carbs are sugar so add those carbs to the fruit and you are up there.
You are feeling the way you do because you are still in a transition stage and your body doesn’t like it.
It is used to being fueled glucose from the carbs and sugars you ate on SAD. It’s an addiction that results in a roller coaster of energy and cravings. When you eat that way your blood sugar goes up and the dopamine effect in your body is euphoric. When it drops you begin craving more and that is an addiction. That is why you are feeling better after consuming some carbohydrates. No different than being a drug addict and getting your next fix. The only way to stop that addiction is to cut out all sugars sweeteners and carbs.
Your body has been fed bad food for a long time now and it will take a little time to get over that. It can be harder for some than others but in the end it’s all worth it.
It really doesn’t take that much time of abstaining to rid yourself of this addiction. Everyone is different but it took me about 60 days to be completely free. I recently decided to stop dairy because I was finding it addictive and it took me about 3 weeks to stop the cravings.
You can do this if you really want to but your biggest enemy is yourself. You have to have the mindset that that you cannot fail. Nothing can deter you from your goals. Nobody is coming to save you so you have to save yourself.
Be resilient and be committed to your health.
Now go light the fire, burn the beast and be happy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you for your response, that fundamentally aligns with what makes sense

[John4]

4 hours ago, Miranda said:

This might sound totally off the wall, but I was thinking about vitamin c today. and scurvy and the mechanism that caused the sailors to get it. The body deals with carbs in a way that implies they are injurious. For one they compete with the transporters for vitamin C. Vitamin C it needed for repair and fighting infections. If you are assaulting your body with something it has no requirement for, you can expect it is going to need more C to do more repairs. 

If I were low in energy I would think more about hormones and how to get them balanced.

Hormones need fat. 

Proper hormone balance also requires attention to sleep hygiene and stress management. 

By sleep hygiene, I mean getting light directly into your eyes when the sun is low in the sky, and using amber glasses in the evening to help cortisone levels drop back down as they are naturally supposed to before bed. 

Thank you

[Geezy]

This might sound totally off the wall, but I was thinking about vitamin c today. and scurvy and the mechanism that caused the sailors to get it. The body deals with carbs in a way that implies they are injurious. For one they compete with the transporters for vitamin C. Vitamin C it needed for repair and fighting infections. If you are assaulting your body with something it has no requirement for, you can expect it is going to need more C to do more repairs. 

I don’t think this is off the wall and would make sense if we think of vitamin C in the conventional realm of the SAD.
To start with, scurvy is not caused by lack of vitamin C. It was caused in the sailors by the high carb diet they ate and the lack of fresh meat. In fact it was reported that it was common for the sailors to get scurvy and not the officers because the officers were the only ones that got the meat.
The reason they were able to combat the scurvy with eating limes was because of exactly what you said that it was repairing and fighting infection. So the C was a medicine not a cure.
The reason that no carnivore needs large amounts of vitamin C is because when we are metabolically healthy there are very little infections or issues that need to be addressed by taking C. So little is needed. We do get some vitamin C from eating meat albeit small but when that’s all you need it’s sufficient.
Now if I were to contract a viral infection, you bet, I’m going to be taking a vitamin C supplement until I’ve got it wiped out.


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[Bob]

On 6/7/2024 at 11:46 PM, John4 said:

When I cheat on carbs by eating rice or bread, I notice I gain much more energy, my skin glows, and working out is no problem.  If I were to continue eating carbs these effects go away.

It's no surprise that you will feel more energetic when you eat carbs before a workout, because the body will prioritize burning those carbs for fuel first to get them out of your body. Likewise, the body will even burn alcohol BEFORE it burns carbs, because it's more imperative to get the alcohol out of the system quickly. But many people who are into working out do eat carbs before a workout. If I were to do that though, I would personally stick to the fruits and avoid the grains. 

On the other hand, you have carnivores who are ripped like Shawn Baker and Anthony Chaffee who eat nothing but meat and work out all the time, so it can be done.

 

[Orweller]

There's going to be time needed for adaptation, I'd say a good 3 months. Also, check your electrolytes, salt intake, etc. Initially I lost a bit of oomph during workouts in the beginning, but that's now a non-issue, especially since I've addressed electrolytes and fat intake, since that is your new fuel. Keep adjusting. I have been working out for over 18 years now, I haven't found the diet somehow, spoiling my workouts, it just took some adjustment time and tweaking energy management and nutrient intake. 

[John4]

On 6/12/2024 at 10:33 AM, Orweller said:

There's going to be time needed for adaptation, I'd say a good 3 months. Also, check your electrolytes, salt intake, etc. Initially I lost a bit of oomph during workouts in the beginning, but that's now a non-issue, especially since I've addressed electrolytes and fat intake, since that is your new fuel. Keep adjusting. I have been working out for over 18 years now, I haven't found the diet somehow, spoiling my workouts, it just took some adjustment time and tweaking energy management and nutrient intake. 

What about salt and how do I get enough electrolytes?

[Scott F.]

You can buy electrolyte drinks or drink mixes like LMNT or recycle. Both are good, I guess. I didn't like the taste myself. I watched a YouTube video of how to buy the LMNT ingredients separate and make my own, much cheaper as well. I didn't like the taste of that either, so I now use the drink mix that I made as salt when cooking meat.

As stated before, I didn't read any of the instructions and just started eating animal products.

This is just my personal insight, and I can't claim it is transferrable to anyone else, but when my electrolytes were a bit off coupled with not getting enough fat in my diet I felt really slow/sluggish. I didn't feel bad, just sort of flat.

Once I made that adjustment, I feel like I have more energy than before I started eating this way.

Scott

 

[Orweller]

5 hours ago, John4 said:

What about salt and how do I get enough electrolytes?

There's drinks and mixes you can purchase. But one could turn to supplements, magnesium, potassium, and increase the use of table salt, imo iodized salt. Make these changes in increments. @Scott worded it perfectly. Tweak your intake, bit by bit.