The Carnivore Diet: Restrictive, Imbalanced, and Harmful to Systemic Health

Introduction:

The carnivore diet advocates consuming meat, fish, poultry, beef, pork, animal foods, and certain dairy products, excluding all plant-based sources like nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. Read the article to understand why this diet pattern is completely detrimental to systemic health and the potential risks of cardiovascular, gastric, and chronic diseases associated with only animal food consumption.

What Is the Carnivore Diet?

The carnivore diet is an eating plan recommended by some scientific authors that focuses almost exclusively on consuming only meat and other animal products. This diet emphasizes weight management and weight loss through regular consumption of the listed foods, which will be discussed below.

While this diet may not be suitable for individuals following vegan or vegetarian diets, some users claim that it can help boost weight loss and reduce systemic inflammation. Additionally, some users believe that a carnivore diet alone can be useful in boosting or increasing testosterone levels. Unfortunately, none of these purported benefits are true. Also, any plant-based or plant fiber-containing food sources cannot be consumed as a part of this diet, apart from the selective animal-based products or food items listed in the diet.

What to Consume and What Not to Consume in a Carnivore Diet?

The carnivore diet mainly focuses on consuming only selective animal products, and consumers of this diet are recommended to consume the following products only:

• Beef.

• Game meats.

• Ground beef.

• Steak.

• Beef liver.

• Venison.

• Bison.

• Chicken and turkey.

• Pork, bacon, ham, and sausage.

• Lamb.

• Eggs.

• Bone broths.

• Seafoods including crab, oysters, scallops, salmon, tuna, mackerel, shrimp, etc.

• Only limited or small amounts of dairy like milk, cheese, cream and so on.

The following items or foods cannot be consumed by individuals who are following the carnivore diet:

• Fresh fruits or frozen fruits.

• Vegetables.

• Whole grains.

• Nuts and seeds.

• Plant-based oils.

• Plant-based meats.

• Alcohol.

• Sweetened beverages.

According to current medical and nutrition research, scientific evidence has come to the fore that this diet lacks credibility and, in fact, has a lot of significant drawbacks.

What Are the Drawbacks or Systemic Setbacks of the Carnivore Diet?

• Firstly, the drawback of only following the principle, that is, consuming animal foods in a carnivore diet, is that there are no parameters around when or how exactly one should eat. Instead, this diet focuses only on some approved animal foods listed above in this article. While the carnivore diet itself is quite straightforward—whether one consumes meats, seafood, eggs, or smaller amounts of animal products such as dairy foods, bone broths, etc.—individuals are advised, as per this diet, to stick to only select animal products or options. Hence, it can be certainly restrictive in nature and not beneficial in boosting systemic immunity.

• The second drawback of the carnivore diet is that though consuming only meat or other animal products may sound quite simple to follow for weight management, the fact is that any diet that reduces the food intake can deprive the body of the essential micronutrients needed for its active metabolic state. Reduced body metabolism or reduced cellular energy, in turn, can easily predispose individuals to chronic diseases as per current nutrition research.

• Consuming only a single food group, even in animal products, is not only quite restrictive and difficult to follow, as elaborated earlier, but the eating pattern can further get repetitive for the individuals following this diet. When diet patterns get repetitive, psychologically individuals will be even more prone to fulfilling their hunger cravings or to satiate themselves. This can, in complete contrast to weight loss, predispose an individual to unhealthy food cravings.

• Depending on the choices of steak, meats, seafood, eggs, or dairy, a carnivore diet is definitely not as economical as it sounds. Not only are the limited number of foods listed in this diet restrictive to the individual, but it can also be a financially expensive diet to follow on a daily basis. This is because most of the pasture-raised meats or even the sustainably sourced seafoods are some of the most expensive foods in the world.

• While the users or proponents of the carnivore diet may advocate this diet on the basis that early men or humans were the first to adapt to these diet patterns, a point to be noted is that in ancient civilizations, humans were not deprived of plant sources or plant proteins and micronutrients either. Also, following only a limited diet pattern of animal foods would mean compromising upon some of the key nutrients known to sustain human health. These are derived from consuming fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that contain an abundance of essential dietary fiber.

• According to current nutrition research, any diet that does not recommend the daily value needed for children and adults cannot be followed. A lack of essential plant-based dietary fiber comprising antioxidants and micronutrients not only leaves an individual constipated but can also create the long-term chronic impact of cardiovascular diseases (due to reduced fiber consumption). A high-fiber diet is further associated with a lowered risk of certain cancers such as breast cancer or colon cancer. High fiber from plant-based sources can also aid in better blood sugar management.

• As per recent advancements and findings in nutrition research, it is quite clear that vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin B complex, and polyunsaturated or monounsaturated heart-healthy fats, polyphenol compounds, or antioxidant compounds (that fight cancers or harmful free radicals in the body) are all an integral part of following a plant-based diet. Since the carnivore diet lacks or has reduced amounts of vitamin C, and polyphenols, and is furthermore high in saturated fat content (found in all animal food products, be it in meats, beef, lamb, pork, etc.), one is likely to exceed the saturated fat consumption in a single day by following such a diet that is not recommended by the American Heart Association (exceeding more than six percent of saturated fats based on a 2000-calorie per day diet).

Conclusion:

A carnivore diet, consisting solely of selective animal products or foods high in saturated fats and low in fiber and micronutrients, is unlikely to benefit systemic health and may instead be more harmful, predisposing individuals to cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. As this diet is neither sustainable nor rich in fiber or vitamins, weight management is likely to occur through restrictive food intake, but not in a healthy pattern. Additionally, nutrition experts recommend that plant-based diets, though they do not comprise complete sources of protein, still provide cellular energy, complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and protection from gastric and cardiovascular diseases. Since this fiber is entirely missing in animal products or the carnivore diet specifically, individuals will be at an increased risk of gastric or cardiovascular disease. A balanced and nutrient-dense diet should not be restrictive and should include an array of foods enriched with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and complete or lean proteins, such as plant, dairy, and animal foods low in saturated fats.