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Comment by rman666 | Hacker News Reader

Carnivore is the way. Here is what I do: Beef, Bacon, Butter, Eggs (BBBE), salt and water. That’s all I eat! And I feel better than ever! I’m not a doctor and this not medical advice. Do your own research and consult with your doctor. There are many videos about this topic at the normal sources.

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For the last year I've been eating 4500 calories a day and not exercising. I'm down 30 lbs. Carnivore is indeed the way.

Is there any particular reason you don't choose to eat vegetables and fruit? How about vitamins? Lots of cholesterol in purely meat?

Cholesterol isn't a nutrient of concern. Very little of the cholesterol you eat is actually absorbed: the molecules are too big. Almost all of the cholesterol in your body is endogenously produced.

Carnivore diets seem to work quite well for some people and are a disaster for others. We don't really know why. Maybe something to do with genetics or gut microbiome. It's worth a try for people who have struggled with losing fat other ways.

Humans did not evolve eating vegetables or fruit. Prior to the rise of agriculture a mere 8 - 12 thousand years ago there was very little vegetation in the human diet. Prior to 80 thousand years ago there was virtually none. Humans and their progenitors for at least four million years have existed as hypercarnivores. And that means your genes have been adapted for the vast majority of history to survival on a meat-based diet. Every vitamin, mineral, and nutrient your body needs is found in meat. But the reason I choose not to eat plants is because I'm much much healthier since I tried this way of eating. I have no more acne, no more tiredness during the daytime (despite my continuing insomnia), sharper mental clarity, I no longer get DOMS after working out and can push myself much farther than I could previously, my persistent autoimmune disease (lichen planus) has completely vanished, and most of my gray hairs went away. For the first time in my life I can wake up in the morning and function immediately with no memory or energy problems. (I didn't know that people could wake up and be fully alert immediately upon waking.) And I lost 30 pounds. But probably the best part is that I can eat as much as I want until I'm stuffed and not worry about gaining weight. After nearly 20 years of counting calories I'm so relieved to not worry about it anymore and never need to feel hunger.

> Every vitamin, mineral, and nutrient your body needs is found in meat.

No fiber? And minimal vitamin C?

I'm almost certain this is not possible.

Your body has a limited capacity to digest both protein and fats, which are passed in the excrement if you exceed that capacity. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are digested primarily in the stomach from which they are transferred directly to the blood stream, elevating your blood sugar. Your pancreas creates insulin in response to elevated blood sugar which is a hormone that instructs your cells to switch to sugar metabolism. This shuts down fat utilization in the body as your fat cells stop participating in the gluconeogenesis cycle and begin converting sugar into fat. Only after your blood sugar returns to a normal level can your body switch back to fat metabolism and begin the gluconeogenesis process again and start eliminating body fat. A diet that is nearly entirely devoid of carbohydrates, as nearly everyone's diets were prior to the rise of agriculture on the order of 8 to 12 thousand years ago (which isn't that long ago from an evolutionary perspective) forces your body to run primarily on fat metabolism and combined with the aforementioned capacity limits on protein and fat digestion limits your maximum weight. Previously in human evolution carbohydrates were limited by availability and seasonality. (Good luck finding fruit in the winter.) But the rise of agriculture, industrial agriculture, global trade, and factory-produced processed foods has lead to a scenario where the vast majority of humans find it more convenient to eat their food from a boxed product - consisting primarily of carbohydrates, which again halt fat metabolism and tell your body to begin storing fat instead - and are consequently gaining weight on a pandemic scale. I'm happy to provide references and more information if you like.

Your argument is self defeating: if the body is inefficient at digesting these things, you probably shouldn't eat them.

Eating fat certainly makes you gain weight. This is a fact.

> as nearly everyone's diets were prior to the rise of agriculture on the order of 8 to 12 thousand years ago

lol. This is not true. Cereals and starches were scarce, but meat was not a large part of the diet: at most it was 40%. Certainly not 100%.

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