Carnivore For Beginners: How To Start A Carnivore Diet with Tips, Tricks, and Common Pitfalls

SUMMARY

Dr. Anthony Chaffee, a physician and carnivore advocate, shares beginner tips for starting a carnivore diet, emphasizing simple meat-based eating, avoiding pitfalls like overthinking portions, and addressing common issues like alcohol and digestion.

STATEMENTS

The carnivore diet involves eating meat, drinking water, and optionally adding salt to taste, with a focus on fatty meats for optimal nutrition.
Organs like liver are nutrient-dense but should be consumed in moderation to avoid hypervitaminosis, as muscle meat provides all necessary nutrients.
Key rule: avoid all plants, sugar, and artificial items, including in sauces, seasonings, and drinks; honey counts as sugar from plant sources and should be avoided.
No need for portion control, calorie counting, or intermittent fasting on carnivore; eat fatty meat until satiated, guided by hunger signals that carbohydrates typically distort.
Exercise is beneficial but not required for health on carnivore; the diet itself optimizes fuel, enhancing workouts when done.
Any enjoyable, affordable meat is suitable, including fish and chicken, though those with autoimmune issues may need to stick to grass-fed beef initially.
Don't fear naysayers; arm yourself with scientific facts from studies showing meat doesn't cause heart disease or cancer, and saturated fat is protective.
Perfection isn't necessary; if you slip up with non-carnivore foods, resume the next day to reinforce the benefits through contrast.
Alcohol can be social but hinders performance for weeks; quitting leads to better clarity, energy, and results, as experienced during rugby seasons.
Monitor fat intake via stool consistency: hard stools indicate too little fat, soft stools the right amount, and loose stools too much, adjustable without supplements.

IDEAS

Carnivore simplifies life by eliminating dietary confusion, saving time on tracking and allowing natural instincts to guide eating without calculators or apps.
Relearning true hunger signals without carbohydrates reveals how carbs create false hunger, enabling intuitive eating that prevents undereating or overeating.
Fatty meats provide built-in satiety, making carnivore the "easiest diet" where rules are clear—meat, water, salt—contrasting chaotic plant-based regimens.
Alcohol's social allure fades with sobriety, revealing clearer conversations, financial savings, and peak physical performance, as sobriety boosted rugby success.
Stool texture serves as a biofeedback tool for fat balance, turning a basic bodily function into a practical gauge for dietary adjustment without medical intervention.
Humans evolved as carnivorous apex predators, making plant avoidance natural; modern fears of meat stem from misinformation, not evidence.
Supplements are unnecessary on carnivore since it supplies complete nutrition; deficiencies are rare and often tied to sunlight lack, fixable with vitamin D3 if needed.
Slips reinforce commitment by highlighting the stark contrast between carnivore vitality and the malaise from even small plant or sugar indulgences.
Timing meals flexibly on carnivore avoids carb-related pitfalls like blocking growth hormone; eating when it suits enhances energy for workouts or daily life.
Coffee and artificial sweeteners, not the diet itself, often cause initial diarrhea on carnivore, underscoring the need to eliminate all non-animal irritants.

INSIGHTS

Embracing carnivore's simplicity unlocks innate bodily wisdom, freeing individuals from disordered eating patterns imposed by carb-heavy diets.
True metabolic health thrives in a fat-fueled state mimicking wild animals, where heavy physiological processes activate without plant toxins interfering.
Social pressures like alcohol or naysayers test resolve, but evidence-based knowledge transforms doubt into empowerment, sustaining long-term adherence.
Digestive signals on carnivore reveal personalized needs, turning potential pitfalls into adaptive tools for precise nutritional tuning.
Rejecting perfectionism fosters resilience, as experiential contrasts between carnivore benefits and slips accelerate habit formation and health gains.
Evolutionary alignment with meat-centric eating debunks modern myths, positioning carnivore as a return to human thriving rather than restriction.

QUOTES

"If meat tastes good, eat it; eat it until it doesn't really taste good anymore then just stop."
"If you need a calculator to figure out what to eat, you're eating the wrong thing."
"This is the easiest diet in the world... you know exactly what you can and can't eat: meat, water, salt."
"I preferred being sober... I was able to drive home, I wasn't spending all this money at the bar and I felt great the next day."
"You're not going to absorb more than your body has bile for, which I think means that's more than your body wants."

HABITS

Eat fatty meat until it stops tasting good, relying on natural satiety signals rather than clocks or portions.
Consume meals toward the end of the day for better workout energy, avoiding digestion during high-activity periods.
Avoid all plants, sugars, and artificial additives daily, including in drinks and seasonings, to maintain purity.
Resume the diet immediately after any slip, using the contrast to reinforce commitment without self-judgment.
Monitor stool consistency regularly to adjust fat intake intuitively, ensuring optimal absorption without supplements.

FACTS

Humans have been carnivorous apex predators for 2 million years, per an Israeli study, aligning with evolutionary biology.
Saturated fat is not a cardiovascular risk and may protect against stroke, according to a 2020 meta-analysis in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Higher protein diets do not damage kidneys, as shown in studies from the National Institutes of Health.
LDL cholesterol has an inverse association with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the elderly, per BMJ Open research.
Fructose, even in honey, causes harm with no evidence of benefits, mirroring effects in high-fructose corn syrup.

REFERENCES

Meta-analysis on saturated fat and cardiovascular risk (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Aug 2020).
Harvard Carnivore study on over 2,000 people (Current Developments in Nutrition).
Israeli study on human carnivory for 2 million years (American Journal of Physical Anthropology).
WHO fact sheet on natural plant toxins.
Dr. Robert Lustig's lectures on fructose as a poison and its links to metabolic syndrome and cancer.

HOW TO APPLY

Select fatty cuts of meat like ribeye or ground beef, season lightly with salt if desired, and cook simply by grilling, pan-frying, or baking to retain juices.
Begin meals by assessing hunger: if meat appeals, eat steadily until flavor diminishes, pausing midway to check satisfaction and avoid forcing intake.
Eliminate all non-carnivore items immediately, scanning labels for hidden sugars or plant additives in any condiments or beverages before consumption.
Track digestion post-meal: if stools are hard, add more butter or tallow to the next serving; if loose, reduce added fats and eliminate coffee or sweeteners.
Prepare for social settings by planning meat-based options or excusing yourself from alcohol, then reflect on energy levels afterward to build sobriety preference.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Start carnivore simply with meat, water, and salt, trusting body signals to thrive without overcomplication.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Prioritize fatty meats over lean cuts to naturally balance nutrition and prevent undereating from distorted hunger cues.
Study key research on meat's safety to confidently counter myths about cholesterol or cancer risks from skeptics.
Experiment with meal timing based on personal energy, favoring later eats if it enhances focus and physical performance.
Treat slips as learning opportunities, resuming immediately to amplify the felt benefits of strict adherence.
Use stool feedback as a daily check to fine-tune fat levels, avoiding unnecessary supplements or interventions.

MEMO

Dr. Anthony Chaffee, a physician and former rugby player turned carnivore advocate, cuts through the noise of fad diets with a straightforward guide for beginners. In a world obsessed with calorie apps and intermittent fasting, he insists carnivore is refreshingly simple: eat meat, drink water, add salt if you like. No plants, no sugars, no artificial anything—not even honey, which he equates to concentrated plant fructose with no proven benefits. This animal-only approach, he argues, realigns the body with its evolutionary roots as a top predator, free from the toxins lurking in vegetables and the hormonal chaos of carbs.

Common pitfalls abound for newcomers, Chaffee warns, often rooted in outdated habits. Forget portion control; instead, eat fatty meats until they stop tasting good, letting true hunger signals—muffled by years of carb-fueled false alarms—guide you. Exercise enthusiasts fret that all this fat will pile on pounds without workouts, but Chaffee, who skips gym sessions amid his hospital shifts yet maintains peak form, begs to differ. The diet itself is the ultimate fuel, optimizing health and amplifying any training you do pursue. For those with autoimmune sensitivities, start with grass-fed beef, but most can enjoy chicken, fish, or eggs without issue, as long as it tastes good and fits the budget.

Slips happen—maybe a family dinner derails you with rice—but perfection isn't the goal. Resume the next day, Chaffee advises, and let the stark contrast in how you feel reinforce your path. Alcohol poses a bigger trap, its social pull hard to resist, yet Chaffee's rugby days sober proved revelatory: clearer conversations, no hangovers, and career-best performance. Even occasional drinks can sap workout tolerance for weeks, he notes, making total abstinence the smarter play for high achievers. Arm yourself with science, too—studies debunking meat's links to heart disease or cancer—to fend off naysayers.

Digestion often trips people up initially. Without a gallbladder? Space out fatty meals or let your body adapt naturally, no ox bile needed. Constipation signals too little fat—up your butter intake—while diarrhea usually stems from excess fat, coffee, or sneaky artificial sweeteners, not the diet. Stool softness becomes your gauge for balance, absorbing just what bile allows and excreting the rest. Chaffee's message is liberating: this isn't restriction, but freedom. Save hours once wasted on meal prep, revel in sustained energy, and watch health transform. As he puts it, if you need a calculator for dinner, you're doing it wrong—nature knows best.