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Summary
On episode 415 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Craig Emmerich, co-author with Maria Emmerich of The Carnivore Diet Cookbook, who has used the carnivore diet to manage his own chronic Lyme disease symptoms.
Craig explains that carnivore isn't only a weight-loss diet, it's often used as a healing protocol for autoimmune conditions, bipolar disorder, and chronic illness like his own Lyme disease. The approach splits into two goals, weight loss or healing, since healing calls for a more careful, staged elimination process.
The conversation covers plant anti-nutrients and why they can work against a compromised immune system, how bioavailable animal foods really are compared to plants, the fiber myth, electrolyte management, and practical ways to get organ meats into your diet.
Links
- https://mariamindbodyhealth.com
- https://keto-adapted.com
- Episode 300 – Keto with Maria and Craig Emmerich
Key Takeaways
- Carnivore isn't only a weight-loss diet, it's often used as a healing protocol. Emmerich and his coauthor split their approach into two goals, weight loss versus healing, since conditions like autoimmune disorders, bipolar disorder, and Lyme disease call for a more careful, staged elimination process.
- The carnivore autoimmune protocol is a total elimination diet you reintroduce foods into slowly. It starts with just beef and salt, letting the body reset, then reintroduces foods one at a time to find your personal tolerance threshold, the approach Emmerich credits with eliminating his migrating joint pain from Lyme disease.
- Plants contain anti-nutrients that can work against a compromised immune system. Compounds like oxalates, phytates, and glucosinolates are natural plant pesticides meant to deter predators; in extreme cases oxalates alone can be toxic at roughly 3 to 30 grams depending on a person's health, and they're especially hard on people with chronic illness or a depressed immune system.
- Anti-nutrients can block your body from absorbing minerals you already got from food. Emmerich cites a study where zinc from oysters absorbed well alone, but adding black beans cut absorbed zinc by about two-thirds, and pairing oysters with corn tortilla chips blocked zinc absorption almost entirely, evidence that plant anti-nutrients can rob nutrients rather than just fail to provide them.
- Animal foods are dense in nutrients and highly bioavailable. In charts comparing beef to kale, blueberries, and apples across 15 vitamins and minerals, beef ranked first or second in all but one, vitamin C, which the body needs less of on a low-carb diet, and Emmerich calls beef liver “nature's multivitamin.”
- The fiber-for-digestion rule is a myth worth questioning. Emmerich points to a Japanese study where lowering fiber improved constipation and another where diverticulitis symptoms improved most with zero fiber, and notes that breastfed infants digest fine with no fiber at all.
- Electrolytes need extra attention during any low-carb transition, carnivore included. Cutting carbs flushes retained water and the sodium and potassium that go with it, and because whole foods, unlike processed ones, contain almost no added sodium, deliberately salting food becomes necessary to keep sodium and potassium in balance.
- There are practical tricks for getting organ meats like liver into your diet even if you dislike the taste. Mixing ground liver into hamburger at roughly a 5-to-1 ratio, blending it into strongly spiced dishes like chili, or freezing small cubes to swallow like a pill are ways Emmerich and Maria get the nutrient density of liver without the flavor being obvious.
- Craig Emmerich's strategies to get and stay well: stay as active as possible and make a point of getting outdoors, away from artificial indoor environments; and eat as though you'll never brush your teeth again, since food that's good for your teeth tends to be good for your whole digestive tract.
“You should eat like you're never able to brush your teeth again.”
Craig Emmerich
