PHILIPPINE ISLAND LIVING human adventures

Two Weeks of Carnivore Diet in the Philippines

I’ve tried the Ketogenic diet with some success the past few years.

I’ve cut my waist line from 39 to 34 inches.

Here’s the problem, the ketogenic diet is very difficult to follow for me.

I stay on Keto for a few months and go back to a regular Filipino Diet of rice and ulam.

I’ve explored the carnivore diet or the “all-meat diet” out of curiosity as I was preparing to go Keto again.

The Carnivore diet a lot like Keto but simplified.

The only thing on the menu is meat.

I’ve only had a couple of weeks of experience with this diet but in six days of my first attempt, I lost the usual bloat in my belly.

Test week menu:

Week 1 menu:

Week 2 menu:

Next week’s menu:

I’m still struggling.

My girlfriend handed me a cup of pork Kare Kare and I ate everything including the vegetables.

The same thing happened when she bough me a Mc Donalds Big Mac.

I also found myself reaching for sweets in the first few days.

Everytime I go to the gym, I found myself reaching for a protein shake, cookies and granola bars.

So if I were judging myself by Ketogenic diet rules, I have failed.

The only thing I’m proud of is that I was able to skip approximately eighteen cups of rice a week in these two attempts.

There appears to be an adaption period like Keto but the beef is satiating and I don’t really feel like eating more.

I drink a little more water than usual.

I still drink coffee and tea.

I’m avoiding sauces, garlic and onions.

Today I found out that garlic is fine.

I’m happy I don’t have the bloat.

I look forward to where this experiment takes me.

Thank you for reading this far.

Friday, October 12, 2018

Update:

My first attempt was the 15th of September and for a couple of weeks I’ve been replacing rice, sugar, other carbs as well as any vegetable based foods with eggs, canned tuna, corned beef, as well as boiled or microwaved ground or sliced beef.

Every now and then, because I hate it when food goes to waste, I end up eating what is offered to me. If that meal includes, rice, bread, pasta or potatoes, even if that breaks my diet for the week and I get diarrhea, whenever I transition from a “meat only diet” to a “carb-based diet”, I eat the food that is given to me.

I’m happy that despite not being able to fully follow the carnivore diet seven days a week, because I have failed one or two days, and had to restart, the experiment has helped me avoid eating the usual 18 cups of rice a week that I am expected to consume while on the Standard Filipino Diet and I have lost the usual bloat in my belly.

Unfortunately, I went out with a friend October 7 to my favorite Japanese Restaurant and I had a chicken curry rice meal, four pieces of tuna sushi roll and Inari (sweet sushi rice desert) and a few hours later, I began to feel like I am being food poisoned.

That being said, I’ll be declining most offers for food that are not in my food intake list moving forward.

As of October 8, I have updated my food intake to just: 450 grams of boiled, stir-fried or Microwaved, beef, lamb, chicken and seafood.

I’ll begin to post my progress here.

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

I fucked up. I ate nostalgia junk food and two large slices of cake.

Week 4 of the Carnivore Diet

Unlike the previous Slow-Carb Diet, where one cheat-day or cheat meal is allowed with little or no consequence, the Ketogenic diet (high fat, low protein, zero carb/sugar) or the more extreme Carnivore diet(all-meat, nothing plant based) has some inconvenient side effects.

Last Thursday (October 11) I ate half a cake, 1/3 of a Mocha cake and a large slice of Sans Rival I also ate some childhood nostalgia snacks including mamon, two chocolate brownies, a pack of chocolate cookies and six pieces of Dewberry.

Last Sunday I had some crackers, stick-o, peanut butter candies, and two banana bread cupcakes.

Both cheat meals got me the same horrible side effects, the feeling of being “food poisoned” and two full days of diarrhea and some difficulty sleeping.

Last week’s waist line: 35 inches. This updates waist line 35 and a half inches. I started at my usual 39 inch waist, thanks to three months of eating one or two fast food meals a day.

I’ll probably get to 34 inches again in another two weeks.

I was able to skip rice last week. So I didn’t eat the usual 21 cups of rice that’s part of the standard Filipino diet but I ate an ungodly amount of sweets.

The biggest problem I noticed is insufficient water intake and the lack of electrolytes.

I notice that whenever I ignore my thirst, my hunger becomes uncontrollable.

It’s also warmer than usual the past week.

I’ll need to have cold water ready whenever I need it.

I have also been reducing my salt intake. For no real reason.

I just cook the beef on a little water and wait for the magic to happen.

I make an effort to drink more water now. I do drink a lot but there are moments when after drinking a lot, I stop drinking water for a long time. I realize that this change is helping reduce my daily required meals but it shouldn’t reduce my water intake. The lack of carbs also reduce my water retention hence the reduced bloat but that being said, I should drink some more water.

I’ll need to prep about that much water and remember to drink everything before the end of the day.

So yeah, I’ll continue this week.

The more I venture into this experiment, the more curious I am at the results on week 12.

One downside of resetting with a cheat-meal is that I also end up resetting my daily meal count.

Day one and two becomes three meals a day again, then slowly going back to two meals. The longer I go, the less meals I seem to require.

I’m currently at a point where I eat one to two meals a day. I just eat when I’m hungry, sometimes I eat about 600 grams of beef, other days it’s just 400 grams.

I imagine it’ll take a while but one of the things I’d like to see is being able to effortlessly go one meal a day and eventually be able to do a 24 hour water fast once a week.

This week’s menu: 400 grams a day of Tapa Strips, Beef Sangyupsal (Bacon-like strips of beef), Beef Shanks (Bulalo).

More updates soon.

If you read until the end, how do you decline alcohol without sounding like a jerk?

Carnivore Diet Update Week 7.

My diet actually got predictable so I went and made a lot of stupid mistakes.

I eat meat, everything runs normally.

I’m satiated for 12-16 hours.

I still look for food when it’s “time to eat.”

I still haven’t reached my goal of eating one meal a day.

There are no drastic changes since last week.

My waistline is around 35 inches. Half an inch from the last update. This is the only metric I’ve been tracking as I don’t have an easy access to a weighing scale or a body mass measurement tool.

I allow carbs into my body, I get lethargic, feel like I’m being poisoned, have some diarrhea, and feel weak for a day and a half.

At the time of this part of the experiment, it’s Halloween so I kept getting handed chocolates and doughnuts the urge becomes uncontrollable.

I still don’t have enough willpower to fully reject sweets.

My will breaks after six to eight days and I experience a reset.

This is also the reason why I’m not pushing hard to increase my eating window because I learned that the reset also affects how long I stay satiated.

After an intake of carbs, I’ll require three meals a day again.

Fortunately, the recovery time has become a little shorter than the past several weeks.

I try to fast 12 hours or longer, take long walks, maybe a bike ride, and I’m back to feeling better in a 24-36 hour period.

There is also less diarrhea this time around.

I’m used to eating beef all the time.

I still eat pork and chicken when there’s no other meat available but I find myself needing to eat every 3-4 hours when I’m eating chicken and pork. Even after eating the fat and skin.

It’s embarrassing to admit but a couple of weeks ago, I saw a YouTube video about people following the “Carnivore Diet” discussing eating raw meat.

I got curious and gave it a try.

My “gateway drug” into the experience is “Steak Tartare” which is made from raw beef tenderloin and optional condiments including raw egg, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard, pepper and so on.

I did some research and asked a couple of friends in the food business about food preparation practices to avoid any harmful bacteria.

The general advice is to get the meat from a reputable meat shop and not a supermarket and I’ll be okay.

I tried a minimalist version of the Steak Tartare which only had salt and pepper first and I loved it.

Unlike “cooked beef” eating the raw beef appears to have given me an energy boost.

I felt more alive after a few mouthfuls.

It also seemed to kick me out of lethargy.

I also find myself very positive, alert and honest for the next few hours after my meals.

I’m aware this might be a placebo effect.

For safety reasons, I intend to limit my consumption of raw meat only once a week.

Despite this, I still found myself sneaking an extra serving of raw “ribeye” every now and then.

I feel a little guilty about this and how it’s not normal and all the possible health risk related to eating raw meat that I came across growing up.

There’s also the mental image of only animals and fictional zombies eating raw meat.

I love sashimi and occasionally eat steak rare.

Breaking a vacuum sealed pack of rib eye and biting into the frozen meat reminds me of this scene from the 1993 survival drama film “Alive”, where a rugby team stranded in the snowy Andes mountains had to consume the frozen flesh of their diseased teammates to survive.

It disturbs me a little, how I like it so much.

I’ll need more information.

I’m not in a hurry to find out because I’m sure that if I do the research myself, it will be biased in favor of what I want to do because if it can be proven to be safe, and I’m 100% confident in my source, I’d like to eat raw beef every day.

This high-risk high reward activity is a bit of a distraction.

I had some pizza last Friday. So reset.

I had some doughnuts and pancit as well as Halloween chocolates.

Hopefully, next week will be a little smoother.

I get my ground beef from Eld meats.

I get my ribeye from Meat Depot.

I also get beef fat from the Alabang Market. It’s inconvenient but the beef fat keeps me satiated and fasting for 16 hours effortlessly. 200 Grams is a good enough extender.

(Not a sponsored post).

If you have any personal experience eating raw meat on a regular basis, send me a message, I’d love to talk to you.

Happy Halloween!

Written on October 7th, 2018 by Kevin Olega
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