What Is the Carnivore Keto Diet?

The Carnivore Keto Diet is a cutting-edge approach that combines the best aspects of the ketogenic diet while eliminating pretty much everything that could be inflammatory in the body. It emphasizes high-fat, moderate-protein meals sourced exclusively from animal products, eliminating all plants, sugars, and processed carbohydrates. This strategy places the body in a fat-burning, anti-inflammatory state, while also offering unparalleled simplicity and satiety.

Unlike standard keto, which still allows for low-carb vegetables, the Carnivore Keto Diet strips things down to the essentials: fatty meats, eggs, and select animal-based fats. This clean approach is proving especially effective for those dealing with chronic health issues, weight struggles, or food addiction.

1. Eliminate Inflammation by Removing Dietary Toxins

Most chronic diseases begin with inflammation. The Carnivore Keto Diet eliminates common irritants by eliminating the 10 dangerous foods to avoid, such as:

• Processed sugars
• Refined grains
• Seed oils (e.g., canola, soybean, sunflower)
• Plant antinutrients like oxalates, lectins, and phytates

By cutting these out, many experience dramatic reductions in joint pain, digestive issues, brain fog, and autoimmune flare-ups. It really is as simple as no longer poisoning yourself.

2. Transform Your Gut Health Without Fiber

Mainstream nutrition says you need fiber for a healthy gut. The Carnivore Keto Diet has been proving otherwise for decades now. From Dr. Salisbury’s work with gastrointestinal inflammation to tens of thousands of modern carnivore keto dieters who are getting amazing results.

By removing fibrous plant matter and irritating compounds, it gives the gut lining a chance to heal. This diet:

• Reduces bloating and IBS symptoms
• Normalizes bowel movements
• Strengthens the gut barrier to prevent leaky gut
• Supports 70% of the immune system, which resides along the digestive tract

You’re not feeding gut bacteria with fiber anymore; instead, you’re feeding your body with bioavailable nutrients.

3. Achieve Sustainable Fat Loss Without Counting Macros

Forget calorie tracking. The Carnivore Keto Diet naturally suppresses hunger while boosting fat loss due to its high satiety index and hormone stabilization. It is one of the most effective ways to lose fat, and calorie restrection is not required at all. Here’s how:

• Protein and fat keep insulin low and stable
• Cravings disappear when nutrient needs are met
• Your metabolism speeds up, not down, as with traditional dieting

Dr. Sean Baker advises, “Eat enough so you don’t want the cupcake.”

Common mistake: under-eating. Many new carnivore dieters restrict food too aggressively and experience fatigue, hair loss, or hormone imbalances. The key is eating fatty meat to satiety. Often, at first, people struggle to eat enough simply because meat and fat is so satiating. You just have to push through it. The same goes for fat adaptation. Some times when starting the carnivore diet, the proper fat-to-protein ratios can cause nausea and diarrhea. But as the body adapts, these symptoms go away.

4. Optimize Mental Clarity and Mood

The brain is 60% fat, and it thrives on ketones. The Carnivore Keto Diet supports neurotransmitter balance and mental sharpness. Metabolic psychiatry is gaining tractions, and showing just how connected our mental health, like many other things, is with our diet. Benefits include:

• Increased focus and memory
• Reduced anxiety and depression
• More stable moods without sugar crashes

For people with bipolar disorder, ADHD, or depression, high-fat carnivore has shown rapid improvements.

5. Heal Chronic and “Incurable” Conditions

From autoimmune diseases to gut dysfunction, the Carnivore Keto Diet is helping people reclaim their health when nothing else worked. With enough anecdotal evidence, you have data — it may not be scientific research yet, but it’s the beginning of it. But don’t let them fool you. The ketogenic diet is the most studied diet on earth, and has the longest standing history of being the primary diet of humans for all time. Examples of autoimmune disease reversal include:

• Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis remission
• Reversal of rheumatoid arthritis
• Elimination of eczema, psoriasis, and chronic hives
• Relief from PCOS, hypothyroidism, and hormonal dysfunction

Even rare genetic disorders like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome have shown remarkable improvements in joint stability and pain reduction.

6. Improve Cardiovascular Markers Despite Higher LDL

Critics warn about LDL cholesterol, but most doctors have no idea how it really works. They just know to push statins for high LDL. There is no more logic behind it than that for most of them. It’s like that movie, Idiocracy… “it’s got electrolytes, it’s what plants crave.” On a well-formulated Carnivore Keto Diet your markers improve:

• Inflammation markers like CRP drop
• Triglycerides plummet
• HDL rises
• Blood pressure normalizes
• Insulin resistance reverses

High LDL alone isn’t enough to predict heart disease risk. High LDL is not a disease. Treating it, simply because is illogical. It is a data point. The next logical step is to check if you actually have the disease high LDL may be signaling. What’s critical is context: Are you inflamed, insulin-resistant, or overweight? If not, high LDL may be a benign adaptation to fat-fueled metabolism.

Fit carnivores with high LDL should still consider CAC (calcium artery) scans or ApoB tests to individualize their risk profile.

7. Unparalleled Simplicity and Compliance

The Carnivore Keto Diet isn’t just effective—it’s sustainable. No food tracking, no complex recipes, no willpower battles. Just eat meat until you’re full. Simplicity leads to consistency, which leads to success.

It requires you re-establish your relationship with food. Instead of “living to eat”, “eat to live.”

Tips to improve consistency:

• Stick to a daily meal routine
• Eat fatty meats like ribeye, ground beef, and eggs
• Salt generously and hydrate with electrolytes
• Don’t chase ketone numbers—focus on how you feel

Bonus: Who Should Consider High-Fat Carnivore?

Higher fat intake (60–80% of calories) may benefit:

• Women (due to higher energy needs per kg) due to hormonal needs, their need for more metabolic flexibility, and leptin sensitivity.
• People with neurological or mental health conditions for brain fuel, mitochondrial function, and because conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s often improve with increased dietary fat and reduced glucose.
• Individuals with thyroid issues or adrenal fatigue for thyroid support, and as a buffer against cortisol and insulin.

Aim for a 1:1 or 1:2 protein-to-fat ratio. Ribeye and eggs are ideal starting points.

The Real Enemies: Processed Food, Pharma, and Misguided Guidelines

The real health crisis is:

• Ultra-processed food funded by government programs (e.g., SNAP)
• Lifelong dependence on medication instead of root-cause healing
• Public health guidelines influenced by pharmaceutical profits

Curing disease is bad for business—but it’s good for you. I talked about the 10 dangerous foods to avoid if you want to learn more about these toxic foods.

Getting Started: Your First 30 Days on Carnivore Keto

1. Eat fatty meat to satiety (ribeye, eggs, ground beef)
2. Avoid all plants, sugars, and seed oils
3. Use salt and electrolytes to avoid the “keto flu”
4. Track non-scale victories: energy, sleep, mood, digestion
5. Commit to 90 days

Healing takes time, but it is possible. Your body is waiting for real food. There is a saying, “the best time to start is 20 years ago. The second-best time to start is now.”

Final Thoughts

The Carnivore Keto Diet is not a trend—it’s a return to how humans eaten for centuries. Whether you’re battling chronic illness, stubborn weight, or food addiction, this diet offers a direct path to healing.

Simple. Effective. Life-changing.

Sources

• Dr. Shawn Baker, The Carnivore Diet (2019)
• Harvard Carnivore Study (2021)
• Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism – Ketogenic Diets and Mental Health Outcomes (2020)
• Journal of Gastroenterology – Zero-Carb Diet and Remission of Crohn’s (2022)
• Frontiers in Endocrinology – Insulin Resistance and Seed Oils (2020)
• Nutrients – High-Fat Diets and Cognitive Function (2023)
• Rivero Health Platform