SHOULD DIABETICS TRY THE CARNIVORE DIET?
Going all-meat has helped some people with diabetes lower their glucose. But is it safe?
When Anna C. received a diagnosis of gestational diabetes during her pregnancy at age 40, her doctor recommended a standard gestational diabetes diet. This diet consists of lean protein and about 150 to 200 grams of carbohydrates per day, divided between three meals and two snacks.
“It didn’t take me long to see with my glucose monitor that this amount of carbohydrates — even the healthy, whole-food ones — were spiking my blood sugar quite high,” she tells Healthline. Against medical advice, she switched to a low-carb diet for the rest of her pregnancy in order to control her blood sugar. She ate around 50 grams of carbs per day.
But after she gave birth, her glucose levels worsened. She then received a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
She was able to manage it at first with a low-carb diet and medication. But as her blood sugar continued to rise, she chose to “eat to the monitor”: only eat foods that didn’t cause spikes in blood sugar.
For Anna, that meant gradually reducing her carb intake until she was at or close to zero carbs per day.
“If I avoid carbs and eat only meat, fats, eggs, and hard cheeses, my blood sugar rarely cracks 100 mg/dL and my fasting numbers are never over 90,” she says. “My A1c has been in normal range ever since eating zero carbs.”
How the carnivore diet works
The carnivore diet has gained popularity recently thanks to Shawn Baker, MD, a US-based orthopedic surgeon who completed his own low-carb, high-fat diet experiment and saw improvements in his health and body composition.
That led him to experiment with a 30-day carnivore diet. His joint pain vanished, and he never went back. Now, he promotes the diet for others.
The diet consists of all-animal foods, and most people favour highfat cuts.
Red meat, poultry, organ meats, processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs, fish, and eggs are all game. Some people also eat dairy, particularly cheese. Others include condiments and spices as part of the diet, too.
Anna’s typical meals consist of some meat, some fat, and sometimes eggs or egg yolks. Breakfast might be a few strips of bacon, a slow-cooked egg, and a chunk of cheddar cheese. Lunch is a kosher hot dog mixed with mayonnaise and a side of egg yolk, rotisserie turkey, and a scoop of mayonnaise.
The carnivore diet’s effects on health
Proponents of the diet tout its ability to aid in weight loss, cure autoimmune diseases, decrease digestive issues, and improve heart health.
People with diabetes say it’s been able to help them stabilise their blood sugar.
“From a biochemistry standpoint, if you’re eating only meat, you’re largely not taking in glucose, so your blood glucose levels would not be affected,” says Darria Long Gillespie, MD, clinical assistant professor at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine. “But there is more to diabetes than just your blood sugar level.”