My Biggest Carnivore Failure (And Yours Too)
In a Nutshell
Carrie’s biggest carnivore mistakes were over-eating fat when she still had ample body fat to burn, not supplementing electrolytes during the adaptation phase, and not staying strict enough—allowing dairy, artificial sweeteners, or weekend cheats that prolonged cravings. She reframes every “failure” as a lesson and stresses that new carnivores heal fastest by eating only meat, eggs, and salt for at least 90 days, tracking glucose/ketones, and managing stress and sleep. The overarching takeaway is that abstaining completely from addictive carbs and plant toxins is far easier and more effective than trying to moderate them, and community support plus personal tracking accelerate healing dramatically.
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Carrie from Healing Humanity discusses her biggest carnivore failures, reframing them as lessons learned over 1,280 days of eating carnivore. The goal is to help new people joining this way of eating by sharing mistakes made early on that could have been avoided.
Carrie emphasizes that there are no failures, only lessons. Life would have been easier had certain things been done differently from the start. Viewers are encouraged to share their own advice for day one of carnivore, including what they got wrong about eating a proper human diet.
Healing Humanity screened in 17 cities with many sellouts. The documentary will be available for a 30-day window starting October 23rd. Pre-orders are available now for $10. All pre-orders will be taken to distributors to reach millions of people with the message of hope and healing.
Chris Cooking Nashville has an amazing cookbook coming out. Pre-ordering helps get the book to major distributors like Barnes & Noble, reaching more people. The same principle applies to Healing Humanity.
The film features 60 doctors and experts interviewed, 460 hours of footage over three years, and incredible miraculous stories of healing. The goal is to inspire people who have tried everything else to consider metabolic health and diet for health issues.
Carrie, Jen, and others will attend Low Carb for Better Health with Dr. Barry, Dr. Kilts, and Dr. Hampton. They will show Healing Humanity during dinner with a Q&A afterward. They will also attend Meatstock and Hack Your Health with a booth. Promo code HH life provides $100 off Hack Your Health tickets.
Thomas shared: "I guess to not punish myself if I go off carnivore for one time, I just get back on." This prevents falling off from one meal into an entire day, week, or months. Ketone fueled violin girl regretted not starting carnivore when she first knew it was okay to do it.
Carrie's biggest mistake was over-consuming fat early on. She treated her first meal as a "treat" by melting butter and dipping ribeye pieces, consuming excessive fat. When someone is 100 pounds overweight, the body has a choice between burning body fat or dietary fat. Excessive fat consumption is unnecessary when body fat is available to burn.
Carnivore is not one-size-fits-all. Different people need different fat-to-protein ratios depending on their journey stage. Someone at the beginning with more body fat needs less dietary fat. Someone later in their journey with reduced body fat needs more fat in their food. The same person may need different ratios at different times.
For serious conditions like cancer, a completely different eating regimen would be appropriate, aiming for deep therapeutic ketosis and incorporating fasting. This differs significantly from standard carnivore approaches.
Carnivore Ron shared needing more salt when starting, leading to dehydration. When eliminating carbohydrates, the body processes significant water and flushes out electrolytes, with sodium being a major one. Supplementing with electrolytes is important during the adaptation phase.
Many people quit during the adaptation phase when eliminating carbohydrates, flushing water, losing electrolytes, and purging toxins. This creates the keto flu. The advice is to have electrolytes, drink plenty of water, and push through because the difficult phase is temporary, not lifelong.
Salter sea salt is used at every meal and contains electrolytes. Separate electrolytes are used during extensive traveling, big projects involving sweating, or gym workouts. Emma the carnivore often prepares electrolyte water that gets shared.
BJ Davis has been carnivore since November 2024, lost over 100 pounds (equivalent to 10 ten-pound bowling balls), and is off all medications at 75 years old. This demonstrates it's never too late to make dietary changes.
Carnivore meetups have a distinct energy because participants demonstrate bravery by going against conventional dietary advice. Making significant dietary changes requires taking life into one's own hands rather than going along with standard recommendations.
Susan Hampton experiences pain and inflammation within an hour of eating chicken strips fried in bad seed oils and breading. She reframes these as treats and gets back on plan, viewing them as lessons that strengthen future resolve.
Words can be reframed: failure versus lesson, triggers versus teachers, stress versus signals, struggling versus strengthening. Simple reframing changes negative experiences into positive growth opportunities.
Ray Ray is preparing to start carnivore, describing themselves as "skinny fat" with multiple health issues, inflammation, and pain. They are seeking encouragement from the community.
Being skinny on the outside doesn't mean being healthy on the inside. Inflammation, insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and dangerous visceral fat can exist regardless of external appearance. Fatty liver disease is epidemic. Carnivore heals from the inside out, with weight being a secondary factor that adjusts to the body's intended weight.
D. Lee used pork rinds and bacon as snacks during the transition from standard American diet to carnivore when hungry between meals. This helps manage cravings that cause many to fail carnivore early. Often more fat is needed when experiencing sugar cravings or temptation from advertisements and grocery store displays.
Anyone starting carnivore or still experiencing cravings should examine their fat to protein ratio. Being satiated and not hungry is essential. When people continue having cravings after several months on carnivore, it can be due to brain neural pathways needing repaving, but often it's because they've kept artificial sweeteners or allowed weekend cheats.
For optimal healing, especially for those new to carnivore, the recommendation is to eat a strict carnivore diet for at least 30 days, with 90 days being better. This means no little cheats, no artificial sweeteners, no handful of berries on Saturday because you did good all day. The people who thrive on carnivore are those who maintain this strictness.
When you eat carbohydrates like rice, bread, and starches, they convert in your blood to glucose and trigger the same addiction pathways as sugar. This causes ongoing cravings and feeds gut bacteria that demand more carbohydrates. Like an alcoholic abstaining from alcohol rather than trying to moderate, abstaining from carbohydrates makes it much easier.
The strict carnivore advice is directed at people who are new to carnivore and doing it for healing purposes. Those who are already metabolically well and want to add back some foods like organic walnuts, pistachios, or wild blueberries are on their own journey. The advice is to find healing through strict carnivore first, then potentially add things back if desired.
On strict carnivore, the body produces glucose from protein when it needs it through gluconeogenesis.
An unexpected benefit of carnivore is that complex recipes become unnecessary. Eating just meat and eggs is simple and doesn't require spending excessive time in the kitchen. While elaborate recipes exist and some people prefer variety, meat, eggs, beef, butter, and bacon provide everything needed. This simplicity saves significant time on grocery shopping and meal planning.
New carnivores are encouraged to email [email protected] for support. They can receive 90 days of free access to the healing humanity.life membership site, including the carnivore foundation course and 12 weekly Zoom calls for support.
Abstaining is easier than moderating when dealing with addictive foods.
For those doing carnivore for healing rather than just weight loss, tracking numbers is crucial. Using a Keto Mojo to measure glucose and ketones, along with the Dr. Bos ratio, allows for optimization. Keeping a food log with weight, what was eaten, how one felt, and Dr. Bos ratio numbers enables faster healing. The 17-year-old Amish girl who tracked her ketones and glucose daily was able to adjust her fat to protein ratios and eating window to achieve deeper therapeutic ketosis, which measurably reduced her seizures.
When stressed, healing stops 100%. This was observed consistently when investigating cases where people on strict carnivore weren't healing as expected. Stress from job loss, relationship issues, or poor sleep halts the healing process. Mitigating stress through prayer, meditation, mindfulness, and improving sleep quality is essential. Getting rid of screens several hours before bed, using blue light blocking glasses, and resetting circadian rhythm by viewing sunshine first thing in the morning are practical steps.
Using the mantra "I'm thankful, grateful, blessed" helps retrain the brain by creating new neural pathways instead of pathways of negativity that lead to addiction, depression, and anxiety.
Patricia shared that carnivore healed her from IBS, arthritis, severe anxiety, and depression. At almost 60 years old, she feels like a new spring chicken, with inflammation resolved in five weeks.
All super chat donations and proceeds from merchandise sales go toward the Healing Humanity documentary series. The first episode features rancher Maggie, who has been eating carnivore for 65 years at age 85. Extended versions of her story are available, with editing costs of $1,000 per minute.
Over a billion people worldwide have mental health issues like depression and anxiety that affect their daily lives. The documentary aims to reach millions with the message that carnivore can heal these conditions.
Keto Mojo devices are available on Amazon for approximately $50. The device comes with 20 test strips (10 glucose, 10 ketones), with additional strips available for purchase.
Rick has been carnivore for nearly five decades and serves as an inspiration. He will be appearing on a live stream with Russ Mitchell.
One carnivore shared the struggle of summertime temptations when being the only carnivore in their social circle, leading to cave-ins like eating ice cream. The recommendation is to join a community of like-minded individuals for support, as being the sum result of the five people you spend the most time with makes maintaining the diet difficult without support.
People are purchasing Maggie shirts to wear at low carb events. The carnivore community extends beyond individual efforts to include shared experiences and support.
The carnivore diet is not the heart attack diet that conventional wisdom suggests. Everything the world pushes about nutrition is complete garbage.
Carnivore has never failed to help with inflammatory conditions. Removing ancestrally inappropriate foods eliminates inflammation that leads to conditions like arthritis, colitis, and potentially cancer when chronic. Dave Mack's YouTube channel contains specific examples of healing from CIRS (Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome).
Nine out of 10 people are metabolically unwell according to statistics. Carnivore helps reverse pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
The lean mass hyperresponder phenotype is important to understand when discussing cholesterol with healthcare providers. Dave Feldman's Cholesterol Code on YouTube provides comprehensive information on this topic.
Spending at least an hour daily learning from experts and doctors, rather than social media groups typically run by beginners, provides vast knowledge. Maintaining carnivore content in the background, such as Dr. Barry's live streams and Q&As, helps maintain community connection even 1,280 days into the carnivore journey.
Participating in the carnivore community provides more fulfillment than passive activities like watching television. Carnivore Brothers Ashley shared that his biggest failure was actually a paleo failure because he had no idea how addicting sugar was. With carnivore, he eliminated all sugar and all carbs, and it took time but he overcame his sugar addiction. This lesson is huge for people starting carnivore - they should admit they are very likely addicted to sugar, not just boxes of candy, but also bread, rice, and starches that all convert to glucose in the blood and trigger addiction pathways. There is no addiction that can be overcome without first admitting the addiction exists. Trying to moderate sugar and carbohydrate addiction makes it much harder than admitting it and abstaining.
Famous Black05 was met at Meatstock 2026, and Healing Humanity was described as an inspiring movie. One favorite aspect of attending Meatstock is talking to people and hearing incredible healing stories. Thomas is inviting Ray on Chewing the Fat, which has an amazing YouTube channel for interviewing people. The Frank McGee Report shared that a preacher lost 50 pounds and feels great, describing it as five 10-pound bowling balls. Multiple participants encouraged Ray to take up the offer to join the channel.
When carnivores who have been doing the diet for a while find miraculous healing, it's like finding a treasure chest with a billion dollars open in the middle of Times Square with a sign saying free for the taking, yet nobody listens. When someone like Ray expresses interest and asks for help, it's the greatest thing in the world. Coaching 30 people in the Amish community was rewarding because they came out for the entire evening wanting to learn how to heal themselves. Oftentimes family and friends don't want to be convinced and aren't ready to hear the message yet.
Every person makes about 35,000 decisions each day, most micro decisions, and in each decision they can choose dark or light, negative or positive, good or bad. Before carnivore, the mindset was always dark, which is the definition of depression, with the mind looping to the worst outcome and negative aspects. On carnivore, there is thankfulness, gratitude, and blessing because the brain works right and brain fog is gone, making it easier to choose the light. Girls make fun of their father now because when something sets him off they'll say "Dad, choose the light." This is a stoic principle - nobody can make anyone mad unless they choose in their brain to allow it to upset them.
When driving in traffic and someone cuts you off, instead of getting mad, imagine there's someone pregnant with triplets in that vehicle trying to get to the hospital, which happened once with a pregnant wife with triplets. Practicing this makes one untouchable because nothing anyone says can bother unless deciding to let it bother. Before carnivore, the simplest thing could ruin the whole day because of the decision to allow it. Comments requesting reposting in all capital letters for greatest failure reframed as lesson were requested because they get lost in the sea of comments.
Keto Simple Carrie will be live in one week. The goal is to get the word out about Healing Humanity by going anywhere for a half hour or hour to provide value first, then mention the documentary. Healing Humanity can be streamed October 23rd with pre-order available now. Email [email protected] for podcast or YouTube channel opportunities. Energy comes from being almost dead before, miserable and depressed, getting a second chance at life and making up for lost time.
Ketone Fueled Violin Girl asked if cheese can be addictive, with the answer being yes 100 percent. This was learned from a keto failure when buying big bags of cubed cheese from Sam's Club and overeating them despite being low carb. For people struggling on carnivore, the first thing discussed is their dairy situation with heavy cream and cheese. The advice for healing is to cut the cheese or have it as a condiment on burgers until healing is achieved. Many people struggle and suffer with dairy and cheese addiction.
Cindy asked about recommendations for sparkling water and how to get off Coke Zero and Kombucha. The advice depends on how far along someone is in their journey. For those just starting carnivore, baby steps are recommended. A gentleman from Kalamazoo stepped down slowly from regular Coke to Diet Coke to Coke Zero to sparkling water to regular water. If terribly addicted to Coke Zero, this gradual approach is suggested. Coffee is also not carnivore but many people drink it successfully. Giving up everything at once drastically increases failure odds, so some people keep coffee or Coke Zero temporarily with the goal of getting off slowly.
When getting over sugar addiction and cravings from artificial sweeteners, it becomes easier because the craving goes away with abstinence. Target Prime Rib was interviewed by Dave Mack two times as well as Random Adventures 2.0. Everyone should share their story on Dave's channel because a story literally saved the speaker's life. If Dante had not shared his story, the speaker may not be here today and would have died decades before they should have. Personal stories have the power to inspire others because everyone's different and stories can resonate differently.
Keto Rockstars Amy shared the lesson of having seven surgeries since age 30, believing carnivore would have prevented them. The speaker lost their appendix and gallbladder plus had multiple other surgeries and stomach issues, believing none would have been necessary with carnivore. For anyone who still needs surgery, carnivore is the best way to recover and heal from major surgery or trauma because it eliminates inflammation and provides energy with improved sleep. Miraculous stories include people having major hip surgeries healing quickly enough that doctors ask what they did.
Dave Mack puts people at ease during interviews, which are pre-recorded so mistakes can be corrected. After appearing, people see comments saying their story inspired others, kept people on track, and provided community. Someone might be falling off and see a story that reignites them. Community comes from sharing stories with others who need to hear them.
Devil Dog 77 asked if carnivore heals cardiomyopathy and sleep apnea. The answer is 100 percent yes for most everyone, depending on the level and how far along. Medical records show no evidence of cardiomyopathy after having an ejection fraction of 44 and being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy. The ejection fraction is now normal. Snoring stopped the first week on carnivore before any weight loss. Dr. Jordan Peterson on Joe Rogan talked about stopping snoring the first week on carnivore. Many people have overcome snoring and sleep apnea eating a proper human diet.
The speaker was called Fatty McButterpants by their girls and thought snoring was because of being 100 pounds overweight with a huge neck. Sleep doctors said 80-100 pounds needed to be lost to stop snoring. However, snoring stopped before losing a pound on carnivore, proving it was inflammation. The sleep apnea machine measured apneas throughout the night and showed the number going down until it was no longer needed. This should open eyes to the danger of inflammation. When airways go from wide to narrow with inflammation, the volume that can pass through changes dramatically.
Cholesterol numbers went up on carnivore and hormones regulated. Eating fatty meat that ancestors have eaten since the start of time is beneficial because the brain is made of fat and hormones need fat. The thing to be terrified of was inflammation. Being pre-diabetic with insulin resistance and inflammation makes someone 10 times more likely to have heart disease than having high cholesterol numbers. Most people are in massive states of inflammation, insulin resistance, pre-diabetic, with poor metabolic health and should be terrified about those things instead of cholesterol.
Everyone was born into ketosis, as were all ancestors since the start of time. Most ancestors remained in some level of ketosis and/or fasting and autophagy for most of their lives. Modern people do the precise opposite by eating four, five, six, seven times a day and being in inflammation and insulin resistance the entire day. This level of inflammation and eating multiple times a day has never happened since the beginning of mankind. People should be concerned about fasting less than they should be concerned about constant eating.
Pop Eater purchased memberships. Target Prime Rib has been a member for eight months. Bill and Daisy from Alaska were shouted out, with Emma doing a video cooking Bill's bacon burger recipe. Emma is considering a cookbook with carnivores' favorite recipes, starting with Bill's bacon wrapped burger. The speaker's favorite recipe would be bacon blue cheese meatballs, which are economical, delicious, and easy to throw in the air fryer. Ellen M has been a member for 30 months and hung out at Meatstock. Adam from Carnivore Today did interviews as well.
Kelly Missouri Carnivore had total hip replacement surgery, walked out of the surgical center same day, and after two weeks is thriving without pain medication with phenomenal healing. Coach Lash got interviewed by Fox News for 45 minutes about carnivore, with a short video and full article coming soon. Coach Lash is one of the 60 interviews done for the documentary.
The documentary has received significant positive feedback through scientific surveys conducted after screenings. Viewers consistently commented on one specific scene featuring Lash in his white suit near the end of the film, with many writing "Lash, white suit" in the notes section. The scene serves as a major source of inspiration for audiences.
Dave Mack is described as putting guests at ease during interviews, with viewers feeling like they were "talking to a close friend." The film has generated substantial pre-order interest, with plans to increase the subscriber goal for Dave Mack's channel from 3,000 to 5,000 subscribers through community encouragement and sharing of personal stories.
The session focuses on reframing failures as lessons, asking participants to share what they wish they had known on day one of starting carnivore. This collective knowledge aims to help newcomers like Ray Ray avoid common roadblocks and begin their carnivore journey more efficiently.
Kelly shared her lesson: "I wish I knew about the plant toxins and oxalates back when I started keto in 2021. I would have went strict carnivore. Then it possibly would not have had to take surgery on my hip." The discussion emphasizes how plant toxins, oxalates, and defense chemicals in vegetables cause significant damage when consumed frequently, with many people now suffering from these effects.
Dr. Nick Norwitz is recommended for his Substack and YouTube channel, with viewers encouraged to "stay curious" and learn from his content. The Emma cookbook concept is mentioned, featuring favorite carnivore recipes from community members, with each person contributing their number one recipe.
Ashley contributed a $50 Super Chat, which will be used to donate copies of the Healing Humanity documentary through the pay-it-forward fund. The Carnivore Brothers are asked what their recipe contribution would be, with speculation about smoked meat or breakfast fatties.
Ray Ray reported having four doctors (one primary and three specialists) all advising against carnivore, yet plans to proceed anyway. The advice given emphasizes being your own health advocate, as personal health investment exceeds that of doctors. The recommendation is to discuss carnivore with opposing doctors, plant the seed of the concept, and return with healing results to demonstrate effectiveness.
A comparison is made between standard medical incentives versus carnivore-friendly practitioners. Most doctors have financial incentives to treat symptoms with medication and maintain chronic illness for ongoing revenue, while doctors like Dr. Baker at Revero focus on healing patients and removing them from medication.
Several carnivore-friendly doctors are highlighted as accessible alternatives:
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Dr. Ovedia: Available for telehealth consultations, particularly for heart disease and cardiomyopathy patients. Has been eating carnivore for nearly a decade and advocates for patients because heart disease stems from insulin resistance and inflammation.
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Dr. Baker at Revero: The entire team's incentive is patient healing rather than ongoing treatment revenue.
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Dr. Tony Hampton in Chicago: Treats root causes rather than symptoms, helping many patients discontinue medications.
The speaker shares that if these doctors had been available during his deepest depression with 10-15 medications, IBS, arthritis, and congestive heart failure, his life would have been saved.
Multiple September birthdays are acknowledged within the community. Lash's mother is mentioned as doing well on carnivore in Costa Rica, having cut her heart medication in half. A cardiologist named Carrie has switched from vegan to carnivore and is transitioning her clients accordingly.
Rancher Maggie, at 85 years old and having eaten carnivore for 65 years, serves as inspiration. Viewers are encouraged to purchase "Rancher Maggie" shirts from healinghumanity.movie, wear them, photograph themselves, and email photos to [email protected] for compilation into a tribute video.
The Healing Humanity documentary is available for pre-order at $9.99 through healinghumanity.movie. The film contains 460 hours of footage, nine doctors and experts, and 60 interviews condensed into a two-hour documentary. Pre-orders help demonstrate value to distributors for wider release.
JB1225 inquired about eating 25 animal-based foods plus one fruit and one vegetable for five years. The response emphasizes that recommendations are tailored for newcomers needing healing, not for metabolically healthy individuals. For those with metabolic issues, healing should occur first through strict carnivore before considering additions.
The caution around including fruit and vegetables stems from their carbohydrate content potentially disrupting ketosis and autophagy needed for therapeutic healing states. However, it is acknowledged that eating primarily meat with small amounts of plant foods is still better than 99% of the population.
A new viewer with hypothyroidism and spring lung issues requiring high-level prednisone shared their situation. The body's healing capacity through proper human diet is emphasized, particularly through autophagy achieved via natural intermittent fasting on carnivore. This process recycles old cells and creates new healthy ones.
Target Prime Rib shared their transformation: after losing their right toe and being unable to move for nearly four months, 18+ months on carnivore enabled walking without assistance and gym attendance. Thomas is recognized for inspiring others through his YouTube channel and personal example of overcoming type 2 diabetes and previous health issues.
The historic Dodge House next to the Montella movie theater has been purchased and operates as an Airbnb offering history tours. A VIP carnivore retreat is planned with limited capacity of five guests plus hosts. The package includes:
- All meals prepared (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
- Friday night tomahawk ribeyes personally cooked by the host
- Cooking demonstration by Emma
- Field trips planned
- Connection with other carnivore community members
The retreat is available for booking at dodgehouse.com with a form to gauge interest. Future more affordable packages are being considered.
Viewers are directed to healinghumanity.movie for Maggie shirts and documentary pre-orders, with appreciation expressed for participation.
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