Living A Full Life
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Living A Full Life
Decoding Carnivore, Keto, and Paleo Diets
Tired of the endless parade of diet trends? Dr. Enrico Dolcecore cuts through the noise surrounding today's most popular dietary approaches - carnivore, keto, and paleo - delivering straight facts without the dogma that typically clouds these discussions.
The carnivore diet might be the latest trend, but is it just "recycled garbage information" as Dr. Dolcecore suggests? While he acknowledges legitimate benefits for autoimmune conditions and insulin regulation, he raises crucial concerns about how most followers implement it - particularly the widespread avoidance of nutrient-dense organ meats in favor of familiar cuts like steaks and chicken breasts. This selective approach mirrors what happened with the Atkins craze, where many focused solely on bacon while ignoring nuanced guidance about fat quality.
Comparing the restrictive nature of carnivore with the macronutrient manipulation of keto and the ancestral framework of paleo, Dr. Dolce doesn't just examine what each diet entails - he breaks down exactly which approach might work best for specific goals. Need short-term fat loss? Keto or carnivore could be your answer. Struggling with inflammation or autoimmune issues? Short-term carnivore or the more sustainable paleo might provide relief. Looking for something you can actually maintain? Paleo offers the most balanced approach with its emphasis on whole foods while still permitting natural sugars and variety.
The real value in this episode lies in its personalized approach. Rather than advocating a one-size-fits-all solution, Dr. Dolcecrore encourages listeners to start with their "why" - understanding their primary motivation whether it's fat loss, inflammation reduction, athletic performance, or mental clarity - and select a dietary approach that aligns with those specific goals. He recommends treating dietary changes as personal experiments: try an approach for 30-60 days, journal your experiences, and monitor relevant health markers.
Have you tried any of these diets? Share your experience with Dr. Dolcecore at info@fulllifetampa.com and continue the conversation.
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carnivore, keto, paleo these diets are everywhere. Some swear by them, others warn against them. Today I'm breaking down the facts, the fads and how to decide what's best for your body and your goals. Thanks for tuning in to living a full life podcast. I'm dr enrico dolce corey and this week we're going through the carnivore diet and some of its competitors to see which one is actually best and go through the science of the benefits and the risks of doing these types of diets.
Speaker 1:So if you haven't heard of the carnivore diet, it's the new fad. You know the next thing from when it all started with Dr Atkins way back in the 90s about eating all the bacon you want, but stay away from carbs because carbs are bad. And then he had a heart attack and died getting off of his plane. And then we had the paleo diet, and then we have the Whole30 diet and then we got the keto diet or I think it was keto first, then paleo, and now here we are after 2020. We got the carnivore diet I think it's keto first, then paleo, and now here we are After 2020, we got the carnivore diet. I think it's just the next person recycling some old garbage information and becomes a millionaire by doing a bunch of crap. So that's the carnivore diet, and if you see which way I'm leaning on this already in the podcast, you'll see why in a second and we'll talk about the benefits. There are benefits to these types of diets and when we go on diets, remember they're short term, because a diet is not sustainable long term. So if we keep that in mind, I think all of this can be talked about in a healthy manner.
Speaker 1:So if you haven't heard about the carnivore diet, it's an animal based elimination diet. It's based off of, very strictly, meats, organs, eggs, fish, salt and water. That's the diet no plants, no grains, no fruits, no veggies, no nuts or seeds. Strictly, meats, organs, eggs and fish. Now here's the problem with what I'm seeing with people that are around me are doing. It is they're sticking to things like chicken breasts, ground meat and steaks and it's good.
Speaker 1:But when you understand micronutrients you're like well, hang on, where are all the minerals going to be coming from? And in order to get proper mineral content from meats, you have to eat organ meats. You have to eat liver, heart, kidney and other organs, intestine to get the nutrients from the animal into your body. And typically we don't. In the American diet we stick to, you know, new York steak, cut filet, mignon and chicken breast, maybe some chicken drums or chicken thighs if you want to eat those, but those are not organs. We're not eating the chicken kidneys. We're not eating the other stuff, or the cow tongue or the cow liver. That's where a lot of nutrients lie and people are just skipping those chapters in the carnivore diet. They're just not even reading them.
Speaker 1:Well, it's going to lean to long-term issues. So the science-based rationale which I truly love about the carnivore diet is it's based on the idea that plants contain anti-nutrients which, the way we cultivate our agriculture, it actually may be correct Oxalates, lectins, phytic acid. These irritate the gut and immune system. So I'm all for giving the body a break from some of these irritants. For sure Nutrient density of animal foods is coming from. The emphasis has to be on the organ meats and I'm not seeing many carnivore people follow that at all, which is the issue with every diet. They just pick and choose what they like to hear. Just like the Atkins diet way back oh, I could have bacon. The people that I knew that did Atkins were eating an immense amount of bacon, like I was. Like guys, I can't be right and I was, and I was in the nineties and I was still what a teenager at the time. That doesn't make any sense. And yet, well, it didn't make sense at all Now that we know that. So because they didn't read the whole book, it said you know, limit the amount of certain fats and have the good fats and not the bad fats. Bacon's a lot of bad fat, so you got to be careful on that.
Speaker 1:The potential benefits of the carnivore diet is the autoimmune relief, and I really love that component of it. A study from the World Journal of Gastroenterology just a few years ago showed that low fiber diets improved IBD irritable bowel disease symptoms. So we know that giving the body a break from fiber can give the intestines a break and may reduce irritability of the bowels and help alleviate some IBD issues. So that's interesting and one thing to think about. Another thing is improved insulin sensitivity. Absolutely, there's zero carbs.
Speaker 1:If you have any blood sugar issues A1C, glucose, whatever it may be short-term carnivore diet may stabilize these things for you. It's great for fat loss and muscle retention. It's pure protein. It makes sense, it puts you into fat burn mode and you're going to get a ton of protein. If you eat enough of the meat. It can stabilize mood and focus because there's really no glucose spikes or crashes. I like that.
Speaker 1:But most of this diet is all based on anecdotal evidence from people like Sean Baker, michaela Peterson and other podcast hosts and book writers that just spurred up overnight and said, hey, we're going to bring up a new idea here, which is not new. It's the keto and paleo. It's the same idea. It's just saying use meat and the emphasis being on organs. So a lot of these carnivore people come in and say, hey, I just ate a bunch of kidneys and a cow heart and cow tongue. I'll be like now, this is interesting. Now this is let me know how you feel, how are things going? I'd have more questions, but if you're just eating steak every day and beef ground beef, I don't. It's long-term not going to make much sense. Now here's some of the risks.
Speaker 1:When we do things for more than long term is more than three months. If we start doing things for four or five, six months, we can run into some nutrient deficiencies, and I'm talking about, like lack of vitamin C, fiber and phytonutrients from fruits and vegetables. I mean, when we don't get, they say, well hey, I'm taking a multivitamin, it's not going to cover your fiber, it's not going to cover these other things. And always from my perspective, the gut microbiome concerns that I have with this. Fiber supports diversity. So if we minimize or eliminate fiber which carnivore diet does we are going to run into gut microbiome issues eventually. For sure. For some people might be two months, for other people might be five months. They're going to run into motility issues with this, not just motility, but biome issues, which could spur up other issues as well. And what is the long-term sustainability of this diet? I don't think it really is, especially in America. I mean, how are you going to do this without ever getting into anything else?
Speaker 1:Cholesterol impact One of the things that is showing up on the carnivore diet, with people eating a lot, is that some people experience a significant increase in LDL, which is bad and that, can you know, risk to other things in cardiovascular health. It may worsen fatigue or constipation early on, just like the keto flu when you first start. That's more from a sugar detox, from restricting carbohydrates. So those are the risks, those are the benefits. Is it bad, is it good, depends how you're approaching this, but let's compare it to some of these other ones. Let's compare it to the paleo diet and the keto diet. Let's do all three of these. Let's talk about all of them.
Speaker 1:Paleo is probably the next one on the list. I'm kind of a fan favorite of this one and you'll see why. It's inspired by ancestral human diet. So whole foods, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds. What you're eliminating with the paleo diet is no grain, no dairy, no legumes and no processed foods whatsoever. You can see, right, that's a Dr D friendly diet. I already like that. The benefits of it it's nutrient dense and anti-inflammatory. It lowers allergen load more than the standard American diet. It encouraged movement, sleep and lifestyle changes. All throughout the book they talk about exercise movement, which I like and it's a gut healing focused diet often used for autoimmune protocols, and with a lot of success. Now that we have 15 years of research on that type of diet and people doing it. Longer term research on that type of diet and people doing it. Longer term.
Speaker 1:The risks it can be high in natural sugars If you, you know, overstep the boundaries of honey, fruit, yada, yada and you excessively eat them. It could have much, not big risk if you eat a bunch of fruit or have a bunch of honey, I guess I mean it could spike your insulin a little bit, but that's not a huge risk and then not always ideal for ketosis or strict fat loss. So if you're not on a fat loss goal, I think this is a really great diet for you. Some find it restrictive, long term as well.
Speaker 1:The basics of high fat, so 70% moderate protein and very low carb. So the emphasis is more on the fat. The goal is to force the body into ketosis to use fat for fuel. So the more fat we have and the less carbs we go into something called ketosis. And ketosis breaks down fat chains as energy source, so you can train the body to do that. The benefits is fat loss. It's absolutely fantastic, especially around the midsection. Abdominal and visceral fat is burned faster in ketosis. It stabilizes blood sugar and mental focus. A lot of people that went out to do ketosis or do a ketone diet and follow ketosis well find mental acuity improves, which is fantastic. It's therapeutic for epilepsy, alzheimer's, insulin resistance, pre-diabetics and even used long-term for cancer patients because it completely starves cancer cells from what Sugar? Pretty cool stuff then. So does the carnivore diet, but we don't have enough study on that yet.
Speaker 1:Popular in athletic circles for endurance performance. Yes, short bouts of ketosis can actually spur fat burn, which, when we go back into an athletic diet of bringing back more carbohydrates, they've seen an increase in long-term endurance, which is cool, great for sprinters, long-term track, all that other stuff there. So there is some back science behind that. The risks are the little. One is the keto fuel Right at the beginning. When you eliminate carbohydrates and sugar, you get that sugar detox, which is what I always have called it. This is called the keto flu. You have low energy headaches at first. You get a little achy because your body's getting used to shifting from carbs for energy to fat. Long term we get nutrient imbalances if it's poorly planned. So if we stick to a very limited keto diet, that's where it is. But most people who read the book and apply it do very well long-term. Some experience hormone dysregulation, especially in women with the thyroid slowdown. So we've got to be careful with ketosis with women at certain points in their life and it's just socially challenging to maintain. There's a lot of restaurants that hopped on board with keto diet. Remember that Keto-friendly. So then you're typically a meat dish with a fibrous vegetable with it. That's typically what it was. So there you go.
Speaker 1:Those are the three ones over the last 25 years that have come up and are restrictive and I don't know if we really need to live by any of them, to be honest with you. But short term, as a doctor, I do listen and there's some interesting facts about these diets, and I populated my list and the popular two things I get questions on is, doc, how do I lose fat, fat loss and how do I help with inflammation and or autoimmune reactions? Those are my top two questions as a doctor. I get that all the time. But there's some other trickled questions in there, like sustainability, what's a great long-term diet? What's good for brain health and focus, mental acuity, clarity and getting rid of brain fog? Digestive issues come up quite a bit as well, and then every now and then, I get athletic performance questions as well what's a good thing for athletic performance? So let's go through those five or six things. What's best, what's the best option and why? So? Number one fat loss.
Speaker 1:Which diet would you do out of the three? If your goal was strictly over the next 12 weeks, to lose fat, you'd pick keto or carnivore for sure, because ketosis will train your body on how to burn fat and carnivore gives you no option but to burn fat. So it's great for appetite control and insulin regulation and when you do that you get fat loss because you're no longer hungry, starving and picking at foods and if your insulin is regulated you can burn fat. So those are my two picks for fat loss. Let's say you're going on an eight-week try to lose some weight. I would choose keto or carnivores. Follow them precisely and you're going to get results. Most of you will get results For inflammation slash autoimmunity issues.
Speaker 1:I would pick the carnivore diet again or the paleo diet, not the keto diet. The keto diet going into ketosis can actually spur more pain and aches and protein release into joints and other places which can spur up autoimmune reactions. So carnivore, paleo is the best way to go because of the elimination and the gut relief. I like carnivore for that. There's a lot of gut relief. With the low fiber to no fiber diets You're not going to get a lot of irritants. Great for autoimmune, great for inflammation. Both I think both are great anti-inflammatory diets. Short term to reduce that side effect is going to be a little bit of weight loss too.
Speaker 1:To sustainability I don't think any of these are really sustainable long, except for paleo. Paleo has a little bit of variety of everything, with fruits, vegetables, natural sugars that are in there. So there's more variety. I think it's more lifestyle friendly and by far the one that you maybe be able to pick and say I'm going to live my life according to this one. I think so Longevity. I think the paleo wins for sure. The other two lose. They lose. You won't be able to do it long-term unless you're a psychopath.
Speaker 1:Brain health focus Keto we just talked about ketosis in a little bit and it does clear up brain fog and helps people regain clarity, which is absolutely fantastic. If you can get stable ketone as a fuel source, then you've trained your body in a really cool way short term, which is great, and then, as you reintroduce the things that your body feels good with, you'll stay out of trouble and brain fog. I think it's fantastic. That's what the keto diet has shown through the research. Digestive issues, carnivore diet short term I think you're just eliminating everything except protein, except meat, so there's really going to be less irritants compared to all the other diets. So carnivore diet wins their short term less than eight weeks giving your body a chance. It removes all fiber irritants. You're just not going to have a fiber diet at all, so that's a winner. Short term Athletic performance, again paleo, just because of the variety and there's been targeted keto programs that have helped athletes as well.
Speaker 1:So you have a little bit better carb access with paleo. And being on ketogenesis is actually shown to improve long-term endurance, which is kind of neat. In track athletes, long distance runners, soccer players, it shows that they get a boost when they come out of this, reintegrates carbohydrates properly, get into athletic performance. They have a little bit of a boost in endurance too there. So that's great. So paleo kind of wins. That one Targeted keto, if you do it with a coach, could do well there.
Speaker 1:That's the podcast this week. Folks Just remember no one size fits all, so this was a general one, just on the three possible diets that are out there out of hundreds that are out there. Just consider bio-individuality. Right, each person has a different biodiverse makeup. So hormones, stress, goals and just your preference is what's going to make a diet win or lose in your life? It's going to have to be based on what you're going for. So start with the why behind you start anything, why and I give you the six whys that come into my office fat loss, anti-inflammation, sustainability, athletic performance, digestive issues, brain health and focus. Those are the ones I could think of off the top of my head when I was creating the strategy for this podcast. And just start with the why Behind wanting to try something, just whatever it is healing energy, weight loss just start with the why and then choose accordingly. Just start with the why and then choose accordingly.
Speaker 1:And be cautious of extreme voices in any diet camp. When you go down any camp and you walk into the camp, it's an echo chamber because now you've joined the hippie group and they're all going to chant the hippie chants. Right? You're not going to learn anything outside of that circle. So stand outside the circles, listen to everything, download as much information as you want, listen to as many podcasts as you want, but just be mindful of yourself. That's what it is at the very end of that. And if you are going to try something, try something.
Speaker 1:30 to 60 days. I think you're in the safe zone. If you stay under 60 days, journal, journal how you do it, keep notes on, not just the foods, because we're going to assume you're going to read the books, download the information and do the carnivore diet or keto diet or paleo diet accordingly. What I want you to journal is your mood, your sleep, your digestion and your body comp, your body composition, so you can actually see what happens a week to week, after week four, after week five, after week six and you can kind of see is my sleep getting better or worse? Is my mood getting better or worse? Me on diets my mood just continuously gets worse and worse and worse because I'm being so restrictive. So see how it is for you.
Speaker 1:Monitor your labs, probably at the end of 60 days. Monitor labs. Make sure that inflammation markers are going down, the thyroid is staying stable and the insulin is improving, hopefully Otherwise, going down the thyroid is staying stable and the insulin is improving, hopefully. Otherwise, diet's probably not best for you, especially cholesterol. Keep an eye on that too and use professional guidance. If you're trying carnivore or keto long term anything more than two months, I would get some professional guidance on that, a health coach of some sort or a nutritionist that can monitor you over time.
Speaker 1:So you know, entertain everything in life with curiosity, not dogma. That's what this stuff comes for, because sometimes I try to have meaningful conversations with some people and they're usually doctors that I'm talking to and you know health professionals and the dogma just seeps from their skin. You can just tell that they read something, they loved it, and now it just makes sense. And I'm just going to wait four years and go back to them and be like how's this carnivore thing going? They're like, oh, it was pretty good. It always ends the same way.
Speaker 1:Same thing with Atkins. No one talks about that anymore, except that actor that does all the commercials for it, right, what's his name? Except that actor that does all the commercials for it right, what's his name? He looks great, by the way, but I doubt he does Atkins strictly. So the best diet for you is the one that you can thrive on physically, emotionally and socially. So if you've tried any of these, dm me or email me at an info at fulllifetampacom, because I want to know how your experience went with this. It could be interesting to learn how these things have gone for real people like you. And thanks for listening. Just like every other week, stay well, stay healthy and take care.
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