Carnivore Diet FAQs with Dr Chaffee | Frequently Asked Questions

hey guys just want to take a second to thank our sponsor carnivore bar I don't promote many products because honestly all you need to be healthy is just eat meat and that's what you should do but if you're hiking or road tripping or stuck at work and you want something nutritious that is just meat fat and possibly salt if you want it the carnivore bar is a great option I like this product not only because it is pure meat but also because I really want the carnivore Market to thrive as well the more we support meat only products the more people will make meat only products and this will bring this into the mainstream so if this sounds like something you'd like to check out then take a look and use my discount code HTC to get 10 off which also applies to subscriptions giving you 25 off total all right thanks guys hello and welcome to another episode of the how to Carnival podcast and YouTube series we are back with Anthony chafee the plant free MD Anthony how are you I'm doing great man how are you yeah very good thank you um yeah so today we've got uh a big episode well big in terms of topics so we're gonna we're gonna answer some of the most common questions from the 30-day carnivore challenge that Anthony Anthony and I run um so the the big topics are crabs why are you why are you feeling tired we're going to talk about alcohol and socializing and we're going to talk about priming um which is one that's you know really helpful and a lot of people are talking about uh so Anthony let's get straight into the first topic which is craps so a lot of people complain they're getting crabs like when they're sleeping or during the day or whatever what's the best way to overcome this yeah I mean you know the common the common thing is that you know people say oh you're electrolytes your electrological electrolytes you know there's no real reason why you should you should have your electrolytes really unbalanced when you're on a carnivore diet um as opposed to a normal diet certainly as opposed to a normal diet because you really are getting everything that you need and you should not have to supplement um you might be in a particular situation where maybe you do but that's that's quite uncommon and you know maybe when you're transitioning possibly you could your your bodies are sort of figuring things out maybe but these are theoreticals um quite often people will take a lot of electrolytes you know they'll take the magnesium and potassium and things like that uh you know when we see people in the hospital with potassium issues you know low potassium we really don't see them having a lot of cramps they have heart arrhythmias that's the issue with potassium you know like it messes with your heart uh magnesium sure actually you know when people actually do get you know cramps in the hospital that's that's something we do look for like okay what's the Magnesium what's their calcium um you know because those things when they're too low they can they can actually you know cause cramping so those shouldn't be out of balance though they shouldn't be out of whack on a carnivore diet um but you know you you can experiment with that but what a lot of people find is that they'll take a lot of electrolytes they'll up their soul their do all this sort of things in the last time I'm taking all these electrolytes I'm taking magnesium I'm taking calcium I'm taking potassium I'm doing all this solve I'm drinking putting salt in water drinking the ocean water and all these sorts of things you know I'm still getting cramps you know it's just like most commonly cramped from uh dehydration you know just not getting enough water and so you know and and especially if you're already supplementing you're just giving yourself a ton of electrolytes and you're still getting cramps well it's obviously not the electrolytes yeah because you covered that you know that that base and like and now you know it's something else and so generally you know people say oh I put some salt in water and I drink a lot of water you know drink that and then it gets better I was like yeah but was it the salt or was it the water you know in most cases it's going to be the water so that's what I suggest to people is like you know really increase your water and I I still get you know leg cramps I've always you know gotten leg cramps if I get dehydrated you know I'm playing a game I don't I don't get enough water and I'm just just running around no high physical exertion and then that night just like just waking up and just screaming cramped and I could drink a bunch of water and then go away now I'll get that I go to the hospital when I'm there for 16 hours I don't drink water at all and I you know get home and you know I don't get enough and then I'm I have foot cramps leg cramps and things like that drinking enough water gets rid of that you know I don't I don't take any electrolytes or anything like that some people may need to like if you have a legitimate sort of depletion you know people that drink a lot of coffee what is that going to do that's going to sap you magnesium and it's going to dehydrate you two big points in cramping so these people may get may get a lot of cramps maybe they do need to take some magnesium in that case but they also need the water and really what they need to do is start drinking caffeine yeah and the coffee so that's the big one is is really you know if you're getting those leg cramps you know electrolytes maybe but really you know remember water you know because that that's a major one yeah for sure a lot of people will say um my potassium my calcium or my my magnesium are low and then we will sort of come back and we'll say well do you have any symptoms no I feel fantastic and then it's and then I'm kind of thinking well are they really low or are they kind of low to some sort of standard measurement that doctors have and you've done a blood test and you think they're low like for example with potassium is it actually common to have low potassium or is that is that an issue was it in the hospital sometimes you know it it crops up you know but um you know a lot of medications can screw with your potassium or your sodium sodium has a lot to do with hydration as well you know you can over hydrate you know and if you're um you know sensitive these sorts of things you can um sort of deplete deplete some of your sodium but yeah you really have to work at it yeah and clean water is safe right drinking water is safe yeah especially you know if you're if you're drinking dessert I mean you can you can force yourself to do anything and then and then that's not that's not a good thing um you know and eventually drinking water will kill you they've done studies in this back when it was ethically possible to do that you know you just like just put a hose down um you know rabbits throats and and just fill them up with water and they just see how much water it takes before their their cells actually start to you know go into dysfunction and they're going to organ failure because they have so much water in their body uh and so you extrapolate that out to you know an animal on our size and it's about 50 gallons okay so I don't I don't know of anybody who's going to be doing that anytime soon um but it's possible you know and um you know but if you're drinking to thirst and you're just you're not forcing yourself or anything like that but it's just every you know the water you're drinking is like yeah this is good this is refreshing you should be fine you shouldn't have any issues with that okay awesome everybody drink more water yeah exactly that's it that's the bottom line you're not going to do any damage just drink more water it'll help you cramps you don't need that salt yeah yeah exactly yeah and and you know if you're eating more salt you're actually going to increase your your your your your your body's uh desire for for water as well you know so um yeah take home is just just drink more water everyone everyone will likely benefit from drinking more water people don't realize just just you know uh how good it is and they may feel a lot better um you know when they start getting more water awesome um next one a lot of people talk about feeling awkward when they're socializing and they're doing carnivore um and you know they know they shouldn't drink and like you know even saying they're not drinking can be awkward around some people um to you what what are your tips and what's what's your advice for people about socializing when they're doing carnivore yeah I mean the main thing is just just get out there and socialize you know because like if you if you avoid situations whether you're always going to be avoidant of those situations you're always going to be uncomfortable in those situations you know when I when I first stopped drinking uh during the rugby series well it really is it was when I was I was on medications like um because I had pneumonia and it was right in the middle of a rugby season and I'm like I can't I can't drink all these things I get it's just stopping it from from working and so I went like a full month without drinking and you know and normally that's a very big part of rugby and it's something I really enjoy that social aspect going out and drinking and so I still went out after the games but I wasn't drinking and and the first time I went out I was I hated it I was I just felt so awkward and uncomfortable everyone was drinking and I wasn't I felt like the odd man out you know looking back at it like no one cared but I I really felt it and and then but you know you know I got through it the next week uh same thing I really didn't like it but it wasn't as bad the third week it was neutral I didn't really care one way or the other it was like okay fourth week I did I actually enjoyed myself more you know I was having more fun I was laying loose I was still you know just just having fun making jokes we just inhibited now everyone's drunk I can laugh at them I was able to drive home I wasn't blowing 200 at the bar you know and like I'm I have like an absurd tolerance like if I even if I don't drink for like two years it will still take me like 15 20 drinks to get going you know and so you know I I mean that's just that's just a lot of poison in your body you know just for very little uh you know gain on that and so I much much prefer that now and so it's just getting used to that it's just just you know just acclimatizing yourself to being in those social situations and then like you don't care the whole point of of alcohol is it's a social lubricant you can be your own lubricant you know it just makes you feel like oh yeah I don't I don't care I'm just gonna have fun you can you can just have fun anyway so but it's just it's just a you know a conditioned response you can just you you will get used to it so I just encourage people to get out there and go you know go to bars go to clubs you know go to coffee shops go to whatever yeah drink water you know and and the more you do that the more you'll get used to it and the more you'll actually enjoy it um because they are they can still be fun social settings um the health benefits are dramatic I mean the reason I I kept you know the my own personal prohibition on alcohol during the season was because during that month I just I just hit all new levels of athletic performance and uh and fitness I just it was just night and day just blew me away and I was like okay well I need to try this just for the rest of the season I just I had the best season of my life I'm like right I'm just not drinking during during rugby anymore and now you know I still you know every now and then if I drink you know I I'll drink like spirit so that people so again you know you're still trying to cut out as much stuff as you want you know so it's like you know it's like you're drinking coffee you want to take caffeine pill I'd rather take caffeine pill because I'm getting I want the caffeine I don't want the hundred thousand hundred fifty thousand other chemicals in coffee I just want the caffeine um so it's again with the alcohol if I want to drink which is rare for me maybe once every year year and a half something like that um something will be worth it to me enough that I'm like okay I'll do that um I'll just drink sort of spirits right you know wine has a lot of crap in it beer has a lot of crap in it and uh you know what I want is you know the booze and so the fun feeling of being yeah exactly and so you know and and that's that's what I want and so um you know when I do that though again I have stupid high tolerance but you know the next day I won't be hungover you know I won't feel or I'll feel a little tired or whatever as you would but I I noticed that my exercise tolerance and my energy levels are screwed for three full weeks afterwards you know and and so when I do these these crazy workouts um you know that I that I occasionally do I'm doing like 20 sets of bench 20 sets of shoulders 20 sets of squats all these sorts of things I can't wear myself out um and I feel great doing it the whole time um then you know at the week after I'm I you know I drink just just one time and I'm not even hungover the next day all of a sudden I get up to six sets I'm like I just I just feel miserable I just want to get the hell out of here you know most people stop at three sets so maybe they're not noticing how much is affecting them but for me feeling amazing at 20 and now feeling like crap at six that's a big difference you know the next week maybe I'm doing eight or ten sets but next week maybe I'm doing sort of you know 15 sets and then just like ugh I'm cashing out and then it's like the fourth week that I get up to 20 and I'm like okay thank God that's over where it's like normally I get to 20 I'm like oh I really don't want to go you know because I'm feeling so amazing as I'm doing it so it really has a much bigger effect on people's body and their health than they think and that's so something that that is you know is good to find out you know as you just you just sort of stop that and um and just see how much better you feel and then you can see contrast you know if you if you were to have some drinks but you know when you're doing this again you know just get out there just be social you know you know when you fall off a horse best thing to do is get right back on so you know get out there see people get used to it and uh and and you'll get more comfortable in those social settings yeah and you'll realize that people really don't care and exactly they're not looking at you you know like for example I was I was at a work thing today and like morning tea the sweetest like sugary pastries you have ever seen come out and like everyone to sort of like grab it yeah and I was just like hell no and I was just I was there having literally a cup of boiling hot water um which I'm actually which I'm enjoying at the moment and no one said a thing yeah yeah no one even asked like you know what I was just like [ __ ] no I'm not having like you know that donut at 10 A.M no one gives a [ __ ] no one gives it and that's the thing like when I when I started doing this you know back back in my early 20s no one once was just what what you don't you don't eat bread you don't you brought you no one not a single person said anything about it people just get over it they just care about themselves man yeah that's it well it doesn't even come up you just don't just don't say anything you know and and and it's fine sometimes with the drinks oh why don't you have a drink this and the other is like oh no I'm just you know I'm taking some time off booze you know I'm just on the wagon for a while you know I'm not you know I mean I'm in training I'm starting a new fitness program so I'm just I'm just laying off I think I think we're drinking that's always what for me it's like you know if if you're in a busy period where you really want to get something done it's like [ __ ] up my drinking right now I've got a huge day tomorrow I've got two months yeah I think yeah well you also just say you're like oh no I'm not much of a drinker or something like that people go oh really aren't you and then it's just and that's it that's the end of the conversation is generally you never have another conversation about that you know it's just like just like it's like oh really don't you it's like yeah you know I'm just on a health kick you know I'm just like I just like I've you know just you know just you know like avoiding it was like oh okay yeah most people don't care you know um you know and and so especially if it's your friends you know your friends and family and things like that then they're not going to give a [ __ ] you know um and you know unless they've you know got a serious alcohol problem and they try to encourage other people to drink around them so they don't feel uh you know as as guilty about it but you know you know by and large you know people that just don't care so um you know don't care yourself and uh and just get out there and uh you know experience life and uh and experience these social situations and then you'll come to realize pretty quickly that you know you don't need alcohol to do that hell yeah okay next one uh priming Anthony what is priming yeah so so Prime is an idea that I I came across uh recently from uh you know Bella steak and butter gang and and some of the coaches on her uh Channel um that that sort of asked me what I what I thought about it sort of told me about it um it's uh the idea is that if you're just starting carnivore that you you just sort of eat sort of three meals a day and you eat until you're full like what as they call it like Thanksgiving full each time really just so you can yeah exactly just so you're you're really getting to a point where you're just like yes this is this is as much as I want and no more and but again want is the keyboard in there don't force feed yourself anything and you do that for two weeks and what does that do that um that allows you to uh in in my view I was asked about it like what I think of it and what I think of it is that it can be helpful uh to really put you know put that awareness of actually how much your body wants because your hunger signals change so dramatically on a carnivore diet and you know it's it's very you just don't feel hungry in the traditional way and I talk about this in a lot of videos but you know when you're eating carbohydrates that raises your insulin insulin blocks leptin leptin then you know is is not able to reach your brain and tell your brain that that you have a lot of fat stores and you don't need to eat anymore so your brain thinks oh my God I'm starving I need to eat I need to eat I need to eat and there's other things going on as well but basically it just deranges your hunger signals and so you constantly feel like you're starving you're not starving you know you are uh you have more than enough energy like most most people are overweight they clearly have enough energy they're not starting they're not going to die if they don't eat that day uh or you know any day that month but that's what they actually feel and so it causes you to overeat you don't get that same sensation on a carnivore diet and so you know it's very easy to under eat and I I did that when I was in my 20s I just I just never felt hungry and I was just like I mean I know I know I'm not eating enough I can't possibly eat it but I'm just not hungry you know I don't know what the hell is going on and um you know so that that's the thing you have to relearn your hunger signals and so uh it's not something I've tried myself but it is something that you know some people have said hey this really helped me and I think that it could it could help you um you know help gauge your hunger signals and make sure that you're eating enough at least let you see like okay this is how much my body actually wants um one caveat with that is you know sort of leading into sort of the low energy side of the discussion is that after you eat especially when you eat till you're full this you know signals your body going to a rest and digest mode you know you're like At first you're probably giving you a lot of energy because you need to go out you need to make a kill you need to go hunt you need to go get energy and go fight and work for for your supper then you get yourselfer and you fill up and your body goes right slow it down calm down conserve energy that's rebuild repair and you know and not not just throw away energy so you can actually feel quite lethargic you know this is why I tend to eat later in the day uh after I work out I never train on a full stomach I and and on the rare occasions that it just happens to be it happens like that that I end up eating before I work out I have a terrible workout you know I just never I'm just like oh yeah exactly so you want you want for me I would train on an empty stomach I always play on an empty stomach I always always play hungry that was it I was just like had that Killer Instinct I need to go you know kill a mammoth you know you know wrestle a bear or something like that and like that's that's sort of what I you know mindset and and you know biochemical State I wanted to be in that's how I thought about it anyway um and then when you you eat you're sort of changing that so just be mindful that you know if you're eating you know a lot throughout the day and you're eating big meals that can make you a bit lethargic um so priming can help you know with get tell you how much you're eating you could you could do that otherwise you know I sort of just try that in the evenings just getting as much as you can eat and sort of testing it throughout the day you could do that as well and if it tastes good then your body's asking for food but I I think the priming is very uh helpful for some people um and so it's just it's just another you know tool in the in the toolbox of something that you can think about if you're if you think that you're not getting enough food and you're not you're not eating enough yeah totally I gotta say it's also really good for Cravings so if you feel like you know Cravings coming on like a lot of people who do our challenge they're coming off caffeine um and they're coming with artificial sweeteners and they can get some bad cravings and and I've found myself when I'm sort of really craving something that I know I don't want to eat if I then just go and load up on um more meat or more eggs or more water lots of water like it really does it kills the cravings and and yeah like obviously you can feel a bit uncomfortable when you overdo it on the meat but that pales in comparison to overdoing it on carbs like being stuffed you know Thanksgiving stuffed like I'd argue that people that you feel like crap and you're super sleepy after Thanksgiving mainly because you've eaten like a shitload of potatoes and veggies and chips and all sorts of stuff and and drinks obviously you do feel a bit stuffed and a bit full after a lot of meat but it's just in my experience it's nowhere near as bad as when you've loaded up on on carbs like you know like when you eat like a massive bowl of pasta like as a kid I can remember doing that like spaghetti bolognese and you're just eating this huge thing of pasta and you're on the couch and your whole stomach is like swollen you know yeah never as bad as that with meat no I think the most full like painfully full I've ever been was always a place like the Spaghetti Factory in Seattle oh man and it was it was it was like seven dollars for like as much pasta as you get on like that's crazy and so I ate a lot of pasta and which would sucked because I went to like a you know like a house party after that it was just it was like a bouncy house and like a hot tub and like all this stuff like things like that and I'm just like and I was just like no I can't do any of this [ __ ] yeah I could have just like I was just I was just a lump the rest of the night yeah that was fun but yeah but yeah you're right like for the craving side of things you know something that you know Dr Baker says is that you know people say oh how much how much should you eat he said you know eat enough so that you don't have cravings you know you don't have like carb cravings and sugar cravings and and I think that you know that's something that when you have like carb and sugar Cravings sometimes it's just your brain saying hey you need energy eat something idiot you know and so that's something that it remembers it just to say carbs quick energy get it you know let's get something but so just think about that as you know your body's been telling you that it's hungry and you haven't been seeing the signals and now it's giving you you know now sending out signal flares you know and so it's just like hey get it done and so fine you're hungry eat something eat meat right yeah totally um all right so Segway into the last one which is why you're tired a lot of people feel really fatigued particularly in the first week or two of doing Carnival um and they can't work it out they're like aren't I supposed to have such amazing energy and then they have other people telling them they feel incredible because you know they they could go all day on Carnivore what what do you think the main reasons are why people feel tired yeah um well I mean that's certainly one of them is a timing of their meals a lot of people are used to you know breakfast being the most important meal of the day and eating lunch and work and all these sorts of things and so they're eating a lot of food all you know around the beginning of the day and their bodies are just going like yeah let's let's just chill out we got our food we don't why waste it you don't need to go get more food we have food and so you know just chill out you know we're again we're living in a modern world with ancient genetics you know our our genes have not really changed uh you know all that much for the past 300 000 years or so so you know we need to we need to be appreciative of that and so you know 300 000 years ago you get a big meal your body just goes we don't need to do anything the whole purpose was to get food and procreate I mean that's basically it you know when in the animal world and so obviously we have more you know facets and aspects to our lives now but that's basically what it comes down to biologically and so you know you're when you're giving your ball your body these biological signals you're going to have a biological response and so that's one thing is just thinking about that and so when when people are sort of eating big meals throughout the day and they're getting lethargic you know that's something to think about is doing maybe you know eat your big meal at the end of the day you know after you've done all your things and see how that goes and see if you have more energy throughout the day and just sort of drinking water throughout the day and you know if you're starving or whatever you can eat what I do when I'm working out a lot my body does want me to eat more and I can't get it all in one meal and so I um I may eat during the day but I I'm careful because if I eat until I'm full um you know I'll just I'll just be pretty low energy at work at least for the first few hours and and then um and then you know I'm just not as as you know on point as I would like to be um and then I'll eat again that night as well so what I'll try to do is I'll sort of sort of like half as much as I may want and uh and not completely stuff myself and just so you still keep giving me that edge I'll give my body something and it wants but I'm not but my body's like okay it's not enough yet we still gotta go um so that's that's one thing um also you know like getting you know fat adapted and things like that just takes this takes sort of a varying amount of time something you know for me it was just right away like I just I just felt awesome you know day one you know I just felt better and better and better you know every day that I did this and um that's not the same for everybody you know it takes it takes a varying amount of time it can go from days to weeks uh generally not more than weeks um but that that can be another thing um and then you know so that's just something you just have to wait out you just have to see yeah the other one you might feel crummy you might feel really low energy and you're kind of like craving like a bit of sugar but you kind of do need to just keep keeping and white it out yeah just keep plugging away you know you you will get through that that episode that period and it's not all that long you know it doesn't take all that long and um the other one is like not eating enough fat you know everyone goes like well I I must be eating enough fat because basically I'm eating you know twice as much fat I've ever eaten in my entire life so you know to them this is a significant amount of fat um but it's not it's not always enough you know like I eat just ungodly amounts of fat now compared to my you know former life um you know when I would be cutting the fat off meat and and you know drinking skim milk and things like that and uh I don't drink milk at all anymore but if I were to it would obviously be full fat and um you know so it's it's something that you just have to be aware of and you know when I you know obviously tell people is that if your stools are dry and hard then by definition you're not getting enough fat you know because it's that excess fat that's going to that spillover effect you know that's going to spill out into your into your stools that's going to give you to soft stools that's going to to make it so you don't have constipation and hard stools and so what that means is you're saturating your body you're absorbing everything your body is able to absorb and then and then some and then so that's how you can you can engage if your body's really getting all the fat that it actually wants to absorb and um and so that's uh that that's something to think about as well and you know obviously this gets sort of muddled because you know people can you know be still drinking coffee or using artificial sweeteners both of which will give you loose stools and so that that can sort of confuses the yeah you can't you can't exactly tell as well as you you would be otherwise and so try to try to avoid that you know um also just withdrawing from caffeine like you're not gonna have yeah as great but that that that's very transient I mean that's just like a few days or a week at the most and then you start feeling much better after that um just to have it Hammer home the the consuming fat comment uh we've talked before about like a lot of people do well on getting 70 of their calories from fat uh and so that means that if you were to order mints from the butcher or ground beef you'd be getting 50 50. yeah now most ground beef is 85 15. so put that into perspective 50 50. so it will look quite white because half of it is fat then most butchers you have to ask them to make it custom for you and they actually they you know normally they would just ground up a brisket or a Chuck they could actually add extra fat in there as well so that's that's like the ideal ratio yeah so yeah it's something something to shoot for anyway so you know so to have that idea in your head it's way more way more fat than yours exactly have that idea in your head and trying to work out what works for you yeah yeah well yeah but that's it and you'll aim for that you know and you should aim for that and and realize it it is that much fat and then you know and then just you know stop drinking coffee stop using artificial sweeteners and then and then you can gauge based on your stools and uh and then you can sort of see like I don't know exact percentage that I get you know but I but I do know how to sort of adjust it as I go and I do sort of know how much that you know my body generally needs and wants you know if I'm eating sort of rib eye should be fine you know if I'm eating New York's probably have to add some butter on it and things like that that's usually how that goes you know um and then yeah and then lastly is again back to water you know no one drinks enough water you know and uh and so they're tired and you get your body's just not gonna work right you know uh it's just not especially you know hotter hotter months you know people we're just not getting enough water and they just don't they they're they're not going to function as well they're not going to function properly you know I noticed when I you know when I'm playing rugby I remember well I always felt much better when I was when I was really hydrated you know like sort of like two gallons a day that was sort of my my sweet spot and um I I couldn't really do more than that anyway but like that's how I really felt good on that and um so with that um I I remember I was coming into the season I sort of missed the first few weeks because of something I don't even remember and so I was I was behind the eight ball and so I was getting in there obviously back for like one week and then I had a game that weekend I'm like okay I'm like really out of shape I'm not gonna be able to play very well but I can do something about my hydration so like that whole week I was just drinking two gallons of water a day every day and I just made sure I got two gallons a day and that that weekend I was just running around was fine I was just like geez I didn't realize I'm actually in great shape I'm just running I'm not getting tired everything's fine and so I'm like almost I must be I must be you know more awesome than I thought I was and like uh you know the next week I was just you know like all happy with myself and my fitness level and so I just wasn't as strict with it I was drinking about a gallon a day that next game now I've got you know two weeks under my belt and a game and just felt like crap just absolutely I was just dragging I was just like oh my gosh breathing heavy my whole body was you know just just heavy and lethargic oh my oh my God that's terrible so I was just like so for me bang I banged it up to two two gallons of water a day after that and it was just and it just felt fantastic again makes a big difference obviously you're doing sort of high intensity Sports you know you'll see a more direct result and um an impact on your performance but it's going to affect your your your performance and how you and your how you feel in your energy levels regardless of what you're doing if you're just you know just working at an office versus you know high intensity exercise it just makes a big difference in your energy levels totally drink more water it's free it comes out of a tap in your house this is just a giant desert but you still do have water here yeah so uh yeah so that'll be my my suggestions for that okay awesome um Anthony that was great so we covered uh cramps alcohol and socializing Prime priming and then why you might be tired when you first started Carnival um that was awesome okay let's wrap there thanks Anthony thanks buddy good to see you