Best Fruit for the Carnivore Diet
About Carnivore Diet | Fruits in Carnivore Diet | Benefits of Fruits in Carnivore Diet | Fruits to Include in Carnivore Diet | Fruits to Avoid in Carnivore Diet | Fasting & Carnivore Diet
Numerous individuals adhere to various diets, such as keto, vegan, and many more. Each diet requires a commitment and a specific eating pattern to achieve results. However, balancing nutrients in each diet pattern is important. Let’s dive into the Best Fruit for the Carnivore Diet – Why Fasting Helps!
If you follow a carnivore diet, this guide is the ideal read for you. It dives deep into whether followers of the carnivore diet can incorporate fruit into their eating regimen and which are the best fruits for carnivore dieters. Continue reading to unveil all the details!
Carnivore Diet – An Inventive Approach Towards Optimal Health
For beginners, the carnivore diet is a type wherein the follower will consume only animal food along with salt and water. As no carbs are part of the diet regime, it’s also a zero-carb diet.
This makes it different from low-carb diets like keto diets and paleo diets. The idea behind this diet is that our ancestors used to consume only meat until they discovered the cultivation of crops.
It’s adopted as a weight loss diet in the present era as no carbs are consumed. The focus here remains on eating healthy animal fat and consuming water. From helping you shed those extra pounds to improving mental clarity, this diet can do wonders.
Weight Loss
You tend to have a high-protein diet as it’s a meat-only diet. Now, protein, as we all know, keeps us full for a long time. Hence, we end up reducing calorie intake, leading to weight loss. In addition, protein is a great way to boost your metabolic rate, which makes you burn calories at a higher rate.
High Energy Levels
Many meat eaters have claimed to have high energy levels and improved focus. However, there are no substantial medical studies to back this claim.
Better Mental Clarity
Followers of meat-based diets are likely to have enhanced mental clarity as the high-fat content of this diet supplies enough energy to the brain. Better focus and cognition are imperative when the brain is well-fed with energy.
Reduced Inflammation
Animal foods are best known for their high percentage of anti-inflammatory compounds, such as omega-3 fatty acids. With the high content of these compounds, you’re less likely to experience inflammation.
Healthy Gut
Sticking to a meat-only diet can help you have better gut health, as a carnivore diet eliminates plant-based foods and dairy products that are likely to carry multiple irritants. For many, plant compounds like lectins, phytates, and fiber are the leading causes of multiple gastrointestinal issues. Hence, a carnivore diet is a great solution for them.
Incorporating Fruits into a Purely Meat-Based Diet: Is it Permissible?
The Carnivore diet is renowned for its exclusive focus on meat consumption. Ethically, plant-based foods and fruits are generally not included in it. This diet’s primary objective revolves around minimizing carbohydrate intake and expediting fat burning by inducing a state of ketosis.
Due to their natural sugars, fruits can potentially disrupt this ketosis-driven process. Thus, science suggests refraining from introducing fruits into a meat-centric diet.
Nonetheless, adhering to a meat-only diet comes with its challenges, as some meat eaters have reported sleep disturbances, electrolyte imbalances, recurrent cramping, and sudden drops in energy levels due to the absence of carbohydrates.
Moreover, overly relying on a meat-based diet can result in an elevated proportion of SFAs (saturated fatty acids) within the body, a circumstance with unfavorable implications. Regrettably, recent research has corroborated that excessive consumption of processed and red meat correlates with heightened risks of health ailments, including cancer, heart diseases, increased mortality rates, and type 2 diabetes.
Continuing this diet regime for a long time can lead to extreme fiber deficiency as animal foods like red meat, steak, and others are not rich in fiber.
Hence, wisdom says to add a very negligible amount of carbohydrates and fiber in the form of fruits and have a controlled dependency on red or processed meat, even if it’s a meat-based diet. The carnivore diet with fruits is known as the meat-and-fruit diet. Even though fruits are added in moderation, animal meat dominates the diet.
Benefits of Adding Fruits to Carnivore Diet
Adding fruits to the carnivore diet is a great move to make, as it brings a lot of benefits to the table, such as:
Having Fruit Anti-Nutrients as Dietary Acute Stressors
Consuming a modest amount of fruits exposes your body to plant anti-nutrients. These anti-nutrients are compounds that can interfere with the absorption of certain essential nutrients and enzymes in the body. As a response to these anti-nutrients, the body may trigger an inflammatory response.
However, it is important to note that the inflammatory response can also be beneficial, as it can produce antioxidants like glutathione. Over time, the body can adapt to this mild stress (hormesis) and become more resilient.
You Get Better Nutrient Satisfaction
As a meat-only diet can’t provide all the nutrients, incorporating fruits is a great way to have balanced nutrients without going overboard in calorie consumption. You can include fiber and certain vitamins that are missing in animal foods.
It can Prevent Vitamin C Deficiency
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin derived from glucose metabolism. Having Vitamin C-rich food is important as it promotes the synthesis of collagen fibers, protecting the body from damage caused by free radicals.
However, humans fail to produce ascorbic acid on their own. Hence, they have to depend on food-based artificial supplements. As compared to citrus fruits like limes, oranges, and lemons. and certain vegetables and animal-based foods like red meat and steak have a very low percentage of Vitamin C.
For example, 100 grams of grass-fed meat or steak has only 1.6 mg of Vitamin C, while an orange contains 53 mg of Vitamin C. The difference is huge.
The current recommended daily intake for vitamin C is 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women. So, two oranges a day are enough to meet this daily intake requirement. And if you stick to steak, a lot has to be consumed.
If not, you’re prone to have Vitamin C deficiency, and scurvy, which is responsible for multiple hassles like weakness, joint pain, bleeding gums, easy bruising, and prolonged wounds.
Better Metabolic Flexibility
Metabolic flexibility refers to the body’s ability to effectively switch between different energy sources. If someone is following a meat-based diet for an extended period and then decides to introduce more plant-based foods, their digestive system may need time to adapt.
However, incorporating fruits in a meat-only diet helps them to achieve a certain degree of metabolic flexibility, allowing their body to handle different types of food more comfortably.
Better Folate Supply
Folate is important as it promotes cell division and DNA synthesis. And if you’re consuming a meat-only diet, make sure you’re consuming organ meat, as it’s commonly found in beef liver and eggs.
However, not everyone is fond of animal organs. For such individuals, including folate-rich fruits like strawberries, avocados, papayas, and bananas is a great option to get enough supply of folate.
Fruits to Include in Your Animal Food Diet
If you’re able to grasp the gravity of the above-mentioned points, you must know that adding fruits to a meat-only diet is a great idea. Now, the legit question here is:
Which fruits should be part of animal-sourced food?
Certainly, not every fruit is worth considering when you’re following this diet regime. You must avoid consuming foods rich in natural sugar and high- carbohydrate content.
Both these components will hinder the fat-burning process and can negate the effect of a meat-based diet like ground beef, especially when your aim is weight loss with animal products.
Considering this factor, here is a list of the best fruits for carnivore diet followers.
Avocados
Avocados are a must-have for carnivore dieters if they want to avoid vitamin C and folate deficiency. This fruit is rich in vitamins E, C, K, and B6. In addition, you will get enough supply of vital elements like potassium, choline, folate, phytosterols, riboflavin, and magnesium.
Bananas
Banana is a great fruit when you’re on an extensive meat consumption diet, as they are rich in potassium and help maintain intestinal health.
Including bananas in your meal plan is a great way to maintain overall health, as it’s packed with a wide range of bioactive compounds like biogenic amines, phenolics, phytosterols, and carotenoids.
Some of these compounds are best known for having notable antioxidant capabilities that help bodies deal with oxidative stress. However, you need to make sure that you consume only raw bananas. It’s better to have green bananas if you can. Ripe bananas are rich in sugar, and this is why they become problematic.
Apples
‘An apple in a day keeps a doctor away.’ This is more than a mere saying. It’s a fact that this fruit is rich in nutrients. Regular consumption of this fruit can help maintain body weight and enough fiber required for improved gut health.
Peaches
Want to enjoy multiple health benefits like protection against auto-immune diseases and lower inflammation? Try including peaches in your meal plans.
This plant food is a superfood as it’s rich in vitamins C, A, and K. Along with this, you get abundant dietary fibers with this fruit.
It’s a great source of potassium as well. Certain varieties of peaches are packed with antioxidants. All in all, a meat and fruit diet with peaches will bring tons of health benefits to the table.
Papaya
Papaya contains an enzyme called papain, which aids in the digestion of proteins. So, if you’re consuming high-protein diets, papaya is one of the many plant foods you need to consume to ensure that whatever protein you consume is digested properly. As it’s a rich source of Vitamin C, it’ll help you keep the chances of Scurvy at bay with a zero-carb diet.
Like bananas, papaya is known for being easy on the stomach and can be helpful for individuals transitioning to a Carnivore diet or dealing with gut problems.
Fruits That Carnivore Dieters Should Avoid
Combining fruit and meat-based diets can maximize health benefits and incorporate diverse food groups. However, it’s essential to exercise caution and select the right fruits, as not all fruits suit a carnivore dieter. As mentioned earlier, certain fruits might not be the best choices for this dietary approach.
Let’s now explore the fruits that are not recommended for carnivore dieters.
Fruits with Anti-Nutrients
You must avoid consuming fruits with anti-nutrients while consuming animal foods and organic meats. Such fruits are black currants, raspberries, and elderberries.
Dried Fruits
Dried fruits like raisins and prunes have less fruit juice and high calories. Hence, they’re not good for the fat-burning process. So, ensure you’re not making them a part of your meal plan.
Fasting for Double-Folded Benefits
Regardless of the diet regime you pick, you’re advised to observe fasting if you want to have assured weight loss and overall good health. Time-restricted fasting involves keeping the eating window open only for certain hours in a day and observing a fast for rest.
For instance, in the 16:8 fasting method, followers eat only 8 hours and restrain eating for the remaining 16 hours.
This way, the body continues consuming stored fat to remain functional. As the fat reservoir of the body is used, weight loss happens. The beauty of this fasting method is that you’ve got the flexibility to decide the time of eating window. There are other TRF approaches like 19/5,14/10, and 20/4.
However, they are advanced versions of TRF and are only recommended when you’ve tried intermittent fasting earlier. So, whether you follow a strict carnivore or a meat-and-fruit diet, following it in a time-restricted manner drives the best results.
Final Say – Best Fruit for the Carnivore Diet!
Following any diet regime, including a meat-only diet, takes a lot of commitment. While this diet plan has multiple health benefits like weight loss, better mental clarity, and so on, it’s not always recommended.
A high dependency on certain nutrients can cause severe nutrient imbalances in your body. Hence, carnivore dieters are suggested to include different food groups in their eating regime without causing any hindrance to the main idea behind a meat-only diet, burning fat instead of calories.
A meat diet, combined with a fruit diet, is a great way to make it happen. By keeping calorie intake on the lower side, this plant-based diet can help you manage nutrients while consuming animal foods.
But the choice of fruits matters. As the post explained, fruits like apples, papaya, bananas, and avocados are best for carnivore dieters. Combine it with TRF to see better results.
