If I Started Carnivore in 2026, This is What I’d Do [FULL BLUEPRINT]

What would I do if I were to start a carnivore diet in 2026? Hi everyone, I'm Dr. Anthony Chaffy, a medical doctor and former professional rugby player with nearly a decade of experience treating patients and professional athletes with a zero carb carnivore diet. So, what I would do, and I have many videos on this, like carnivore for beginners and a whole playlist on getting started on a carnivore diet, I would keep it simple. You're just eating meat. You're only drinking water. Eggs are fine if you tolerate them. I would cut out dairy apart from small amounts used as condiments and infrequently and if I was trying to lose weight, I would cut them out completely. Or if I had an autoimmune condition or any other sensitivity. So really just eating meat, eggs, water. I'm not going to do a quasi carnivore diet where I'm just eating a lot more meat, but I'm still including a lot of other things as well because while the meat gives you what you need, the other things cause harm directly. And that's sort of the whole point of a carnivore diet is you're just getting raw nutrition and you're cutting out everything else that could potentially cause harm. So you eat any meat that you want that tastes good to you, that makes you feel your best, and that you can afford and have access to. For me, that's beef. Pretty much 99% of what I eat is just steaks and ribeye. It's also just as important what not to eat as what to eat. So my hard rule for myself and anybody that wants to succeed and do this optimally is no plants or mushrooms, no sugar or any sweeteners, and nothing artificial. And that goes for sauces, seasonings, and drinks as well. If you need to transition, you can't quite get rid of the seasonings, etc., it's not the end of the world. But at some point, you want to get rid of all those things and just give it a try for at least 30 days and see how you feel. And so, what I would do, what I have done is cut out absolutely everything else because that's how I feel my best. I would also eat very highfat carnivore. I would not just eat lean meat. Don't buy into the whole low-fat carnivore saying that our ancestors would have eaten lean meat because animals are lean in the wild. This is coming from people who've obviously never met a harp seal or a whale before and not doesn't understand that our ancestors went after megapa with the highest fat proportion to body size that they could find. It also misunderstands where fat is distributed in an animal. Wild animals is referring to those muscle bodies not having marbling. But that's not where fat gets deposited in healthy animals. That fat fat gets deposited in their abdomen or under their tissue and their subcutaneous fat around the muscle bodies, not inside the muscle bodies. fat inside the muscle bodies is pathological and we see that in humans as a sign of metabolic distress and dysfunction. However, these same animals that have lean muscle bodies if they are healthy and not at the end of winter or starving actually have quite a lot of fat deposited throughout their body. You just have to not throw it away. Most people when they go hunting they trim off all the fat because that is what people have been used to doing for the last 50 years. So, I would go very high fat. Also, the idea that fat causes harm or makes you fat or is somehow a risk for cardiovascular disease is extremely outdated. Very simply, there was an umbrella review which is a metaanalysis of metaanalyses of randomized control trial, the tippy top of the pyramid of the evidence hierarchy published in the top cardiology journal in the world, the journal of the American College of Cardiology in 2020 showing that there was absolutely no relationship between increased saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease. And this is in meta analyses of randomized control trials that can show cause and effect. So there is no cause and effect relationship between increased saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease. In fact, they found a cause and effect protective mechanism between elevated saturated fat and lower risks of stroke. So more saturated fat was actually protective against having strokes. So people that ate more saturated fat had less strokes. People that ate less saturated fat had more strokes. Another reason why this is a bad idea to cut out the fat is because on any ketogenic diet, you're cutting out carbohydrates by definition. So, if you're cutting out fat as well, then the majority of your calories are going to come from protein. Even if you have excess body fat, you will still break down large amounts of that protein to either use as energy or to store. And as such, when you break down amino acids, you necessarily release a nitrogen group that then gets turned into ammonia and that's further transformed into ura in your liver. However, if you are eating too much protein, then this will build up the amount of ammonia that your liver has to process and it gets overwhelmed and you get a buildup of excess ammonia and this can actually cause very serious harm. This can cause liver damage and your liver enzymes might go up where on a normal highfat carnivore diet, you will never see that. The ammonia can also cause organ damage to the rest of your body, cause neurological issues. You'll have extremely low energy. You can start losing your hair. And this is a symptom that people have been seeing recently because they've bought in to the whole nonsensical low-fat carnivore idea. And then they're told that this is probably from being in ketosis and ketosis is harmful. But if it were harmful, then none of our ancestors would have been able to exist through the ice ages when there was no carbohydrates available. All the inuits would be dead and I would be dead because I've been doing this for over 8 years now and 5 years in my early 20s and have had no carbs in that entire time apart from what comes naturally in meat. However, when people are new to this and they don't understand that ketosis is our natural metabolic state and not a harmful state, they might buy into that because they are feeling pretty rotten, then they add in carbs and all of a sudden they feel better. And of course, they do because they were getting something called protein poisoning, which is that abundant buildup of ammonia that is now damaging their body. And pretty much instantly they feel a lot better. They have more energy. Their hair stops falling out and all the toxic effects of the ammonia starts to subside as those ammonia levels go down. and they blame ketosis when the exact same effect would have happened if they just started eating more fat like they should have in the first place. And in fact, they would have had more benefit because they would have actually been getting nutrition from the fat, which is an essential nutrient source with essential fatty acids that you have to have or you can get sick and die and essential fat soluble vitamins that you have to have or you can get sick and die. So, just remember the fat's good for you. Eat the damn fat. After that, I would set myself up for success by clearing out all non-carn food items and drinks out of the house. If you leave all these things there, you're basically admitting to yourself this is going to be a temporary thing and you don't plan on doing this long term, even if it's successful in providing the health benefits that you're looking for. If you're living with other people and they aren't bought into the whole idea, well, then you have to just do the best you can. However, if you're in a position to get rid of all non-cnivore foods and drinks, that is a great idea because if you're trying to quit smoking cigarettes, the last thing you want to do is leave packs of cigarettes around the house when you have a moment of weakness right there that you can dip in. So, if it's out of the house, it's very difficult to then go out of the house, drive to the store, get something, and come back. Usually, you just say, "Okay, look, I'm just going to cook a steak or some eggs." And that temptation passes. Usually after about two weeks of being very pure meat and water, most of those cravings go away anyway as long as you're eating enough. Set yourself up for success and try to get all temptations out of the house until you get through that transition and cravings period. Another thing that I would do to set myself up for success would be to meal prep. This is pretty easy on a carnivore diet because it allows you to buy meat in bulk, which is cheaper, and you can cut it up into steaks yourself, salt to taste as you prefer. or I don't really use much salt these days. But then you put them onto a wire rack in a baking sheet, not touching anything else. So air is circulating around all sides. If there's any point of contact, that can store moisture and that can breed bacteria. So you want it to sort of dry out and that will keep bacteria from being able to grow on the surface of the meat and that will help it dry and age a bit and also just taste a bit better. It concentrates the flavor, it browns better and also you have steaks ready to go. So you can just walk in the door, grab a couple steaks, throw them on the grill or in the pan and you're off to the races. It's also really good to have meat or boiled eggs or something like that available so if you do have these cravings and you are getting more hungry, you don't dip into something quick and easy like some sort of junk food or carbs. So you can carry snacks around with you. I carry carnivore bar with me or I take that traveling on trips just to have something highfat carnivore with no other ingredients except salt if you want it. so that if I'm on a plane or traveling or at work or out and about, I don't need to worry about where I'm going to get my next meal. I've got food available for me. Also, the longer you do this, you'll find that you are much more satiated. So, you don't need to eat as many times during the day. However, after a long day and you're just sort of tired and worn out, it's a lot nicer to just come home, grab a steak out of the fridge, throw it in the pan, cook it up, and you're done for food for the day. The next thing I would do is educate yourself thoroughly on the science and arguments and logic behind why humans should do a carnivore diet or better said why humans should eat a biologically appropriate diet for humans just like every single other animal on earth. So watch videos. I have a lot of videos that are available online. I make all my resources available for free on YouTube and on my podcast. They even have playlists set up for getting started on a carnivore diet, muscle building and athletics, cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, these sorts of things. So, you can look in there and watch dedicated videos and learn and educate yourself from professors and doctors who've been studying and researching this for their entire careers. Fantastic resources would be my YouTube channel, if I don't say so myself, but also people like Dr. Paul Mason has fantastic lectures online. Also, the Low Carb Downunder YouTube channel has just a ton of amazing lectures from doctors and researchers. Dr. Sean Baker, of course, Dr. Kiltz and Dr. Zoe Harkham have amazing lectures showing the lies about cholesterol and heart disease, how fiber is not essential, and so many other things are extremely critical and important. Professor Ben Bickman has spent his career looking at metabolism and how ketogenic diets can absolutely improve metabolic health and chronic disease. You also want to look at the research that I and others site. We often will put links or references down to the studies that we're talking about in the show notes or we refer to them by name in the lecture. And you should look these up and read them and see for yourself what they say and how you interpret them. Don't just take our word for and don't take anybody else's word for it either. Someone can say that a study says something and proves their point. And sometimes you'll actually read that it's nothing of the sort. I can't tell you how many times that people have tried to attack me and in doing so they've quoted studies that say absolutely nothing close to what they claim it does. I remember at one point someone was trying to say that I had got something wrong about how babies are in ketosis and that ketones are good for the brain and how brain development which is true. And they came with studies that said that ketones don't cross the placenta and that breast milk has 45% calories from lactose. Therefore, they couldn't be on a ketogenic diet. Their own studies that they cited, which no one of course read, actually showed that no, actually ketones cross the placenta freely and women are much more likely to be in ketosis, especially in the third trimester, regardless of what they eat. And of course, that's when the baby's brain is growing the fastest. And that in spite of the fact that breast milk has higher levels of lactose, infants who are breastfeeding actually are still in ketosis and producing ketones because it's much easier for them to be in ketosis because they need to be in ketosis because that is required for proper brain development and function. And in fact, there are studies showing that infants who are on breast milk have much higher levels of ketones than infants that are on formula because there's much more sugar, seed oils, and other delterious ingredients in them. So don't just take my word for it and certainly don't take other people's word for it. Look at the studies that we're talking about. See if they make sense to you. And so you can weather and withstand criticism much better if you understand the science. You also look at the opposition. Look at what they're saying. You know, am I missing something? Is Dr. Baker missing something? Is Dr. Mason missing something? Definitely not in Dr. Mason's case, but look at what other people are saying. Look at their arguments. Look at their studies. Look at the what they're citing. and check it against what we're saying, what we're citing, and see what you think. Because if you're confident in your decisions, then you'll be able to defend your ideas a lot better, and you'll feel much more comfortable making a decision that is going to affect your health and the rest of your life. So, it's important that you understand what you're doing and that you are confident that this is the right choice for you. And last but not least, I would try to get a support group, whether that's my current friends and family and other people that can support me or do this with me so that we're doing something together just like having gym buddies or something online, whether that's free or paid. There are many free sites, especially on Facebook such as Zero Carb Health and Zeroing In Health that have been doing a zero carb carnivore diet for decades, some of these people, and they have tens of thousands of members who have a lot of experience, both personal and professional. and you can look up your particular concerns and see who has faced these and what they did and how that went. It's very important to have that sort of support system because you can definitely feel like you're under the gun and everybody's scrutinizing you or your doctors are telling you that this is crazy and you need to be on certain medication or that your family's worried that you might have serious health effects because of this. And of course, they're all coming from a good place. But if you understand the literature and you understand that there are other people that are succeeding and thriving and having massive improvements in their health, then that's a little easier to stick to what you feel is the right thing for you. There are also paid groups if you want a bit more structured support. However, you don't need to break the bank for this. There are groups out there that are very affordable from people that are trying to help people and build a community of support and education, and they're not trying to just cash in. There are definitely ones that charge you thousands of dollars for a program and then take other people's information like my own and other people that we put out there for free, charge you thousands of dollars and then get it wrong and give you bad advice that then ends up with you having protein poisoning and going back to what you were doing before because that was a huge mistake and you're out $2,000 as well. So, if you want a structured plan that is affordable, I and many others have groups that we run and spend our personal time answering questions and making resources available so that people can succeed in this and allow for a community of support where people can thrive. I've got a 90-day challenge that will be starting up in January, and you can find that through my website on dranthonychaffy.com, dranthonychaffy.com. But there are many others. Shop around, see what you like, and see what works best for you. And remember, there are free ones that are fully available to you and provide quite a lot of support in community, which can be very helpful when you're getting started. I hope that was helpful, everybody. And let me know in the comments what you think would be good advice to anybody starting a carnivore diet for the first time. Thanks everyone. See you next time.