Autumn All Year

Basically, you're not following the carnivore diet? *insert eye roll here*

What is the Carnivore Diet? I am not sure where the definition within the carnivore community (yes, there's a community) that all carnivores must eat a 100% meat diet comes from but it's not accurate. It's not scientific. It's not how the term carnivore is defined.

Defining the Carnivore Diet -

• Hypercarnivores (aka obligate carnivores) are "animals that get 70 percent or more of their nutrition from meat".
• Mesocarnivores are "animals whose diet consists of about 50 percent meat".
• Hypocarnivores are "animals whose diet is only about 30 percent meat".

These definitions come from National Geographic. National Geographic isn't the ultimate authority on what defines a carnivore diet, but other definitions are similar.

Lions, tigers, and seals. Oh my!

Lions are often referred to as apex predators, which means they have no natural predators of their own. They are considered at the top of the food chain. They eat around 20 lbs (9 kg) of meat per day, on average. And it's pretty well known that lions eat grass when they need to expel something from their digestive system.

Lions instinctively use plants as medicine. It's not a regular part of their diet - far from it - and they don't get much nutrition out of grass. They eat it to induce vomiting.

Tigers are also considered to be apex predators, with no natural predators. They eat around 90 lbs (40kg) of meat at once.

And, you guessed it, they do eat small amounts of vegetation. Again, not a major source of nutrition for them and they do it to induce vomiting.

Tigers eat plants as medicine. You can find videos of them consuming grass on YouTube.

What about seals? They're considered opportunistic carnivores. Seals mainly eat seafood (fish, shellfish, and crustaceans) and only eat in water.

I couldn't find any evidence that seals eat plants. Maybe they're the real carnivores? I guess…

And of course, there are many other carnivorous animals. In the hypercarnivore category, you'll find crocodilians, owls, shrikes, eagles, vultures, felids, most wild canids, dolphins, and many others. In the mesocarnivore category are lynx, bobcat (which eat fruit or vegetation when food is scarce), American marten, fisher (which consume berries and fruit, depending on availability), river otter, American mink, coyote, red fox, gray fox, raccoon, striped skunk, and weasels.

Mesocarnivores

Mesocarnivores could be considered omnivores, depending on whose definition you're using. But the point here is that carnivore =/= all meat, by definition. Not even hypercarnivores. Hypercarnivores are defined as consuming about 70 percent meat. It's great if that's all you eat but that's not the only way the term is defined.

It's Not a Competition -

My goal isn't and never has been, to win a prize for the most carnivore diet. I created this recipe website and blog because:

1. I love to cook!
2. I don't eat many plants and most recipes don't fit the way I eat.
3. People often ask me for my recipes. Rather than type them up repeatedly, it's much more succinct to type them up once and share the link.
4. I'm a web developer.

A few years ago, I attended a low-carb convention where an audience member asked a speaker, a practitioner of the carnivore diet, about his views on using herbs and spices in cooking and his definition of a carnivore diet. His response was that if adding herbs and spices makes meat more enjoyable, then it's perfectly fine to do so. He defined a carnivore human diet as one that severely limits or excludes plants. From a scientific standpoint, I’ve found this definition to be the most accurate—severely limits or excludes.

While this speaker is not the ultimate authority on carnivore diets, his opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s.

I'm in competition with no one. I hope we all win.

If you're striving for the ultimate carnivore diet, YOU WIN! I'm in competition with no one. I would never compromise something as important as my own health for the sake of winning a competition like being the most carnivore. If you would then go on with your bad self. You win.

I eat the things that promote my own health and I exclude things that degrade my health. That seems pretty simple to me. I'm not dogmatic in my approach. I think dogmatism has no place in nutrition and that's why I don't include it in how I structure my carnivore diet.