The High-Protein or Meat Diet allows for a significantly elevated protein intake while minimizing carbohydrate consumption. Unlike other high-protein diets, there’s no calorie counting, no tracking of fat, carbs, or protein percentages. No complications.
Rules of the meat diet
The Meat Diet is among the simpler diet approaches. No complex recipes, no need to adhere to specific hours or days, no need to decipher nutritional compositions. Simply eliminate everything non-animal origin from your diet and exclusively consume meat and animal-derived products like eggs, milk, and dairy. Prepare meals using animal fats like butter, and spices without carbohydrates (e.g., salt), or those you can cook, infuse for flavor, then strain, such as whole peppercorns.
In today’s era, exclusively eating meat isn’t trendy or appealing. Nonetheless, many opt for this diet due to its simplicity. Often chosen by those who were attracted to the Paleo or Keto diets but found them challenging to follow. The Paleo diet centers around what our caveman ancestors ate – fresh fruits, vegetables, berries, legumes, grains, seafood, and meat. Meanwhile, the Keto diet focuses on balancing protein, fat, and carb ratios. The Meat Diet simplifies these diets by not requiring counting or measuring; it’s all about consuming animal-based foods.
The Meat Diet gained popularity after 2018 when an American orthopedic doctor published a book about it and promoted it through social media.
The goal of weight loss should be a transformation in body composition, involving fat loss and muscle gain. Muscles are notably denser and heavier (3 times!) than fat tissue, so scale weight shouldn’t solely dictate success; rather, reductions in centimeters matter.
This diet isn’t recommended by nutritionists due to its lack of various nutrients essential for a healthy diet. You consume only meat and animal-derived foods like lactose-free milk and dairy (lactose-free) and eggs. No fruits, no vegetables, no bread, no grains… This is the antithesis of a vegan diet. In a way, this diet simplifies the Paleo and Keto diets. Unlike Keto, you don’t track fat, protein, and carbs percentages. Instead, you simply consume meat and animal-derived products.
Meat Diet Foods: What’s Allowed and Forbidden
Approved foods on the meat diet
Here’s what you can eat on the meat diet:
MEAT
Meat is the main calorie source, and you can consume all types except processed meats. For example, bacon is allowed, but not sausages or pâtés containing soy, flour, cornflour, or similar ingredients.
FISH
All types of fish and seafood are permitted. However, avoid consuming pâtés and similar foods that include ingredients other than fish.
EGGS
Don’t go overboard with eggs, but during the meat diet, you can have 1-2 eggs per day for 5 days a week.
DAIRY PRODUCTS
Opt for lactose-free options when choosing milk and dairy products.
FATS
It’s also recommended to cook and fry using animal fats like lard and butter.
SPICES
Simple spices like salt, pepper, dried oregano, bay leaves, cloves, ground paprika, chili, rosemary are allowed. You can also infuse spices in your cooking and strain them to release flavors while avoiding consumption.
Restricted Foods on the Meat Diet
Here’s what you should avoid on the meat diet:
ALL FRUITS
ALL VEGETABLES
ALL DAIRY PRODUCTS WITH LACTOSE
ALL SUGARS
ALL ADDITIVES
ALL PROCESSED MEATS
ALL GRAINS
ALL NUTS
ALL SEEDS
And everything else that isn’t meat, including starchy foods, sweets, snacks, and bread.
PREPARATION
Boiled, baked, fried, stewed, grilled, smoked, dried… all methods are allowed on the meat diet.
Avoid deep-frying foods.
ALLOWED BEVERAGES – mineral water, plain water, black coffee, tea sweetened with artificial sweeteners.
Meat diet recipes
There aren’t specific recipes for the meat diet; the key is to exclusively consume meat and animal-derived foods while avoiding everything else, including vegetables and fruits.
Vitamin deficiencies are compensated with vitamin supplements. Meat can be prepared in any way (frying, boiling, baking), as long as only spices without carbohydrates are used. Therefore, breading with flour is not allowed, but you can bread using eggs only.
To enhance flavor, you can place a spice mix in tea bags, tie them tightly, let them infuse while preparing the dish, and then remove the bags.
Similarly, you can handle vegetables. You can add them to the water when cooking meat, then strain before consumption. Of course, avoid vegetables that release carbohydrates into the water during cooking, like potatoes.
A crucial detail for the success of the meat diet
When starting the meat diet, many people consider only one or two types of meat they are accustomed to and exclude all other foods. However, such a limited approach to the meat diet is likely to lead to failure.
When transitioning to the meat diet, it’s essential to enjoy a diverse range of foods, including various types of meat like red meat, fish, turkey, chicken, game meat, prepared in different ways. Consuming too little or sticking to a monotonous diet can lead to uncontrolled hunger, resulting in abandoning the diet altogether.
How to sustain the meat diet
To successfully endure the meat diet and navigate through the first month, it’s important to have an approximate idea of what to expect. The initial days are the toughest, but the entire month presents challenges.
Every individual’s metabolic processes and responses to dietary styles differ. It’s crucial to understand how the diet affects you, so monitor your blood profile and blood sugar levels. Consult a healthcare professional to review the results, and ideally, embark on the meat diet with expert guidance.
Expect difficulty and don’t give up prematurely. Prepare for fatigue, headaches, intense hunger, and cravings for food during the first three days, potentially even the first week. Keep an eye on digestion as well. Anticipate fluctuations in appetite; some days, you might go hours without thinking about food, while on other days, food could be all you think about.
Results of the meat diet
This diet accelerates weight loss and alters metabolism, changing the way your body utilizes energy from fats. Expect significant weight loss. Individuals who have followed this diet report an increase in muscle mass, strength, and energy. Some claim improvements in mental clarity, feeling better, brighter, and being able to focus more easily. Even weight loss isn’t neglected, although it’s not the primary goal of this diet. The aim is to bring your body and mind to a point where you feel better, energized, and motivated to take care of yourself, including your dietary choices. Approach this with caution, as these are personal experiences rather than scientific studies.
Initial results of the meat diet
In very short periods, such as 3 to 5 days, results will largely depend on your body. Some might manage to lose up to 1kg per day, but the focus should be on enduring the demanding and exhausting first days of the meat diet, rather than how many kilograms you’ll shed. Expect pronounced fatigue, weakness, and lethargy during the initial days until your body adjusts to the new dietary regime and unusual food cravings. At the start of the meat diet, you don’t need to rush into exercising. Stick to your routine, avoiding temptations that might lead you to give up on the diet. As your body adjusts and your energy improves, the motivation for exercise and the benefits of this diet should come naturally. However, listen to your body; the meat diet might not be suitable for everyone. If you find it excessively burdensome in any way, consider discontinuing it.
Some individuals have successfully lost up to 90 kg in 6 months with this diet. The average weight loss ranges from 1 to 3 kg per week.
Advantages of the meat diet
Despite its many drawbacks, this diet’s offered benefits can sometimes outweigh its downsides. Most individuals who have tried the meat diet subjectively mention the following improvements:
- Weight Loss
This highly restrictive diet plan aids weight loss and reduces food cravings by changing how the body uses energy from carbohydrates to fats. Even scientific studies show that this diet alters the way you think about food, impacts “hunger hormones,” and thus regulates appetite, inevitably leading to weight loss.
- Reduces Inflammation
Meat isn’t the primary choice in an anti-inflammatory diet, but proponents of the meat diet claim that while on this diet, inflammatory processes in the body diminish. Fewer inflammatory processes result in reduced pain.
- Mental Clarity
Advocates of the meat diet suggest that mental clarity, heightened focus, and increased energy levels are undeniable results of this diet. This is likely because the body changes its primary energy source, utilizing ketones instead of carbohydrates. Ketones have a neuroprotective function, making energy from fats more beneficial for the brain than energy from carbohydrates.
Experiences with the meat diet
On the internet, you can find experiences of many individuals who have tried this diet. Most of these accounts are from people who followed the meat diet for 30 days. While healthcare professionals consistently warn about the nutritional deficiencies of this diet, some individuals still choose to follow it for a period. Generally, positive experiences are mentioned. At the beginning of the diet, you might not feel bloated, experience increased energy, but some digestive issues like diarrhea or constipation could occur, depending on your body type. Over time, these digestive problems tend to subside, changing your relationship with food, reducing hunger, and food cravings. People on the meat diet often mention improved sleep quality, feeling more refreshed in the morning, and a reduction in afternoon fatigue. However, some individuals did not experience a decrease in digestive issues and needed to seek assistance through supplements to aid digestion. It’s essential to monitor your body’s response and take steps to balance digestion if it doesn’t naturally stabilize. Blood sugar levels should also be monitored, as excess protein in the body can sometimes be converted to glucose, raising blood sugar levels. Regular blood sugar monitoring is essential for individuals on the meat diet.
Usually, individuals who choose the meat diet are those who are overweight, tired, lacking energy, libido, experiencing joint pains, and often feeling down. For them, this diet resolves their underlying issues. After addressing these issues with the help of the meat diet, they find they have more energy and motivation to transition to a healthier eating style. Due to this transformation, many individuals highly praise this diet. It rescues people from despair, guiding them toward a healthier path where they learn to care for themselves and their bodies. They become conscious of what they eat and put into their bodies. After conquering the first and most significant hurdle, they eventually develop healthy dietary patterns that won’t harm their health. The primary outcome of the meat diet, beyond weight loss, is awareness of one’s body and what is consumed, coupled with the determination to take care of oneself. After 30 days on the meat diet, many find themselves more organized about their diet. They usually return to foods they love but with a new approach. They begin to enjoy healthy vegetables and fruits more and rarely revert to processed meats, sandwiches, fast foods like French fries, and similar items—these foods somehow lose their appeal.
The meat diet and ketosis
Although the main goal of the meat diet isn’t to induce ketosis, where the body uses ketones instead of carbohydrates as its primary energy source, ketosis often occurs as a side effect of this diet. This is because the meat diet promotes very low, almost no carbohydrate consumption, inadvertently leading the body to prefer ketones.
The meat diet offers unique advantages that other diets and eating styles can’t provide. That’s why there are so many advocates for this diet. There isn’t a straightforward answer to whether it’s worth following, but if you’re overweight, feeling tired, lack the motivation to care for yourself and your diet, constantly hungry, and have strong food cravings, it might be worth trying. Advocates recommend it particularly for such situations. Once you become aware of the need to care for yourself and what you eat, and regain enough energy to take care of these aspects, you will likely realize that a healthy, balanced, natural, and varied diet is the right choice. However, the meat diet might be the first and most challenging step you need to take to reach that stage.
