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A man who achieved an astonishing body transformation after eating red meat and eggs for a year has explained why he’s stepping back from the extreme diet.
Carnivore diets have become very popular online, with people who have tried it reporting an increase in energy and mental clarity while only eating meat and other animal-derived products.
However, the diet has drawn criticism from health professionals who stress that it's not sufficient for getting all the nutrients that our bodies need on a daily basis.
Eating large quantities of red meat has been linked to an increased risk of bowel and colon cancer, too.
While a balanced diet covering protein sources, leafy greens, vegetables, fruit, starch and carbohydrates is recommended by the NHS, that hasn’t stopped many people from experimenting with the meat-only lifestyle.
One person who the diet worked for and saw incredible weight loss results has recently shared that, despite his success with it, he’s switching back to a more conventional, varied diet.
Patrick Ensley shared his journey with the diet on his YouTube channel @carnivorecouple. After years of struggling with his weight, Patrick decided to take drastic action to ensure he was fit enough to play with his kids and to reverse the damage that his weight was inflicting on his mental health.
Before adopting the diet, he weighed 21.4 stone (300 pounds). After a year of eating nothing but meat and eggs, he had lost 10 stone (140 pounds) and had dropped his waist measurement from 57 inches to 38.
The HVAC technician from Nebraska, USA shared that the difference it had made to his life was enormous.
“Now I come home, and I'm able to throw around my 2-year-old son on the couch and swing him upside down and play trucks and trains and all the fun stuff he likes to do and still have energy left over from my family,” he said in an update video.
While the transformation has left him feeling “refreshed”, in a video he posted last year he explained why he was stepping back from the extreme diet.
“I still have about 15 to 20 more pounds left till I hit my goal but the difference between then and now is insane,” he said, before detailing three reasons why he was considering putting the carnivore lifestyle behind him.
He said he “never wanted to be a carnivore just for the sake of being a carnivore”, and that he is focused on doing “what makes my body feel the best”. Sometimes, he says, that means breaking from exclusively eating meat and eggs.
Various spices and condiments break the ‘purity’ of his carnivore diet, and while he was still “95% carnivore” during the update, he had been slowly introducing fruit and vegetables back into his diet.
The shift back to a more typical diet will also make him feel more confident in the long-term sustainability of his diet, and limit the potential harm that the isolation diet might be causing, such as the previously mentioned heightened risk of bowel cancer.
If you’re considering trying an alternative diet, it’s highly recommended that you speak with a healthcare professional first. It’s important to know the ins and outs of what a particular diet may do to your body, as well as to understand the risks or potential deficiencies you might experience.
Kerri-Ann Roper