Curriculum
Module 01 · 25 min
What Carnivore Actually Is
Beyond steak-and-eggs memes — defining the diet, its lineage, and what it isn't.
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Newcomer summary
Read this first
Carnivore means eating animal foods — meat, fish, eggs, sometimes dairy — and nothing else for a defined window. It's the strictest version of an elimination diet. You're not signing up forever; you're collecting clean data on what your body does without plants.
Topics
What this module covers
- 01Animal-foods-only as an elimination diet
- 02Lion / nose-to-tail / standard tiers
- 03Historical precedents (Inuit, Maasai, Stefansson)
- 04What carnivore is NOT (keto, paleo, all-bacon)
- 05Why it works as a diagnostic, not just a diet
Learning objectives
By the end you'll be able to
- L01Define the carnivore diet as the most complete elimination diet, not a fad.
- L02Distinguish lion, nose-to-tail, and standard tiers and pick a starting tier.
- L03Place carnivore correctly relative to keto and paleo.
- L04Explain why it doubles as a diagnostic tool for food triggers.
Expected takeaways
What you should walk away believing
- →Carnivore is the simplest, strictest elimination diet — that's its core utility.
- →Most modern problems with food are subtraction problems, not addition problems.
- →Historical meat-only populations existed and thrived; this is not unprecedented.
Myth-buster
Carnivore is just keto with no vegetables.
RealityKeto is a macronutrient strategy that tolerates plant foods. Carnivore is an elimination protocol whose primary axis is antigen exposure, not ketone production.
Graded claims
What the evidence supports
A
Carnivore is the strictest practical elimination diet
By construction — no other common protocol removes more food categories.
F
Humans cannot survive without plant foods
Multiple historical and contemporary populations contradict this.
C
Carnivore puts everyone into ketosis
Depends on protein intake, fat ratio, and individual gluconeogenesis.
Self-check
Quick quiz
0 / 2 answeredScore: 0 / 2
1. Which best describes carnivore relative to other diets?
2. Which tier is most permissive?
Flashcards
Spaced recall, the lazy way
Front · card 1 / 2
Lion-tier carnivore?
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Progress
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