The carnivore diet works because it removes the foods that drive insulin resistance. Those are all added sugar, refined carbohydrates and nearly every other carbohydrate. With carbs near zero, the body burns fat instead of sugar. Gut irritants such as lectins and gluten are gone too.
The carnivore diet is one of the most controversial diets yet. Its followers, however, are very certain about the huge benefits it brings to their health and wellbeing. What makes it work? This article looks at its key supporters to find out why it works where some other diets have failed.
What is the carnivore diet?
The Carnivore Diet is a restrictive diet that only includes meat, fish, and other animal foods like eggs and certain dairy products. It cuts out all other foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds. Its supporters also recommend cutting out dairy or limiting it to low-lactose foods, such as butter and hard cheeses. (Lactose is a sugar found in milk and dairy products.) The Carnivore Diet comes from the controversial belief that human ancestors ate mostly meat and fish. It also holds that high-carb diets are to blame for today’s high rates of chronic disease. Other popular low-carb diets, like the keto and paleo diets, limit carbs but don’t exclude them. However, the Carnivore Diet aims for zero carbs. It has been touted to cure the incurable. Health sites like Meatheals.com, World Carnivore Tribe and ZeroCarb are overflowing with tens of thousands of people who have reversed serious health conditions. It seems almost too good to be true, right? Let’s look at the reasons why the carnivore diet works so well.
Why does the carnivore diet work?
- The Carnivore Diet cuts out all added sugar
Sugar is one of the most controversial topics. In short, sugar is bad for you. Here’s why:
- It can glycate (chemically bond with) and stick to cholesterol particles. This can lead to atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries).
- It’s highly glycemic. Sugar spikes insulin and can lead to insulin resistance over time.
- When the body breaks it down, it produces AGEs, which lead to aging, chronic disease, and diabetes.
- Glucose is oxidatively stressful. It causes inflammation and can produce reactive oxygen species (unstable, harmful molecules). Oxidative stress plays a role in almost every disease.
One study found that eating just 40 grams of added sugar gave people more inflammation, more insulin resistance and more weight gain. Glucose is also speculated to feed tumor growth. The Warburg Effect explains that cancer cells depend on glucose to grow. Unlike normal cells, cancer cells cannot use ketones. Glucose is considered bad, but fructose is considered even worse. That is because it goes straight to the liver, where it is turned into fat. It is twenty times more likely to cause fatty liver than glucose alone. A fatty liver can lead directly to insulin resistance.
- The Carnivore Diet can cure leaky gut
Leaky gut is a condition where the tight junctions (seals) of the small intestine open and let proteins and toxins into the bloodstream. So far, the carnivore diet has been one of the few clinically shown ways to reverse intestinal permeability (a leaky gut lining) and what comes with it. How does the carnivore diet cure leaky gut? Three main ways:
- It reduces inflammation, which reverses gut microbiome imbalances.
- It is the most nutrient-rich diet on earth, which heals the gut.
- It removes foods like Lectins and Gluten that pry open the tight junctions in the small intestine.
- The Carnivore Diet eliminates refined carbohydrates
Your body turns carbs into glucose (sugar). Here are some of the harms of eating refined carbs:
- Refined carbs have had all their fiber removed. Because of that, they are digested very fast and cause major blood sugar spikes. Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance, especially when they are eaten with fat.
- Refined carbs also damage the gut. The gut and colon ferment sugar and carbs, which can worsen GI issues and lead to leaky gut. This is why a well-established treatment for IBS recommends low carbs to starve your bacteria.
- Over time, eating refined carbs has been linked to inflammation and obesity.
- Refined carbs also raise blood triglyceride levels (fats in the blood). That is a risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Disease. Fat hanging out in your bloodstream is a sign that something is seriously off.
Eating refined carbs such as pasta is no different than eating straight sugar. Seven ounces of cooked spaghetti has the same amount of sugar as 4 12 oz cans of Pepsi.
- The Carnivore Diet cuts out most carbohydrates
Carbohydrates range from simple sugars to complex carbohydrates. But even unrefined carbohydrates can be bad for you. Many forms of starch, for example, raise blood sugar as much as eating glucose. Below are some reasons why cutting out all carbohydrates may be beneficial (yes, even the “healthy ones”):
- High-carb diets can lead to insulin resistance, especially if combined with fat.
- Many whole grains are loaded with anti-nutrients, like lectins.
- Carbs halt fat burning because of the insulin response. The more carbs you eat, the less body fat you burn.
- Getting to < 50g a day allows you to burn fat and enter ketosis. Ketosis has a number of health benefits.
- All carbs break down into glucose. Glucose can cause some of the harms listed above: AGEs, glycated LDL particles, insulin resistance, etc.
- The gut ferments carbs and fiber, which can worsen gut issues like IBS.
- The Carnivore Diet is very effective in reducing insulin resistance
Insulin resistance is related to almost every chronic disease. It might not cause all of these conditions, but its presence makes them worse. Some of these conditions are: Heart disease, 62% higher cancer mortality, 160% higher gastrointestinal cancer mortality, Prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Aging, Inflammation: Elevated CRP and IL-6, Acne. The good news is that you can reverse insulin resistance. The carnivore diet is the most effective way to reverse insulin resistance, in the following ways….
- Cutting out the highly glycemic carbs runs your body on ketones and increases insulin sensitivity.
- Cutting out fructose increases insulin sensitivity.
- Certain plant antinutrients like lectins can bind to insulin receptors and make you more insulin resistant.
- Vegetable oils cause insulin resistance.
- Protein is satiating (filling), and high protein diets burn body fat, which reduces insulin resistance.
- People on the carnivore diet generally intermittent fast, which increases insulin sensitivity.
If you want to live longer, you need to lower fasting insulin levels.
- Carnivore Diet Increases Natural Saturated Fat Consumption
Despite the common dogma, saturated fats are associated with longevity. Saturated fats are very good for your health. Your body cannot function without them. Diets high in natural saturated fats are associated with longevity. Hong Kong, for example, eats more meat per person than any other nation in the world. Yet it has the world’s longest life expectancy, at 84.5 years. Studies continue to debunk the myth that saturated fat causes heart disease. A review from 2014 that looked at 76 studies found no link at all between saturated fat and heart disease.
- Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting isn’t a key part of the carnivore diet. Nor is it prescribed. But people naturally tend to eat in a shorter window, which brings huge health benefits. Intermittent fasting means limiting your eating to a window of 8 hours or less. That is the direct opposite of what many Americans do today. Fasting is extremely good for you. It has been shown to:
- Reduce inflammation
- Increase insulin sensitivity
- Promote fat loss
- Increase cognition, memory, and focus.
- Increase autophagy, the natural cell-cleaning process.
- Increase BDNF, which boosts the creation and upkeep of neurons.
- Improve the immune system.
- Starves bad gut bacteria.
- Can improve autoimmune symptoms like RA and Crohn’s.
- The Carnivore Diet gets you into ketosis
Your body can use two types of fuel: glucose (from carbs) and ketones (from fat). Everybody on the carnivore diet is in ketosis to some extent. When you stop fueling your brain and body with glucose, fat has to take its place. Here are some major benefits of going into ketosis:
- Upregulates (turns up) FOXO genes. These genes regulate oxidative stress and insulin sensitivity, and they influence longevity.
- Ketones improve mood and have antidepressant-like effects.
- BHB reduces oxidative stress in the brain and may help prevent neurodegenerative disease.
- BHB lowers inflammation and blocks the NLRP3 inflammasome.
- Increases the body’s own antioxidant production.
- Ketones improve insulin sensitivity.
- Increased fat loss while preserving lean muscle mass and performance.
- Ketones can slow tumor growth by starving tumors of their preferred fuel, glucose, and by lowering IGF-1.
- The Carnivore Diet is Simple
Life is complex, but food doesn’t need to be. The carnivore diet means just eating meat, meat, and more meat. That makes it easier to stick to, because there are no meal plans or measurements.
The carnivore diet works
If you have tried everything to stay in shape and manage chronic conditions you might have, maybe it’s time you tried the carnivore diet. Its basic mechanisms make sense and are likely to have some positive effects on your condition. However, if you have a chronic disease, like diabetes or heart disease, talk to your doctor before trying an extreme diet like this one. Do not follow the carnivore diet if you have any level of kidney disease.
Frequently asked questions
What do you eat on the carnivore diet?
Meat, fish and other animal foods such as eggs and certain dairy products. Supporters limit dairy to low-lactose foods such as butter and hard cheeses. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds are all excluded. Keto and paleo limit carbohydrates. The carnivore diet aims for zero, which makes it simple: meat, meat and more meat.
What foods are not allowed on the carnivore diet?
Everything that is not an animal food: fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. That removes all added sugar, refined carbohydrates such as pasta, and nearly every other carbohydrate. It also removes plant compounds like lectins and gluten that pry open the tight junctions of the small intestine. High-lactose dairy is limited as well.
Does the carnivore diet put you in ketosis?
Yes. Everybody on the carnivore diet is in ketosis to some extent. When you stop fueling your brain and body with glucose from carbohydrates, ketones made from fat take its place. Getting below 50 grams of carbohydrate a day lets you burn fat and enter ketosis. Ketones improve insulin sensitivity and lower inflammation.
Do you have to fast on the carnivore diet?
No. Intermittent fasting is not a required part of the carnivore diet. But people on it naturally tend to eat within a shorter window of 8 hours or less. That shorter eating window reduces inflammation, increases insulin sensitivity, promotes fat loss and increases autophagy, the body’s natural cellular cleansing process.
Who should not try the carnivore diet?
Do not follow the carnivore diet if you have any level of kidney disease. If you have a chronic disease such as diabetes or heart disease, talk to your doctor before starting an extreme diet like this one. With carbohydrates near zero, your body switches from burning sugar to burning fat. Your doctor should know about that change before you begin.
Related reading
References
- Healthline (2019): All You Need to Know About the Carnivore (All-Meat) Diet. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/carnivore-diet
- Everyday Health (2018): On the Carnivore Diet, People Are Eating Only Meat: Here’s What to Know. Retrieved from https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/diet/carnivore-diet-benefits-risks-food-list-more/
- Carnivore Aurelius (2019): 16 Reasons why the Carnivore Diet Works. Retrieved from https://carnivoreaurelius.com/carnivore-diet/
Medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP
Interventional pain physician, addiction medicine specialist and obesity medicine diplomate.
Licensed in Missouri and Illinois.
Last reviewed June 18, 2026
