I have been on the Carnivore Diet for 3 months or so, as part of my quest to ameliorate as much of my Young Onset Parkinsons Disease symptoms as possible. I'll sum it up a bit for you.
1. The diet consists of animal products and ideally no plant products. I ate mostly beef, eggs and butter, but also some pork, seafood, poultry and cheese. Water and unflavored seltzer only. At first I eliminated coffee, but eventually worked a small amount back in, with heavy cream. I also worked in a pint of Rebel full fat ice cream per week, which is sweetened with Stevia. So to be honest, I wasnt 100% perfectly compliant. The only seasoning allowed is salt. I went with Himalayan Pink salt when Celtic Sea salt was no longer available to me. I initially stopped all supplements, including Thiamine HCl, Lithium Orotate and Magnesium (I soon added Mg back in). I did take a daily eye vitamin because I have problems driving at night.
2. I completely cheated on Christmas Day, New Years Day and Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). Not too bad.
3. The main trouble I ran into was getting the proper electrolyte balance. I used salt, Magnesium supplements and cream of tartar for potassium. Earlier in the experiment I had severe body aches, which is what led me to seek electroytic support, and this resolved the problem. But further down the line, whereas my tremor symptoms were initially highly improved, ultimately, the tremors came back worse than when I started. I had a really bad week of tremors and finally decided to eat some fruit, bone broth, honey and coconut water and my tremor situation improved immediately and to a high degree. I want to add that I lost almost 10% of my body weight in fat and water. Other benefits were less fatigue, less sleep required, better mental alertness, reduced bleeding of the gums after brushing, clear complexion, no gas or bloating and easy recovery from workouts.
4. As my research has been ongoing, I found that 2 of my gurus, YouTuber nutritionist Lillie Kane and Dr Paul Saladino, have both been adding fruit to their carnivore diet routine, and on a daily basis. This conflicts with people like carnivore diet advocate Mahaila Peterson, who solved 100% of her horrible autoimmune diseases, and there were many, by eating the most extreme version of carnivore, the Lion Diet. This is only Beef, butter and salt, no exceptions.
So to sum it up, I cannot recommend this way of eating for management of Parkinsons disease symptoms, mainly because it is to difficult to get the electrolyte balance to be stable and it is very impractical to stick to. That being said, I will continue to do it myself, focusing on beef, butter, eggs and salt and adding a small amount of fruit daily. Perhaps a strawberry, a grape or a small banana, a tsp of unfiltered honey or a sip of coconut water. I plan on keeping the carbohydrates under 18 grams per day. For the most part, I do enjoy Carnivore and I dont mind the challenges of inconvenience and temptation. Its just the dang electrolyte imbalance problems that get me. There are electrolyte supplements available on the market, but they contain artificial sweeteners and flavorings that I prefer to avoid. It may be a trade off that I have to consider, I guess.
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bassofspades
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I was hoping somebody might be able to check in about this diet.
Is there any chance you were taking some treatments for your symptoms and stopping those coincided with taking on the diet? As in any potential confounding variables?
I wonder if anybody else is on one of the group of so-called keto diets?
I've been on a pretty strict keto diet since I was diagnosed in 2015. That is, I stay under about 30g of carbs a day, and I get those carbs (and electrolytes) from green vegetables, nuts and occasional berries. I NEVER eat sugar, or any substitute like honey. I DO use stevia and splenda and monkfruit etc. I just don't worry about that, but after all this time I don't have much of a sweet tooth!
Also, as more and more "keto" products are available, the diet gets easier. I buy zero carb keto bread which makes a pretty decent peanut butter sandwich (and is basically made from gluten and sawdust :o)
Hmmm. Well, I've progressed quite slowly, I guess. Since 2015--My symptoms are still one-sided. (I just started C/L this past autumn, and I only take one (25/100) a day when I'm off to exercise class, or dinner w/strangers, etc. I don't particularly need it hanging around the house. BUT...
How can I tell that it's the diet and not just me? That's the problem with a research study of 1. Also, as I said, I exercise, plus I've tried different supplements, so who knows?
BTW, I think the other problem with stuff like keto diets is that they don't necessarily change symptoms on a day-to-day basis...they (maybe) affect overall progression. That's hard to measure, as you are watching for the lack of something.
Thanks, friend! Hope making myself into a guinea pig helps! Whats the worst that can happen? I already have Parkinsons Disease, not much to lose, here.
I have been on keto/OMAD (one-meal-a-day at dinner time) since 2019. I eat many versions of keto - Mediterranean, Italian, Thai, Mexican, etc with eggs and salad in plenty of olive oil - most recipes from Dr Matthew CL Phillips’ metabolic therapy plan used in his Parkinson’s/Alzheimer’s/Cancer(Glioblastoma) randomized control trials/studies.
I cannot handle cream/cheese or any dairy for that matter. If I do eat dairy, the next day my mucuna may not work so I don’t take a chance. No big fruits either - one or two strawberries or a few black berries/raspberries/blueberries in salad.
Electrolyte imbalance - I take a quarter tsp of Himalayan salt in about 2 cups of water with Magtein and Magnesium glycinate in the morning and early afternoon. I get muscle cramps otherwise. I take some coconut water (natural potassium) kefir at dinner time.
I would highly recommend keto - carnivore or omnivore or vegetarian keto to anyone who wants to slow or stop the progression or hopefully reverse PD. Combined with Fasting (intermittent or prolonged) it is even more powerful. Ketones are alternate and better fuel than glucose for cells. Check out Stephen Cunnane’s research - while glucose needs to be pulled into the cell, ketones get pushed into the cell - great news for us with ‘brain insulin resistance’.
Best.
Dr Matthew Phillips’ presentations on his website:
Dr Cunnane’s presentation: (for research info - I personally do not use MCT oil or other ketone supplements - better to get ketones up with fasting or keto diet)
I appreciate your input! Keto paleo is my personal favorite way of eating. I have 2 thoughts, though. Copious amounts of olive oil may not be as healthy as previously suggested. I’m hearing a lot lately that large amounts of seed oils and vegetable oils including olive oil are the real cause of diabetes. The amount of olives or sunflower seeds or corn required to make x amount of oil is the equivalent of eating, like, a bushel of said oil source and bodies respond angrily to it. Not sure if that is proven or not and can’t say exactly what YouTube videos I heard about that from, but stay tuned, I’m sure you’ll be hearing about it soon.
Omad is great but since I have been eating carnivore, I try to eat at least 220 grams of protein per day, and that’s a lot for one meal! Also, if you can’t keep your mind busy, I find myself obsessing over food when I’m doing omad.
Full disclosure, I don’t know shht from shinola about jack diddly squat, so don’t take my word for it!
I commend you on the valiant effort you made, bassofspades . It takes a lot of time and courage to attempt such self experiments and you are to be commended. I am not sure if I could try something so bold.
Hi, I admire your totality of committment (Christmas excepted - me too!). I'm curious what you make of Dr Laurie Mishley's surveys that consistently show that meat eaters do worse? And there was some research to back this up, to do with consumption of anything with an exoskeleton. I'm curious why meat based and keto diets are so popular with PD people?
i take dr miscleys research with a grain of salt. From what I understand it’s based on surveys. Im not sure if this is very scientific or how controlled the environment is. I'm more interested in her research on lithium orotate.
What is the perfect diet? It really depends on the individual. There is no way one diet fits all. Meat based diets are popular because they eliminate inflammatory foods, they facilitate ketosis and autophagy, and provide protein for growth, recovery and repair.
The good thing about research is that you can find studies that show whatever outcome you like to be the result. Have you seen the study that shows oreo cookies lower cholesterol?
The point of me trying carnivore diet is that I keep my mind open and try everything reasonable to try to keep my disease progression and symptoms to a minimum.
Thanks ... Yes, research is a contradictory minefield, especially with some being funded by vested interests. I find it all very confusing. Still, maybe the research showing that meat isn't pro inflammatory will help me feel less guilty next time my housemate cooks sausages and I can't resist!
Think about back in the days when you were healthy and you could eat whatever you wanted and it didn't seem to affect your health. That's where these guys are at. We have Parkinson's. We're more sensitive than they are to little things like this.
I know, right?!! They write a book and swear by all of their research and then we buy it, read it, absorb it and they decide to change their minds - based on how THEY feel, not more research, though! @#$%^&* !!!!
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I am rigidity- dominant PD ; My personal experience!
