A cheat day can be good for those who are on a restrictive diet. If you’re not sure what it is, it’s a scheduled break in a diet. But can you have a cheat day on the carnivore diet?
Let’s find out here.
Can You Have a Cheat Day on the Carnivore Diet?
It is discouraged to have a cheat day when you’re on a carnivore diet. Why?
For many proponents, if you want to change something in your life, you need to discipline yourself. And if you wish the carnivore diet to work for you, then you must not cheat.
Read: Can a Carnivore Diet Cause High Blood Pressure?
What is a Carnivore Diet?
Before we go deeper as to the reason cheat day isn’t technically allowed on this diet, let’s first talk briefly about the carnivore diet.
The carnivore diet is not for everyone. If you have an autoimmune disease or gluten intolerance, you may consider this diet to be beneficial.
This diet can be part of your elimination diet. By elimination, it means that you have to get rid of plant foods and processed foods that might be causing your diseases.
Because it’s an elimination diet, having a cheat day is like re-introducing toxic food into your body.
Allowing yourself to cheat at the end of the week will only increase your chance of failure. You may think that eating junk food is a reward. However, eating non-junk, non-processed food is the actual reward.
When you’re on a diet, you should not think of it as deprivation. It’s not about limiting what you can eat. Rather, it’s about knowing that the carnivore diet lets you eat the most nutrient-rich foods.
Because of it, cheat days will only sabotage your effort to make positive lifestyle changes.
Furthermore, cheat meals can be a train wreck. The reason for this is that the immune system has its memory. During cheat days, you’re reminding it of the triggering foods.
The point of this diet is to understand how foods make you feel well. Then, investigate the foods that trigger your medical condition when you slowly reintroduce them.
But if you have cheat meals, you’re undermining the process of eliminating those triggers.
Read: What are the Anti-Nutrients in Plants?
Cheat Days are Not Good
Some people are disciplined enough that they can cheat for one day. However, others can’t control themselves. As a result, their cheat days turn into cheat weeks.
Over time, their cheat days destroy their self-will.
Thus, it’s better not to cheat. Instead, you should continue rewarding your body with good foods and not junk foods.
What Happens If You Eat Carbs on Carnivore Diet?
It depends on how much carbs you have eaten. You may still be in ketosis. However, you must remember that if you eat refined carbs, your blood sugar levels will spike.
Those carnivore dieters associate their success with not thinking about food. Rather, they choose to get into the habit of forgetting about food. They will only think of it they are truly hungry, and not just thirsty.
If you cheat, your blood sugar will spike. Your insulin hormone takes the sugar and stores it in fat cells. Because of that, the body starts to have low blood sugar which stimulates cravings and hunger. It also triggers irritability, fatigue, and weakness.
The following day, you may feel worse.
It means that you feel good today and feel crappy the next day. This cycle repeats.
However, if you miss eating carbs, there are ways to help you recover from cheat days. You may drink apple cider vinegar mixed with water.
You may also try fasting. To help in burning off stored sugar, you may try exercising.
It’s also helpful if you take some electrolytes.
Opt for B vitamins. Organ meat has plenty of them.
Read: Are Vegans Safe from Gout?
How to Prevent Yourself From Cheating on Carnivore Diet?
One of the reasons you may cheat is social pressure. When you go out with your friends, you socialize with them and eat with them.
You may also experience that you can’t refrain from eating sugary foods or drinking soda and non-carnivore drinks.
But there’s a way to stop cheating.
That is, you need to stay satiated. Before going out with your friends or having a date, make sure to have a big carnivore meal. When you’re out with friends, order spring water or any drinks without sugar.
You should keep carnivore snacks handy. Here are the best carnivore snacks you can have:
- Meat bars. There are different types of beef jerky products out there. But avoid those with hidden sugars and spiced varieties.
- Beef sticks. Make sure to have them in your purse or car. Opt for grass-fed meat sticks. They are paleo-friendly and gluten-free. Stick with unflavored sticks.
- Salami roll-ups. You may add cheese sticks. However, if you’re following a strict carnivore diet, you should enjoy salami rolled up without cheese.
- Bacon. As you go and do errands, you must not forget to have a bag of bacon in your purse.
- Pork rinds. They are ideal go-to snacks. However, you need to choose pork rinds that have been baked or fried. Don’t buy pork rinds fried in canola oil.
- Hard-boiled egg. They are a great snack, too.
Is There a Calorie Limit on Carnivore Diet?
Yes. It depends on your current body weight and height. If you are following this diet for weight loss, then you need to be strict with your calorie consumption.
Keep in mind that to lose a pound of fat a week, you need to reduce your calorie intake by 500 calories a day.
However, because the carnivore diet is high in protein, it’s easy to reduce your calorie consumption without feeling hungry.
Meat, for one, offers high satiety levels. Furthermore, as you consume animal products, your body goes into ketosis. This is a state in which your body breaks down fat cells and uses them as fuel.
Because there are no carbs in this diet, you have improved energy. It’s a high-fat diet that doesn’t trigger the release of free tryptophan, which leads to fatigue and tiredness.
Read: Can the Carnivore Diet Help Psoriasis?
Summary
Can you have a cheat day on the carnivore diet? Technically, cheat days on this diet are not allowed. The reason for this is that you are trying to eliminate the foods that trigger your medical condition. If you are re-introducing them, even for a day, you’re only triggering the memory of your immune system.
Thus, you should avoid it. Always consider that the carnivore diet allows you to eat nutrient-rich food. In that case, you’re already rewarding yourself with the best foods.
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Jane is a licensed medical technologist who bridges the gap between clinical precision and digital innovation. While her formal background is rooted in the meticulous world of laboratory science, her passion lies in the logic of software development. When she isn’t analyzing data or writing clean, efficient code, you can find her on the golf course, applying that same focus and discipline to her swing.
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