The Benefits of the Carnivore Diet for Women (2024)

Have you wondered if doing an all meat diet (going carnivore) or even just doing a 30 day Carnivore challenge has any benefits? How exactly does going Carnivore benefit women?

The Benefits of the Carnivore Diet for Women

When I first started low carb and then keto about 10 years ago, keto was mostly about men and body builders. It was the reason I started this blog! I wanted women to hear and see the benefits for women.

Now it’s the same with Carnivore. It’s not all about the men, we women can derive great benefits from going carnivore!

Not sure what the Carnivore Diet is exactly?

If you have been already following a Ketogenic Diet, then you are almost there! The Carnivore diet goes quite a bit further and eliminates many of the foods that cause inflammation and other issues for most people.

It sounds like a restrictive diet, but within the animal foods that are included on Carnivore, the sky is the limit. Animal foods include all meat, dairy, poultry, seafood, organ meats. Anything from the animal kingdom can be included. If it comes from an animal it is fair game!

Carnivore is sometimes called the Zero Carb diet but it’s important to note that the goal is not zero carbs. After all, eggs, cheese and even some animal protein do have carbs. The goal is animal foods only, although I see that many carnivores do use seasonings and coffee.

Generally, other than some low oxalate seasonings and maybe coffee for some, no other plant foods are consumed on a carnivorous diet.

What Can You Eat on the Carnivore Diet?

The Carnivore Diet includes only animal products and excludes all other foods. The focus is on red meat, especially from ruminants.

Here are the foods commonly eaten on Carnivore:

• Animal Meat: beef, chicken or turkey, turkey, lamb, pork, etc.
• Organs: from all animals
• Fish: salmon, mackerel, sardines, shrimps, crab, lobster, tilapia, herring, etc.
• Other animal products:eggs from all fowl, lard and fat from animals and fowl, bone marrow, bone broth, etc.
• Dairy products : heavy cream, hard cheese, butter or ghee, raw or grass fed where possible.
• Water

Many people do add salt and other seasonings, coffee and tea, minimal condiments.

Carnivore Diet Food Pyramid

(Credit: Judy Cho author of The Carnivore Cure)

I have read Judy’s book Carnivore Cure and it is chock full of excellent nutritional information about following a meat based diet. Judy Cho’s book is available on Amazon here.

Here are some of the great benefits of reducing all the things that are eliminated on a carnivore program!

1. Eliminates Sugars and Sweeteners

I listed this one first because it was the scariest one for me to actually implement.

I had already given up sugar of course, but giving up even natural keto sweeteners when I did my first carnivore challenge seemed impossible!

By the time I had finished my first 30 days I was drinking my coffee black and sweeteners have been once in awhile treats and not every day items for me!

Read my personal experience and results of my first 30 day Carnivore Challenge here

What are the benefits of eliminating sugar and sugar like substances?

• Increased energy
• Weight loss – excess sugar is eventually stored as fat in our bodies
• Better mood and focus
• Reduced inflammation
• Solves craving issues – once you lose the taste for sweetness, that makes a keto or carnivore lifestyle so much easier!

NOTE: There is one sweetener that some carnivore dieters find acceptable. It is actually not even a sweetener, it is an amino acid supplement called Glycine, that happens to taste sweet.

This is not to say that you should be using this as a sweetener every day! It’s an option for that occasional time when you need a cake for a celebration or to bring something. A rare treat, not a daily thing!

Addiction to sweet foods is a thing and if eating something sweet, even once in awhile cause cravings, then it’s important to just not do it. I feel like this is such a gray area even for myself. Sometimes I can have a keto dessert and then move on. Other times I cannot and I can literally feel myself being pulled back into those carb cravings again. So proceed with caution on any foods that taste sweet, no matter how they are sweetened!

I made a carnivore cheesecake using glycine here

2. Eliminates grains, gluten, vegetable and seed oils

These items are linked to leaky gut and free radical damage, all of which lead to inflammation.

Many doctors say that inflammation is the root of all disease.

Read more about the dietary causes of inflammation here

3. Helps to improve insulin resistance

Losing body fat and gaining lean muscle mass is one of the best natural ways to improve blood sugar and reverse insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance is linked to conditions such as excema, obesity, gum disease, brittle bones, all of these things are of concern to women!

Good health for women as we age should be a top priority to prevent future health issues. Low-carb diets, the keto diet and now the carnivore diet are all ways to help us manage this process. Some people also combine these diets with intermittent fasting to further reduce insulin resistance.

Have a listen to this video:

4. Nutrients are more bio-available

Animal proteins are very nutrient dense and they are more bioavailable which just means that our bodies do a better job of absorbing those nutrients!

Many people worry about missing out on the nutrients from vegetables when doing carnivore. Well guess what?! The carnivore diet provides all the vitamins and minerals your body needs!

That said, I do make sure to keep my electrolytes up by taking a magnesium supplement and being super liberal with my sea salt!

5. Provides More Collagen

When you eat a meat based diet with a variety of fatty meat, red meat and other animal meat, you will naturally consume more collagen.

Drinking bone broth daily can boost that intake even further.

Collagen is another supplement that is of great benefit to women, carnivore or otherwise. If you are not able to get bone broth every day, then by all means supplement with a daily scoop of collagen.

Collagen for women has these health benefits:

• prevents hair loss and strengthens your hair and nails
• prevents bone loss, a huge benefit to mid life women!
• improves joint pain and joint health for flexibility
• helps with skin elasticity which reduces the appearance of wrinkles and skin aging.
• helps with the appearance of cellulite

So go make that bone broth, or buy it or take collagen!

6. Simplifies our lives

This one is big for me. As a working Mom, I remember all the rushed dinners, all the last minute takeout, the planning and the recipes.

What if for 30 days all you did was eat meat? How would that simplify your life? We are talking one pan, one pot meal prep!

Check out my Youtube Carnivore Playlist where I make lots of simple one meat, one pan meals

I know some of you are cooking for a family. They can eat the other stuff while you eat your fill of meat. What I have done in the past is make large pots of chili and casseroles for other family members so they can help themselves to those meals.

The other thing that makes it easier is that on carnivore there is no tracking of macros necessary. If you are eating only animal products, you are eating pretty close to zero carbs! Eggs and dairy will have some carbs but pure fats and protein are zero carbs.

7. Carnivore Can Provide Weight Loss

Yes, women lose weight on Carnivore! The very first time I ever did a carnivore challenge I lost 12 lbs the first week and 25 lbs for the 30 days!

I was much heavier back then. If I do a Carnivore challenge now I can expect to lose 5-10lbs. But for me I see it as a reset of my keto plan when I go off the rails or maybe feeling that inflammation after being on vacation.

Each time I do a Carnivore Challenge, my regular keto program becomes cleaner and tighter. I can see a time where I might just naturally evolve to all or mostly carnivore.

I hope I have given you something to think about and maybe a few reasons to give Carnivore a try!

Here are some Carnivore Meal Ideas