Steak. Eggs. Salt. That's it. And for a while, it works.
Then the blood sugar creeps up. The gut gets touchy. The sleep gets weird.
I sat down with Mike Fave — who works with people recovering from carnivore, keto, and extreme low-carb every single day — to break down what's actually happening in the body, and exactly how to reintroduce carbs without it backfiring. 👇
🩸 Why Fasting Blood Sugar Creeps Up on Carnivore
Without carbs coming in, your body leans hard on glucagon to make its own glucose — and that process comes with a cost:
— Backup fuel, not a fix — gluconeogenesis breaks down protein and fat to manufacture glucose your brain still needs.
— High protein makes it worse — the massive protein intake typical of carnivore pushes this process into overdrive.
— The result — fasting glucose and A1C can creep up over time — and it reverses once carbs come back.
Mike explains why the "my red blood cells just live longer" theory doesn't hold up in the research.
🦠 The Gut Cost Nobody Talks About
Pure meat, long-term, changes the colon environment in ways that can quietly snowball:
— Bile acids — irritate the colon and feed bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide gas.
— No fiber — means your gut bacteria start eating the intestinal lining instead of starving.
— The fallout — food reactions, histamine issues, and gut symptoms that seem to come out of nowhere.
And no — butter doesn't solve it. Butyrate from fat doesn't reach the lower colon the way fiber-fed short-chain fatty acids do.
🔄 How to Reintroduce Carbs the Right Way
— Know your numbers first — figure out your calorie needs before changing anything, so appetite coming back doesn't blindside you.
— Go slow — add one food at a time in 3–5 day windows, and expect ~5 lbs of water-weight gain — that's normal.
— Sequence your macros — protein and fat down, carbs up, in small steps — not all at once.
— Structure your plate — protein, fat, and fiber first, carb source second, to avoid a blood sugar crash.
Mike walks through his exact framework — including his free calculator for starting macros — in the full episode.
If you've ever wondered why carnivore felt amazing at first and rough later — this conversation connects every dot. 🎬
Eat real food. Train hard. Stay consistent.
— Brian
Health Coach and Host, Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast
P.S. Want the exact eating window I use with clients to keep cortisol low and metabolism running hot? Grab my free Pro-Metabolic Eating Window Guide at briangryn.com. 🕐
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