A lot of people who are new to carnivore are asking what is a hypercarnivore diet? So today I’m going to answer that question, and discuss the conflicting information about what we should or shouldn’t be eating when we decide to switch to a carnivore diet.
When I first switched to eating a carnivore diet, I couldn’t help but notice that there were some VERY judgemental carnivores in the carnivore groups I joined on Facebook, and to some extent also on YouTube. Someone might just mention they had garlic powder on their steak and boom! They’d get jumped on!
That’s not carnivore!
And this sort of bullying, judgemental behaviour while not rife, is still too common. So I decided to have a little look at what the carnivores in the animal kingdom that this diet is named after, actually eat, and what the definition of a Hypercarnivore diet is.
How Strict DO You Have to Be to Be a ‘Carnivore’?
There seems to be differing opinions and varying levels of anal-ity (is that a word?) around what should, and shouldn’t be eaten on a carnivore diet. My view is that we’re all on this journey for our own reasons, our own healing, and we’re all actually a little different in the way our bodies respond to food. We’re also all in a very different starting place with our health, our goals, and also our commitment to eating specific foods. So our wants and needs, and therefore diet, will be different.
But from my own personal experience, my husbands experience, and what I’ve seen online, even a MOSTLY meat diet can have amazing health benefits. So I guess the question is, how anal does one have to be?..
We each get to choose what goes into our mouths, and that’s our choice. For each of us, it’s our life, our body, our decision. But for some reason there are people out there who seem to think it’s their job to pass judgement, and to try to bully others into complying with whatever version of carnivore they deem to be correct.
Which Version of Carnivore?
So which version do you ascribe to? Which version of carnivore is the correct one?
- Is it red meat salt and water? (Aka the LION diet).
- How about all meats? and seafood perhaps? (Aka the SEA LION diet)
- What about all animal products including dairy?
- Or meat and some berries?
- Or…. dun dun dun…. Meat and fruit and honey?
I can hear it now – fruit and honey aren’t carnivore!!! But do carnivores eat plants, or fruit, or honey? Some do.
So What is a Hypercarnivore Diet?
The word carnivore literally means meat eater. Most of the animals that we generally consider to be carnivores are actually hypercarnivore. There are some obligate carnivores that eat no plant material at all, but most do – even if they don’t mean to.
We’ve all seen our pet cats and dogs, eating grass for example. Dogs will pretty much eat anything, even though they’re considered to be carnivores. Wild cats like lions and tigers often eat the plant material that is in the stomach of their prey. So while most of their diet is meat, they DO eat some plants.
They are hypercarnivore which is an animal whose diet consists of over 70% meat. They can not properly digest vegetation. But they do eat a little. There are also mesocarnivores which consume at least 50% of their diet as meat, but also eating fruits, vegetables and fungi to make up the rest of their diet.
And is Honey Carnivore?
And when it comes to honey, there ARE carnivorous animals that actually eat honey. Bears were considered to be carnivores until recently, and they eat honey. Other carnivorous animals that partake of a bit of the sweet stuff, often because they’re actually after the bee larvae, are honey badgers, martens, skunks, honey buzzards and others.
My old Bull Mastiff dog (long gone now, but she ate everything, and LOVED fruit) would probably have eaten honey if I’d given it to her… That’s her in the video below. She also liked to sing!
So if we eat some plants, under 30%, then that makes our diet a HYPERcarnivore diet, which is simply a carnivore diet. Because carnivore simply means a meat eater, NOT one who doesn’t eat any plants!
Now before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, I’d just like to say that I don’t personally eat honey. But I do believe it’s personal choice. I do eat some berries off and on. But not even close to 30% of my diet. And who knows, I just might decide to try some honey at some point – Or not. When my body is healed.
And while I have to say that fruit and honey probably isn’t going to be ideal for anyone whose metabolism is broken, it’s probably still better than a standard Western diet!
So although this is all a little pedantic, I just wanted to clarify this for those who are new to a carnivore diet, or who were finding themselves confused because someone has told them they’re doing it wrong. And although most of the carnivore community online is amazing, I’d like to invite those judgemental people, to stop trying to bully others into what they believe is the right way to eat.
I mean come on… Live and let live! Just eat meat and thrive. The truth is that many carnivores DO eat some plants and some even eat honey.
