Owsley “The Bear” Stanley – On Modern Human Carnivory

Seven Simple Rules For The Human Carnivore

This is his go-to rules for good eating.

Basically, eat nothing but animal products.

Essay On Diet And Exercise

From his website: thebear.org

Bear’s Words Of Wisdom

Originally posted on The Low Carber Forums back in 2006, it spanned several months, 251 pages, and 3,700 posts.

Then all of Bear’s posts were extracted and posted on The Active No Carber’s site, however this site has been dormant for a few years now, so have archived all of Bear’s posts on this page in case it disappears from the internet.

From the above page which is overwhelmingly long, much of the relevant advice and opinions posted throughout have been extracted and put into their own pages so you can peruse individual topics rather than deal with the rest.

Acculturation

Diet is learned much the same way language, dress and behaviour is, and is buried deep and inaccessible, a part of your acculturation/socialisation. The very thing which makes us human is that deep and almost instinctive complex of behaviour.

Chocolate

Try Belgian Callibrot if you can find it, for a real choc treat.

Coffee

No helpful precis to be found here – if you love coffee, just read it.

Cryovac’d Meat

If bought in bulk, cryovac’d, it will keep for months- it gets ever more tender as it ages (enzymatic action).

Unopened cryovac bags will keep for weeks at 2C (36F).

Cut steaks from the block as you eat it, reclosing the cryovac bag with clothes pegs. The meat will keep very well no need to freeze it.

Diabetes

A zero-carb diet is the traditional treatment for diabetes (not a disease) before the development of injectable insulin, first from pigs.

Diabetes is the result of the immune system sensing the widespread tissue damage from insulin, targeting the source cells in the pancreas and destroying them. Insulin resistance type diabetes is the result of the tissues themselves rejecting insulin. Neither form is found in any other animal in nature, man’s carnivorous pets fed a grain based diet may also suffer this syndrome.

Real diabetes (type 1) is an auto-immune syndrome, wherein the person’s own immune system, responding to the somatic damage being done by insulin seeks out the source in the pancreas and destroys the cells producing it.

Eggs

Eggs are very good food- but not if hard cooked, which denatures the protein. Don’t eat raw eggwhite, it has an antivitamin, avidin (antibiotin).

Fiber

…the rough cellulosic fibre (most of the vegetable’s mass/volume) scratches and irritates the delicate intestinal lining as it passes through, and causes first, mucus secretion followed by scarring (callous formation). Both limit the intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients. This damage is universal over time with a mixed diet and is the cause of the ‘perplexing’ malnourished condition common in older people.

…‘good fibre’ is the result of ‘studies’ commissioned by ‘big ag’ to convince people to eat material which is a byproduct of refining grain: Masses of indigestible cellulose, which were formerly sold as waste to cardboard manufacturers. Added to food, and sold at human food prices, it has been a fantastic boost to the cereal industry’s bottom line.

Freezing Meat

I would never, ever freeze raw meat! Or buy it already frozen. Why bother, since it will keep at 2C literally for weeks. If bought in bulk, cryovac’d, it will keep for months- it gets ever more tender as it ages (enzymatic action).

Gluconeogenesis

Gluconeogenesis is a fasting process that only begins after the point where there are NO more ketones OR glycogen available. The body always spares protein, and it is only under severe conditions that protein is ripped apart for the glucose spine it contains.

Glycogen

Long, severe fasting is necessary for all glycogen to be depleted, not 48 hrs, let alone 24.

The body does not need any carbs to replenish glycogen, it just does not happen rapidly…

Grains

The eating of wheat by humans is regional, since wheat is the most toxic of the cereal grains. Unless wheat is started very early in life it cannot be tolerated- unlike rice, the least toxic.

Ice Cream

I make a wonderful zero-carb ice cream with raw egg yolks, heavy cream, lactose-free milk protein and various flavours like vanilla and espresso.

Keto-Adaptation

Until you are free of carb intake long enough to fully keto-adapt, which takes from 3 to 6 weeks, you will experience a feeling of lower energy. ANY carb intake, no matter how brief, will derail the keto-adaptation process.

Keto-adaptation and ‘being in ketosis’ are two totally different things.

It gives you none of the benefits of keto-adaptation.

Ketones and Ketosis

A zero carb diet does NOT cause ketosis. The body rapidly adapts within a few weeks and begins consuming the ketones from fat metabolism.

Ketones do not appear in the urine until all carbs are stopped and then the ketones will disappear again in a few weeks as your body begins using them as glucose-replacement rather than converting them, as it does all carbohydrates, into bodyfat (from which they came). BOTH a keto-adapted and carb-eating person will show no ketones in the urine.

Kidney

Protein in any amount does not damage the kidneys. You need to drink an adequate amount of water. The kidneys WILL suffer on any diet, if you get dehydrated.

Liver

Liver has Vit A which is stored cumulatively in your liver, an excess level of this vitamin is dangerously toxic, and the high carb content will easily derail keto-adaptation, if eaten in quantity or frequently.

Salt

salt interferes with fat metabolism- it also causes water retention and is hard on both the kidneys and the skin.

Vitamins

There are virtually no sources of any vitamins to be in vegetation (which is why all vitamin supplements are synthetic), but all are found in abundance in meat.