Keto/Carnivore Getting Started Guide (Book Excerpt)

Who am I?

Hi. My name is Bronson Dant. I am a 50-year-old, grandpa. I have maintained an animal-based diet for 4 years and I am in the best health of my life.

Between owning a health and fitness center for several years, personal training, and my current online coaching programs, I have helped hundreds of people lose fat, improve their health, and gain the strength and confidence to take control of their lives.

Everything in this guide has been proven by the experiences of myself and others. You are about to get the blueprint for how I work with people to help them change their lives!

Why You Should Try a Ketogenic Diet

The Ketogenic Diet has been an effective tool for many years to help people with all sorts of issues heal themselves, and live better lives.

There is a long list of diseases, chronic illness, and other health factors that moving to a whole food and animal-based diet has helped people improve and heal. The benefits to metabolic health are the most impressive aspects of the diet.

How does the Ketogenic Diet do all this and help you lose body fat, gain muscle, and make you feel more energized?

Some things we know.

Carbohydrates are used for fuel before body fat is used for fuel. As long as we’re putting carbs into our systems, losing body fat will always be a challenge.
Most processed foods are carbs. Think about that for a minute…. Now think about number 1 on this list.
Fat provides more energy per gram (9 calories) than carbs do (4 calories). So less equals more. You have to eat more than 2x the carbs to get the same amount of fuel.
Processed foods have more calories yet fewer nutrients. You get more fuel that you have to burn, but fewer resources (nutrients) to give your body to work with.
One of the biggest issues facing our society is the rise in chronic inflammation. This condition presents in so many different ways, it’s almost pointless to list them all here. The biggest cause of chronic inflammation is 1. Processed food and 2. Excess carbs.
The other major health issue we’re dealing with is insulin resistance and the negative effect carbs have on people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes increases every year.
Saturated fat is not bad for you. You need it for almost every function of your body.

Following a whole food, animal-based, Ketogenic Diet removes all the crap that’s inhibiting your metabolic function.

It allows the body to start burning body fat for fuel.
It increases the amount of nutrition you get each day
It helps your metabolism by improving the accessibility of nutrients
It removes factors that can adversely affect insulin resistance and cause diabetes
It significantly reduces inflammation.
Improves gut health and digestive issues.

Just with that list of things, I often wonder why everyone isn’t doing it already. The number of things that we deal with on a day-to-day basis as a result of carbohydrates affecting our bodies is mind-boggling.

That’s just the beginning. It gets better.

With a Ketogenic Diet, we get to lose fat, improve overall bodily function, and help our bodies heal over time. Here’s how:

The most bioavailable foods are meats. Also the most highly nutritious food too. Less eating and calories, more nutrients
More fat. This is such a huge benefit of the diet. 60%-70% of the food you eat will be fats. You’ll feel more full, have more energy, and your body will start to feel fresh again with more fat in your life.
Digestion issues usually go away. Again, less food, less waste. Less need for extra stuff to digest the food equals fewer digestion issues.
Easier to regulate gains and losses. Smaller changes in how much you eat can have a greater effect on the progress you make towards your goal.
No need for a lot of supplements. Eating real food provides real nutrition.
Meal prep and the amount of time you spend thinking about food is greatly reduced.

In general, a Ketogenic Diet takes away the seriously bad stuff and replaces it with seriously good stuff. Your body will function better with less inflammation, less stress, and more energy available to fuel your active lifestyle.

How do you follow a Ketogenic Diet?

There are four basic concepts behind following a whole food, animal-based Ketogenic Diet.

Eat animal meat, eggs, and animal by-products because they have everything the human body needs to thrive.
Completely eliminate industrial seed oils (vegetable oils). They are poison and have absolutely no place in a human diet.
Processed foods and Carbs create inflammation in the human body and are the root cause of most if not all chronic issues we face today.
The human body is built to use fat as its primary source of fuel, not carbs.

The more you focus on eating animals, the more nutritious your meals will be and the less stress you’ll put on your body.

The practical application of this concept is in reducing your carb intake, focusing on getting adequate protein and enough fat to fuel your body efficiently.

Removing processed food, seed oils, and carbs from your diet teaches your body how to use fat as its main fuel and reduces most of the things that are causing your body stress. You are simultaneously improving your body’s performance and removing things that hinder your body’s performance. Double Win!!

STEP ONE

Commit to a period of time and stick with it.

Everyone is different. When I started I did it overnight, 100%, and never looked back. I have worked with others who need to make the changes in small steps. Whichever way works best for you is fine. The more important factor is that you give yourself a timeframe in which to make the changes…and see how they affect you.

That’s a hard one, many people are not patient enough. Here’s an expectation for you to have. It could take up to 6 months for you to see some changes based on what your reason is and what you’re looking for. Many people report improved energy, fewer body aches, fat loss, and other changes…, anywhere from 3 weeks to 8 weeks. Major healing from hormone imbalances, autoimmune and other issues can take a lot longer. This can also vary based on how drastically they made changes to their diet. The smaller the changes, the longer it may take to see them manifest in your body.

When I work with someone, it’s for a minimum of 8 weeks. In my experience, it takes that long for most people to get a hang of the protocol and build a routine around it. I wouldn’t suggest anyone change to an animal-based diet for less than 8 weeks. Ideally, 90 days would probably give you a more realistic idea of how your body will function, especially if you’re an active person who exercises or plays a sport regularly.

STEP TWO

Decide what to eat.

There are two parts to this step. The first part is deciding how far you want to go. Do you want to jump straight in or do you want to take it one step at a time? The second part is actually deciding what to eat.

If you want to take it a step at a time that’s fine. I’ll go over macros and how much to eat later in the guide. Start where you are and adjust as you get more comfortable. Just remember your results are directly tied to how much you adhere to the diet.

Here are the guidelines for what to eat on a whole food, animal-based Ketogenic Diet.

Food that is as close to its natural form as possible. If it has an ingredient label. It’s not real food.
Animal-based food. Preferable ruminants and red meat.
Dairy is optional. Some people can tolerate it. Most people do better without it.
Coffee and spices are usually ok. (…..as close to their natural form as possible)

There are plenty of options here. I’ve been following these guidelines for four years. Not once have I ever been bored or gotten tired of it.

STEP THREE

Figure out how much to eat.

Here comes the macro talk. Most people dread this part. Counting calories and measuring every bite is one reason many people quit following a Ketogenic Diet. I don’t do calories and I don’t think you should measure your food for a living.

I do want you to weigh and measure for as long as it takes you to get comfortable with eyeballing your food and having a good idea of 1. how much it is, and 2. what it takes to make you feel satisfied at a meal. Once you have a handle on what proper amounts, look and feel like, you should only need to measure again if you want to make a change and need to reset your “feelers”.

I keep macros simple. Figure out your lean mass. Convert it to grams. Eat AT LEAST that much protein. Eat NO MORE than that much Carbs and Fat combined. That’s it. You only need to worry about one number.

If you weigh 250lbs. and you’re 30% body fat, you have about 175lbs. of lean mass. That means your macros are 175 grams of protein minimum and 175 grams carbs/fat or less, each day.

If you’re mixing your carbs and fat into the combined 175 grams, you have to make sure you get at least 50g to 70g of fat each day. Your body needs it.

This graphic shows how it all works out. You can also use my Macro Calculator to get the numbers specific to you.

Simple Macro Calculator

STEP FOUR

Supplement properly.

The key to supplementation is that you need to have a good clean diet in order for them to really do what they’re supposed to. Good thing you’re going Ketogenic!!

There are a handful of basic supplements that everyone should be taking regardless of the way of eating they follow. Call it a side-effect of the industrial age, but in today’s society, we don’t get everything we need like we did when we lived off the earth and hunted our own food.

It’s important to get these because as you clean up your body it’s going to start working better and it will need all the pieces of the puzzle in order to heal and improve.

The number one thing you need to do is start adding more salt to your food. Many people seem to work best with 3 grams – 5 grams per day. Some people need more. I do about 8 grams a day. Salt helps with energy and digestion.

Other recommend supplements:

Vitamin D
Zinc
Magnesium
Omega 3’s (fish oil)

STEP FIVE

Know what to expect.

Keto Flu When you first start reducing carbs in your diet, your body has to adapt. This can cause “flu-like” symptoms and can make some people tired, sore, and grouchy. It usually lasts for a few days then goes away as your body gets better at using fat for fuel.

Bowel Movements During this time, you have either loose or difficult bowel movements. Make sure to increase your sodium and electrolyte intake to help with this. It should get better in a week or two. You can expect to have fewer bowel movements, with less volume. It doesn’t mean you are constipated. There’s just less to get rid of.

The best thing to do for each of these issues is to hydrate and increase your sodium and electrolyte intake.

Mindset and Belief System There are going to be changes in how your food affects your body and this may be challenging for you to understand. You should feel less hungry after each meal. You won’t need to eat as many meals. You may realize that you’ve been starving yourself in an effort to reduce calories and you in fact need to eat more in order to get healthy. Removing carbs is not easy, they are addicting.

Go into this transition with a goal, and commit to a timeframe. Be open-minded about the process. Ask for help if you need it. The changes to your diet are pretty straightforward. It’s the mental shift and learning how to build new habits that are sustainable, where coaching and mentoring become a lifesaver.

STEP SIX

Decide what’s next.

Assuming you’ve stuck with it for your intended timeframe, what’s next? Do you keep going or do you start to add more carbs back in to see what happens?

I just kept going. I’m very glad I did. My food prep is easy, my shopping is easy and cheap, and I almost never think about food throughout the day. The physical and mental improvements I’ve seen in my life cannot be denied and I don’t see any reason why I would want to go back to feeling the way I used to.

Transitioning back to some carbs can be tricky. This is where it’s possible to really fall off the rails. Here are some suggestions for how to find your comfort zone and keep going.

Define your goal. This has to be number one at all times. Every choice you make needs to answer the question. “Will this help me reach my goal?”
Balance your lifestyle. don’t decide to do something that adds to your stress and decreases the chance you’ll stick with the plan.
Associate with people doing the same thing. Find groups where you can get support, information, recipes, and other social interaction from people who have similar goals.
Get a coach. Nothing is more effective than working with a professional who has the experience and can help you work through your specific challenges.