Carnivore Diet - Does it lack Vitamin C?

in #carnivore6 years ago (edited)

manowar.jpg
Sailors, most famously on arctic journeys found that a lack of fresh food led to them getting scurvy, a condition caused by lack of vitamin C,(ascorbic acid). A Scottish surgeon in the Royal Navy, James Lind, is accredited for solving this by taking on board limes or other Citrus fruits.

Lesser known is what Arctic Explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson learned from living with the native Inuit. Afflicted sailors who were able to abstain from other food and eat fresh meat (hunted on the ice-pack), were able to quickly recover from the condition. This is because, unlike humans, many mammals retain the ability to make their own ascorbic acid internally, and we can access this by eating them.

It would take them from 3 days to about 3 weeks to adapt to this high fat diet, then they thrived on it, despite the harsh working conditions.

Why Vitamin C is critical for the healthy function our immune systems

A Macrophage is a soldier of the immune system, that like Pac-Man gobbles up anything that is either a threat or no longer functional.

Much of what it eats is oxidative (thieves electrons from healthy tissues), so it must be packed with ascorbic acid (Vit C) which has an extra electron available to neutralize the cargo.

ascorbic-glucose.PNG
Glucose molecules have a similar chemical structure to ascorbic acid,(glucose has 4 extra hydrogen atoms) and so block or pre-saturate our brave macrophages.

These unarmed soldiers quickly become part of the oxidized goop that runs out your nose, or worse gets locked up in inflammation or arterial plaques

This is why attaining Vit. C will not help in a high glucose (carbohydrates) environment or in a situation where oxidative stress is overwhelming (such as from ingesting the oils from seeds high in omega 6).

Fresh fatty meat does contain enough vitamin C for our needs,(without the glucose hit) so long as we avoid excessive oxidative stress and glucose, (carbohydrates).

I avoid oxidative stress, so that the Vit C i am getting from precious fat animals is not wasted. Ascorbic acid will not even make it into my macrophages if they are pre-saturated in glucose. It’s a systemic perspective, that I find beautiful and simple, I try not to fight nature.

** “If an observer were watching for the onset of scurvy and had in mind, among other things, the psychiatric aspect, the first symptom noticed would probably be an emotional or temperamental change—the victim becomes more argumentative, more irritable, likelier to take affront, more inclined to pessimistic interpretations.** quote from the book The Fat of the Land

For the research from Hungary into Glucose competing with Ascorbic Acid in our immune system please see this work I look forward to sharing more of their amazing work

Also for a more accurate, (medical grade) explanation than this post and deeper look into the fascinating history, I totally recommend Amber L Hearn's work

Facebook groups
The carnivore way of eating has proved to be of enourmous benefit to people who have tried every thing else to heal disease and relieve chronic pain. Now it is being adopted by performance athletes, bio hackers and anybody looking to enjoy greater physical and mental health.

Principia Carnivore
Wold Carnivore Tribe
Meatogenic Surfer (mine)
Thailand Carnivore Tribe
many more, its growing rapidly

Sort:  

Wow its good how you teach without sounding soo scientific. You made every paragraph easy to understand. Thanks bro. But I guess I cannot describe a macrophage as pacman that gobbles up dead or foreign tissues in the body, can I? My lecturer always wants me to sound more scientific

Amber L Hearn writes about Vit C in a way that your lecturer would appreciate. As do the authors from Hungary who's work I link to.
Just in case you are interested in going deeper.

Alright sir. Thanks a lot

Thanks glad it was readable. the science can be daunting, which is a shame because it makes so much sense, and is so powerfully beneficial.
Pac man..yeah I may be pushing it there ha ha... lucky I dont know that much so lots of room for imagination left :)

Man, keep more.coming. Am a medical student from Ghana and am very interested in stuff like these

Thank you glad they fire your curiosity - did you see the one on mosquitoes? They require high blood glucose to develop in the later stage when the infection moves to the red blood cells. I may make some mistakes so be careful to fact-check me :)

I missed this one but I will soon check it up on your Blog. I wish I could contribute to the research you're making in this field. It's interesting.

I try to write about other peoples research that has inspired me to try their idea. I do not have a disease state, thankfully, so I am looking for performance gains in daily life.

The best way to get involved is work out how to try the diet for yourself, only experience brings wisdom. Anything else is just memorising other peoples opinions.

Good luck, I am glad you enjoy

(I will re-write the mosquito post, the original one was not very well written)

Yes sir, I would wait on that

I think its amazing but dont see how i could not eat plants. Ive also watched both of my grandmas make it past 85 eating the worst crap you could think of (just sayin). I really appreciate your knowledge on the subject and may delve into eating this way in the future. Especially when i have the capability to get wild or (i know for sure) organic. I became fat adaptive eating 50g to 100g (mostly leafy greens and veggies) of carbs a day. Id also have one day a week i pulled out all carbs. I also drank beer (alot) 1 day a week. I did this for about 3 years. Out of all my eating styles this was by far the best ive done. I was reading a research paper that was talking 6 months to become truly efficiently fat adaptive (they were experimenting with long distance runners) but i dont think they were meat only. This way of eating has shown to be especially helpful for autism. Blahblah. I love that you do meat only and are well informed and my steemit friend :p. If i remeber correctly you also use to do vegan or vegetarian. If so just curious for how long? Ive also seen some thrive on a plant based diet, including healings. Whats your take on why/how?

Hey, thanks for such an awesome and thoughtful reply.
There are many things that can makes us sick, removing them aids recovery.
I would not say, that everyone "should" eat meat, thats not my business, I love to see people try different stuff. So long as they are honest, so as not to pass on terrible advice.

Most people do carnivore because nothing else worked.
Now that is changing and people are doing it because it works so well even without any disease or pain state.
Fat adaption to athletic standard - yes that can take many months, I feel that exercise helps the adapting, but it still takes time.
Vegan - a long time ago, several times a few months each only. Vegetarian I tried using duck eggs and home grown veggies - about 6 months.

Veganism encourages autophagy similar to the way that fasting works, like fasting it can give great results - until you run out of something essential.
If a person formulates it really carefully and is not already too damaged, they may last a long time, especially if their standards are very low.

Most of us are quite damaged from a thousand cuts - agriculture and industry have not been kind to our biology even if they have made life more comfortable.

Take Care!

Wow. It seems are an expert when it comes to.health issues. I just wanna know if you work.in a hospital. A doctor ? Nurse? Pharmacist ? What are you? Just curious

I sell new and used Windsurfing and Stand Up Paddle Boards, on the beach in Thailand. I was born in England and grew up in Australia. I went to a technical college to become an Electrician. I never went to a university, but I love biology, psychology and wilderness. I read the work of Experts, big difference - but thank you :)

Wow, I am surprised. Great knowing you tho

Thank you, likewise, its a cool space here on Steemit

@freemoceanisnow
Very good information, this will help a lot of people,