Carnivore diet and afib

Has anyone had any experience of improvement with their afib after being on the carnivore diet (all animal products) for a while?
I know it's a very controversial diet and goes against pretty much everything everyone believes is healthy! But there are many people with experience in doing it who have healed some amazingly bad conditions that nothing else would heal. And much long-term success. I know stories and have links if anyone is interested. I have researched it and experimented with it (and with many other diets), extensively. Also some good explanations why this diet is way healthier than it sounds. I have been doing it for 8 months and feeling super good. Just lately, my afib has reduced in frequency by about half, which could be a fluke, just a passing pattern with no meaning...or...maybe the diet.... So, I wondered if anyone here has had success in affecting their afib with this diet. Thanks for any thoughts

Years ago Peggy and others posted the paleo diet helped curb their AF. I don’t remember your diet being mentioned.

Barb, my friend, Tom Seest, used fasting & keto to reverse remodel his ejection fraction materially, as posted in this thread [www.afibbers.org] I'm not sure he was completely carnivore, but was likely close.

My only comment for someone thinking about trying this, is that if you aren't used to ketosis, there can be electrolyte disturbances while adapting (I experienced this). Just be aware of that. Once adapted, it has not been an issue for me (for 11 years now). I'm not carnivore, however.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2020 11:16PM by GeorgeN.

I'd be cautious with all kinds of diets and afib. There are so many things we can't keep under control that finding a sure correlation between a kind of diet and afib is nearly impossible.
I'm not saying diets are not worth a try, but one would likely never know wether an improvement in one's afib control can be the true effect of some kind of diet.
Say, one may have half a dozen afib episodes/year before the diet, and barely one or two while following the said diet. It'd not say it's because of the diet.
I've frequent short episodes (about 4/month, 1-2h each), which gives lots of opportunities to experiment. And I do. Drugs, diets, supplements... The one thing that seems to work for a while does not work any more one month later.
Of course, we're all different and I'm not saying diets can't work for some afibbers, but my understanding is that to be sure a diet has real positive effects, one has to experiment for a long time (and the longer the time between each afib episode, the longer one has to experiment repeatedly, starting and stopping the diet - and why would one stop a diet that one think it works keeping afib at bay? We're no masochist.)

Pompon-what a great post! Thank you!

I went low carb and carnivore in May 2019 - first AF event was 4 weeks later so in the back of my mind and many google searches and reading of papers looked for an AF - carnivore link. Never really found anything solid. I even returned to a diet with more carbs in case it was a factor. No help there either.

About 100% sure carbs and glycation* led to my AF so if I had been paleo - ancestral - sapien - carnivore - low carb - whatever you want to call it , I wouldn't be here.

*Since my AF seems to have this root cause / prime mover aspect to it - I also think that Round-Up exposure might be a factor via wheat and an accidental skin exposure, diet soda consumption, maybe genetics, maybe high level athletics.

Afibbers have learned that we need to monitor eleoctolyte balance in the body. Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium and Potassium have to be in the right balance for a normal heart rhythm. If carnivore diet excludes green leafy vegetables (for Magnesium) and potatoe, sweet potatoe, nuts, beans, V8 and coconut water (for Potassium), IF that's the case, you may be flirting with getting too much calcium and sodium and not enough Mg and Posassium.

On the otherhand, low blood sugar can trigger Afib, and that's much more likely to happen if we eat too many carbs. (As a rebound after the sugar spike we get from bread etc) It's so hard to know what to do. I personally, have tried all sorts of dietary variations, limiting any sort of trigger I ever read about, and nothing seemed to help. The only thing that worked for me was an ablation by a Natale trained EP.

Eating too much meat and too little fiber, over time, may set a person up for cancer. So much too learn!

One of those things I was doing when AF first happened to me was eating large spinach salads until I learned about oxalates. Plants without claws and teeth to defend themselves have some nasty defenses against being eaten.

Quote
NotLyingAboutMyAfib
About 100% sure carbs and glycation* led to my AF so if I had been paleo - ancestral - sapien - carnivore - low carb - whatever you want to call it , I wouldn't be here.

I doubt that very, very much. Billions of people around the globe eat hundreds of different kinds of diets, so it's certain that many others out there have followed diets similar to yours. And yet only 5% of the population has AF, and the only correlations anyone can find are the short list of suspects like sleep apnea, hyperthyroidism, inflammation, electrolyte disturbances, alcohol binge drinking, etc.

If you want to place blame, look to your parents.

Quote
NotLyingAboutMyAfib
One of those things I was doing when AF first happened to me was eating large spinach salads until I learned about oxalates. Plants without claws and teeth to defend themselves have some nasty defenses against being eaten.

Are oxalates bad for AF specifically? I have been eating organic beet greens lately from local farmer friend because they are extremely high in potassium, which I thought would help. And i like beet greens. But they are also high in oxalates. Decisions, decisions! So complicated.

Quote
Carey

If you want to place blame, look to your parents.

Thank you Carey! That’s what Natale’s NP told me each time my AF returns. Genetic disposition —and it could just as easily strike in my sleep instead of all my speculation on what am I am doing to trigger it so often. Was it from drinking quickly the low sodium v8 to bending over to not getting enough sleep?

Today was another day being ECV until my next ablation. 4 days without self convert. I was hoping I would last in nsr until the PFA technology is a option. Non thermal approach is of interest. Not in the cards for me now when I could benefit. Multaq must not be working for my flutter and AF...or else it does help with the lower hr during AF/flutter I never had before starting multaq after my index ablation.

I am very interested in the Carnivore Diet for health have been on almost zero carb OMAD Carnivore for about 6 weeks and feel great. But I am here to study Afib for a loved one who will most likely never change his diet...

I have and continue to consider:

Adrenal dysfunction
Mitochondria dysfunction
Cellular hydration
hypoglycemia
h. pylori
MSG, Celery seed powder and similar
Food Sensitivities
Gluten and other proteins in wheat and grains
EMF
Parasites
GI bugs
Light, Water and Magnetism (Dr. Jack Kruse)
Hypothyroidism
Heavy Metal toxicity
Mold toxicity
Lyme Disease or Meat allergy
Nutrient and Micronutrient deficiency
Sleep Quality ie sleep apnea, oxygen level at night
Toxins and detox, blue light dangers
Candida
Breathing Techniques
Cryotherapy, hot and cold showers
Red Light Therapy
Herbal Remedies
Diet
Genetics
Bible Doctrine
Heart Disease Drugs

ETC

I take 1 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar well desolved in a glass of water for potassium.

So many factors but diet wise some people may do well on CLEAN Carnivore diet for a while to get some healing. It allows not only relief from the addiction to the carbs and sugars in plant food but also a break from the many, many natural and man made toxins in plant food and processed food.

Going Carnivore would need to be very clean FRESH local Organic Grass Fed and Grass Finished.

I believe most people would do best eating. fresh local seasonal whole food ...Carnivore gives more year round choices for that.

Over the past 12 years working on my health I've done vegetarian 1+ years, vegan 4 months, Paleo 8 years, whole food with Intermittent Fasting 3+ years with last year did 9 weeks of One Meal A Day (aka OMAD) Carnivore.

I started Carnivore OMAD as an elimination diet but felt so great eating that way I continued 9 weeks, I had No hunger, No addiction, No cravings, Better Sleep, Better Skin, Better Mood and more mental clarity plus I had more time and less stress.. During that time I also fasted 1 day (24 hrs) a few of those weeks. Amazingly it was not hard at all.

But being a foodie and with thinking that I need plant food I went back to eating paleo but not doing IF or any fasting and have not felt well at all. Been eating 3 x a day cooking for my loved one since he's been 15 days of a bout of Afib and now I feel heart racing with him. I pray this may teach us something helpful.

But I am gong to try and go back to IF Intermittent Fasting 18/6 and will ease back into another stint of Carnivore because I want to feel better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2022 01:10AM by Percyfaith.