For two years, I kept things simple.
Very simple.
Meat.
Eggs.
Salt.
Water.
That was the foundation of my carnivore experiment.
I didn’t need complicated recipes. I didn’t need a grocery cart full of ingredients. I didn’t need to count every carbohydrate or worry about whether a particular food fit into somebody else’s definition of “clean eating.”
I ate animal foods and paid attention to how I felt.
And it worked well enough that I became convinced the carnivore diet was more than another diet trend.
But now I’m doing something different.
I’m experimenting again.
This time, I’m moving from meat-only thinking toward a whole-food approach.
That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning meat.
It doesn’t mean I suddenly believe every plant food is healthy.
And it definitely doesn’t mean I’m joining another diet tribe.
It means I’m curious.
And I’ve learned that curiosity is one of the most valuable tools you can have when you’re trying to understand your own body.
Why Experiment Again?
The easy thing would have been to stay exactly where I was.
I could have continued eating only animal foods and told everyone I had found the final answer.
That would certainly make the website easier to explain.
But I’m not interested in pretending I’ve reached the end of the road.
I’ve learned too much from my own experience to believe that.
The human body is complicated.
People are different.
Our lifestyles are different.
Our ages are different.
Our activity levels are different.
Our stress levels are different.
And our relationships with food are different.
So I’m asking a simple question:
What happens if I keep meat as the foundation but carefully reintroduce more whole foods?
That’s the experiment.
This Isn’t a Return to Junk Food
Let’s make one thing very clear.
Whole foods do not mean going back to the Standard American Diet.
I’m not talking about soda, cookies, breakfast cereal, candy, chips, pastries, frozen dinners, or endless packaged snacks.
I’m talking about food that is recognizable.
Food that doesn’t require a chemistry degree to understand the ingredient list.
Meat.
Eggs.
Fish.
Fruit.
Certain vegetables.
Possibly dairy if it works for me.
Simple foods.
Real foods.
The goal is not to make my diet more complicated.
The goal is to find out whether it can become broader without becoming worse.
Meat Is Still the Foundation
After spending years eating carnivore, I’m not suddenly convinced that meat is unimportant.
Quite the opposite.
Animal foods remain central to how I think about nutrition.
Protein matters.
Nutrient density matters.
Satiety matters.
And building meals around substantial foods rather than snacks is still one of my favorite ideas.
The difference is that I’m no longer automatically asking:
“Is this food carnivore?”
I’m asking:
“Is this real food, and how does it work for me?”
That’s a very different question.
The Experiment Starts With Observation
I’m not going to create a giant rulebook.
No 37-step food protocol.
No complicated spreadsheet.
No obsession with weighing every blueberry.
Instead, I’m going to pay attention.
How do I feel after eating something?
Does it satisfy me?
Does it make me want more food an hour later?
Does it affect my energy?
Does it affect digestion?
Does it affect sleep?
Does it change my cravings?
Does it make eating easier or harder?
These observations are more interesting to me than blindly following a label.
Fruit Is Probably the Most Interesting Addition
Fruit is where this experiment gets especially interesting.
For years, many carnivore conversations treated fruit as something that simply didn’t belong.
But fruit isn’t a candy bar.
An apple isn’t a bag of cookies.
A handful of berries isn’t a bowl of sugary cereal.
Whole fruit comes with water and fiber along with its naturally occurring sugars.
That doesn’t mean everyone needs fruit.
It doesn’t mean unlimited fruit is a good idea.
And it doesn’t mean fruit will work for everyone.
It means I’m willing to experiment.
Maybe a piece of fruit occasionally works beautifully.
Maybe I discover I don’t need it.
Maybe certain fruits work better than others.
That’s exactly why it’s called an experiment.
I’m Not Looking for Permission
One thing I’ve learned from the diet world is that people love giving permission.
You’re allowed to eat this.
You’re not allowed to eat that.
This is carnivore.
That isn’t carnivore.
This food is “clean.”
That food is “dirty.”
Eventually, you can become so focused on following somebody else’s rules that you forget to pay attention to your own experience.
I don’t want that.
I’m not looking for permission to eat an apple.
I’m interested in discovering what happens when I eat one.
There’s a difference.
The Whole-Food Test
I have a simple test for this new phase.
Before eating something, I can ask:
Is it real food?
Is it reasonably nutrient-dense?
Can I recognize what it is?
Does it satisfy me?
Does it support the way I want to live?
If the answer is yes, it deserves consideration.
That’s a much more flexible framework than memorizing a list of forbidden foods.
And it doesn’t require me to pretend every food is equally valuable.
Why Not Just Stay Strict Carnivore?
Someone will probably ask:
“If carnivore worked, why change it?”
That’s a fair question.
The answer is that “worked” doesn’t necessarily mean “finished.”
A diet can be useful without being the final answer for every stage of your life.
Maybe strict carnivore was exactly what I needed for a particular period.
Maybe simplicity was the most important thing.
Maybe eliminating foods helped me understand cravings.
Maybe removing processed food helped reset my relationship with eating.
But once you’ve learned something, you can ask another question.
What happens next?
That’s where I am now.
I’m More Interested in Real Food Than Diet Labels
The longer I think about nutrition, the less interested I become in arguing over labels.
Carnivore.
Keto.
Animal-based.
Paleo.
Low-carb.
Whole-food.
Mediterranean.
There is value in these categories because they help describe eating patterns.
But they can also become identities.
And identities are difficult to question.
I’d rather say:
I eat real food and pay attention.
That’s a philosophy I can live with.
What About Vegetables?
This is probably where the experiment becomes controversial.
I’ve spent a long time questioning whether humans need large amounts of vegetables to be healthy.
I still have questions.
And I don’t think those questions need to be answered with extreme certainty.
Some vegetables may work well for some people.
Others may not.
Preparation matters.
Quantity matters.
Individual tolerance matters.
And context matters.
So I’m not declaring that vegetables are suddenly essential.
I’m simply allowing myself to investigate.
That’s different.
The Goal Isn’t Maximum Variety
There’s another important point.
Whole-food eating doesn’t mean I need to eat 50 different plants every week.
More variety isn’t automatically better.
One of the things I liked about carnivore was simplicity.
I don’t want to lose that.
I want meals that are easy to understand.
I want food that satisfies me.
I want to avoid spending my entire day thinking about nutrition.
The goal is simple whole-food eating, not nutritional complexity.
What Happens to Cravings?
This is one of the things I’m watching closely.
That’s because there is a huge difference between adding a whole food and opening the door to ultra-processed food.
If eating an orange makes me want to eat the entire pantry, that’s useful information.
If eating some berries leaves me satisfied, that’s useful information too.
The experiment isn’t simply about what food contains.
It’s about what the food does to my behavior.
That’s an important distinction.
Food Should Make Life Easier
One of the biggest benefits of a simple diet is that it removes food drama.
You eat.
You move on.
You live your life.
That’s what I want to preserve.
I don’t want to spend three hours researching whether one particular fruit contains too much sugar.
I don’t want to be afraid of a carrot.
I don’t want to feel guilty about eating a piece of fruit.
And I don’t want to return to the endless cycle of processed-food cravings.
The ideal outcome is simple:
Food supports my life instead of becoming my life.
The New Carnivore Daddy
Maybe this is the next chapter of Carnivore Daddy.
The old version of me wanted a definitive answer.
Eat meat.
Avoid everything else.
Simple.
Clean.
Clear.
The new version still loves that simplicity, but I’m becoming more interested in questions than absolute answers.
What happens when you remove processed food?
What happens when you prioritize protein?
What happens when you eat mostly animal foods?
What happens when you add whole fruit?
What happens when you add certain vegetables?
What happens as you get older?
What happens to your mind?
What happens to your energy?
What happens to your relationship with food?
Those are better questions than:
“Is this allowed?”
EAT Is an Experiment
This is exactly why the first pillar of CarnivoreDaddy.com is EAT — Nourish the Body.
Eating is not supposed to be a religious test.
It’s one of the ways we care for the physical body.
The body needs nourishment.
The question is how we provide it.
For me, meat remains an important part of that answer.
But I’m now willing to explore whether other whole foods can have a place at the table.
Not because somebody on the internet told me to.
Because I’m curious about my own experience.
I’m Not Telling You What to Eat
This article isn’t a prescription.
It’s a personal experiment.
If strict carnivore makes you feel fantastic, you don’t need to change because I changed.
If a whole-food diet works for you, you don’t need to become a carnivore because I was.
If you’re somewhere in between, that’s okay too.
And if you have a medical condition or specific nutritional needs, your situation deserves individualized professional guidance.
The point isn’t to copy me.
The point is to become a better observer of yourself.
The Bigger Lesson
Maybe the biggest lesson isn’t about fruit or vegetables at all.
Maybe it’s about being willing to change.
We live in a culture that often rewards certainty.
People want definitive answers.
The best diet.
The worst food.
The perfect meal plan.
The one thing everyone should do.
But human beings aren’t simple machines.
Sometimes the smartest answer is:
“I don’t know yet. Let’s see what happens.”
That’s where I am.
I’m not throwing away everything I learned from carnivore.
I’m building on it.
From Carnivore to Whole Foods
So yes, Carnivore Daddy is experimenting.
Meat is still here.
Protein is still important.
Real food is still the goal.
Processed food is still something I want to minimize.
But the door is opening a little wider.
Maybe there’s room for fruit.
Maybe there’s room for some vegetables.
Maybe there’s room for foods I haven’t considered in years.
And maybe the most important thing I’ll discover isn’t which foods are “allowed.”
Maybe I’ll discover that the healthiest relationship with food is one where I can eat simply, enjoy my meals, listen to my body, and then get on with my life.
That’s the experiment.
And I’m just getting started.
Eat. Feel. Believe.
And sometimes, eat the apple.
Then go live.
