Long-term ketosis from a strict carnivore diet can lead to electrolyte imbalances and energy crashes, suggesting a need to include some carbohydrates.

“And if you guys listened to my controversial thoughts a few weeks ago about my concerns with long-term ketosis, you know that one of the reasons that I reincorporated carbohydrates in my diet was that I was getting electrolyte deficiencies, palpitations, muscle cramping, sleep disturbances, changes in my hormones when I was long-term ketogenic for a year and a half on a strict carnivore diet.”

“i think a lot of people do with ketogenic diets that are either carnivore or more mainstream ketogenic diets that might include things like nuts or vegetables or whatever but limit carbohydrates in the same way as a carnivore diet might be lower protein than a carnivore diet but nevertheless on a carnivore diet i was definitely in ketosis a lot of the time i had a ketone meter that i would prick my finger with and i would see ketones of 1.5 to 2 all the time so even though i was eating a lot of protein on a carnivore diet i was clearly in ketosis after a year and a half two years i began to have pretty difficult to ignore muscle cramps sleep disturbances middle of the night insomnia waking up with palpitations and a racing heart cramps when i was climbing and rock gyms that were pretty significant cold all the time we'll talk about that later in the podcast probably related to thyroid stuff from long-term ketosis or moderate term ketosis for humans and when i looked at my hormones they were declining”