Meet a Carnivore: Cary Kelly

Who is Cary Kelly

Mr. Kelly has been on the carnivore diet scene for quite sometime and is taking social media by storm. He recently published a cookbook that outlines many delicious options for those wanting to make the carnivore lifestyle more attainable. Cary is a butcher, recipe creator, and into physical fitness.

Cary was tipping the scales at over 210 pounds, was struggling with depression, and was on track to be diabetic. This was his wake up call. To regain his health he tried the ketogenic diet eventually transitioning to carnivore. This pivotal decision marked the beginning of an amazing transformation. "Every bite I take contradicts the mainstream narrative that animal foods are bad for us. Not only am I not dead, I feel better and more alive than ever. There's no such thing as eating a little bit of everything to be healthy." (Carnicopia vii)

We had the opportunity to chat with Cary about his recipes and carnivore in general. We think you will find his insights helpful in your fitness journey.

How long have you been doing carnivore as a diet and what made you switch?

I’ve been mostly carnivore for seven years. I was overweight and was dealing with a lot of inflammation. My right arm went numb one day and I thought I was having a stroke. That inspired me to try.

Can you differentiate for people keto vs carnivore? Many say it’s just another version of the ketogenic diet.

Both are low carb but carnivore is lower. Keto permits low sugar fruit and veggies. Ideally a person has a budget of 20g carbs per day, if they are trying to lose weight or reset their metabolism. No need to count carbs on carnivore.

We hear often that "buying all that meat is expensive" or "thats just not practical on a budget". How do you respond to those critiques?

After I quit buying drinks and snacking, as well as eating once or twice a day, I started saving a lot of money on food. I can spend as little as $10 a day or I can eat pretty much whatever I want for $30 a day. Three meals and three snacks is easily more than $30. I was also able to quit smoking once I learned how to control my food cravings. That saved me over $3000 a year and I was able to use that to pay for most of my food.

If someone were just starting with carnivore what are the first 3 things they should do?

Number one, clean out your pantry and fridge if possible. Remove temptation out of your home. Act like you live on an island and the only foods available are the foods that you’re going to bring home on your shopping trip.

Number two, go shopping. Remember MEDS. It stands for meat, eggs, dairy, and seafood. That’s your shopping list and also make sure to get some good salt. Not the iodized stuff that’s highly processed and tastes like chemicals.

Number three, weigh yourself, take measurements, and take some pictures of yourself now. Establish your before, so when you feel like you’re not making any progress, you can revisit these things and see how far you’ve come. It’s also saving your receipts so that when you tell your success story down the road, you have the proof to back up what you’re telling people.

If you had to pick a favorite dish from your book what would it be?

Nothing beats a good ribeye and crab legs… But you don’t have to eat like that to be successful. A pile of bacon and eggs will leave you feeling the exact same way after you’re finished.

What about deserts? For those of us with a sweet tooth and like ice cream or chocolates, what do you recommend?

Greek yogurt with a little stevia is pretty good. You can whip heavy cream with soft cream cheese, a little vanilla, and stevia for a cheesecake fluff that’s unbelievable. Vanilla isn’t carnivore, but it’s so tiny that it’s trivial. But ideally, you eat enough meat and eggs so that you don’t need a dessert. For me, desserts are for special occasions only.

I personally love sausage gravy (my Father's Day go to breakfast). Is it heavy cream that is the substitute or what is used as the substitute to avoid carbs?

Boursin cheese and heavy cream make a wonderful sausage gravy. You can thank me later!

Can you expound on your comment regarding salt? What would be “good salt”?

Something clean that doesn’t have an ingredients list. Many salts will have additives like dextrose, which is a sweetener or silicone dioxide, which is sand. Just get something that says salt like pink Himalayan salt, Celtic salt, Redmonds real salt, or Baja gold salt. There are tons of good choices out there and once your pallet sobers up from quitting sugar, you’ll become more of the salt connoisseur. Then maybe you wanna try other salts but for now you can just go to Costco and get their pink Himalayan and be good to go.

You can find Cary on X (formerly Twitter) , YouTube and his website. His YouTube shorts alone have accumulated thousands of views. He is an excellent resource and we highly recommend his cookbook:

Carnicopia: The Meat-Based Cookbook Your Doctor Doesn't Want You To Read

Available on Amazon.

Our utmost thanks to Cary for his time.