Lion Diet as a Foundation: Expanding Into Deeper Nourishment

A Reset, Not a Lifestyle: When Ketosis Stops Working

Ketogenic diets—and even the most restrictive version, the Lion Diet (ruminant meat, salt, water)—can be profoundly therapeutic in the short term. Clinical trials and lived experience show that eliminating dietary irritants and shifting the body into ketosis can reduce systemic inflammation, improve autoimmune symptoms, and temporarily stabilize gut dysfunction (Kossoff & Hartman 2012; Lennerz et al. 2014). For people in crisis, this kind of reset provides relief and a sense of control.

But what works acutely as a “detox” is not what sustains long-term health. The body did not evolve to live in permanent ketosis. Ketosis is a starvation program—a famine adaptation that keeps us alive when food is scarce. It is ingenious, but running on it indefinitely comes at a cost.

Ketosis as Starvation Physiology

When food disappears, the body conserves. Active thyroid hormone (T3) drops, while reverse T3 rises, signaling tissues to lower their energy output. Reproductive function slows: estrogen and progesterone destabilize, cycles become irregular, and libido declines. Testosterone and fertility fall in men as well. Cortisol rises to maintain blood sugar stability, but at the expense of sleep, muscle, and metabolic rate (Volek et al. 2002; Anderson et al. 1987).

This isn’t a sign of “healing”—it’s the predictable biology of famine. Ketosis is the body’s low-power mode, designed for survival, not thriving.

Metabolic Consequences of Chronic Ketosis

The longer someone stays in ketosis, the more systemic consequences begin to show:

• Thyroid & Temperature: Lowered T3 and elevated reverse T3 slow metabolism, causing fatigue, cold intolerance, and stubborn weight plateaus.

• Reproductive Hormones: PMS, heavy bleeding, or amenorrhea in women; reduced testosterone and libido in men. Fertility struggles across the board.

• Musculoskeletal System: Loss of sodium, potassium, and magnesium leads to cramps, muscle aches, headaches, and arrhythmia risk (Westman et al. 2007).

• Mental Health: Suppressed thyroid and reproductive hormones mean less serotonin and dopamine, contributing to depression, anxiety, brain fog, and mood swings (Wurtman & Wurtman 1995).

• Immune & Inflammatory Signals: Stress hormones rise, minerals deplete, and the immune system destabilizes, worsening autoimmune flares.

• Digestive Health: With no fermentable substrates for the microbiome, motility slows and barrier integrity declines, leading to constipation, bloating, and dysbiosis (Deehan & Walter 2016).

In short: libido vanishes, cycles disappear or worsen, mood darkens, muscles ache, body temperature drops, and energy collapses. These are not random side effects. They are the biological cost of staying in a starvation program too long.

The Real Cause of Insulin Resistance

Many people come to ketogenic or carnivore diets because they see dramatic improvements in blood sugar control. This leads to the false conclusion that traditional foods are the enemy. In reality, seed oils are the real culprit behind modern insulin resistance.

Industrial polyunsaturated fats (corn, soy, canola, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed) infiltrate cell membranes and mitochondrial machinery, slowing metabolic rate, impairing thyroid function, and promoting inflammation. They block proper fuel metabolism and create the very glucose intolerance that ketogenic diets seem to “fix” in the short run.

When seed oils are removed, metabolism often rebounds—even with nutrient-dense traditional foods reintroduced. This is why ancestral populations, free from industrial oils, maintained robust thyroid health, fertility, and metabolic resilience despite diverse dietary patterns (Pontzer et al. 2018; Lindeberg 1997).

The Lion Diet as Reset, Not Destination

The Lion Diet is best understood not as a permanent lifestyle but as a therapeutic elimination phase. By stripping away nearly all inputs, it reduces inflammatory “noise” and allows someone in crisis to stabilize. But once stabilization is achieved, physiology demands a return to nutrient diversity—the proteins, minerals, and cofactors that sustain resilience.

Remaining locked in survival metabolism is like trying to run forever on a backup generator: it can keep the lights on for a while, but eventually the system breaks.

The Path Back to Resilience

Ketosis can reset, but it is famine physiology. Over time, it can produce hormone disruption, low body temperature, muscle aches, headaches, depression, libido loss, PMS, mineral depletion, and digestive stagnation.

Seed oils—not traditional foods—drive insulin resistance. Eliminating them restores the body’s ability to metabolize fuel.

True health requires restoration, not restriction. Once stabilized, the human body can thrive on a broad spectrum of nutrient-dense foods that support thyroid, reproduction, digestion, and long-term resilience.

The Lion Diet works best as a temporary intervention—a detox that buys time for healing. But the destination must be full restoration of metabolic health, not deprivation.

References:

Kossoff EH, Hartman AL. (2012). Ketogenic diets: new advances for metabolism-based therapies. Curr Opin Neurol. 25(2):173–178.
Lennerz BS, et al. (2014). Effects of a low carbohydrate diet on energy expenditure during weight loss maintenance. BMJ. 349:g4300.
Pontzer H, et al. (2018). Hunter-gatherer energetics and human obesity. Obes Rev. 19(S1):26–35.
Lindeberg S. (1997). Traditional diets were more varied than commonly acknowledged. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 7(3):147–154.
Volek JS, et al. (2002). Altering thyroid hormone concentrations during ketogenic dieting. Metabolism. 51(6):718–724.
Westman EC, et al. (2007). Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism. Am J Clin Nutr. 86(2):276–284.
Wurtman RJ, Wurtman JJ. (1995). Brain serotonin, carbohydrate-craving, obesity and depression. Obes Res. 3(S4):477S–480S.
Deehan EC, Walter J. (2016). The fiber gap and the disappearing gut microbiome. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 27(5):239–249.