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Ketovore is carnivore with a little room for low-carb plants. You still build every meal around meat, eggs, and animal fat, but you allow small amounts of things like avocado, a few vegetables, olive oil, herbs, and spices, while keeping carbs low enough to stay in ketosis. Strict carnivore is animal foods only. That's the whole difference.
Okay, so "ketovore" is the single most common insider word I saw when we went through thousands of carnivore comments this fall. It came up more than "lion diet," more than "food noise," more than anything. And most of the time it was someone half-confessing: "I live more ketovore. 10% veggies and avocado." Here's the thing. You don't need to confess. Let's sort out what each label actually means so you can stop worrying about which camp you're in.
Ketovore vs Carnivore vs Keto: Side by Side
| Strict carnivore | Ketovore | Keto | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base of every meal | Meat, eggs, animal fat | Meat, eggs, animal fat | Any low-carb food |
| Dairy | Usually yes (butter, cheese, cream) | Yes | Yes |
| Vegetables | None | Small amounts, low-carb kinds | Yes, low-carb kinds |
| Avocado, olives, olive oil | No | Yes, in small amounts | Yes |
| Spices and herbs | Salt, sometimes pepper | Yes | Yes |
| Nuts, keto breads, packaged keto products | No | Usually no | Often yes |
So ketovore sits between the two. It's meat-first like carnivore, but it borrows a few plants from keto. Sarah breaks down the bigger gap in carnivore vs keto if you want the full comparison.
The Full Spectrum (From Strictest to Loosest)
- Lion Diet: ruminant meat (beef, lamb, bison), salt, water. Usually a short elimination experiment. Here's when the Lion Diet makes sense.
- Strict carnivore: all meats, fish, eggs, and usually butter and cheese. No plants.
- Ketovore: carnivore plus a few low-carb plants and seasonings.
- Animal-based: meat-first, but with fruit and other carbs added back. Not keto anymore.
The fights online are mostly people at one end yelling at people at the other. You'll see "this sub is turning into r/keto with meat pics" and, on the other side, "results matter more than rules." Both are true for somebody.
Am I Still Carnivore If I Eat Some Vegetables?
Real talk: by the strict definition, no. By the definition that matters, who cares? If you're eating meat at every meal and adding a side of greens or half an avocado, you're ketovore. That's not failing. It's a choice a lot of long-time carnivores land on, often for flavor, variety, or because eating out with family is easier. One commenter joked that "almost everyone that went on carnivore long enough never went back, or went ketovore for flavors." That tracks with what I see.
If you're curious why some well-known carnivore creators have been quietly doing the same thing, I wrote about carnivore influencers adding plants back.
Which One Should You Pick?
Strict carnivore (or the Lion Diet) tends to fit if:
- You're trying to figure out which foods bother your gut, skin, or joints, and you want the fewest variables for a few weeks
- You've tried a looser version and still don't feel right
- Simple rules are easier for you than "a little bit of this"
Ketovore tends to fit if:
- You feel good on meat-first eating but miss some flavor and texture
- You eat with a family or partner who isn't carnivore, and a shared side dish keeps the peace
- You've been strict for a while and want to see how you do with a few plants
A practical way the community does it: start strict for 30 days, then add back one food at a time and give each one a few days before adding the next. If something makes you bloated, itchy, achy, or hungry all afternoon, take it back out. My post on transitioning off the Lion Diet walks through that slow add-back.
The Bottom Line
Ketovore is carnivore with a few low-carb plants. It isn't cheating and it isn't "real" carnivore either, and that's fine. The label matters a lot less than whether you feel better, can keep doing it, and can still sit down to dinner with the people you love. Pick the version that works for your body and your life, and let Reddit keep arguing without you.
I'm not a doctor. I'm just someone who's deep in the community and reads everything. If you have a health condition or take medication, especially for blood sugar or blood pressure, talk to your doctor before cutting carbs this low, because medication doses sometimes need adjusting. I can tell you what people are doing, but you've got to make your own calls with your own doctor.