Carnivore versus vegetarian diet pros and cons: The great debate playing out in regional New Zealand kitchens

“Everything feels better by eating meat,” she says of what it’s done for her.

“I have a clearer brain, more energy and my skin looks better. I feel fuller and I don’t crave sugar anymore.”

Her children, aged 11 and 8, eat similarly at home and treats tend to be home-baked goods made with alternative flours and honey, rather than white flour and sugar.

“They definitely can find it challenging … but they’re blooming good children,” Miller said.

“Sometimes I allow them to eat things just to see how their body is feeling.”

She says people become so used to feeling tired, foggy and low-energy from processed foods that they forget what “feeling well” is.

As meat prices continue to rise, Miller says it’s all about priorities.

“It definitely can be expensive, but I think life is expensive,” she said.

“Our family’s priority is health, and so our food bills are the main thing we spend our money on.”

She buys meat from local butchers and organic suppliers rather than supermarkets and avoids seed oils, cooking instead with butter, lard, tallow or ghee.

Miller describes her family’s diet as low-carb and animal-based rather than strictly “carnivore”.

She tried a month of eating only animal foods but eventually found herself craving fruit and vegetables again.

“I got bored,” she said.

“But you could thrive without any vegetables … There are no essential carbohydrates that we need.”

She does three weight sessions a week and walks daily.

“I feel like I can stay leaner and nicely hold muscle mass by eating more protein,” Miller said.

Four of her close friends are lifelong vegetarians, but she said she might be “slowly converting” them.

“Some of them have started eating fish now.”

For Central Hawke’s Bay man Conrad Kirk, socialising is the only downside of a limited diet.

“You can’t really go anywhere for dinner or go out for lunch,” he said.

Nearly a year ago, Kirk switched to what he calls a strict carnivore diet after years of inflammation, indigestion and “brain fog”.

Blood tests and online research led him to try eating only meat and eggs, with no alcohol.

“After two weeks, my inflammation had totally gone,” he said.

“The clarity in your mind and the energy is incredible. I don’t get that 3pm yawn anymore … I wake up early, work all day, and I’m nearly 50.”

Kirk usually has two meals a day.

“You eat a lot less … I started by eating sausages, bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then dinner was steak and eggs,” he said.

“Slowly, I brought back some dairy products.”

His wife, Tracy Kirk, has also moved towards a carnivore diet after health issues of her own and has come off medication she’d taken for decades, he said.

“It was amazing. After about three months, she looked so much better, and she felt better.”

Conrad Kirk said the family’s grocery bill has dropped.

“Before, you’d fill a trolley with all sorts of crap. Snacks, treats, three meals a day plus everything in between,” he said.

“Now, you’re not buying all the extras, you’re not getting takeaways, you’re not doing coffees and cake for morning tea.

“When you factor in the true costs, I think you save money, and even if you didn’t, the health benefit is so much greater.”

The herbivore

On the other side of the plate is Havelock North pilates instructor Luciane Calabrese, who has eaten mostly vegetarian food for more than a decade.

Calabrese once followed a high-protein paleo diet and saw performance gains, but later blood tests showed her iron levels were excessively high, and she worried about joint problems.

Meanwhile, she watched a documentary called What the Health.

“The impact of seeing how the food industry treats animals was huge,” Calabrese said.

“I knew I wasn’t going to change the world but for me, it made sense to stop eating meat.”

Today, she eats a varied, plant-based diet built around rice and beans, tofu, tempeh, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, nuts, fruits and plenty of vegetables.

She has fish about two times a year for special occasions, uses vitamin B12 supplements and has blood tests periodically to monitor her iron and zinc levels.

“They remain satisfactory.”

Calabrese’s workout routine includes pilates, weights, pickleball and long hikes. She says her energy is equal to, or even better, than in her meat-eating years.

“After a big meat meal, I used to feel heavy and sleepy. Now I feel lighter, with more clarity … even spiritually.”

Being vegetarian in Hawke’s Bay isn’t always straightforward.

She finds fresh produce limited and expensive and says many restaurants offer only one or two vegetarian mains.

“In the end, I think the costs come out about the same as if I ate meat,” Calabrese said.

“Good-quality vegetables are expensive, but good-quality meat is too.”

No single ‘right’ diet

Sports dietitian Lucy Burrows says both carnivore and herbivore diets can work for some people, but each comes with trade-offs.

She said a strict carnivore diet is “an extreme restriction”.

“For most people, it wouldn’t be a healthy long-term way to eat, because you cut out certain essential nutrients like vitamin C,” Burrows said.

“There will be exceptions where it works better for some.”

She said well-planned vegetarian diets can be healthy.

“You just need to understand where your protein, iron and zinc are coming from … things like beans, lentils, tofu, nuts and seeds.”

Burrows pushes back on the idea that carbohydrates are “the enemy”.

“It’s more about the types of carbohydrates that you eat … whole foods with fibre and nutrients, rather than processed, high-sugar options.”

But protein still matters, she says.

For most adults, she recommends roughly 1.2-1.5g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, roughly a palm-sized serving of protein each meal.

These proteins, she says, can come from either animal or plant sources.

“Past 30 to 35 years old, you gradually lose muscle mass if you’re not using it or eating enough protein and calories,” Burrows said.

“Your muscles support your heart, lungs, bones and ligaments, so with less muscles, you’re more likely to have a decline in function earlier.”

For those cutting back on red meat because of cost, she suggests mixing cheaper proteins like chicken, eggs and tinned fish with plant sources and pairing iron-rich foods with vitamin C to boost absorption.

“Chicken breast has a higher protein content and lower fat than other chicken cuts, and per gram, chicken breast would win over red meat, which usually contains more fat,” Burrows said.

“There’s not one right way of eating … it depends on the person’s situation and any symptoms that they get.”