\u201cIt definitely can be expensive, but I think life is expensive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur family\u2019s priority is health, and so our food bills are the main thing we spend our money on.\u201d<\/p>\n
She buys meat from local butchers and organic suppliers rather than supermarkets and avoids seed oils, cooking instead with butter, lard, tallow or ghee.<\/p>\n
Miller describes her family\u2019s diet as low-carb and animal-based rather than strictly \u201ccarnivore\u201d. <\/p>\n
She tried a month of eating only animal foods but eventually found herself craving fruit and vegetables again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got bored,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you could thrive without any vegetables … There are no essential carbohydrates that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
She does three weight sessions a week and walks daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I can stay leaner and nicely hold muscle mass by eating more protein,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
Four of her close friends are lifelong vegetarians, but she said she might be \u201cslowly converting\u201d them.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them have started eating fish now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krystie Miller in her Hawke’s Bay kitchen with the animal-based foods she eats daily, flexing the muscle she says comes from a high-protein diet. Photo \/ Rafaella Melo<\/p>\n
For Central Hawke\u2019s Bay man Conrad Kirk, socialising is the only downside of a limited diet.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t really go anywhere for dinner or go out for lunch,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nearly a year ago, Kirk switched to what he calls a strict carnivore diet after years of inflammation, indigestion and \u201cbrain fog\u201d.<\/p>\n
Blood tests and online research led him to try eating only meat and eggs, with no alcohol.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter two weeks, my inflammation had totally gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clarity in your mind and the energy is incredible. I don\u2019t get that 3pm yawn anymore … I wake up early, work all day, and I\u2019m nearly 50.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirk usually has two meals a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou eat a lot less … I started by eating sausages, bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then dinner was steak and eggs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlowly, I brought back some dairy products.\u201d<\/p>\n
His wife, Tracy Kirk, has also moved towards a carnivore diet after health issues of her own and has come off medication she\u2019d taken for decades, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing. After about three months, she looked so much better, and she felt better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Conrad Kirk said the family\u2019s grocery bill has dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, you\u2019d fill a trolley with all sorts of crap. Snacks, treats, three meals a day plus everything in between,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, you\u2019re not buying all the extras, you\u2019re not getting takeaways, you\u2019re not doing coffees and cake for morning tea.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you factor in the true costs, I think you save money, and even if you didn\u2019t, the health benefit is so much greater.\u201d<\/p>\n
The herbivore<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n