How to Eat More Fat If You Hate It

For as long as I can remember, I couldn't stand fat.

The taste, the texture, the way it seemed to coat my mouth, everything about it made me want to cut it off my steak and leave it on the side of the plate. It never occurred to me that this was anything more than a simple matter of preference. Some people liked the fatty bits; I didn't.

That preference fit neatly with something else I had been told since childhood: eating fat makes you fat.

As a slightly chubby kid who was often body-shamed, I had little reason to question it. If anything, it seemed reassuring. I already disliked fat, so avoiding it felt sensible. The advice required no sacrifice because it aligned perfectly with my own instincts.

Years later, when I adopted a carnivore diet, very little changed. While others sought out ribeyes and heavily marbled cuts, I continued buying lean meat because that was what I genuinely enjoyed eating. I knew people talked endlessly about fat, how important it was, how much better they felt eating more of it, but I never paid much attention.

Not until my digestion began to suffer.

When I started looking into it properly, I found the same advice almost everywhere I looked. Eat more fat. Choose fattier cuts. Add butter. Cook with tallow. Increase your fat intake. Fat... Fat... Fat...

The advice itself was straightforward.

Following it was another matter entirely.

How was I supposed to eat more of something I had spent my whole life avoiding?

Over time, I found a few things that made it much easier, so I thought I'd share them in case you're struggling with the same thing.

Good Fat Doesn't Taste Bad

I only came to that conclusion after moving to the Netherlands.

After some time my boyfriend and I visited a large meat store that sourced products from all over the world. It wasn’t a small local butcher, but a place with an almost overwhelming selection, beef from different countries, unfamiliar cuts, dry-aged options, and shelves that made it clear how global meat sourcing can actually be. We decided to stock up, partly out of curiosity and partly because everything looked far better than what we were used to.

My boyfriend has always enjoyed the fat on steak. Every time we ate together, he would happily finish his own and sometimes mine as well, insisting I simply wasn’t used to good fat. I never really agreed with him, but I also knew I had never seriously given it a fair chance. But now, we had just stocked up on high-quality meat from that store, and I decided it was finally worth actually paying attention to what he’d been saying.

I simply pan-fried one of the steaks as I normally would and give the fat very questionable chance.

I was genuinely stunned.

The texture still wasn't my favorite, but the flavor was unlike anything I'd experienced before. The fat was rich, buttery, slightly nutty, and had an almost smoky depth despite never touching a grill. For the first time in my life, I understood why some people considered the fat the best part of the steak.

For the first time, I realised that I hadn't really been judging fat itself. I had been judging a very narrow version of it.

Today, the fat is often the first thing I notice when trying meat from somewhere new. If it tastes unpleasant, I usually take it as a sign that I won't be returning. Good meat reveals itself in the fat just as much as it does in the lean.

So before deciding that you dislike fatty cuts, try sourcing your meat from different butchers, local farms, or specialty stores. You may discover that what you thought you hated was actually just poor-quality meat. Once you experience truly high-quality meat, you may find that the fat becomes one of the most enjoyable parts, or, at the very least, no longer the part you dread eating.

Of course, that's not always practical. Good meat isn't available everywhere, and even when it is, it isn't always affordable. Or you may simply not feel ready to embrace fattier cuts. Fortunately, there are still a few simple ways to increase your fat intake without dramatically changing the way you eat.

The Easiest Way to Increase Your Fat Intake

For me, the simplest solution has always been full-fat dairy. If you tolerate it well, it's by far the easiest way to increase your fat intake without forcing yourself to eat fatty pieces of meat you don't enjoy. This approach obviously isn't for everyone, though. If you're lactose intolerant, have digestive issues, or simply prefer to avoid milk products altogether, feel free to skip to the next tip.

For everyone else, full-fat dairy can be an absolute game changer. If raw dairy is available where you live, consider yourself lucky. You have plenty of options, heavy cream, sour cream, crème , mascarpone, cream cheese, yogurt, and countless varieties of cheese. A dollop of sour cream on minced beef, a generous slice of cheese melted over a beef patty, or a splash of heavy cream in your coffee can all increase your fat intake with almost no effort.

Butter

Butter has a remarkable ability to transform lean meat. You can melt it over a hot steak, stir it through cooked minced beef, mix it into boiled egg yolks, or use it as the base for a homemade butter mayonnaise (see the recipe below). Even relatively lean meals become noticeably more satisfying with a generous amount added.

Higher-fat meals also keeps you fuller for longer. I noticed I wasn’t thinking about food as often between meals, craving went away and snacking became less frequent without me actively trying to change anything.

From there, it was easy to apply in other simple ways.

Butter coffee is one example.

Blended with hot coffee, either on its own or with MCT oil-it becomes smooth and creamy, almost like a cappuccino without the milk. Depending on how much butter you use, it can turn a regular coffee into a fairly substantial source of fat before the day has properly started.

It also fits into fasting in a practical way.

Some people include butter or MCT oil during fasting because it can make periods without food easier by reducing hunger while still supporting ketosis. Whether that makes sense depends on your goal. If you're aiming for a strict fast with zero calories, butter will break it. If you're focusing more on staying in ketosis or managing hunger, it can be useful.

And sometimes it doesn’t need to be part of anything structured at all.

A simple spoon of butter can be enough.

Or even stick of it melted. It may sound unusual, but it can be surprisingly comforting, especially in the winter. The key is to start slowly, adding a lot of fat at once can be difficult for your digestion to adjust to.

And lastly Coconut Oil

Although coconut oil isn't an animal food, I've never personally felt the need to exclude it.

It's one of the simplest ways to add fat to your diet, especially if you're trying to increase your intake without relying entirely on meat or dairy. Coconut oil is particularly rich in medium-chain triglycerides, or MCTs, which are absorbed and metabolised differently from most other fats. Rather than circulating through the body first, they're transported directly to the liver, where they can be converted into ketones relatively quickly.

For people following a ketogenic or carnivore diet, that's one of the reasons coconut oil has become so popular.

It may also offer benefits beyond simply providing energy.

Much of the research centres on lauric acid, a fatty acid that can be converted into monolaurin—a compound that has shown antimicrobial activity against a variety of bacteria, fungi, and viruses in laboratory studies. While those findings shouldn't be overstated, they're certainly interesting and suggest that coconut oil may offer more than just calories. It is good for oral hygiene as well as gut health.

For me, though, the biggest advantage is its simplicity.

You can mix it into coffee in the same way as butter, or simply take a spoon of it in the morning to support digestion and gut function.

How to Know You're Eating Enough Fat

Although many people on a carnivore diet use a fat-to-protein ratio as a guideline, numbers only tell part of the story.

Instead of chasing a specific number, it's often more useful to pay attention to how your body responds.

One of the clearest indicators is digestion. Your stool can reveal more than you might think. Constipation or hard, dry stools may indicate that you're not eating enough fat, whereas loose stools or diarrhea often suggest that you've increased your fat intake too quickly or simply need time to adapt.

Satiety  is another useful guide. Meals that are too low in fat often leave people feeling hungry again sooner than expected, even when they've eaten plenty of protein. When fat intake is sufficient, meals tend to feel more satisfying and it's often easier to go longer between them without thinking about food.

Energy can be another clue. If you're following a ketogenic or carnivore diet and regularly feel sluggish or fatigued despite eating enough overall, insufficient fat intake is one possible explanation. Of course, tiredness has many potential causes, including poor sleep, stress, electrolyte imbalance or others, but it always worth considering few different approaches especially when you are a beginner.

Hormonal health may also provide some insight. Dietary fat plays an important role in the production of steroid hormones, and some people notice improvements in libido after increasing their fat intake, particularly if they had previously been eating very lean.

One observation I've come across repeatedly in the carnivore community, and have experienced myself, is an increase in nocturnal arousal or the wet dream after substantially increasing fat intake, especially from butter. This is entirely anecdotal, and I haven't seen convincing research linking the two directly. Still, if you're curious, it's something you can simply pay attention to yourself. Its a fun way to find out if you are consuming enough fat or not.

If there's one thing I'd like you to take away from this article, it's that learning to eat more fat doesn't have to happen overnight. If you've hated fat your whole life like I did, it can take time to change old habits and even longer to change your taste buds. That's normal.

Focus less on eating the "perfect" amount of fat and more on finding ways to include it that you genuinely enjoy. Try different cuts, different cooking methods, and different sources of fat until you discover what works for you. Your body will usually let you know when you've found a good balance—and that's much more valuable than any number or ratio you read online.

Truthfully,

Lia from

Carnivore to Heal

Carnivore Butter Mayo

• 2 egg yolks (keep the egg whites aside for later)

• 250 g butter

• A squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

• Salt, plus any other seasonings you like (feel free to get creative!)

• 
  

Instructions

1. Melt the butter and let it cool. This step is important—the butter should be warm, not hot, otherwise it will cook the egg yolks and the mayo won't emulsify properly.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, salt, and lemon juice until smooth.

3. Slowly start adding the melted butter, one spoonful at a time, whisking continuously. Once the mixture starts to thicken, you can pour the butter in a little faster while continuing to whisk.

   
   

Little Trick

If you whisk the reserved egg whites into the mayo once it's finished, it stays much softer in the fridge instead of turning into a solid block of butter. That way, it's ready to use whenever you want it.

My boyfriend can't stand egg whites, so we usually skip this step. If you do too, don't worry. Just microwave the butter mayo for a few seconds (seriously, only a few!) or leave it at room temperature for about an hour before eating. It'll soften back up and become nice and creamy again for you to enjoy.

Happy carnivoring!