Course
20

Carnivore Diets

Overview
Understand the mechanisms, benefits, and risks of carnivore protocols, enabling you to identify when and how to apply them therapeutically, without compromising long-term health.
Format
Online
Units
16
Recommended for
  • Autoimmune management
  • Elimination diet
  • Dermatologic flares
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Diabetes
Carnivore Diets

The learning framework

1
Why animal-based diets remain controversial
Animal-based nutrition has re-emerged as a focus within research and clinical practice, with growing interest in carnivore and animal-dominant dietary patterns for autoimmune conditions, metabolic disorders, and digestive healing. Despite this, the approach remains controversial, raising important discussions around long-term cardiovascular risk, microbiome diversity, nutrient sufficiency, and sustainability.
2
The risks of extreme or unbalanced dietary guidance
Most practitioners either dismiss carnivore diets as extreme and dangerous without examining clinical outcomes, or promote them uncritically without acknowledging limitations and individual variation. This leaves clients without balanced, evidence-based guidance to navigate protein metabolism, fat adaptation, nutrient adequacy, cardiovascular monitoring, gut microbiome changes, and decisions around appropriate duration and therapeutic versus long-term application.
3
A functional framework for animal-based nutrition
The Carnivore Diets module trains you to evaluate predominantly animal-based eating patterns through a functional, evidence-informed, non-dogmatic lens. You’ll learn the physiological basis of these diets, their nutrient bioavailability advantages, metabolic adaptations, therapeutic applications, and limitations, enabling you to assess when and how this approach may serve temporary or targeted goals while monitoring biomarkers, mitigating risks, and operating within appropriate professional scope.

What you'll learn

By the end of this module, you will be able to:
Understand the spectrum of animal-based dietary approaches
Differentiating between strict carnivore, animal-based with selective plant additions, nose-to-tail carnivore emphasising organ meats, and elimination carnivore as temporary therapeutic protocol.
Assess the nutrient density and bioavailability of animal foods
Recognising that animal products provide complete protein, highly bioavailable heme iron, preformed vitamins A and D, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium, omega-3 EPA/DHA, and unique compounds absent from plants.
Understand metabolic adaptations to high-protein, low-carbohydrate intake
Recognising gluconeogenesis, ketogenesis, nitrogen metabolism, and fat adaptation as physiological responses to carnivore diets.
Evaluate potential therapeutic applications
Assessing carnivore diets as elimination protocols for autoimmune conditions, inflammatory bowel disease, severe food sensitivities, and metabolic syndrome,understanding when temporary restriction may reduce inflammation and symptom burden.
Assess body composition and metabolic outcomes
Understanding how high protein satiety, reduced insulin, and increased energy expenditure influence fat loss, muscle preservation, and metabolic health.
Interpret cardiovascular risk markers on carnivore diets
Monitoring lipid panels, ApoB, inflammatory markers, blood pressure, and recognising when elevated LDL or ApoB requires intervention adjustment or medical collaboration.
Understand potential nutrient gaps and monitoring requirements
Recognising that strict carnivore diets lack fiber, certain phytonutrients, and may require vitamin C monitoring, magnesium supplementation, and emphasis on organ meats for micronutrient diversity.
Assess gut microbiome considerations
Understanding that fiber-free diets reduce bacterial diversity and short-chain fatty acid production, with unclear long-term implications requiring monitoring and potential reintroduction of tolerated plant foods after therapeutic phases.
Apply phased carnivore protocols with monitoring
Designing short-term elimination, medium-term therapeutic interventions, or modified long-term maintenance with regular biomarker assessment and medical collaboration when indicated.

Why this matters

The ability to support clients using or considering this approach
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With growing interest in animal-based nutrition, practitioners need balanced, evidence-based expertise to guide implementation safely.
Confidence in therapeutic elimination protocols
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You'll know when carnivore approaches may benefit autoimmune or digestive conditions and how to monitor appropriately.
Better client outcomes
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Supporting well-monitored carnivore trials with clear therapeutic goals, biomarker tracking, and reintroduction strategies creates successful, sustainable protocols.
Professional credibility through non-dogmatic expertise
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Practitioners who discuss carnivore nutrition objectively, acknowledging both benefits and limitations, are trusted across dietary ideologies.
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Carnivore Diet
Animal-Based Nutrition
Elimination Diet
Autoimmune Protocol
Metabolic Health
Protein Metabolism
Ketosis
Body Composition
Therapeutic Nutrition
Digestive Healing
Your path to becoming a Certified Practitioner

How to get started

1st Step
Submit your Application
Apply online in just a few minutes. Our team will review your experience, education and goals to ensure this certification aligns with your professional path.
2nd Step
Join the IOH community
Once accepted, you’ll gain instant access to our global network of practitioners, mentors and resources that support your learning from day one.
3rd Step
Begin your first module
Start your studies inside the IOH learning portal — with guided mentorship, live calls, and access to the Oracle AI system that turns knowledge into action.

Expand your knowledge

All Courses
What does an Integrative Nutritional Therapist do?
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An Integrative Nutritional Therapist utilises the latest evidence-based research to create an integrative approach to optimising each client’s health and wellbeing.

They design bio-individual nutrition plans, personalise supplementation where appropriate, and interpret functional laboratory data, including blood work, to gain deeper insights, achieve better accuracy and tailor every intervention to the individual.

How is functional medicine different from conventional medicine?
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Conventional medicine often waits until a disease is clearly present before intervention begins. Treatment is focused on managing or suppressing a diagnosed condition.

Functional medicine looks upstream. It assesses the early drivers of dysfunction and works to prevent disease from developing in the first place, or restore balance in the body. It uses a whole-systems view of the body, then applies personalised, preventative nutrition and lifestyle interventions to support long-term health rather than only reacting once things have gone wrong.

What will be my scope of practice after completing this certification?
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After completing the certification, you will be recognised and insured as a Integrative Nutritional Therapist inclusive of Nutritional Therapy and Functional Blood Work, with a clearly defined scope of practice.

You will be trained and insured to:

  • Design bio-individual nutrition plans
  • Recommend and prescribe over-the-counter supplementation up to safe, optimal intake thresholds
  • Utilise functional blood work from a wellness perspective to guide your reasoning and recommendations
  • Collaborate with and refer to medical professionals when red flags, pathology or out-of-scope conditions are identified

Our scope of practice has been aligned with nutritional therapy standards and externally audited, so you can work with confidence and clarity.

Is your course accredited?
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Yes. Our certifications are accredited by multiple independent professional bodies, including the International Institute for Complementary Therapists (IICT) and the Complementary Medical Association (CMA).

To receive these accreditations, our curriculum undergoes forensic external auditing to ensure every component is up to date, evidence-informed, ethically delivered and aligned with recognised Nutritional Therapy and Functional Health standards. This includes rigorous evaluation of our academic content, assessments, delivery methods and scope of practice frameworks.

This external oversight gives you confidence that the qualification you are investing in is credible, robust and widely recognised within the industry, with clear pathways for insurance, professional membership and global practice.

Will I be able to practise internationally?
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Yes. Our graduates are eligible for insurance through IICT that is recognised across 36 countries, including:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden & United Kingdom.

This allows you to work with clients internationally, including in online practice, provided you respect local regulations and the scope of practice defined by your insurer and professional associations.

Need help?
Get in touch with us
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