The Carnivore Diet Tests: What to Track If You're Eating All Meat

If you've gone carnivore — or even just ancestral-diet-adjacent — you've probably discovered that your standard lipid panel suddenly looks alarming to everyone around you. LDL shoots up. Your doctor calls. You try to explain that your triglycerides are perfect and your HDL is through the roof, and it doesn't exactly land.

Paul Saladino (Carnivore MD) has made a career out of arguing that the standard lipid panel is the wrong way to assess cardiovascular risk in people eating high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets. He's not alone in this — a number of lipidologists and metabolic researchers have made similar arguments. Whether or not you buy the full carnivore worldview, the testing he recommends is genuinely more informative than a standard panel.

Here's what he tracks, and what it costs to get these tests done in Austin.

---

Test #1: LDL Particle Size (Not Just Total LDL)

What it is: Your LDL number on a standard lipid panel is a measure of cholesterol mass. LDL particle testing (LDL-P) or apolipoprotein B (ApoB) measures the actual number of LDL particles — and specifically, what size they are.

Why carnivore people care: High-fat diets often raise LDL-C (the standard number) while simultaneously shifting particle size toward large, fluffy LDL — which is considered metabolically benign by most lipid researchers. The concerning pattern is small, dense LDL particles, which are more likely to penetrate arterial walls. A standard lipid panel can't distinguish between the two.

What to order: An NMR LipoPro file (nuclear magnetic resonance), or ApoB. Both give you more information than standard LDL-C.

In Austin, ApoB runs $20–$60 at cash-pay labs. An NMR LipoProfile runs $80–$150. Any Lab Test Now stocks ApoB. For NMR, you'll need a functional medicine provider or a lab that works with specialty testing.

Search advanced lipid testing in Austin →

---

Test #2: Uric Acid

What it is: A byproduct of purine metabolism — and something that spikes on carnivore diets, especially early on. High uric acid is associated with gout, kidney stones, and increasingly, cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

Why it matters on carnivore: Red meat is high in purines. Most people who go carnivore see their uric acid rise, at least initially. Saladino monitors it and argues that elevated uric acid in the context of low-carbohydrate eating looks different metabolically than elevated uric acid in the context of metabolic syndrome — though this remains an active debate.

What to know: If you're eating strict carnivore and developing joint pain or pain near your kidneys, get uric acid tested. Don't skip it because the diet "should" be healthy.

In Austin, a uric acid test runs $10–$35 at cash-pay labs. LaboratoryAssist is the cheapest. Any Lab Test Now is walk-in, no doctor's order required.

Search uric acid testing in Austin →

---

Test #3: Fasting Insulin

What it is: A measure of how much insulin your pancreas is secreting in the fasted state. Standard metabolic panels measure glucose but not insulin — which means they miss early insulin resistance. You can have normal fasting glucose with elevated fasting insulin for years before glucose dysregulation shows up.

Why Saladino runs it: One of the core claims of carnivore and low-carb diets is improved insulin sensitivity. Fasting insulin is the most direct way to track this. If it's dropping, the diet is working on this axis. If it's rising despite eating zero carbohydrates, something else is going on worth investigating.

Target range: Most functional medicine practitioners want to see fasting insulin below 5–7 μIU/mL for optimal metabolic health. Conventional labs flag "normal" up to 25+ μIU/mL — which many researchers consider far too lenient.

In Austin, fasting insulin runs $25–$60 at cash-pay labs. Available at Any Lab Test Now without a doctor's order. LaboratoryAssist also stocks it.

Search fasting insulin testing in Austin →

---

Test #4: Inflammatory Markers (hs-CRP)

What it is: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein — the low-grade inflammation marker. One of the promises of carnivore and ancestral diets is dramatically reduced inflammation. hs-CRP lets you actually measure whether that's happening.

What the data shows: Many people report hs-CRP dropping on low-carbohydrate and carnivore diets. Some don't. The ones who don't are often eating diets with stress, poor sleep, or underlying gut issues confounding the result. Either way, you need the test to know.

In Austin, hs-CRP runs $15–$45 at cash-pay labs. Available at LaboratoryAssist and Any Lab Test Now.

Search inflammation tests in Austin →

---

Test #5: Electrolytes + Minerals

What it is: Carnivore diets are extremely low in carbohydrates, which causes the kidneys to excrete more sodium, and with it, potassium and magnesium. Electrolyte depletion is one of the most common reasons people feel terrible on carnivore — especially in the first weeks.

What to test: A comprehensive metabolic panel catches sodium, potassium, and CO2 (a proxy for bicarbonate). Magnesium RBC (not serum magnesium — see the Rhonda Patrick post) catches cellular magnesium depletion that the standard panel misses.

In Austin:

• Comprehensive metabolic panel: $6–$49 (LaboratoryAssist charges $6)
• Magnesium RBC: $30–$65 at functional labs

Search electrolyte testing in Austin →

---

The Full Carnivore Panel in Austin

Running all five tests at cash-pay labs:

• ApoB: $20–$60
• Uric acid: $10–$35
• Fasting insulin: $25–$60
• hs-CRP: $15–$45
• Comprehensive metabolic panel + magnesium RBC: $35–$115

Total: $105–$315 at cash-pay labs in Austin. Through insurance billing at a hospital lab, the same panel could easily run $400–$800.

Run it before you start, then again at 3 months. That's the actual data you need to know whether the diet is doing what you think it's doing.

---

Do It in Austin

Whether you're eating strict carnivore or just eating lower-carb and higher-fat, standard lipid panels are genuinely insufficient to assess your cardiovascular risk picture. The tests Saladino tracks — ApoB, fasting insulin, uric acid, hs-CRP — are all available at Austin's cash-pay labs without a runaround.

• Compare bloodwork prices in Austin →
• Search advanced lipid testing →
• Browse Austin wellness labs →
• Find functional medicine providers →