When most people hear what I eat, and what I haven’t eaten for over a year, a look usually arises, somewhere between shock and confusion is the closest I can describe it. They cannot compute it, like it just doesn’t make sense. What they see is a healthy vibrant human, yet we have all been taught and influenced by the last 100 years of nutritional science and USDA guidelines, which clearly say that meat should be limited and the source of most of our health comes from the types and amounts of plants we eat. They are confused and begin to question my cholesterol levels, ask about my bowel movements, and assume I must be developing scurvy and a dozen other nutritional deficiencies. What they don’t realize is that the carnivore diet is intentional, ideal for my body, and absolutely one of the most powerful tools I have ever encountered for maximizing health and performance.
Patient Weight Loss of 100 lbs in 8 Months – The Elimination of Chronic Illness
I have also put many patients on this diet over the last year, and the results have been astounding. The hardest part I find is compliance, because some people simply cannot or will not stop their addiction to sugar or their emotional attachments to certain comfort foods. Those that I have seen be more successful with the carnivore diet are those that in general were in the worst shape, where things were bad enough that they were already suffering with at least one chronic illness. I have one patient that lost 100 lbs in 8 months, one that lost over 40 lbs in 6 months, and have seen a number of chronic illnesses improve or completely go away, including some that are supposedly ‘incurable.’ These results, along with my research and my own personal experience lead me to believe that for most humans, the Carnivore Diet is the ideal diet for humans.
If someone can follow my logic as I explain to them the benefits of the carnivore diet, they often next object to the idea that it would be sustainable to eat an all meat diet for everyone on the planet. This must be covered in a separate article because there is so much to unpack, but believe it or not plant based diets are also not very sustainable. Almost all plants consumed by Americans are grown by taking over natural habitats by plowing fields and mono-cropping, which is to plant an entire field of the same plant, something that doesn’t happen in nature. They also kill billions of animals in this process that were living their naturally, and remove those animals (pests) that want to return to the land because they would damage the crops. Grazing and sustainable agriculture for ruminant animals however actually can be done in a way that removes carbon from the atmosphere and puts it into the soil, all while providing us with the best form of protein available.
The final argument against the carnivore diet is that it is cruel to the animals, and we shouldn’t kill or harm animals if we can avoid it. I would argue that we don’t need to cause animals undue harm, but that as humans, our position on the food chain mandates that we eat SOMEthing that was once alive. NOTHING wants to be eaten, from plants to animals. Plants do not simply exist to feed animals and be eaten, their biological imperative is to reproduce, pass on their DNA, and take over the world, just like every living thing. A plant’s defenses against being eaten are varied, but ALL of them contain chemicals and poisons that are toxic to animals. Some animals are better at mitigating these poisons than others, for example a cow has 4 stomachs and a very long digestive tract to convert a grass to fatty acids and proteins. When we look at people and compare our design to that of other animals, our digestive tract is much more similar to a lion’s than a cow’s. We are capable of surviving on plants, but the more I research the carnivore diet, the more I believe that plants are for the most part to be eaten with extreme caution and only in times of absolute necessity, like starvation or when animals are not available for consumption.
My Diet – 90% beef, 6% wild seafood, 1% dairy, 1% pork, 1% chicken
My diet for the last year has consisted of an estimated 90% beef, 6% wild seafood (salmon, tuna, halibut, shellfish), 1% dairy, 1% pork (bacon and sausage mostly), 1% chicken. I always eat the fattiest cuts of beef, including ribeye and hamburger. The only plants I permit in my diet are coffee daily, occasional dark chocolate, and an occasional alcoholic beverage. I do not believe any of these contribute to health, but I do enjoy them and with a diet as restricted as mine feel comfortable with this small amount of “cheating.” I eat zero fiber, almost zero carbohydrates, and take almost no supplements. What I do take is Vitamin D3 and K2, which could easily be attained if I ate more organ meats and got into the sun more, collagen which is a part of the animal and allows me to eat more of the animal, and occasional B vitamins for a genetic variation that requires more than the average person. Aside from that I feel stronger and healthier than I ever have in my life, despite what has been a year with a lot of life stress and changes.
There is too much to unpack in this diet for a newcomer, so I recommend following up with a couple of great doctors who are actively promoting this diet to the masses. Dr. Paul Saladino MD is an animal in his knowledge of physiology and the research and promotes a “Nose to Tail” approach to the carnivore diet, and Dr. Shawn Baker MD keeps things less complicated and suggests eating what makes you feel the best, which is usually ruminant animals and zero plants for most people if they give it a long enough try.
While many will disagree with this approach and the increasingly vocal vegan community will not like hearing about this one bit, it is undeniable the health benefits of this way of eating. Many of the people currently using this diet to experience the best health of their lives had sought answers with a vegan diet for years prior to finding this way of eating, usually after a complete health crash which is so common with a vegan diet. I see many people in the future adopting this diet and a major shift in health as people awaken to the idea that all things are part of the circle of life, and our biology performs much better on a carnivorous diet. There may even be a solution to the destruction of the planet in this unlikely way of eating.