Lighting up Carnivore #1: Starting a Fire

The Carnivore Diet has exploded over the internet and social media in recent years, and has gained a lot of traction through success stories of many of the people who try it, including many Vegan and Vegetarian influencers who have switched to the diet, along with many Doctors and medicine practitioners.

However, figures like Dr Paul Saladino and Carnivore Aurelius are more omnivores in recent times after making personal discoveries with their own trials with the diet. They now promote “low-toxicity” fruits as being "healthy", pertaining to the amount of anti-nutrients present in the food, such as Oxalates, Salicylates and other Flavonoids deemed to be detrimental to our physiology by many of the proponents of the Carnivore diet.

Additionally, the Liver King has admitted his own use of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), admitting after a lot of denial that More Plates More Dates was actually right in his analysis of Liver King’s use in order to obtain his his supra-human physique, and that it wasn't solely achieved from his Ancestral Tenets or Diet (or his Supplements).

Another figure, Dr Shawn Baker, has recently altered his diet to a less Meat-focused and more Ketogenic-based template, lowering protein intake and increasing the Fats like Butter or other oils. This is to reduce inflammation, according to his video statement, in order to recover from a Brazilian Ju Jitsu injury he suffered last year.

Other figures such as Carnivore Yogi have made changes to their diet and admit to eating previously restricted foods, but are now putting much more emphasis on Circadian Rhythms and their environment, as a holistic approach to health instead of purely focusing on restricting foods.

In light of all of this, what have we learned from following these figures and our recent fascination with this “Ancestral” Carnivore diet? Have we learned anything new from this new diet? Or has it only proved again the cult-like obsessions with extreme diets? And is there anything the Carnivore diet's results are telling us that could be very beneficial to humanity?

Today we will try to answer some of these questions.

What we have learned:

1. Carnivore influencers make millions of dollars from mostly making claims about the benefits of a certain food group, usually at the expense of other foods. Two of the most popular in the Carnivore influencer scene are Dr Paul Saladino and Brian “The Liver King” Johnson, who own the two biggest companies which make hundreds of millions of dollars per year from their audiences, both selling almost exactly the same composition of Beef Organs supplements. Johnson first created Ancestral Supplements and in 2018 he helped Dr Paul Saladino set up Heart & Soil of which he owns 50%. 

2. Selective, cherry-picked research is used by all influencers to support their claims, and unfortunately science is always able to show a benefit and a risk on any particular nutrient or chemical, depending on the study and the context. The actual true impact of these nutrients is very hard to know from a few studies – however, if there can be an effect, this is usually enough for the influencer to eliminate it. 

3. This last point is further supported by the audiences personal experience with the diet, many claims on the benefit or hazard of a particular food (and the proposed toxic chemicals in a food) are actually very light in evidence but anecdotal responses from many of the audience in the comment sections of the social media posts will state that cutting or adding "X" food has had major positive effects and they are now convinced of "X" chemicals, e.g. Oxalates, being the root cause of their disease symptoms.

4. Carnivore can also be “omnivore”, justified with certain permitted foods, such as fruits or carbohydrates (typically vegetables are never accepted) like Honey or Mango. Either they’re considered low-toxicity by the influencer, or they’re coveted for certain benefits, or they’re promoted for being a sentimentally ideal food for consumption, perhaps they are natural or grown on trees. However, this sentiment is not typically applied to naturally occurring wild root vegetables (which the Hadza consume) or for wild vegetables such as Garlic or Mushrooms, that can be found in forests for example. E.g. Chaga is a wild bark fungus that has a vast array of health benefits, however it is rarely ever mentioned by any Carnivores, it also would be excluded for a higher Oxalate content which is considered dangerous to health, despite the amount of scientific evidence and long standing application in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a wide range of diseases.

5. The dietary intake of the Wild tribes (such as the Hadza) is considered to be the main reason of why the Hadza tribe have less chronic disease incidence. Other factors such as environment, vastly larger and more diverse gastrointestinal and environmental microbiomes (Jeff Leach), circadian biology, water, sunlight exposure, wild vs industrial processed food, and other differences in the environment and lifestyle of the Hadza are not focused on greatly. These factors are certainly accepted as important, but the Diet: a Nose-to-Tail animal-based diet (Carnivore) with or without lox toxicity fruits and carbohydrates, dominates online discussions and recommendations. The diet of these wild humans is the key metric, not the environment. Discussions on the front-end are focused on nutrition coming from ruminants, and product sales are focused on increasing those by using Offal/ Beef Organs powder. 

6. Lastly, many people find extremely positive results on this diet after a certain induction phase of 3-9 months (sometimes even 12) where there can be many really difficult symptoms such as chronic diarrhea and skin rashes as well as altering gastrointestinal function and mood. However, after this point which varies for many, people seem to never look back and remain completely 100% carnivore on an ongoing basis. However, there are many people who cannot seem to stick to the diet.

As you can clearly tell from reading thus far, there are some obvious flaws in the theories behind this diet, as well as very poor scientific reasoning, and a rather narrow view of health, not to mention an awful lot of flip-flopping around and changing of the diet's and recommendations. It is hard to keep up really. Furthermore, there is a lot of marketing via social media which seem to be channels for supplement sales (based on Ruminant Nutrition), a quick search online shows estimates that could be in the region of hundreds of millions of dollars per year in revenue for these companies.

I am a capitalist, I have no problem with people making money. We all need it. Besides, perhaps they are genuinely healing millions of people with these products?

The diet performs extremely well for people, this can't be doubted, and this can be seen on social media as the sheer popularity of the diet speaks for itself, but this Questionnaire study out of Harvard in 2023 which investigated 2029 participants who had at least 6+ months on the diet confirmed the amazing results in there investigation. Although, many critics state these findings were "self-reported", even so, the fact that these results are coming out of Harvard really shows how big of a deal this diet has become. 

This puts an enormous question mark on everything we're told about Red Meat consumption and Saturated Fat - right back to the Framingham study in the 50s. Atkins started the rebellion, Volek and Phinney with the their updates on the Ketogenic Diet forumlated a scientific, safe and effective access route for millions of people; Loren Cordain and the Paleo gurus furthered that by marketing to millions more americans the "Paleo Diet", and it seems now the Carnivore Diet has actually cracked the gates of the establishment and all hell is breaking loose inside the conventional citadel. 

The problem is for the public, in times of such chaos, who and what can we trust?

Unfortunately, only time can give us the answers we need as we must wait for Scientific studies to give us more clarity on all of the details. But, what did this initial Questionnaire study tell us about Carnivore?

 

 

The above chart shows the enormous number of improvements in chronic diseases and health markers. The abstract goes on to state; “Participants reported high levels of satisfaction and improvements in overall health (95%), well-being (66%–91%), various medical conditions (48%–98%), (…) Participants with diabetes reported benefits including reductions in BMI, glycated hemoglobin, and diabetes medication use (84%–100%).

The abstract goes on to state high compliance for the Carnivore diet overall, as the abstract reads; “Red meat consumption was reported as daily or more often by 85%. Under 10% reported consuming vegetables, fruits, or grains more often than monthly, and 37% denied vitamin supplement use”.

However, it is worth noting that participants reported the following:

-        57% still drink Coffee daily

-        49% still drink Tea, occasionally, while 12% still drink tea daily

-        43% still consumed wine, but only 11% consumed 1-2x per week, and only 1.1% (21 participants) drank daily

-        17% still consumed beer

-        45% still consumed spirits

-        11% still consumed legumes

-        13% still consumed breaded and fried fast food meats

-        19% still consumed candy & milk chocolate

-        21% still consumed grains

-        22% still consumed sugar

-        25% still consumed desserts

-        26% still consumed honey

-        26% still consumed starchy vegetables

-        31% still consumed non-starchy vegetables

-        34% still consumed fruit

-        35% still consumed non-calorie sweeteners

As someone who sees the amount of conversation online about the necessity for restriction and complete elimination of “Toxic compounds”, it makes you wonder how such good results are coming whilst many of the toxic foods are still consumed, albeit occasionally, by quite a large subset of the participants. Especially Coffee, Tea (rich in Oxalates), Beer, Spirits, Grains and Vegetables. Additionally, 34% still ate fruit. Doesn’t that make this a Paleo-diet, for at least 10% because they ate Fruit daily?

In the book "The Carnivore Code" by Paul Saladino, he asserted that the Carnivore diet requires total restriction of the toxic nutrients to be successful, as it’s fundamental theory in the book is that Plant Toxins are causing the modern chronic disease epidemic. Many chapters were dedicated to chemicals we know from years of studies to offer a benefit to our levels of inflammation, cellular function and longevity such as Resveratrol, Curcumin and other Flavonoids, which have been shown to improve levels of inflammation, act as safe and effective adjuvant therapies during chemotherapy for cancer, as well as improve immune function and offer us access to longevity pathways (such as the SIRT). Paul gave a small amount of evidence that these were actually toxic to cells and not beneficial. This did raise that Vegetables and processed food is the cause of disease, how then could people still consume them (varying from daily to occasionally) and still find success?

Perhaps, that is why there wasn’t a complete 100% amelioration of symptoms in all participants – because 10-30% were still consuming the toxic foods, were they the ones who were still somewhat sick in the study results? It would be interesting to see that data.

Surely if Plants are toxic (as per Dr Paul Saladino’s book the Carnivore Code) – then the Plants are causing disease and there should be zero wiggle room for consuming Vegetables? Because it’s not really a Carnivore diet if you are still eating Fruit and Coffee? Loaded with flavonoids and plant toxins?

The truth is, they haven't quite figured all of this out yet. Much of it is akin to throwing darts at a dartboard, a bit like Flat Earth theory, and many other conspiracy theories, sort of throwing as many as you can and seeing if something lands. If it can't be justified, or if you need to go back and erase something, not to worry: "this is Science" and "Science is a process". 

That's all well and good, but millions of dollars aren't being refunded for supplements purchased, and neither is the time and energy people are spending absorbing this content in hope they can get the answers to their health problems. At least in the Scientific Journals, these studies are funded by the Government and Private Corporations (well... those two are another can of worms).

Actually, this is the meat and bones of the problem. 

We don't have any un-biased, decentralized funding programs for Health and Wellness. We are stuck in a moment of suspension with many things, we are at the precipice, a point of tension and doubt and uncertainty about the future. The future is coming regardless, but saying that doesn't help us with the many unanswered unknowns that are incoming to our planet as we seem to reach peaks in all areas of communication, technology and human knowledge.

For this global dis-ease we are experiencing, we have to take our answers from Corporate-Pharmaceutical funded studies that are geared towards their product sales, or we have to take our answers from Influencers who are obviously geared towards their product sales (or simply their biases/ beliefs). 

There is no real in-between. And who can know who is correct?

Who is more qualified? But what do those even stand for? And who is more trust-worthy? Which study is correct, this one that says this, or that one that says that?

This is the dilemma for Humanity. We are existing amongst extremes and contradictions. The Science seems to say both are wrong, and both are right.

This isn't just in Science or Health & Wellness, but in our very physical existence with everything from Politics to Social issues right now. 

One thing is for sure, truth really is subjective. 

So, why is it that the Carnivore diet has exploded in popularity? Because people are really, really sick. And more-so than ever before, by an absolute long shot. Just look at these charts below:

 

 https://www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/what-causes-chronic-disease

 

 

 

So we are eating less "bad food" and we are smoking less, and drinking less alcohol and exercising more, all according to the above article?

Bu, according to the article, we have 700% increases in Diabetes and Obesity since 1935? And since consuming healthier foods, it is getting worse?

This study stated: "In the last 20 years, the prevalence of chronic disease in the United States has grown by a steady 7 to 8 million people every 5 years. Today, chronic disease affects 50% of the population, and its care consumes more than 85% of health care costs. It has become an epidemic."

Clearly something is very wrong and many of us are sensing it. Our food isn't the only thing we're concerned about, it is also our water supplies, our phones and devices which are seemingly just extensions of our arms now.  We are becoming disillusioned with the society we have created. We are not so sure we want to merge our lives with technology and AI, and reports suggest the majority of us are feeling pessimistic and are unsure about the advances of AI and other technologies on our lives in both a physical and mental way.

So, when we go onto our phones in the midst of this anxiety and we find tanned six-packs, and giant biceps and a bearded, muscular man on our screens telling us that we are right to be concerned with the Water supply, bread and our typical processed foods, EMFs like WiFi and Radio-frequencies (the 4th Tenet of the Liver King is to Shield from WiFi and other EMFs). That there is a specific set of Tenets and Supplements that are more "natural" and can oppose the toxicity of our modern life, and can free us from our disease, then we begin to feel a glimmer of hope. 

I don't believe this is "dangerous", and I don't ever wish to provide even a single ounce of encouragement towards any form of censorship. No, that is not the way. 

I also believe that the Liver King and Saladino and the others actually truly believe in what they are promoting is a good thing. I don't think this is some sort of giant con. I am especially pleased with the Liver King's promotion of Grounding and EMF Mitigation as mentioned above. These 2 are absolutely critical for us moving forward. However, I do think there are better ways of doing things, and I'm not pleased with how the Steroid-claims will now bring a huge black mark to these "ancestral tenets" which actually hold an enormous value. 

However, what is done is done. The only thing I can do is add in my own personal contribution, a constructive criticism of how things are, so we can continue to grow in our understanding.

That's what we really need... A Greater Understanding.

My perspective is this: maybe there are other helpful perspectives that both of these sides are not giving us. When we remain in polarities, tribalism occurs, and all that happens is incessant debating and arguing.

But we can't see any of these things for what they are if we cannot raise our level of consciousness in order to be able to discern the truth. 

Perhaps, there are some really beautiful solutions to our problems buried in all of this confusion, but while we are buried in tribalism we cannot get anywhere and we remain divided and against one another.

Either you will read success stories, or you will read articles stating the Liver King is "chemo-phobic" and that EMFs and Fluoride have been "proven" to be non-harmful to health. But, this denial seems to only ostracize and further frustrate millions and millions of people who can clearly see there are detrimental effects from these. 

Like the article linked just now, the author's (@crackedscience on Twitter/X.com - with a lowly 37 followers) rhetoric is that the Liver King is a dangerous influencer to follow, with "bold claims" and "unqualified" to advise on health. He is an influencer who you should be wary of and avoid all of his recommendations. 

This rhetoric is the only alternative available. That he is a shill. Now reading my first half of my article you may think I feel the same, but the truth is it is more nuanced than that. 

Is he promoting a lot of things that are FREE and beneficial to our health, that our ancestors have been doing for thousands of years, long before we had to watch Dr Phil on a Television set to know what is "healthy", and can put our health back in our own hands and take us away from the grips of a nasty black-hole of pharmaceuticals?  

Well... Yes!

But, is he also a bit of sleazy, money-hungry grifter who seems to contradict himself by using technology and claiming it is unhealthy, lie about his steroid use, and use clever marketing schemes to sell "Ancestral wisdom" into a subcription and supplement sales funnel to build a $100 million company?

... also Yes.

Another account which has gained much popularity is Carnivore Aurelius, who sells Beef Crisps and Collagen Supplements to his 786k audience on Instagram. But again, not directly, instead he gives his mostly American audience a beautifully-crafted nostalgic meme and carousel journey into "Life how it used to be" that give us a fluoride and phone-free meat-wine and anal-gazing concoction of a Cattle-farming, monogamous, breast-fed and grass-fed, Mediterranean lifestyle that is the panacea of Health. 

The truth: this is how Americans see Europe because they've watched it through the lens of Hollywood. 

We clearly evolved out of these old ways for a reason, right? Or, perhaps he's right, perhaps he's touching on something that is very not so far away and very real and tangible, maybe we DO need the Alpaca-Citadel.

My input is this, if we are to build that, we need to begin creating it - not just sharing it on social media and selling beef crisps. Because no amount of liking and sharing posts on the Centralized-Doom Scroll abyss of Instagram is going to get us any more together and co-operative. This is why I actually deleted my own Instagram and Facebook accounts in the last year. I found it was only furthering the problem.

I needed time away, time to really understand what is actually happening around us, and why.

After burning up my old ways of thinking, I realized this very fire, this very burning of our old ways of doing and thinking, is the very process we need.

Just like our ancestors, we need to gather around the Fire and offer up everything we have and burn it.

The way we truly move forward is understanding that which we really do not need, and to do that, we must put everything to the fire, run it through the flames of scrutiny and discernment. Only then, can we truly see what remains for us.

And without attachment to dogma, or tribalism, or liking this or that. We must throw it all in and watch it all burn with detachment. Relaxed and calm.

If we take Liver King, Aurelius, Saladino, and the other voices in Carnivore, and we put them through the Fire of Discernment and burn away all that is unnecessary, what are we left with?

1. We should try our best to eat more organic, grass-fed animal foods. 
2. We should try our best to avoid processed, chemical-laden industrial or agricultural foods.
   
3. We should get more Sunlight, and connect to the earth like our ancestors did with bare feet. 
4. We should also be mindful about our exposure to toxins in our environment, and begin to try to reduce it via shielding methods and mitigation strategies. These toxins include EMFs, halogens like fluoride and bromide, artificial light from screens, pharmaceuticals and pesticides.
   

There... that wasn't so dangerous after all. 

I'm making a fire here right now, and my next few blogs will continue to light up these topic and burn away all that I can for you. The coming blogs will dive in and unravel some of my questions further.

As always, much love

Sean