Nutritional richness
There are no nutrients unique to plants that we cannot get from animals.
A visual guide based on Jade Soller’s presentation
Carnivore Diet
Chapter 01
What is the carnivore diet?
An eating strategy based on foods of animal origin.
- No sugar or vegetable oils
- No vegetables or fruit
- No carbohydrates
- Only foods of animal origin
Example dishes
Carnivore in practice
Why are people doing it?
Benefits of the carnivore diet
High nutrient availability
Meat is highly bioavailable: the body breaks it down and absorbs its nutrients easily.
Eliminates antinutrients
Antinutrients interfere with the absorption of beneficial nutrients and minerals.
Nutrient density
What do 100 g provide?
Percentage of the recommended daily intake covered by 100 g of each food. Look at iron, zinc, copper and iodine.
| Plant | Animal products | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nutrient | Spinach | Beef liver | Beef | Salmon roe |
| Vitamin A (retinol) | carotenoids | 2200% | 2% | 13% |
| Vitamin B9 (folate) | 20% | 60% | 1% | 3% |
| Vitamin B12 | 0% | 2000% | 164% | 600% |
| Vitamin C | 52% | 22% | 0% | 18% |
| Vitamin D* | D2 | 2% D3 | 2% | 10% |
| Vitamin E | 11% | 2% | 4% | 83% |
| Vitamin K2 | 0% | 127% | 19% | 0% |
| Iron | 32.8% non-heme | 63% heme | 16% | 5% |
| Zinc | 7% | 47% | 47% | 12% |
| Copper | 10% | 466% | 6% | 24% |
| Iodine | 6% | 2% | 0% | 65% |
| Omega-3 EPA | 0 mg | 10 mg | 12 mg | 1240 mg |
| Omega-3 DHA | 0 mg | 84 mg | 0 mg | 1762 mg |
The carnivore diet is used as a treatment for:
- Physical and mental health
- Gastrointestinal disorders
-
Metabolic syndrome
- obesity
- high blood pressure
- diabetes
- low HDL
- high triglycerides
- gallstones
- kidney stones
- gout
- Autoimmune diseases
- Skin diseases
And the results?
Cured of many illnesses
Charlene Andersen
- Cystic acne
- Extreme fatigue
- Eczema
- Depression
- Blurred vision
- Occasional paralysis in hands and feet
- Ongoing amenorrhea
- Weight gain
- Inability to concentrate
- Migraine
- Reflux
- Binge eating
- Muscle spasms
- Lyme disease
…and a few others.
21years on carnivore
46years old
Cured of autoimmune diseases
Mikhaila Peterson
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age 7, which led to a hip and an ankle replacement in her teens.
She took several medications and suffered from serious skin problems such as eczema, rashes, itching and severe acne, as well as depression and chronic fatigue.
More transformations
Before and after photos of people who adopted the carnivore diet.
Image source: meatrx.com/library/transformations
And why meat?
From Homo habilis, through Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis, to Homo sapiens
Meat was our main food
Why?
Eating meat maximizes the energy we get and minimizes the time we spend feeding
Optimal Foraging Theory describes our preference for the foods that give the greatest possible return in calories.
The most nutrient-dense, calorie-rich food is meat, complete in vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and essential amino acids.
99%
of plants are not edible
and are only available in season
100%
of animals are edible
and are available all year round
We developed a larger brain, balanced by a smaller, simpler gastrointestinal tract, which needs high-quality food based on the protein and fat of meat.
The brain grew thanks to eating meat and animal fat
Approximate brain volume (cm³) over human evolution
| Species | Million years ago | Brain volume |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropoid ape | ≈ 9.5 | ≈ 390 cm³ |
| Australopithecus | ≈ 3.9 | ≈ 465 cm³ |
| Homo habilis | ≈ 1.7 | ≈ 570 cm³ |
| Homo erectus | ≈ 0.7 | ≈ 900 cm³ |
| Homo sapiens | today | ≈ 1400–1500 cm³ |
Approximate values, read from the chart in the presentation.
Comparing the diets
| Meat-based diet | Plant-based diet |
|---|---|
| Easy on the gut | Hard work for the gut |
| Very satiating | Always wanting more food |
| Readily available nutrients | Less bioavailable |
| Few or no toxins | Full of plant toxins |
The same protein, very different amounts
To get 39 g of protein
Broccoli
1.4 kg
Beef chuck
180 g
To get 2 g of leucine
An amino acid that matters for maintaining muscle mass
Spinach
+10 g of oxalate
900 g
Steak
80 g
What changed in our diet?
In perspective
We have been eating meat for about 2 million years.
If all that time were a single 24-hour day, at what time did the changes in our diet arrive?
10,000 years ago · Agricultural Revolution
We started farming
On the 24-hour clock: 23:52:48
By adopting agriculture, humans became shorter and less healthy. We paid a high biological price for agriculture.
A review of studies on the health impact of early agriculture:
2011
Stature and robusticity during the agricultural transition: evidence from the bioarchaeological record
Economics & Human Biology 9(3):284–301
doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2011.03.004
350 years ago · Industrial Revolution
Industrialized foods
On the 24-hour clock: 23:59:45
70 years ago
Foods with flavorings, colorings and preservatives
On the 24-hour clock: 23:59:57
Where did we go wrong?
By focusing on the wrong food groups.
We came to base our diet on carbohydrates
such as bread, pasta and grains
But there is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate: it is an entirely optional nutrient
0 g200 g
120 gwhat the brain needs
200 gwhat the liver can make
Through gluconeogenesis, the liver can make 200 g of glucose a day, more than the 120 g the brain needs.
When we switch to fat as our energy source, we produce ketone bodies, the preferred fuel of neurons.
Why is meat always cast as the villain?
Epidemiological studies
Many studies compare people who eat more meat with people who eat little or no meat. These comparisons in observational studies are full of confounding factors that the statistical analyses in these papers do not adequately resolve.
They are useful for raising hypotheses, but they do not establish cause and effect; they establish a correlation.
When epidemiological or observational studies implicate red meat in causing disease, they compare, within a pool of thousands of people answering questionnaires, those who eat less red meat with those who eat more.
Could these groups differ in other ways, besides the kind of meat they eat?
The healthy user bias
People who follow health advice to the letter, such as eating less red meat, tend to look after themselves in every other way too. So, in an observational study, meat ends up taking the blame for other habits.
A healthy carnivore couple
Does eating only meat work?
Yes, and it has been proven
By primitive tribes
for centuries
Atlas
Peoples who lived on meat
Tap a point on the map to go to their story.
Inuit
The Inuit diet
Members of the Eskimo Indigenous nation who live in the Arctic of Canada, Alaska and Greenland. They ate the meat of seals, reindeer, birds, walruses, bears, fish and whales.
It is remarkable how well they do on a diet high in fat and protein. The traditional Eskimo diet is practically free of vegetables, crops or dairy, and quite low in carbohydrates.
They did not develop scurvy or any disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, and they showed that today’s nutritional theory of a “balanced diet” is nonsense.
North American Indians
Known as some of the tallest people in the world, with a strong build, Native American Indians hunted large animals such as bison, deer, buffalo, wild sheep, goats, antelope, elk, caribou and bears.
The Maasai diet
The Maasai tribes are semi-nomadic groups who live mainly in Tanzania and Kenya. Their life revolves around cattle, the basis of their diet: meat, milk and blood.
In the 1960s, the physician George V. Mann studied them in Kenya. They ate only meat, blood and milk, and he noted that they regarded fruit and vegetables as food for cows.
Were there other tribes?
- The Chukchi of the Russian Arctic lived on caribou meat, sea animals and fish.
- The Samburu and Rendille warriors of East Africa survived on diets made up mainly of milk and meat.
- Mongolian nomads ate meat in winter, and meat and dairy in summer.
- The Sioux of South Dakota enjoyed a diet of buffalo meat.
What was their health like?
Dentist and researcher
Weston Price studied and documented the health of primitive peoples
He was a dentist and one of the greatest contributors to what we know today about how diet affects our physical and mental health.
For years he sought out peoples who lived far from civilization yet enjoyed full health.
He studied more than 14 cultures around the world, across Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific.
+14cultures studied
4regions: Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific
Findings of Weston A. Price
- None of the traditional diets contained refined products such as sugar, fructose syrups, white flour, canned food, pasteurized, skimmed or semi-skimmed dairy, hydrogenated vegetable oils, artificial vitamins and toxic additives.
- All traditional cultures ate animal protein and fat, including fish and shellfish, poultry, beef, eggs, milk and dairy, reptiles and insects.
- All of them ate animal bones, usually as mineral-rich broths.
- All of them ate healthy, saturated fats of animal origin.
- All of them ate animal products and always used the whole animal, including organs and offal. Some kinds of animal products were eaten raw.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Explorer and ethnologist of the American Arctic, of Icelandic descent
He explored the Arctic and, instead of carrying large food supplies, he ate what the Inuit ate: fish, walrus and other meats.
This was in the early 20th century, when nutrition experts recommended raw vegetables and as little meat as possible.
Stefansson documented the Inuit diet, but met with skepticism from people who did not believe him.
1928 · Bellevue Hospital, New York
Experiment: a year of carnivore
Stefansson was not trying to burn fat, but to prove that the Inuit’s meat-rich diet was viable.
To prove it, Stefansson and a fellow explorer followed an all-meat diet in 1928 for a whole year. They began the experiment in a hospital, where doctors could monitor their health.
The doctors who examined the two men during the year-long study reported that neither of them had any problems on a carnivore diet.
“There were no deficiency problems; both men stayed perfectly healthy; their bowels stayed normal; their stools were smaller and odorless.”
1929
The effect of an exclusive meat diet lasting one year on the carbohydrate tolerance of two normal men
Journal of Biological Chemistry 83(3):747–752
doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)77101-9Findings of Vilhjalmur Stefansson
- For the Eskimos, the few vegetables they had were eaten mainly in times of famine.
- The diet of the people, and of their dogs, is high in fat and protein.
- Carbohydrates (glucose) are not necessary for the brain, the heart or any other organ.
- The body can produce glucose from fat and protein.
- No cavitiesPerfect dental health
- No osteoporosisExcellent bone health
- No cancerOf any kind
- No heart disease
- No bowel disease
- No type 2 diabetes
- No obesity
Chapter 08
Animal foods contain all the protein, fat, vitamins and minerals we need
If we could create the best multivitamin for a human being, it would be an animal.
Nutrient by nutrient
Vitamin A
Best source: animals12 to 24 times more bioavailable in animal foods (vitamin A vs. carotenoids).
2 kg of carrots = 85 g of liver
Vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6
Best source: animalsAnimal foods are superior sources.
Vitamin B12
Only in animalsIt is calming. Not found in plant foods.
Vitamin C
Best source: plantsPlant foods are superior sources.
Vitamin D3
Only in animalsNeeded for serotonin. Not found in plant foods.
Vitamin E
Best source: plantsLower in animal foods, although some (such as salmon, cod and boiled eggs) contain this vitamin.
Vitamin K2
Only in animalsPromotes brain health. Not found in plant foods.
Iron
Best source: animalsHeme iron is at least three times more bioavailable than non-heme iron (from plants). Many plant compounds interfere with the absorption of non-heme iron.
Calcium
Plants interfereSome plants contain compounds that interfere with calcium absorption.
Iodine
Plants interfereSome plants contain goitrogens, which interfere with the use of iodine.
Zinc
Best source: animalsAnimal foods are superior sources. Some plants contain compounds that interfere with zinc absorption.
Creatine
Only in animalsA compound found only in animal foods, such as red meat, chicken and fish.
Carnitine and choline
Best source: animalsAnimal foods are superior sources of carnitine and choline.
Common questions about the carnivore diet
Is there a difference between plant and animal proteins?
- Most plant foods lack at least 1 of the 9 essential amino acids.
- Plant proteins are more likely to cause allergies and food sensitivities.
- The main allergens are plant proteins: gluten, soy, corn, tree nuts and peanuts.
- Plant proteins are less bioavailable than animal proteins.
What about vitamin C?
- There is vitamin C in meat, fish roe, liver, kidney and pancreas.
- Do you drink orange juice to get vitamin C? Glucose and vitamin C are almost identical, and all that sugar will block the absorption of vitamin C.
- Eating fewer carbohydrates lowers your need for vitamin C.
- If you eat a little fresh meat every day and don’t overcook it, you will get enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy.
Is fiber really necessary?
- Fiber is not essential, since fiber is a carbohydrate.
- Fiber is not a nutrient: it is not absorbed and does not nourish.
- There is no evidence that fiber protects against heart disease, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome, intestinal polyps, chronic constipation or hemorrhoids.
- Contrary to popular belief, a high intake of dietary fiber is not necessary for healthy bowel movements.
2012
Conclusion: idiopathic constipation and its associated symptoms can be effectively reduced by stopping, or even just reducing, dietary fiber intake.
Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms
World Journal of Gastroenterology 18(33):4593–4596
doi:10.3748/wjg.v18.i33.4593Effect of reducing dietary fiber
Percentage of patients with each symptom, by amount of fiber in the diet
| Symptom | Initial diet | High fiber | Reduced fiber | No fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constipation | 100% | 100% | 75% | 0% |
| Straining | 100% | 100% | 56% | 0% |
| Bloating | 52% | 100% | 31% | 0% |
| Anal bleeding | 49% | 67% | 25% | 0% |
| Pain | 20% | 50% | 13% | 0% |
Source: Dr. Paul Mason, based on Ho et al. (2012). Values read from the chart in the presentation.
What about cholesterol?
- Every animal cell needs cholesterol for proper structure and function.
- It is essential for producing hormones and neurotransmitters, and crucial for producing vitamin D.
- It protects against cognitive decline.
- The cholesterol we eat has little or no influence on the cholesterol levels in our blood.
Isn’t eating fat harmful?
- Certain essential vitamins, such as A, D, E and K, need fat to be absorbed.
- It is the best source of energy for human metabolism.
- It regulates our appetite and helps us feel full.
- Saturated fat is associated with longevity, better cognitive function, a stronger immune system and hormone production, and it raises HDL.
2010
There is no significant evidence to conclude that saturated fat is associated with a higher risk of coronary or cardiovascular disease.
Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 91(3):535–546
doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.277251953
Meat and heart disease: data manipulation
- He manipulated data to conclude that animal fats were causing heart disease.
- He believed that eating fat raised blood cholesterol.
- He published his research showing 6 countries with a high intake of animal fat and their higher associated risk of death from heart disease.
- He left another 16 countries out of the study: the ones that did not support his hypothesis.
Yudkin removed the stigma from saturated fat
Yudkin argued that saturated fat is closely tied to our evolution: it is abundant, for example, in breast milk.
In his view, we were more likely to fall ill not from the prehistoric substance but from the recent innovation: sugar.
But doesn’t meat cause cancer?
- Obese people have higher rates of cancer.
- Any factor that predisposes to obesity is a risk factor for cancer. This means that eating too many carbohydrates increases the risk.
- There is no solid scientific evidence to support the belief that red meat increases the risk of cancer.
Meat and kidneys
- The claim that dietary protein causes kidney disease is not supported by evidence.
- Diabetes, especially type 2, is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease worldwide, and hypertension is the second (both are hyperinsulinemic conditions).
- Refined, high-glycemic carbohydrates can endanger the human kidney, not animal protein.
- Keep your kidneys healthy by controlling your blood sugar and blood pressure.
Logical fallacy
- When the kidneys are severely damaged, they may be unable to metabolize larger amounts of protein, but that does not mean protein is the cause of the problem.
- Nobody ends up on dialysis from eating too much steak and eggs.
1930
Kidney function tests revealed no evidence of kidney damage.
Clinical calorimetry XLV. Prolonged meat diets with a study of kidney function and ketosis
Journal of Biological Chemistry 87(3):651–668
doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)76842-72018
A systematic review of 28 randomized controlled trials found no difference in glomerular filtration rate between people on a high-protein diet (more than 1.5 g/kg/day) and people on a normal- or low-protein diet.
Changes in kidney function do not differ between healthy adults consuming higher- compared with lower- or normal-protein diets: a systematic review and meta-analysis
The Journal of Nutrition 148(11):1760–1775
doi:10.1093/jn/nxy197Meat and the heart
- We have been eating animal meat for two million years, but heart disease has only been a major problem for us for about 50 years.
- Refined carbohydrates, such as sugar and flour, and vegetable oils are the most important dietary risk factors for coronary artery disease.
- Adding significant amounts of refined carbohydrates is responsible for most “diseases of civilization”: diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
1964
Despite a long, continuous diet of only meat and milk, the men have low serum cholesterol levels and no evidence of atherosclerotic heart disease. This supports the conclusion that dietary fat is not responsible for coronary disease.
Cardiovascular disease in the Masai
Journal of Atherosclerosis Research 4(4):289–312
doi:10.1016/S0368-1319(64)80041-7Meat and gout
- It is not meat but chronically high insulin that causes gout: high insulin raises uric acid, and high uric acid often leads to gout.
- Drinking alcohol can contribute to gout, and seems to do so in a dose-dependent way.
- A growing body of evidence suggests it may also be linked to consuming large amounts of fructose.
Nutrition is simple. Just look at the cave paintings.
References cited in the presentation
- Keys A. Atherosclerosis: a problem in newer public health. J Mt Sinai Hosp N Y. 1953;20(2):118–139. PubMed
- Tolstoi E. The effect of an exclusive meat diet lasting one year on the carbohydrate tolerance of two normal men. J Biol Chem. 1929;83(3):747–752. DOI
- McClellan WS, Du Bois EF. Clinical calorimetry XLV. Prolonged meat diets with a study of kidney function and ketosis. J Biol Chem. 1930;87(3):651–668. DOI
- Mann GV, Shaffer RD, Anderson RS, Sandstead HH, et al. Cardiovascular disease in the Masai. J Atheroscler Res. 1964;4(4):289–312. DOI
- Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, Hu FB, Krauss RM. Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;91(3):535–546. DOI
- Mummert A, Esche E, Robinson J, Armelagos GJ. Stature and robusticity during the agricultural transition: evidence from the bioarchaeological record. Econ Hum Biol. 2011;9(3):284–301. DOI
- Ho KS, Tan CYM, Mohd Daud MA, Seow-Choen F. Stopping or reducing dietary fiber intake reduces constipation and its associated symptoms. World J Gastroenterol. 2012;18(33):4593–4596. DOI
- Devries MC, Sithamparapillai A, Brimble KS, Banfield L, Morton RW, Phillips SM. Changes in kidney function do not differ between healthy adults consuming higher- compared with lower- or normal-protein diets: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Nutr. 2018;148(11):1760–1775. DOI
Data and images
- Nutrient table: Carnivore Aurelius.
- Fiber chart: Dr. Paul Mason, based on Ho et al. (2012).
- Transformations: meatrx.com.
- Portrait of Weston A. Price: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation.
- Reference books: Weston A. Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration; Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Not by Bread Alone.
- All other images come from the original presentation.
Educational and informational content that reproduces the author’s ideas. It does not replace guidance from a health professional: talk to one before making major changes to your diet.