Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Should You Try the Carnivore Diet? What 74 Studies Say

Episode Date: November 14, 2018

What if I told you that by eating nothing but meat and other animal products—no fruits, vegetables, or plant foods of any kind—you could . . . -Lose fat without counting calories -Bulletproof yourself against and even cure diabetes -Prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes -Increase your testosterone levels, build more muscle, and improve your athletic performance . . . BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! You may also be able to resolve digestive problems like bloating, gas, and constipation and overcome depression, fatigue, joint pain, and other maladies. Well, according to a growing number of self-styled health and diet gurus, that’s exactly what happens when you follow the “carnivore diet,” which involves eating only animal products (along with water and salt). If you poke around online and read people’s experiences with the carnivore diet, you’ll find some compelling success stories. Men and women of all ages and circumstances are saying that it has cured their arthritis, stomach bloating, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, brain fog, depression, and alcohol and nicotine addictions, as well as helped them build muscle, lose fat, and look and feel healthier than ever before. On the other hand, there are decades of research showing that eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is healthy, and some evidence that suggests eating high amounts of animal products increases the risk of disease and dysfunction. Which position has the weight of the evidence on its side? Well, the short answer is that while it’s possible to be healthy on the carnivore diet (at least for a while), there’s an overwhelming amount of scientific research showing that it’s far from optimal and that there are much better options. And in this podcast, you’re going to get the whole story, including . . . -What the carnivore diet is -Why people follow it -What the benefits and downsides are -How safe it is . . . and more. Let’s get started. -8:47 - What is the carnivore diet? -10:05 - What would a carnivore diet food list look like? -11:37 - Why do people follow the carnivore diet? -15:34 - What are the benefits of the carnivore diet? -21:38 - How does the carnivore diet affect cardiovascular health? -32:08 - Does the carnivore diet reduce inflammation in the body? -36:23 - How does the carnivore diet affect testosterone levels? -42:42 - Do you get the nutrition you need on the carnivore diet? -45:19 - How do you get enough Vitamin C without eating plants? Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

the bottom line here is that yes, the carnivore diet can help you lose weight, but no better than any other type of diet that has you eat fewer calories than you burn over time. Hey everybody, this is Michael Matthews from Muscle for Life and Legion Athletics, Matthews from Muscle for Life and Legion Athletics. And I have another podcast episode for you this time on the carnivore diet. Now, check it out. What if I told you that by eating nothing but meat and other animal products, no fruits, no vegetables, no plant foods of any kind, you could lose fat without having to count calories, bulletproof yourself against and even cure diabetes, prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes, increase your testosterone levels, build more muscle, and improve your athletic performance. But wait, there's more. You may also be able to resolve digestive problems like bloating, gas, and constipation, and overcome depression, fatigue, joint pain,

and other various maladies. Well, according to a growing number of self-styled health and diet gurus, that is exactly what happens when you follow the carnivore diet, which involves eating only animal products, along with some water and salt. One of these people is a dude named Dr. Sean Baker, a former orthopedic surgeon and powerlifter who's a more vocal proponent of this style of eating. Now, back in December of last year, Baker was on Joe Rogan's podcast to spread the gospel of flesh consumption. And he said many interesting things, including the following. He said, quote, we eat for two reasons. We eat to get energy and to build animal tissue. You and I are animals.

We are animal tissue. The most efficient way to do that is just to eat some because your body has everything in the proportions that we need it. He also said, quote, when they determined that smoking caused cancer, the epidemiology showed a 2000% increase in the incidence of cancer. When they compared that to meat and cancer, they found an 18% increase. And he said, quote, if we look back into history, there's all kinds of accounts of people using meat as an athletic performance enhancer. Back in the original Greek Olympics, those guys knew that if they ate a lot of meat, they would perform better.

Now, such statements may sound a bit preposterous at first blush, but who knows? Scientists used to believe that cocaine improved digestion. Who knows, it might. They used to believe that lobotomies alleviated mental illness and drinking mercury cured constipation. So it's not a huge stretch to at least question some of the current sacred cows of nutrition, cows of nutrition, like the importance of eating a lot of plant foods. That said, Baker batters his credibility a bit by saying stuff like this, quote, a molecule of glucose and a molecule of vitamin C are almost identical, and so they compete for the same transporters. Yeah, no. If you go and look at what a vitamin C molecule looks like and then compare it to a glucose molecule, yeah, they look about as similar as testosterone and estrogen. But maybe he meant that they look almost identical in a completely different kind of way.

It makes sense if you don't think about it. Now, then there's the whole compete for the same transporters thing, and that's also a negative. Scientists have known for decades that while vitamin C can enter cells using some of the same transporters, which you should think of as passageways. As glucose, cells also have special transporters for vitamin C that don't accept glucose. Now, the reason why I'm bringing these things up isn't to just trash Baker, but it's just to point out the fact that here is someone who doesn't seem to understand basic chemistry or, and who actually had his medical license revoked in 2017 for incompetence, dispensing radical dietary advice to the unsuspecting masses.

And it's stuff like that that can change people's lives in the bad way. Now, all that doesn't necessarily mean that we should throw the carnivorous baby out with the bathwater though. If you poke around online and if you read up on other people's experiences with this diet, you will find some compelling success stories. You'll find men and women of all ages and circumstances saying that the carnivore diet has cured their arthritis, saying that the carnivore diet has cured their arthritis, stomach bloating, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, brain fog, depression, and even alcohol and nicotine addictions. Many people have also said that this diet is great for building more muscle, losing more fat, and just generally looking and feeling healthier than ever before.

On the other hand, we also have decades of research showing that eating fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is healthy and very necessary if we want to minimize the risk of disease and dysfunction. There's also some evidence that suggests eating high amounts of animal products, at least certain animal products like highly processed red meats, can increase the risk of disease and dysfunction. So the question here is which position has the weight of the evidence on its side? Well, the short answer is that while it is possible to be healthy on the carnivore diet, at least for a while, there is an overwhelming amount of scientific research that shows that it is far from optimal and that there are much better options for diet and nutrition. And in this podcast, you are going to get the whole story, including what the carnivore diet is,

why people follow it, what the benefits and downsides are, how safe it is, and more. This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm just going to quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically by flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef. Now, this book has sold over 200,000 copies in the last several years and helped thousands of men and women get the bodies they really want, eating the types of food they really love, which is why it has over 700 reviews on Amazon with a four and a half star average. So if you want to know how to build your

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the shredded chef for free. Alrighty. That is enough shameless plugging for now at least. Let's get to the show. All right, so what exactly is the carnivore diet? Well, this diet is often referred to as the zero carb diet or the ketogenic paleo diet. And it is more or less exactly what it sounds like. It's a diet where you only eat animal products and you also are allowed to have water and salt. And so what that means is absolutely no fruits, vegetables, garnishes, or even plant-based spices and no oils, no seasonings. Dairy is technically allowed, but many carnivore dieters also give that up to keep their carb intake as low as possible and minimize the chances of gastrointestinal distress.

Now, as far as its biography goes, it's not really clear where or when this trend started, but some of the more well-known adherents include Charles Washington, who claims to have been following the diet for over 10 years, and Joe and Charlene Anderson, who claim to have been following the diet for over 10 years, and Joe and Charlene Anderson, who claim to have been following the diet for nearly 20 years now. And then of course, we also have Dr. Jordan Peterson and his daughter, Michaela, I believe is her name, who have been talking a lot about this diet and who are probably most responsible for the huge spike in interest that you see when you pull it up in Google Trends. So let's talk foods. What would a carnivore diet food list look like? Well, the primary foods

allowed on the diet are red meat, fish, fowl, and eggs. So here's a grocery list of sorts, beefsteak, pork and lamb chops, ground beef, turkey, chicken, salmon, and lamb are preferred among many carnivore dieters because these cuts make it easier to balance your protein and dietary fat intake. More processed meats like bacon, sausage, and beef jerky are also allowed on the diet, and the heartier carnivore dieters emphasize organ meats like liver, kidneys, and heart, which is not a bad idea because these are definitely more nutritious than the more commonly eaten types of meat. Some proponents of this diet also insist that all foods should be organic, grass-fed, or wild-caught, although most don't really consider any of these things mandatory. Now, as I mentioned earlier,

condiments, sauces, garnishes are out. So that means no horseradish, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, soy sauce, or salsa. The strictest devotees also even avoid pepper. It's really just meat, fowl, fish, eggs, water, and salt, and mostly just meat, water, and salt. Okay. So now why the hell would anyone want to follow a diet like this? You might be wondering. And there are two main reasons why people follow this diet. The first is to lose weight and get healthy. And the second is to resolve symptoms that they believe are caused by food intolerances or food allergies. And I understand why so many people are turning to this diet because you can find many examples of people who have lost weight following the carnivore diet.

But as you, one of my cherished listeners, probably know, this is simply a function of energy balance and it can be achieved with any type of diet. So in other words, the carnivore diet offers no special weight loss effects. Well, I should say no fat loss benefits because while very low carb dieting can result in more weight loss than higher carbohydrate dieting, even when they're isocaloric, it lasts for maybe the first couple of weeks as your body sheds water and sheds glycogen. And from there, things normalize. And when you play those two diets out over time, a number of studies have shown that low or no carb does not result in more fat loss over the long term than higher carb if protein and calories are matched. Okay, so that is the carnivore diet

and weight loss. And even more common than weight loss boasts, however, are stories of people who have used the carnivore diet to mitigate or even eliminate negative symptoms that they associate with food intolerances or food allergies. Now, just to clarify terms here, a food intolerance is an unofficial term for a consistently negative reaction to a certain food or food group. consistently negative reaction to a certain food or food group. So for example, some people do experience negative side effects, both physical and psychological, after eating various foods like wheat, dairy, or fermented foods. And many people assume that this means that they have an intolerance to something in those foods, like maybe gluten or lactose or histamines, which are found in fermented foods. Now, you'll also often find followers of the carnivore diet talking about how plants contain anti-nutrients like lectins, phytic acid, and

gluten, and that these molecules are designed to prevent animals from being able to digest them. They are natural defense mechanisms against consumption, so to speak. And it's true. These compounds are found in many plant foods, including soy, wheat, corn, oats, tomatoes, apples, cherries, potatoes, and others. And it's also true that meat does not contain any of these compounds. So by eating nothing but meat, you can easily avoid any foods and substances that might trigger unwanted reactions in your body. And that's reasonable. It's really the first step of an elimination diet, which is a scientifically validated way to determine which foods you can comfortably eat and which ones you can't.

By first removing all the potentially problematic foods and then gradually, one by one, reintroducing them into your diet, you can isolate which foods you shouldn't eat based on how your body responds to each. Now, this is where the carnivore diet jumps the shark because it never really progresses beyond that first step of just wholesale elimination. Instead of using that as a path back to a more nutritious, more balanced diet that doesn't upset your stomach or cause other problems. Instead of it being a means to an end, many people see the carnivore diet as a destination in and of itself. Now, why is that a problem? Well, let's get into it. Let's talk about some of the purported benefits of the carnivore diet. Its champions say that it can do many things for

you, including causing weight loss, improving cardiovascular health, reducing inflammation levels, increasing testosterone levels, and preventing nutrient deficiencies. Let's give these claims a healthy dose of science and let's see what shakes out. So let's talk about weight loss. If you are looking for some of the most scientifically validated ways to just spontaneously cause weight loss without tracking your calories, here are a few. One is eat more protein. Two is drink more water with your meals. Three is limit the variety of foods that you eat. Four is eat less oil and refined flour and sugar. And five is eat higher volume foods that require thorough chewing and especially lower calorie

ones like vegetables and fruits, for example. Now, if you think about those five things for a second, that's basically a perfect summary of the carnivore diet. First, it entails eating a lot of protein, two to 300 grams per day for most people. And if you have ever done this, you know how effective that is for killing your appetite. I once thought that I had to eat three to 400 grams of protein per day to continue gaining muscle and strength. And I dutifully did it. And it gets really old really fast. You basically feel full all of the time. It's also not uncommon for people on the carnivore diet to eat two to four pounds of meat per day. And as meat is about

70% water, this results in an additional one to two quarts of water intake per day, which can significantly increase overall satiety, overall fullness. And especially considering the fact that it is consumed with food, because research shows that when you combine water with your meals, you will tend to be fuller from them. Now, the carnivore diet is also highly restrictive and research shows that that is an effective way to suppress appetite and reduce your calorie intake. Now, the fact that the diet removes all the highly processed foods that most people like to overeat, like bread or candy, ice cream, pastries, pizza, and the like, well, that makes it even more effective in suppressing appetite and just reducing calorie intake. Finally, meat

takes up more space in the stomach than most other foods, and it requires plenty of chewing, and studies show that both of those things increase satiety and suppress appetite. Therefore, we should not be surprised that many people have lost boatloads of weight with the carnivore diet, and especially in the first couple of weeks when the body flushes out water and glycogen in response to carbohydrate restriction. It should be noted, however, that the same results can be obtained through any type of high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. They are not exclusive to the carnivore diet. There is nothing inherently special about the carnivore diet as far as weight loss goes. Now, I can hear the rabid hordes of cannibals moaning about insulins. And yes, insulin, the metabolic villain du jour,

supposedly responsible for all manner of metabolic malfunction that we see in society today. Now, as far as the carnivore diet goes, many people do claim that it is superior to other forms of low-carb dieting because it keeps insulin levels as low as possible, which in turn is supposed to speed up weight loss and fat loss. It's a cool story, but then there is reality. For one thing, studies show that protein-rich foods, including beef, including meat, raise insulin levels as much as or even more than carb-rich foods. For example, whey protein raises insulin levels more than white bread and beef raises insulin more than brown rice. Now, some people say that the insulin response to high-protein foods like whey and beef is slower, as if they were somehow better. But this is also wrong. Research shows that high protein foods cause a rapid spike in insulin,

followed by a rapid decline, just like high carb foods. But even if following the carnivore diet did keep insulin levels lower than other forms of lowb dieting, that wouldn't guarantee or speed up fat loss. Again, so long as calories are equal, people lose fat equally well regardless of what happens with their insulin levels or how their body responds to it. A number of studies have shown this. In one study, putting overweight people on drugs to reduce insulin level failed to cause fat loss. So the bottom line here is that yes, the carnivore diet can help you lose weight, but no better than any other type of diet that has you eat fewer calories than you burn over time. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread

the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at muscle for life fitness, Twitter at muscle for life and Facebook at muscle for life fitness. All right, let's move on to the next purported benefit, which is cardiovascular health. Now, one of the main reasons health organizations recommend that we limit our meat intake is to reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease. The reason for this is animal products contain a lot

of saturated fat and cholesterol, and it is believed that both of these compounds can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease if intake gets too high. Now, in case you are not familiar with these molecules, saturated fat is a type of dietary fat that is solid at room temperature. And cholesterol is a pale, waxy compound that is chemically similar to dietary fat. It's present in all cells of the body, and it's also used to make hormones, vitamin D, and various chemicals that help you digest your food. Now, several decades ago, it was believed that foods that contained cholesterol, like eggs and

meat, simply increased the risk of heart disease, period. Cut and dried, black and white. Well, we now know it's not that simple. For example, eggs have more or less been exonerated by a number of studies, and research shows that processed meat is associated with a high incidence of heart disease, but red meat per se is not. Now, based on my understanding of the literature, I think it is premature to say that foods high in cholesterol play absolutely no role in heart disease for anybody. But most experts now agree that eating cholesterol-rich foods doesn't inherently or necessarily increase your risk of heart disease by any significant degree. On the other hand, many foods that are high in cholesterol also contain a lot of saturated fat, which is more of a cause for concern. The long-held belief that saturated fat increases the risk of heart disease has been

challenged by a number of recent studies, which many people following the carnivore diet like to throw around as proof that they are right and the establishment and the naysayers are wrong. number of recent studies, which many people following the carnivore diet like to throw around as proof that they are right and the establishment and the naysayers are wrong. Now, the problem with this research is it has also been severely criticized by prominent nutrition and cardiology researchers for various flaws, omissions, and limitations. These scientists maintain that there is a strong association between high intake of saturated fat and heart disease, and that we should follow the generally accepted dietary guidelines for saturated fat intake, which is no more than

10% of daily calories until we know more. Now, to put that in perspective, let's say you are eating 2,500 calories per day. Well, that would mean that your daily upper limit on your saturated fat is around 30 grams. Now, if you are following a normal balanced diet, that's pretty easy to do. I mean, to reach 30 grams, you'd have to eat about five ounces of cheddar cheese, I mean, to reach 30 grams, you'd have to eat about five ounces of cheddar cheese, 20 strips of bacon, or three large, fully loaded cheeseburgers. If you are following the carnivore diet, however, you can exceed that upper limit rather easily. For example, here is the nutritional breakdown of about two pounds of rib eye steak, which is, of course, a fattier and delicious cut of beef that is a staple among many carnivore dieters. So for two pounds, you'll get about 1,535 calories, 182 grams of protein, 10 grams of carbs, 85 grams of fat, and 33 grams of saturated fat. As you can see, about 20% of the total calories of ribeye comes from saturated fat.

And for other cuts of meat, it can be even higher. This is why saturated fat intake is often double the recommended amount among people who are following the carnivore diet. Oftentimes, these people will have an argument to their defense. Oftentimes, they will point to primitive peoples who are known for consuming lots of meat and saturated fat and who are also in some circles often held up as paragons of health, like the Maasai in Africa and the Inuit in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Now, appealing to history is always good marketing, but these claims do not stand up to scientific scrutiny. For example, an early study conducted by scientists at Vanderbilt Medical School showed that the Maasai tribe in Africa had few markers of heart

disease based on blood cholesterol levels and simple tests of heart function. The researchers were not able to accurately measure or record what these tribes people ate, but they assumed that many of their calories came from whole milk, which of course is rich in saturated fat, but not meat, which they ate just one to maybe five times per month. Now, if we stop the story there, it sounds like maybe the carnivore dieters are right. Maybe saturated fat is not such a big deal. The problem though is over a decade later, the same researchers conducted autopsies on the hearts of 50 of these Maasai tribes people and found that they had extensive atherosclerosis, which is the hardening and thickening of the

arteries. And the levels were actually on par with what you would find in people eating a Western diet. And as far as the Inuit go, research conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Public Health has found that they have rates of heart disease similar to or even higher than that of your average American. What's more, neither of these groups actually follows a true carnivore diet. The Maasai eat plenty of carbohydrate provided by cow's milk, and anywhere from 8 to 54% of the average Inuit's daily calories comes from carbs. So the bottom line here is there is just very little data on how the carnivore diet affects the risk of heart disease over time. That said, we can giggle at some of the anecdotal evidence

by returning to the no longer Dr. Sean Baker, who shared his blood test results in a recent podcast interview he did with Rob Wolf. So after following the carnivore diet for over a year, that's what Baker said, his total cholesterol was 205, and that puts him in the category of medium risk for heart disease, according to most health agencies. His HDL, which you can think of as good cholesterol, it's not that simple, but HDL is the good, LDL is the bad. His HDL was 44, which is also solidly in the medium risk category and only four points above the high risk category. So the lower the HDL goes, the more the risk of heart disease. Baker's fasting glucose level, which is also a factor for heart disease, was 127. Now a healthy

fasting blood glucose level is generally less than 100. And the American Diabetes Association considers anything over 126 to be a sign of diabetes. Next was total testosterone, which was at 237, which is less than half of what's considered normal for a man in his early 50s and low enough to medically classify Baker as low testosterone. Low testosterone, by the way, is also a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes. Last but not least, Baker's blood vitamin D level was 30, which is flirting with a deficiency depending on who you ask and who you listen to. Low vitamin D levels, yes, are also a

risk factor for heart disease. So in other words, these blood results suck. They're just bad. And to justify them, Baker claimed that such things are typical among athletes like himself. And while there is evidence that some athletes do have higher fasting blood sugar levels than sedentary people, I do not know of any that justifies the high cholesterol levels, the low HDL cholesterol levels, low testosterone, and low vitamin D levels. Furthermore, Baker said in that interview that his low testosterone levels might be due to a healthy downregulation of testosterone production in response to an increase in cellular sensitivity to the hormone. In other words, because his body might, probably doesn't, respond better to testosterone, it might not have to produce as much. And where's the evidence for

this, you ask? Well, who knows? Who cares? Check your scientific privilege, bigot. And because we are talking about heart health, there is also the inconvenient fact that copious amounts of evidence shows that eating fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of heart disease and that avoiding these foods increases the risk. For example, one recent study was conducted by scientists at the University of NIS, and it concluded the following. Those in the upper tertile of fruit consumption, more than five items per day, had 60% lower risk for coronary heart disease when compared to those in the lowest tertile, less than one item per day. Consumption of vegetable, more than three items per day was

associated with a 70% lower risk of coronary heart disease compared to subjects who did not consume vegetables. Another study that was conducted by scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology found a strong correlation between low fruit and low vegetable consumption and heart disease, cancer, and overall risk of death. These results have also been echoed in a number of other studies, such as those conducted by scientists at the University of Warwick, Harvard Medical School, Cornell University, and others. So the bottom line here is, according to the best evidence and expert opinions currently available to us, the carnivore diet is likely to increase your risk of heart disease, not decrease it.

Okay, so that is heart disease. Let's now move on to inflammation because many carnivore dieters say that it reduces inflammation in the body. Now, first we should start with the term because it's kind of an ambiguous catch-all term for all kinds of unwanted physical symptoms. And so just to clarify it, technically speaking, inflammation is a prolonged activation of the body's immune system. And it is generally measured by looking at levels of various chemicals in your body, such as C-reactive protein and cytokines. Now, many people out there who say that inflammation is bad are not entirely wrong, because research does show that chronically high levels of these biomarkers is associated with various disease states, including obesity and cancer. So taking measures to minimize inflammation is definitely sensible. Now, as proof that the carnivore diet is ideal for fighting inflammation, people often point to

a study that was conducted by scientists at Boston University on 55 obese men and women. So here's how the study worked. The researchers split everyone into two groups and group one consumed a diet that provided 55% of calories from fat, 35% of calories from protein, and 10% of calories from carbs. And in group two, they consumed a diet that provided 25% of calories from fat, 15% of calories from protein, and 60% of calories from carbs. The diets were designed to allow both groups to lose about one pound per week for 12 weeks. And the scientists measured their weight, body composition, and blood levels of C-reactive protein at the beginning and the end of the study. Now, after 12 weeks, group one saw a 30% drop in their C-reactive protein levels,

whereas group 2 only saw a 3% reduction. Now, the carnivore crowd has interpreted these results to mean that fewer carbs equals less inflammation equals better health, but as is often the case, there is more to the study than meets the eye. First of all, like many other studies that quote-unquote prove low-carb diets are better than higher-carb diets for anything, the low-carb group also ate more than twice as much protein. So right off the bat, this makes it impossible to say whether the benefits were from reducing carbs or increasing protein intake. Second, there was very loose control of diet quality in the study. So it's also very possible that the group eating more carbs was also eating more refined flour and sugar. And we know that those

foods can increase C-reactive protein levels. Another kind of strange point about this study is the group that was following the high-carb diet fared better in some blood markers, such as a greater reduction in total and LDL cholesterol, and there's really no way for us to know which group ultimately would have experienced better health over the long term. Another inflammation tidbit worth sharing is the claim that plants can trigger inflammation. And yes, there is evidence that some people can have negative reactions to certain plant foods, including certain kinds of carbs.

FODMAPs in particular, F-O-D-M-A-P. If you want to learn more about that, head over to muscleforlife.com and search for FODMAP. So anyways, these foods that people can have negative reactions to include grains, beans, dairy, and even some fruit. And there is also some evidence that people with autoimmune disease can benefit from avoiding gluten. There is very little evidence, however, that any of these reactions are caused by inflammation per se, or that eating only meat is the optimal solution. So the bottom line here is that any claims about the carnivore diet reducing inflammation are based more on wishful thinking and willful misinterpretation than hard facts.

Next up is testosterone, the carnivore diet and testosterone. People who follow this diet and other high-fat diets in general often claim that it's great for boosting testosterone levels. And this, we are told, can lead to a number of benefits ranging from fat loss to muscle gain, can lead to a number of benefits ranging from fat loss to muscle gain, increased libido, greater energy endurance, and more. And there is truth here. It is true that eating more dietary fat can increase your testosterone levels. However, not as significantly as many high-fat dieters would have you believe. In other words, while a high-fat diet can bump up your testosterone production, it cannot help you lose fat or gain muscle faster or turn you into an alpha male sex god. Now, to understand why, let's start by reviewing a commonly cited study conducted by scientists at the National Cancer Institute. the National Cancer Institute. In this study, the researchers split 43 men between the ages of 19 and 56 into two groups. Group one followed a diet that provided 41% of calories from fat,

with most of that fat coming from saturated sources. And group two followed a diet that provided just 19% of calories from fat, with most of it coming from polyunsaturated sources. Now, polyunsaturated fats, in case you're not familiar, are liquid at room temperature, like oil, for example. Now, both groups ate the same number of calories, the same amount of protein, and more or less the same kinds of foods during the study, and the meals were provided by the researchers to ensure compliance. After 10 weeks, the scientists found that group 1, the people who consumed twice as much fat as the others, as group 2, had 13% higher total testosterone levels. Another study that was conducted by scientists at the

National Public Health Institute of Finland showed similar results. And that's neat. However, while a 13% increase in testosterone might sound good on paper, other research clearly shows it is not nearly enough to move the needle in terms of fat loss, muscle gain, or even general health and well-being. For example, it is well known that weightlifting workouts per week and followed a standard bodybuilding diet. After 12 weeks, the scientists found that exercise-induced spikes in anabolic hormones like testosterone, growth hormone, and IGF-1 had no effect on overall muscle growth or strength gains. That is, the size of the hormonal responses seen in the subjects did vary widely, but there was no significant difference in terms of muscle

and strength gains. Yet another study that is worth reviewing was conducted by scientists at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. Now, this one involved manipulating the testosterone levels of 61 young healthy men using a combination of testosterone and drugs to inhibit natural testosterone production. After 20 weeks, the scientists found that there was a dose-dependent relationship between testosterone and leg strength and power. Higher testosterone levels meant more strength and power. However, these effects were not significant until testosterone levels exceeded the top of the natural range by about 20 to 30%. And just to lend even more perspective on this, let's talk a bit about steroid research, which I recently covered in an episode all about steroids.

So a very extensive review of steroid literature that was conducted by scientists at Maastricht University found that muscle gains in people lifting weights on steroids ranged from four and a half to 11 pounds over the short term, which is less than 10 weeks, and that the largest amount of muscle gain over the short term was 15.5 pounds over the course of six weeks. Now, in case you are wondering why the large variation in muscle gain, a multitude of factors ultimately determine the results of steroids, not just the drugs themselves, but your training history matters, your genetics matter, your workout programming matters, your diet matters, how much rest you're getting matters, and so forth.

Now, when you compare this to what you can achieve naturally in terms of muscle and strength gain, my point is that even when you blast your testosterone through the roof with anabolic steroids, it doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to gain shocking amounts of muscle. In fact, you might not gain that much more muscle than you would if you didn't have the drugs, or you might gain a lot more. It depends on your body. Now, if that's the case with the sky-high testosterone levels that come with drug use, what does that tell us about small fluctuations that can occur within the physiological normal ranges? It's just not going to make that much of a difference, except in maybe the most extreme cases of, let's say, going from the absolute bottom of normal to the top. And this is one of the reasons why I recommend

that you eat a high protein, high carb, and moderate fat diet when you're trying to build muscle. When you do that, it allows you to fully take advantage of the significant muscle building benefits of both protein and carbs, as opposed to chasing negligible changes in hormones with extreme changes in diet, namely skyrocketing your fat intake, which means that you're going to have to plummet your carbohydrate intake. So the bottom line here is that the carnivore diet isn't going to skyrocket your testosterone levels or help you build more muscle or improve your libido energy or mood. All right, now we have nutrient deficiencies, the carnivore diet and nutrition. So like most of us, you have probably heard that a healthy diet is a balanced one. You've heard that different foods

contain different levels of different vitamins and minerals and other healthful things, and that by consuming many different foods and food groups, you can ensure that you are getting enough of everything that your body needs. Thus, one of the first things that many people ask about the carnivore diet is, how am I supposed to get all the nutrition I need from steaks and eggs and hamburgers? Well, meat actually is a highly nutritious food, but it is also very low in several vital nutrients like vitamin C and fiber. Now, vitamin C is important because it's involved in many different functions in the body, including wound healing, immune function, iron absorption, and protecting cells from oxidative damage. When you consume very little vitamin C, less than 10 milligrams per day, for long enough,

you can develop scurvy, which causes inflammation of the gums and tooth loss, fatigue, skin sores, joint pain, and eventually death. Fiber is also very important because it is responsible for maintaining regular bowel movements, regulating cholesterol levels, and maintaining overall gut health. Now, the carnivore diet provides very little of either, so how could it possibly be considered healthy? tackle vitamin C first. The recommended daily intake of vitamin C for the average adult man is 90 milligrams and the average adult woman is 75 milligrams. Most kinds of meat, including chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, and pork contain very little or no vitamin C. The one exception is organ meats like liver, heart, and kidney, which do contain trace amounts of vitamin C. For example, beef liver contains one milligram of vitamin C per 100 grams. Lamb liver contains four milligrams and chicken liver contains 18 milligrams. So what that means is if you are trying to get all of your daily vitamin C

from chicken liver alone, you would need to eat over one pound per day. And you'd have to do that without throwing any of it up. Good luck. Now, for comparison's sake, orange contains about 53 milligrams of vitamin C per 100 grams, which is more than half of your daily requirement. So how are you supposed to get enough vitamin C without eating plants? That is the question. The standard carnivore diet approved response is that you don't need much vitamin C to be healthy if you aren't eating much carbohydrate. Specifically, you do not need the 75 to 90 milligrams per day. And I don't want to dogpile on him, but this is what Sean Baker said in the 2017 interview with Joe Rogan that I referenced earlier. He said that this is the case for two reasons. The first was related to the glucose and vitamin C transporter bit that we reviewed earlier. Baker's argument was that because vitamin C and glucose compete for these same transporters, they don't by the way, but we'll get to that in a second. And because a low

carb diet results in generally lower levels of insulin, which is true, it does, restricting carbohydrate intake then would reduce the need for vitamin C because your body can better absorb the vitamin C that it is getting. As a corollary, the idea is that increasing carbohydrate intake increases the need for vitamin C. Now that's interesting. It sounds science-y and stuff, but as I have previously mentioned, it is wrong. Vitamin C is able to enter cells through transporters that are unaffected by glucose, specifically the SVCT1 and SVCT2 transporters. And therefore your body has no problem absorbing or using vitamin C regardless of your carbohydrate intake. Baker and others like him also claimed that the RDI for vitamin C, manganese, and all other nutrients, for that matter, is based on research conducted on people

who eat large amounts of carbohydrate and therefore doesn't apply to people who don't. That's a theory, but there is no evidence that I know of that supports that theory. As far as we know, eating less carbohydrate doesn't fundamentally and dramatically alter the body's nutritional requirements. And to assume that it does is not only speculative, but potentially dangerous. And this is especially true with the carnivore diet, which is about as restrictive and nutritionally restrictive as you can possibly get. by reviewing a study that was conducted by scientists at the Department of Nutritional Research and Education, which analyzed the nutrient density of four popular weight loss diets, which are all restrictive diets. We have the Atkins diet, we have the South Beach diet, the DASH diet, and the Best Life diet. The researchers added up the average calories

and micronutrients provided by three days worth of meal plans for each of those diets and then compared them to the RDI for each of the micronutrients. And what they found is that on average, the four diets provided sufficient amounts of just 12 of the 27 micronutrients that they measured. They also estimated that you'd have to eat just about 28,000 calories per day on average to reach sufficiency for all 27 micronutrients. Now, if that's the case with those kinds of diets, I can only imagine how much meat, fish, and eggs you'd have to eat every day to achieve basic nutritional sufficiency. Now, a zealous carnivore might say that, well, if that's true, why don't we see a bunch of

scurvy among my peoples? And that's a good question, but it does have a simple answer. The body can go for months with a very low vitamin C intake before the wheels start to fall off. And as long as you consume at least 10 milligrams or so of vitamin C per day, it is unlikely that you will ever develop serious problems. For example, in one documented case, it took eight months without vitamin C to develop scurvy. That doesn't mean, though, that eating very little vitamin C is optimal, and it very well might have negative health consequences in the long run. Research has suggested that. We also can't discount the likelihood that people are secretly cheating on their carnivore diets. In other words, despite claiming to only eat animal products, they might occasionally eat some fruits, vegetables, or meals that otherwise contain

plant foods or take some supplements to help. I mean, let's face it, most people cheat on their diets and research shows that the more restrictive the diet, the more likely it's going to happen. Now, this is particularly significant here because it would not take much plant food to make a big difference in the carnivore diet. For example, assuming you get no vitamin C from the animal products that you eat, if you ate just two oranges per week, that would be enough to prevent scurvy in most people. So when you consider the fact that most people do not need very much vitamin C to avoid scurvy in most people. So when you consider the fact that most people do not need very much vitamin C to avoid scurvy, the small amount of vitamin C provided by animal foods,

and the possibility of a secret orange or two or other vitamin C rich food or supplement eaten here and there, it's not surprising that people are able to follow the carnivore diet for long periods of time without completely falling apart. That said, I don't know about you, but I don't think that not dying of a third world disease should be the goal of our diet and lifestyle. Instead, it should be to live a long, healthy, and vital life. Instead, we should strive to thrive rather than just survive. As far as fiber goes, the story is very similar. Humans do not need fiber to survive, so you could theoretically go for the rest of your life without ever eating another gram of it. There is, however, a mountain of evidence that your life is probably going to

be shorter and more painful if you eliminate fiber from it. For example, studies conducted by scientists at the University of Social and Preventative Medicine, Imperial College, the University of Minnesota, Harvard University, and Tufts University, as well as many others from universities all around the world, have shown that eating more fiber helps reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and diverticulitis, to name a few. So the bottom line here is that, yes, you can follow the carnivore diet without developing a true life-threatening nutritional deficiency, but chances are that you will live a longer, healthier life if you just eat some plants as well. All right, so let's summarize everything that we have discussed here.

The carnivore diet involves eating nothing but animal products, mostly meat, water, and salt. As you can guess, this hyper-restrictive approach to eating can help people lose weight by reducing calorie intake and can make for a good first step in an elimination diet, but that's where the benefits end for most people. It likely increases the risk of heart disease. There is very little evidence that it reduces inflammation and associated disease or dysfunction. Eating more fat, as you would on a carnivore diet, will likely raise your testosterone levels, but not enough to have any significant impact on muscle gain, fat loss, libido, or anything else really. And by only eating animal products, you will also be consuming significantly less than the RDI for vitamin C and fiber,

which will greatly increase the risk of many different diseases. So in the final analysis, the carnivore diet is really just a more extreme version of every other low-carb diet out there. As with most fad diets, it burst onto the scene through major media personalities and mainstream attention, not scientific research or validation. And now it gets to run its course and capture its share of attention and dollars. What you need to know though is that unless you have serious digestive issues and need to follow an elimination diet, the carnivore diet has nothing to offer you. If all you want to do is lose fat, build muscle, get healthy, and actually enjoy your diet, let me introduce you to something better. It is called flexible dieting, and you can learn more about it at

muscleforlife.com. Just search for flexible dieting and check out one of a number of articles that I have written on it. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet then please leave a quick review of it on itunes or wherever you're listening from this not only convinces people that they should check the show out it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be

notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode, and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously, though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in,

so instead, I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically by flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef. Now, this book has sold over 200,000 copies in the last several years and helped thousands of men and women get the bodies they really want eating the types of food they really love, which is why it has over 700 reviews on Amazon with a four and a half star average. So if you want to know how to build your best body ever without having to follow a boring, bland, overly restrictive bodybuilding diet, and if you want 125 of my personal favorite recipes for building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy, then you want to pick up The Shredded Chef today, which you can find on all major online retailers like Amazon,

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