Number One: How Can a Carnivore Diet Reverse Type 2 Diabetes?
Yes! Most questions that I see about the carnivore diet have to do with side effects or some problem with the diet. However, probably the most underestimated and underappreciated effect of a carnivore diet is that it reverses type 2 diabetes.
It does this because it is a version of a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet, and the science has been solid for decades, showing that a low-carb keto diet can reverse type 2 diabetes. When you think about it, it makes sense. Foods with carbohydrates get digested into sugar, which raises blood sugar levels.
One hundred years ago, a carnivore diet was used to treat type 2 diabetes before there was any medication available. So, it makes sense clinically. A lot of people get pushed away by the first question about a carnivore diet: Is it safe? Is it healthy? But the first question that needs to be answered is: Yes, it does reverse type 2 diabetes, and there is a clear metabolic reason why it does.
Number Two: Does a Carnivore Diet Reverse Obesity?
Yes! A carnivore diet can reverse obesity. The reason for this, as you now know, is that a carnivore diet is a version of a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet.
We’ve been studying low-carb diets for the treatment of obesity for over 20 years, actually, 25 years at Duke University. These studies have been conducted all over the world. A low-carb, keto, carnivore diet has been known since the 1860s to help with weight loss.
In fact, William Banting, a man who wrote a book on the subject, popularized the Banting diet, which was used for decades to help people lose weight. A carnivore diet is a type of low-carbohydrate diet. When you follow it, blood glucose levels come down, insulin levels drop, and insulin resistance reverses. For many people, insulin resistance is the root cause of obesity. As you start losing weight, you reverse obesity. You can actually maintain a healthy weight if you continue on a carnivore or very low-carb keto diet.
Number Three: How Can a Carnivore Diet Fix Gluten Problems and Celiac Disease?
My third question, one that is not talked about enough, is: How can a carnivore diet fix gluten enteropathy or celiac disease?
The reason a carnivore diet can fix celiac disease, gluten enteropathy, or gluten sensitivity is simple: There is no gluten in the diet. It’s a gluten-free diet. I’ve had people with gluten problems go on gluten-free diets that don’t seem to be low-carb enough or carnivore enough, and they don’t get the massive health benefits that a totally gluten-free, carb-free carnivore diet can give. I’ve even seen people reverse serious medical issues because I think they were dropping the gluten from their diet without really knowing it.
Often, gluten is causing a problem, but it’s hard to diagnose for many people, even in the medical world. Sometimes, it takes a special procedure to diagnose gluten enteropathy. A carnivore diet actually fixes celiac disease and gluten sensitivity because there’s no gluten in it. Carnivore is a gluten-free diet.
How Can It Fix Sugar Addiction, Binge Eating, and Problems from Ultra-Processed Food?
A carnivore diet is a sugar-free, ultra-processed-free, seed-oil-free diet. It’s eliminating all these different factors, and to the extent that they may be playing into some sort of medical issue for you. The carnivore diet, or a low-carb keto diet that I teach, is actually free of all these irritants, toxins, preservatives, artificial dyes, and seed oils.
You may get the benefit of eliminating all these toxins from your food. However, when discussing the carnivore diet, you don’t often hear about the elimination of all these things. That’s why I wanted to lead with the positive results of carnivore, because I don’t think they’re adequately addressed. Instead, it’s become a defensive conversation, and I don’t think that’s the way it has to be.
What About Possible Harms? Is a Carnivore Diet Nutritionally Adequate?
Yes, it is, even though it may go against your common understanding, your experience, or what other experts say. When you look at the micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals that we need, a carnivore diet provides all of those nutrients. This is a concept called essential nutrients.
I’ve noticed that in textbooks, the idea of essential nutrients has been watered down, even eliminated in some newer textbooks. Because of this, you have to develop a deeper understanding of nutrition before you can confidently say that a diet is nutritionally adequate. But in reality, a carnivore diet meets all essential nutrient needs.
But Don’t You Need to Eat Fruit?
Actually, fruit is not an essential nutrient. You can get all of the nutrients found in fruit from other foods. I know it seems odd, people come to me all the time saying, “But I thought fruit was healthy! I thought it was good for you!” In certain circumstances, it can be. Many people can consume fruit without any problems.
However, if you’re dealing with:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Pre-diabetes
- Insulin resistance
- Obesity
Fruit has a high sugar content, even small fruits like berries. That sugar content can make a low-carb, keto, or carnivore diet ineffective for:
- Reversing type 2 diabetes
- Reversing obesity
- Reversing metabolic syndrome
- Improving other health problems
It is known, at least anecdotally, to help. No, you don’t need to eat fruit.
What About Vegetables? Don’t We Need to Eat Vegetables?
Again, contrary to the way I was taught, I needed to eat the vegetables on my plate as a child, we don’t need to eat vegetables in general. As humans, we can get all the nutrients that we need from other foods.
The essential vitamins and minerals, proteins, and fats, which are essential, can all be supported by a protein-based carnivore diet. The glucose in your blood and other molecules that use glucose can be made from the protein and fat that you eat, fat to a small extent, but mainly from the protein that you eat. You’re not going to be blood sugar deficient if you’re not eating fruits and vegetables.
Doesn’t a Carnivore Diet Cause Scurvy?
No, it doesn’t, and this is another common misconception.
“Well, where would you get vitamin C if you didn’t have fruit? If you didn’t have vegetables?”
It turns out that meat does have some vitamin C, and when you’re not eating carbohydrates, you probably don’t need as much vitamin C. This is the concept of conditional essentiality, meaning, under different dietary conditions, you may have a different need for a certain nutrient. If someone developed scurvy from a carnivore diet, it would be such a rare occurrence that it would be published as a case study in a medical journal.
There are some situations where you might think you’re following a normal carnivore diet, but you’re actually not in an optimal state. I’ve had people tell me that after weight loss surgery, they develop all sorts of strange nutrient problems.
So, if you’ve had weight loss surgery, particularly:
- Roux-en-Y gastric bypass
- Duodenal switch
- Gastric sleeve
Then that’s a different medical condition, and you’ll need to pay closer attention to your nutrient intake. You may need to take a multivitamin and other specific supplements.
Most of the people I see are in a clinical setting, and because weight loss surgery has become commonplace, I frequently see patients who have already undergone these procedures. That’s why I have to bring it up in this discussion.
What About Fiber?
Fiber is one of those things that exists mainly because people promote the idea of fiber. I think it has to do with regularity, nobody wants to go too long without a bowel movement. But the studies on fiber don’t actually show that it reduces colon cancer or provides significant health benefits.
So, fiber is not an essential nutrient in a human diet, even though you’ll hear that popular notion being repeated. I don’t worry about fiber in the patients I treat. My standard go-to diet, which includes a small amount of vegetables and leafy greens—it’s not purely carnivore—provides some fiber. But I’m not concerned if someone decides to reduce or eliminate vegetables and leafy greens, especially if they can’t tolerate those foods.
Has There Ever Been a Study Showing a Low-Carb or Keto Diet Is Harmful?
No, there has never been a study proving that a low-carb, keto, or nutritional ketosis-based diet has been harmful to anyone. I had to reflect on that because we were always put in a defensive position. Trying to protect our data as we were.
I didn’t know if the Atkins diet or a low-carb diet was good or bad. I saw it work in certain clinics, but we didn’t know the long-term effects of it. And that’s kind of where we are with the carnivore diet today.
There are all these massive health improvements, so this is why I led this video on how you can improve all these different medical conditions. I see carnivore as a subset of low-carb and keto diets, and you don’t have to measure ketones and all that. We teach a relaxed version of what we call “internet keto”—where you measure everything, track macros, and get into the complexities. You don’t have to do all of that.
Do the Benefits Outweigh the Potential Long-Term Risks?
Are the benefits that you see right now outweighed by any future harm?
We just don’t know. But I don’t think so because the essential nutrients are there and because the historical evidence of populations eating this way exists.
And yet, do I say, “blindly follow this forever?” No, of course not.
Just like 25 years ago with a low-carb diet, we measured outcomes and tracked people’s health over 20 years. That’s what should happen today.
If you’re considering using dietary lifestyle changes for serious medical issues, do this with someone who understands:
- How to safely taper off medications.
- How to teach you to do this with minimal side effects.
I wouldn’t worry about the long-term effects yet because you’ll be getting off medications and experiencing such huge improvements. The short-term health benefits are so strong that that’s why this diet is so popular now.
And it’s very simple for some people—not having to worry about what to eat, just sticking to meat-based foods.
How to Personalize It
How you implement the carnivore diet is another way to personalize it. I didn’t want to get into that in this video, but it can be very simple. The main questions about the carnivore diet that aren’t being adequately addressed are all the health benefits you can get from it.
They’re real, and I think it’s unspoken. There’s a knee-jerk defensive reaction from people advocating for these approaches, but that’s only because people naturally tend to go in this direction once they try it and see the benefits. The benefits are so huge.
What’s Missing? The Science
What’s missing is the science that asks:
“What happens if you take 100 people, ask them to do a carnivore diet, and track all 100 people?”
Right now, we see only the success stories.
Is it possible that some harm is being done, and we miss it? Yes, that’s always possible.
When I first met Dr. Atkins, I met his staff and saw the referral-based clinic he ran. I knew it wasn’t a general public study, but when I saw it in action, I saw the benefits.
But the real question is:
“What happens to 100 people over six months?”
Not everyone will follow it perfectly, but I think that information will come soon as more research is done in the areas of low-carb, carnivore, and fasting.
Final Thoughts
This diet has huge benefits. What you eat really does matter, and as a society, we weren’t taught that. In fact, we were taught that we had to eat certain things in a certain way, and that’s just not the right approach.
Learn the basics of nutrition, which are:
- You need protein. We’re made of protein.
- You can run your body on sugar or fat, it’s really your choice.
I hope you find this helpful. You can watch the full video here.
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