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The Carnivore Diet & How It Affects The Body | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
Expert nutritionist explains what the carnivore diet is and how it can affect the body.
Expert nutritionist, Richie Kirwan talks all about a diet that has been getting a lot of attention on social media over the last few years, the carnivore diet. Dr Kirwan explains what it is, what’s the science behind it and what are the potential health effects.
So, first off, what even is a carnivore diet? Well, unfortunately, that brings us right to our very first problem. You see, there doesn’t seem to be any agreement as to what a carnivore diet. You might think it’s as easy as just eating meat, which makes perfect sense, but there are many variations of carnivores. Watch this video to find out more 👂🥩
Follow Richie on IG: @dr.richie.kirwan
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Chapters
00:00 - Carnivore diet
02:38 - Health Effects
05:50 - Elimination diet
07:10 - LDL Cholosterol
10:03 - Risk
10:22 - Any more diet q's?
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0:00
would you be willing to eat nothing but
0:02
meat for the rest of your life and would
0:04
it be good for your health
0:06
let's talk about that
0:07
[Music]
0:09
how's it going guys my name is Richie
0:11
Kerwin and today we're going to talk all
0:13
about a diet that has been getting a lot
0:15
of attention on social media over the
0:17
last few years the carnivore diet we're
0:19
going to talk about what it is what's
0:21
the science behind it and what are the
0:24
potential health effects as always I
0:26
want to point out that I'm not telling
0:27
you to follow or not follow this diet in
0:30
all my videos my goal is to help explain
0:31
some of the science behind different
0:34
aspects of diet and nutrition so you
0:36
don't fall for all the book nutrition
0:38
misinformation that is filling the
0:40
internet my goal is to help you
0:42
understand how different diets foods and
0:45
nutrients affect our health so you can
0:47
use your own critical thinking to help
0:49
you make up your mind about what to do
0:51
with that information so first off what
0:54
even is a carnivore diet well
0:56
unfortunately that brings us right to
0:59
our very first problem you see there
1:00
doesn't seem to be any agreement as to
1:02
what a carnivore diet is
1:04
you might think it's as easy as just
1:06
eating meat which makes perfect sense
1:08
but it turns out there are a lot of
1:10
different variations of carnivore for
1:12
example some say that as long as the
1:14
diet is at least a 70 animal products
1:17
then it's carnivores but that's a
1:19
completely made up number and many in
1:20
the carnivore Community will disagree
1:22
and say it has to be 100
1:24
some people say it's okay to include
1:26
eggs some say it's not some say you can
1:28
have dairy products like milk butter and
1:30
cheese whereas some say those foods will
1:31
mess up the diet
1:33
some say you can drink coffee some say
1:35
it's toxic some say you can eat fruit
1:37
but only some very specific fruits
1:39
without any real reason why whereas some
1:41
in the carnivore Community will tell you
1:43
that the sugar and fruit will make you
1:44
gain a load of weight and get fatty
1:46
liver disease
1:47
even talking about meat there are
1:50
variations within carnivore some people
1:52
say you should only eat ruminants like
1:54
cows and sheep because their meat
1:56
contains less omega-6 fats than
1:58
non-ruminant animals like pig or chicken
2:00
the reasoning is that in the carnivore
2:02
Community many people believe that
2:04
omega-6 fats in the diet are
2:05
inflammatory although that's not what
2:07
the scientific evidence says there's
2:09
even a version of the carnivore diet
2:11
called The Lion dive where people only
2:13
eat beef salt and water and that's
2:16
considered an extremely restrictive form
2:18
of the diet even by carnivore standards
2:20
in reality the defining characteristic
2:23
of carnivore is a major focus on animal
2:25
Foods especially meat an avoidance of
2:29
plant Foods even spices like Pepper or
2:32
garlic right so that's what the
2:35
carnivore diet is now let's talk about
2:37
some of the actual health effects that
2:39
it might be having both good and bad
2:42
firstly one of the most mentioned
2:44
benefits of the carnivore diet is weight
2:46
loss yes even though the diet can be
2:48
quite high in fat a lot of people at
2:51
least anecdotally lose weight
2:53
now is this because of some magic of
2:55
eating mostly meat not at all carnivore
2:58
helps people eat less energy or calories
3:01
in two ways first if you're eating meat
3:04
you're not eating anything else
3:06
especially processed foods which make up
3:08
more than half the calories in the
3:10
western world
3:11
following a strict carnivore diet is a
3:13
great way to avoid excess calories from
3:15
foods like ice cream cookies cakes
3:17
crisps pie sweets Pizza
3:19
of course you could do the same if you
3:21
decided to cut out a lot of processed
3:23
food yourself without going on an all
3:25
meat diet the second way is by helping
3:27
to reduce appetite we already know that
3:30
protein is the most satiating
3:32
macronutrient meaning it helps us to
3:34
stay Fuller for longer better than
3:36
fastened carbs meat has a lot of protein
3:39
and can keep you feeling Fuller for much
3:41
longer than other Foods on top of that
3:43
avoiding carbs leads to the body
3:45
producing ketones for energy and ketones
3:48
can help reduce appetite too so a
3:50
meat-based diet can help reduce
3:52
someone's appetite which means they eat
3:54
less which helps them lose weight
3:57
if you eat too much meat you absolutely
3:59
can still gain weight and there are many
4:01
stories in the carnivore community of
4:03
members with large appetites that have
4:05
gained weight while on the carnivore
4:07
diet now this weight loss that happens
4:09
during the carnivore diet is a big deal
4:11
for some people they may never have been
4:13
able to lose weight in their life
4:15
because losing weight is damn hard
4:18
the carnivore diet is simple in theory
4:21
just eat meat and maybe some eggs and
4:23
Dairy
4:24
simple advice coupled with the appetite
4:27
lowering effect of protein and ketones
4:29
might help some people stick to a diet
4:31
for the first time in their lives
4:34
the only issue is that extreme
4:36
restriction can often lead to extreme
4:38
food cravings in some people and that
4:40
might not be sustainable for some in the
4:43
long term now weight loss can have loads
4:47
of Downstream health benefits too better
4:49
glucose control and a low risk of
4:51
diabetes better mobility and less joint
4:54
pain which allows people to exercise
4:55
more reductions in the risk of
4:57
developing fatty liver disease and many
5:00
of the diseases associated with excess
5:02
body fat weight loss can be a powerful
5:04
tool to improve health in many people
5:06
and can be achieved in many different
5:08
ways but if someone achieves weight loss
5:11
through carnivore it's natural for
5:13
someone to associate the health benefits
5:15
exclusively with the diet that they
5:17
followed one thing worth mentioning
5:19
about the health effects of carnivore is
5:20
that there might be the possibility that
5:22
it may be useful for people with severe
5:25
food intolerances and autoimmune
5:27
conditions there is some anecdotal
5:30
evidence that people experience
5:31
improvements in some of their conditions
5:33
like psoriasis colitis and other gut
5:36
issues and even rheumatoid arthritis the
5:39
thing is there is absolutely no
5:41
scientific evidence on this whatsoever
5:44
but a lot of people seem to report
5:46
benefits from going carnivore and that's
5:48
definitely something that deserves
5:50
further scientific study now the way
5:52
carnivore might be beneficial is because
5:54
in reality carnivore is a very strict
5:57
Elimination Diet an Elimination Diet is
6:00
where you eliminate a lot of different
6:01
foods that someone might be sensitive to
6:03
to help ease their symptoms and then
6:06
slowly reintroduce some of those Foods
6:08
one at a time to see if they have a
6:11
reaction or if they can tolerate it
6:14
carnivore might in fact be the ultimate
6:16
Elimination Diet because of all the
6:18
foods it eliminates
6:19
it's also worth remembering that people
6:21
with these complex conditions food
6:23
intolerances or allergies are very rare
6:26
so that doesn't mean that the carnivore
6:28
diet is going to be beneficial for the
6:30
general population that's already
6:31
healthy the thing is elimination diets
6:34
are supposed to have a reintroduction
6:36
phase afterwards to help find foods that
6:38
people can tolerate to increase the
6:40
variety in their diet carnivore doesn't
6:43
have that reintroductory phase so people
6:45
may never learn what foods they can eat
6:47
again and they'll be eating meat for the
6:49
rest of their life
6:50
so those were the possible benefits of
6:52
carnivore now I want to touch on some of
6:55
the potential problems with the
6:57
carnivore diet the diet is very
6:59
controversial with many people saying
7:01
it's the worst diet ever and it's worth
7:03
talking about that to understand why
7:05
that is
7:06
the main issue with carnivore diet is
7:08
the possible effect on LDL cholesterol
7:11
you see animal products tend to be high
7:13
in saturated fat and saturated fat
7:15
causes the level of LDL cholesterol in
7:17
our blood to get higher
7:19
you might ask why does that matter
7:21
well we have a huge amount of evidence
7:25
amassed over almost 100 Years of science
7:28
using multiple different methods that
7:30
show that high levels of LDL cholesterol
7:33
over the course of someone's lifetime
7:34
put them at a much greater risk of heart
7:37
disease which is the number one killer
7:39
globally now there is a common counter
7:43
argument in carnival communities you'll
7:45
often hear them say that cholesterol is
7:47
essential for health and that is
7:49
absolutely true but it's no good as an
7:52
argument here you see we do need
7:55
cholesterol for our cells to function
7:56
and we die without it so much so that
7:59
our bodies produce all the cholesterol
8:01
that we need
8:03
we transport the cholesterol that we
8:05
need to the cells that need it with LDL
8:07
particles when an LDL particle gets to a
8:10
cell a it binds with an LDL receptor and
8:13
the cell takes in the cholesterol to use
8:15
it easy right
8:17
the problem is that when we eat a lot of
8:19
saturated fat our cells aren't able to
8:22
produce enough LDL receptors
8:25
that means that the cholesterol that
8:27
should be getting into our cells for use
8:29
is hanging around in our bloodstream
8:31
where it's not supposed to be building
8:33
up
8:34
over many years that cholesterol can
8:36
start to build up in the arteries and
8:38
form an atherosclerotic plaque that can
8:40
eventually lead to heart disease many
8:43
people on Carnivore diets lose weight
8:45
feel great and see improvements in
8:47
things like blood sugar HDL cholesterol
8:49
and blood triglycerides because they
8:51
lose so much body fat and these are all
8:54
good things
8:56
the problem is LDL often goes up
9:00
people refuse to think of that as a
9:02
problem because they're feeling better
9:04
than before but it's still a problem
9:06
because high LDL cholesterol takes
9:08
decades to cause heart disease it's a
9:11
very slow process but it can lead to a
9:13
very serious condition that kills more
9:15
people worldwide than any other disease
9:19
another concern with carnivore is the
9:21
lack of plant nutrients like fiber or
9:23
polyphenols now while these aren't
9:26
necessary for survival they can have
9:28
huge benefits for long-term health
9:31
for example higher fiber intakes are
9:32
associated with lower risks of colon
9:34
cancer something that processed meat
9:36
eaters may have a higher risk of on top
9:38
of that high fruit and vegetable intakes
9:39
are associated with a lower risk of many
9:41
other cancers too including breast and
9:43
stomach cancer
9:44
now this doesn't mean that I'm saying
9:46
that if someone eats carnivore they're
9:48
going to get heart disease or cancer
9:50
but the overwhelming majority of
9:52
evidence says that if they are
9:54
increasing their LDL cholesterol and if
9:55
they're not getting fiber fruits and
9:57
vegetables they have a greater chance of
10:00
getting heart disease or developing
10:01
cancer
10:02
all about risk I would like there to be
10:06
more research in carnivore diets
10:07
research is good and helps us understand
10:09
nutrition science and how food affects
10:11
us better but until we have more
10:14
research a carnivore diet high in
10:16
saturated fat and low in whole plant
10:18
Foods is not a sensible science-based
10:21
dietary approach as always if you have
10:23
any questions let me know in the
10:25
comments below and remember to like And
10:26
subscribe to the my personal YouTube
10:28
channel for more great evidence-based
10:30
nutrition information
10:31
[Music]
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