Meat, meat, and more meat

Constipation, foul breath and rashes are among the potential side effects of being a meatarian. Yet the number of “carnivore dieters” is growing, The Guardian reports. Like a supercharged version of the low-carb ketogenic diet, proponents eat exclusively animal products – eggs, meat and offal – and eschew plant-based foods entirely.

Dubbed the “Carnivore King,” Shawn Baker is one such enthusiast. With nearly 40,000 followers on social media, the 51-year-old refers to himself as a “strict carnivore.” The orthopaedic surgeon has reportedly consumed roughly four pounds (1.8 kg) of meat each day for the past year and a half.

“It can be monotonous eating the same thing over and over again, but as time goes by you start to crave it,” Baker told The Guardian. Maintenance is effortless, he added, as the diet doesn’t require calorie counting or meal planning. “I just have to think: how hungry am I and how many steaks do I want to eat?”

As Motherboard reported in September 2017, the lifestyle is popular among a small group of self-proclaimed “bitcoin carnivores.” Advocates claim a boost in libido, better sleep and improved “mental clarity,” as well as diminished inflammation and reduced blood pressure.

“The people who tell you to eat your 6-10 portions of indigestible toxic grains a day ‘for a healthy and balanced diet’ are the same kind of people who tell you central banks have to determine interest rates for a modern economy to function,” Bitcoin carnivore and economics professor Saifedean Ammous told Motherboard.

As Popular Science points out, it is possible to sustain oneself on an animal-only diet. The traditional diet of the Inuit, for example, consists of meats such as caribou, fish, seal and whale. In order for crucial nutrients to be accessed, some of the meat must be eaten raw.

Raw meat is a source of vitamin C, and animal parts such as bones and skin contain dietary fibre, Harriet Kuhnlein, the founding director of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment at McGill University, told Popular Science. “For greens, traditional Inuit ‘ate the stomach contents of caribou and deer.’”

But from Atkins to Paleo, nutritionists have widely condemned meat-heavy diets, warning about potential health implications such as “cardiac, renal (kidney), bone and liver abnormalities.” One prominent nutrition expert told Motherboard that the carnivore diet is simply “too ridiculous to be covered.”