Rachel Ashby is a 41-year-old mother of four. She’s also spent the last four years following an eating plan many nutritionists would consider extreme: the carnivore diet. While most diets emphasize eating a variety of foods in moderation, the carnivore diet says no to any plant foods, completely restricting food intake to animal products only. Rachel’s daily consumption consists of roughly 5,000 calories completely taken from meat, eggs, and butter. Her day usually starts with a 10-egg breakfast with “a chunk of butter and salt.” Lunch is typically chicken wings, and then two or three ribeye steaks for dinner. “I literally eat fat for taste, so when fat stops tasting good, that’s when I stop eating it, because that’s when my body’s had enough,” Rachel explains.
Rachel’s diet is inspired by Dr. Shawn Baker, a controversial advocate of the carnivore diet who claims it can “reverse” chronic, autoimmune, and mental illnesses. Her diet is no secret, as Rachel actively documents her carnivore lifestyle and journey on social media. She admits the videos are partly to “annoy the vegans,” and she has expanded her animal product usage to beauty products as well. Most interestingly, of her four children, only one does not also take part in the same eating habits. “They just kind of sometimes decide by themselves to do it, and then other times they decide not to do it,” she says, adding, “But they always say that their health increases when they do do it.”
Claimed Benefits Vs. Medical Warnings
Despite warnings from a multitude of health organizations and professionals, Rachel remains steadfast. She truly believes in the carnivore diet and cites dramatic personal improvements as her proof. Since making the change, she’s reportedly lost 56 pounds and ha developed significant muscle mass with no exercise regimen whatsoever. “I never have to go hungry or feel like I need to starve myself,” Rachel insists. Before adopting the carnivore diet, she”would ignore my body’s hunger cues,” probably because high protein consumption helps create a fuller feeling after meals, leading to reduced overall calorie intake despite meals seeming indulgent.
The diet completely eliminates processed carbohydrates and sugary foods, naturally removing the majority of problematic food linked to obesity and metabolic issues. Some who partake in the carnivore diet report improved blood pressure and cardiovascular markers, but these may just be short-term responses to a lack of processed foods, not a benefit of what is being (and will continue to be) consumed. For Rachel, her perceived benefits go past simply the physical – she claims an overall sense of wellbeing and satisfaction with her eating habits compared to before, something she could never claim while trying other weight loss programs.
Read More: 7 Things You Might Notice When You Stop Eating Meat
Long-Term Concerns and Medical Perspective
Even with Rachel’s glowing recommendation, the NHS and other major health organizations are explicit: do not try the carnivore diet. Official NHS guidlines emphasize that a healthy, balanced diet should consist of at least five portions of fruits and vegetables a day, along with foods high in fiber, some dairy or dairy alternatives, multiple sources of protein, and unsaturated oils. Almost all of those categories are severely lacking or completely nonexistent in the carnivore diet. Cancer Research UK specifically advises against eating red meat consistently (70g per day), as there is a link to increased bowel cancer risk and it’s consumption.
Medical experts have expressed extensive concern about the carnivore diet’s total lack of fiber, potentially leading to constipation and disruptions to gut health. Several studies suggest that a high-protein, low-carb diet increases the risk of gut inflammation, since digesting protein creates harmful byproducts that can negatively affect your bowel health. The diet also completely ignores beneficial plant compounds and antioxidants that reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes.
Nutritionists warn that if you follow a diet this restrictive long-term, it can lead to deficiencies in certain micronutrients while consuming far too much of others – most notably saturated fat and cholesterol. While recent research has softened the link between saturated fat and heart disease, consuming high levels from animal sources alone is still a scientific blind spot. The carnivore diet is rife with risks, even more so for specific populations – the diet would certainly be detrimental to those with chronic kidney disease, as they need to limit protein intake. Pregnant or lactating women, children, and individuals with a history of disordered eating should also not try this diet.
While Rachel Ashby remains convinced that her carnivore diet has changed her life for the better, health professionals everywhere urge caution (or simply say no) when considering such an extreme diet. The lack of controlled studies make the long term effects of the carnivore diet a crapshoot. There are far more questions than answers about the diets’s safety and sustainability, never mind as a lifetime eating pattern.
Read More: After a Year on a Diet of Only Red Meat and Eggs, Man Shares Its Impact on His Health