The Carnivore Debate Part 1 | Mastering Nutrition #69

Dr. Paul Saladino, Carnivore MD, and I sit down to talk about the carnivore diet. In part 1, we focus on whether you can get all the vitamins and minerals you need on a carnivore diet, and how to best design a carnivore diet to maximize the nutrition you get.

We discuss what I consider high-risk nutrients:

• Vitamin C
• Folate

And what I consider conditional-risk nutrients:

• Manganese​ 
• Magnesium​
• Vitamin K​ 
• Potassium​ 
• Molybdenum​ 

We also chat about some other things:

• Dioxins in animal foods: a reason for vegetarianism? 
• The methionine-to-glycine ratio: balancing meat with bones and skin.
• Did paleo people get nutritional deficiencies?
• Bioindividuality: why we all have different needs and our needs evolve over time.
• Diversify to manage risk: does this mean eat plants, or just eat all the parts of an animal?
• Ketogenic diets and oxidative stress.
• Do carbohydrates give you more intracellular insulin signaling?
• Should carnivores eat dextrose powder for carbs?
• Are today’s hunter-gatherers representative of those from 80,000 years ago?
• Did the Maasai really mostly eat meat and milk?
• My open-door helicopter ride in Hawaii.

Dr. Saladino completed residency in psychiatry at the University of Washington and is a certified functional medicine practitioner through the Institute for Functional Medicine. He attended medical school at the University of Arizona where he worked with Dr. Andrew Weil focusing on integrative medicine and nutritional biochemistry. Prior to this, Dr. Saladino worked as a physician assistant in Cardiology. It was during this time that he saw first hand the shortcomings of mainstream western medicine with its symptom focused, pharmaceutical based paradigm. He decided to return to medical school with the hope of better understanding the true roots of chronic disease and illness, and how to correct these. He now maintains a private practice in San Diego, California, sees clients from all over the world virtually, and has used the carnivore with hundreds of patients to reverse autoimmunity, chronic inflammation, and mental health issues. When he is not researching connections between nutritional biochemistry and chronic disease, he can be found in the ocean searching for the perfect wave, cultivating mindfulness, or spending time with friends and family. 

Find more of Dr. Paul Saladino on the Fundamental Health podcast and at https://carnivoremd.com

Get my free 9-page guide to optimizing vitamins and minerals on the carnivore diet at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/carnivore 

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In this episode, you will find all of the following and more:

Masterjohn and Saladino Show Notes

2:11 Introductions

6:36 Dioxins in food. 

14:33 Methionine to Glycine ratio.

23:08 Nutritional deficiencies in paleolithic people.

27:09 Bio individuality/diversity

36:07 Deficiencies that arise from eating only muscle meat.

37:26 Vitamin C

44:22 Weston A. Price’s documentation of whale stomach lining and moose adrenal as a source of vitamin C in Arctic diets.

56:03 Ketogenic diets, oxidative stress, and vitamin c. 

58:36 Insulin

1:05:46 Antioxidant status.

1:22:44 Folate.

1:26:05 Riboflavin.

1:30:23 Manganese.

1:32:28 Dextrose powder.

1:37:31 Potassium/sodium.

1:52:37 Hunter gatherer diets now vs. 80 000 years ago.

2:03:05 The Maasai.

2:09:00 Vitamin K

2:19:00 The most radical thing I’ve done recently. 

Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here:

https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/069-the-carnivore-debate-part-1