81 sats \ 7 replies \ @BTC_LN 16 Dec 2023 \ on: I've been incredibly deep in the Carnivore Diet rabbit hole recently - AMA AMA
I have a question at the end of my monologue.
It's important to note that different people have different optimal diets. There are some general truths, but also many differences between individuals. Certainly, there is no one-size-fits-all diet.
Our ancestors had to survive in various climates and environments. Over tens of thousands of years, we developed adaptations to those conditions.
For example, some people of European descent had to survive through brutal winters and thus developed the ability to digest milk into adulthood. This is not the case for people of Asian descent, where milk was not a routine part of the diet.
Modern people are a mix of all kinds of past peoples with diverse genetic heritages, making it hard to tell if one's body would benefit more from a primarily carnivorous or herbivorous diet. One has to consider both extremes and find their personal optimum. Paying attention to your cultural heritage is important, as cultural habits often encode beneficial behaviors for a typically genetically homogenous group through customs and cooking methods.
Some people have unique genetic conditions which require them to eat or avoid certain foods. It's crucial to establish if you have any such conditions. It's also important not to blindly copy the behavior of a person with such a condition, as their experience could have the opposite effect on you.
Additionally, it's vital to establish your goals before trying to copy someone's dietary habits. For instance, carnivore diets may provide lots of testosterone and growth hormone, resulting in increased life force, muscle definition, and other health benefits, but a herbivore diet has been proven to slow down metabolism, which may offer a clear mind (debatable), longevity, and a light frame beneficial for certain lifestyles.
Finally, factors like sex, age, and life stage are important. Women literally have different organs from men, and, for example, cancer risk factors differ because of this. High testosterone benefits men more in terms of reducing cancer risks, outweighing any negative effects. At an early age, when you study and exercise hard, you can afford and benefit from sugars, especially when combined with protein; later in life, sugars come with risks. Etc.
Most people will find their optimum for their stage of life somewhere between these two extremes, and a few individuals will find one extreme to be optimal. Thus, I feel it's not a good idea to judge or recommend a specific diet as the 'best' based on a few individuals or even a small group.
So, my question is, in your deep research, did you encounter ideas like I expressed above, or was it all 'carnivore is the only way' type of content?
different people have different optimal diets Can you name another animal where different individuals within the species have different optimal diets?
(The answer is no 😉 Every species, including humans, has a single optimal diet. Now certain individuals have slightly differing sensitivities/ability to sway slightly outside of that diet without experiencing as many negative effects, but that doesn't mean it's optimal.)
Modern people are a mix of all kinds of past peoples with diverse genetic heritages, making it hard to tell if one's body would benefit more from a primarily carnivorous or herbivorous diet.
This is true on the thousands-of-years-back time frame. I, and other carnivores, tend to lean toward looking at the millions-of-years-back time frame, before the agricultural revolution began. This is key, because we believe that the introduction of plants was the variable that started screwing things up for modern humans, and we must look a bit further back than that for the true key to our optimal human form. Check out this presentation for a more in-depth explanation of this.
Some people have unique genetic conditions which require them to eat or avoid certain foods.
I have not heard of a single case where someone had better health outcomes, regardless of condition, on a plant-inclusive diet vs. a strict carnivore diet. All cases where people say "pLaNtS mAdE mE bEtTeR" are cases when people are coming from a place of shitty processed foods, so of course they see some improvement, but they NEVER try the carnivore diet as well. Once they do, they NEVER go back. But like I said, if you know of any strong testimonials of folks that have, I'd be happy to check it out.
I feel it's not a good idea to judge or recommend a specific diet as the 'best'
Why not? I believe we should continue to strive toward reaching peak optimal form, so we can bring modern society to its happiest, healthiest possible potential. And building off my earlier point, I haven't seen any cases where anyone has achieved better health outcomes by adding plant matter back into their diet after going full carnivore, which to me, is pretty damn good evidence that carnivore is indeed the best human diet.
Did you encounter ideas like I expressed above, or was it all 'carnivore is the only way' type of content?
Absolutely. There's an ongoing war of information on this topic all across the internet, as you could expect, because people get very emotionally-attached to their dietary habits. But consistently, as I dive into the background/motivation behind the people on different sides of this debate, I continue to find that the carnivore "team" has simply done the greater amount of homework, and have an answer for every FUD point there is. (Very similar to Bitcoiners in a fight with crypto people; the more you research, the more it starts to look like a fight between adults and children who don't really understand what they're talking about.) This is all based on my own observations and amateur psychological analysis skills of course, so take that with a grain of salt, but I trust my researching skills, and I simply get more convinced of carnivore's superiority the more time I spend researching it.
Hope that answers your questions! Appreciate the skepticism, always!
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Thank you! So in your view based on your research humans are not omnivores but carnivores?
So we evolved from monkey like creatures that almost only ate fruit. More recently from ape like creatures that only ate plants and bugs. And, then a few million years ago we started becoming carnivores, I assume because of the pressures of the Ice Age which forced us to consume animals (hunting is a dangerous and difficult task). And the reason we don't have carnivore teeth is because we didn't hunt animals down with our jaws but with our spears, and then cut them up with our premordial axes, and cook them on fire. I guess it's plausible.
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Yep! This presentation breaks it all down in a bit more detail; highly recommend watching it
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Don't worry, Dr Chaffee has an answer for that.
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People not protective/ attached to dietary habits. They are attached to their addictions and inability to accept the idea that they could be wrong.
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Women have the same organs as men except for one organ. (Gonads) funny word. There is a way to find out how good the diet is. Try it.
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Women have the same organs as men except for one organ. (Gonads) funny word.
Men specific: Testes, prostate gland, seminal vesicles, penis
Women specific: Ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, cervix, vagina, breasts
It's also not just organs, there is significant hormonal difference, which is important when it comes to diet.
Men: Higher levels of testosterone
Women: Higher levels of estrogen and progesterone
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