While a plant-based diet avoids animal products, a carnivore diet allows its followers to consume only meat and other animal products — a limit, some say, that comes with a host of health benefits.
Philip Ovadia, a Florida-based cardiothoracic surgeon is one of the diet’s avid proponents. Ovadia, who first went low-carb before transitioning to fully carnivore five years ago, credits the lifestyle change for helping him lose weight and increase his energy and mental clarity.
“During the eight years that I have been on various forms of low-carbohydrate diets, I have lost 100 pounds and greatly improved my overall wellbeing,” Ovadia says. “[I] feel better as I approach 50 than I did in my 20s and 30s.”
What Is the Carnivore Diet?
The carnivore diet first became popular around 2018 and is credited to a former orthopedic surgeon, Shawn Baker. It takes the concept of other low-carb meal plans such as the paleo or ketogenic diets and strips out the carbohydrates completely (along with all non-animal protein sources). Similar to the paleo diet, it attempts to replicate food sources available to our early ancestors with an idea that humans were built to eat more like lions and other predators and less like the largely plant-eating primates.
