Is the carnivore diet great at building muscle?

[Fandar]

The carnivore diet is an all meat diet promoted by Dr Shawn Baker. It's basically a extreme ketogenic diet with about 70 percent fat and 30 percent protein by calories(approximately 1 gram of fat for 1 gram of protein). There are also a lot of anecdotes of this diet making people's health problems go away. In theory, is this diet the best diet for getting stronger and building lean muscle naturally? Shawn Baker himself is 250 lbs at 6'5, and he is fairly lean.

[SuffolkPunch]

No, I am going to call confirmation bias on anecdotes. An overly restrictive diet is never going to be better than a mixed diet that doesn't have problems meeting all macro and micronutrient needs. IIRC you have to eat a load of organ meat just to avoid severe vitamin deficiencies. Seems silly when you could just have a couple of pieces of fruit.

If people have intolerances or problems with certain foods then they should systematically eliminate things until they find what the issue is - not just eliminate everything except meat. People aren't designed to be carnivores, our digestive tract is not like that of a pure carnivore.

[Ghawk21]

I don't know why it would be any better than a balanced diet with protein and calories equal. Haven't seen any evidence to suggest it would either. There are also anecdotes, some of which get posted here, of people who's blood markers go to complete **** on carnivore. There is no best diet otherwise every single bodybuilder, athlete, strongman etc. would follow it.

[jtaylor2010]

No, I am going to call confirmation bias on anecdotes. An overly restrictive diet is never going to be better than a mixed diet that doesn't have problems meeting all macro and micronutrient needs. IIRC you have to eat a load of organ meat just to avoid severe vitamin deficiencies. Seems silly when you could just have a couple of pieces of fruit.

If people have intolerances or problems with certain foods then they should systematically eliminate things until they find what the issue is - not just eliminate everything except meat. People aren't designed to be carnivores, our digestive tract is not like that of a pure carnivore.

1,000x this.



Imagine having to down your 8th serving of liver(and I like liver more than most) of the week instead of having 1-2 servings of pineapple. I do think people have more issues with more foods than they realize though, so a restrictive diet for a small amount of time could be a good way to reset the system and/or determine what types of intolerances a person has. I guess a carnivore diet would do the trick, but I’d say there are better ways to do it, like the AIP diet for one.

[Fandar]

No, I am going to call confirmation bias on anecdotes. An overly restrictive diet is never going to be better than a mixed diet that doesn't have problems meeting all macro and micronutrient needs. IIRC you have to eat a load of organ meat just to avoid severe vitamin deficiencies. Seems silly when you could just have a couple of pieces of fruit.

If people have intolerances or problems with certain foods then they should systematically eliminate things until they find what the issue is - not just eliminate everything except meat. People aren't designed to be carnivores, our digestive tract is not like that of a pure carnivore.

These carnivore diet gurus claim that vitamin C requirements go up, the more carbs you eat. Shawn Baker rarely eats liver. He just eats steak most of the time, yet he says he never had scurvy or any other vitamin deficiencies.

[Ghawk21]

These carnivore diet gurus claim that vitamin C requirements go up, the more carbs you eat. Shawn Baker rarely eats liver. He just eats steak most of the time, yet he says he never had scurvy or any other vitamin deficiencies.

If you're going to do it just do it, what's the point in asking if your minds made up?

[AdamWW]

Shawn baker also has insanely low test levels and his blood sugar was basically at a diabetic level

[EliKoehn]

As someone who loves meat, I still find it hard to understand why someone would want to eat it exclusively and nothing else, on principle.

[desslok]

Can you build muscle DESPITE doing stupid “named diets” that needlessly restrict things for no reason? Sure. Have fun!

[snailsrus]

1. Have fun with gout

2. Have fun taking a chit with no fiber

3. You will get lack things like vitamin c

4. Most the people that make these insane diets don’t follow them

5. Most likely can cause cholesterol issues

Good luck op your kidneys will hate you too

[readreindeer666]

I think the best diet for muscle mass is eating adequate calories in total. I'm not a fan of extreme ends when it comes to diet unless it's absolute necessary

[themonstertruck]

I really don`t get it why people would do these kinda weird diet.
what`s wrong with the traditional diet, it`s very simple math, calorie deficit= lose weight.. calorie surplus= gain weight (or muscle)
people have been doing it for generations and it was proven to be effective.

[AdamWW]

I really don`t get it why people would do these kinda weird diet.
what`s wrong with the traditional diet, it`s very simple math, calorie deficit= lose weight.. calorie surplus= gain weight (or muscle)
people have been doing it for generations and it was proven to be effective.

That’s not new or exciting enough

[desslok]

I really don`t get it why people would do these kinda weird diet.
what`s wrong with the traditional diet, it`s very simple math, calorie deficit= lose weight.. calorie surplus= gain weight (or muscle)
people have been doing it for generations and it was proven to be effective.

Thats like asking why there’s no “missionary” genre on the pron sites

[rtpmarine]

Carnivore diet basically guarantees that you won’t be building muscle, because:

1) it practically ensures caloric deficit by increasing TDEE while making you feel full all the time

2) it ensures that you’re never insulinemic so your body doesn’t get any signal to grow tissues

It’s a great protocol for fat loss; it’s okay for muscle retention; it’s terrible for building lean tissue.

[themonstertruck]

That’s not new or exciting enough

Could be right, and not good enough for marketing

Thats like asking why there’s no “missionary” genre on the pron sites

you only find them on the back stage

[JaymzJ]

No, I am going to call confirmation bias on anecdotes. An overly restrictive diet is never going to be better than a mixed diet that doesn't have problems meeting all macro and micronutrient needs. IIRC you have to eat a load of organ meat just to avoid severe vitamin deficiencies. Seems silly when you could just have a couple of pieces of fruit.

If people have intolerances or problems with certain foods then they should systematically eliminate things until they find what the issue is - not just eliminate everything except meat. People aren't designed to be carnivores, our digestive tract is not like that of a pure carnivore.

We were actually designed in the beginning to be vegetarian, nobody ate meat until humans started complaining about wanting to eat meat. Animals weren’t originally put on earth to be eaten.

[desslok]

We were actually designed in the beginning to be vegetarian, nobody ate meat until humans started complaining about wanting to eat meat. Animals weren’t originally put on earth to be eaten.

Yep, wasn’t until the first obelisk appeared.

[SuffolkPunch]

We were actually designed in the beginning to be vegetarian, nobody ate meat until humans started complaining about wanting to eat meat. Animals weren’t originally put on earth to be eaten.

Plants don't like being eaten either. It's just that we don't anthropomorphize those like we do with animals.

By 'design' I of course mean evolution. We have a gut length similar to other omnivores - about half way between a pure carnivore and a herbivore.