Paul Saladino Approved Food List

Paul Saladino is a double board certified MD and nutrition specialist. He is the founder of the Fundamental Health podcast, and author of The Carnivore Code and The Carnivore Code Cookbook. He has constantly evolved his eating habits over the years – but what foods does he currently recommend that we eat for optimal health?

What does Paul Saladino Eat?

Nutrition expert Paul Saladino primarily eats an animal-based diet. He says that an animal-based diet is “a way of eating that I think is a very evolutionary-consistent diet for humans.” He explains that the few remaining modern hunter-gatherer groups today all hunt animals and eat meat.

Saladino visited the Hadza people in Tanzania and went hunting with them. He says: “They’re not after vegetables. They really like fruit when it’s ripe, and they will eat honey but they’re not a big fan of leaves or seeds unless they’re starving.”

The main part of Paul Saladino’s animal-based diet consists of muscle meat, but he supplements this with organ meat. He’s specified that he eats organs including heart, liver, testicle, kidney, and spleen. Saladino believes that “organs have unique micronutrients that complement the micronutrients in steak.”

He explains: “Liver has minerals likes copper, folate, riboflavin – those are not found in any particular amount in steak.”

Paul Saladino prefers to eat meat and organs from grass-fed ruminant animals such as cows. He believes that meat such as pork, turkey and chicken “are not as clean as grass-fed beef” due to them being fed corn and soy and he only eats these in very small amounts.

The nutritionist also isn’t a big fan of fish with him claiming that even wild fish “is going to have significant amounts of heavy metals, PFAs – which are forever chemicals, endocrine disruptors, microplastics, it’s just polluted (in modern times).” He says that you can have it in small amounts but doesn’t recommend it being the main part of your diet.

Introducing Carbs to His Diet

Paul Saladino followed a pure carnivore diet for one and half years, even writing a book called The Carnivore Code and a corresponding recipe book at that time. Recently he stated that he’s added carbohydrates to his diet. He explains: “When I wrote the book, I was of the opinion that carbohydrates were not great for humans and was sort of looking at the literature differently. Over time I learned personally, in my own life doing a carnivore diet of meat, organs, fat and salt for a year and half that including carbohydrates in my diet improved my health from there.”

The nutritionist gets the vast majority of his carbohydrates through fruits. He says: “The most nutrient rich foods are meat and organs, and the least toxic plant foods are the colorful parts that plants want you to eat – the fruit.” He highly recommends finding a good source for organic fruit to ensure it’s not contaminated with harmful pesticides.

Saladino claims his health has been optimized since introducing more carbs into his diet. He says: “I will probably get about 300g of carbohydrates every day through things like fruit – watermelon, oranges, mango, coconut water, honey, squash. That’s how I feel the best. That’s how my hormones are the best, how my sleep is the best, how my recovery is the best.”

He continues: “The biggest mistake people make on animal-based diets with carbohydrates is not getting enough of them. You want to get at least 150g per day and if you’re more active up to 300g per day.”

On the topic of fruit, Saladino summarises: “Do not fear fruit guys. There is so much good research in humans that fruit is healthy for you. There is really no evidence that fruit contributes or causes problems in humans.”

Does Paul Saladino Eat Dairy?

As part of his animal-based diet, Paul Saladino eats dairy; specifically raw dairy. He says: “I’m a huge fan of raw dairy. At breakfast I have Kefir, fermented Raw Cow’s Milk which I make myself, I also have some Raw Sour Cream at breakfast, and at dinner I’m having raw butter. Why do I like dairy? Well, dairy itself is very nutrient rich, it has good fats like stearic acid, odd chain fatty acids, calcium, vitamin K2, choline, all the good stuff in dairy.”

Saladino continues: “Why do I like raw dairy? There are interesting studies that show that when you heat dairy – there are conformational changes in the whey proteins that make them less beneficial or even problematic for some humans.”

Paul Saladino’s Approved Food List

• Grass-Feed Beef Steak
• Grass-Fed Ground Beef
• Beef Liver
• Beef Heart
• Beef Testicle
• Beef Kidney
• Beef Spleen
• Bone Broth
• Eggs
• Raw Cow’s Milk
• Raw Goat's Milk
• Kefir
• Raw Cheese
• Parmesano Reggiano Cheese
• Coconut
• Mango
• Oranges
• Dates
• Cucumber
• Rambutan
• Passionfruit
• Dragon Fruit
• Papaya
• Pineapple
• Watermelon
• Plantain
• Squash
• Avocado
• Raw Organic Honey
• Coconut Water
• Reverse Osmosis Water
• Raw Sour Cream
• Raw Butter
• Beef Tallow
• Sea Salt

Find out more about Paul Saladino here

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