Why Paul Saladino Quit the Carnivore Diet

Paul Saladino, previously nicknamed the Carnivore MD, has turned his back on the carnivore diet. But why has he ditched the diet and what does he eat now?

The physician that wrote the book “The Carnivore Code” has announced that he no longer eats the carnivore diet. He now eats what he calls an "animal-based diet" with a few additions.

Why Did Paul Saladino Quit the Carnivore Diet?

Paul Saladino claims that he adapted his diet due to certain health concerns which stemmed from eating purely meats and organs. He experienced symptoms such as a drop in testosterone, heart palpations, and sleep problems while on the carnivore diet.

The physician explains: “Two years into the carnivore diet I started noticing persistent unpleasant symptoms. My testosterone dropped to around 500, sleep disturbances, heart palpitations, muscle cramps when I was surfing or climbing. I started to think long term ketosis is not for me.”

The carnivore diet that Saladino previously pioneered consisted of just animal meat and organs. This provides the body with plenty of protein and fat, but minimal amounts of carbohydrates. With extremely low levels of carbohydrates the body enters ketosis, where it burns fat and produces ketones as an alternative source of energy. The health aficionado believes long term ketosis had an adverse effect on his health.

He says: “I had to really look at what I was doing and make this learning judgment that long term ketosis was not a great thing for me and probably not a great thing for most humans.”

Saladino goes into greater detail on ketosis and the lack of carbohydrates: “I started to dig into the research a lot more and realized that insulin signalling is critical at the level of the kidney to hold onto minerals: potassium, calcium, sodium, chloride, magnesium and that in long term ketosis in most humans you’re going to become so electrolyte-depleted that it’s almost impossible to resolve that with even enormous amounts of electrolyte supplementation. You can take all the electrolytes, so much salt, your bodies not going to be able to hold onto those without some sort of insulin signal at the level of the kidneys. I’ve experienced this, tons of people have experienced this with long term ketosis.”

As his health started to deteriorate, the physician decided to start adding carbohydrates back into his diet. He says: “At that point I added honey and fruit to my diet, and it’s been an evolution since then…the solution for me was adding carbohydrates back into my diet.”

What Does Paul Saladino Eat Now?

Since experiencing a number of health issues related to the carnivore diet and long-term ketosis, Paul Saladino has added three main sources of carbohydrates to his daily diet: fruit, fruit juices and raw honey. He still eats grass-fed meat and organs but refers to his current diet as an “animal-based diet”.

In mid-2024, Paul Saladino described his current diet. He said: “My diet now is organs, grass-fed meat, butter, tallow, raw milk and then I get a significant amount of calories from carbohydrates in the form of fruit, fruit juice, honey etc.”

He claims that: “That’s an animal-based diet and that works a lot better for most people.”

Paul Saladino’s diet has remained relatively similar to the carnivore diet that gained him notoriety, fruit and honey aside. He still doesn’t eat certain types of food that mainstream health channels promote as healthy.

He says: “A lot of people look at that diet and still say it’s very restrictive because what am I excluding in an animal-based diet? I’m not eating grains, so white rice is kind of a gray area, but I don’t eat white rice, I don’t eat oats, I don’t eat wheat, I don’t eat beans, I don’t eat seeds, I don’t eat nuts, I don’t eat leaves and a lot of those foods are considered to be healthy by the mainstream so that is a similarity from carnivore that I’ve carried over but I have started eating carbs in the form of the fruit and honey.”

Previously Saladino had criticized both fruits and vegetables suggesting that they may be harmful to human health. He believed that vegetables contain various "defense chemicals" like lectins, oxalates, tannins, and saponins that can disrupt digestion, inhibit nutrient absorption, and negatively affect your gut microbiome and hormones.

The physician’s view on fruit has changed however, after doing more research. He explains:

“The reason I eat fruit is if you look at a plant in a plant’s life cycle the intention of the plant is to move its seeds to the next generation in a colorful, sweet fruit, and if you look at plant foods and you look at overarching terms like defense chemicals, the lowest amounts of defense chemicals are in the fruit – that’s pretty clear, and the lowest amount of those chemicals occur as the fruit ripens.”

He continues: “There’s these signals within the plant kingdom that say ‘Hey! This food is less toxic once I’m ready for that seed to go germinate and that’s when I want you to eat it’.”

Check out a full list of the foods Paul Saladino now eats here.

Benefits of Carbohydrates

Since adding carbohydrates in the form of fruit and raw honey to his diet, Paul Saladino has seen a vast improvement in his health issues he believes were caused by the carnivore diet and long-term ketosis.

He explains: “I’ve been feeling much better. Testosterone is 800, pre-testosterone is great, sex hormone binding globulin goes down, free T3 goes back up, thyroid hormones improve, cholesterol lipids go down. Still my ldlc or my ldlp is above what many people would consider to be optimal.”

Saladino continues: “Certainly there are changes that happen in humans without carbohydrates in their diet at the level of hormones, at the level of electrolytes, at the level of lipids, and these are interesting to me.”

The Canivore Code author’s stance on carbohydrates has changed quite drastically over the past couple of years. He says: “When it comes to ketogenic diets and exercise performance there is a benefit to having carbohydrates. When it comes to ketogenic diets and thyroid hormone status there’s a benefit to have carbohydrates. When it comes to ketogenic diets and electrolyte levels there’s a benefit to having carbohydrates in your diet. And when it comes to ketogenic diets and sex hormones like testosterone or free testosterone index there is a benefit to having carbohydrates in your diet.”

Paul Saladino’s change in perspective on carbohydrates stems from both his own experience and an array of scientific studies that highlight the importance of carbohydrates. He reiterates however, that everyone is different and that “fruit and honey seem to have been the best carbohydrates for me, along with raw milk.”

Does Paul Saladino Still Recommend the Carnivore Diet?

Paul Saladino believes that embarking on the carnivore diet initially cured a host of autoimmune issues that he was suffering from, however it also led to new health issues arising after a long period of time.

The physician says: “Eating a carnivore diet led to full resolution of my autoimmune condition, eczema, itchy rashes, and asthma that I’d had for my whole life.”

He continues: “Eating a carnivore diet – eating only animal foods meat, fish, chicken, eggs, animal fat, organs, salt, some people drink coffee on this type of diet, is a an incredibly powerful way of eating. It’s an elimination diet, and it’s helped so many people including myself reverse autoimmune diseases, get to the bottom of which foods are triggering their gut issues, it’s helped a lot of people lose weight and feel massively better overall.”

Discussing his 2019 book, The Carnivore Code, Saladino says: “It’s still something I’m very proud of and I still agree with many ideas talked about in that book.”

“If you are eating a Carnivore diet or ketogenic diet and you are thriving – keep thriving – I’m glad that you’ve found a way of eating that works for you. But I know that like myself there are a lot of people who eat Carnivore or ketogenic diets, and they run into issues.”

Paul Saladino suggests that people who have experienced health improvements since eating the carnivore diet and are still feeling good continue doing what they’re doing. However, if you are starting to experience new symptoms likely caused by this diet then he highly recommends adding healthy carb sources such as fruit and honey to your diet.