Paul Saladino - The Carnivore Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Optimal Health by Returning to Our Ancestral Diet

Contents

THE

CARNIVORE

CODE

Paul Saladino, M.D.

Foreward by Mark Sisson

Praise For The Carnivore Code

Dr. Paul Saladino is driving an incredibly compelling carnivore diet movement, with a thoughtful and measured presentation that compels everyone to pay close attention. With Pauls broad experience in both traditional and functional medicine, he is able to embrace the big picture of healing and achieve breakthrough results.

Paul Saladino is, by far, one of the most brilliant new minds in the health and nutrition sector. This guy is the real deal. He is well researched, practices what he preaches, and has a passion for digging for the ultimate truth. I cant recommend him or his work highly enough.

Paul is an extraordinary out-of-the-box thinker. He has deeply researched the science and provides some compelling arguments that challenge conventional nutritional wisdom regarding the need for eating plants to achieve optimal health.

Paul extols the benefits of carnivorous eating and backs it up fully with science. Hes done the hard work and fact-finding so you dont have to. As a functional medicine physician, he looks at human health from all angles. Hes got this one covered in The Carnivore Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Optimal Health by Returning to Our Ancestral Diet.

Paul Saladino is a bright thinker who has a unique ability to present the complex science surrounding diet and nutrition in an understandable way. In The Carnivore Code and his work, he does just that, showing us the compelling research supporting the many benefits of a carnivore diet. If you are looking to optimize your health, you need to read this book. You wont be disappointed!

The Carnivore Code

2020 by Paul Saladino

Published by Fundamental Press

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Though if you really cant afford the few dollars to pay for the book, go ahead and read it anyway; lifes to short for DRM. It would be rad if youd tell other people about this work if you enjoy it, whether you paid or not.

Edited by Jackson Haynes, Tim Neller, and Shawn Mihalik
Interior design by Nikkita Kent
Illustrations by Judy Cho

Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-1-7346407-0-0

First edition

Disclaimer: None of the information contained in this book should be construed
as medical advice. If you have questions about anything mentioned or
recommended in this book, please consult your personal physician.

To my mother, father, and sister. You have shown me unwavering love and support throughout all of my adventures.
I owe the best parts of who I am to you all.

And to my patients, you are my inspiration and my greatest teachers. I am so much richer from hearing your stories,
and what you have taught me is immeasurable.

FOREWORD

THE CARNIVORE DIET has suddenly arrived into a prominent position in the world of ancestral health. Over the years, Ive come across the occasional fringe character touting a carnivore-style diet and never paid it a second thought. Back in the 1970s, Venice Beach bodybuilders were known to eat only steak and eggs for a few weeks to get cut up for contests. In 2017, when fitness expert Danny Vega told me that his prolonged carnivore experiment generated dramatic improvements in blood values, as well as increased energy and peak performance, I shrugged off the story because it didnt align with my personal belief system. As a guy who prides himself on being able to think critically, remain open-minded, and always willing to revise his positions when new information arises, I humbly apologize for my resistance.

In recent years, the carnivore message has evolved from fringe to legit. In 2019, when Dr. Paul started making the rounds of podcast interviews, his carnivore message caught my attention and held it. Truth be told, I was captivated by the way Dr. Paul gracefully addressed the most controversial aspects of carnivore with reasonable, precise, and scientifically validated responses. For example, we know that most plants, including the vegetables beloved by all the diet experts, contain anti-nutrients that are difficult to digest and even toxic. Thats why we must elaborately soak, sprout, ferment, and cook our plant foods to render them edible. Even then, many of us experience side effects like gas, bloating, and digestive pain that are so commonplace we have come to view them as normal. As Paul will detail in this book, its not normal to suffer when consuming meals that are supposed to be healthy!

Carnivore is an area where I am doing some deep thinking, research, and personal experimentation. Placing sustainably raised nose-to-tail animal foods at the center of your diet and minimizing exposure to inflammatory foods (not just grains, but even vegetables in sensitive people) is simply too compelling to ignore or dismiss with a stylized reaction. Carnivore seems extreme at first glance, but researchers confirm that human evolution was driven by a nutrient-dense diet where calories came predominantly from nose-to-tail animals and secondarily from the plant kingdom. We most certainly evolved as omnivoresdont let any whole food, plant-based zealot or carnivore stalwart tell you differentlybut when Dr. Paul proposes that plants were merely the survival foods of evolution, we must carefully consider this premise. After all, as you will learn in the book, our ancestors increasing consumption of nutrient-rich animal foods was strongly correlated with an increase in brain size. This was the primary catalyst for us to branch away from our leaf-chewing ape cousins and ascend to the top of the food chain.

Granted, the carnivore argument advanced so clearly and comprehensively in this book is just one point of view. Today, there are many loud and passionate voices in the health and diet scene dispensing so much information that its easy to get overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated. What I appreciate about Pauls message is his measured and respectful tone and his ability to thoughtfully weigh opposing points of view. That said, Paul wastes no time and pulls no punches in attacking what he believes to be misinformation, flawed science, or conventional wisdom propaganda. When even my beloved Bigass Salad is taken to task, it leaves a lasting impression. Im confident that this book will do the same, and I encourage you to absorb the information in the same good spirit with which Paul wrote it: with an open mind, a willingness to learn and grow, and a desire to discover the most satisfying and nutritionally optimal diet for you.

Mark Sisson

October, 2019

Miami Beach, FL

INTRODUCTION

I LIKE PUZZLES, and the puzzle of what humans should eat in order to kick as much butt as possible is absolutely the most fascinating one Ive ever found.

If you were going to construct the ideal diet for humans, what sort of metrics would you use to define this selection of foods? I would want this diet to include (1) all of the nutrients that we need to function optimally (2) in the most bio-available forms (3) with the smallest amount of toxins. It should have all of the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other building blocks we need to thrive but none of the stuff that messes up our biochemistry or causes inflammation and cellular damage. Sounds reasonable, right? I call this the optimal diet riddle . Its really the holy grail of nutrition and medicine, and I believe that a nose-to-tail carnivore diet is the best solution to it. But dont just take my word for it; thats what this book is all about. Its my shot at convincing you that animal foods are the best foods on the planet and that plant foods are sub-optimal, containing smaller amounts of nutrients that are much less bio-available and a myriad of toxins that do nothing but harm us.