Paul Saladino, a doctor and author of “The Carnivore Code,” said that most plants are “inedible unless toxic to humans.” “Forget leaves and fibrous tubers, let's go hunting!” he rules in the book. (Since he published “The Carnivore Code” in 2020, Saladin has reintroduced carbohydrates into his diet, with fruit and honey.)
However, as a 2023 New Yorker article detailing the carnivore craze pointed out, studies of Neanderthals have shown that their diet included dates, tubers, and other leafy foods in addition to meat. According to Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University quoted in the article, humans are “opportunistic omnivores” who “will eat whatever is available, which is almost always a mix of plants and animals (and honey).”
The New Yorker also cited a study by biologists David Raubenheimer and Stephen J. Simpson, who found that high-protein diets have a detrimental effect on animals' lifespans. “Our sexy, skinny mice on high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets had the shortest lifespans of all,” the scientists wrote in 2014. “They created beautiful-looking, middle-aged cadavers.”
Dan Buettner, an author who identified five regions of the world where people have particularly long lifespans, said that a diet predominantly composed of whole foods and plant-based meals, among other practices, is what leads to a long and healthy life.
“I don't know of any long-lived culture in the history of the world that was primarily carnivorous,” Buettner said by phone from Italy, where he was conducting more research on places he dubbed “blue zones.”
For some, becoming carnivorous appears to be an aspect of optimization culture that seeks self-improvement through so-called biohacking and other methods. For others, there may be an aspect of displaying one's masculinity and success through the consumption of steak, a luxury in much of the world. Interestingly, online promoters almost exclusively post videos of people eating red meat, although fish is part of the diet.