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Doctor warns that carnivorous diet comes with ‘severe risk’ of dementia and heart issues
At the end of August, The Doctors Kitchen Podcast discussed the relative merits of fruitarian and carnivorous diets and issued a warning to anyone cutting all plant-based ingredients out of their lives. Medical doctor Rupy argued that a Mediterranean-style diet is staring us in the face, and anyone solely eating meat is putting themselves at severe risk of two major illnesses.
Its important to get enough protein in your diet �and to know what signs to look for to find out if youre protein-deficient. Previously, weve reported on research that suggests switching up your balance of protein and fiber can produce great results for those hoping to lose weight. But there are other food groups, too. And weve evolved to eat them all �in moderation. Heres what The Doctors Kitchen had to say about cutting out essential food groups, and the risks some of us invite in the process.
Were all trending towards an omnivorous Mediterranean diet
Dr Rupy Aujla of The Doctors Kitchen advises anyone whos sticking to a strict keto diet to take breaks regularly.
Similarly, he says, if you follow a meat-based or fruitarian diet for long enough, you start to realize youre missing nutrients.
Ultimately, he argues, youll go back to what is essentially a Mediterranean style diet that includes animal-based products �and plant-based products. And olive oil, fat in moderation, protein in moderation, and so on.�
Were all trending towards this. The answer is staring us in the face.
So why do people gravitate towards online fad diets that are highly restrictive? The examples he considers are carnivorous diets (i.e., meat only), and a fruitarian diet, which does what it says on the tin: you can only eat fruits, although some would add nuts and seeds to the mix.
We lean into the extremes because it makes us feel good, he says. Its a bit revolutionary. It appeals to our anti-establishment side, perhaps.
He concedes that people genuinely have improvements to their lifestyles and symptoms, but argues that, ultimately, the general trend that we should be heading towards is more inclusive than restrictive, and includes all the main food groups, sensibly proportioned.
He has a stark warning for anyone insisting on maintaining a carnivorous diet
He discusses a survey of people consuming a carnivorous diet, and says quite plainly, most of the folks had LDL cholesterol.
Mayo Clinic calls LDL the bad cholesterol. It stands for low-density lipoprotein, and builds up in the walls of your arteries, making them hard and narrow. This is in contrast to high-density lipoprotein (HDL), which carries excess cholesterol back to the liver.
The levels of LDL cholesterol among people eating a meat-only diet would concern me, he says. Rupy goes on to add that people are putting themselves at risk of cardiovascular disease and even dementia by maintaining such restrictive, meat-centric diets.�
Without long-term studies by which to navigate, its best to avoid playing with fire, because the indications at the moment are that eating nothing but meat brings with it a severe risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia.
However, he does caveat this by saying that, to their credit, the people eating carnivorous diets were found to have optimal glucose and HBA1C levels.
Dr Rupy Aujla is a practicing NHS GP in London. He trained at Imperial College London and writes and speaks regularly on how to harness nutrition to prevent the onset of disease. He runs The Doctor’s Kitchen.
