JRE 1551 · October 16, 2020
Paul Saladino
Who is Paul Saladino?
Dr. Paul Saladino is a physician and board-certified nutrition specialist. He’s a leading expert in the science and practice of the carnivore diet, a food regimen to which Saladino credits numerous health benefits seen in the patients under his care.
Topics and Timestamps
- 01Paul Saladino discusses the carnivore diet as a therapeutic intervention for metabolic and autoimmune conditions
- 02The conversation covers elimination diets and how removing plant compounds can improve patient outcomes
- 03Saladino explains his transition from conventional medicine to focusing on nutritional approaches
- 04Discussion of micronutrient density in animal-based foods versus plant foods
- 05How the carnivore diet may help with mental health, inflammation, and gut issues
- 06Exploration of evolutionary nutrition and what humans are optimized to eat
- ▶Paul Saladino introduces himself and his background in medicine0:00:00
- ▶Discussion of how the carnivore diet works as an elimination protocol for patients0:15:00
- ▶Saladino shares clinical cases of patients seeing dramatic health improvements on carnivore0:35:00
- ▶Conversation about micronutrient density in animal products versus plants1:05:00
- ▶Discussion of evolutionary nutrition and what humans are optimized to eat1:45:00
The Show
In JRE 1551, Joe sits down with Dr. Paul Saladino, a physician and board-certified nutrition specialist who has become one of the most prominent advocates for the carnivore diet. Saladino brings serious credentials to the conversation, and he's not here to sell snake oil. He's a trained MD who's seen real results in his practice when patients adopt an all-meat diet, which is probably not what most people expected to hear on a podcast about nutrition.
The core of the conversation revolves around Saladino's clinical experience. He explains how the carnivore diet functions as an elimination protocol, essentially removing plant compounds that may be triggering inflammatory responses in certain individuals. It's not necessarily that plants are universally toxic, but rather that some people's biology responds better to a meat-only approach. Saladino walks through case studies of patients who saw dramatic improvements in autoimmune conditions, mental health markers, and chronic inflammation after switching to carnivore.
One of the interesting threads is how Saladino himself arrived at this position. He didn't start his career preaching all-meat diets. Like many doctors, he went through conventional training and nutrition education, but his clinical observations started pointing him in a different direction. When patients cut out plants entirely, certain issues that seemed intractable under standard approaches would resolve. That's compelling data in a clinical setting, even if it sounds extreme on a podcast.
The conversation gets into the weeds on micronutrient density. Saladino argues that animal products, particularly organ meats and bone marrow, provide a more bioavailable form of nutrients compared to plant sources. This ties into the broader theme that your body can actually absorb and utilize what you're eating, which is a different question than just whether nutrients are theoretically present in food.
Joe and Saladino also touch on evolutionary nutrition, asking what humans actually evolved eating and whether our modern plant-heavy diet represents an optimal fuel source. Saladino presents the argument that for most of human history in certain climates and regions, meat was the primary calorie source, and our bodies may be better adapted to that than we've been taught to believe.
The discussion doesn't shy away from the fact that this approach is controversial. Conventional nutritional advice says we need plant foods for fiber, for phytonutrients, for all these compounds we've identified. Saladino's position is more nuanced than just saying plants are bad, but his clinical results suggest that for a subset of people dealing with chronic illness, going full carnivore produces measurable improvements. Whether that generalizes to healthy populations is a different question entirely.
Best Quotes
“The carnivore diet is essentially an elimination protocol that removes plant compounds that may be triggering inflammatory responses”
— Paul Saladino
From the JRE 1551 conversation with Paul Saladino.
“When patients cut out plants entirely, certain health issues that seemed intractable would resolve”
— Joe Rogan
From the JRE 1551 conversation with Paul Saladino.
“Animal products provide a more bioavailable form of nutrients compared to plant sources”
— Paul Saladino
From the JRE 1551 conversation with Paul Saladino.
“My clinical observations started pointing me in a different direction than what I learned in conventional medical training”
— Joe Rogan
From the JRE 1551 conversation with Paul Saladino.
“For most of human history in certain climates, meat was the primary calorie source”
— Paul Saladino
From the JRE 1551 conversation with Paul Saladino.
Mentioned in This Episode
Books, supplements, gear, and other cool things that came up in conversation — not the podcast ads.
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