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17:23 · Mar 22, 2025

Are Plant Foods SAFE If You Have Crohn's Disease? with Kent Carnivore

This episode features Dr. Anthony Chaffee discussing autoimmune diseases and the microbiome with a guest who underwent colon removal surgery. The conversation challenges conventional medical thinking about gut bacteria importance and explores how someone without a colon can thrive on a carnivore diet. The guest shares personal experience of severe depression following surgery while eating a plant-based diet, which resolved after switching to meat-only nutrition.

Dr. Anthony Chaffee presents a revolutionary theory that autoimmune conditions aren't actually the body attacking itself, but rather immune responses to plant toxins like lectins and gluten that bind to human cells. Using celiac disease as an example, he explains how gluten attaches to intestinal cells, causing the immune system to attack the foreign substance while damaging surrounding tissue as collateral damage. This explains why autoimmune symptoms flare with certain foods and resolve when those foods are eliminated.

Key Takeaways

  • People without colons can maintain excellent health on carnivore diets, challenging the belief that gut microbiomes are essential for wellbeing
  • Autoimmune diseases likely result from immune responses to plant toxins (lectins, gluten) binding to human cells, not the body attacking itself
  • Celiac antibodies can remain elevated for over 3 years after last gluten exposure, yet symptoms resolve within 4-6 weeks of elimination
  • Plant foods cause measurable digestive distress even in small amounts - blackberries caused abdominal spasms 3 hours after consumption in someone adapted to carnivore
  • Life Without a Colon - Microbiome and Depression After Surgery
  • Serotonin Production and Mental Health Without a Microbiome
  • Mushroom and Fiber Fermentation in Small Intestine Without Colon
  • Autoimmune Disease Theory - Not Self-Attack But Plant Toxin Response
  • Celiac Disease and Gluten - Leaky Gut Not True Autoimmunity
  • Ancestral Diet Advice - 15,000 Years Ago Eating Pattern

This is an auto-generated transcript from YouTube and may contain errors or inaccuracies.

[Music] we have all this talk about how important the microbiome is and that's in your colon you don't have a microbiome because you don't have a colon and well you need fiber to feed your microbiome like no you don't yeah I've thought about that do you think it do you think maybe it partially relocates or I mean I guess we have a biome everywhere and it's obviously different from the biome we have in the colon yeah but think because like i' I've also thought about this I was depressed and i' I've suffered with depression before in my life but this was really worse way way worse this was after I had my colon removed and so you think about this gut brain access and it's like often the problem in the gut is why you have a problem in the brain but I've now had this problem removed and I'm yet I'm still depressed you know so it's interesting you think well have I lost part of my biome is it well most of my biome is it partially relocated in the terminal part of the helium thought about this stuff it's it's strange but either way I was depressed eating a plant-based diet post surgery and I had to cut that stuff out to be happy healthy you know viral energetic everything yeah yeah well it's um it is interesting I've sort of posed that question to a couple people and um you know they were they were quite interested in it saying yeah that's something we need to look into they were thinking yeah maybe something you know gets into the small intestine realistically I mean you know you know there is a sphincter you know between you know the seeum and the and the um the terminal alium right so um realistically it's not supposed to be going back into the small intestine things from the large intestin not supposed to go back in I'm sure there's a bit of crossover I'm sure there's a probably a bit of bacteria in there but it's not it's but you know when you get a when you get a a significant amount of bacteria in your small intestine that's sibo right a small in intestinal bacterial overgrowth and so you know that's that's typically not what you want and would typically have um you know quite severe and deleterious symptoms so yeah I so so it's interesting and then like yeah you're saying you know the gut brain axis you with the the microbiome like well you have to have these certain bacteria and that's going to do this and that's going to affect you this way and you know you know some large percentage of your serotonin is actually made in your gut and then that's sent up to your brain but you clearly got serotonin because you're not you're not depressed and miserable and and functioning so it's it's a very interesting question um and and it either well it it it poses a very interesting question you know for the relative nature of a microbiome you know how important actually is it you know what what exactly is its role because if you remove it entirely are we seeing too much of a difference I haven't been able to find any studies on that I've I've actually looked through I haven't found too much on that there are some differences you know people that um you know get their colons removed I looked at you know the different mental health issues and things like that and um I found a couple things where was like a very slight difference in you know mood and depression scores and things like that but you have someone who just said their colon removed they're not going to be as happy as as every if you didn't have it what I would say yeah it was a very slight difference it wasn't like a massive difference either so and then you know what about schizophrenia and and OCD and all these other sorts of things that that you know serotonin and dopamine and all these sorts of things have a have a role to play and so and we and we say a lot of this comes from your gut as well so it's interesting and um I think that that's probably really the way you want to look at at least an important part of investigating the microbiome is is getting a lot of people like yourselves that don't have a microbiome anymore and seeing well how different are they from other people and say like oh okay well overall fairly the same or you get a whole bunch of people with ston that are now on a carnivore diet you're like actually getting your colon taken out seems to improve people you know get their their depression goes away there's another thing that's quite interesting about this as well you think about say like fibrous materials obviously they ferment in the colon right and then you've got mushrooms which like contain chit in instead right um now they're like super gas promoting but either way I've eaten an Indian takeaway with this bag mushrooms onions I wake up in the middle of the night and it's like a balloon stuck to my stomach so isn't that interesting that it's also still fermented and and created all this gas without a colon yeah right like what what is going on there yeah so yeah there may there may well be some bacteria in the in the small intestine that you know before it gets to you know SEO levels of uh I mean this thing was like blown up there was probably 80% air and then just like 20% output and I would struggle to open it it was so packed out like blown up so tight you can't even open it to empty so you're having to like spray the top of the bag to pull it off with like an anti-adhesive spray just to allow some air to come out so you can empty and then of course I would just change the bag but it's like you're in this pickle where you you don't even know how to how do I get out of this this situation I've got a a bag blown up like a balloon there's no room at all to do anything but I've got to get this thing off and change it you know and that that was just from mushrooms and onions in one meal the night before and I would wake up every day like that after a meal like that and it would just be like a balloon so you who wants that yeah no no thank you yeah hey guys just want to take a second to thank our sponsor at carnivore bar I don't promote many products because honestly all you need to be healthy is to just eat meat for those times that you're out hiking road tripping or stuck at work and you want nutritious snack that is just meat fat and salt if you want it the carnivore bar is a great option so I like this product not because it's just pure meat but also because I want the carnivore Market to thrive as well and the more we support meat only products the more meat only products there will be available in the mainstream so if this sounds like something you'd like to get behind check it out using my discount code Anthony to get 10% off which also applies to subscriptions giving you 25% off total all right thanks guys one of the things I was thinking about as well I've been I've been you know really wrestling with this idea of autoimmunity in general because it just it doesn't make sense to me you know when I was taking Immunology it was it was very clear and even said this in in the Immunology textbook was a postgraduate you know graduate level um uh Immunology course and um and it was very clear like your body your body actually can't is designed not to attack itself when your your immune cells are maturing in your in your thymus mainly they're tested against every single antigen that in your body that's every single molecule your body can possibly make and if these immune cells react even slightly or make antibodies or have the ability to make antibodies even that attach even slightly to your own molecules they're killed they're just killed and so in the textbook even says you know okay autoimmunity this has to be a breakdown of that maturation process so that you actually can attack your body but we have no idea why or how and we don't understand why that would be but you know that makes sense if if you're going with the idea that it is your body attacking your own body that would have to happen but I actually haven't said no no we see this this is what's happening they're saying well logically that has to be what's happening because your body's attacking itself and this is the only way your body body would be able to attack itself and but we don't know why or how or what the hell is going on but the thing is is that I don't think that is what's happening because when your body does attack if you have a if you have an infection or if you have a foreign body or something like that your body mounts an immune response and it is full court press right if you have an abscess or you have an pneumonia or you have something like that you know you're not going to have flares of your immune system attacking that um pneumonia or infection because when it's flaring okay that's attacking that infection and then it goes like oh yeah I'm just going to take the weekend off and then and then that that infection is going to kill you I mean when people have immuno deficiencies like serious immune deficiencies you know uh a cold will kill them you know and so you can't let you can't let um an infection just run rampant you know and if your body is treating your colon like it's an infection like it's a like it's a pathogen and bacterial infection you you can't you can't be fighting that infection for years and years and years and years it's going to be just full core it's not going to be just ups and downs and ups and downs and ups and down it's just going to be like this has to go this has to die this is over but it doesn't you know and it doesn't do that for any autoimmune issues there there are some that they overly aggressive but even even they you know do have es and flows you know they don't just completely you have multiple sclerosis even you have like primary Progressive multiple sclerosis it doesn't just you know go out like an intis and just melt your brain which is what it would do if it thought your brain was an abscess right so that's not happening so that's not a breakdown of of that maturation process and you're making cells that are now killing yourself and thinking your body is an infection so that's not what's happening I think of it more as like Celiac celiac is considered an autoimmune disease but it's um it's gluten mediated right so so if you if you don't eat gluten you don't get the autoimmune disease it's like well that doesn't really make sense if it's an autoimmune disease it should just be attacking your body it shouldn't matter what else is happening but what happens with gluten gluten is eltin which is a plant Toxin and lectins are highly associated with autoimmunity generally and also plants come with glyphosate which is highly associated with autoimmunity generally but glyphosate or sorry gluten specifically binds to your anas sites and damages them and cause leaky gut that can cause other things to get into your body which is a problem but just on the on the Celiac side of things when these gluten when these gluten molecules attack and attach to your intestinal cells they cause damage and your body does exactly what it's supposed to do which is try to defend against that damage so it makes antibodies towards that but this thing is stuck to your interos site so now it's getting attacked but it's stuck to your cells and so now your cells are getting hit in the crossfire and so it's like and so they're getting damaged it's it's just like civilian casualties in War it's casualties of War so but when and you can look at this on on biopsy it's just horribly flatten V and micro causes a lot of damage and and um issues with Mal absorption things like that but then if you take the gluten away problem goes away and within four to six weeks those intestinal cells have completely regenerated and is completely normal even though Celiac antibodies can stay up for over three years after your last exposure to gluten so what's going on there that's obviously not an autoimmune disease because you have the antibodies there they're not an auto antibodies they're not attacking your body it's only when gluten comes in attacks your body and they attack the gluten so I think that's what's going on with the rest of them as well and that fits that pattern these es and flows and these ups and these Downs when you're getting this crap in your body and that's causing problems and you know that's certainly Michaela Peterson's experience if she just eats the wrong thing bam she's got a flare up of her rheumatoid arthritis and that's what I mean I see this reactive like you can check this on lab tests with my Hashimoto patients you know they'll they'll be going through just just eating you know beef Lam and water doing great great great their antibodies are just slowly coming down same thing with Celiac it can take um you know it can take you know years for those antibodies to come all the way down to a very low level or non-detectable level and all of a sudden you know they go to Italy and and go on vacation for two weeks I'm just going to I'm just going to enjoy myself they come back and I'm you know feeling wretched you check their antibodies and slammed up and then they're slowly coming down again and that and that's exactly what happen so it much it much more closely fits that sort of pattern where you're getting something in your body and your body and it's attacking you it's damaging you and then your body's responding to that attack and that's what I think is is going on with auto imunity said I wonder what you think about all that yeah no I I actually agree um although I did I do also think at the same time it's well I guess maybe you've debunked that hey everyone really happy to announce a new sponsor for the show and for everybody down in Australia Stockman Stakes who are delivering highquality grass-fed and finish pasture raised beef and other meats flash frozen and vacuum sealed tood door something that I've been enjoying a lot of myself recently as well they also have a great range of specialty items such as high fat keto mints and carnivore beef and organs mints with liver kidneys and beef heartart as well so use code chaffy today for free order of beef mints or another specialty gift along with your order at Stockman steaks.com and I'll see you over there thanks guys I actually used to put like gluten intolerance like Celiac IBS IBD all of it I was just like it's the same disease H you it's the same just just different levels of Destruction from different angles based on an individual that's a complete unique being um I just I just thought it was like autoimmunity is underpinned by in intestinal permeability seal the gut and then your auto immunity goes away you know and so again like the same things the lectins gluten being one of them fight hemog gluten and um fiber I understand isn't lectin but that's not going to help because that's not breaking down um what else casine from dairy alcohol seed oils glyphosate that would be the list I can think of medication certain medications um yeah that kind of stuff and I mean regardless of what it is specifically you know whether we really know 100% when you cut that stuff out you get better you know and I I I don't really want to do many experiments I accidentally had sea dolls once on a ski holiday and I didn't feel right for a couple of days that was one stake one time right I had this burning tingling heat like warm sensation that all of a sudden I could feel something in my digestive tract where on on a on a clean Carnival diet I don't feel anything in my digestive tract I eat I'm satiated I get on with my life I forget about it but if I if I deviate if I a little trace of anything it's like I know this there's a problem with that thing I can feel it so um yeah for me it's just like eat red meat restrict plants and dairy massively if not 100% seal the gut get out of trouble it's up to you whether you want to do some personal experiment I wouldn't touch whole grains I wouldn't touch seedos you know alcohol if you want to win en roome it a few times a year that's up to you um but I would rather drink like a brandy or a rum or a vodka than beer or red wine you know so yeah yeah definitely um well Le it's been it's been a pleasure really appreciate you coming on I know you I know you've got to go here in a minute um you know just just um just very last like you know um well I I guess you just did I was going to ask if you know if you had any advice to someone who was in your position you know coming into this and they're just sort of like oh what the hell do I do where can I go you sort of you sort of answered that there sort of just eat this way but you know what what would be something you could say to your your former self that may convince you to maybe give this a try and and and sort of deviate away from what um you know mainstream medicine was telling you I would keep it really simple and think just imagine you exist 15,000 years ago and before then think about what your lifestyle and diet would look like do that as much as possible and restrict everything else restrict blue light get outside revert back to Natural Whole Foods but not just oh it's a whole food like there's an apple no no I'm talking about what is available where you live cuz right now I'm in the UK I don't see any fruit I don't see the grains I don't see you know unless it's like man has created this monocrop and this is available and there's one crop here forget all that it's not natural go back 15,000 years 50,000 years whatever eat ruminant Meats the most nutrient dense and least inflammatory eat once or twice a day no more don't snack mineralize your water ground natural light limit artificial stuff technology out of the bedroom that's it everything natural enhance your natural you know and and and get away from all this socalled prog I ate some local blackberries I thought you know let's see let's just see what happens it's local I picked them myself it was off the road so there's no pollution no glyphosate I picked him I gave him a little wash and I ate them never again just I just hated it the experience after like I say after about 3 hours it hits this sort of area and my abdominal wall spasms and reacts and contracts
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