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21:03 · Jan 30, 2025

Most Common MISTAKES You're Doing On The Carnivore Diet!

Dr. Anthony Chaffee reveals the most common mistakes people make when starting a carnivore diet and why many fail to see optimal results. He explains that most people aren't actually following a pure meat-and-water approach, instead including artificial sweeteners, dairy, and coffee that can trigger insulin responses and prevent fat burning. The discussion covers why focusing on single outcomes like weight loss causes people to miss dramatic improvements in autoimmune conditions, diabetes resolution, and mental clarity.

The episode transitions into healthcare reform strategies, including criminalizing fraudulent research practices by food companies and implementing optimal reference ranges instead of average population ranges for lab tests. Dr. Anthony Chaffee demonstrates how current medical standards hide nutritional deficiencies like B12 deficiency and low testosterone by comparing patients to sick populations rather than healthy individuals, preventing doctors from identifying and treating underlying problems.

Key Takeaways

  • Eliminate all foods except fatty meat and water - artificial sweeteners like erythritol and monk fruit can cause insulin spikes and prevent fat burning despite appearing 'carnivore-friendly'
  • Focus on overall health improvements rather than single metrics - many people dismiss dramatic improvements in autoimmune conditions, diabetes, energy, and mental clarity because one specific goal like weight loss isn't progressing as quickly
  • Demand optimal reference ranges for lab tests - current medical ranges are averages of sick populations, hiding deficiencies in B12, testosterone, and other critical markers that would be obvious using healthy population standards
  • Prove food additives safe before consumption - the current system allows chemicals into food until proven harmful, taking decades to remove dangerous substances like trans fats that were known to cause heart disease
  • Common Carnivore Diet Mistakes: Weight Loss Stalls and Artificial Sweeteners
  • Healing Timeline Expectations and Adding Foods Back on Carnivore
  • Making America Healthy Again: Food Industry Accountability and Criminal Prosecution
  • Lab Reference Ranges Problem: Why Optimal Levels Matter for B12 and Testosterone

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

you have probably helped thousands of patients millions of people on on social media what do you think people do wrong the number one thing they do wrong on a carnivore diet when they first start um I I think it's usually they're not actually fully on a carnivore diet that's that's that's the most common thing when I when I see people um not having the results that they want maybe they're getting improvements but they're like yeah I feel better but I'm not really getting these dramatic improvements that everybody else is talking about um it it's almost all always that they're not pure meat and only water that's a big one and the other one is is just is having those unrealistic expectations you know we get so myopic with one thing like they want fat loss or they want their ECMO to go away or they want something and so they're focused on that one thing and so they they lose sight of the forest for the trees so all these things are getting better and improving improving improving but this one thing isn't going as fast as they want and they're just like what the hell is happening you get very anxious and you can get very discouraged and you can end up dropping off of it because you're like well this isn't happening it's not working for me I and I've I've seen people there's one lady in the comment she and she was very nice you know she said that she actually really really liked the carnivore diet she was really sad that it didn't work for her um because you know it made her feel so much better she was able to come off her medications for autoimmune diseases U her diabetes went away and and she felt so much better had tons of energy and mental Clarity brain fog was gone she was sleeping better and so she was like all these you know feeling so much better but you know just wasn't really losing weight so I guess it just didn't work for me and I had to had to stop it it was just like sounds like it was working amazingly well for you you know it's just you know you have to look at the whole picture and not just at at one end point you know because of that that one end point isn't moving as fast as you want it to you'll lose track of all these other things but so again first and foremost this is about your health your overall health is that improving and if the answer is yes then you need to keep going and eventually as you get healthier your weight and eczema and all these other sorts of things will keep getting better um and when I asked that lady say okay what exactly are you eating you know she said she was eating a lot of meat but she was also having Dairy and coffee and um arrol monk fruit sugar in her coffee you know with cream and that is a classic weight loss stll is is artificial sweeteners and oh well no the studies show studies show what the the authors want them to show and when you have industry funded research you're going to get industry supportive results which are rther tall's great RR tall's great that's what you're going to get and all these benefits blah blah blah when you get independent Labs that are doing independent studies then you generally find the opposite it and so there there are no end of studies showing that that rol Stevia other artificial sweeteners can actually give an insulin Spike and you get reactive hypoglycemia as a result your insulin goes up and you're again in this uh fat storage mode and you lock down your fat stor you can't actually burn fat those sorts of things and then you're adding in Dairy and all that sort of stuff so you know main thing is you know not looking at the big picture and you know being too focused on on one end point and not seeing all the other benefits that you're getting you know count your blessings I mean it's a it's a it's a saying for a reason you know look at the things that are going better look at the things that are going well and and be thankful for that and and Trust the process and trust that this is you know the rest of it's going to improve as well because it's doing it for millions of other people why is it not going to do it for you of all people and then be really actually full carnivore just eat fatty meat only drink water cut out the rest you know down the line when you've reached your health goals and you want to add back in Poison you know go for it see how it goes and um you you add one thing back in at a time you say okay well I don't have a problem with that fine I mean I don't care you I'm not I'm not here like you can only ever eat meat I just want people to understand that meat's not bad for you it's not going to cause disease and we've been lied to about this that's important for people to know that plants do have toxins and they can cause disease and we're seeing this everyday life and um really it really shouldn't be a fight I mean it's staring Us in the face but you know if you get your health improvements and you know you want to start adding things back in and you feel that they're not drawing you back and you making you you know go back suck you sucking you back into your old life and your old ways you know fine that's up to you if you can get a achieve these goals and not be you know strict just meat and water fine that's fine too A lot of people need to be though and so if you're not finding that you're getting the results that you want look at what you're eating it's not it's not enough to just eat meat because meat's not this magic Elixir that will just heal you it it's the nutrients that you need to allow your body to heal itself but these other things cause harm and prevent your body from healing itself and that's really important to remember so if you're not getting the results that you want if it's not going exactly how you want get rid of absolutely everything besides fatty meat and water and see how you go quite often things will get better 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 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 how would you make America healthy again if you were to be nominated as um JFK Junior Team yeah wow that would that would be amazing just just to try to you know get these same principles out to people that you know there are things in this world that cause harm they're starting to figure that out and they're looking at processed food but it's not just processed food there are other things that cause harm I mean you know I love that people are drawing attention to the fact that we have you know we're using artificial ingredients and and really garbage chemicals and putting this in food and and other countries that just have that as illegal you can't do that we know that these things cause harm or at least we strongly suspect they do and yet so they're illegal in other countries but they're legal in America and we're putting this crap in the food and um you know that that that can cause harm but you know talking about like the different dyes and things like that that are in fruit loops and other ingredients and all that sort of stuff and you know I I think that that's important to point out but at the same time you know the problem isn't that there's red Dy 40 in fro Loops the problem is you're eating Froot Loops right Froot Loops are just God awful trash and yes you know there should be a standard you know by which we we treat the food industry that you don't get to put these deleterious chemicals in the food but the food is not food it's garbage you know and so you know that is really important to get rid of that crap get rid of this processed food um and educate people I think it's really important um actually um I think it's really important also to hold people accountable I mean we have um we have seen examples of you know we know the Sugar Company lied and put out you know fake research to say that that cholesterol caused heart disease people should be held culpable for that and maybe those people that originally made that decision are dead now or have moved on but what about the people that have perpetuated that and continued to push um the funding of of fraudulent studies to keep perpetuating that lie you know we had the the the the tobacco companies did this for 30 years um putting out research saying that fake research that said that tobacco wasn't addictive that it didn't cause empyema it didn't cause cancer it was super good for you you know made you man's man all that sort of and um then they got caught out they found their memos that said like that they knew full well this stuff was horrible for you and totally addicted and um and what happened they got fined $400 billion in the 80s oh my goodness it's a big F who cares they knowingly put out a product that was killing people by the millions right where the hell is the Criminal suit against them those bastards should have been in jail or in front of a firing squad that's mass murder they intentionally put out a product that they knew would kill people so that they could profit off of it you have to die if that happens I'm not telling everybody to go hurt anybody I'm talking about actual in the judicial system those sorts of people should be criminally prosecuted and so I think it's the same thing for the sugar companies that are putting out this this horrible product and lying about it and they're paying people to lie I think that should be met with criminal uh action not just civil action um there's a lot of things I mean um you know one of the things is is in industry it's the um you know the Food and Drug companies and things like that they get to decide what the FDA classifies as grass generally recognized as safe and that's that's putting the fox in charge of the hen house right so it's like they'll say like hey um is this generally recognized as safe like or or do we need to regulate you and do studies and see if it's okay no it's safe it's fine okay okay we trust you like why would you do that you know the job of the FDA is is actually check that stuff and um a lot of times we we put things in the food system in the food supply or in you know makeup and beauty and cleaning agents and these sorts of things without ever testing if they're healthy for humans and we have to wait until they get you know irrefutably proven to be toxic like tobacco before anything's ever done about it it's not even like those were banned it was just um they just you know knew about it now and people just said hey this causes empyema right and that was it um but you know like things like um trans fats you know we had trans fats for a hundred years and um you know back in the 90s we knew that this was causing heart disease and heart attacks it it only got um banned in in to an appreciable level in 2020 right so it's like I mean I learned about how it's atherogenic um in um in organic chemistry you know in 2000 so you know why are we why are we waiting so long why are we why are we doing it the other way around why aren't we proving something safe first before we start giving it to people to eat right right now we're just shoveling in people and saying hey you can eat this and then you have to prove that it's toxic and then you can you can ban it but it it takes decades and decades and decades do it so that's backwards I think you need to prove something's safe first and then you know do that and also be reproducible because you have the the the um the glyphosate studies that said oh look at these animal models three months totally fine no problems okay but who re when you reproduced it you you showed that no actually they get these animals get very very sick you just have to do it for for a decent amount of time when I was when I was learning the scientific method and how to how to conduct you know research and things like that um it was it was very clear like you you didn't you you didn't trust something you put you you know looked at it with a grain of salt if it was just someone's experiment that they did it had to be reproducible so if somebody hadn't hadn't reproduced or followed your same steps and gotten the same results in an independent setting you you just you don't really trust it yet and if it's reproducible elsewhere you're like okay great that's fine um but we we've gone away from that we don't we don't do that we don't look at reproducing a studies it cost people too because um that David Sinclair uh from Harvard you know he came up with r veratrol it's like oh this anti-aging thing and you know grape seeds and things like that I don't know why it would but okay so great we're saying that this is this is anti-aging and it it helps people well he sold the rights to Resveratrol to some you know major company for like $700 million right and then they tried to reproduce his studies and couldn't so now they're suing him saying hey you sold us um but that's that's the whole point of you know um reproducibility like you need to show in an independent setting that this actually works the way you say it to or or you shouldn't you shouldn't spend 700 million dollar on it um those sorts of things so criminalizing you know these these these um criminal business practices um I think is really important you know setting making actual Regulators say what's grass or not proving that something's safe before you start feeding it to people and having reproducible uh studies to show this and you know just as a complete aside I think probably one of the main things that would would completely revolutionize healthc care as we know it is using reference ranges for lab tests that actually denote optimal levels as opposed to averages and so people don't recognize this most doctors don't understand this that the lab reference ranges are just averages they're not optimal ranges they're not say oh this is what we want we treat them as that we say oh yeah you're in the reference range that's our reference range so that's that's fine that's what we use okay so if it's outside of that oh that's bad but in the r that's all fine so that would assume and presume that those are optimal reference ranges but they're not and they're not even advertised as optimal reference ranges they're they advertised average reference ranges and the average person is sick overweight and malnourished why are we comparing ourselves to the average person I don't want to compare myself to the average person I want to compare myself to an optimal person and so when you look at optimal reference ranges is very different this is why every single lab in your same town will have different reference ranges hey everyone really happy to announce a new sponsor for the show and for everybody down in austal Australia Stockman steaks who are delivering highquality grass-fed and finished pasture raised beef and other meats flash frozen and vacuum sealed tood door something 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 people say well if you're in in a different location in a different environment you know that that matters it doesn't actually um that's a complete completely madeup concept but um you know if you're if you're in the snow you need the same amount of B12 as you do in the desert you know it's B12 you just need it right and so but that also doesn't explain why three Labs all next door to each other in the same town all have different reference ranges you're in the same exact environments so that's that's nothing new so just changing reference ranges to act actual agreed upon optimal reference ranges that have been found through maybe looking at averages for actual healthy people and this has been done in Germany where they looked at people in their mid in their 20s average age 25 uh both men and women that just had normal BMI and no um diagnosed medical issues that's it very low bar and those reference ranges are wild different and then through uh research and people studying this and saying okay what what's optimal where do we want to be and and saying okay this is what what we think based on This research using those reference ranges you would absolutely revolutionize medicine because you would allow doctors to see problems instead of having being hidden by the averages because if everybody you know the the average person in Western countries eats a 80% of their calories are plant-based it's just they're a largely um processed plants junk food right or pizza bread these sorts of things so that's you you know buy calories so people say oh we need to go plant-based we're already plant-based 80% plant-based except me except you too you know so um you know that's um the the average person is plant-based and so the average person is not getting enough B12 that's all there is to it and I check everybody's B12 they there's no one whose B12 is in a good range unless they're carnivore or heavily supplementing and most people don't supplement enough if they if they're not on a carnivore diet um and so but that's hidden because everybody's B12 deficient so because it's an average of that community that malnourished Community then you know you're hiding that so now because everybody's B12 deficient and you're looking at that average now no one's B12 deficient so that reference range just slid down to the left same with testosterone we know now that testosterone in men is the lowest that's ever been in recorded history and yet most people are in that reference range okay that's because the reference range goes too low because it's a it's an average for a sick population and so when you go to the doctor and you feel unwell and you have all these problems you go I don't know what's going on but something's wrong and your doctor does a ton of blood tests and goes like okay well what's going on well b12's fine testosterone's fine this is fine that's fine they go okay well I don't feel fine so obviously you're not you're missing something and then you look at optimal reference ranges and you actually see that there's about 15 things that are wrong but if they're hidden in the average reference ranges you can't see them and so a doctor doesn't even know what there is to treat because he's not seeing anything right and so just using optimal reference ranges will allow you as a clinician to see what's wrong and to address it and I think that would that would make a massive difference I mean that that's one of the main things I do in my practice is just look at optimal reference ranges and I can show people all these things that are wrong and say look you have to change your life in these ways and you can use medications to help with that as well but you know if you if you are looking at the wrong reference ranges if you're looking at the average reference ranges you you're not even going to see the problem in the first place unless it's really bad this it's just floridly deficient or or or something else but uh I think that would make a massive massive difference in uh in how we treat patients and they're finding that they're they're massively improving the health of their microbiome um in fact there was um well we're seeing this just just all over the place and let many people are publishing this know Ken Dr kenberry has published this you know benaza has published this um Dr sha omara has published this and U in fact Dr sha omara his microbiome was so good that the you know the president or whomever of the company that used to test his microbiome personally called him and said you have the best microbiome our company has ever tested what the hell are you doing he's like all right I'll tell you and um benaza who's been doing a a clean omnivorous car ketogenic diet so
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