The Carnivore Diet & MS

There is a growing interest in the carnivore diet because many who follow it find that it greatly reduces symptoms and inflammation for various autoimmune diseases. This post will discuss the pros and cons of the carnivore diet and why some people with MS notice symptom improvements while following it. 

Over 90% of people who try the carnivore diet are motivated by health reasons, mostly autoimmune disease. According to a 2021 study on the carnivore diet, 89% of the participants reported that the carnivore diet improved or resolved their disorder. [i]

A quick Google Search on the topic “Can a Carnivore diet help multiple sclerosis?” showed the following at the top of the search results:

“Eating more meat and changes in the blood, immune system and gut ecology correlate with worse MS symptoms, according to a longitudinal study of 49 people that used advanced multi-OMICS to investigate complex relationships.”[ii]

This 2022 cited study entitled, “Alterations of host-gut microbiome interactions in multiple sclerosis” looked at the health effects in MS patients if they regularly eat meat.

The healthy control group who didn’t have MS ate about 1 ounce of meat daily compared to a group of MS patients who consumed on average 2 ½ ounces of meat daily. For the purposes of this study, meat was defined as red and white meat, but not fish or seafood.

The stool and blood of all participants were collected at the time of enrolment and at the end of the study – six months later. Participants were asked to continue their usual eating habits before the initial stool collection and for the six months of the study.

The researchers found that the MS participants who ate more meat had less carbohydrate-digesting bacteria in the gut and more pro-inflammatory immune cells in the blood.

Their finding might deter MS patients from eating meat, but were their conclusions accurate? Was this a well done study?

These are a number of problems with this study – factors that were not controlled:

1. If the researchers wanted to study whether meat in the diet was detrimental to MS patients, then both the study group and the control group should have been made up of MS patients. They should not have compared relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients to healthy individuals. It is well understood that MS patients have very different microbiomes when compared to healthy people. Those diagnosed with MS have dysbiosis – their gut microbes are out of balance. They have many disease-causing microbes and not enough health-promoting ones.

2. The diet should have been the same for both the control and the study group. There should have only been one different variable. The experimental group should eat a specific amount of meat each day and the control group should not eat meat but rather follow a vegan diet. Healthy people likely follow a healthier diet than sick people.

3. This was a small study with only 49 participants over 6 months. Meaningful data requires studying large groups of people over a long period of time.

4. It was required that the MS participants had not taken disease modifying therapies (DMT) or steroid treatments in the 3 months before the study started. But then, selected MS participants were strongly encouraged to start DMTs resulting in 8 MS patients starting treatments during the six-month study period. Introducing immunosuppressive medication can impact immune function and interfere with results.

5. In the healthy control group, no one used tobacco, whereas in the RRMS group, 9 or 37.5% did.

These were just a few significant factors that totally discredit the results of the study. This begs the question – how did this poorly done study make its way to the top of the Google search engine results? When bad science is promoted, the general public is mislead.

Benefits of the Carnivore diet include:

• A very satisfying and simple diet
• Improved mental clarity and focus
• Decreased inflammation
• Less digestive symptoms – less pain, gas and/or bloating
• Improvement in autoimmune disease symptoms
• Weight loss

Limitations of the Carnivore diet

• Expensive diet due to cost of meat
• Cravings can be strong when starting this diet
• It is a restrictive diet – options are extremely limited. The vast majority of people would not follow it if they didn’t have to.

Carnivore diet guidelines

• Some recommend starting by only eating beef until health in stabilized
• On average, a person will eat about 2 lbs of meat per day
• Fat intake should be about 70-80% of the daily calories. For example, if a person needs 2,000 calories per day, they should eat approximately 140-160 grams of fat each day
• Grass fed, grass finished beef if best if available
• Organ meats provide key nutrients, especially liver. Desiccated organ meat supplements are available
• Caution – raw meat or organs may contain parasites
• When health stabilizes, a person can try adding other meats and eggs.

Examples of what you can eat on the Carnivore diet:

• Red Meat: Pork, Beef, Lamb, and Game
• White Meat: Turkey, Chicken, Fish, and Seafood
• Organ Meat: Liver, Kidney, Bone Marrow, Heart
• Eggs: Chicken, Duck, and Goose Eggs
• Dairy: Butter, Cheese, and Cream

In time, some tolerate adding certain fruit, honey, cheese, cream and/or avocado

Carnivore Diet Mentors and Resources

Dr Paul Saladino

Dr. Shawn Baker MD

Reddit Carnivore Diet Group

YouTube for anecdotal stories of improvements for MS and other conditions

Are plants bad for your health?

Several people including doctors who promote the Carnivore diet believe that plants contain toxic substances and that’s why they don’t tolerate eating plants or carbohydrates.

I respectfully disagree. After coaching hundreds of people in the Live Disease Free plan, helping them to recover from chronic disease by treating parasitic infestations, we have observed that the more effectively parasites are treated, the more people tolerate most if not all foods again.

When following the Carnivore diet, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Although the Carnivore diet can provide a significant amount of symptom relief, it is not a cure. People must remain on this diet indefinitely in order to maintain symptom improvements.

Whether following the Carnivore diet, Keto diet or Live Disease Free diet, there is no diet that will cure disease. To cure disease, parasites must be treated effectively and a diverse, healthy gut microbiota must be re-established.

Most people find that when following the Live Disease Free diet, the carbs are low enough for them to experience life-changing symptom improvements. This diet is less restrictive and more enjoyable than the Carnivore diet. It offers moderate amounts of animal protein to maintain muscle mass, enough healthy fat to maintain weight and 9 to 13 servings of low carb vegetables. CLICK HERE for the Live Disease Free Diet Guidelines.

Can you follow the Live Disease Free plan while following Carnivore diet?

 If a person does not tolerate any foods other than meat, they can remain on the Carnivore diet while they get ready to treat parasites. Our students have reported that when they start treating parasites, they very quickly start tolerating other foods and are able to reintroduce them, often within days. Treating parasites is the key to recovery, but they are challenging to treat. That’s why it’s important to follow a strategic plan – The Live Disease Free Plan.

There are real solutions to recover from parasites today!

To restore health, we must focus on treating the cause of inflammation, which are parasites. First, identify the enemy (parasites), then support the body and treat the parasites while following a holistic approach. When parasitic infections are treated effectively, we can overcome inflammation or disease.

If you’re frustrated with the fact that our standard of care STILL doesn’t offer a real solution for treating MS and other diseases, then click on the link below to watch Pam Bartha’s free masterclass training and discover REAL solutions that have allowed Pam and many others to live free from MS and other diseases.

CLICK Here to watch Pam’s masterclass training

Or take the Health Blocker Quiz to see if you could have parasite infections

References:

[i] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34934897/

[ii] https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2022/01/28/meat-eating-linked-to-inflammation-worse-gut-health-and-ms.html#:~:text=Eating%20more%20meat%20and%20changes,OMICS%20to%20investigate%20complex%20relationships.