110 – Dr Shawn Baker on the Carnivore Diet, Confirmation Bias, and The Joe Rogan Experience

Comments

1. James Atkinson says

   January 4, 2018 at 9:55 pm

   So i have been passionate about fitness and human performance since i was 14. Reading everything i could come across, and definitely had followed low carb diets in the past. And one of my prized possessions is a book by Vilhjalmur Stefansson called Fat Of The Land, where i came across the idea of a all meat diet. After that i actually came across several of the zero carb groups years ago including some people that followed a Raw Meat diet. But the majority of the people in those groups had various disorders where they tend to be very sensitive to greens, grains etc. And while i thought that was a interesting alternative for people with digestion and food sensitivities, it’s been really interesting coming across Dr Baker, because here’s a person who’s transition has gone from Paleo, to Keto etc And going Carnivorous without those problems, but it has provided better and better performance levels.

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   • lneal87 says

     January 5, 2018 at 3:30 pm

     Interesting story James. Having been on a few podcasts myself, it’s difficult to give a consistently good interview that’s going to please everyone and some of the interviewers don’t make it easy.

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     • James Atkinson says

       January 5, 2018 at 11:56 pm

       You’re right Lawrence. And it probably works the other way around where some times the host has to almost pull teeth to get their guest to open up ha ha And on a positive note, it brought awareness to Dr Baker, and then people have, and will, look for more info, which will bring them to your podcast and others of Dr Bakers.

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2. mike williams says

   January 5, 2018 at 4:44 am

   Great interview Lawrence..the main reason I see so many overweight vegans and vegetarians is they are users of grain..and none seem to give a rats arse about the side effect of it..

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   • lneal87 says

     January 5, 2018 at 1:25 pm

     Thanks Mike. I also think it’s all the other crap they eat on top of the grains. All the other refined carbs and sugar. Some carnivores can be just as bad.

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3. Andrew May says

   January 6, 2018 at 12:04 am

   I’m coming to respect Shawn more even if I don’t agree with a lot of what he says.

   I laughed so much the other day when my wife was reading out her colleague’s new year’s resolutions off of social media “plant based diet” was one to which she replied “fuck that, I’m making a point of eating more meat and less of everything else” maybe it’s passing via me subliminally!

   Can I ask, Lawrence, what is Ash’s reason for being vegetarian?

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   • lneal87 says

     January 8, 2018 at 12:51 am

     Hahaha love that. What claims are you really skeptical of? You could post here and Shawn may find time to answer on the blog.

     Ash is vegetarian for ethical reasons. I know that farming for beans and vegetables may be as if not more harmful to animal populations as animal farming but it’s a bit of a touchy subject. She is perfectly happy with me eating a lot of meat however and believes that it’s healthy, but remains a vegetarian for now ;-).

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     • Andrew May says

       January 8, 2018 at 2:09 pm

       I just think that Shawn is indulging in massive amounts of motivated reasoning, he’s a lifelong near elite athlete with a lot of time on his hands for training. Chances are he’d be smashing obscure world records if he were on any diet but no it must be the all meat diet that’s pushed him to this level…. He also seems to have some narcissistic personality traits to contend with. Also the N=many thing is so anti science it’s literally ridiculous.

       Just wondered re Ash, if she’s ever genuinely interested, a good way in for “ethical” vegetarians is venison and rabbit if it’s more environmental concerns, shellfish and other invertebrates if it’s more a “suffering” thing.

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4. enlite says

   January 18, 2018 at 1:00 pm

   I find it extremely odd that many people that advocate sensible training practices based on logic and reason can then turn around and reject all manner of logic and reason when it comes to nutrition . Glycogen is the fundamental / primary fuel source that powers all the cells in the human body , in other words no glycogen no life . If the body is not provided with enough carbs it will convert protein into glycogen . John Little mentioned that an individual that he was training was following a very low carb diet and had lost 20 pounds which he was very happy about , but when they placed him in the bod pod the result was that he’d lost 20 pounds of muscle ! Not a good thing especially when we work so hard to build muscle tissue in the first place . In terms of health it’s very clear that meat / dairy has been a very significant cause of ill health amongst many people and this has been known for quite some time . Lets face it we live in a culture where the consumption of meat plays a very significant role for many reasons ( holidays and gatherings for example ). I myself do consume meat and eggs but i don’t try to fool myself that these things are healthy which is the reason why i have reduced my consumption of them .

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   • lneal87 says

     January 20, 2018 at 2:13 pm

     Appreciate the contribution Enlite 😀 as always.

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5. Greg P. says

   January 19, 2018 at 8:17 pm

   Interesting and entertaining interview. On the subject of nutrition, I heard him say several times “we just don’t know”, in response to some claim or controversy. This usually seemed to be a good response. But then he would often follow this up by saying that he relied his own N=1 experience to figure out the answer to the question or issue. I must say that I am fairly skeptical of the idea of generalizing N=1 experience to everybody.

   I am also skeptical about evolutionary claims for humans as carnivores based on ice age European diets. That was a relatively short period of time on the evolutionary scale; by most estimates, modern humans first migrated out of Africa no more that 130,000 years ago. In contrast, most believe that we descended from Homo Erectus, a species that lasted about 1,600,000 years. I’d guess that our digestive systems were influenced more by Homo Erectus diets than ice age European diets. Homo Erectus ate meat, but perhaps mostly from scavenging., and probably wasn’t the prolific hunter that Homo Sapiens turned into.

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   • lneal87 says

     January 20, 2018 at 2:11 pm

     Hey Greg,

     I really appreciate your comment and contribution. It’s certainly healthy to remain skeptical. You can only really go off your own N=1 right?

     Interesting thoughts on evolution. It’s not something I’m overly knowledgable about but interested in learning more and appreciate you sharing.

     Would you be a kind sir and leave me a review on iTunes? https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/corporate-warrior/id957356863?mt=2

     Thanks,
     Lawrence

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6. Richard Chartrand says

   January 23, 2018 at 7:16 pm

   Curious and apologize if this has already been answered. Why only red meat? Why not fish, chicken, eggs etc etc

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