Paul Saladino’s Ideas on Carnivore, Keto & Carbs – A Critical List of Essential Points for In-Depth Research to Better Understand Evolutionary Human Nutrition
I was following Paul Saladino for some years. I bought his book “The Carnivore Code” right after it was published. His book is great and I know it has inspired many people to engage in the carnivore path, that I see as one of the most important gateways to normal health. Paul is doing some good work inspiring people.
Having said that, he changed his mind about some aspects of nutrition during the last years. I receive often questions from my clients and the students on my programs regarding my stance on Paul Saladino’s videos and his social media presence. In this article I try to clarify my position on several aspects regarding his view on nutrition and on health in general. This is not an large in-depth review, but sooner a short overview with my thoughts.
If you disagree with my points please feel free to comment below, I want to learn from your perception of PS ideas.
If you are interested in arranging a Live Q&A webinar where I will go through the different aspects that I mention below, please write to me directly at: contact [at] sakharoff [dot] com
Consider the following as a list of items that are essential to research deeper in order to understand evolutionary nutrition for human beings:
Health Advice – for Healthy OR for Ill-Health Subjects?
I believe that there is a huge difference in requirements between maintaining normal health and healing of ill-health. It’s not a part of PS narrative, and it’s a problem because:
- I feel that PS is mostly speaking to the (very little) group that are metabolically healthy – not those trying to resolve the metabolic syndrome?
- There is a big difference between for the subject with illness and health – maybe he thinks that most of his followers have “normal” health? – especially young
- SHBG sex hormone binding globulin lower – testosterone higher – yes if just health is a focus – not healing
- The higher the metabolic rate the better – pituitary in the brain stimulates thyroid to make more hormone – good for healthy – not necessarily good for cancer and inflammation
- PS has no autoimmunity! AI reactions on plant antInutrients are huge.
- PS is mentioning glucose 4.7 as a good level. It is probably for maintaining good health. But it might be not enough for healing – need to go down to 3.5 – 4. The we know that the adaptation works fully.
- I care about stable low glucose – not about ketone levels – adaptation lowers ketones in the blood – not taken into account – we have long term stories of healing – falling weekly ketone averages with stable low glucose correlate with healing.
No criticism of study setup fallacies?
There is a lot of setup problems in the existing studies criticizing keto. PS is not checking study setup for the studies he is mentioning. He is omitting studies showing that ketosis is beneficial for lowering inflammation and good for the brain etc… which results in a very much one sided review:
- PS quotes articles criticising keto – where most “keto” studies are done based on high omega 6 fat content – what about better study setup?
- PS is finding the studies that are easy to find because the industry is interested in decreasing interest in ketosis. He never mention the “follow the money” issue in those studies. Why?
Quality of information about sugar
I believe that sugar is one of the biggest problems for healing of the metabolic syndrome. PS has changed his view on it, so positive view on importance of some sugar in human diet had lately become an important part of PS narrative, and it’s a problem:
- Sugar is not harmful for humans? Right.. for healthy ones.
- Sugar most often aggravates metabolic syndrome symptoms
- Not mentioning that high sugar spikes are creating injuries in the arterial wall increasing CVD risk..
- Fruit is a less toxic kind of carb? Well.. maybe for healthy subjects. What about fructose role in hormonal disruption? No word about it..
- Fruits are a slippery slope for almost everyone addicted to carbs!
- Quoting a study showing good effects of adding honey on diabetics cholesterol and trigs – A1C actually went higher with honey than in the control group – he omits that..
- Hadza went high on honey?! They do NOT have metabolic disease!! Disregards the fact that it elevates fasting blood sugar significantly NEXT day
- Modern bees are supplemented with sugar water and corn syrup – no word on this…
- He says that you are “messing with the nature” – body will need exogenous (external) carbs. Yes maybe – but not every day. And not with long term adaptation!
General Possible Trustworthiness Discrepancies
I believe that there is a general problem in trustworthiness of PS stance of health:
- PS is one of the doctors that is selling supplements. Surprise… no understanding of the need of removing “the crutches”. Follow the money.
- PS might not be interested in supporting people on an integrative nutritional path. Selling supplements is easier.
- You don’t want to be dogmatic? – Great, I agree! You can experiment with whatever you want – but heal first.
- PS never mentions fasting in general and the power of IF (intermittent fasting). Why? I guess because it’s much harder than selling supplements.
- PS is seldom (or never) talking about higher fat? Pity. It would be a new personal experience – without carb. Eating way toooo much protein instead – related to fat… no energy… never talks about it
- PS is into counting calories fallacy. Is not talking about satiation instead + adaptation + learning how to overcome leptin resistance.
Understanding of long-term ketogenic adaptation is missing
I believe that it’s very crucial for health practitioners to understand the slowness of the of ketogenic adaptation process. It takes some time for the 50+ enzymes to produce ATP in the mitochoindria. I believe that the enzymatic ketogenic adaptation takes 4 stages. It’s not a part of PS narrative, and it’s a problem because PS is interested in talking dangers of being long-term ketogenic, making assumptions on the long-term appropriacy of ketogenic diet based on 4-week studies, totally disregarding the aspect of several stages of ketogenic enzymatic adaptation.
- Talking about thyroid hormones not matching the normal levels defined by SAD. When, in reality, low level of thyroid, hormones are connected with longevity long-term. After 1 year T3 falling, getting colder. Well, it’s not a bug but a feature! Studies with Phinney, Rosedale and others on the connection between mTor stimulation and longevity. I’m 10 years keto. 5 years carnivore. Yes I’m colder – BUT inflammation is gone!! My glucose is 3-3.5 in the morning AND very low ketones 0.3-0.5. Long term practitioners as eg Dr. Steve Phinney has the same after 40 years in ketosis as a natural healing regimen.
- Ps is quoting a study about “the low T3 syndrome” – it’s not a bug according to Phinney – remember RDA are established on basis of SAD diet – using the words “carb deprivation” is not appropriate – carb is not essential macronutrient – lower T3 but decrease lactate and inflammation – it’s about study setup
- Yes we might want some carbs – but we mostly want to be fat adapted and have ketones LOWER than 1! Yes, it’s not a typo. I’m talking long-term adaptation.
Synergetics between nutrition and breathing is missing – electrolyte deficiency pathways
It can have nothing to do with your electrolytes intake, but more with the diurnal gradients of hormonal balance – both circadian and ultradian rhythms. And it can be exacerbated during the initial periods of ketogenic adaptation. PS is talking about electrolyte deficiency – instead of connecting the dots – sleep + breathing – forgetting the fact of changed pulmonary coefficient during the adaptation from glucose to fats as the primary energy source – and the diminished ventilatory drive in glycolysis (1) to lipolysis (0.7).
The most powerful effects happen at the gradual shift between the night and the early morning – around 4am. The Dawn effect and the Somogyi effect. Simply put its about changes in cortisol, insulin regulation tied to daylight that have an effect on breathing especially rates of lung ventilation, that most often than not lead to morning hyperventilation that lead to diminished levels of carbon dioxide and nitric oxide, blood gasses that control smooth muscle and also regulate voltage of neuronal signalling – that when abnormal, can lead to accidental firing of neurons and further to accidental contraction of groups of muscle fibers – commonly known as cramps…
- PS is making assumptions about high level of cortisol, not taking in consideration aspects of long-term ketogenic adaptation or changed pulmonary coefficient in ketosis.
- Physiological insulin resistance – lower insulin will diminish conserving electrolytes in response to food – you are holding less to the electrolytes you need – maybe.. My experience says that understanding the breathing changes diminishes or fully removes the cramping problem.
- Cramps in the morning – PS don’t mention implications from changed breathing. Especially during initial ketogenic adaptation stages. Because of change in cellular CO2 production and retention after the glycolysis —> lipolysis shift. My article about this.
Health Advice – for Reproductive OR for Post-Reproductive age?
There is s a difference requirements between optimal requirements for human health in the reproductive age (up to 35-40) and post-reproductive age (after 35-40).
I could not find any places where PS mentions the difference between reproductive and post-reproductive health. Though it’s crucial to address in order to understand age-related differences in health advice.
I quote here a couple of sections from my coming book that will be published on Amazon:
Antagonism of reproductive and post-reproductive health
.. “Evolutionarily speaking, the question about energy is always about two main aspects of life:
Making new life – do we have enough energy for reproduction and cellular growth?
OR
Maintaining the existing life – should we upregulate maintenance and repair – and eventually provide for cellular growth at a more opportune time in the future?
This decision is actually effectuated by the mTOR pathway. After receiving all the input and the feedback from the incoming sensors, mTOR makes a decision to switch the energy in two major directions – making new life OR maintaining the existing.
Here it is crucial to remind ourselves that our species Homo Sapiens evolved primarily with the aspects that maximized reproductive success – and not longevity. Most of the mechanisms that maximize reproductive capacity will actually diminish both lifespan and health [65]. “Any factor that decreases the rate of decline in reproductive probability intensifies selection against senescence” [66].
The latter basically means that from the evolutionary perspective, the reproductive and post-reproductive types of health are largely antagonistic. We can’t use what paleolithic humans ate for physical and reproductive fitness as a guide to what is healthiest for longevity. In other words, the features that nature selects to allow reproductive life to flourish can not be automatically applied in the post-reproductive age for success in the longevity strategy.
That’s where the mTOR pathway switchboard function comes in, regulating reproductive behavior, nutritional bioavailability and aging. All of those aspects are interconnected and interdependent, so the same metabolic pathways that control cellular replication, cellular division – also control aging and longevity.
And we discover metabolic signaling pathways when we experience and explore the symptoms of their malfunction. Here mTOR dysregulation is involved in cancer growth and metastasis [61], diabetes [62] and coronary heart disease [63], thus also greatly contributing to aging.”
… “Very common way of thinking is: “We need to do what is natural. The natural is better”. It is a big fallacy though. The purpose of nature is not to keep us alive for a very long time in the post-reproductive age. We can no longer use the word natural as a synonym for healthy in the post reproductive age. The purpose of nature is to ensure that we reproduce. Nature is not putting priority on the prolonged life after reproduction (PRLS).“
In the field of fitness and athletics the same fallacy is true in relation to PRLS. We can not say: “What is good for fitness and athletic performance is also good for longevity and post-reproductive health”. Fitness is not a synonym of health. That’s why understanding the role of moderation inclusive moderate physical activity (MPA) is crucial for sustained health in the post-reproductive age – “overdoing exercise, potentially increasing the risk-to-benefit ratio” [67]. Or, quoting Hippocrates: “Everything in excess is opposed to nature”.
So mTOR is basically showing that the more is not the better – especially when we talk about post-reproductive health. Actually, “With mTOR, less is more: a key role for the conserved nutrient-sensing” as the 2010 study in Cellular Metabolism puts it [77].
What can we learn from that? Basically, we have to be ready to realize that the decision to optimize health in the post-reproductive age might not necessarily sound “natural” but actually counterintuitive to the widespread common knowledge – and the solutions suggested might sound not quite politically correct.”
Read More
- My article about synergetics between ketogenic nutrition and breathing (full version) published by Elsevier in 2019: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330051433_Buteyko_Breathing_Technique_and_Ketogenic_Diet_as_Potential_Hormetins_in_Nonpharmacological_Metabolic_Approaches_to_Health_and_Longevity
- My short blog article about cramps and seizures on keto and carnivore: https://sakharoff.com/seizures-cramps-triggers-and-synergetic-aspects/
- My book about ketogenic adaptation stages is under way.
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