A Carnivore Diet for Physical and Mental Health

March 13, 2019

At the recent Physicians for Ancestral Health Winter Retreat I had the opportunity to sit down in person with L. Amber O’Hearn, an outspoken advocate of plant-free eating. Since learning about the zero-carb carnivore approach in 2009, Amber has become an international speaker, researcher, and writer on the subjects of ketosis and the health benefits of eating meat.

In this podcast, Amber and I discuss her health journey from veganism to low carb, and then to the more radical carnivore diet. She explains how shunning plant foods led to a dramatic improvement in both her physical and mental health, ending her 20-year battle with bipolar disorder, without the use of medication. She also describes her own version of zero-carb and discusses how a carnivore diet affects ketosis.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Amber O’Hearn:

[00:00:23] Physicians for Ancestral Health.

[00:02:01] Amber's background.

[00:03:02] The path that led her to a low carb diet.

[00:09:23] Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn.

[00:11:53] David Chaum.

[00:12:37] Zcash.

[00:16:10] The Ketogenic Diet for Health: ketotic.org.

[00:16:49] The value of end-to-end citations.

[00:21:52] Amber's post on gluconeogenesis: If You Eat Excess Protein, Does It Turn Into Excess Glucose?

[00:26:04] Josh Turknett MD; Talk: How to Win at Angry Birds: Moving Towards a More Efficient Practice Model.

[00:26:14] Richard David Feinman; blog: The Other.

[00:28:28] Reevaluating previous recommendations: Salt and DHA.

[00:33:03] Bipolar disorder and pharmaceutical treatment.

[00:40:31] Identifying the root cause of psychiatric illness.

[00:45:06] Unwanted side effects from mood stabilizing drugs.

[00:47:16] Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

[00:53:45] Zero carb/plant free diet; Zeroing In On Health, ZIOH. ZIOH Facebook group.

[00:57:05] Charles Washington, founder of ZIOH group.

[00:57:49] Dry fasting leads to increased fat breakdown; Study: Rutkowska, Joanna, et al. "Increased fat catabolism sustains water balance during fasting in zebra finches." Journal of Experimental Biology 219.17 (2016): 2623-2628.

[01:03:58] Pregnancy: Carbohydrate cravings and hyperemesis gravidarum.

[01:05:50] Paleo Baby Podcast: Chloe Archard: Paleo advocate, mom, and host of the “Eat Better” podcast.

[01:06:51] Rat study: Thompson, Betty J., and Stuart Smith. "Biosynthesis of fatty acids by lactating human breast epithelial cells: an evaluation of the contribution to the overall composition of human milk fat." Pediatric research 19.1 (1985): 139.

[01:07:56] Keto Summit; Jeremy Hendon.

[01:09:28] Talk at Low Carb Breckenridge: L. Amber O'Hearn - Ketosis Without Starvation: The Human Advantage.

[01:10:03] The Boulder Carnivore Conference.

[01:10:54] What does a carnivore diet consist of?

[01:11:44] Financial considerations.

[01:13:56] Paleomedicina Clinic (ICMNI) uses a Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet.

[01:14:59] Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD.

[01:15:24] Optimal ketone levels graphic from The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney.

[01:17:30] Autoimmune Protocol Diet (AIP).

[01:18:39] Shawn Baker.

[01:20:26] Andrew Scarborough.

[01:21:41] Ability to eat more protein while remaining in ketosis.

[01:26:07] Georgia Ede, MD.

[01:26:54] Podcast: Disruptive Anthropology: An Ancestral Health Perspective on Barefooting and Male Circumcision, with Stephanie Welch.

[01:27:35] Amber’s blog: empiri.ca.

[01:27:46] Twitter: @ketocarnivore. Amber’s book-in-progress: facultativecarnivore.com. You can also support Amber’s work on Patreon.