Zack wrote a article for esquire on the topic, if you prefer to read his journey: https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/health/a64792258/carnivore-diet-benefits-essay-2025/
Zackary Peck, 33, grew up between Los Angeles and New York. During his twenties, he lost his way with drugs and alcohol, forgoing many opportunities that had been presented to him on a silver platter. Four years ago, he was lucky enough to find sobriety and since then, has been actively seeking out health with the same passion that he sought destruction before. For the first three of those years, he was living on grilled chicken breasts, steamed broccoli, and brown rice, or an equivalent of that. He never found the meals to be satiating, nor did he ever achieve the results or energy he wanted. He then found the carnivore diet and wow did it work. His wife is also on the carnivorous journey and they feel the results have been so incredible that they'd credit the diet with saving their marriage. Zackary has written a story for Esquire magazine about how this diet has saved their marriage which is due to come out in in a few weeks. Zackary feels proud of his past, loves today, and is excited for the future.
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Addiction and Marriage Struggles, How Carnivore Saved Their Relationship | Dr. Shawn Baker & Zackary
In this podcast episode, Zackary Peck shares his transformative journey with the carnivore diet, detailing how it not only improved his health but also positively impacted his marriage. After struggling with addiction and mental health issues, Zack and his wife found that this restrictive diet fostered better communication and emotional stability in their relationship while also addressing their individual health concerns.
Key Points
Zackary's background and struggles
Zackary Peck, who grew up in Los Angeles and New York, struggled with substance abuse in his twenties. After getting sober, he felt exhausted on conventional diets and sought out something that would help him and his wife with their physical and mental well-being.
Transition to the carnivore diet
After researching dietary options, Zack discovered the carnivore diet, which emphasizes meat consumption. He found it suited his needs for simplicity and satiety, leading him to adopt it without any cheat days for over a year.
Impact on marriage and emotional health
Both Zack and his wife's mental health improved significantly after starting the diet. Zack reported that it saved their rocky marriage, enabling healthier communication and emotional connections, fostering a sense of togetherness.
Health benefits observed
Zack noted several health improvements, including weight loss, increased energy levels, resolution of eczema, and better skin health. The simplicity of the diet helped him regain control over his eating habits.
Lifestyle changes and family dynamics
Zack and his wife instilled a 'quality food' rule for their children, promoting healthy eating without enforcing strict dietary rules. Their experiences on the diet have positively influenced their family's behavior and overall temperament.
Jesus fucking Christ. At first I thought this was parody then I realized it was serious. We as in the readers don't need a vegetarian instance neither do we need a fucking carnivore instance. Both are terrible fad diets Most of you need to learn how to have your own opinions without being pushed to extremes. This is lemmy go complain about how horrible your job is or how you plan to overthow capitalism or something. , don't come here for dietary advice. Sincerely someone who eats plenty of meat and vegetables and carbs.
Welcome to the carnivore community, we are happy to discuss any of your concerns you might have.
The sugar addiction spoken about in this video is very real, if you want to see how real it is try cutting out all the carbs from your diet for two weeks.
I'm diabetic please don't try to tell me how the respiration cycle operates.. . I've had more formal schooling on how the endocrine system works and regulates than any misguided video essays can counter. Sugar is fine to eat as long as it's not your only source of calories. Wheat is sugar. Rice is sugar potato is sugar and believe it or not sugar is sugar.
T2D?
Carbohydrates drive insulin, and there are groups of people who find regulating their diabetes easier when controlling their carbohydrate consumption.
I'm not sure what your countering here - That people are addicted to glucose, or that its not possible to be addicted to glucose?
My favorite thing I've recently learned about the endocrine system is the cross inhibition and inflammation driven by the randle cycle (not a cycle).
What, specifically, do the carnivore's have incorrect in their mental model of the endocrine system?
Wrong again t1d. Yeah it's called fasting. I do fast most days and normally eat 1 balanced meal a day at night and snack in the between time. You can't just eat meat and fill in all your macro nutrient gaps. Just as I have preached on high to vegans this planet does not do obligate carnivores or obligate vegetarians except in extreme circumstances.
It was a question not a assumption, hence the ? mark
However, the point still stands, even T1D's see success with managing carbohydrates. Dr. Bernstein being the most outspoken T1D and keto advocate.
He is most famous for Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars - https://archive.org/details/drbernsteinsdia00bern
https://www.diabetes-book.com/laws-small-numbers/
My understanding from Bernstein’s work is that the reason for carb loading is to avoid hypoglycemic events, which is easier to do when carb loading (you raising the ceiling and the floor). However on a low carb intervention (after the 6 week adaptation phase) the body is using fat for most systems, so glucose dips are far less likely, and overall glycemic control becomes much better.
Sadly Dr. Bernstein passed away last month at 90 years old.
Carnivores are incorrect about fasting? I'm genuinely glad your fasting protocol is working for you. Fasting is a form of ketogenic metabolism... so I'm still confused about where the carnivores have the endocrine system wrong.
Do me a favor and send me a reply that you wrote and not an ai and I'll consider having a conversation until then I have no intention to stop being demeaning.
Spend a few solid hours researching what ketosis is and what it does to your body when your body decides to cannibalize your fat cells in order to fuel your brain. The end result is not pretty. Ketoacidosis is when your blood turns to acid.
I wrote every word, you can check my posting history, this is just how i write.
Good! I've spent those hours, happy to talk about it now!
When you sleep, when you don't eat, when your born, your body is mobilizing fat for energy. Yes, in a sense it is cannibalizing your stored fat, but that is exactly why we store fat - as a energy reserve to be tapped at will. This is a totally normal and non-damaging process.
Ketoacidosis is a life threatening condition that requires both elevated glucose (i.e. T1D) and elevated ketones above 10 mmol/l. This is different then a ketogenic metabolism, which we enter whenever we fast or sleep.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/skeptical-doctors#ketosis
You are incorrect and wrong and there is not a point to debate you further as you are clueless to the danger your advice poses. Consider this a PSA to anyone still reading.
Your body is not going through ketonic processes to power you when you're sleeping. Unless you have no surplus carbs in your gut, your pancreas is breaking down the sugars from the foods that you ate hours or even a day prior by secreting insulin into your gut. If you do not have sugar to breakdown you enter ketosis. There is no magical time when ketosis is not bad. It is autocanibalism. It starts at your fat cells then moves to your muscles then neural tissue. Dying because your liver failed because you acidified your blood is not a pleasant way to go. Even if you are eating enough fat to not enter autocanabalism your still flooding your blood with ketones as that is now your main food source and this acidifying your blood.
Please see this reference for the difference between ketosis and ketoacidosis Ketosis, ketoacidosis and very-low-calorie diets: putting the record straight - the full paper is on scihub
The logical conclusion of this statement is its dangerous to lose weight (mobilize fat for energy)
People can and do mobilize fat even when eating a high carbohydrate diet, you can see this when people lose weight. In fact the body requires fat at all times, that is why we have lipoproteins, the fat carriers that flow in our blood.
Ketoacidosis is not ketosis, ketoacidosis is a run-away syndrome when there is the inability to regulate blood sugar (uncontrolled T1D). People in nutritional ketosis tend to stay in the 1-3 mmol/l blood ketone range, well below the 10 mmol/l range for ketoacidosis (which also requires high blood sugar)
Outside of glycogen reserves in the liver, the body does not store glucose, it stores fat. The only freely available glucose is the amount in the blood, which is about 5g at any one time. (100mg/dl * 5L) To think the entirety of human basial metabolic rate can be sustained on 5g of glucose is a little far fetched. Just from a thought experiment perspective if fat was so dangerous to mobilize then the human body wouldn't store fat at all.
Consider the human populations that don't have access to carbohydrates, such as the artic Inuit people... they don't die from ketoacidosis on their traditional diet of fish
All right, well I'm going to just start being mean now cuz you continue to reply in some vein of self-informed and self deluded righteousness.
Yes, ketosis is always bad even if you want to lose weight because you lose weight through the respiration cycle you dumb fuck. It's simple calories in over calories out. What you are doing is advanced starvation with extra steps. That's how it works. Pick up a fucking textbook you goddamn troglodyte and stop linking me fucking videos.
I've provided references in each of my posts, I'm not making anything up.
What do you mean by the respiration cycle? You mean breathing? Or cellular ATP production? What about ketones and ATP production is bad?
Calories in Vs Calories out is technically true but functionally unhelpful. The carbohydrate insulin model of weight is far more effective and clinically relevant. The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity - Beyond “Calories In, Calories Out” - 2018
I haven't linked you a single video, clearly you havent opened any of the links even when I quoted them.
Here is a textbook I think you would benefit greatly from reading: - Ketogenic : The Science of Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction in Human Health