To meat or not to meat

The carnivore and vegan diets have both picked up significant traction on social media over the last few years. With many influencers pushing viewers to adopt these eating habits in order to gain popularity, how do you determine what information is factual? Falling on opposite ends of the dietary spectrum, the two each contain advantages and disadvantages. 

A carnivore diet consists of strictly animal-based products, including meat, eggs, and dairy as the main sources of nutrients. The diet is one that encourages people to eat naturally produced food and avoid carbohydrates.

According to Inspira Health, individuals who follow a carnivore diet report several benefits, including weight loss, reduced inflammation, and improved mental clarity. 

However, Stanford University Assistant Sports Dietitian Angela Trinh said such effects could be a result of the body being in a ketotic state: a metabolic state where fat is burned for fuel due to a lack of carbohydrates. 

“When people talk about these influencers getting this kind of physique on the carnivore diet and saying they feel very clear, it makes me think that they are going into ketosis by cutting out carbohydrates,” Trinh said.

When in ketosis, the body has little access to the energy provided by carbohydrates, and so it resorts to the energy stored in fat. 

“While your body can survive like that [following a carnivore diet], it’s in an emergency state,” Trinh said. “Which overtime, could mess up your metabolism.”

Considering all this, Trinh said the carnivore diet is one that is better off done temporarily. This way one can reap the potential benefits before doing substantial damage to the body’s metabolic system. 

Meanwhile, the vegan diet prohibits the consumption of any animal-based products. Many people choose a vegan diet for moral reasons, not just health.

Supporters of this diet often emphasize how vegetables, legumes, and whole grains can provide a wide variety of fibers, antioxidants, and nutrients.

“When we have a diverse microbiome, it helps to produce short-chain fatty acids that are antioxidants for our body … [as well as] other micronutrients that aren’t available in meats and dairy and eggs,” Trinh said.

However, a vegan diet can be more difficult to manage if not carefully planned, especially for athletes or teenagers with higher nutritional needs.

“If you had a vegan diet, what you’ll be missing from your diet is going to be iron and B12,” Trinh said. 

Because those nutrients are harder to get from plant foods alone, Trinh said those who follow a vegan diet are often advised to turn to supplements in order to maintain a healthy balance.

Rather than fully committing to either extreme, Trihn said the best approach for most people is to find a balance that fits their body. 

“While food affects everyone, nutrition is very individual,” Trinh said.

Factors such as genetics, metabolism, and the microbiome can shape how different people respond to the same foods, so when making a dietary plan for yourself, keep in mind that what may work for one person might not work for another.