3 ms·

Can you expand a bit on the benefits of this diet? Aren't fruits and veggies essential for your health?

reedjosh 5y ago
Turns out you only need vitamin C and fiber if you're eating fructose or other sugars. There was a study in the early 1900s where two guys ate meat only for (I think) one year. I'll see if I can dig it up. Found it. Pdf warning http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf Downvote all you want, but it's true. Manny people do it today, and I've done it myself for a period. That said I'm not saying there aren't benefits to fruits and veg, just that you can be perfectly healthy without them.
- db48x 5y ago
  This is extremely misleading, because you need a constant supply of vitamin C regardless of how much sugar you consume, and because you can get both vitamin C and fiber from meat. I’ve read that polar bear livers have so much vitamin C in them that you can actually poison yourself with them if you eat too many (personally I regard it as a rather remote circumstance).
  - caymanjim 5y ago
    You're mixing up vitamins. Meat doesn't contain any vitamin C; it's one of the few vitamins we need that you can't get from meat. And you can eat all the vitamin C you want. It's vitamin A that you have to be careful to avoid overdosing on, particularly from the livers of omnivores and carnivores.
    - samatman 5y ago
      Half right. He is mixing up vitamin A toxicity from some animal livers with vitamin C, but vitamin C is also found in liver, fish roe, and in small amounts in muscle. Adequate amounts? All I can tell you is that I know a small handful of people who have eaten an exclusively carnivore diet for years on end without suffering from scurvy.
      - caymanjim 5y ago
        TIL. Seems that this was studied extensively in Inuit and other Alaskan populations that have a particularly meat-heavy diet.
    - db48x 5y ago
      It looks like I was mixing up the toxicity; thanks for the correction!

Turns out you only need vitamin C and fiber if you're eating fructose or other sugars. There was a study in the early 1900s where two guys ate meat only for (I think) one year. I'll see if I can dig it up. Found it. Pdf warning http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf http://www.jbc.org/content/87/3/651.full.pdf Downvote all you want, but it's true. Manny people do it today, and I've done it myself for a period. That said I'm not saying there aren't benefits to fruits and veg, just that you can be perfectly healthy without them.

db48x 5y ago
This is extremely misleading, because you need a constant supply of vitamin C regardless of how much sugar you consume, and because you can get both vitamin C and fiber from meat. I’ve read that polar bear livers have so much vitamin C in them that you can actually poison yourself with them if you eat too many (personally I regard it as a rather remote circumstance).
- caymanjim 5y ago
  You're mixing up vitamins. Meat doesn't contain any vitamin C; it's one of the few vitamins we need that you can't get from meat. And you can eat all the vitamin C you want. It's vitamin A that you have to be careful to avoid overdosing on, particularly from the livers of omnivores and carnivores.
  - samatman 5y ago
    Half right. He is mixing up vitamin A toxicity from some animal livers with vitamin C, but vitamin C is also found in liver, fish roe, and in small amounts in muscle. Adequate amounts? All I can tell you is that I know a small handful of people who have eaten an exclusively carnivore diet for years on end without suffering from scurvy.
    - caymanjim 5y ago
      TIL. Seems that this was studied extensively in Inuit and other Alaskan populations that have a particularly meat-heavy diet.
  - db48x 5y ago
    It looks like I was mixing up the toxicity; thanks for the correction!