“Paul Saladino, author of The Carnivore Code and self-branded 'Carnivore MD,' now says fruit makes up the majority of his diet, alongside honey and carbs, abandoning his previous meat-organs-animal fat-only carnivore diet”
Plain restatementPaul Saladino, who wrote The Carnivore Code and promoted a strict all-animal-foods diet, has publicly stated that fruit now constitutes the majority of his diet, and he also consumes honey and other carbohydrates.
The core of this post checks out. Paul Saladino, who wrote The Carnivore Code and called himself Carnivore MD, did stop following a strict all-meat diet and now eats fruit, honey and other carbohydrates. He said so himself years ago, explaining that he quit carnivore after about eighteen months because of health problems, and in April 2026 he was reported as saying fruit makes up the majority of his food. Two things the post leaves out matter. First, this was not a quiet recent reversal, as he has talked about it publicly since at least 2022 to 2024. Second, the same article the post cites notes his diet is still mostly animal based, built around beef, raw liver, raw milk, butter and yoghurt, so he has not become plant based. The 2026 Nutrients scoping review the post cites is real and is fairly summarised: it found only nine human studies, no randomised trials, and concluded long-term adherence to the carnivore diet cannot be recommended. The claim that search interest has fallen by about three quarters and that multiple founders have quit is weaker, since other leading carnivore advocates remain, and that specific search figure could not be independently verified.
Paul Saladino, [drifted from the evidence:] author of The Carnivore Code and [drifted from the evidence:] self-branded 'Carnivore MD,' now says fruit [drifted from the evidence:] makes up the majority of his diet, [drifted from the evidence:] alongside honey and [drifted from the evidence:] carbs, abandoning his previous meat-organs-animal fat-only carnivore diet
Paul Saladino, [added by the neutral restatement:] who wrote The Carnivore Code and [added by the neutral restatement:] promoted a strict all-animal-foods diet, has publicly stated that fruit [added by the neutral restatement:] now constitutes the majority of his diet, [added by the neutral restatement:] and he also consumes honey and [added by the neutral restatement:] other carbohydrates.
Red-tinted words in the claim drifted from the evidence. Green-tinted words are what a neutral restatement needs.
The trace / claim to source
- Saladino did author The Carnivore Code and did brand himself Carnivore MD.
- He did abandon the strict carnivore diet and has said so himself, citing negative health effects.
- He does eat fruit, honey and other carbohydrates, and has recently been experimenting with vegetables and starches.
- He is reported, in April 2026, as saying fruit "makes up the majority" of his food.
- The 2026 Nutrients scoping review exists, found nine human studies, no randomised trials, flagged LDL and total cholesterol increases and deficiency risks, and concluded long-term adherence cannot be recommended.
- Temporal overreach and framing: the caption says he "quietly walked it back." The shift began around 2019 to 2022 and he has discussed it loudly and repeatedly for years, including a public 2024 post titled "Here is why I quit the carnivore diet." Presenting a years-old, openly stated reversal as a fresh, quiet defection is a framing distortion.
- Omitted qualifier: the post presents "fruit makes up the majority" as a wholesale conversion away from animal foods. The very article it cites states his diet still appears primarily animal-derived, listing raw liver, raw milk, butter, yoghurt and beef. He has not become plant-based and still argues against grains, legumes, nuts, seeds and most vegetables.
- Overgeneralisation of "founders are quitting": Saladino is one prominent figurehead, but the movement's most central advocate, Shawn Baker, has continued promoting the diet. One high-profile pivot does not establish a plural exodus of founders.
- Implicit argument from authority: a proponent changing his personal diet is biographical, not scientific evidence about the diet's effects. The post uses it as if it were evidentiary ("When the founder abandons the framework, that tells you something").
- The claim "fibre intake drops to zero" is presented as a review finding; the review frames dietary fiber as a deficiency risk category rather than issuing that specific phrasing.
- The exact context and meaning of "majority." Whether Saladino meant majority by calories, by weight, by food volume or by number of items is not established, and I could not access the unedited original clip.
- The "roughly three-quarters" decline in search interest. Google Trends is a relative index and I found no independent source stating that specific figure.
- Whether Saladino currently characterises his own overall diet as majority fruit in a sustained way, or made the remark about a particular meal, comparison or period.
The underlying fact is real and well documented. Saladino himself has stated publicly that he stopped eating a strict carnivore diet: he began a carnivore diet of meat, organs, salt and eggs in 2018 to address eczema and asthma, said his symptoms resolved, but quit after about 1.5 years and added back fruit, honey and raw dairy, an approach he calls "animal-based." Encyclopedic sourcing agrees: Saladino later abandoned a strict carnivore diet citing serious side effects, pivoting to promoting a meat heavy diet that also includes fruit and honey. The specific "majority" wording traces to April 2026 reporting by Plant Based News: Saladino has said that fruit now "makes up the majority" of his food, and the content creator who previously operated under the Carnivore MD moniker has begun eating a range of fruits and vegetables. The same outlet separately circulated a podcast clip captioned "Majority of my diet is fruit." Critically, the same source that generated the headline also qualifies it: despite the addition of fruit and certain vegetables, Saladino's diet still appears to be primarily based on animal-derived foods, with daily intake including whey protein, honey, raw liver, raw milk, butter, yoghurt and beef. His own company describes the current position as adding fruit and honey back in to arrive at an animal-based diet of meat, organs, fruit, honey and raw dairy, and in 2026 experimenting with starches such as yuca after white rice and sourdough did not agree with him. Independent commentary notes the same: Saladino began strict carnivore around 2018, changed course by 2022 due to health issues, and these days his diet still relies heavily on meat and dairy while also including fruit and honey. On the secondary study claim, the review exists and the post reports it substantially correctly. The scoping review by Lietz, Dapprich and Fischer was published in Nutrients 2026;18(2):348 by the Center for Nutrition and Therapy at the University of Applied Sciences Muenster. Nine human studies were included, and individual publications reported positive effects such as weight reduction, increased satiety, and potential improvements in inflammatory or metabolic markers. At the same time, potential risks of nutrient deficiencies, particularly vitamins C and D, calcium, magnesium, iodine and dietary fiber, as well as elevated LDL and total cholesterol, were identified, along with one case describing deterioration in health status; the conclusion was that at this time, long-term adherence to a CD cannot be recommended. An independent review of the paper notes that only nine human studies met the criteria and that most of these were case reports, case series, modeling analyses or social media surveys. The university's own summary states that most studies have small samples, short observation periods and a lack of control groups, so long-term health effects cannot currently be reliably assessed and permanent implementation cannot be recommended from a nutritional standpoint.
Complete reasoning
The reply receipt is formatted for pasting into the thread where the claim is circulating.
Compact share page: verify.trueseeker.com/s/5dd916c6e19f/ltfFAA1Y5vUjqP_3wnmMH4M