Will Maule

Does Jordan Peterson’s carnivore diet work?

  • From Spectator Life

Jordan Peterson has spent much of the past few years eloquently torpedoing all that the liberal progressives hold dear, and he’s not done yet. Citing a profound health transformation, the bolshy Canadian psychologist is now piling into the opinion-saturated arena of diet, and the vegans aren’t happy.

But Peterson’s latest revelation is not about culture wars or the eroding of free speech. This is about his own mental health, which has at times been unspeakably grim. Controversial as ever, Peterson is now claiming to have beaten away his regimen of antidepressants through the excessive consumption of a rather more rudimentary substance: meat.

A sworn ‘carnivore diet’ convert, he was first introduced to the beef-only regime by his daughter, Mikhaila, who spent years suffering from a serious autoimmune disease.

In an interview with Joe Rogan, Prof. Peterson explained how, by the time she’d reached her teens, his daughter’s excruciating arthritic condition had corroded 40 of her joints and forced her into a deep depression. So severe was the illness that at just fifteen years of age, she required a hip and ankle replacement. ‘She was dying’, Jordan lamented.

But Mikhaila didn’t die. Instead, she ruthlessly eliminated everything that disagreed with her gut. Whittling down the food groups, she started to experience notable health improvements and was soon gorging on a simple staple of broccoli and chicken. Stunned by her progress, Mikhaila then decided to go the whole hog (or cow) and began consuming only beef, salt and water.

‘All my symptoms went into remission’, she told the Atlantic. Her autoimmune disease had literally cured itself. The depression, an illness deeply embedded in the Peterson family, had all but vanished. ‘She was glowing’, Jordan said.

Is it healthy?

With little evidence base, it is important to interpret these assertions with a pinch of salt.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in