Dr. Shawn Baker is an elite-level athlete with multiple world records in rowing, he’s also an orthopedic surgeon who served in the US Airforce as a nuclear weapons launch officer and as a combat trauma surgeon and chief of orthopedics while deployed to Afghanistan. Dr. Baker is also the author of “The Carnivore Diet” and the face an improbable health movement that just a few years ago would have seemed absurd, an all-meat diet, or a diet made up exclusively of animal products. He’s the founder and CEO of MeatRx, an organization that educates and promotes the benefits of the Carnivore Diet. Dr, Baker is also the co-host of the Human Performance Outliers podcast.
In this episode Dr. Baker discusses how he became the leading voice of the carnivore diet movement, and how he has overcome an unprecedented level of resistance to an idea that is currently demonized by health professionals, popular culture, through to major health associations like the American Diabetes Foundation and the American Heart Association through to environmental and climate change advocates, to make the idea of eating meat not just safe and healthy but as a way to thrive, prevent disease and save the planet.
Beyond his in-depth dispelling of the myths associated with meat consumption, he discusses the importance of animal protein for human longevity, the introduction of processed carbohydrates, seed oils, and high fructose corn syrup to the human diet as the true culprit behind the modern epidemic of chronic disease, and the stunning data which shows that if the United States were to convert 40% of its herd to regenerative grazing (from 5% currently), then we could completely offset all carbon emissions from every sector of the US economy!
Dr. Baker also shares his thoughts on the qualities he feels are most important in a good leader, as well as his approach to leadership, both as the face of the carnivore community, and as the founder of MeatRx, a company that offers carnivore based health, nutrition, and lifestyle coaching. He’s fully committed to the idea of “walking the walk” and leading from the front by personally using the carnivore diet to continue to improve his health and performance, break world records and train as an athlete in his 50s in a way that most don’t do in their 20s. He also makes note of the importance of surrounding yourself with passionate, happy people, pointing out that every person at the organization has experienced the diet has had a life-altering change.
Of his long term vision, Dr. Baker describes how he is intent on saving a dying healthcare system by teaming up with ranchers and food producers to help educate and guide policy on the health benefits of meat and animal protein-based diet and its use as a powerful intervention for conditions as wide-ranging as autoimmune disease, diabetes, mental health disorders, and GI issues, and why it is more efficacious than the current medical standard of care at a fraction of the cost.
Useful Links:
- Shawn Baker on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5apkKkeZQXRSDbqSalG8CQ
- Shawn Baker’s website: https://shawn-baker.com/
- MeatRx: https://meatrx.com/
- How Americans Got Red Meat Wrong: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/06/how-americans-used-to-eat/371895/
- The History of All-Meat Diets: https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/full-article/all-meat-diets
- Dr. Shawn Bakers book “The Carnivore Diet”: https://amzn.to/3cCqhOS