KC Meat Up

Depression and the Carnivore Diet

By Jeffrey M. Barber

Personal stories, not medical advice. If you take medication (especially for blood sugar, blood pressure or mood), change your diet with your doctor in the loop.

What it feels like

It isn't just sadness. It's heaviness, no energy, and things that used to matter going flat. Some days the couch wins. Maybe you've tried several medications and dealt with their side effects. Many of the people below had lived with it since their teens.

Real people, real stories (N=1)

🔴 #1 Harvard Psychiatrist: This Is The WORST Food For Mental Health! | Dr. Georgia Ede · Dr. Georgia Ede (with Dr. Anthony Chaffee) · Watch on YouTube

  • Dr. Georgia Ede describes 31 treatment-resistant psychiatric inpatients, including people with severe major depression, who had all improved by week three on a ketogenic diet. YouTube
  • Dr. Georgia Ede questions the chemical-imbalance model of mental illness and asks what causes those imbalances in the first place. YouTube
  • Dr. Georgia Ede discusses ketogenic and carnivore diets for mental health and why they can feel like non-starters for many people. YouTube

#1 Harvard Doctor: The Most Harmful Foods Causing Brain Disease (EAT THIS) | Dr Georgia Ede · Dr. Georgia Ede · Watch on YouTube

  • Dr. Georgia Ede's chapter on her own health struggle (timestamp from the video's description chapters). YouTube
  • Dr. Georgia Ede's chapter on the carnivore diet for the brain (timestamp from the video's description chapters). YouTube
  • Dr. Georgia Ede's chapter on getting off medications (timestamp from the video's description chapters). YouTube

Best Diet to Improve Mental Health with Dr. Georgia Ede · Dr. Georgia Ede (with Dr. Ken Berry) · Watch on YouTube

Dr. Ken Berry interviews psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede about the best diet to improve mental health (summary based on the title only).

The Anxiety/Depression Diet: This Will Help · Dr. Ken Berry · Watch on YouTube

  • Dr. Ken Berry says, from his clinic experience, that there is a diet that helps anxiety and depression, and presents the ketogenic diet. YouTube

Carnivore Diet The Best For Mental Health | Dr. Shawn Baker & Dr. Rachel Brown · Dr. Rachel Brown (with Dr. Shawn Baker) · Watch on YouTube

  • Psychiatrist Dr. Rachel Brown's chapter, with Dr. Shawn Baker, on mental health improvements with diet. YouTube
  • Dr. Rachel Brown's chapter on how to wean off medications as diet improves. YouTube

How Carnivore Ended My Panic Attacks (After 25 Years of Struggle) · Jenny Mitich · Watch on YouTube

  • Jenny Mitich says carnivore brought huge improvements in her depression and that she feels she is operating at a much higher baseline. YouTube

How @carnivoreray Was Set Free From Depression By Eating ONLY Meat... | Ft. Ray Hicks and Nolan Molt · Ray Hicks (@carnivoreray) · Watch on YouTube

  • Ray Hicks's chapter on healing the depression he struggled with for over a decade through diet. YouTube

Joe Rogan - Jordan Peterson's Carnivore Diet Cured His Depression? · Jordan Peterson (on JRE) · Watch on YouTube

  • Jordan Peterson tells Joe Rogan he has had severe depression since he was about 13, while discussing his all-meat diet. YouTube

Overcoming Anxiety and PTSD with Steaks | Dr. Shawn Baker & Chad (Combat Carnivore) · Chad (Combat Carnivore) · Watch on YouTube

  • Chad (Combat Carnivore)'s chapter on 10 years of depression. YouTube
  • Chad (Combat Carnivore)'s chapter on quitting SSRIs. YouTube

CARNIVORE DIET FIXED DEPRESSION, BIPOLAR, HOMELESS, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, EMILY PENTON · Emily Penton · Watch on YouTube

  • Emily Penton's chapter on overcoming bipolar disorder. She says she was once on lithium, Prozac, Adderall and Ambien. YouTube

Can Carnivore Keto Diet Cure Your Anxiety and Depression? Interview With Chris Cooking Nashville (the creator's title) · Chris Cooking Nashville · Watch on YouTube

Ketogenic Woman interviews Chris Cooking Nashville about whether a carnivore keto diet can help anxiety and depression (summary based on the title only).

Read the full notes

Jenny Mitich, on Metabolic Mind. Watch at 3:39 She was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at 13 and came to carnivore to lose weight after a twin pregnancy. She found unexpected mental health changes: "As far as the depression, yeah, huge improvements there as well." She says she's "operating at a much higher optimal baseline."

Jordan Peterson, on Joe Rogan (JRE Clips). Watch at 4:32 After describing his daughter's results, he says: "I've had depression since I was 13 probably and very severe." He goes on to talk about what changed for him on an all-meat diet. (Note that the video's title is phrased as a question.)

Ray Hicks (@carnivoreray), on Austin Molt's channel. Chapter "Healing depression through diet" at 32:14 At 0:29 he talks about depression he'd "struggled with for over a decade." He says that at 35:10 his depression came "two to three times a year," and that antidepressants helped but it came back when he stopped them.

Chad (Combat Carnivore), a veteran, on Dr. Shawn Baker's channel. "10 years of depression" at 5:56; "Quitting SSRIs" at 28:04 (He talks about getting off SSRIs. See the Safety check above.)

Emily Penton, on Growth Factor. "Overcoming bipolar disorder" at 1:03 At 3:21 she says she had been on "900 milligrams of lithium, 80 milligrams of Prozac, 80 milligrams of Adderall just to get out of bed every day."

Chris Cooking Nashville, on Ketogenic Woman. Can Carnivore Keto Diet Cure Your Anxiety and Depression? (the creator's title) (Summary is from the title only. No timestamp: the transcript didn't confirm a specific moment.)

If you've been fighting this for years, these stories are a reason to ask your prescriber about a monitored dietary trial alongside your current care.

Our thesis

Our thesis: We think depression is often, at least in part, a brain-metabolism problem driven by a modern diet that our brains didn't evolve on. We think a nutrient-dense, ketogenic, meat-based diet may shift that metabolism for some people. This is understudied: the main study cited here is a single uncontrolled, retrospective inpatient study of a ketogenic (not carnivore) diet. Carnivore for depression has not been tested in trials.

The bet

  • A directional shift. The stories above come from real people, on camera and in their own words. They are anecdotes, but they point the same way, and we think that's worth taking seriously.
  • Lower risk with your doctor in the loop. Eating meat, eggs, salt and water for a set trial period is a reversible experiment. Stopping antidepressants suddenly can cause withdrawal and relapse, so any change is a slow taper with your prescriber. The trial happens with your doctor in the loop, not around them; see the Safety check above for the details.
  • Why the research is thin. Randomized trials are built for drugs and are expensive. No one can patent a steak, so the industry has little incentive to fund primal-diet research. A missing trial isn't proof that it works, and it isn't proof that it doesn't.
  • The primal lens. The human body was shaped long before refined sugar, seed oils and ultra-processed food existed. We see the modern diet as the uncontrolled experiment, and a meat-based trial as a step back toward the conditions our biology evolved in.

Overview: the condition, holistically

Depression has many contributors: genetics, trauma and stress, sleep, isolation, substance use, hormones, chronic illness and inflammation, and increasingly a focus on brain metabolism. Standard care offers psychotherapy and antidepressants, with other options for treatment-resistant cases. These help many people, but not everyone. Metabolic psychiatry is a growing field that studies how insulin resistance, inflammation and brain energy affect mood.

How carnivore is claimed to help

What advocates say, attributed to them:

  • Root causes over chemical imbalance. At 13:16 Dr. Georgia Ede, a psychiatrist, questions the chemical-imbalance story. At 15:38 she asks "what is causing those chemical imbalances in the first place."
  • Ketogenic first, carnivore when needed. She discusses why keto and carnivore diets work and why they can feel like non-starters for many people (17:59).
  • Inflammation and insulin resistance. Dr. Rachel Brown links mental illness to metabolic dysfunction, insulin resistance and gut health (chapter at 16:23).
  • Nutrient density. Animal foods supply B12, iron, zinc and omega-3 fats the brain depends on.

Doctors and advocates

  • Dr. Georgia Ede

    Psychiatrist; explains why she thinks ketogenic and carnivore diets can help mental health.

  • Dr. Anthony Chaffee

    Host of the Anthony Chaffee MD channel; interviews psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede on diet and mental health.

  • Dr. Ken Berry

    Family physician; says a ketogenic diet helps anxiety and depression and hosts Dr. Ede.

  • Dr. Shawn Baker

    Carnivore advocate and podcast host; interviews Dr. Rachel Brown and Chad on mental health.

Read the full notes

Dr. Georgia Ede, psychiatrist and author of Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind. Website: https://www.diagnosisdiet.com

Dr. Anthony Chaffee, physician. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@anthonychaffeemd. He hosted Dr. Ede's interview above.

Dr. Ken Berry, family physician. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KenDBerryMD

  • The Anxiety/Depression Diet: This Will Help. At 0:24, drawing on his clinic: "I'm very happy to tell you that yes there is a diet that you can eat that will help your anxiety and your depression." (This is a 2017 video and the diet is ketogenic.)

Dr. Rachel Brown, psychiatrist, with Dr. Shawn Baker. Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DrShawnBakerPodcast

Questions to ask your doctor

Ask: "Can I try a dietary change while staying on my current medication?" "If things improve, what would a safe, supervised taper look like?" Not sure your concerns are being heard? See when to question the advice.

Try it

  • Go through the Safety check above with your doctor before you start.
  • Don't stop your antidepressants or other mood medications on your own. Any change is a supervised taper with your prescriber.
  • Expect a 2 to 4 week adaptation period. Electrolytes (salt) help many people.
  • Plan meals with the KC Meatup calculator.
  • Find KC clinicians who use nutrition-based approaches in the directory, and Dr. Ede's clinician directory at https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/directory.
Plan your meat with the calculator

Not medical advice

Personal stories, not medical advice. If you take medication (especially for blood sugar, blood pressure or mood), change your diet with your doctor in the loop.

Sources

Research

  • Danan A et al. (2022). The Ketogenic Diet for Refractory Mental Illness: A Retrospective Analysis of 31 Inpatients. Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.951376. This is the study Dr. Ede describes. It is retrospective, uncontrolled, and used a ketogenic diet, not a carnivore one.
  • Lennerz BS et al. (2021). Carnivore diet survey (self-reported). https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzab133

Videos (all verified by oEmbed. Timestamps are confirmed against YouTube auto-captions or chapters. Quotes are from the auto-captions.)