In his last public interview before retirement, Dr. Loren Cordain, joined by Dr. Mark J. Smith and The Paleo Diet CEO Trevor Connor, debated the composition of the "real" Paleo Diet with Dr. Paul Saladino, the leading authority on the carnivore diet and author of The Carnivore Code. The entire Paleo Diet team would like to thank Dr. Saladino for having them on his podcast, The Fundamental Health Podcast.
The Paleo Diet® has always kept an open mind about what defines the optimal human diet, as long as it is backed by science. On this podcast, our discussion of salt in the human diet was lively. While we do not agree on everything, Dr. Saladino demonstrated his knowledge of the science. He also gave the team some interesting points to consider. Likewise, we hope he learned from us, too.
We specifically want to point out the work of Dr. Douglas London, which contributed heavily to the discussion. Dr. London is in Ecuador researching the diet of one of the last indigenous hunter-gatherer societies in the world: the Amazonian Kawymeno. He has found that this particular society avoids vegetables due to their high anti-nutrient content, but consume large amounts of fruit and meat. Dr. Saladino tends to disagree with any intake of plants due to their potential toxins. It is important to note though that the Amazonian Kawymeno show no evidence of chronic disease on this diet.
We loved challenging (and defending) our position on fruit, meat, and salt with Dr. Saladino and look forward to round two of this discussion!
In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more about our stance on salt in the diet we recommend reading:
- The sea salt controversy: Is it healthy to add salt?
- The sodium/potassium ratio and its importance in human health
- Does a low-salt diet cause insulin resistance?
- The physiological mechanisms underlying high-salt diets and cancer
- Dietary salt impairs the endothelial glycocalyx—the most important cardiovascular disease risk factor you may have never heard about
Listen to our podcast with Dr. Saladino
We hope you check out the entire podcast for yourself. In case you can't listen to the full two-hour episode, here are a few time points to guide you:
10:16 - Start of the podcast
19:26 - Discussion of plant food in the diet
32:07 - The issue with plant-derived lectins
43:01 - Nuts and seeds in the diet
46:06 - Dr. London’s research on the Kawymeno
1:02:22 - Our shared concerns about fructose consumption in the Western diet
1:29:46 - Our debate over sodium consumption and the sodium-to-potassium ratio
1:56:16 - The Carnivore Diet
2:12:06 - The most radical thing we've done recently
