“I know one of the things you’re most worried about is glyphosates, so we’ve got glyphosate-free honey and raw milk,” natural-food podcaster Paul Saladino said, barely able to contain his excitement as his producer handed him and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr two shot glasses. Saladino was part of a White House health summit meant to address the country’s most pressing health issues, and podcasters were more than welcome.
Saladino, often referred to as “Carnivore MD,” promotes the “carnivore diet,” in which adherents consume an overwhelmingly meat-based diet under the notion that our primal ancestors relied on such an ultrahigh protein diet. He presents it as a healthier alternative to the destructive world of modern cereal grains, packaged foods, and processed junk.
Saladino knew Kennedy was a fan of “raw milk,” unpasteurized milk that figures prominently in an online “wellness” community that often suggests the milk has almost mystical healing powers. Moments before, Saladino bragged that his lunch included raw milk with chunks of uncooked, “grass-fed” beef floating in it. Cavemen supposedly knew best: raw meat preserves nutrients that modern, industrial cooking destroys.
For Kennedy, Saladino’s caveman act isn’t a gimmick; it illustrates the MAHA precepts he’s built into policy. Central to those precepts is a largely discredited theory of “natural immunity” — the claim that human bodies should simply acquire immunity from exposure rather than immunization. While unsupported by evidence, it has a certain holistic appeal for those distrustful of modern institutions: maybe things were better before technology, institutions, and “experts” got in the…
Auteur: Shane Burley
