11. Mikhaila Peterson on curing autoimmune disease and depression with the carnivore diet

Fasting

Mikhaila Peterson shares her experiences with various fasting approaches and their impact on her health. Initially driven by curiosity, she experimented with intermittent fasting and extended fasts to understand her hunger cues and optimize her diet. Paul Saladino highlights the potential benefits of fasting for resetting leptin resistance and improving satiety signaling pathways, especially for those who have been insulin resistant.

I think that for some people who have been insulin resistant in the past, the satiety signaling pathways can be broken, and this involves leptin resistance, and what appears to be beneficial for this is extended fasting.

--- Paul Saladino

Mikhaila's journey with fasting included a 99-hour fast, which she found surprisingly manageable and beneficial for her mental clarity and overall well-being. 1 2

   

Micronutrients

Micronutrients play a crucial role in Mikhaila's carnivore diet, ensuring she gets adequate nutrition despite the restrictive nature of the diet. She discusses the significant changes in her microbiome after switching to a meat-based diet, noting that while some carbohydrate-loving bacteria diminished, bile acid-tolerant and protein-metabolizing organisms flourished. Paul argues that these changes are not necessarily negative, as many inflammatory bowel conditions improve on a carnivore diet.

The carbohydrate loving bacteria will go away, and bile acid tolerant organisms and protein and fat metabolizing organisms will arise in the gut.

--- Paul Saladino

Mikhaila's story underscores the importance of understanding and adapting to these microbiome changes for long-term health benefits. 3 4