Inside Robert F Kennedy Jr's controversial diet of red meat and fermented foodsPublished 16:13 2 Feb 2026 GMT The politician has even roped his wife into helping him achieve his diet goalsby Ella Scott Robert F Kennedy Jr, Secretary of Health and Human Services, has never shied away from discussing his controversial diet ideas with the public. Last month alone, the 72-year-old shared new US dietary guidelines, proclaiming that the ‘war on saturated fats’ was over, and presenting the idea that American’s should eat copious amounts of meat and cheese while keeping whole grain consumption to a minimum. Now, the environmental lawyer has defended the eyebrow-raising carnivore diet, claiming it has helped him lose a large amount of ‘visceral fat’. What is the carnivore diet?The carnivore plan is a restrictive diet usually consisting of meat, fish, eggs, seafood, and some more meat-derived products, such as cheese and butter, as per Harvard Health. Shannon Haynes, RD, a registered dietitian at Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, explained that the extreme ketogenic grub explicitly restricts carbohydrates, alleging that the body gets its energy by ‘burning fat instead’. “[It’s] supposed to speed up the breakdown of fat, improve blood sugar and decrease inflammation,” she told Hartford Healthcare. However, studies suggest that the carnivore diet can lead to nutritional deficiencies, increase inflammation risk due to the copious amount of red meat consumed, and put stress on the kidneys. Dr Mia Kazanjian, a board-certified radiologist in Connecticut, told Fox News Digital that anyone thinking of embarking on the idea should speak to a doctor first. "As a physician focused on cancer prevention, I recommend a Mediterranean diet, largely plant-based, with whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, for optimal health and longevity," she added. RFK Jr defends the carnivore dietIn a new interview with USA Today’s Extremely Normal show, RFK Jr has admitted he is ‘on a carnivore diet’. “I only eat meat or fermented foods,” he said, adding that his daily meal plan ‘may not be right for other people’ and that he didn’t want to ‘make [himself] a role model for what people should do and shouldn't do’. As well as claiming to have lost fat by solely consuming meat, animal-based products, and fermented foods such as sauerkraut, the Republican alleged his diet had helped improve his cognitive ability. The politician celebrated his 72nd birthday last month with a plate of steak (X/@HHSGov) "The way I feel, my mental clarity, my word retrieval, I had noticeable improvements, and you can attribute some of that to placebo effect, but I lost 20 pounds in 20 days when I switched to this diet,” he claimed. However, he acknowledged that some of the so-called ‘enormous benefits’ could be put down to a placebo effect. Does the carnivore diet help you lose weight?Yasi Ansari, senior dietitian at UCLA Health Santa Monica, has spoken about RFK Jr’s weight-loss claims. “Technically, it’s possible to lose visceral fat on any diet in the short term," she told USA Today. "Anytime we restrict calories or significantly change the diet, we may see reductions in visceral fat in the short-term.” However, she added: “The long-term health benefits of consuming a diet rich in fibre from whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, chickpeas and lentils − alongside lean proteins − far outweigh the short-term results that may be seen with a highly restrictive, fad diet.” RFK Jr's fermented foodsAs well as tucking into plates of meaty madness, the father-of-six apparently enlists the help of his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, to carry fermented foods around for him. Cheryl Hines reportedly carries around fermented foods for her husband (David Crotty/Getty Images) "I’ll have my little clutch, one of my good bags that I only take out every once in a while because I want to keep them nice, and he’ll hand me a bag of sauerkraut and say, 'Can you put this in your bag?'" the 60-year-old Curb Your Enthusiasm star said to The Cut. In January, the Washington DC native celebrated his 72nd birthday with a plate of steak, rather than a traditional sweet cake. “No cake, just steak. Happy Birthday @SecKennedy! We are so grateful for your leadership and determination to Make America Healthy Again,” wrote the official X account for the Department of Health and Human Services. ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.foodbible.com/news/celebrity/rfk-jr-carnivore-diet-fermented-foods-explained-951518-20260202
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Sort of pick up around 16 minutes. It gets into breaking a fast with high fats/moderate proteins and how that can mimic the fast and extend the benefits of ketones days after breaking the fast.
I think this sort of explains the two to three days of being super energetic after the end of the extended fasts. I am thinking it is an individual response as well but in theory, this video sort of backs up how I was feeling.
Tonight, I hit 72 hours of the water fast. It has been pretty similar as the other fasts and is actually much easier than it sounds. There was a time I barely went 96 minutes without eating something or drinking a soft drink and back then going 96 hours without eating would be straight craziness. I'm probably going to break this fast around 84 hours tomorrow morning when I get home. This possibly can go to the video posted about "fasting too much". Since I have body fat to "spare" the longer fasts can help with fat loss but more importantly it is the metabolic return. Since I am 90+ pounds lighter than I was 11 months ago I may get to a point where there is diminishing returns on the length of the fasts as well as how often I do them. The fasting should be providing some stressors to the body and at some point, the body will start to adapt making the fast a normal part of life. From there, with that normalcy, it could start losing some of its effect. I read the 'body is smarter than the brain' and at some point, we need to listen to our body more than we do with the brain'.
This video and Dana White had a couple good excerpts (and the ones I am experiencing but could not figure out how to explain). We are constantly exposed to food thru brilliant marketing. There is pretty much no part of our daily life where this 'brilliant marketing' keeps food at our disposal. During the fast, for me between 48 and 72 hours, I am not physically hungry, and my body is not calling for any type of sustenance. I have a ton of energy. I feel really good. I'm pulling 12–13-hour night shifts. I am going to the gym the morning after the shift. My body is telling me it is in a good place. However, my brain is constantly thinking about food. I'm watching a video on carnivore and fasting, and every frame is a person cutting an amazing piece of meat. I immediately start thinking about eating and how I am going to break the fast. This would taste really good right now and my brain starts the negotiation about 48 or 72 hours is long enough and the benefits are there already so let's eat now. We have an over-abundance of food access, and the marketers have made it OK to walk around the house and eat out of habit and boredom, which is a vicious cycle in itself.
Babbling again. But the last part of the video sort of proofed how I felt coming off my last couple of fasts. Being fat adaptive already, fasting followed by a high fat/moderate protein breaking of the fast keeps the ketones going for longer after the break. The opposite would be if I did the same fast and broke it with a heavier carb meal which would kick me right out of ketosis and the ketones would be drastically reduced, if not stopped altogether.
The more I look into it, there may be something to this carnivore thing after all. LOL
Scott