Inside a Carnivore Convention Where Meat Is Considered MedicineDevotees of the diet, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. follows, bonded over brisket and butter at Meatstock. By Dani Blum Photographs by Juan Diego Reyes for The New York Times Reporting from Gatlinburg, Tenn. May 5, 2026 Lisa Moss roamed the halls of Meatstock with a butter keychain dangling off her bag and a pin on her jean jacket that read: “I <3 steak.” She carried a bag of air-dried steak with her, just in case she needed a snack. Ms. Moss, 57, and her husband, Phil Moss, had flown from Alberta, Canada, to Meatstock, the three-day carnivore convention in Gatlinburg, Tenn. They were among more than 1,400 attendees who came to see their superstars — influencers who went by handles like “Steak and Butter Gal” and “2 Krazy Ketos” — and to meet other like-minded people who follow a carnivore diet of primarily or solely animal products, often forgoing fruits and vegetables entirely. “I’ve had people say that to me — ‘Don’t you want to just be normal?’” Serena Musick, a carnivore influencer, said during a panel on carnivore cooking tips. “If being normal means that you can’t exercise, and being normal means you can’t stand up without your knees or back hurting, then I don’t want to be normal,” she added. Talking to one another over brisket dipped in butter and cups of raw milk, they shared what they called their “testimonies,” describing how they believed the diet had healed a wide array of ailments, including arthritis, mental illness and diabetes. One attendee carried a pair of jean shorts that were nearly twice as wide as his waist, to show off the weight he’d lost since “going carnivore.” Most doctors would disagree with the attendees’ enthusiastic claims about the diet’s benefits. They have urged people to eat less red meat, warning that consuming too much raises cholesterol and increases the risk for heart disease. And they have stressed that fruits and vegetables are essential to prevent chronic illnesses. Those perspectives are of little interest to many at Meatstock. After shunning traditional diet advice, they have gone on to lose faith in conventional medicine and health guidance more broadly. It’s not just a diet, they said — it’s a mind-set. “It’s rethinking, relearning what we’ve all been taught,” said Ms. Moss, who adopted the carnivore diet seven years ago and wore a hat bearing the word “Tinfoil.” Standing for the national anthem. Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America. Followers of the carnivore diet remain a niche community, but their worldview is gaining more legitimacy. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has said he follows a carnivore diet, which he has claimed could eliminate dangerous body fat. When Mr. Kennedy unveiled a new food pyramid this year, steak earned a top spot. Several of his prominent allies spoke at the convention, including Calley Means, his close adviser; Zen Honeycutt, founder of the advocacy group Moms Across America; Vani Hari, a food activist known as “The Food Babe”; and Alex Clark, the host of a popular wellness podcast. While many of the attendees said they weren’t particularly interested in politics, their statements often echoed the rhetoric of Mr. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement. They were eager to trade prescription drugs for added helpings of beef and painted mainstream medicine as trying to profit off patients. Attendees crammed into conference rooms for presentations on raw meat and food addiction, as well as a seminar that questioned whether high cholesterol could actually lead to heart disease. (It can.) In the exhibit hall, women in bonnets sold raw cheese and butter, advertised as “for cats and dogs” to skirt restrictions on selling those products to humans. People drifted between booths selling meat-centric items like tallow lotions and a cereal made of ground beef. Non-edible offerings included a holistic health class for home-schooled teens and a tool to block radiation from cell phones. Veronica Eggleston, 24, said that she had become increasingly attentive to what she puts into or on her body since she adopted the carnivore diet in high school. She replaced her traditional sunscreen with a tallow-based product, for example. Ms. Eggleston, who attended the conference with her mother, said that one of the hardest parts about adhering to the diet was the pushback she received from friends and co-workers. “It’s so nice to not feel weird, to be in a space where I’m not constantly getting questions or personal attacks,” said Ms. Eggleston. Many of the attendees also said they were there to find community. Some even walked around with cutting boards that they asked others to sign, like high school yearbooks. “There just seems to be such a camaraderie here,” said Karen Chandler, 65. “That’s felt really good for me, because I’ve been kind of out there by myself.” Ms. Chandler was sitting next to Christy Desautels, 59, whom she had befriended on the bus from the airport. They two were now talking over lunch — plain burger patties heaped high on silver trays. Attendees wore shirts with a variety of slogans, such as “Real Women Eat Meat” and “Eat Meat and Question Everything.” Another attendee, Adi Lavi, 34, seemed concerned with matters beyond friendship: She walked around the exhibit hall, wearing a bag that said “Ask me about carnivore dating.” She had become a carnivore while in a relationship with someone who “believes in conventional medicine,” she said. That divide was one of the main reasons they broke up. Now she was starting a matchmaking service, just for carnivores. Dani Blum is a health reporter for The Times. ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/well/meatstock-carnivore-diet-rfk-jr.html
I have made note of carnivore, fasting and trying to hit protein targets. I have altered the fat content and found pretty much where I need to be.
I have also noted I am amazed by the amounts of food other people can eat in one setting. Once I get past a 3/4"-1" rib eye, I'm full and sometimes can manage to eat the other half of my wife's steak, but that can be a stretch. I have tried to hit protein targets as I am getting more and more into lifting at the gym.
The past few weeks I have been on a stretch of overtime. I am averaging just a tad over 66 hours per week. I have been using some of the time on nights to pursue my Google degree in Carnivore and my YouTube College of Medicine Certificate with a lot of the metabolic things that come along with the carnivore diet, fasting and lifting weights (with an autoimmune disease tossed in as well). I'm not close to graduating from either Google nor Youtube, but I am working on those degrees.
I read a ton on the sugar diet (not that I am interested but more so to read about the effects of sugar). I have read a ton on glucose, glycogen, the liver and the pancreas as well as insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity. Instead of watching other people give their (mostly biased) opinions on studies and medical papers I decided to read theirs and then conduct my own experiments on myself. (Maybe inspired by Nick Norwitz, ??)
My first conclusion is that after going without sugar for 13-14 months the least little bit of sugar triggers hunger signals like I have not had in forever. As noted, I am trying to hit protein targets, and I simply can't eat that amount of meat to get to 200 grams of protein. For weight loss and using fat for energy this is a good thing. For weight/muscle gain I don't think I am fueling up as well as I need. I had some ideas and tried to kill two birds with one stone. I bought some of the pre-mixed protein drinks. I tried one, and then waited a week to try another, and then another after the third week. This container has 2.5 servings per bottle and I drank half of it and then 12 hours later the other half.
Rockin' Protein - Shamrock Farms
It has 20grams of carbohydrates and 11 grams of sugar so I'm getting them at 10 and 6 per serving.
Within an hour of each serving I am as hungry as all get out. It does not feel like an old sugar craving as I didn't really have any of those going to carnivore. But I can remember always feeling a little bit hungry. 5-6-7 20oz Mountain Dews and multiple snack cakes thru the day was providing me with the sugar to make my brain say, "I'm hungry again". I am guessing (hypothesizing if this were truly scientific) that by being off sugar/carbs for so long it only takes a very small amount to take me back to "hungry" all over again. (I have found a similar issues with seed oils. I ate them by the buckets before Carnivore and now the least little bit sends me running to the bathroom).
The sugar and the carbs have been a tradeoff for appetite and getting in extra protein. My weight fluctuates/swings normally and that has continued. Maybe up a pound or two more but swings back down to where I am averaging around 215. (still 90lbs off my start point on carnivore).
I could stand to lose some more weight, maybe 15-20lbs or so, but I am not as concerned with weight loss as of late. Super happy with the 90-95lbs in 14 months. Carnivore is still my way of eating, and as far as food is concerned it is still strict carnivore. Once a week or so I am indulging in a few carbs and a few sugars which triggers some hunger. I get the benefit of the extra protein from the drink but at the same time I can get in one more rib eye due to the hunger it provides. Probably not the best method to trigger hunger, but since I never had cravings, I don't see it being my 'gate-way' drug back to Mountain Dews and Little Debbie Snack cakes. LOL
The return? In the past month I can see a difference in my biceps and triceps. And although the aesthetics is not the goal, it is pretty cool to gain a little muscle at 55. The end goal is to gain muscle to offset the natural muscle loss from aging as well as the effects of the auto-immune disease I am trying to reverse with carnivore. The most impressive part so far is the plates I am adding in the gym. I am a lot stronger at 55 than 35. I am not 25 and just out of the service healthy but I am a lot closer to that than I was 14 months ago. And there has been some strides in the last month with "sugar dosing".
If I were struggling with weight still, I might not see this as a grand idea but since I am good with my weight right now, I don't see the harm of the occasional sugar spike. (This is similar to a four-year carnivore friend at the gym who eats sweet potatoes on Thursday nights before a big lift on Friday. Really similar concepts).
Again, not one of those double-blind studies with a thousand humans as control subjects, just me, and my approach to my own health. Maybe not the best plan, but it is my plan, and for now it is working rather well.
babbling on again.
Scott