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A growing number of Americans are trying to consume more protein. Dr. Ken Berry, a physician in rural Tennessee, traces some of the trend to people reporting improved health by following meat-based diets.
Each year, the International Food Information Council survey asks Americans to select the qualities that best define a healthy food. In 2025, Americans’ views shifted, with “good source of protein” overtaking “fresh” as the top criterion.
The survey also found that for the fifth year in a row, most Americans (70%) reported protein as the nutrient they’re most trying to consume. That’s up from 62% in 2021.
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While protein remains a priority for many Americans, nutrition experts continue to debate the optimal amount and sources of protein for long-term health.
Berry was the keynote speaker at Meatstock 2026, an annual convention for followers of carnivore and ketogenic diets.
Some 1,600 people attended Meatstock 2026, a carnivore convention. Here a group of meat eaters takes part in the event’s opening ribeye-cutting ceremony. (Meatstock 2026)
“Meatstock continues to grow each and every year, sometimes doubling,” Berry told Digital.
“I live on beef, butter, bacon and eggs.”
Carnivore diets vary slightly, Berry said. Some people eat only meat, some eat ruminant meat only, while others incorporate meat, eggs and fish.
They all experience remarkable health benefits, according to Berry, who said he heard testimonial after testimonial from people who said they’ve lost stored fat, reduced fatty liver and inflammation and generally transformed their health on the carnivore diet.
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“The stories you hear at Meatstock grab your heart, and they also grab your brain and make you think,” he said.
Berry himself testified to dropping 70 pounds and reversing “a list of maladies,” including prediabetes, by making the switch from the diet prescribed by the American Diabetes Association to the carnivore diet nine years ago.
“I live on beef, butter, bacon and eggs,” Berry said.
Meatstock, a convention for people who follow animal-based diets, has grown every year. (Meatstock 2026)
The carnivore diet “sounds like basically a terrible idea,” Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in 2024.
He said people miss out on fiber and other key nutrients and that eating animals could lead to climate change.
Others have criticized the diet for being too restrictive to be maintained long-term.
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They have also pointed to a lack of clinical evidence they say is necessary to support the diet.
Still, people are intrigued. Berry’s keynote speech has gained nearly 80,000 views on YouTube in three weeks. The theme of his talk was that people have been “misled and misfed.”
Dr. Ken Berry of Tennessee was the keynote speaker at Meatstock 2026. ( Digital)
Some of the biggest misconceptions, he said, people believe about nutrition are that whole grains and fruit juices are good for you. They’ll keep you alive, he said, but they won’t “optimize your health.”
Popular whole-grain foods such as bread and oatmeal are “almost uniformly inflammatory for most people,” Berry said, though many nutrition researchers have found associations between whole-grain consumption and improved health outcomes.
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He added that the starch present in legumes, beans and other foods commonly accepted as healthy spikes people’s insulin.
Fruit juices found in many smoothies and other products labeled as wellness beverages “in many cases, have more fructose than Coca-Cola,” he said, though nutritional content varies significantly by product.
Fans of the carnivore diet attested to losing weight and reversing disease. Critics of the diet say it deprives people of vital nutrients. (iStock)
Many nutrition studies contain conflicts of interest that consumers may not recognize, Berry argued.
Concerns about bacon, red meat, cancer and heart disease are overstated, Berry said, though major health organizations continue to cite evidence linking processed meat consumption to increased health risks.
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The World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research arm has classified processed meat as carcinogenic and red meat as probably carcinogenic, while other researchers continue to debate the strength and interpretation of the evidence.
“We have not changed as a genetic species from 100,000 years ago. Therefore, our diet should be predominantly meat, or all meat,” Berry said.
Provided it is only made with meat, salt and spices, bacon is a health food, according to Dr. Ken Berry, who advocates for the carnivore diet. (iStock)
The diet can be affordable because consumers do not need to buy premium cuts or exclusively grass-fed meat, Berry said.
Bacon, baloney and hot dogs can be health foods if the consumer is “an ingredient sleuth” and selects those made with only meat, salt and spices, Berry said.
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Critics of carnivore diets have also raised concerns about the elimination of fruits, vegetables and other plant-based foods that provide fiber, vitamins and other nutrients commonly recommended in dietary guidelines.
