Conditions Helped by a Species-Appropriate Diet: Real People, Real Cases

All accounts below are drawn verbatim from interviews recorded in the ZeroCarb, Anthony Chaffee MD, and Shawn Baker MD transcript archives. Names are as stated by the interviewees themselves.

Multiple Sclerosis

MS is characterised by demyelination of nerve fibres — the protective myelin sheath breaks down, disrupting signals between brain and body. Several interviewees reported significant symptom reversal after switching to a species-appropriate diet.

• Ivy — diagnosed with MS in 2009. "I have multiple sclerosis and I had basically every symptom there was. I couldn't walk, I couldn't talk, I couldn't move my hands. I had sensitivity issues which were major — hot was cold, cold was hot." Reported substantial recovery on dietary change.
• Molly — diagnosed with progressive MS. Her doctor told her: "Everything is as bad as it is and it's going to stay that way. Nothing will ever get better." She reported otherwise after the diet.
• Rene — diagnosed with a second autoimmune disease in 2019, placed on immunotherapy. Came to the diet out of desperation.
• Rebecca — found species-appropriate eating accidentally on YouTube and credited it with significant neurological improvement.

Dr Anthony Chaffee: "We've even seen lesion reduction in MS patients — I think that's because they're finally getting the basic nutrition that we need. If your B12 is so low that you're getting demyelination, how the hell do you expect to remyelinate your nerves from MS?"

Mental Health

The transcripts contain more mental health testimonials than any other category — over 60 named individuals. Conditions include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADHD, PTSD, OCD, and schizophrenia.

• Scott — began having panic attacks and severe anxiety at age 16. Decades of struggle before dietary change resolved the symptoms.
• Jamie (age 69) — shared a history of psychiatric medication and reported coming off multiple drugs after dietary change.
• Jonathan — described dietary change as addressing the root metabolic driver of his psychiatric symptoms.
• Simon — described a long road through mental health difficulties before finding resolution through diet.
• Sally — started the diet for weight, reported significant mental health improvement as a secondary benefit.

"I was diagnosed with bipolar and ADHD. I no longer had symptoms of those. I also was IBS-free. And the first thing that really started all of these things way back when I was in high school was chronic bronchitis — I had it for years."
— Interview subject, ZeroCarb archive

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is autoimmune-driven. Practitioners report it typically takes 6–9 months before significant improvement appears.

• Lash — "I had been suffering from psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, depression, chronic pain, itching, bleeding — all the things that come along with psoriasis — for about 30 years of my life."
• Sian — addressed IBS and psoriasis simultaneously, starting 2012–2013 via paleo then keto.
• Miami (age 68) — had what he thought was dandruff from his teenage years: "By the time I was in my early 20s I never knew it was psoriasis." Resolved on dietary change.
• Keith — psoriasis was part of a broader metabolic deterioration that began in his mid-30s on shift work.

Heart Disease

Cardiovascular conditions — high blood pressure, arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, and heart attack history — appear in over 40 named testimonials.

• Elizabeth — blood pressure 180/90. Placed on tablets. Came off medication after dietary transition.
• Aaron — at age 20–21 had high blood pressure, PVCs (premature ventricular contractions), and arrhythmia. All resolved.
• Brian — had AFib alongside severe arthritis and back pain. Came off multiple medications.
• Daniel — "About five years ago I almost died from a heart attack — it was a complete and total shocker." Dietary change followed.
• Amanda — bed-bound after a full year of conventional medicine that left her worse. Dietary change led to recovery.

Diabetes

Diabetes testimonials are the single most common category — over 80 named individuals. Both Type 2 reversal and significant Type 1 insulin reduction are reported.

• Graham — ended up on the cardiology ward in 2018 with chest pains. Investigation revealed diabetic trajectory. Reversed with dietary change.
• Adam — his father's retinopathy diagnosis (a long-term diabetes complication) was the catalyst for the whole family switching.
• Rory — multiple kidney stones on a diet he believed to be healthy. Discovered pre-diabetes through investigation. Reversed both.
• George — described diabetes reversal as the most significant health change of his life.

Weight & Metabolic Disease

Weight loss is often what brings people to the diet initially, with resolution of underlying disease following. Over 55 named individuals.

• Catlyn — "Pretty much my whole life from about the time I was about nine I struggled with weight. I tried all these fad diets, the diet pills — you name it, I've probably done it."
• Mark — "I found carnivore by being sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've gone through yo-yo dieting pretty much half a dozen plans over probably 40 years."
• Holly — bottomed out with gastritis, hiatal hernia, and diverticular disease. Weight loss followed complete gut healing.

Lupus

• Line — found the diet out of desperation after years of lupus management that left her unable to function normally.
• Matt — came to the diet partly because of his sister's lupus diagnosis.

Dr Chaffee: "I have had a lot of success helping people with fibromyalgia, lupus — I had a gentleman at stage three kidney disease and I helped him reverse it."

Autoimmune Disease

Over 44 named individuals with various autoimmune diagnoses — Crohn's, ulcerative colitis, Hashimoto's, rheumatoid arthritis, coeliac, fibromyalgia.

• Annette — her husband had ulcerative colitis requiring surgical colon resection. "He was in and out of the hospital three or four times a year." Resolved on dietary change.
• Lisa — had seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (the more aggressive antibody-positive form) while vegan. Reversed after switching to species-appropriate diet.
• Stacy — "I've fought autoimmune illness for most of my life since I was 3 years old." Documented significant improvement on the diet.
• Tim — his sister had rheumatoid arthritis and eczema. Her recovery motivated him.
• Phil — adopted the diet after Jordan Peterson's Joe Rogan appearance to address his own autoimmune condition.

Dr Chaffee: "There are randomised controlled trials in humans showing that removing carbohydrates and fibre directly and massively improves autoimmune conditions. It can put Crohn's disease into remission."

Migraine

• Maggie — "It was a progression from vegan right through to the other end of the track, station after station, trying to alleviate migraine headaches — that has been my 55-plus years of pain and suffering."
• Becky — found the diet after exhausting conventional migraine management approaches.
• Erin — chronic migraines from childhood resolved significantly on dietary change.
• Nick — his wife progressed from visual disturbances to focal unaware seizures. Her migraines resolved alongside seizure reduction.

Cancer

Over 40 named individuals in the cancer category — either directly affected or using the diet preventively after a diagnosis prompted investigation.

• Patty — suffered from debilitating gut dysfunction, asthma, medication-resistant depression, and PTSD. Cancer diagnosis was part of a broader health collapse.
• Tim — "About two years before discovering carnivore I was very ill. I considered myself, if you will, the Walking Dead."
• Nuron — a medical school graduate who described believing all mainstream advice. Cancer changed that perspective entirely.
• Anthony — found the diet in September 2023 after a cancer diagnosis prompted him to research metabolic approaches.

The metabolic theory of cancer — that cancer cells preferentially consume glucose and cannot use ketones — is a growing research area. Dr Chaffee: "If you have a cancer that's built on high insulin, a ketogenic approach starves it metabolically."

Skin Conditions (Eczema, Acne, Rosacea)

• Lash — 30 years of psoriasis with bleeding and itching. Resolved.
• Tammy (classically trained nutritionist and chef) — heard about the diet through Jordan Peterson and investigated it despite her conventional nutrition background.
• Nicole — skin clearing was one of the first and most visible changes within months of starting.
• Steve — grew up on a New Zealand farm on a high-carbohydrate diet; skin issues were among the first things to resolve.

Arthritis

• Lisa — seropositive rheumatoid arthritis reversed after coming off a vegan diet.
• Jane — "I've been very crippled with arthritis. This started back 20–30 years ago." Told repeatedly to have knee surgery. Avoided it after dietary change.
• Brian — arthritis was "pretty bad" alongside AFib before starting the diet.
• Jon — joint pain was a primary driver when he stumbled into carnivore in 2019.

Gut & Bowel Disease

Over 60 named individuals — the second largest category in the archives.

• Holly — "I bottomed out with gastritis, hiatal hernia, inflammation from tip to tail, diverticular pockets all throughout my colon." All resolved.
• Katherine — the diet was the only thing that actually addressed her gut condition after years of conventional treatment.
• Sian — IBS and psoriasis both resolved through progressive dietary elimination starting in 2012.
• Annette's husband — ulcerative colitis requiring surgical colon resection, in and out of hospital 3–4 times a year. Resolved on the diet.

Epilepsy & Seizure Disorders

• Knight — "I had a lifelong seizure disorder that no doctors could figure out. I had these auras that started in like sixth grade." Resolved on a ketogenic/species-appropriate diet.
• Nick — his wife progressed from visual disturbances to full focal unaware seizures. Seizures reduced significantly on dietary change.
• Harris (GP, 34 years in practice) — has a son with epilepsy; personal experience led him to investigate and recommend the diet in his own practice.
• Jennifer (25-year nutrition degree) — was familiar with ketogenic diets only from their use in paediatric seizure disorders. Applied it personally with significant results.

Parkinson's & Alzheimer's

• Sue — family history of Alzheimer's. Used dietary change as both preventive and therapeutic intervention over the last four years.
• Diane — first encountered the diet through someone with Lyme disease; Alzheimer's prevention was part of her motivation.

The mechanism parallels diabetes: the Alzheimer's brain loses the ability to metabolise glucose (sometimes called "Type 3 diabetes") but retains the ability to use ketones. A low-carbohydrate diet providing continuous ketones may slow or partially reverse the neuronal energy deficit.

Summary