Full Transcript Shawn Baker's 'Don't Get Fat' Advice 0:00 Hey everyone, this is Klaus from Plantbase News. What we're going to talk 0:02 about today is Shawn Baker who's just given some advice to his younger [music] 0:06 self. He said, "As I approach 60, my advice to my younger self would be to 0:10 never get fat and never stop training." 0:16 What are your immediate reactions, Sarah and Shabnam? Good lifestyle advice to 0:19 combat disease or are these not reflections you are likely to have when 0:23 you're his age? I think being focused on aesthetics 0:27 versus the predeterminants of health are very common with the younger crowd. 0:33 Shawn Baker is now 60 and so this obsession and ego around diet culture, 0:41 meat as protein is a really juvenile and selfish approach to how we should eat 0:48 and live. What do you think he would say to that? Are we just taking ourselves 0:52 too seriously here? What do you mean? Taking ourselves too seriously. Do I 0:57 think Shawn Baker looks great at 60? Yes, absolutely. Do I think that he 1:02 lives daily values of like physical activity and other variables that impact 1:08 someone's well-being and fitness? Probably. As a clinical exercise 1:12 physiologist, understanding how hormones change over time, do I know that people 1:16 as they age start to do other things like hormone replacement therapy and not 1:21 announce it? Yes. I also know people do that. So, I think there are lots of 1:26 potential variables that impact the outcome that we see on screen as Shawn 1:32 Baker at 60. But, being someone who has experienced a life of great health, 1:38 success and his advice to our younger selves, I almost see this is like the 1:43 ego of diet culture. It really kind of represents that ultimate selfishness, 1:47 individualistic, personal thriving and my question to my younger self is, "Does 1:54 your plate represent compassion? Does the way you live represent selflessness 1:59 or is it selfishness?" Because compassion starts on your plate and I
Critiquing Diet Culture and Aesthetics 2:03 think we have a very different advice to our younger self given [snorts] the life 2:08 experience we have had on this planet. >> Yeah, I'm trying to think what I would 2:13 tweet if I was tweeting or Xing or whatever you call it at age 60, what I 2:17 would say. I think it would be very different to to Shawn Baker. Maybe along 2:22 the lines of, you know, life without purpose is worthless, something like 2:25 that, you know, talking about contribution, serving others, connecting 2:29 with others. It's like my advice to my younger self would be to never get fat. 2:33 It's just I saw it and I was like, "Whoa." It's almost like it's from the 2:37 Manosphere documentary on Netflix. >> [laughter] 2:41 >> I haven't watched it, but I know it does make me angry. For me, like I know for a 2:45 fact that the least interesting thing about me is how I look. I'm not going to 2:49 get to the end of my life and be like, "Oh, I wish I hadn't gotten fat." Or, 2:54 you know, it's like I just wouldn't consider those to be like important 2:57 things. Like the sort of things I hope I'm going to be thinking about at the 3:00 end of my life are like, "What impact did I have on the world? Like, was I a 3:03 good person? Was I kind? Did I leave the world a better place than when I got 3:08 there?" Like those are the things we should be focusing on, not like the 3:11 whole aesthetics of the carnivore movement. Like I just think that's 3:14 ridiculous advice. And like sure, it's on X, so it's a short tweet. But, I hope 3:18 at 60 I'm going to be thinking more about like me as an authentic person and 3:22 doing good rather than literally just physically what I look like. 3:26 >> I agree. I think our obsession with thinness is a just a values disconnect. 3:30 And for Shawn Baker to be this person still at 60, I would just emphasize 3:35 Tupac who in his 20s said, "It's time for us as a people to start making some 3:42 changes. Let's change the way we eat. Let's change the way we live and let's 3:46 change the way we treat each other." Powerful. It's interesting though 3:50 because I mean the guy claims that he helps a lot of people giving diet advice 3:55 to people that are struggling with their microbiome and I guess there's the whole 3:58 debate around, you know, the carnivore diet not actually doing that, but you'd 4:02 think if he was being authentic with that opinion and that experience, you'd 4:07 think his advice as a result to his younger self would be to help others. If 4:12 you do care about helping others, it's like what you said, Shabnam. We're in 4:15 such a individualistic society that we're not thinking about the wider 4:19 picture. We're not thinking about the world or being kind or generous or any 4:23 of that stuff. It's just like me, me, me. Me physically, how do I look? It's 4:27 It's strange. The intellectual bankruptcy of don't get fat. What? With 4:33 that exclamation mark. While again, don't get fat is is great 4:39 physical and nutrition advice, it ignores so many factors, right? So many 4:45 factors. I mean, how many of you know someone who's thin on the outside and 4:49 fat on the inside? Skinny fat. How many of you know someone that may look 4:54 physically fit or thin, but is 35% body fat? They don't exercise. They don't do
Health Markers, Community, and Carnivore Debate 5:02 any cardiovascular work, right? They Their diet may be exclusively carnivore, 5:07 but their LDL levels are through the roof. Their apoB levels are through the 5:11 roof. And when we're thinking about like apoB, right, the apolipoprotein B, this 5:16 is a large marker for cardiovascular risk, right? We're looking at 5:21 atherosclerosis. So, you can look however you want, Mr. Baker. It doesn't 5:26 tell us metabolically how you are. And what we do see longitudinally over time 5:32 is that a diet high in saturated fat coming from say meat and dairy has a 5:37 greater risk of all-risk mortality, right? We're talking about 5:41 cardiovascular disease, obesity-related diseases, all of these things that come 5:46 from not having a lot of fiber in your diet, a healthy gut microbiome. They're 5:52 all interrelated. And so, what are you risking in your youth to build up what's 5:57 going to happen in your older age? So, you may not see it in your 20s and 30s, 6:01 but years and years of pursuing a diet that only facilitates a external appeal 6:08 will have serious internal repercussions. And we also know it just 6:12 decimates our environment and we love animals. So, it's really hard for me to 6:16 to like say, "Yes, eat a diet that's selfish and kills things." I mean, the 6:21 training aspect, Shabnam, I would agree cuz you know, even in the blue zones, it 6:26 was small levels of physical activity daily that helped them to stay healthy. 6:31 Not saying you have to go to the gym every day or anything like that, but 6:34 like staying active would maybe have been a better way of putting it. Like 6:38 stay active, eat well, be kind, don't harm the environment. Those are the sort 6:43 of things I would hope I'd be hearing from a 60-year-old, you know? I mean, 6:46 the one thing that we did see consistent across all blue zones is that consistent 6:50 physical activity, right? Chronic daily walking, gardening, a great social 6:55 health, right? Great community. When you think about the carnivore diet, they're 6:58 starting to fit those some other elements, right? Like they have a great 7:01 community. A lot of them are working on it. 7:03 >> So, I'm going to come in there, Shabnam. I know I don't want to derail your point 7:06 cuz I kind of agree, but I just want to come in out of pure anger. I think their 7:08 community stinks. Meaning they have a great community. Like they're they're 7:12 bound. They're bound together in their mission. They benefit from them all 7:16 being angry that carnivore is the only way. So, it's like we bound together in 7:21 fear and anger which can also, you know, minimize life expectancy. So, let's not 7:26 go there either. So, like your community is also killing you. There are better 7:30 ways, the research shows. It's just a diet that is so entrenched in ego and 7:35 not in ego. And I don't think that that's how long-living communities live. 7:40 And so, when we examine blue zone cultures, it's an eco-friendly way of 7:45 living, not an ego-friendly way of living. 7:47 >> Yeah, and the community is more like we go gardening together or for a walk down 7:51 to the bakery or you know what I mean? You don't bond over like anger and 7:55 meat-fueled arguments. That was a video in 2019 by a YouTube channel called 8:00 Humane Hancock. He's a vegan animal rights activist and that was at the time 8:04 when the carnivore movement in London was peaking. So, there was all these 8:07 meetups. This guy pretended to be a carnivore, so joined the Zoom call where 8:11 the people vetted cuz the carnivore community when they meet up, they vet 8:14 everybody so that they know there's like 100% carnivore. On the video, the 8:18 carnivore was like, "Okay, if you're going to join our meetup, you know, just 8:21 go to have some meat." And already gets a a vegan burger, but wraps it in a real 8:25 burger wrapping. So, has it and is like, "Oh, I just got this, man. Like, you 8:29 know, I'm not not as healthy as you. I should be going for the organ meat, but 8:32 just for the sake of like showing you, I'll have the the burger." So, then the 8:35 guy, the organizer called Sparage, was like, "Okay, cool, cool. You passed the 8:38 vetting test. You can come to the meetup. We're meeting on Portobello Road 8:41 in Central London." So, then Humane Hancock goes to Portobello Road in 8:45 Central London, meets up with them, has like two people filming and then just 8:48 records this epic debate around how the carnivore movement stinks. There's no 8:52 evidence behind it. Hilarious. >> [laughter] 8:57 >> So, he basically trolls them. Yeah. I love it. Oh, wow. Just for
Paul Saladino's Carb Pivot 9:03 entertainment purposes. This is what I eat in a day, 2026 edition. 9:09 I'm going to be honest with you. I've added some new stuff to my diet recently 9:12 [music] that I'm going to show you in this 9:13 video. Stuff that you might not expect me to eat. 9:16 >> Paul Saladino. He's got salad in his name, so I was always, you know, is this 9:20 guy going to go vegan or more plant-based? He's Carnivore MD, at least 9:23 that's what he used to be known by. He now has said the majority of his 9:26 calories come from fruit. >> So, I feel better with carbohydrates. 9:29 For most of the last 4 and 1/2 years, I've eaten exclusively fruit for 9:32 carbohydrates, fruit and squash. Squash is technically a fruit. 9:35 >> Ugh, I was just waiting for this to happen. I knew it. All along. I've got 9:39 something like uh raw Greek yogurt and I put in some banana. Uh I've got some uh 9:44 watermelon here for some fruit at dinner. 9:47 >> You know human physiology breaks down without carbohydrates since it is the 9:51 energy currency of the cell, but I thought as a doctor he would know 9:55 better, but he doesn't. because the brain is an organ that needs 9:59 carbohydrates to function. Welcome to the club, Paul. I can't wait for him to 10:05 go full vegan, you know. He probably actually will when he realizes. Remember 10:08 we did the video button where he was saying like he actually showed his 10:10 markers and everything and showed his test results. That's some really bad 10:13 test results and then had to eat some carbohydrate. And I hate that for it. 10:16 Like I don't want anyone to ever have bad test results. I don't want anyone to 10:20 ever have to deal with a medical issue, a health issue, a health scare. I think 10:25 all of us have probably been in those situations and we know that no one 10:29 should have to live in that fear ever. But I think the great thing is with the 10:32 privilege of having science and being able to test your metabolic panels, he 10:37 can also pivot and I think pivoting was probably something he needed to do for 10:41 longevity and life saving measures. That's why we change. I really hope he 10:46 sees the light. I'd love to interview him. I'd love to talk about the 10:49 transition without there being a gut punch of a reaction. And I think when 10:53 you can talk without there being so much emotional tie, you can really get to the 10:58 nitty-gritty of something. But Paul Saladino is so flagrant. He loves to 11:03 incite, I feel like. >> Yeah, but I feel like that energy, if 11:07 you change the direction of it a little bit, it could be used in a really 11:09 positive way. He likes the banter, like gives it some. We've exchanged voice 11:13 notes of him where we did a video of him in 2020 and then he's like Instagram 11:17 DMing us. He's sort of saying, "Come at me, bro. You don't have any carnivore 11:21 sauce because and I'm like what I can take it." If that's his current That's 11:25 his language. I'm sure it appeals to a lot of people, which is why he's 11:27 popular. I mean, he's a psychiatrist, right? So like he does something well in 11:31 the sense of talking to people in a way that gets into the way they think. New 11:36 business idea for him, salad brand. Come on. Bring it on, Paul Saladino. It's 11:41 perfect. 11:45 >> [music]
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