Peak Carnivore: The Ironman Champ Who Only Eats Meat ft. Pete Jacobs
Authored by Zhill Olonan and Geoffrey Woo • June 28, 2019 • 54 min readfitnessnutrition
In the world of sports nutrition, a constantly evolving field, more and more athletes are adopting low-carbohydrate diets. Especially in the case of long distance endurance racing, an aerobic-heavy activity, wouldn’t it make sense that athletes could benefit from being fueled by fat vs. carbohydrates?
This is a popular debate with conflicting evidence and anecdotes presented from both sides. In this podcast, we capture the personal story from a former Ironman Champion: Pete Jacobs. He’s not a carbohydrate athlete, nor a traditionally ketogenic one…Pete is purely fueled by meat.
Pete has faced a life-long battle with his personal health. Ever since he found it nearly impossible to get his heart rate up during high school sports, along with rough bouts of fatigue and gut issues, he knew he was facing an uphill battle. Although he marched on to successfully pursue a sporting career, Pete has struggled in the health department as he pushed his bodily limits in the performance department.
With intuition that the core root cause was linked to his metabolic health, Pete gave the ketogenic diet a spin. He saw notable progress, but eventually found his nutritional calling to be one (or two) steps further…
The carnivore diet.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why the carnivore diet worked for Pete and what health issues were corrected
- What Pete eats: Organ meats, seasons with salt but no pepper, what animals he’s tried, and more
- Tips for endurance performance: Using ketone esters & caffeine, the power of positive mental reinforcement, and applying endurance ideals to normal life
