History List

"On the 8th the sargento mayor came back from the land of the buffalo. He brought quantities of meat, fat, and tallow, although he was unable to bring any live animals. There were infinite numbers of them. Their hide is very wooly and thick."
Record of the Marches by the Army, New Spain to New Mexico, 1596-98
November 8, 1598

Although the book doesn't implicate meat in causing disease "in many cases meat has a place in the treatment of the very diseases which it was once said to cause.", it does introduce an error whereby indigestible cellulose needs to be eaten in order to enhance bulk of the stool. "Meat, since it is so completely digested, furnishes very little of the bulk necessary to regulate body functions."
Ten Lessons on Meat - For Use in Schools
January 17, 1933

"Whipple's work showed that an animal makes good its losses after a severe hemorrhage much more rapidly if given an abundance of meat, and more recent observations have demonstrated the great value of liver in this respect. The application of these findings to the ordinary anemias of adult life and growing children should be apparent."
Ten Lessons on Meat - For use in schools
January 16, 1933

"At the beginning of the second year small servings of tender meat—beef, chicken, lamb, or liver, boiled, broiled, or roasted, and finely minced should be given at least three times a week. By the time the child is eighteen months old he may have meat or fish every day."
Ten Lessons on Meat for use in School
January 15, 1933

"Other things being equal, the patient should be allowed to eat the food which in largest measure allays his hunger and which gives him the greatest degree of satisfaction. Meat has the highest satiety value of all foods; it 'sticks to the ribs' longest."
Ten Lessons on Meat - For use in Schools
January 14, 1933

"It seems fair, then, to conclude that the earlier estimates of man's protein needs were approximately correct, and that to enjoy sustained vigor and to experience his normal expectancy, man must eat a liberal quantity of good protein. By good is meant proteins of protein mixtures which are of high biologic value, in which the proteins of meat or milk, preferably both, find first place."
Ten Lessons on Meat - For Use in Schools
January 11, 1933

A Kentucky hunter tells stories about the carnivore diet he survived on while hunting buffalo, just a few years after the foundation of the United States. "They always relied upon the forest for a supply of food - buffalo, bear, dear, elk & turkey. Stewed bear's liver, or roasted bear's kidney, made a good substitute for bread."
Recollections on Hunting in Kentucky, 1790-1791 by Hugh Bell
June 10, 1790

A large hunt in the spring and another one in the fall kept the people alive, and choosing the right people could decide weather the tribe lives or dies. This spring hunt would be the most important in their lifetime as the starving time (winter) had come early and many in the tribe were ill or weak from lack of food
It's a Great Day to Hunt Buffalo
January 3, 1800

THE Natives of this Stoney Region subsist wholly by the chase and by fishing, the country produces no vegetables but berries on which they can live. The flesh of a Moose in good condition, contains more nourishment than that of any other Deer; five pounds of this meat being held to be equal in nourishment to seven pounds of any other meat even of the Bison, but for this, it must be killed where it is quietly feeding; when run by Men, Dogs, or Wolves for any distance, it's flesh is altogether changed.
David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812 / edited by J.B. Tyrrell - Chapter 5
June 11, 1792

In the interior where the climate is not so severe, and hunting more successful, the Men attain to the stature of six feet; well proportioned, the face more oval, and the features good, giving them a manly appearance; the skin soft and smooth. They bear cold and exposure to the weather better than we do and the natural heat of their bodies is greater than ours, probably from living wholly on animal food.
David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812 / edited by J.B. Tyrrell
June 10, 1792

David Thompson discussed the presence of fish as a common food source while trapping. "The Trout to attain to a large size, they require to be in extensive deep Lakes. In this region they are from one to twenty pounds. They are as rich as meat."
David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812 / edited by J.B. Tyrrel
January 2, 1790

A mountain man who trapped across the plains and Rocky Mountains named Jim Bridger is described. He certainly sounded like an entertaining carnivore and an excellent outdoorsman. "he had been known to kill twenty buffaloes by the same number of consecutive shots. Tall-six feet at least- muscular, without an ounce of superfluous flesh ... he might have served as a model for a sculptor or painter, by which to express the perfection of graceful strength and easy activity."
Trappers and Mountain Men
January 1, 1839

The Yellow Turban Rebellion was initiated by Daoist adepts who proposed an alternative world view to restructure society from the Yellow Heaven. The struggle was not against society per se as much as it was frustration at the loss of an “idealized, primitive agricultural community…or a nostalgia for a prefeudal or Neolithic communal society” -- abstain from food (especially the Five Grains)
Girardot, N.J. 1983. Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism
January 2, 184

Avoiding grains was the primary medical cure for eliminating the sanshi 三尸 “Three Corpses” or sanchong 三蟲 “Three Worms”, which are evil spirits believed to live in the human body and hasten death. If one is to attain long life, the three worms have to be starved, and the only way to do so is to avoid all grain
Kohn, Livia (1993), The Taoist Experience: An Anthology, State University of New York Press. p. 148)
June 10, 300

I have personally observed for two or three years men, who were foregoing starches, and in general their bodies were slight and their complexions good. They could withstand wind, cold, heat, or dampness, but there was not a fat one among them. Therefore, by giving up starches one can become immune to weapons, exorcize demons, neutralize poisons, and cure illnesses. On entering a mountain, he can render savage beasts harmless. When he crosses streams, no harm will be done to him by dragons. There will be no fear when plague strikes; and when a crisis or difficulty suddenly arises, you will know how to cope with it.
"Book of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity" or Baopuzi, attributed to Ge Hong in 320 CE.
January 2, 320

David Thompson: While exploring the Kazan river, in 1794, I encountered a tribe of Eskimo who live on its banks and rarely visit the salt water. They subsist chiefly on the meat of the caribou, which they kill with their spears in great numbers.
David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812 / edited by J.B. Tyrrell
March 10, 1794

The daily allowance of a Man is eight pounds of fish, which is held to be equal to five pounds of meat; almost the only change through the year are hares and grouse, very dry eating ; a few Martens,' a chance Beaver. Lynx' and Porcupine." Vegetables would be acceptable but are not worth the trouble and risk of raising; every person with very few exceptions, enjoys good health, and we neither had, nor required a medical Man.
David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784-1812 / edited by J.B. Tyrrell
June 1, 1782

"In addition to his other talents, the mountain man had to be a master of buffalo hunting, for meat comprised almost one hundred per cent of his normal diet. Buffalo meat has been called the greatest meat man has ever fed on. He cracked the marrow bones to make "trapper's butter."
Trappers and Mountain Men - American Heritage Junior Library
October 29, 1830

Mr. Rennie on the treatment of pulmonary disorders: "For this purpose, vegetable food, however nutrient, is very inadequate ; animal diet, on the contrary, stimulates the digestive functions, enriches the blood, invigorates the whole system, and, under judicious regard to existing circumstances, is unquestionably the most restorative of lost power."
Mr Rennie on the Treatment of Pulmonary Disorders - Monthly Journal of Medicine
September 1, 1825

Dr Harley summarizes his views: "The two great types of diabetes, that due to excessive formation, the other to diminished assimilation of saccharine matter, require, of course, as far as animal dieting is concerned, opposite modes of treatment ; for while in the former class of cases it is a most important —I might almost say an essential — adjunct to the other treatment, in the latter it is either detrimental, or, at best, of no use at all."
Diabetes : its various forms and different treatments
January 10, 1866

Dr Harley's second patient showed the similar type of diabetes of excess and was placed "on animal diet and gluten bread; no other treatment, After taking conia and cannabis indica during fourteen days; animal diet and gluten bread, as before." She experimented with more bread and potatoes but reduced them after her urine sugar was found to be as bad as it was 9 months before.
Diabetes : its various forms and different treatments
December 20, 1863

Dr George Harley's 1866 book discussed the animal diet used by Rollo and then describes a few cases of treatments for it. He cites that animal diet requires a large amount of food, but doesn't quite distinguish the difference between protein and fat. Nevertheless, on his first patient he says "What appeared to agree with him best was animal diet."
Diabetes : its various forms and different treatments
January 10, 1860

"The instance of the slaves in Italy, who got fat during the grape and fig season, has been quoted by Galen. In sugar-growing countries the negroes and cattle employed on the plantations grow remarkably stout while the cane is being gathered and the sugar extracted."
The Practice of Medicine - Obesity - Thomas Hawkes Tanner
January 5, 1869

One would scarcely believe that a lady, reduced to despair on account of her obesity, and threatening to commit suicide unless relieved of her embonpoint, could promise that she would obey my instructions to live chiefly upon a meat diet, and to abstain from inordinate quantities of fluid, yet the very next day would resume her customary mode of living;—breakfasting upon eggs, preserves, and two or three cups of sweetened tea; and dine upon rich pastry and sweetmeats, accompanied with a full allowance of champagne. I could not have believed it possible had I not witnessed it myself.
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
August 15, 1853

A landlord at the Golden Lion Hotel loses 90 pounds going from 270 to 160, and tells many about Dancel's meat-cure. He wrote in a letter: "Immediately after adopting your system, my fat began to disappear, my appetite improved, and, after a few months, my weight was reduced to one hundred and sixty pounds, and my circumference to thirty-two inches. My health is now excellent."
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence: the various causes and the rational means of cure
October 19, 1853

Dancel could do magic in just two weeks. "On his arrival, he resumed my system of treatment, and after a fortnight experienced great relief; his appetite had improved, he slept well, and the pain which he had suffered in the region of the heart disappeared."
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence: the various causes and the rational means of cure
April 4, 1852

Dancel returns a young woman to health with meat, and her menstruation returns as well. "This young person, about twenty-three years of age, was very fat, and irregular in her menstrual periods. She was of lymphatic temperament, very pale, and rarely partook of meat: her ordinary food consisted of vegetables, sweetmeats, cakes and sweet fruits; She had lost much of her fat, and had become regular. She ate meat principally, both at breakfast and dinner, and drank wine."
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
June 5, 1851

Dancel writes "On the publication of the first edition of my treatise upon Obesity, I experienced a degree of impatience, and even irritation, in view of the systematic opposition which a self-evident truth received at the hands of the medical profession. At the present time, however, I calmly recognize that the same happened in the case of every attempted innovation."
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
January 1, 1853

Madame d'Hervilly reviews the usage of the carnivore diet for herself and her husband: "Your predictions have been verified. I am now in excellent health, and no longer suffer from the great oppression to which I was formerly subject during hot weather. Your medicine, according to my experience, is everything that can be desired"
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
July 6, 1852

Mons Desrenaudes "during the year 1852, he followed my system of treatment for two months, and obtained most satisfactory results" reported Dancel in his book on using the all meat diet to cure obesity.
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
February 2, 1852

Dancel's carnivore diet for obesity was used again for: "Lucian Eté followed my plan of treatment for two months." Lost 20 pounds in the first month and more the second - remained in perfect health thereafter.
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
June 6, 1852
A 35 year old woman becomes enormously fat in just 8 years and becomes stuck in her bed with sores on her elbows, and then adopts the all meat diet and returns to perfect health. "The last two years she has enjoyed excellent health."
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
June 5, 1852

Towards the latter end of 1850, the wife of Dr. Pecquet, of Paris, purchased my work on Obesity. Having read it, she spoke to her husband about it, who said that, like most medical men, he was persuaded that the only way to reduce corpulency, is to eat less than the system demands. "Eighteen years of suffering and misery, in spite of every medical aid which has been bestowed upon me!" She then lost 100 pounds by eating more meat and less vegetables.
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
November 11, 1850

Dancel cures obesity over and over again in Madame K. "On the other hand I recommended her food should consist of meat principally." Dancel notices that early weight loss benefits the patient substantially and would use the "full meat diet" to achieve results quickly.
Obesity, or, Excessive corpulence : the various causes and the rational means of cure
November 24, 1850
















