Dr. Anthony Chaffee hosts Ben Wehrman on the PlantFree MD podcast to discuss Ben’s journey to the carnivore diet and his work creating the ycarnivore.com website, as well as his views on Bitcoin and its connection to health and freedom. Ben shares that he grew up on a standard American diet but always craved red meat. His unique path to carnivore began in 2022 through his involvement in the Bitcoin community, noting the “Bitcoiner stereotype” that many are carnivores. Being around these individuals who were “hardcore researchers” and “first principles thinkers” began to soften his initial scepticism about eating large amounts of meat. His health journey continued by cutting out seed oils, which he noticed significantly reduced his tendency to sunburn, demonstrating how diet affects physical well-being. He then experimented with an animal-based diet (meat, fruit, honey) in 2023 before Dr. Chaffee’s podcast helped him take the final step to full carnivore. This transition coincided with a trip to Colombia with a friend who was suffering from severe insomnia, where they embraced the diet together by cooking large amounts of meat, sometimes surprising others in their hostel environment.
Observing people, particularly those in his millennial generation, beginning to experience health issues and question established ideologies led Ben to see a need for easily accessible information about the carnivore diet. Inspired by his previous project, whybitcoinonly.com, which compiled Bitcoin resources, he decided to create a similar hub for carnivore information. This led to the development of ycarnivore.com, a massive undertaking where Ben spent months consuming and compiling content from various carnivore experts like Dr. Chaffee, Sean Baker, Ken Berry, Dr. Kil, and Dr. Weedman. The resulting website is extensive, described as around 330 pages in Google Drive format, intentionally simple with primarily text and links. It features a table of contents allowing users to navigate directly to sections addressing common misconceptions about the diet (e.g., vitamin C deficiency, lack of fibre) and a “meat heals” section. This section lists hundreds of illnesses or conditions, providing specific testimonials and stories of individuals who reported improvements or resolution through the carnivore diet. Ben highlights that he was very selective with the content, focusing strictly on carnivore experiences and filtering out information about keto or animal-based diets to maintain the website’s “north star” message.
The conversation pivots to explore the perceived connection between the carnivore and Bitcoin communities. Ben suggests that once people question and identify lies about fundamental areas like health and diet, they become more open to questioning other established systems, such as the monetary system. He views the government’s ability to print infinite money through the Federal Reserve as the root cause (“the death star”) enabling corruption across various sectors, including the formulation of dietary guidelines. He contrasts the current fiat money system, where currency constantly loses purchasing power due to inflation (visible in rising prices for goods like ribeye steaks), with historical sound money like gold, which was deflationary and retained value over time.
Ben describes Bitcoin as the digital equivalent of gold, designed to replicate its most beneficial characteristics, particularly scarcity and a fixed supply (capped at 21 million coins). The core vision of Bitcoin, he explains, is to separate money from the state, removing the government’s power to inflate the currency and impose a “stealth tax” on citizens’ savings. This decentralised nature offers individuals sovereignty, allowing them to hold wealth that cannot be easily confiscated, as exemplified by people escaping authoritarian regimes or farmers protecting their assets. El Salvador is highlighted as a country that has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, reportedly experiencing significant positive changes, including a dramatic reduction in the crime rate and attracting knowledgeable individuals (“Bitcoin brains”). Ben notes that while most people still live in a “fiat world,” he uses Bitcoin as a long-term savings account (“stacking sats”) and anticipates a future where it becomes increasingly usable for everyday transactions, possibly via technologies like the Lightning Network.
Beyond personal finance, Ben argues that fiat money has broader negative implications, contributing to societal despair by eroding people’s purchasing power and enabling perpetual conflicts. He contrasts modern “infinite money printing wars,” which profit the military-industrial complex, with historical wars on a gold standard that were limited by the available funds. He posits that Bitcoin, being a transparent, auditable, and confiscation-resistant form of money outside of government control, can help put an end to such endlessly funded conflicts. The discussion also touches upon the practicalities of holding Bitcoin securely, recommending moving it off centralised exchanges like Coinbase to offline “cold storage” wallets to avoid potential government interference. Ben encourages listeners interested in learning more about this topic to read “The Bitcoin Standard” by Saifedean Ammous. Both Ben and Dr. Chaffee stress the importance of multiple voices in sharing information about both carnivore and Bitcoin, as different communication styles resonate with different people, helping them to connect the dots and potentially improve their lives. Ben concludes by mentioning his various online platforms, including ycarnivore.com, whybitcoinonly.com, and benworman.com.