Paul Gregory SaladinoMD · physician and animal-based nutrition creator
Yes, and not just tolerate it: carbohydrate from fruit and honey is essential, scaled up with training load. Long-term ketosis is dangerous.
Source: podcasts.apple.com ↗
Shawn BakerMD · orthopedic surgeon and strength athlete
No. Carbohydrate is the one macronutrient with no dietary requirement, and the commonly cited 130 g per day minimum is unfounded.
What it rests onA requirement claim, not a harm claim, and the distinction is load-bearing: his page reads 'Common wisdom has long dictated that carbohydrates are essential for health and normal function. Some dietitians even recommend a daily minimum of 130 grams of carbs to maintain a steady supply of glucose for the brain. However, this belief is unfounded', and argues gluconeogenesis and ketones cover what the brain and red cells need. He does not argue that eating carbohydrate is damaging. The 130 g figure he calls unfounded is a stated intake reference rather than a claim that lower intakes cause harm, which overstates the target.
Source: carnivore.diet ↗
Baker is answering a physiology question about requirement for a general adult. Saladino is answering a practical question about how a person should eat over years, and his carbohydrate figures scale with training hours, so an athlete and a sedentary reader get different numbers from him and the same answer from Baker. Neither has long-term outcome data on the population actually eating this way.
Both reject grains, refined sugar and processed food. Both hold that meat and organs are the nutritional foundation. Both accept that some people do well on very low carbohydrate intakes for a period. The dispute is whether 'not required' implies 'better without', and whether the long-term case survives.
Long-term outcome data on adults eating zero plant carbohydrate, which does not exist. On the other side, controlled evidence that adding fruit and honey improves hormonal, sleep or performance outcomes over a well-formulated very-low-carbohydrate diet, which is what Saladino argues from personal experience and which also does not exist.
You do, and your call is dated, kept, and yours to change. Follow the people you already trust and what they publish turns into a short daily practice.
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