A Pensacola man says switching to an all-meat diet cleared up psoriasis that once covered 90% of his body and put an end to depression he had battled since childhood, though he has done so without any medical monitoring and doctors warn the approach carries real risks.
Stephen Lashbrook, 50, told Fox News Digital his depression started at age 4. His teens brought chronic pain and sleepless nights, and in his early 20s he was diagnosed with psoriasis, an immune-mediated skin disease.
“I was probably 90% covered in psoriasis,” Lashbrook said. “My body was just one big, giant, itchy, flaky scab.”
He said creams, steroids and other medications never worked, and doctors eventually recommended costly, long-term injections for the inflammation. The lack of relief left him feeling hopeless and, at times, suicidal.
His outlook changed after he watched a TED Talk by Mikhaila Peterson, an influencer and daughter of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, describing how a meat-only elimination diet had helped her own health problems.
“It gave me a whole new lease on life,” Lashbrook said.
From Elimination Diet to ‘Lion Diet’
Lashbrook first cut sugar, grains, fruits and vegetables from his meals. Then, on Jan. 1, 2024, he committed fully to the “lion diet,” a strict form of the carnivore diet built around ruminant meats — “your cow, your buffalo, your lamb, your goat,” as he described it.
He says the results came fast. Within a week, his itching and suicidal thoughts stopped. Within a month, his skin began to clear and his chronic pain eased.
“I haven’t had one suicidal thought. I haven’t had any depression. I haven’t had any pain,” he said. “All my skin issues cleared up.”
Today Lashbrook eats only grass-fed ground beef and steak, typically one meal a day of 1.5 to 2 pounds of high-fat ground beef cooked in an air fryer.
“I feel like I’m reverse aging,” he said.
No Follow-Up Testing, and a Doctor’s Warning
Lashbrook acknowledges his account rests entirely on how he feels day to day — he hasn’t had follow-up blood work or seen a doctor since changing his diet.
“Everyone’s different,” he said. “Not everybody needs to be on a lion diet. … I’m a very specific case.”
Dr. Michael Aziz, a New York City internist and regenerative medicine specialist, said cutting sugar and ultra-processed foods can make people feel better, but that doesn’t mean an all-meat diet is a legitimate treatment for psoriasis or other chronic illness.
“Many people judge this diet by their success, by their weight loss, but they don’t look long-term at their lifespan, how it can be affected by those diets,” Aziz said.
Aziz pointed to the lack of fiber in carnivore-style eating as a central problem. “They can lead to problems like constipation. They can lead to kidney stones. They can lead to increased risks for heart attack and stroke,” he said.
Part of a Broader Trend
Meat-heavy, high-protein diets have gained a following online and in Washington as more Americans look to cut ultra-processed foods. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he follows a carnivore diet built around meat and fermented foods, claiming it helped him lose weight and sharpen his thinking.
Like Lashbrook, Kennedy has said the diet may not work for everyone, and medical experts continue to caution that its long-term effects are not well understood.
Lashbrook plans to tell his story this week at Carni-Con, a virtual convention for carnivore-diet advocates running Sept. 18–20 and featuring doctors, content creators and other proponents.
“The stories are what’s most important,” he said. “If people don’t hear that these healings are possible, they’re not going to know.”
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