Can You Trust YouTube Doctors?

"You're not a nutritionist or health specialist – you didn't go to university for this – so where do you get your information and why should I trust what you say?"

For two years (at the time of writing this), I’ve been absorbing knowledge from medical professionals who began their careers as conventional doctors, only to realise that the medication route wasn’t actually helping their patients. These are qualified individuals, not random online personalities.

Dr. Ken Berry, a board-certified family physician, Dr. Anthony Chaffee, a neurosurgeon, Dr. Eric Berg, a chiropractor focused on weight loss and wellness whose online advice has helped me more than he'll ever know, and Dr. Paul Saladino, board-certified in psychiatry and a certified Functional Medicine practitioner and a leading advocate for a meat-based diet, all saw the flaws in the standard approach. They found that diets low in carbohydrates and processed foods (especially seed oils like sunflower oil and rapeseed oil), but rich in animal protein and animal fats had profound positive effects on patients – not only stabilising their weight and mood but helping them with diabetes, arthritis, and even dementia and other mood disorders and, more often than not, come off medications altogether.

And it’s not just doctors – I’ve personally transformed my own health with a ketogenic diet, and I know many, many people who have experienced the same. I regularly read testimonials from people who’ve turned their lives around through keto and carnivore diets. The only naysayers? People who haven’t even tried it, often because they’ve been conditioned by adverts pushing “low-fat” and "meat-causes-cancer" nonsense. I’ve watched many interviews with ordinary people who were on the brink of death, with doctors handing out medication like Smarties, only to get worse. Through diet, they’ve pulled themselves back to health – no wonder they’re so passionate about sharing what they’ve learned on platforms like the YouTube channel No Carb Life.

Now, I know some people scoff, saying, “You can’t trust a YouTuber with your health!” But these same people will trot off to their GP – someone with about as much nutritional training as a Saturday morning cookery show. In the UK, GPs receive a shocking lack of education in nutrition, sometimes only 24 hours’ worth during their entire medical training. Meanwhile, functional medicine doctors dedicate their lives to understanding the body as a whole, looking at the delicate balances that affect everything from mood to metabolism - and these are the people I'm listening to.

Just look at Dr. Chris Palmer from Harvard University. He’s researching how the ketogenic diet can help with mood disorders like ADHD, depression, anxiety, and even schizophrenia. His work, backed by emerging studies, shows the power of food to harm and to heal – information that mainstream medicine has a vested financial interest in you not finding out about.

I've never been a "brush it under the carpet" kind of person. If there's a problem, the only way to fix it is to address the root cause. If you're sick, there's a reason you're sick and throwing tablets at the symptoms will not make it go away.

A few years ago, I found breast lumps so I thought I'd better go and get checked out. I was told they're just calcification and nothing to worry about but to have regular checks to be on the safe side. I asked these boob specialists why I had these lumps. "No reason. Some people do; some people don't." I couldn't accept that as an answer - there had to be a reason why! Was it diet, sunshine, stress, exercise... what was it? And these two highly-paid specialists whose job it is to inspect breasts all day, every day, (great work if you can get it, eh boys?) had absolutely no idea why I had calcified lumps in my breast tissue, and couldn't even comprehend my reason for asking the question - which I find unfathomable!

Yet here's a video by - you guessed it - a YouTuber who explains exactly what's going on.

So, ask yourself this: Would you trust someone who doesn’t understand (nor really care) why you’re ill and just prescribes pills for the rest of your life, or would you listen to someone who helps you get to the root of the problem, so you can regain your health – no medication needed?

The choice is yours. Though personally, I’d rather not need a weekly pill organiser the size of a suitcase.

Where would you like to go next?