By Jack Keller

Social media can, occasionally, have its merits. But it’s also where critical thinking goes to die and where the dumbest trends become social movements.

As a fan of bad TV, I don’t hesitate to hate-watch social media content. And as I get older, I notice the algorithms have begun to feed me utilitarian content. Specifically, on Tik Tok and Instagram I — and I’m sure many other young men — are consuming a lot of “day-in-the-life” videos.

Day in the life content creators—particularly the guys—attempt to show off their organization skills and the lives they’ve created. The overwhelming majority also use their platforms to subtly promote a carnivore diet. More on that later.

On the surface, day-in-the-life content is harmless. You’ll ride along on someone’s lunch break, watch a skincare routine or see someone’s commute. Their pseudo-vulnerability and self-righteousness are what appeal to the cynics, like me.

But at the core, I truly do think there is something more sinister at play here. Aside from the obvious odor of white nationalism one can detect through the screen, there’s also a sort of indoctrination occurring here. They’re developing parasocial relationships with other young men to get them to join their cult of toxic wellness.

In addition to waking up at 5 a.m., filming themselves lifting free weights and logging hours in front of spreadsheets, these guys are also filming themselves eating their favorite meal—beef, banana and honey.

Yes, I do need to spend less time online. But I truly cannot help but notice how often I’m subjected to some gym bro frying ground beef, mixing in some banana slices and garnishing with honey. They dump this slop onto a bamboo cutting board (they all seem to have the same one, which can hilariously be found on Amazon for $16.99) before lopping it up.

There are quite literally hundreds of videos on Tik Tok tutorializing this “recipe,” and a seemingly bottomless well of copycat influencers integrating beef, banana and honey into their content. This is obviously insane.

For one thing, it’s a meal that lacks essential nutrients from vegetables, whole grains and legumes while being heavily skewed toward animal protein and sugar. It’s an oversimplification of nutrition, and an incorrect one, at that.

On a far more concerning level, such glorification of a meat-centric diet exacerbates the broader, harmful cultural narrative that devalues ethical eating and environmental sustainability.

These influencers are epitomizing beef, banana and honey as healthy living without any scientific basis. There’s a plethora of studies online highlighting the risks of red meat, including a 2020 study in the British Medical Journal which found that both unprocessed and processed red meat consumption are associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease.

The typical consumer of these videos is already vulnerable. A recent study in the National Journal of Adolescent Health found that as many as 11% of American boys have tried steroids. Young males are already turning to alarming extremes to get bigger; it’s no wonder they’ll eat whatever the buff influencer tells them is good.

Adding to the alarm of this, though, is despite nutrition being taught in schools and by doctors, boys are electing to listen to their influencers.

I decided to set out on a journey—to find the source of this “movement.”

Animal Based

The first time I saw BBH, it was prepared by a 25 year old day-in-the-lifer, @andrewsdailyday. I decided to scroll through his profile until I could find the origins of this creation, and that’s when I found a video of his from March 2023 (before he blew up) titled “Reviewing Animal-Based Foods.” Huh?

Having never heard of “animal based” I took my research directly to the source—Reddit. It didn’t take long to find the subreddit r/AnimalBased, a conspiracy-fueled “community.”

The first post I read was by someone who aptly captures the movement’s ethos: “I don’t read any ‘studies,’ I just listen to my body.”

The sidebar on this webpage lays out the animal-based guidelines: Followers are only to eat meat, organs, honey, fruit and “some ferments,” (I’d wager that they threw this in to allow drinking). There are also links to other videos, such as “the problem with eating plants,” and all videos link to the same YouTube channel: Paul Saladino MD.

Paul refers to himself as Carnivore MD, although don’t get it twisted: He doesn’t follow the increasingly popularized carnivore diet. Only a carnivore-adjacent diet—although I say it doesn’t matter, they both attempt to do the same thing.

His website includes claims such as “plants are not your friend,” and “the vast majority of plants are inedible if not toxic to humans.”

Increasing processed meat intake by just half a daily serving is associated with a 13% higher risk of mortality, and an increase in the same amount of unprocessed meat grows the risk of mortality by 9%, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Meanwhile, Saladino thinks it’s best to put down the kale before it attacks.

The site also includes his “Bullsh*t Calculator,” where the user can select different food items and receive a verdict—bullsh*t or not. Spoiler alert: Every single food item that isn’t an animal or some fruit on that list, it turns out, is bullsh–. Who knew!

While it may sound like I’m picking a bone with a niche corner of the internet, Saladino has 977k YouTube subscribers and another 2.8 million on Instagram. To top it all off, he posed for photos with RFK Jr. at Trump’s 2025 inauguration. When considering his reach, his false claims deserve reckoning.

Plants are obviously not bad for you. A vegan diet is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and even death, according to a 2024 study published by Public Library of Science.

The aforementioned redditors represent the people most committed to the animal-based diet—there are only 23k members in this subreddit.

But clearly this cult-like hub of misinformation permeated the mainstream at some point.

Searching #animalbased on Tik Tok results in a far bigger, more indiscriminate hit. Videos touting hundreds of thousands of likes and millions of views, from men and women, that were all unknowingly inspired by Carnivore MD and his cronies. I even saw one just this morning of a woman moisturizing her skin using beef tallow—they’re just connecting the dots at this point.

The takeaway here should be to adhere to science and ethics, not influencers, especially when it comes to what you’re putting in your body. A vegan diet is not only ethically sound and environmentally forward, but it’s also health conscious.

Meals including legumes such as beans, peas and lentils, soy foods like tofu, nuts and seeds and leafy greens promote good health. The beef, banana and honey combo does not.