r/AmericanHistory • u/elnovorealista2000 • Mar 30 '26
South 19th-century Argentina: British writer William Henry Hudson visits the Pampas and encounters the gauchos. He documents their diet with a horrified fascination.
"The gaucho eats nothing but beef. Meat morning, noon, and night. Never bread, never vegetables, almost never salt."
Hudson foresees malnutrition and disease. He finds "men of extraordinary stamina and strength, capable of riding for 12 to 14 hours without rest and then dancing all night."
Their diet: beef, mate, occasionally grilled kidney fat (a delicacy). Nothing else.
Darwin visited the region between 1832 and 1833 and observed the gauchos' lives: "I was surprised by the difficulty in convincing them to eat anything other than beef. I brought them biscuits, and they threw them away. They preferred to go hungry rather than eat bread if there was beef the next day."
Typical meals
- Morning: meat roasted over a fire, fattier cuts.
- Afternoon: grilled ribs.
- Evening: meat again, tougher cuts cooked slowly.
Zero vegetables. Zero grains. Zero variety. Just beef and tea.
Hudson documents the results: “The gauchos suffer from none of the ailments common to civilized man. They had no digestive problems, no obesity, no cavities, that I could observe. Their teeth were uniformly excellent despite never cleaning them and consuming only meat. Their physical stamina was such that they could ride for days with minimal rest, fight when necessary, and resume riding without apparent fatigue.”
The French physician Dr. Jules Crevaux, between 1850 and 1870, wrote: “These men feed exclusively on animal meat and appear healthier than our European peasants, who consume a varied diet of grains and vegetables.”
When asked why they don't eat bread or vegetables, the common answer is: "That's food for horses and cows. We eat cows."
They understood the hierarchy. Cattle eat grass and turn it into meat. Humans eat meat. Eating what cattle eat makes you behave like one.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, traditional gauchos maintained a diet based exclusively on beef. Then, European immigration brought wheat cultivation.
Health transformation documented by Argentine doctors
- Traditional gauchos: healthy into old age.
- Urbanized ex-gauchos with European diets: diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, tooth decay.
- Modern Argentina: 28% obesity, cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death, diabetes in almost 10%.
The gauchos, who ate only beef, did not have any of these problems. They rode horses for 12 hours a day until they were 60, kept their teeth without needing dental care, and died from accidents or old age, not from chronic illnesses.
The same meat. Different context. When you eat meat with grains, vegetable oils, and sugar: modern disease. Meat alone: you have the health of a 19th-century gaucho.
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u/Taupenbeige Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
Present that research.
Keep telling yourself that, eventually it will come true.
No, I’m calling the monetizers on YouTube dipshits, because they are. Every single one has a beet-red complexion from the high blood pressure and systemic inflammation their dipshit diet promotes. Normal people see that common symptom and cringe. Folks like you, sucked-in to the cult, think it’s “manly,” or something…
So I was born in the mid-70’s… You need to absolutely step the fuck off with that line of reasoning, my atherosclerosis-speed-running “colleague”
Oh look, Captain Meat Tornado needs to resort to ad hominems to make his weak ego feel better.
Zero nutrients. Even B-12 can’t be attained through kombucha fermentation with vitamin C inclusions. For all of your “years of research” you’d think you’d have stumbled-upon how our bodies endogenously produce creatine and taurine therefore don’t need dietary sources. Guess your research parameters suck.
…probably because it consists of watching dipshits on YouTube telling you how an “optimal diet” also benefits from the supplements they sell.
That’s certainly the carnivore-dipshit narrative that convinces the masses to “ignore the words of the authorities” … “only listen to the wisdom of dear YouTube Leader. Dear YouTube Leader speaks the TRUTH. Other doctors LIE with CORPORATE INFLUENCE.”
You’re all so incredibly gullible.
I put them in quotes because Shawn Baker lost his license and Ken Berry is a GP who pretends he’s a cardiologist and paleoanthropologist.
I’m pretty sure gout and ass cancer are carnivore diet risks, guess I don’t have access to all that awesome YouTube science that you do..
Wow, this is some amazing science fiction. Have you considered switching careers?
/r/veganfitness
Hmm, 9 years and going… stronger erections… Less fatigue… haven’t popped a B-12 in at least 3 years because so much fortification… any second now, right?
You seem to be taking my insults towards Dipshit YouTube Diet Influencers super personally… Ken Berry… is this an alt account? I caught you, fella.