A doctor whose unusual diet has reportedly attracted some of the Trump administration’s biggest names says truly healthy bowel movements should require no toilet paper — and can even feel “nearly orgasmic.”
Dr. Sean O’Mara, whose so-called “living carnivore diet” has reportedly been embraced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance, made the eyebrow-raising claims while discussing the digestive benefits he attributes to his eating regimen.
“When you start eating healthy, you don’t need toilet paper,” O’Mara told the New York Times Magazine, according to the New York Post. “Animals in the wild have no residual stool on their anus.”
O’Mara maintains that an optimized digestive system should produce bowel movements that are fast, virtually odorless and leave little or nothing behind to wipe.
The physician has even described an ideal bowel movement as “nearly orgasmic,” according to the Post.
O’Mara, an emergency medicine physician who now works in health optimization, has followed his “living carnivore diet” for approximately a decade.
He offered an especially graphic description of how effective he believes the regimen has been for his digestive system.
“I could have a bowel movement behind a sheet at a dinner party in the corner of the room,” O’Mara said, “and nobody would know.”
The eating plan emphasizes grass-fed meat alongside fermented foods while eliminating heavily processed foods, added sugar and alcohol.
Eggs, berries, yogurt, pickles and fermented foods including kimchi and sauerkraut are among the foods incorporated into the regimen.
O’Mara also recommends certain cheeses, including Parmesan and Gorgonzola, for people following his eating plan.
The doctor claims the diet can improve digestion and the gut microbiome while helping reduce visceral fat, which accumulates deep in the abdomen around internal organs.
Kennedy, 72, reportedly began following the regimen last year after meeting O’Mara.
The health secretary has credited the diet with helping him shed approximately 20 pounds while improving chronic aches and symptoms he attributed to atrial fibrillation, according to the New York Post.
Vance subsequently tried the diet at Kennedy’s recommendation during Lent earlier this year and has continued following it, according to Kennedy.
The trend has apparently spread further throughout President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have also adopted the diet, the Wall Street Journal previously reported.
Fermented foods have become increasingly popular as interest in digestive health and the gut microbiome has surged.
Foods such as sauerkraut can provide prebiotic fiber and microorganisms produced through fermentation, and researchers have studied the potential role fermented foods can play in supporting digestive health.
But outside medical experts are considerably more skeptical of O’Mara’s more extraordinary claims about bathroom habits.
Dr. Saurabh Sethi, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist, warned that a meat-heavy diet without adequate fiber could contribute to constipation.
“Fiber adds bulk and holds water in stool, which is what keeps things moving; without it, transit time slows and stools tend to become harder and less frequent,” Sethi told HuffPost.
Some people consuming high-meat diets can experience the opposite problem, including frequent loose stools potentially associated with difficulty absorbing fat or the body’s response to a high fat intake, according to Sethi.
“Neither extreme is a marker of good colon health,” Sethi said.
Other health experts have raised concerns about diets containing large amounts of red meat and animal fat, particularly when such regimens become highly restrictive or nutritionally unbalanced.
Even O’Mara recommends introducing fermented foods gradually rather than immediately consuming large portions.
His private consulting services reportedly cost $18,000, and he advises clients to begin with small amounts of fermented foods before eventually working toward servings of approximately half a cup.
For Kennedy, Vance and the other Washington officials reportedly embracing O’Mara’s unconventional eating philosophy, however, the promised benefits apparently extend well beyond losing weight.
