Nutrition Diet: What is Joe Rogan's diet?

October 1, 2025 •

4 min read

According to numerous reports, podcaster Joe Rogan has repeatedly experimented with and returned to a diet primarily centered on animal products. Discover what is Joe Rogan's diet, a demanding regimen that combines the carnivore diet, intermittent fasting, and a wide array of supplements to support his high-performance lifestyle.

Quick Summary

Joe Rogan's diet primarily cycles between a carnivore-based plan and a less strict, meat-heavy keto approach, complemented by intermittent fasting and supplements. He prioritizes wild game and high fat intake, reporting benefits like weight loss and mental clarity, despite facing criticism and side effects.

Key Points

Carnivore Focus: The core of Joe Rogan's diet is centered on consuming almost exclusively animal products, including wild game like elk and grass-fed beef.
Intermittent Fasting: He practices intermittent fasting, typically following a 16-hour fasting window, which he reports helps stabilize his energy levels.
Strategic Supplementation: Rogan takes a comprehensive stack of supplements, including Alpha Brain, creatine, and fish oil, to optimize his physical and cognitive performance.
Reported Benefits: Personal accounts from Rogan include significant weight loss, reduced inflammation, and improved mental clarity, particularly during his periods on the strict carnivore diet.
Notable Side Effects: His initial experience with the carnivore diet included severe, temporary digestive issues, and he has spoken openly about it.
Medical Controvery: Health experts express significant concerns over the long-term effects of the carnivore diet, citing risks like kidney stones, high cholesterol, and lack of fiber.

The Core Components of Joe Rogan's Nutritional Strategy

Joe Rogan's diet is not static but rather an evolving protocol that he adapts based on personal experience and health goals. His public discussions have cemented two key pillars of his nutritional plan: a meat-centric diet and intermittent fasting. While his dietary experiments have varied, with periods of strict carnivore eating, his overall philosophy centers on consuming high-quality animal products and avoiding processed foods, sugar, and most carbohydrates.

The Carnivore Diet and its Variations

Rogan first publicly attempted a strict carnivore diet for 30 days in January 2020, inspired by figures like Jordan Peterson. He has since returned to this dietary style, reporting that he feels his best when largely avoiding plant-based foods. The carnivore diet is fundamentally a zero-carbohydrate eating plan, relying entirely on animal products for nutrition.

Key food choices on Rogan's carnivore plan include:

Ruminant Meats: He often eats grass-fed steak, with a particular fondness for wild game like elk, moose, and deer that he hunts himself.
Fatty Cuts and Additions: Since elk is a lean meat, Rogan adds healthy fats like grass-fed beef tallow and bacon to his meals to provide sufficient energy.
Eggs: A staple of his diet, often consumed with bacon for breakfast.
Salmon: An excellent source of protein, Omega-3s, and magnesium, which Rogan includes in his animal-based meals.

However, his recent approach has become more flexible. In a 2023 podcast episode, he revealed that he now adds fruits and some vegetables, stepping away from the strictest all-meat version.

Integrating Intermittent Fasting

To complement his diet, Rogan employs intermittent fasting (IF), a popular eating pattern that cycles between periods of eating and fasting. He typically fasts for about 16 hours, skipping breakfast and eating his first meal around noon after his morning workout.

The role of IF in his routine includes:

Metabolic Flexibility: By inducing ketosis, a low-carb, high-fat diet allows the body to use fat for fuel, which Rogan reports gives him steady energy levels.
Simplified Eating: With fewer meals in a day, the dietary plan becomes more straightforward and regimented.

A Closer Look at Rogan's Supplement Stack

Recognizing the potential nutritional gaps in a restrictive diet, Rogan takes a broad spectrum of supplements to support his health. This 'spark plugs' approach, as he calls it, ensures his body and brain are functioning optimally.

Alpha Brain: A nootropic from the company Onnit, which Rogan co-owns, formulated to help with memory, focus, and cognitive speed.
Creatine: A well-known supplement for boosting muscle growth, strength, and exercise performance.
Multivitamins: To cover essential vitamins and minerals that may be lacking in a meat-only diet.
Fish Oil: Provides Omega-3 fatty acids, which are crucial for brain health and reducing inflammation.
Probiotics: Included to support gut health, especially given the significant dietary changes.
Onnit Shroom Tech Sport: Another Onnit product, designed to help the body with endurance and oxygen utilization.
Vitamin D3: Supplementation is important, especially for those with limited sun exposure.

Weighing the Reported Benefits and Medical Concerns

While Rogan and other proponents share positive personal experiences, the carnivore diet is not without its controversies and potential risks. The lack of long-term scientific studies on such a restrictive diet means many health claims remain anecdotal.


Aspect	Reported Benefits (by Rogan & others)	Medical Concerns (by experts)
Mental & Cognitive	Increased focus, mental clarity, improved conversation	Brain needs glucose; ketosis can be rough on the body.
Weight Management	Significant initial weight loss, mostly fat	Restrictive nature makes it difficult to sustain long-term.
Inflammation	Reduced inflammation, improved vitiligo symptoms	No fiber, potentially missing beneficial plant compounds.
Digestive Health	Reduction in some gut issues	Severe initial diarrhea; lack of fiber increases risk of bowel cancer.
Cardiovascular Health	Improved lipid profile (as reported by some carnivore dieters)	High saturated fat can elevate bad cholesterol, increasing heart disease and stroke risk.
Kidney Health	No mentioned issues by Rogan	Increased risk of kidney stones due to high calcium oxalate, phosphate, and uric acid levels.

Conclusion: Personal Experimentation Versus Scientific Consensus

What is Joe Rogan's diet? It's a high-fat, animal-product-focused eating plan, often punctuated by intermittent fasting and a heavy supplement routine, that Rogan has championed for its perceived benefits in weight loss, cognitive function, and energy levels. While he, like many other advocates, shares success stories, his approach remains an extreme and highly restrictive form of dieting. The severe initial side effects, including digestive issues, and the considerable medical community warnings about long-term risks such as kidney stones, high cholesterol, and nutrient deficiencies cannot be ignored. Ultimately, the public discussion around Rogan's diet highlights the critical distinction between personal, anecdotal results and broader, evidence-based nutritional guidelines. Before embarking on any extreme dietary changes, particularly a restrictive one like the carnivore diet, consulting a healthcare professional is crucial. Learn more about the general carnivore diet and its implications. (This link could lead to a reputable health website article on the carnivore diet, such as Healthline or Medical News Today).

Frequently Asked Questions

On a carnivore day, Joe Rogan typically eats only two meals. Breakfast, around noon, often consists of eggs and bacon, while dinner is a large serving of grass-fed steak, elk, or other wild game.

No, Joe Rogan cycles on and off the carnivore diet. He first experimented with it in January 2020 but has also maintained a less-strict, meat-heavy keto approach at other times.

Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that restricts food intake to a specific time window. Rogan practices a 16-hour fast, delaying his first meal until approximately midday, often after a workout.

When on the strict carnivore diet, Rogan experienced significant diarrhea during the initial weeks. Concerns from experts include high cholesterol, kidney stones, and a lack of fiber, which can negatively impact long-term health.

Rogan's supplement list is extensive and includes multivitamins, probiotics, Omega-3 fish oil, Vitamin D3, creatine, and Onnit products like Alpha Brain and Shroom Tech Sport.

While on a strict carnivore cycle, he avoids carbohydrates. However, he has admitted to adding fruits and some vegetables back into his routine, and occasionally has a 'cheat meal' like pasta.

Critics point to the diet's extreme restrictiveness, the potential for nutrient deficiencies due to the exclusion of plant-based foods, and the high intake of saturated fat, which could negatively impact heart health and increase cholesterol.