Ninety-seven percent. That is the share of carnivore dieters with IBS who reported symptom improvement in the 2021 Harvard-led survey of over 2,000 participants. Not a small trial. Not anecdote. A large-scale dataset pointing at something the mainstream gut health conversation refuses to say plainly: fiber may be the problem, not the solution. A 2019 review in Gastroenterology and Hepatology confirmed it. Fiber supplementation improves constipation in only about 50% of patients. The other half show no change or get worse. That is not a ringing endorsement of the standard prescription. Last lecture established that social identity is the backbone of long-term carnivore adherence. Now the focus shifts inward, Paolo, to what is happening inside the gut when plant fibers disappear entirely. Here is the mechanism most people miss. Many plants produce lectins and gluten. Both can directly irritate the gut lining in sensitive individuals. Harvard research estimates 25 to 30% of people with chronic digestive issues have increased intestinal permeability made worse by these plant compounds. Remove the compounds, remove the trigger. A study in the World Journal of Gastroenterology tested a zero-fiber diet on 63 patients with chronic constipation and bloating. Every single patient improved after six months. Every one. The microbiome shift is faster than most expect. Gut bacteria change within 24 to 48 hours of dietary changes. Dominant species can flip completely within a week. A 2014 Nature study showed an animal-based diet rapidly increases bile-tolerant bacteria like Bilophila and Bacteroides. These bacteria produce butyrate, but not through fiber. They break down amino acids like glutamine and lysine instead. That is the fiber paradox, Paolo. Butyrate, the compound credited to fiber for protecting the gut lining, is still produced on carnivore. Just through a different pathway entirely. A 2021 Cell Host and Microbe study found gut microbial diversity stabilizes on an animal-based diet within 10 to 14 days, comparable to omnivorous diets but with a different composition. The gut adapts. It does not collapse. Animal foods also supply collagen, glycine, and proline, the raw materials the intestinal lining uses to repair itself. Carnivore simultaneously removes the irritants and delivers the building blocks for healing. In the Harvard survey, 78% of participants with IBD, including Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, reported symptom improvement. That number is hard to dismiss. Ketone bodies from carnivore also modulate gut inflammation through macrophage polarization and epigenetic pathways, adding another layer of protection. The transition is not painless. Loose stools, bloating, and low energy can hit for one to three weeks as the gut adapts. That is the system recalibrating, not failing. Carnivore also increases stomach acid production, which helps those with hypochlorhydria discontinue PPIs within four to eight weeks. The gut was not broken by removing fiber. It was broken by decades of fermentable carbohydrates feeding the wrong bacteria. Here is what to carry forward, Paolo: bloating, IBS, and chronic digestive dysfunction are not random. For a significant portion of sufferers, plant fibers are the direct cause. An all-meat protocol removes every dietary antigen at once, supplies the repair materials, and lets the gut finally heal.