A brand new well being development is taking off on TikTok dubbed “The Lion Diet” – however specialists are warning in opposition to the “extreme” plan.
The Lion Diet payments itself as “a healing elimination diet” and consists of consuming nothing however meat, salt and water for 30 days.
While folks have been raving about its “benefits” on-line, claiming it helps with allergic reactions, complications, unhealthy pores and skin and balancing moods, specialists have urged warning stating there’s “no scientific evidence” behind claims a meat-only eating regimen is wholesome.
The Australian Heart Foundation advises Australians ought to restrict purple meat consumption to 350 grams of unprocessed beef, pork, lamb or veal every week – which totals round one to 3 meals.
It additionally states this ought to be eaten along with greens and wholegrains.
More particular recommendation on “The Lion Diet” itself has just lately emerged abroad, with specialists labelling it “unsustainable, unhealthy, ineffective, overly restrictive and extreme”, the New York Post reviews.
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“The Lion Diet eliminates all foods except salt, water, and meat from ruminant animals,” researchers at Healthline mentioned.
“In addition to being high in saturated fat, it’s unsustainable and likely to lead to nutritional deficiencies.”
It added that in addition to “being potentially very unhealthy, the Lion Diet is difficult to follow and unsustainable in the long term”.
But the warnings haven’t stopped Aussies from giving the controversial eating regimen a crack – together with Brisbane man Rory who has been documenting his expertise testing the questionable eating regimen to see if it helped along with his lengthy record of allergic reactions.
The social media consumer, who goes by the deal with @roryskitchen, mentioned he was making an attempt the eating regimen for 30 days to search out out three issues: If he can heal his well being points; what would occur to his physique; and what his poop could be like.
Rory – who has 220,900 TikTok followers and a couple of.8 million likes – is at present on day 23 of the strict meal plan which includes him consuming grass-fed mince cooked in broth seasoned with nothing however salt each day.
When he first began the carnivorous eating regimen, he claimed to have had the “best night of sleep” – however began feeling unwell shortly after.
As the eating regimen progressed, he mentioned his pores and skin began to look higher, his sinuses began clearing up and he had extra “regular” bowel actions.
He determined to embark on the problem after seeing different TikTok customers claiming the “The Lion Diet” – which podcaster Mikhaila Peterson boasts she created – had helped them in quite a lot of methods.
Peterson describes it as a “cure-all” after stating switching to the “ultimate elimination diet” helped her overcome an array of well being points she’d had since childhood.
The eating regimen is similar to the Carnivore Diet, which allows you to devour solely animal merchandise like meat, fish, and poultry.
However, the Lion Diet is “even more restrictive, allowing only foods from certain types of animals along with water and salt”, based on Heathline.
Peterson, 28, claims it “sustains your body’s nutritional needs” by “eliminating all other dietary variables, allowing you to thrive” in a submit on her web site.
Prior to chopping out just about every thing from her eating regimen, Peterson was chronically sick till she was 23.
Her well being battle started on the age of simply two when she developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. This wasn’t recognized till 5 years later which resulted in her being positioned on immune suppressants after being formally recognized.
Age 12, Peterson was recognized with extreme despair and medicated with SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) – a drugs she later suffered withdrawal from.
Two years later, she began itching throughout her physique which was ultimately recognized as power fatigue.
When she was 15, Peterson had hip and ankle joint replacements attributable to her arthritis. She was in power ache for 10 years from the ankle alternative and spent a 12 months on OxyContin post-surgery and had an “unpleasant” withdrawal.
When she was 21, she was recognized with Idiopathic Hypersomnia (power fatigue).
It was solely when she developed a rash related to Coeliac illness she determined to show to a change in eating regimen to assist her issues.
She began with what these days could be just like a restrictive paleo eating regimen and ultimately made her technique to an all-meat eating regimen.
“My brain and gut were so damaged that an all-beef or ruminant meat (like lamb and bison) diet, what I call the Lion Diet, was all I could tolerate,” she wrote on her web site.
Peterson has been on the eating regimen for 5 years, is now “healthy” and hopes to point out those who “they can improve their life themselves”.
She later gave a Ted Talk on the subject however the international media platform refused to submit the footage on-line.
Peterson carried out the speech at an independently organised TEDx occasion in California throughout which she acknowledged her proof is only anecdotal.
“I’ve been talking about this diet to spread awareness in hopes that the medical community can take something like this seriously,” she defined.
“[It] would be really cool … if the medical community could take this seriously and do some case studies. That’s it.”