By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-15 14:46:55 | Updated at 2025-01-15 17:48:24
3 hours ago
A former vegan has claimed to have 'healed' multiple health problems and lost a stone-and-a-half (21lbs) by eating nothing but meat and dairy products.
Social media influencer Isabella 'Bella' Ma, 28, who shares videos under the Instagram alias 'steakandbuttergal', is said to have avoided all carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables for the past six years.
The professional musician, who has 420,000 followers on Instagram, has credited her controversial eating plan for regulating her menstrual cycle, beating depression, and healing skin problems like acne, eczema, and psoriasis.
'I'm not dying of low energy, nor have I wrecked my hormones,' she said in a video in which she is seen eating an entire roast chicken.
'I've actually lost 25 pounds, now have painless periods, unbelievably stable energy and moods because my body burns fat for fuel now.'
Her experience flies in the face of recommendations of health authorities like the NHS and CDC which advise people to stick to a healthy balanced diet with some meat, some carbohydrates and eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Diets high in red meat have been linked to multiple health problems including heart disease and cancer.
Social media influencer Bella, who shares videos under the Instagram alias 'steakandbuttergal', is said to have avoided all carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables for the past six years
Among Bella's other questionable claims is that her meat-only diet is responsible for her being 5ft10in tall — citing it as the reason she is taller than her siblings.
She has also claimed she no longer needs to use soap or body wash as she naturally 'smells amazing' and no longer passes gas.
Even more bizarrely, she said in one clip that eating a stick of butter every day for a year reinvigorated her libido and gave her 'butter boobs'.
Carnivore diets, where adherents only eat animal products like meat, fish, eggs and dairy, have grown in popularity in recent years with clips on the subject reaching over 1billion views on TikTok.
It is based on the widely disputed belief that humans living thousands of years ago only subsisted off meat, and mimicking this in the modern age has a range of health and performance benefits.
Interest in the diet has been partly fuelled by advocates like Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson, who say it improved their mental and physical abilities.
However, as popularity has soared, so have studies warning of the potential hazards.
One 2023 study found people who eat just two servings of meat per week are at an increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
The Harvard University research, which was based on data from over 200,000 people who were followed almost 40 years, found those who ate the most red meat had a 62 percent higher risk compared to those eating the least.
And British research from Oxford University on 1.4million people found higher consumption of red meat increased the risk of heart disease by 18 percent for each additional 50 grams eaten per day.
Health and diet experts have also warned that people who limit their diet to meat could be at increased risk of heart disease, conditions like scurvy and even cancer due to the diet's lack of vitamin C and fibre.
Vitamin C, found in high levels in the fruit meat-eaters avoid, helps protect tissue, keep it healthy and also assists with healing with those who don't get enough at risk of scurvy.
Fibre, also called roughage, is a term for carbohydrates found naturally in plants that we can't easily digest.
Instead, it passes to the lower parts of the digestive system, helping bulk out stools and prevent constipation.
Not eating enough fibre is also a known risk factor for bowel cancer — a disease on the rise among young people.
Cancer Research UK estimates about one in four of the some 45,000 cases of the disease diagnosed in Britain each year is caused by lack of fibre in diet.
Red meat and animal products like cheese and butter are also high in saturated fat, which can lead to plaque buildup in the arteries.
In the long term this makes the organ pump harder increasing the risk of heart attack and strokes.
However, some experts dispute some of findings of studies about the dangers of eating too much meat.
Interest in the diet has been partly fuelled by advocates like Joe Rogan (pictured) and Jordan Peterson saying it improved their mental and physical abilities
They highlight that a lot of research fails to distinguish between the impact of processed meat like sausages and burger patties from less processed cuts like steak.
However, most experts advise people to adopt a balanced diet of healthy animal products like leaner cuts of meat, dairy and eggs alongside plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Extreme diets that forbid broad groups of food like veganism, fruitarianism, where people only eat fruit, or the carnivore diet, should be treated with caution.
Vegans for example need to be careful about getting enough essential nutrients like iron, calcium, iodine, selenium and vitamin B12 which other people easily get from animal products without ever needing to think about it.
