A former vegan Instagrammer who documented her raw vegan lifestyle online has shocked her dedicated following by announcing she's switching to an all-meat diet.
Alyse Parker, who describes herself as a "Mindset Transformation Queen" in her bio, racked up over 200,000 Instagram followers and 700,000 YouTube subscribers with her feed full of raw vegan recipes and vegan retreats.
But she's left her followers reeling with a post announcing her transformation into a "full onnnn carnivore" after a 30-day "carnivore diet challenge".
"Aka only meat, seafood [and] eggs," Parker explained in the caption, which accompanied an image of her posing in front of a giant uncooked steak.
The carnivore diet is a restrictive diet that only includes meat, fish, and other animal foods like eggs and certain dairy products. It excludes all other foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds.
"Coming from being vegan 4.5 years, I was hellla resistant to the concept of eating ONLY animal foods... it didn't make ANY sense to me. It actually sounded pretty f*cking ridiculous," Parker explained.
"I swallowed my pride [and] decided I'd give it a shot. Full onnn carnivore. I woke up the next morning feeling more mentally clear, focused, wholesome, and healthy than I had felt in years."
Parker documented the month-long challenge on her YouTube channel, where despite some early digestive issues, she ended up praising the diet.
In the video, she referred to herself as an "ex vegan".
But Parker's staunch vegan followers have unsurprisingly expressed disappointment in her choice.
"Cows experience fear and pain. They have family units. They understand they are going to die when they are butchered," wrote one follower.
"Factory farming of beef is not only cruel to intelligent animals, but incredibly awful for the environment. You're part of the problem, don't pretend like you're part of any solution."
"Being vegan, you'd think you'd understand the effects of eating meat on our bodies & more importantly our environment?? You lost all my respect as well," wrote another.
"I'm so sorry that you changed your mind about veganism. You were my inspiration at first and now you support the exact opposite," wrote another.
But others voiced their support of the move, including the daughter of controversial self-help guru Jordan Peterson, Mikhaila Peterson, who has long been a vocal advocate of the all-meat "lion diet", which she says "cured" her depression and rheumatoid arthritis.
"I'm stoked," commented Mikhaila, who has no academic qualifications in nutrition.
"The best thing we can do is self-experiment to figure out what works for us! Can't wait to watch your carnivore video!!!" wrote another supporter.
It's not the first controversial move for Parker. Her previous bizarre experiments have included not using deodorant for a year and not shampooing for a month.
