Former vegan YouTuber angers fans after announcing switch to carnivore diet

A former vegan YouTuber is facing a backlash from fans after announcing that she participated in a 30-day challenge where she only ate animal products.

This week, Alyse Parker uploaded a video to YouTube, where she has more than 727,000 subscribers, explaining that she spent the last 30 days following the carnivore diet - which means eating only meat, eggs, and fish.

According to the blogger, who followed a strict raw vegan diet for nearly five years, she decided to attempt an animal-product only diet because she wanted to relate to others.

“Coming from a history of being vegan for almost five years, I know what it’s like to lose myself in the identity of a diet culture and to lose true open mindedness,” Parker said in the 14-minute video.

The YouTuber from Connecticut also explained the benefits she noticed from eating the carnivore diet - considered an elimination diet or a diet that removes any possible food sensitivities - including feeling more “lean and comfortable in my body” and “having way more stable energy and focus throughout the day”.

She noted medical benefits to following the diet as well, such as relief from the symptoms of “autoimmunity, fatigue, obesity, inflammatory diseases and more’”.

Prior to uploading the video, Parker announced her new diet with an Instagram photo of herself in front of a plate of raw meat.

In response to the challenge, the blogger, who used to share her vegan tips on her website Raw Alignment, is facing criticism from former fans, who have accused her of hypocrisy regarding animal cruelty, the planet, and her own business.

“Animals are not a challenge,” one person wrote.

Another said: “And what about the planet? This diet doesn’t make any sense at all, especially during this environmental crisis.”

Others said that they would be unfollowing Parker, who has more than 203,000 followers on Instagram, following her announcement, as well as over concerns that she was promoting extreme dieting.

“Can we stop pushing extreme dieting and veiling it as wellness and transformation,” someone commented. “It's toxic.”

This is not the first time Parker has found herself at the centre of controversy regarding her claims to be vegan.

Her fans first started questioning whether she still followed the lifestyle after she was seen pinning recipes with eggs on Pinterest, according to The Cut, before Parker announced she was no longer vegan in a YouTube video in March.

At the time, Parker said she had made the decision as a way of treating health issues she’d been experiencing that were related to mould.

And despite the backlash, Parker said she will be continuing to eat a mostly animal-based diet.

“I did notice enough benefits from eating this way to make me want to continue eating mostly animal foods,” she said in her most-recent video.

Typically, any extreme dieting is not recommended by experts. Nutritionist Libby Parker previously told The Independent that diets similar to the carnivore diet such as the ketogenic diet can be harmful because “the human body is designed to run primarily on carbohydrate sources”.