A woman has claimed she lost 20 pounds in one month by eating animal products – a diet she claimed is like ‘natural’ Botox because it also visibly improved her complexion.
Janis Luize Rocha Leites, 30, from California, had tried various diets including spending two years as a vegetarian.
However, she wasn’t feeling her ‘best self’ and was struggling with ‘small red dots’ on her skin, a lack of energy, and hair fall.
When a friend recommended that she try the carnivor diet – a zero-carb diet which consists solely of animal products – Janis Luize decided to give it a go.
She embarked on a 30-day cleanse during which she only consumed meat, salt, and water – only to find her weight had dropped, periods regulated, and that her skin had completely cleared up.
She even believes the diet helped her fall pregnant in January 2025.
Janis Luize is still on the diet but has since incorporated fruits and some carbohydrates while expecting – and plans to introduce her child to the carnivore diet.
Reflecting on her ‘glow-up’, the San Diego-based make-up artist said: ‘My skin cleared up. I used to have what looked like blemishes – small red dots. My face would swell up.
‘My wrinkles went away. It felt like I had got Botox done,’ she continued. ‘This diet got me pregnant. It feels like you are biohacking your body.’
Janis Luize had never struggled with her weight but found herself feeling unhealthy on a vegetarian diet.
She said: ‘I wasn’t feeling my best self. When I turned 30 I wasn’t happy with my body or my skin. I had no energy.’
When she met up with a friend she hadn’t seen in six months, she noticed his hair and skin had changed and discovered he was doing the carnivore diet.
Intrigued by the improvements in his skin and hair, Janis Luize also decided to try it out. Within 30 days, she had lost 20lbs.
She claimed it also helped banish the ‘brain fog’ she used to experience every day. Janis Luize said: ‘I had a lot brain fog before. Now I wake up without it everyday.
‘My double chin went away,’ she outlined some of the physical benefits she’d seen. ‘I got a lean tummy.’
Janis Luize has been with her partner, Luis Pantolfi, 30, an IT masters student, for three years and they hadn’t been trying for a baby but were open to the idea.
She believes falling pregnant was partly down to the diet, but there is limited scientific research to suggest the diet has an impact on fertility.
A 2007 study by J. E., Rich-Edwards, J. W., Rosner, B. A., & Willett, W. C. suggests a balanced diet including plant-based foods is beneficial for fertility.
She said: ‘I can’t say it was 100 per cent from the diet but I had said “I’m getting more fertile’ to my boyfriend.”‘
Now 23 weeks along, she is still keeping up with the diet but has introduced fruits and occasionally some carbohydrates to make sure she gains weight to support her during her pregnancy.
Janis Luize eats 300g of meat per day – she generally sticks to red meat but will change up the cuts to chicken and pork.
For breakfast, she has scrambled eggs and meat and, occasionally, bone broth, and then grilled meat for a late lunch.
She said: ‘I always felt something was wrong with vegetables.
‘Even though they were organic, I’d always feel bloated.
‘This diet helps you with your cravings – I was a big sweet tooth – but not anymore.I feel like a total new person.’
When her baby arrives in November, Janis Luize plans to introduce them to the carnivore diet – introducing bone broths when they go onto solid foods.
She said: ‘The broth has a lot of fat.
‘I’ve seen people talking about how it means they have no mood swings and sleep all the time.’
It comes after a London-based woman explained why she had ditched her strict raw vegan diet for the carnivore diet, adding she’s ‘never been healthier’.
Before she began eating animal-based, Laura Sliazaite, 39, followed a strict diet that largely consisted of uncooked vegetables and fruit.
However, the heavy focus on plant-based foods left her struggling with insomnia and high blood sugar.
Laura, who is an IT professional, said she used be ‘obsessive’ about food and exercise, and suffered an array of issues including joint pain, low vitamin levels, bleeding gums and itchy skin.
Having traded her uncomfortable symptoms for the controversial ‘carnivore diet’, Laura said she is much healthier.
‘I went from being vegan to eating steak every day – people say I’ll have heart attack but I’ve never been healthier,’ she said.
After not touching meat for 13 years, Laura slowly introduced different food groups back into her diet, before deciding to commit to a carnivore diet for 30 days – to test once and for all if meat really was the enemy.
While critics warned her that she would ‘die from a heart attack’ if she continued the extreme diet, Laura said the benefits have been endless.
She says her new found energy is a result of eating exclusively meat, fish, eggs, cheese and fats for the past year.
‘After the first of the 30 days, I started feeling so amazing, full of energy, and my digestion was better,’ she said.
‘I decided to do 100 days, and by the time that had finished, I knew this was going to be my lifestyle.
‘Now that it’s been more than a year, I can definitely say that for the first time, I’m feeling like a human being.
‘I can see how my body has healed and is continuing to heal.’
