Are you a complete carnivore and love your meat? Well, then the lion diet may be something to your liking. A meat-based diet that focuses on eliminating major food groups and beverages from your meals, the eating pattern involves only consuming salt, water, and meat from ruminant animals (including beef, lamb, goat, bison, and deer). But why? To identify food sensitivities. According to its proponents, this diet must be followed until symptoms of potential food sensitivities improve, and then slowly reintroduce foods into your diet. Talking about the philosophy behind the diet, Devayani Vijayan, a method and functional wellness practitioner, told indianexpress.com, “The lion diet is intended to help you identify which foods trigger your symptoms so you can eliminate them from your diet”. Explaining how it works, she added: “Elimination diets, per se, are effective in identifying triggers for health conditions like digestive issues, migraines, chronic health problems, low energy, depression, mood swings, eczema, skin complaints, joint aches, asthma, weight gain and others, where the correlation between food and symptoms can be identified, triggers removed and then foods reintroduced through a personalized plan”. Lion diet, however, is too restrictive and can cause potential nutritional deficiencies, she stressed. Risk of lion diet Although elimination diets can be effective for certain health conditions, the lion diet is difficult to follow, it lacks important nutrients and is unsustainable. It may increase the risk of nutritional deficiencies and other health problems over time. “ If you do want to test out an elimination diet, there are many other options available for you,” said Vijayan. Below is the list of potential harmful effects of the lion diet. Absence in supporting gut health and potential increase in inflammation – Healing the gut is the starting point for long term good health. The intestinal lining is made of cells that replace themselves approximately every two to four days. In the span of a single week, all the cells in the intestinal lining are broken down and new cells grow to take their place. Removing inflammatory and trigger foods, while at the same time supplying the body with anti-inflammatory foods, makes the newly formed gut tissue stronger and healthier. In the absence of food that replenishes the gut, this renewal of gut tissue will likely not take place in the lion diet. Hence, the critical element needed to bring down inflammation is missing. Lack of nutrients for the gut microbiome - Your immune system is like your body’s soldiers. And around 70% of this is found around your digestive tract and the gut microbiome plays the most important role here. Like a forest needs various nutrients to thrive, so does the microbiome, and lack of nutrient rich food will deplete this and your immune system might get weaker. Vitamin and Mineral deficiencies – This has to be a short-term diet, and although ruminant meats are some of the most nutrient dense foods, to get the best quality of these might not always be a possibility. The body has to have all necessary vitamins and minerals to function and they have to be in a form that can be easily absorbed, which is not always possible with a restrictive diet. Too much protein – Continuously having more than 35% of your calories from protein will put a great strain on your liver, which impacts long term health. 📣 For more lifestyle news, follow us on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook and don't miss out on the latest updates!
