logo
I lost 20 pounds in one month from eating just one food - and look like I've had 'natural' Botox

I lost 20 pounds in one month from eating just one food - and look like I've had 'natural' Botox

Daily Mail​16-07-2025
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.
Janis Luize eats 300g of meat per day - she generally sticks to red meat but will change up the cuts to chicken and pork
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.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Doctors dismissed woman's common symptoms for months... until they discovered she had a deadly colon cancer
Doctors dismissed woman's common symptoms for months... until they discovered she had a deadly colon cancer

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Doctors dismissed woman's common symptoms for months... until they discovered she had a deadly colon cancer

A Pennsylvania woman was diagnosed with deadly cancer after being dismissed by doctors. Rylie Toomey, 27, was in the midst of planning her wedding and training for a half marathon when she was struck with unbearable abdominal pain in October 2024. She rushed to the hospital, where doctors performed a CT scan and insisted she was just constipated before sending her home. Doctors told her the same thing when she returned every few months for testing, until she ended up in the emergency department screaming in pain this past April. She was also suffering from a fever. She said: 'In my head I was like, I think I'm going to die - that's how much pain I was in. 'I felt like I was being stabbed, and my belly was super bloated, too. It felt like I was just going to explode.' Toomey had suffered a perforated bowel, meaning there was a hole in her intestinal wall. During that hospital visit, another CT scan detected stage four colon cancer that had spread to her liver and lungs - and she became one of the thousands of young Americans who have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer despite living healthy lives. Toomey told 'When you hear, "You have cancer," you're just like, that can't be right. That can't be me because leading up to this, I was so healthy. 'To hear that I had colon cancer just didn't make sense, just because you feel like colon cancer is linked to unhealthy people or people who eat unhealthy or the elderly. 'I just was not expecting that at all.' The American Cancer Society estimates over 154,000 Americans will be stuck by colorectal cancer this year, including about 20,000 under 50. While this is roughly in line with two decades ago, the disease is rising sharply in younger groups. From 1999 to 2018, the rate of colorectal cancer in the under-50 population rose from 8.6 cases per 100,000 people to 13 cases per 100,000 people. Colorectal cancer diagnoses in 20- to 34-year-olds is set to increase by 90 percent between 2010 and 2030, and rates for teenagers have surged 500 percent since the early 2000s. Lifestyle factors like diet, lack of exercise and a sedentary lifestyle have all been blamed, though these causes fail to explain why physically fit people like Toomey have increasingly been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The latest evidence, published in April, also suggests childhood exposure to a toxin released by E. coli bacteria could increase the risk of colorectal cancer by triggering inflammation and altering the balance of the gut microbiome. Marijuana was also linked to colorectal cancer in a recent study, as it is thought to block tumor-suppressing cells. Toomey told that she regularly plays lacrosse, runs and cycles and sticks to a healthy diet. She also has no family history of colon cancer. About one in five colorectal cancer patients are diagnosed like Toomey, after a bowel-related emergency often caused by the tumor growing, recent research shows. Toomey is now receiving chemotherapy every two weeks and regular immunotherapy infusions, with eight treatments left. Treatment forced her to push back her wedding, which was supposed to take place last month, and schedule it for June 2026. She said: 'It's definitely something that keeps me going right now. It's kind of hard to stay positive in situations like this, but this is something that's bringing me joy and keeping me going.' Friends have set up a GoFundMe page for medical expenses. Toomey is also urging other young people with symptoms to get checked out immediately and push for answers, even if doctors are dismissive. She said: 'I just don't want anybody to ever go through something like this. I think this happened for a reason so I can help others.'

Common virus that affects 124million Americans may contribute to debilitating multiple sclerosis
Common virus that affects 124million Americans may contribute to debilitating multiple sclerosis

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Common virus that affects 124million Americans may contribute to debilitating multiple sclerosis

About one in two adults is infected with a virus that can cause cold sores, fever and blisters in the mouth. But now, researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) suggest that oral herpes, caused by herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1), could also raise the risk of suffering from the life-altering condition multiple sclerosis. In a new study, scientists gene-edited mice not to produce a protein called optineurin, which plays a role in defending the body against herpes infections, and then infected the mice with the virus. The infection led to the rapid degradation of the myelin sheath, a protective coating on nerve fibers. This caused mice to suffer MS-like symptoms, such as muscle weakness, loss of movement and the ability to coordinate muscles. This mirrors the process observed in individuals with multiple sclerosis, where the myelin sheath also degrades because the immune system misfires and starts to attack the area. The scientists say their findings could indicate a link between HSV-1, which is different from the HSV-2 virus that causes genital herpes, and MS. Dr Deepak Shukla, a professor of molecular virology at UIC and the study's lead, said: 'Our findings enhance our understanding of how viruses develop and offer potential avenues for mitigating viral-induced [nerve cell] damage. 'If you are infected, then your immune system is constantly locked in battle with the virus. And if for any reason you become immunocompromised, the virus can escape and damage your brain.' Oral herpes is an extremely common condition that infects about 47 percent of adults, according to the CDC, or 124million people. The virus is spread via sexual contact, such as kissing and oral sex, and is incurable, normally lying dormant and triggering occasional flare-ups of sores on and around the mouth and lips. In cells, it is controlled by the protein optineurin, which stops an infection from spreading and protects against any potential myelin sheath damage. Scientists have previously established that one of the biggest risk factors for MS is an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a virus that has infected 95 percent of adults and which is estimated to raise the risk of MS by 30 percent. And other herpes viruses, like the ones that cause chickenpox, shingles, and human herpes virus 6, have also been linked to the onset and worsening of MS, which affects 1 million Americans. And MS is a debilitating, incurable autoimmune condition that affects the brain and spinal cord and leaves people with mobility issues, memory loss and fatigue. In earlier studies, Dr Shukla's team found that HSV-1 triggered a strong immune response in the brains of mice, causing memory problems, poor coordination, and anxiety. They also discovered that the protein optineurin helps fight the virus by slowing its growth and spread. In the latest study, researchers infected mice that could not produce the protein with the oral herpes virus in their eyes. As seen in earlier cell tests, mice without optineurin had higher infection rates after four days. The researchers also found that a protein called MLKL, or Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like protein, which is made by the body during cell death, boosted HSV-1 infections in the absence of optineurin. Researchers said the protein facilitated the transportation of the virus into a cell's nucleus, speeding an infection, and optineurin controlled HSV-1 infection by triggering the deterioration of MLKL. Imaging studies revealed extensive clumping, or aggregation, of MLKL in the brains of optineurin-lacking mice, but not in control mice, in response to HSV-1 infection. Also, these clumps appeared to trigger the death of myelin-producing oligodendrocytes, or cells that create armor, or the myelin sheath, around neurons. Without the sheath, the nervous system was left vulnerable to damage. The resulting damage disrupts the communication between the brain and the rest of the body, leading to the various symptoms associated with MS, such as weakness in the legs, fatigue, coordination problems, cognitive changes, and pain. Identifying this protein offers a new target for multiple sclerosis therapies. Already, Shukla's lab has demonstrated that necrosulfonamide, which inhibits optineurin, can preserve nerve function in animal models. Studies like these provide hope for the future of MS, and bring about the potential to enable earlier intervention or a possible cure.

Urgent care clinics are pushing pain pills that do little to treat conditions, new study finds
Urgent care clinics are pushing pain pills that do little to treat conditions, new study finds

The Independent

time2 hours ago

  • The Independent

Urgent care clinics are pushing pain pills that do little to treat conditions, new study finds

Urgent care clinics are reportedly pushing pills that do little to treat patients' medical conditions. Researchers said Tuesday that a substantial number of antibiotic, glucocorticoid, and opioid prescriptions were filled despite being deemed inappropriate given the patients' diagnoses — potentially resulting in harm. Antibiotics are commonly used to treat infections, glucocorticoids are steroids that can treat arthritis and asthma, and opioids are prescribed to treat pain. America's opioid epidemic, which has led to thousands of deaths, has been tied to an increase in painkiller prescriptions. "Previous studies had shown that patients continue to receive antibiotics for diagnoses where they may not be indicated, such as for a viral respiratory infection, especially in urgent care settings,' Dr. Shirley Cohen-Mekelburg, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in a statement. 'Our findings reveal that this trend of inappropriate prescribing includes other classes of drugs — including glucocorticoids — and a variety of conditions.' The reason for these findings, they suggest, is tied to the knowledge of clinic doctors, demand from patients, and a lack of an information system to support the clinicians' decisions. "I think that opioids are generally overprescribed when the medical staff under appreciates the risks," Dr. Andrew Kolodny, medical director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, told MedPage Today. "If the clinicians understood that their prescriptions were more likely to harm patients than help them, I think they'd prescribe more cautiously." Kolodny, who was not involved in the study, said that while opioid prescribing in general has been improving, data shows that 'we've got a long way to go when it comes to urgent care settings.' There are currently more than 14,000 urgent care centers located across the U.S.. They exist to bridge the gap between primary and emergency care, the Urgent Care Association notes. Many of these clinics have their own pharmacies and accept most insurance plans, according to the The American Journal of Managed Care. Using data from more than 22 million urgent care visits between 2018 to 2022, the researchers found that the visits resulted in nearly 2.8 million antibiotic prescriptions, more than 2 million prescriptions of glucocorticoids, and 299,210 opioid prescriptions. Of those, the fractions of the cases were categorized as 'never appropriate' or 'generally inappropriate,' with drugs handed out for health conditions the drugs were not meant to treat. Some 46 percent of patients with urinary symptoms received inappropriate prescriptions of antibiotics and 41 percent of patients with bronchitis received inappropriate prescriptions of glucocorticoids. The cases were also related to middle-ear infections, sinus infections, non-back musculoskeletal pain, abdominal pain, digestive symptoms, and sprains and strains. It was not immediately clear what the effects of these prescriptions were, or if they had resulted in any harm. The researchers suggest that drug stewardship programs to optimize use of the drugs, using electronic health records, and further medication education could have an effect. 'Reducing inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics, glucocorticoids and opioids will require a multifaceted approach,' Cohen-Mekelburg said. 'Providers at urgent centers would benefit from greater support and feedback in making these decisions.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store