If you’ve never heard of an elimination diet, you’re about to get a crash course.
Elimination diets, such as the carnivore diet, the Lion Diet, and the autoimmune protocol, are highly restrictive diets. These diets are geared toward reducing inflammation in your body and healing damage to the gut, brain, and nervous system.
Because they’re so highly restrictive, a lot of people raise their eyebrows at these diets. And, if you don’t know the benefits, we understand why. It can be hard to imagine letting go of the way you normally eat!
We recently had Mikhaila Peterson Fuller on the show, and she taught us all about the Lion Diet. So, of course, we had to give you the skinny! We’ll have all the details ready for you after you get back from watching this episode:
What Is The Lion Diet? & How To Do It
The Lion Diet is an elimination diet similar to the carnivore diet, yet more restrictive. For this diet, you’ll pretty much be eating only meat.
This diet cuts out all plant-based and/or processed foods from the standard American diet. It also removes many animal products from your mealtime rotation. These are replaced with only these three things: ruminant meat, salt, and water.
But what is ruminant meat? This is red meat that comes from animals that chew their cud, such as cows, sheep, bison, goats, and deer.
So, you’ve got some options when it comes to what type of meat you consume. You don’t have to eat the same exact thing every day. But, of course, you can if that suits you! Mikhaila Peterson Fuller, the Lion Diet founder (& CEO of Peterson Academy!) eats the same thing every day on this diet.
Mikhaila originally discovered this all-meat diet as a viable option when dealing with a severe autoimmune condition that was tanking her quality of life. She found it significantly reduced all of her negative symptoms related to her chronic illness and pain.
Like most elimination diets, the purpose of the diet is to eliminate categories of food that may be inflaming your body or causing digestive issues. Then, after a period of time (usually a month or more), you begin reintroducing foods into your diet. Depending on your reaction to the reintroduced foods, they can either remain in your diet or become restricted again.
If this diet sounds interesting to you, keep reading! We’ll cover everything you need to know, from how it works to how to actually do it. Or, you could always get the info straight from the source in this episode of our show!
How Does The Lion Diet Work?
The Lion Diet works by removing most food-related factors that could be causing inflammation in your body.
Of course, if you begin the Lion Diet and see no improvement, it could be the meat that’s causing an inflammatory reaction. But, there could also be environmental factors, such as mold or other toxins in your home. Beware, those toxins can hide anywhere: your cookware, your cleaning supplies, and even your toilet paper.
This is why proponents of the Lion Diet also recommend ensuring you have a clean environment to live in. Mold and other biotoxins can be hiding in many different places in your home, making you sick. To learn more about mold in your home & how to get rid of it, watch our episode with Ryan Blaser, founder of Test My Home.
Different people are inflamed by different things, so it takes a bit of trial and error to determine what’s going on with your body, personally. The Lion Diet is a great place to begin that trial and error process.
By eliminating almost all foods from your diet, you can hopefully eliminate what’s causing your issues. Taking a few months to sustain yourself with this diet is intended to heal your gut, body, and brain. It also controls all dietary variables.
Then, once you’ve healed your body, you can begin adding foods back into your diet. Add them in slowly, so that you have time to determine if you are experiencing an inflammatory reaction. Some reactions may not occur instantly. Foods can affect sleep, mood, skin, and digestion, so it’s important to monitor them all.
Depending on your body’s reaction to the reintroduced food, you can either keep that food in your diet, or restrict it again. Once you’ve finished reintroducing foods and assessing reactions, you’ll have a list of foods that you know make your body feel good. And, it’ll be totally personalized to you!
What Are The Benefits Of The Lion Diet?
The Lion Diet is high in protein.
If you’ve been around on the blog for a while, you know Lauryn is all about protein, protein, protein. There’s a reason why she eats a bowl of meat every day.
Protein can help with weight loss, feeling satiated and energized for longer, and there are even beauty benefits to a high-protein diet. Don’t believe us? Literally just watch this episode and look at how the women are absolutely GLOWING. It’s all that protein!
But how does protein do such amazing things? Complete proteins are full of amino acids, which are behind the scenes putting in work. These amino acids are crucial when it comes to so many body processes. Think building new tissue, supporting muscle growth, repairing cell damage, immune system support, and more these amino acids can do it all.
Ruminant meat (AKA the meat you’ll be eating on this diet) is considered a complete protein. This means it has all nine essential amino acids. And, since it’s the only thing you’re eating, you’re going to get a lot of it. So, your body will have what it needs to handle all the different functions amino acids support.
It may reduce symptoms of chronic illness.
Because inflammation and digestive issues are at the root of many chronic illnesses, the Lion Diet can help with chronic illness symptoms. Removing inflammatory foods from your diet will give your body time to heal, and you may see a decrease in symptoms.
You may see a reduction in chronic pain.
Similarly, symptoms of chronic pain may decrease as the inflammatory foods are no longer around to trigger them. This study found that increasing anti-inflammatory foods was positively correlated with a reduction in stress and pain. So, bye, chronic pain! We definitely won’t miss you.
It can support your beauty goals.
This benefit goes hand in hand with our high-protein benefit. Did you know amino acids are essential for all things beauty? We’re talking hair, skin, AND nails, babes.
Amino acids are the building blocks of things like keratin, collagen, and elastin.
Keratin is what your hair and nails are made of, so more amino acids = more keratin = longer, stronger hair & nails.
Collagen and elastin are compounds present in your skin. They’re responsible for giving you skin that’s glowy & plump. So, thank you, amino acids!
Your mental health may improve.
The Lion Diet often induces a state of ketosis, which is where your body burns ketones (AKA fat) for energy. This study indicates that the benefits of a ketogenic diet don’t stop at metabolic health. In fact, they found that a ketogenic diet can actually improve psychiatric symptoms in patients with severe mental illness.
It may help regulate your blood sugar.
As the Lion Diet frequently induces a ketogenic state, it can help regulate your blood sugar as well. Ketogenic diets have been found to lower blood glucose levels, especially in those with Type II diabetes. This will help with any energy crashes you may experience throughout the day.
The Lion Diet can support weight loss.
And if all that wasn’t enough, you may be able to hit your weight loss goals using this diet! The same study also found that ketogenic diets can significantly decrease Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a measure of your weight relative to your height.
Is The Lion Diet Healthy?
No diet is right for E V E R Y O N E, but we like this one. If you’re suffering from chronic health issues, the Lion Diet may be a good place to start figuring out what role food has to play in your overall health.
Of course, it’s important to recognize that, as with ALL elimination diets, you may not be getting all the vitamins you’d normally get from plant foods. It’s important to supplement this type of diet with essential vitamins. Otherwise, you may experience some adverse side effects.
For ideas on what supplements to take, you can check out our episode with Mikhaila Peterson Fuller.
As always when it comes to your health, consult your doctor before beginning this diet regimen. There are factors that may mean this diet is not the right one for you. For example, this diet is high in saturated fats, so it may not be appropriate for those with a history of heart disease. But, your doctor will be able to help you determine what’s best for you!
How To Do The Lion Diet
Step 1: Wean in.
When you are first beginning the lion diet, you may want to wean into it. It’s a pretty intense diet. So, if you go full force right away, it may feel like going from 0 to 100 real quick.
Of course, if that’s your thing, go for it. But, many people will want to use a “wean in” step or two before beginning the diet.
This step is optional. If you’re looking to take it, you can follow the instructions on how to wean into the lion diet here.
Step 2: Go full lion mode.
When you decide you’re ready, it’s time to go for it! Switch your diet to only ruminant meat, salt, and water. Mikhaila Peterson Fuller recommends that you stay at this step for at least three months.
While participating in this step, make sure you’re logging your symptoms. It’s easy to forget to keep track, but that may make it more confusing when you add foods back in later. Try to log symptoms in each of these categories: sleep, mood, skin, and digestion.
Step 3: Reintroduce foods.
Once you’ve completed your three months on the Lion Diet, it’s time to reintroduce foods. It is especially important that you track your symptoms at this stage. Give your body a few days to adapt to each new food before introducing another. If a food causes a negative reaction, remove it from your list of allowed foods.
Mikhaila recommends reintroducing foods in a similar order that you weaned into the diet. So, the foods you cut out last (which are the least likely to be inflammatory) should be the foods you add back in first.
Is the Lion Diet the diet for you?
Let us know if you’re thinking about trying this diet! We’d love to know how it works for you. & who knows? You might feel so good on the diet that you become a long-term Lion Dieter, like Mikhaila!
If you haven’t seen the show yet, you’re missing out. Check out our episode on the Lion Diet to hear why Mikhaila’s so committed to it. It’s definitely worth the listen!