Mum who eats 5,000 calories of meat, eggs and butter a day says carnivore diet transformed her life despite vegan criticism

A mum who eats 5,000 calories of meat, eggs and butter a day has said the carnivore diet “transformed” her body and confidence despite constant “attacks” from vegans online.

Rachel Ashby, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, discovered the carnivore diet in 2019 initially hoping to disprove its controversial claims – but, after shedding seven pounds in a week, she was hooked.

Following a diet consisting entirely of animal products, the 41-year-old single mum-of-four now eats three steaks, ten eggs, a block of butter and 1kg of chicken a day.

Since becoming a carnivore, she has not bought vegetables, even for her children, as young as nine, who dip in and out of the diet.

NHS advice claims consuming too much meat can increase the likelihood of people getting bowel cancer and recommends a balanced diet including fruits and vegetables, but gym-goer Rachel believes her plant-free diet has been the key to increasing her muscle mass and shedding four stone.

She has even turned her lifestyle into a business, selling beauty products made from beef fat which she uses on her face, hair and body, and – despite online criticism – she feels more confident than ever.

Rachel, mum to Sonny-Rae, nine, Mya, 15, Kenzie, 19, and Aaliyah, 21, told PA Real Life: “I get a lot of vegans attacking me… they say, ‘you can’t be a carnivore because you don’t eat raw meat’ – I can eat it raw, I just prefer it with a sear.

“I have a video on my account where I was eating raw meat, but that was purely to annoy the vegans who were attacking me at the time.

“I’ve had messages from vegan nurses saying they can’t wait for me to get cancer because of the red meat.

“I would’ve crumbled if someone had said that to me before, but now I just laugh, it actually makes me feel bad for these people.”

Weighing around 15 stone from around 2015 to 2018, at 5ft 5in tall, Rachel spent years trying different diets in an effort to lose weight.

She experimented with everything from calorie counting to the keto diet but often found herself returning to her original weight and feeling “lethargic and bloated”.

In 2019, she came across a video of Dr Shawn Baker, a doctor who claims to have reversed chronic, autoimmune, and mental illnesses through the carnivore diet.

The diet consists solely of animal products, including meat, fish, eggs, animal fats, and small amounts of low-lactose dairy, and it excludes all plant foods such as fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

Despite widespread health concerns about the diet, Rachel was intrigued to try it to see if she could “disprove it”.

She claims after just three days she felt more energised, experiencing no brain fog.

Despite extensive evidence of their health benefits, she now believes vegetables were the cause of her lethargy.

Within the first week she said she lost seven pounds, without tracking calories and simply eating when hungry, so has stuck with the diet ever since – consuming around 5,000 calories of animal products on a typical day.

“For breakfast, I have ten eggs with a chunk of butter and salt,” Rachel explained.

“I literally eat fat for taste, so when fat stops tasting good, that’s when I stop eating it, because that’s when my body’s had enough.

“For lunch, I have a kilo of chicken wings cooked in the air fryer, and if I feel like I need the fat, then I’ll add butter as well.

“For dinner, I often have two ribeye steaks, and if I’m particularly hungry or have had a busy day and need extra energy, I’ll have three cooked in butter.”

Rachel said she goes through an impressive seven blocks of butter a week, but has surprisingly found her food bills have not increased.

Since being on the carnivore diet, she has not bought vegetables, even for her children, as young as nine, who live at home.

She explained: “My eldest works and buys her own food but my youngest son, eldest son, and youngest daughter all have moments when they are carnivore.

“They go in and out and if they go and stay around someone’s house or go to a party they might have treats from there.

“They’re all aware of where the main nutrition comes from.

“They just kind of sometimes decide by themselves to do it, and then other times they decide to not do it.

“But they always say that their health increases when they do do it.

“I don’t buy vegetables at all.”

She doesn’t find the diet restrictive and when eating out, tends to order a steak with a side of eggs or a burger with cheese without the bun.

“The meat I eat, I like it blue, just warm on the inside, but still red and bloody,” Rachel added.

Unlike some carnivores she doesn’t eat raw meat, but she did film herself eating a raw steak on her TikTok page @carnivore.fitness to “annoy the vegans”.

She now weighs around 10 stone, dropping from a size 18 to size 10, and feels her relationship with food has improved.

She added: “Before, when I was trying to lose weight, I’d go to the gym every day, or even twice a day, and now I go a lot less, yet my muscle mass has improved.

“I never have to go hungry or feel like I need to starve myself.

“I can just eat until I’m full and satisfied, whereas before, I would ignore my body’s hunger cues.”

As a result, her mental health has “transformed” – before, she was “agoraphobic” and felt she would have taken negative online comments to heart.

“If anyone took a photo of me, I’d make them delete it – it was pretty horrific, I felt like my brain was toxic, and everything seemed quite dark but now I’m happy all the time,” Rachel said.

On top of changing her diet, she has even incorporated meat into her beauty routine and in 2023 she launched a cosmetics business, Tallow Glow, selling beef fat beauty products.

She added: “I use beef tallow as a hair mask, rub it on my face, and apply it to my body.

“Since using it, it has reversed a lot of ageing and made my skin so much better.”

According to the NHS, your GP can advise you about losing weight safely by eating a healthy, balanced diet and regular physical activity.