What Happened to The Women Who Ate Only FruitStory by Julie Hambleton A 27-year-old woman, Karolina Krzzak, tragically died in a Bali hotel room after adhering to an extreme "fruitarian" diet. This highly restrictive, fruit-only eating pattern led to severe malnutrition and starvation, resulting in her death. At the time of her passing she weighed a mere 22 kilograms (approximately 48.5 lbs). Her story serves as a severe warning from medical professionals about the critical dangers associated with such extreme diets that promise rapid results or detoxification but lead to catastrophic health decline. Understanding the Fruitarian Diet - A fruitarian diet is an extreme version of the raw vegan diet where one primarily only eats fruit. Image credit: Shutterstock The fruitarian diet is an extremely restrictive subset of veganism where the consumer's primary, or sometimes exclusive, source of nutrition is raw fruit. While variations exist, some strict followers aim for 75% or more of their diet to consist of fruits, with the remainder potentially coming from nuts, seeds, and sometimes vegetables. The philosophy behind this diet often includes claims of detoxification, spiritual purity, and a belief that consuming only foods that can be harvested without killing the plant (like fruits that have fallen off) is the most natural and ethical way to eat. However, due to its severe limitations, the fruitarian diet is highly controversial among nutritionists, as it severely lacks essential nutrients like protein, calcium, iron, zinc, Omega-3 fatty acids, and Vitamin B12. This diet has a high risk of malnutrition, muscle loss, and severe health complications. The Consequences of Severe Malnutrition - Her fruitarian diet pushed her body into a starvation state. The extreme fruitarian diet deprived Karolina of essential macronutrients and micronutrients, causing her body to enter a starvation state. Medical reports indicated she was suffering from both osteoporosis, a condition marked by weakened bones, and an albumin deficiency. These are clear consequences of prolonged, poor nutrition and starvation. The doctors said that her fruit-only diet lacked vital components like proteins, fats, calcium, iron, vitamin B12, and adequate complex carbohydrates. This severe deficiency weakens the intestinal lining, disrupts electrolyte levels, and slows metabolism, ultimately causing multiple organs to fail. Doctor’s Warning: The Dangers of Restrictive Plans - Karolina's fruit-only diet caused her to essentially starve to death. Credit: @carolina.mariie Medical experts from strongly cautioned against following fruit-only or similar highly restrictive diets. They explained that while fruits offer vitamins and antioxidants, relying solely on them causes severe protein-energy malnutrition, leading to muscle loss, anemia, and life-threatening electrolyte imbalances. Furthermore, the high fructose content in excessive fruit consumption can elevate sugar, trigger insulin resistance, and increase the risk of related disease. The doctors stressed that long-term adherence to such trends can result in cognitive decline, fatigue, multi-organ dysfunction, and in severe cases like Karolina's, death. They emphasized that a healthy diet must be a balanced combination of fruits, vegetables, sufficient proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Not The First ‘Fruitarian' To Suffer A Similar Fate - Zhanna Samsonova also died in 2023 from eating a fruit-only diet. Sadly, Karolina is not the first to suffer this fate as a result from the fruitarian diet. Zhanna Samsonova, a Russian vegan raw food influencer known online as Zhanna D'Art, tragically died in July 2023 at the age of 39 in Malaysia. Reportedly, she died from "starvation and exhaustion" exacerbated by her extremely restrictive diet. For at least the last four years of her life, she had followed an exclusively raw vegan diet, subsisting mainly on fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies, and juices. At its most extreme, friends reported her diet was almost entirely fruit-based, with some claims suggesting she had not consumed water for six years. Instead, she had opted for fruit and vegetable juices. Samsonova passionately promoted this raw food lifestyle on social media, believing it transformed her body and made her look younger than her peers. Read More: Health Organization Offers Strict ‘Soup and Shake' Diet to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes. Does it Actually Work? The Warning Signs and Family’s Battle - Zhanna's health declined fast due to her fruitarian diet. Despite her online assertions of wellness, Samsonova's health had been visibly deteriorating. Friends noted her "increasingly emaciated" appearance and expressed profound worry. One friend described how they feared "finding her lifeless body in the morning." Her mother, Vera Samsonova, had desperately fought to save her daughter, disapproving of the extreme eating habits and trying to convince her to adopt a more balanced diet. Just months before her death, friends saw her in Sri Lanka looking exhausted with swollen legs and oozing lymph nodes. She was reportedly sent home to seek treatment, only to run away and resume her travels. Her official cause of death was attributed by her mother to a "cholera-like infection," which was believed to have been worsened by the extreme exhaustion and malnutrition caused by her strict vegan diet. Are Raw, Vegan Diets To Blame? - Raw, vegan diets are not necessarily bad, but they must be balanced. Image credit: Shutterstock The core issue that led to the deaths of both women was not a standard or balanced raw, vegan diet. Rather, it was the extreme and restrictive nature of the specific "fruitarian" and raw food regimens they followed that induced severe malnutrition and starvation. In the case of Karolina Krzyzak, doctors explicitly linked her death to starvation and the severe medical conditions directly caused by her fruit-only diet. Her death was a result of the catastrophic breakdown of her body due to the total lack of essential proteins, fats, and other critical nutrients. Therefore, the diet itself, by causing starvation, was the direct fatal mechanism. Extreme Diets Are Not The AnswerThe human body is complex and requires a wide range of macro- and micronutrients in order to function and thrive. The issue with extreme or restrictive diets such as these are that they don't provide even the minimum amount of calories that a person needs for the basic functioning of their body. Yes, fruits and vegetables are good for you – both in raw and cooked forms. Yes, the general population could eat more of these products. However, eating only fruits and vegetables does not provide you with enough protein, carbohydrates, fat, and calories to live. Eventually your body's systems will start failing. True health comes from a diet that contains a proper balance of a variety of different foods. Whole grains, root vegetables and tubers, lentils, beans, unsaturated oils, nuts and seeds, and animal sources of proteins if you so choose. It is also okay to occasionally include foods with less nutritional value, like cakes, cookies, french fries – so long as they are not regular occurance. Fruits and vegetables should be staple parts of our diet, but they cannot be the only thing we eat. If you are unsure if you are getting the right nutrition that you need, speak with a registered dietitian. They can help you build the diet that is right for you. Disclaimer: This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment and is for information only. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions about your medical condition and/or current medication. Do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking advice or treatment because of something you have read here. ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/what-happened-to-the-women-who-ate-only-fruit/ar-AA1QrBt2?
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comment_13673Hello everyone,
Just want to start off by saying sorry for the long post, but this issue that came up is concerning me.
I am relatively new to the carnivore diet, maybe close to 2 months in, and when I initially started with the first month the diet was working well. Inflammation in some of my joints were reduced, concentrating was easier digestion seems smoother, and energy was up. Now that I am in the later part of the 2nd month, it seems that some negative things are popping up that I didn't have before.
My diet since doing carnivore consists of fatty beef, chicken occasionally, eggs, bacon, salmon, beef liver, and fatty pork. I mainly focus on beef and eggs but include the other foods to try to maintain the electrolytes. I do also want to note that the first month, though, I didn't eat beef liver or salmon. I use Pink Himalayan Salt and Kerry Gold Butter on the vast majority of food and I always pour the meat grease onto the food after it is cooked from the air fryer. Finally, I only drink water. No caffeine in the diet.
Some of the issues that I am having now are:
1) My legs, especially the calf area, will feel kind of sore, but not actually be sore. As in there is a feeling of slight soreness, but if you touch the calves no additional pain occurs. I have not had any leg cramps, though I feel that is coming soon. In addition, when I walk up just one flight of stairs, pain in my legs and quads seems to be very, very noticeable.
2) I always have this sort of fluttering feeling in my heart. It doesn't seem like my heart is beating any faster. It might beat louder sometimes, but the majority of the time I think it is just fluttering. It doesn't seem like it is skipping any beats neither.
3) Inflammation seems to have increased. It is not as bad as before I started the diet, and there are still times when it is really reduced, but it doesn't seem to stay consistently reduced.
4) Dizziness is not really prevalent, but sometimes it feels like when I am in certain light too long (mainly at work) slight dizziness does occur. In addition, when I get up from sitting too long, I do get slightly dizzy.
5) When I go to bed, my mouth starts getting dry. When this first started, I would wake up with very bad case of cotton mouth. Now, it seems like within a few minutes of laying down, the dryness starts. I also wake up at least once a night, though, that is something that was happening prior to carnivore, but I think it is happening now due to the dry mouth.
All of this I believe should be a result of an electrolyte imbalance, at least from what I have read, but I am having a hard time trying to counter this. I would prefer not to take supplements since I am trying to use the diet and diet alone to get all my nutrients in. I do have a LMNT (no flavor) on hand in case emergencies happen, but would prefer to figure this out through eating, no supplementation. I added the beef liver and salmon to help balance the electrolytes (eating each about twice per week), but I really don't see any glaring differences. I am not eating liver or salmon daily due to not having a high fat content, especially the liver (which I actually think the liver is making it hard to go number 2, though I am not constipated). Finally, I am starting to put the Pink Salt in water when I wake up and maybe an hour before I go to bed. Not sure, but I think this is preventing the cotton mouth from going full force.
Any additional food suggestions that you can give to try to counter act what I think is an electrolyte imbalance? Is supplementation the only thing that can work?
Also, (not related to the topic) I am very curious if it was possible to find someone near where I live who is more of a veteran in doing the carnivore diet to show me the ropes. I have been doing this on my own, but I don't think I will be able to figure everything out on my own, so it would be nice if there was some sort of website or something along those lines where I can find somewhere near me that can guide me better with this diet and make it more personal.
Thank you in advanced and sorry again for the long post.