Mikhaila Peterson, podcaster, blogger and daughter of controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored to discuss her unconventional diet and how it helped her to manage chronic illness.
While conventional wisdom still holds that a balanced diet covering protein sources, fruit and vegetables, starchy foods, carbohydrates and plenty of water is optimal for short and long-term health, there’s no end of online influencers touting alternative diets and their alleged benefits.
For Peterson, that amounts to prioritising red meat wherever she can.
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She initially took on the ‘Lion Diet’ after being diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue, depression and various skin disorders.
The arthritis meant she had two joint replacements at 17, and she was prescribed Adderall and SSRIs to combat her depression.
Appearing on Piers Morgan’s podcast 15 years after those joint replacements, she now-33-year-old explained that, at 22, she had decided to take control of her health with drastic lifestyle changes.
“When I was 22, I realised that if you have issues in your life nobody other than you is going to fix them,” she said.
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“I used to go to the medical community because that’s what I’d learned to get help, and that wasn’t working for me.”
She returned to school to train in biomedical science, but later dropped out.
“Long story short, I ended up only eating meat which I think is also kind of what helped people following me,” she said.
At the time of her podcast appearance with Morgan, Peterson had been on the ‘Lion Diet’ for six years. She said it consists of eating strip loin steak for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and she rarely eats vegetables, fruit, or sauces on her meat.
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“You look like you’re bursting with good health,” said Morgan. “I mean, what are the experts saying about this?”
Peterson replied: “Depends on the experts but mostly ‘You should have died by now’ is usually the reaction I get.”
For Peterson, the correlation between her adoption of the diet and her improved health has been enough to commit to the diet long-term.
“Oh my gosh, as a teenager I told you I couldn’t get out of bed and I had my hip and ankle replaced.
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“I couldn’t walk. So I mean my baseline was nearly dead so, compared to that, I feel great.”
Peterson maintains the liondiet.com website which details how the diet works, its purported benefits, recipes, and more information around her own story.
She has discussed her life and unconventional diet on various TEDx talks, and she has been a speaker at the Oxford Union too.
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While Peterson claims the diet has been instrumental in her management of chronic illness and recovery from dramatic medical interventions, it’s important to note that this form of exclusion diet does not have a consensus of recommendation within the medical community.
If you’re considering trying out an alternative diet, speak to your GP first to get a better understanding of your body’s needs and the risks involved in the diet you’re considering.
Rachael Davis