Fitness influencer draws criticism for raw meat breakfast

If you’re on social media, you’re never far from an influencer sharing unconventional, unproven, or downright dangerous diets.

In this crowded field, some nevertheless rise to the surface with particularly outrageous food regimen, and this raw meat-focused diet has had many commenters riled and gagging at the sight of it.

It comes courtesy of TikToker Mack Z, @healthwmac, who shared her ‘optimal protein shake’ recipe to many people’s horror.

The November 2023 video shows Mack Z cracking three eggs into a blender before adding bone broth, a ‘generous scoop of fat’ and two scoops of ‘gelatinous’ matter.

Mack Z with her smoothie and raw liver (@healthwmac/TikTok)

"Remember, if you're ever confused, if it jiggles, it's good," she says. We’ll take her word for it.

Unappetising as the blend already looks, Mack Z then adds a chunk of grass-fed unsalte butter.

"I used to think that butter and dairy were breaking me out, and then I grew up and now they don't, so," she says, adding only a small piece of butter as she doesn’t want to be ‘greedy’.

"If you take away one thing from this video, be kind to the world," she adds mid-video. Considering what she’s making for her breakfast, she might want to try being kind to herself first.

In a bid to make the blend tastier, she adds some raw cacao powder before topping it up with magnesium to bolster recovery.

If you want to be a ‘beast’, you’d best add some honey too, she says. Mack Z then finishes it off with some salt and a healthy dollop of kefir.

The resultant light brown liquid doesn’t look like anything you’d want to imbibe, and to make matters worse Mack Z adds a side of raw liver to the meal.

You can be sure that even the most awful-looking meals will get some defenders on TikTok, and so it proved with this video.

"I mean her skin IS flawless," said one commenter, but their benefit of the doubt was in the minority.

"But I don’t wanna drink eggy beef jello smoothie," said another.

"I just had such a extreme visceral reaction to this,” chimed a third. “I need to lay down."

"I gagged at every step," added a fourth.

"Can you start a podcast where you talk about everything you’ve ever thought and everything that’s ever happened to you so we understand how we got here?" asked another stunned viewer.

It's unclear whether Mack Z is just a whacky character (@healthwmac/TikTok)

"Okay, this sealed the deal for me on thinking this is a character," said a comment from someone who thinks Mack Z is just an act.

In case it wasn't obvious: this raw, carnivorous meal does not come recommended by nutritional scientists, dieticians, or defenders of good taste.

Jacob Mey, a nutrition scientist and dietitian from Louisiana State University, told the Daily Beast: “We would typically not recommend the carnivore diet.

“We have other diets that have decades of research that do very well, so why would we recommend something that’s so new and different and unproven?”

Because it looks delicious? Wait, no, that’s not it…