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Home / Lifestyle

Australian vegan YouTube star slams vegan who went 'full on carnivore'

By Rebekah Scanlan
news.com.au·
17 Dec, 2019 10:52 PM8 mins to read

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Former vegan Alyse Parker recently shared a video that claimed she only ate meat for 30 days. Photo / YouTube

Former vegan Alyse Parker recently shared a video that claimed she only ate meat for 30 days. Photo / YouTube

A well-known Australian vegan has taken aim at a former vegan influencer after she revealed she'd gone "full-on carnivore" for 30 days.

US-based Alyse Parker made global headlines earlier this month when she told her 727,000 subscribers she was "more focused and healthy" after completely abandoning all fruits, vegetables and carbs for a strict meat-only diet.

But Queensland YouTube star Leanne Ratcliffe — known as Freelee the Banana Girl — has called out US-based Alyse Parker's meat diet, accusing the influencer of doing the extreme diet for cash, claiming she failed to mention a viral video she made was actually an ad.

"I saw the video title and knew the concept, I knew it was not only ridiculous but also very dangerous," Freelee told news.com.au.

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"Once I watched the video I realised it was just a huge advertisement for the company ButcherBox which is a big problem."

As a result, Freelee — a strict vegan who is well known for slamming weird diets promoted online — created a video, pulling apart all the things she believes are "fake" about Alyse's carnivore claims.

Freelee claimed Alyse should have ticked the "video contains paid promotion such as paid promotion" box on her YouTube video, claiming Alyse may have been paid by the meat delivery service.

But Australian vegan Freelee The Banana Girl has slammed her claims, pointing out 'big problems' with the video. Photo / Instagram
But Australian vegan Freelee The Banana Girl has slammed her claims, pointing out 'big problems' with the video. Photo / Instagram

In the caption of Alyse's video she did state: "This video was sponsored by ButcherBox."

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But Freelee argues it "isn't enough".

Freelee points out America's Federal Trade Commission endorsement guidelines in regards to paid sponsorships, which state content creators need to be "be clearly and conspicuously disclosed".

The guidelines also say it's not enough to slip a credit into a comments section of videos, instructing influencers to include endorsement disclosures to "be in the video".

"Some viewers may watch without sound and others may not notice super imposed words," the commission guidelines state.

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Influencers are required to follow certain guidelines when endorsing products. Photo / Instagram
Influencers are required to follow certain guidelines when endorsing products. Photo / Instagram

Alyse does state around 6 minutes 25 seconds into her video that she'd "teamed up with ButcherBox". The FTC says a creator must use "clear and unambiguous language".

As well has having issues with Alyse's transparency, Freelee took a stab at guessing how much the former vegan was paid — claiming it was in the $20,000 region.

Freelee picked holes in Alyse's video, questioning why no footage of her actually eating, cooking or preparing any meat was shown throughout the 14-minute video on her 30-day challenge.

"We only see Alyse put one piece of meat in her mouth on 'Day 1' and that was it. She didn't even chew it — and didn't show herself eating a single piece after that," Freelee told news.com.au.

"She also did not show one scene of her cooking any meat but instead used footage from a video she posted almost a year earlier.

View this post on Instagram

By this point, you probably know that I looove trying new things, running little experiments, and diving into challenges of all sorts.⁣ ⁣ Some of the experiments I have run in the past...👩🏼‍🔬⁣ - 30 days without shampoo⁣ - 1 year without deodorant ⁣ - 21 days of only fruit juice⁣ - 30 days without social media⁣ - 3 YEARS of not shaving my armpits, not wearing makeup, not using heat on my hair.. Etc. etc. you get da point 👌🏽⁣ ⁣ Yehhh — some may call me crazy.. 🤪⁣ ⁣ But I’m a firm believer in experiencing things first hand + getting a real feel for what something is all about before I form a personal opinion on it.🤓😉⁣ ⁣ The Carnivore Diet first came into my awareness when a close friend shared with me all of the benefits that he was experiencing by eating this way. ⁣ ⁣ Coming from being vegan 4.5 years, I was hellla resistant to the concept of eating ONLY animal foods (aka only meat, seafood, + eggs)⁣ ⁣ I didn’t make ANY sense to me. It actually sounded pretty f*cking ridiculous. 😂⁣ ⁣ But oddly enough, I started to hear story after story from my fellow vegan friends jumping ship, testing out the carnivore diet and experiencing amazing health transformations.⁣ ⁣ I was so confused.🤨🤔⁣ ⁣ But I had my own fair share of health struggles and eventually reached a breaking point where I was willing to try anything to function properly again. ⁣ ⁣ With an online community of 800,000 people ~ many of which were primarily showing up for my vegan related content... I was a bit conflicted to say the least. ⁣ ⁣ But I knew I needed to make decisions based on what was in the best interest for my health.⁣ ⁣ I swallowed my pride + decided I’d give it a shot. Full onnn carnivore. I woke up the next morning feeling more mentally clear, focused, wholesome, and healthy than I had felt in years.⁣ ⁣ God bless. ⁣ But also, WTF?⁣ My vegan identity crumbled immediately. ⁣ ⁣ This past year of my life has been a journey of remembering who I am separate from what I eat. 🤯⁣ ⁣ In hopes of challenging others to step out of their current perspective ~ I documented my newest challenge of eating only meat for 30 days.⁣ ⁣ Video launches next week. ⁣ Who’s ready? Comment 🌈 below!

A post shared by ALYSE PARKER ⚡️ Life Coach (@alyse) on Nov 29, 2019 at 2:22pm PST

"Even her before and after photos aren't comparable as she seems to have purposely stood further away from the camera in her 'after' shot to appear smaller.

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"Even her toe nails on 'Day 30' as she stepped on the scales looked very similar to 'Day 1', they're the same colour and scuffed in the same places."

She went on to describe the video as a "commercial", calling its contents "deceptive" and "misleading".

"It's misleading marketing (that may increase sales) by spouting the benefits of this diet without providing any scientific evidence at all of her claims," Freelee said.

"What's worse is that she is endangering people's lives by omitting the health risks of eating an all meat diet for 30 days.

"As a person who cares deeply about people's health, the welfare of animals and the environment I was deeply disturbed and had to speak up."

Her before and afters, taken '30 days' apart shows her nail varnish in the same condition. Photo / YouTube
Her before and afters, taken '30 days' apart shows her nail varnish in the same condition. Photo / YouTube

When News.com.au contacted Alyse for comment, she shrugged off Freelee's accusations.

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"I know what my truth is and I'm not here to expend my time and energy defending myself to anyone," she said.

"It saddens me to know that the person who accused me of 'lying' about this challenge shared that they spent over 60 hours creating a malicious video.

"Imagine if someone spent 60 hours focused on sharing a positive, impressive, inspirational video instead of tearing someone else down."

The Australian YouTuber isn't the only one who has an issue with Alyse's now viral video, which has been viewed more than 443,000 times since it was posted on December 4.

After being vegan for five years, she stopped following the lifestyle earlier this year for "health reasons" — a move which angered strict vegans.

As a result, the apparent 180 move to then become a carnivore upset some of her loyal followers, who accused her of "jumping ship".

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One said: "Cows experience fear and pain. They have family units. They understand they are going to die when they are butchered.

"Factory farming of beef is not only cruel to intelligent animals but incredibly awful for the environment. You're part of the problem, don't pretend like you're part of the solution."

Another fumed: "Can we stop pushing extreme dieting and veiling it as wellness and transformation. It's toxic."

View this post on Instagram

It’s okay to feel. 🌈

A post shared by ALYSE PARKER ⚡️ Life Coach (@alyse) on Nov 14, 2019 at 2:51pm PST

Accusing the star of "always taking stuff to the extreme", a third wrote: "I find it so strange that a vegan for so long goes the completely opposite route. Going back to most common diet of eating... Well... Everything. But going full on carnivore!? That's crazy!"

Freelee herself is no stranger to controversy. In September, she came under fire for criticising a younger vlogger's diet, calling 18-year-old Emma Chamberlain's multiple coffee habit "disturbing".

"I haven't had coffee since 2005, which is like 14 years. No coffee, no dependency, it is a weakness," Freelee said at the time.

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View this post on Instagram

as I walk through city streets it's almost impossible to find a makeup-free female face. even the 'natural look' takes a ton of product. the made up face is now the NORMAL face of a woman and that's fucked up. as a female if u don't wear face paint then people think you are sick, tired, crazy or poor. and you certainly aren't 'feminine'. and everytime we wear it we reinforce this lie. we are being taught to be ashamed as our natural face because it's good for business. we are becoming corporate clones of each other. unique features that identify us are drowning beneath an ocean of slave paint. what the actual fuck happened to the natural human face of a female?? and wearing it proudly? as men do with their bare faces everyday 🤷‍♀️....we need a ZERO tolerance approach to makeup if we are to change this fucked up trend. YOU ARE ENOUGH ♥️#fukbeautyduty

A post shared by Vegan Frugivore (@freeleethebananagirl) on Nov 19, 2018 at 3:26pm PST

But her critique of Emma didn't go down well in the video's comment section where she was criticised for being unfairly harsh on the teen.

"This video was offensive from beginning to end," one person said.

In March Freelee posted another video on Alyse, calling her a "fake vegan" — but she insists she doesn't have a vendetta against the reformed plant-only eater.

"I don't have a bone to pick with Alyse," she told news.com.au. "This is bigger than some petty personal gripe. As I said earlier, I'm a person who cares deeply about people's health, the welfare of animals and the environment and I will speak out when I see dangerous behaviour and injustice."

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