Health guru: I only ate sardines for 70 DAYS… here’s what happened

A 62-year-old health coach has claimed that a bizarre diet of sardines and vegetable oil helped her lose two stone and ease symptoms of a painful pain condition.

The 6ft tall paramedic weighed 13 stone in May this year, meaning her body mass index (BMI) was firmly in the overweight category.

However, within just ten days, she had almost dropped a stone on her canned fish eating plan, which was “all runny.”

By day 70 she had dropped to 11 stone and 7 pounds – just two pounds of weight loss away from being classified as a healthy weight.

Additionally, she claims that the high-protein diet also helped resolve pain caused by a common foot problem known as plantar fasciitis.

The condition causes pain on the bottom of the foot, around the heel and arch of the foot, especially when walking.

Scientists are not sure what exactly causes the condition, but carrying excess weight is known to worsen the condition due to excessive pressure on the feet.

In conversation with social media doctor Annette Bosworth, better known as Dr Bozthe woman claimed her foot pain went ‘from a 10 to a two’ after the sardine diet.

‘In week one I was in tears [with pain]said the woman, who called Dr. Boz Jane.

‘Initially my aim was to reduce the pain, but now it’s further recognition of the problem I’m dealing with [food] volume addiction,” she said in a video on Dr. Boz’s YouTube channel, where she has nearly 700,000 subscribers.

“I’m learning that I can have small containers of food and still be satisfied.”

Jane explained that she decided to start the diet when her previous carnivore-style eating plan no longer helped her lose weight.

The former military worker had gained two and a half kilos within a year due to the excess calories she consumed on the low-carb, meat-rich diet.

When she first discussed the idea of ​​an all-sardine diet with friends and family, they thought she was “crazy” and that she was “depriving herself” of food.

“My sister is a nurse, so the first thing we did was figure out if I was going to get enough nutrition,” she said, adding that she takes a daily multivitamin.

Jane said she was also concerned about the amount of heavy metals, such as mercury, in the amount of sardines she ate.

Mercury is a naturally occurring heavy metal that can build up in the bodies of fish in the form of methylmercury, which is highly toxic.

However, British studies show that the metal content in our canned fish is usually negligible.

“Sardines are the smallest fish,” Jane said. “We don’t think there’s a lot of mercury in them because they don’t live that long.”

Her diet consists of four cans of sardines a day, along with two tablespoons of a type of vegetable oil called MCT with each meal.

MCT oil is a laboratory-made, tasteless substance extracted from palm kernels and coconuts.

Some diet influencers on social media claim that the fat in MCT oil can aid weight loss because the body breaks it down more effectively than other fat molecules.

Jane kept her energy intake tightly controlled to ensure she never ate more than 1,500 calories per day.

The NHS recommends that women should eat around 2,000 calories and men 2,500 to maintain their weight.

Jane talks about her daily diet and says she starts her first can of sardines early with stomach cramps; at 8 o’clock.

At lunch, around noon, she “doubles down” and opts for two cans and four tablespoons of MCT oil.

Unusually, she makes sure her last meal of the day is before 3 p.m., when she eats her last can.

“It hit me on day 30,” she said. ‘Sardines satisfy my hunger.

‘I didn’t have to wonder where my next meal would be, or where it would come from.

‘I didn’t feel like eating and when I went to the cupboard… it was like a light went on. I’m not hungry, I don’t need to eat.’

Jane measured her daily blood sugar levels throughout the experiment and claimed that her levels ‘fell’ into a healthier category after just five days.

Blood sugar levels consistently above 7 mmol/l before eating are associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

Jane says her daily fasting blood sugar level dropped from 9 mmol/l before the experiment, to between 6 and 7.

When asked if she gets tired of eating sardines every day, Jane said she is ‘so happy’ to eat the tinned fish so often.

“I’m not done yet, I’m going to keep going,” she said.

Sardines and other oily fish are considered particularly nutritious because of the multitude of vitamins, minerals and macronutrients they provide, despite being relatively low in calories.

The NHS recommends eating fish such as sardines or pilchards as they are rich in vitamin D and calcium, which are essential for strengthening bones.

One can of sardines also contains almost 20 grams of filling protein, essential for strong muscles and a feeling of fullness. This is just under half the amount the NHS recommends an adult woman should eat every day.

A can contains about 230 calories, making it a relatively slimming meal choice.

Some scientists who advocate an abundance of oily fish in the diet claim that it can promote brain health and even protect against dementia, due to its high omega-3 fat content.

However, a series of recent analyzes have concluded that fish oil supplements containing omega 3 make little difference to the risk of dementia.