By John Salak –
A 62-year-old retired military therapist reports she lost 35 pounds by eating only sardines for more than three months, but experts caution that sardine diets are fishy and may not provide the balanced nutrition necessary for long-term health.
Jane Crummett admits “people think I’m absolutely nuts,” but she claims her highly focused diet, which has become something of a fad, was the only way she could maintain sustained weight loss and battle back from extreme foot pain, inflammation and food addiction.
It was a diet plan devised by Dr. Annette Bosworth, a Florida online celebrity known as “Dr. Boz.” Crummett turned to Dr. Boz after a circuitous weight loss adventure that began when she peaked at 240 pounds and was suffering from plantar fasciitis, which made it difficult to walk. She then adopted a carnivore diet in 2020 and dropped 65 pounds. Unfortunately, the weight completely didn’t stay off.
Crummett changed course earlier this year when she decided to embrace Dr. Boz’s 72-hour sardine fast, which is focused on accelerating metabolism to move a body into advanced ketosis in order to burn fat quickly. Soon Crummett was completely hooked on sardines (pun intended). They became her only meal as she knocked down four cans daily along with supplements with MCT oil. Daily calorie intake was about 1,500.
She claims she is “not starving myself” and that she lost 12 pounds of fluids alone in just the first two weeks of the all-sardine. Now, she pushed past 100 days of her fishy diet, which admittedly may be responsible for her weight loss but is still suspect by some dieticians and nutritionists.
Yes, sardines are healthy, perhaps one of the healthiest fish someone can consume, as WellWell recently reported. They are loaded with protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and calcium, all of which bring lots of health benefits.
But an exclusive sardine diet, even supported by supplements, isn’t a roadmap to health. One threat is mercury. Too much of any fish raises the threat. There are other considerations as well.
This fish diet offers up zero fiber, which is essential for gut health and digestion. A meal plan limited exclusively to sardines is a surefire recipe for constipation. Many canned sardines also are packed in salt, which will contribute to excessive sodium consumption, another bad idea.
Sardines are a great component of a healthy diet, but the overall diet itself must be well-balanced to deliver the maximum nutritional benefits.
“Each food item and group presents itself with its own unique nutrition profile that is important for our health,” Emily Feivor, a registered dietician told the New York Post in response to Crummett’s meal plan.
Health considerations aside, another challenge the sardine diet faces is that it’s boring, which makes it difficult to maintain.
One food writer who tried to embrace just a 24-hour sardine fast, in fact, broke down near the end when he became lightheaded. In response, he gobbled down some corn chips.
Okay, think about it. This pro went belly up on the diet in less than 24 hours. It seems fishy at best that many if any could maintain a sardine diet for three months or more.
