A 39 year old vegan influencer, known on social media as Zhanna D’Art, sadly died after following an extreme raw vegan diet.
She was from Russia and had spent the last years traveling across Asia, promoting a plant based lifestyle to her many followers.
She documented her diet of basically tropical fruits like durian and jackfruit across her social platforms. Her friends and family had started getting concerned about her diet, and its immense nature.
She hadn’t drunk water in six years, according to friends, who said she drank fruit and vegetable juices instead.
But they were afraid this extreme approach was bad for her health; she visibly sickened, her legs swollen and oozing lymph.
Signs of distress were clear and Samsonova resisted medical treatment. The cause of her death was a “cholera-like infection,” her mother, Vera Samsonova, said, made worse by her weakened physical state.
But talk of Samsonova’s diet and what she eats potentially for health reasons bring up thorny questions about just how balanced our diets are, or how extreme they can be.
Her death has led to discussion about the need to continue to eat balanced nutrition and about the dangers of too restrictive diets.
In her typical enthusiasm, her last social media posts were all about the start of the durian season in Thailand.
Many didn’t know this would be her last updates as her condition deteriorated soon after.
Samsonova’s story is a sad reminder to tread lightly where yo go on that line between food passion and dangerous health hazards.
This exposes the significance of moderation when you make major life changes and the need to go seeking professional advice.
