--- title: "Woman With Stomach of Steel Eats Nothing But Cans of Sardines and Somehow Survived to Tell the Tale" description: "To lose weight, one woman decided to eat nothing but canned sardines for three months — and apparently, it's working out great for her. " date: "2024-10-12" modified: "2024-10-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/canned-sardine-diet" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "diet" - "fish" - "nutrition" - "sardines" --- # Woman With Stomach of Steel Eats Nothing But Cans of Sardines and Somehow Survived to Tell the Tale ![To lose weight, one woman decided to eat nothing but canned sardines for three months — and apparently, it's working out great for her. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* To lose weight, one woman decided to eat nothing but canned sardines for three months — and apparently, it's working out great for her. That's despite health practitioners warning it's a terrible idea and not a sustainable way to keep healthy. "This is not a diet," explained North Carolina resident Jane Crummett in [an interview with *Fox Digital*]() about her peculiar food choices. "To me, a diet insinuates a beginning and an end. This is my lifestyle and I have no intention of introducing plants back into it." Crummett's decision to eat nothing but tinned sardines and medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) oil supplements for 135 days came after she switched to what she calls a "zero carb/carnivore" diet that consisted of zero plants and lots of meat. After switching to only sardines, however, she lost 35 pounds — which could more than likely be because she [was at a caloric deficit]() on such a strict regimen. After making the change, the woman said that aside from losing weight, she also experienced less pain from her plantar fasciitis, a foot disorder, and lower inflammation. She also said that after checking in with her own doctor and being "tested \[for\] all kinds of things," she was given a clean bill of health. "I'm a firm believer that if you don't figure things out for yourself," Crummett said, "you'll never know." While those are all positive results, an expert who spoke with *Fox* said that such an extreme diet is neither healthy nor sustainable. "In the short term, I would imagine that any type of change she's making is going to show immediate results," dietician Kim Shapira told the website. "And it sounds to me like she had some issues with her gut and that she's removed some of the foods that \[may have been\] causing inflammation." Despite those accolades, however, the Los Angeles-based doctor said the weight Crummett lost probably won't stay off. "When you go on a low-carb diet, you're actually dehydrating your system," Shapira said. "So when you say 'quick weight loss,' it is quick weight loss only in the fact that it's water loss. It's not actually fat loss." Though she didn't directly address the woman's choice to have no plants in her "carnivore" diet, the doctor said that sustainable weight loss comes from sticking to eating "a balance of everything" is best. "I wish people would see historically that any time there is a diet trend and people jump on it, it doesn't last," Shapira said. "It's not sustainable." **More on diet:** [*Scientists Reveal Grim Results of Eating Two Slices of Ham Per Day*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()