Jenny McCarthy Says She ‘Almost Died’ on Vegan Diet: ‘I Was a Mess’

Veganism isn’t for everyone, and it’s certainly not for Jenny McCarthy.

The actress and TV personality said that a vegan diet nearly killed her and it forced her to go “full carnivore” in response.

“I tried vegan and I almost died,” McCarthy, 52, said on the Wednesday, March 26 episode of the “Heal Squad” podcast. “I became so ill. I was exhausted and fatigued. I was a mess.”

Going vegan, she explained, just wasn’t a good match for her. She said that a plant-based diet made it nearly impossible for her to get enough calories because of her other dietary restrictions. McCarthy has celiac disease, an autoimmune condition that prevents her from being able to properly digest gluten. She also has a “dairy issue” and soy allergy she said on the podcast.

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“I can’t have carbs and everything is a carb,” she continued. “I’m also allergic to soy and everything [has soy].”

McCarthy was ultimately forced to do a 180.

“I went on a low histamine diet, I went on every one of ’em,” she said. “Finally, my functional medicine doctor said to me last year, ‘It’s time for you to go full carnivore.’”

Full carnivore, she explained, meant a diet of only meat, poultry, eggs and seafood.

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“And I’m like, ugh, OK. I’m from Chicago so I can handle it, but it just felt very low vibrational heavy for me,” she added. “I was kind of a more eating salmon [type of person] and doing light things like this.”

“But [I felt] I might as well give it a try; it was like my last resort diet. It has been f***ing incredible for me — and I stress for me.”

The diet has also helped ease a lifelong problem with her digestive system.

“It changed my energy and my digestion. I have been a constipated little girl since I was younger … like from the time I was young I’d have to get enemas,” she said. “Now that I started carnivore, I literally go every day without a laxative.”

McCarthy’s new diet comes while she’s also recovering from a fungal infection called Candida, Hashimoto’s Disease, which is a chronic autoimmune condition that affects the thyroid gland, and leaky gut syndrome.

As much as McCarthy’s nutrition has helped her heal, she warned listeners that her diet is exactly that — hers.

“Some people work [and] heal better on a vegan diet and some people don’t,” she said. “It’s what you believe and you have to follow your intuition and then also follow what your blood says or what your body says. Your body will let you know, by the way.”