Rawvana, a raw vegan Youtube star was slammed on social media after she was “outed” for not being authentically vegan. Rawvana – whose real name is Yovana Mendoza Ayres – was crucified by her fans when a video was taken of her eating fish at a restaurant. The alleged footage was captured accidentally by another YouTuber star who was capturing their own content.
For the uninitiated, raw vegans shun all food which has an animal original – meat, fish, dairy and eggs – while also excluding food that has been heated to temperatures over 40 degrees. In the world of vegan bloggers, Rawvana is a huge star with over three million followers on Youtube and Instagram combined. The 29-year-old raw vegan and lifestyle guru hosts an English/ Spanish lifestyle vlog. Rawvana’s mantra urges her loyal fans to “reveal your authentic self by practicing daily gratitude and self-love,” and “eat an abundance of delicious fruits and veggies” by following a vegan diet and embracing self-love challenges.
Then one day, in a video posted to the internet by another vlogger, she was seen eating a plate of food at a restaurant – that is, before she tries to hide it. Almost immediately, rumours started to swirl that she had been eating fish. Almost as quickly as the short clip popped up – her world came crashing down.
Rawvana was hemorrhaging followers in their droves yet, she stayed quiet hoping the online vitriol would abide.
“You make me sick by pretending to be one someone in front of the camera while secretly being someone completely different,” Instagram user @veganhippylizard commented on an Instagram photo of Ayres hold a baked potato. “If it’s true why are you still saying raw vegan is healthy, but now saying you weren’t healthy. Disgusted!”
While other angry followers believe that they were misled into purchasing vegan products. “Another fake vegan stealing money from the community,” one user laments. “Making money off vegans to buy animal products. Sickening,” another commented.
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Eventually, she broke her silence with a 33-minute apology. In a video titled “THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING”, she apologises to her viewers for the recent break in her diet and then launched into her entire history of veganism before going on to divulge her many health problems.
Rawana begins by explaining her 25-day water fast, which at first left her feeling “on top of the world,” but led to the loss of her period for two years immediately following the nearly month-long period of time where she “only drank water.” She also revealed she was borderline anemic, and her hormone levels were pre-menopausal. “I feel like I am doing this out of self-love,” she said of her new diet. “This is my personal experience. This is my body. Something that I’ve learned is that everybody is different,” she added.
The video, which has racked up nearly 130,000 views as of Monday afternoon, has 5,800 dislikes compared to the 2,400 likes.
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