A popular YouTube and Instagram vegan influencer has been busted eating fish. Posting as Rawvana, Yovana Ayres promotes her raw vegan lifestyle to her almost half a million YouTube subscribers and 1.3 million followers on Instagram. Thing is, a friend of Ayres posted a video of her eating fish. Ayres was called out by her followers soon after the footage (the pic above is a still from the vid) went viral on other vegan social accounts. She took to YouTube and admitted that she had been eating eggs and fish. The backlash was immediate; Ayers was accused of profiting from a ‘fake vegan lifestyle’. Some of the comments included: Advertisement Advertisement “You want to profit of the vegan community and movement. When your husband’s alkaline water and the fact you don’t eat enough calories causes you health problems you blame it on the vegan diet” “That’s your excuse to eat dead animals, you should be ashamed of yourself that’s why you hide it from your followers.” “If you don’t want to be Vegan then don’t but don’t be a lair and profit from those that look up to you. That’s disgusting.” “Your a huge disappointment. How dare you profit off of veganism and then make the choice to INFLICT SUFFERING on living beings.” Ayers simply said that she had changed her diet out of ‘self-love’. “This is my personal experience. This is my body.” Advertisement Advertisement<doc-sep>Yovana Ayres preaches about eating plant-based, but was recently caught eating fish. (Photo: Instagram/YouTube) A vegan YouTuber and Instagram influencer who has nearly 3 million combined social media followers is being condemned by her foodie fans for faking her lifestyle and making money off of it after she was caught eating fish. Yovana Mendoza Ayres, 29, is known for her lifestyle brand called Rawvana, which promotes plant-based living through a vegan diet (which means not ingesting any animal-sourced products, whether meat or dairy or eggs) and skincare routines. She even sells meal plans and weight loss programs, including a 21-day raw challenge, that sell for up to $99. But after she made an appearance in a friend’s YouTube video eating a plate of fish and trying to hide it, the platform that she’s created is falling apart. According to Ayres’ Instagram, the destination of the trip that she was on while the video was taken was “a plant based paradise.” However, the fish fiasco that ended up taking place in Bali seemed to tell a different story. Soon after the video was posted and fans started calling her out, Ayres took to her own YouTube channels — one in Spanish and one in English — to post a 33-minute video titled, “This is what is happening.” Throughout the video, she discussed her history of raw and vegan eating over the past six years, which came with some missteps and a number of other trial diets — including a 25-day fast in 2014. Ultimately, she shared that in 2017 it seemed that the way that she was eating, and namely the things that she wasn’t eating, was impacting her health to the point where she was nearly anemic, and even stopped ovulating. [Want daily pop culture news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo’s newsletter.] “I wasn’t ovulating,” she said in the video. “I was basically anemic and my thyroid levels were low. It was really bad, but it was borderline.” Through trial and error with different doctors and patterns of eating, Ayres said that her body felt like it was back to normal, and her ovulation and menstruation returned. But when she came down with a yeast infection in 2018, she struggled to find a way to heal her body yet again, and turned to fasting to do so. Fast forward to January 2019, when she was diagnosed with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), which can cause malnourishment. Story continues “By this whole time I was starting to feel desperate for my health and to find a solution around the summer time and that’s when I started to open up to the possibility of adding some animal product into my diet,” Ayres explain in the video. “It was really hard because for so long I saw this food, this animal food, as something that is basically toxic for my body, something that I don’t need, that my body doesn’t need. And to see it as something that could heal me was really hard for me — it still is hard for me to accept and admit.” So hard to admit, in fact, that she not only kept her intake of fish and eggs a secret from her vegan followers, she also continued to make money off of them while promoting a plant-based lifestyle throughout the three months that she had already stopped living it. Still, she doesn’t see it that way. “I kept it from my followers because I was still not ready to speak about it and I was still on my trial period for this diet. After being plant-based for a little over 6 years, it was a difficult decision for me to make and an even more difficult decision for me to communicate with everyone,” Ayres tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I have received so much hate on the video where I explain my reasons, and not only in that video but on every social media platform. I understand why the vegan community feels that way but I never expected this reaction from a community I considered my family all these years.” Responses from Ayres’s former fans and followers have ranged from those expressing anger toward the influencer to those who feel hurt by her lack of transparency. Rawvana was really selling a weight loss plan when she wasn’t getting her period and was having health issues? That’s really NOT okay. — B 🌱 (@theveganparent) March 18, 2019 Rawvana: 1. Ate and promoted a 1200 kcal diet. 2. Did 25 day alkaline water fasts. 3. Cut fats out of her diet. But has the courage to blame a plant based diet for her health issues. — 𝕱𝖎𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝕲𝖔𝖉 🆅 (@AndresTheVegan) March 20, 2019 It's not that hard to eat a balanced Vegan diet. People like @Rawvana exploiting Veganism for self-promotion and then abandoning it are damaging to the Vegan movement. — Veganalysis (@SwoleSprouts) March 16, 2019 @Rawvana I'm not mad at the fact that you're eating fish. I'm mad at the fact that you're lying to all your followers and making money off of them claiming to be a raw vegan. Eat whatever you want, just don't claim to be something you're not. #rawvegan #vegan #liar — Jessica Rodriguez (@J7Rod29) March 14, 2019 Regardless of the decrease in subscribers that her YouTube channels have already seen, Ayres seems to not be discouraged about the future of her business. “Right now I have no plans for my platform,” she explains to Yahoo Lifestyle, “but I would love to continue growing and sharing my healing process to help other people along the way.” Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: • Mom finds chilling suicide tutorial in YouTube Kids video: ‘Remember, kids … end it’ • Fitness influencer Brittany Dawn accused of scamming people out of hundreds of dollars for workout plan • Popular YouTube star and father shared a video of himself buying a child a phallic-shaped lollipop Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.<doc-sep>The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Yovana Mendoza Ayres – who goes by the Youtube channel name “Rawvana” – has been a touting vegan food and lifestyle blogger for the past six years. She regularly promotes the vegan lifestyle – saying it can fight against alcoholism and poor sleep – and claiming the plant-based diet “completely changed” her life. But a video has since emerged showing Yovana eating fish at a restaurant. The clip, posted by a fellow YouTube star, shows Yovana sitting at a dinner table with a fish dish in front of her. When the camera pans to her, she realises the meal is visible and awkwardly attempts to hide it with her arms. Within days of the exposing video being uploaded to YouTube, hundreds of thousands of fans have viewed it with many sharing their disgust over the “deceitful” blogger. One annoyed viewer stated: “Fraud. Cancelled. This is the problem with people if you want to be the face of something actually believe in it. “The problem isn't the food, it's the lie.” (Image: YOUTUBE / INSTAGRAM) Another claimed: “She totally tried to hide it.” “Awesome, now that she's not actually vegan I can eat my cheeseburger and veal milkshakes guilt free now,” one joked. Since the exposé, Yovana, who lives in San Diego, US, was forced to upload an explanation video to her channel only days ago. In it, she claims she gave up the strict vegan diet two months by beginning to implement fish and eggs into her meals. (Image: RAWVANA / YOUTUBE) She explained that – after a bout of illness in 2015 – her period stopped for two years and resulted in her enduring extensive medical tests. Yovana said how she was borderline anaemic and was diagnosed with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). Her doctor advised her to start incorporating eggs and fish into her diet, which she did. Yovana said: “I’m feeling a lot better, I’m feeling like myself again. “I feel good, it’s been amazing. “I’m grateful for this opportunity to improve my health. “I’m doing this out of self-love and to be healthy.” Since coming clean about her animal consuming diet, thousands have flooded in to share their disbelief over the recent revelation. It comes after another vegan blogger shocked fans by eating meat and revealing he ejaculated for the first time in months.<doc-sep>The vegan influencer community has been shaken yet again by a major scandal, and at the center of this affair lies the gravest offense someone in the fraternity could make: eating meat. (Yikes.) Let us enter the personal hell of raw vegan blogger Yovana Mendoza Ayres, better known on Instagram as @Rawvana, who has been accused of dining on fish, and has since faced an onslaught of vicious criticism for the “crime” she has committed. What should I know about the influencer? Yovana Mendoza Ayres is a 28-year-old vegan, fitness, and lifestyle influencer and vlogger behind Rawvana, a brand that wants you to “reveal your authentic self by practicing daily gratitude and self-love,” and “eat an abundance of delicious fruits and veggies.” In the six years since she started Rawvana, she’s amassed an incredibly large following: nearly 2 million subscribers on her Spanish YouTube channel (and nearly half a million on her English channel), and 1.3 million followers on Instagram. But in the past week, BuzzFeed News reports that she’s fallen out of favor with quite a few of her formerly devoted followers. What exactly happened? In short, her friend (accidentally) blew up her spot. In a video posted to the internet by another vlogger last week, Ayres can be seen eating a plate of food at a restaurant — that is, before she tries to hide it. Almost immediately, rumors started to swirl that she had been eating fish. Did she deny it? After staying mum for a bit, she actually admitted to eating meat. In a 33-minute-long video posted to her YouTube channel titled “THIS IS WHAT IS HAPPENING,” Ayres tells her followers that she began to deviate from her raw vegan diet after noticing her periods had become irregular, and that her struggles with fatigue had worsened. While she at first tried to add back in non-animal products, such as salt and cooked vegetables, she later started to incorporate eggs and fish into her diet two months ago in an attempt to “put [her] health first.” She further explained: “That’s exactly why I hadn’t shared it with you. For me, it’s still an experiment.” Many of her followers weren’t pleased. They’re still pissed? Oh yes — in the past week, Ayres’s social media accounts have been flooded with negative comments. Take, for example, her most recent Instagram of her holding a “Mexican baked potato.” In the five days since she posted the video, she’s received nearly 14,000 comments under it, which feature quite a few fish emoji sprinkled throughout the sharp criticism. “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. “If it’s true why are you still saying raw vegan is healthy, but now saying you weren’t healthy. Disgusted!” Many users left comments about her profiting off of her “fake” vegan lifestyle, with sentiments similar to user @treker95’s: “Do you just do this blog as a money maker? Are you a real vegan? Or is this just for likes and views to make money?” But among the biting remarks were a few people defending Rawvana. Under the same offending video was a comment from Instagrum user @slutforspongebob, who defended Ayres from user @veganmayhem. “It’s so heartbreaking seeing ‘vegans’ putting other ‘vegans’ down,” @slutforspongebob wrote. “You know there are people who eat hormone filled meat every meal of the day, hunt for fun, and buy animal furs, but yet you focus your time attacking the people who have and do try to keep a consistent vegan diet. Nobody is perfect and the only thing we can do is take small steps together.” Stay in touch. Get the Cut newsletter delivered daily Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.<doc-sep>
One of YouTube and Instagram’s most popular vegan influencers has been copping it from her followers after being spotted eating fish at a restaurant. Yovana Ayres, who posts as Rawvana and has almost 500k subscribers on Youtube and 1.3 million followers on Instagram, has built a business on the back of her raw vegan lifestyle content. Ayres sells a suite of fitness and diet products aimed at helping people “transform their bodies” through embracing a vegan lifestyle. Her methods have been touted as helping cure a range of issues such as poor sleep and alcohol abuse. However a video posted by her friend last week showed the raw vegan influencer tucking into what appeared to be a plate of fish. The vision has since been reposted by other vegan accounts. Camera Icon The fish in question. After being called out by her followers, Ayres eventually took to her channel and admitted to incorporating eggs and fish into her diet - a massive sin in vegan circles. Safe to say it wasn’t taken well. Her channels were flooded with negative comments, accusing Rawvana of profiting from a “fake vegan lifestyle”. “You want to profit of the vegan community and movement. When your husband’s alkaline water and the fact you don’t eat enough calories causes you health problems you blame it on the vegan diet,” user pttsvr wrote. “That’s your excuse to eat dead animals, you should be ashamed of yourself that’s why you hide it from your followers.” Another follower added: “If you don't want to be Vegan then don't but don't be a lair and profit from those that look up to you. That's disgusting.” Things got even more intense as time progressed. “Your a huge disappointment. How dare you profit off of veganism and then make the choice to INFLICT SUFFERING on living beings,” ailujgo posted. Ayres said while there had obviously been a backlash, she had also received messages of support and was not changing her diet for anyone but herself. “I feel like I am doing this out of self-love,” she said. “This is my personal experience. This is my body.”