It’s the fashionable new nutrition plan that has Chelsea buzzing. The catch? It’s pretty hardcore, says Peta Bee.
Tired of intermittent fasting and restrictive plant-based eating? Whisper it, but the secret weapon for weight loss among the sleekest, leanest women of southwest London is the Human Being Diet. Dubbed “HBD” by those who are on it, this three-month programme does not require you to cut out meat, carbohydrates or even alcohol in the long term and eventually entails eating three square meals a day, but is hailed for its transformative powers.
Petronella Ravenshear, the woman behind the diet, is the go-to nutrition therapist for the fashion set: her clients number Jemma Kidd and a host of designers, including jean queen Donna Ida. The approach centres on regaining “metabolic balance and better digestive health” and quietly, over the past 12 months, it has garnered a mass following on social media. Ravenshear herself has nearly 24,000 followers on Instagram, while there are more than 10,000 posts on the hashtag #thehumanbeingdiet with tips and recipes from her loyal disciples. But it is through word of mouth that most women are learning of the diet’s effects. “I’m now on day 17 and have never felt so alert and energised. Although I wasn’t at all overweight to start with, I have visibly lost weight,” says Jacqueline, 36, from Barnes, southwest London. “Everyone I know is now doing it and there is a real buzz about the diet in this part of town.”
Ravenshear, who had a booked-out clinic in Chelsea before the pandemic but has recently relocated to Florida, says the diet has been years in the making but that its popularity spiralled when she self-published a book on its principles at the end of 2018. “Not everyone can afford private nutrition consultations and appointments at my Chelsea clinic were permanently full, so I wanted to get the word out there,” she says. “The response has been phenomenal as people discover the diet works for them.” It’s not plain sailing. Even she describes the first 48 hours — or phase one — of the plan as “pretty brutal” and it gets off to a less than appetising start. Half an hour before breakfast on the first day she recommends taking a dose of 4tsp Epsom salts, dissolved in warm water and washed down with a glass of fresh water, to soften the stools and prevent constipation.