In early March, a five second clip of 28-year-old Yovana Mendoza went viral.
She describes discovering it as “one of the worst days of [her] life“.
Mendoza, known to Instagram as Rawvana – a portmanteaus of ‘raw’ and and ‘nirvana’ – has an Instagram following of 1.3 million.
Her brand was built off the promotion of a raw vegan lifestyle, encouraging followers to “eat an abundance of delicious fruits and veggies”. Only recently, she launched a new “21 Day Raw Vegan Detox and Yoga Challenge” which she sold for USD$69.
Listen to Mamamia’s daily news podcast The Quicky discuss why the world of vegan Youtubers is imploding. Post continues after audio.
In January, Mendoza shared a photograph of her sitting on a table, holding a basket of vegetables alongside the caption: “6 Years ago I discovered a healthy way of life I want YOU to EXPERIENCE the amazing benefits from a plant based diet. Clear Mind, Weightloss, Clear Skin, Better Mood, More Energy and MUCH More.”
She also preaches the importance of “revealing your authentic self”. The words sit on the ‘About‘ section of her website.
“Let your authentic side come out!” she tweeted in late 2017.
But on that day, which Mendoza describes as the worst of her life, it was ‘authenticity’ that was the problem.
Vegan Rawvana did not look so vegan as she sat beside a vlogger friend at a table and smiled at the camera, with a plate of fish sitting in front of her.
She shifted her arms as she realised her meal was in frame, subtly trying to cover what was on her plate.
It was too late, though. Five seconds was all it took.
The video wasn’t uploaded immediately.
On March 13, during the Facebook and Instagram outage Mendoza waited, eager to post a video of herself making a Mexican baked potato.
Once she was finally able to upload it, she realised the tone of the comments was different. People weren’t ‘liking’ the video. They were calling her a liar.
“I went to YouTube and found the video, and I knew exactly what they were talking about,” Mendoza told Daily Dot.
“I felt like someone had died,” she said at the time.
Mendoza then posted a 33-minute video explaining what had happened.
“I’m really, really sorry about the way the news was communicated to you, how you had to find out,” she told followers. “I know that so many of you, you trust me, you listen to me, and you probably feel deceived and lied to and you’re in your whole right to feel that. And for that I ask forgiveness, I’m human.”
Mendoza explained she’d only been eating fish for two months, upon the recommendation of her doctor. After six years of veganism, she had developed some health complications.
She said she’d been diagnosed with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and it was advised she add animal proteins into her diet.
“I could either keep eating the plant-based diet that was no longer working for me in that moment, and continue feeling sick, or change my diet and possibly feel better. So that’s what I did. That was the breaking point,” she said in the video.
Once she began eating eggs and fish, she said she could think more clearly and had an upsurge in energy.
Her apology, however, wasn’t received well.
Only a week prior, Mendoza had uploaded a photograph of herself, and when a fan commented “proof that a vegan diet can work wonders,” Mendoza replied with a series of heart and kiss emojis.
Her YouTube channel as well as her Instagram page was inundated with people posting fish emojis.
She took a break from social media, referring to the period as a “forced vacation” in an interview with Daily Dot.
In retrospect, Mendoza told the publication she’s excited about being part of a conversation about “putting your health first,” and she believes “a lot of good is going to come out of this.”
“I haven’t really taken anything personal,” she added.
For two weeks, Mendoza didn’t post anything on Instagram, an eternity in the life of an influencer.
But five days ago she returned with a picture of herself smiling and the caption: “We came to this world to grow, transform, contribute, and add value. I choose to stay humble to learning and I trust in this process.️ I CHOOSE LOVE.”
Interestingly, the scandal didn’t appear to shift the dial on her follower count at all. She still sits at 1.3 million.
And Mendoza still insists you live a vegan lifestyle, according to her website.
Don’t mind her. She’s just busy ordering the fish.
Top Comments
I have very little sympathy for this woman, very little indeed.
If you are going to be on social media spruiking some sort of lifestyle and making money from it, you had better be god damn well living that life, or your followers will turn on you like rabid dogs when they find out you're a big fat hypocrite and liar.
I literally could not give a hoot about what people eat, what they put into their bodies. But people who make money out of lying through their fricken teeth about what they're doing can go jump.
She would have been absolutely fine if she had told her followers that she was reintroducing animal protein into her diet. But because she lied, she's now paying the price. Quite literally in this situation.
It's just proof how dangerous and unsustainable veganism is, and most seem to grow out of that fad eventually, or if they don't they end up with Osteoporosis in their early 40s. Veganism should never be encouraged. I have yet to meet a healthy vegan. Most are skeletal, malnourished, and quite unhinged due to the lack of nutrition. It is a dangerous and wreckless fad that needs to die and more people seem to be aware of the risks and less people taking it up, which is good. Despite the lies from PETA, cowspiracy and 'gamechangers'.