Emma Slater went into the 2025 Dancing With the Stars Live tour hoping to be especially mindful of her diet.
“I decided that I wanted to be more disciplined with my eating habits while on tour,” Slater, 36, wrote via Instagram on Friday, March 21. “I found that I was eating a lot of sugar, just due to its availability everywhere. So, I started the carnivore diet.”
She added, “This is just my personal journey. I welcome people’s opinions especially if you have tried the carnivore diet. I have done this before, for a month and I saw many results which include a big increase in energy levels, I lost weight, my sugar cravings greatly reduced as did my need to overeat and I even felt like I had less brain fog.”
The carnivore diet is a restrictive and low-carb diet, where individuals only consume meat and animal products and eliminate fruits, vegetables, grains and more. According to research from Harvard Medical School, the carnivore diet is considered a type of ketogenic “keto” diet.
“I want to be clear that I’m not advocating for people to try carnivore without understanding if it’s right for them,” Slater noted on Friday, acknowledging the potential risks. “One thing I have to do is make sure I drink a ton of water during the day because it will help support my body as it breaks down the protein. This and listening to my body is key for me.”
As of Friday, Slater had been following the program for six days.
“I feel incredible,” Slater added, noting that DWTS costar Alan Bersten is also following the same dietary plan. “We’ve had to buy travel-sized electric pans, it’s a bit of an adventure!!”
The DWTS mirrorball champion also included images of her and Bersten’s meal prep. For Day 6, they munched on chicken and hard-boiled eggs. The next day, Slater enjoyed a fried egg, slices of bacon and miniature sausage links for her “breakfast/lunch.”
“I’m eating my, sort of, breakfast/lunch on Day 7 outside in Reading, [Pennsylvania] while they tech inside the theater,” Slater said in a Saturday, March 22, Instagram Story video. “It’s lovely.”
In a follow-up video, the British dancer explained that she and Bersten, 30, set up their electric pans in a makeshift “kitchen” outside the tour buses by the venue.
Bersten, for his part, has followed the carnivore diet for nearly a year after discovering its popularity on TikTok.
“In the last five weeks, I started the carnivore diet. I’m not preaching it to anyone. I did it myself,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2024. “I kind of did it under like, just trying not to tell anyone and it completely changed my life.”
He continued, “I’m so happy and I’ve lost a lot of weight, which is insane. I really didn’t expect that. I think in five weeks, I lost like 20 pounds.”
