Ana Miranda

ENGL 21002

Prof. Anna Steegmann

 

Interview: Shameen Miller (Snake Dieter)

 

 

1. How did first hear about the Snake Diet?

Shameen: “I actually heard about it through my brother. Around March last year, I started looking for natural ways to cure herpes. I don’t know how or when I got it, but all doctors were telling me that there was no cure for it. So, when I started watching Cole’s videos on YouTube I almost gave up. You know? Cole talks in a very specific aggressive manner and I wasn’t up for it.

Me: I know he is pretty intense. I remember the first time I watched one of his videos I was like: Oh wow! he curses A LOT!

Shameen: “Yea, exactly! But my brother told me to stick through and keep watching the videos. And he was right, eventually I got over the cursing. So I started my first fast on the same week I found out about the Snake Diet. I guess I was desperate? So the idea of not eating for several day didn’t scare me at all”

 

 

2. How was your experience with the fast?

Shameen: “So I did the regular fast (no food, only salt water) and the dry fast (no food, no water). I didn’t mind the regular fast because I could still eat 1 meal every 48 hours, and I’m drinking snake juice in between. But the dry fast was so difficult especially after the second day.”

Me: Did you have to go to work and be around people during the dry fast? I’ve seen some of the comments on the community and they seemed to struggle with the socializing aspect.

Shameen: “Great question. So I’m a freelancer. I work for myself and the computer is all I need. So I don’t necessarily have to have any like, contact with my clients except for e-mail and text exchanges. My partner doesn’t fast but he is very supportive of so many things I do and I feel like he tries really hard to not eat around the house when I’m fasting. I guess it can be hard if you don’t have any support and if you don’t have an ideal work environment but I’m lucky as far as the freedom I have regarding my job, because I’m in control.”

Me: Nice!

Shameen: “After a couple fasting cycles I realized that it’s very important to have mental toughness and open to criticism. And that’s something I was able to create by controlling my surroundings on my first few fasting experiences. But I also had a strong reason to do it. I have always been okay with my weight, so fasting wasn’t for vanity or because I wanted to be skinny, it was to cure an illness and I think that this was too deep for me so I stuck through but like, I try not to push this down anyone’s throat. I mean, this worked for me and if anyone is curious I don’t mind sharing but I’m not preaching it either. You know?”

Me: Absolutely, I have had so many similar experiences when I started competing in bodybuilding. Anyone that wanted to ask me questions about how I lost the weight I would, but I also got criticized for gaining muscle.

 

 

In cultures all over the world, food is present in settings as social connection, celebration and the elaboration of social identity. On the other hand, there is fasting. Fasting practices are performed all over the world based on religious practices and are well accepted but there is a thin veil of the stigma that covers the practice for health reasons. I spoke to Shameen Miller about the fasting focused lifestyle called the Snake Diet. I found Shameen’s YouTube channel through my research on the subject and contacted her through her Instagram page.

 

Intermittent fasting has been gaining traction in the fitness and wellness community while prolonged fasts (fasting for at least 24 hours) are relatively new and not so well understood by the majority of people. Shameen’s YouTube was full of information on how to go about fasting. Her approach to fasting got me curious because unlike the majority of “snake dieters” Shameen was not overweight and seemed healthy. What was Shameen’s reason to fast? After I approached Shameen on Instagram, she replied right away and wanted to know what kind of questions I would be asking. I send an email with all the potential questions and we set a day to talk. She is currently living in Spain and six hours ahead of my time. Naturally, we had some adjustments to do to make the interview happen.

 

We did a Facetime session and talked about fasting and its potentials in the health and wellness industry, as well as the social impact fasting may have on the person performing it. Shameen was right on time at 9 am and we started the interview. She seemed to be very relaxed and her surroundings indicated that she was in a coffee shop. I started by asking how she stumbled upon the Snake Diet, “I actually heard about it through my brother” said Shameen. She contracted herpes and her brother thought fasting could be helpful. The Snake Diet founder Cole Robinson and Shameen are now friends but she admitted that the first time she watched Cole’s videos she did not click with Cole’s mannerisms – “Cole talks in a very specific aggressive manner and I wasn’t up for it.”

 

Once she got past the cursing on the videos, Shameen decided to start her first Snake Diet fast. She shared that factors like working from home and support from loved ones were important on her fast but that “the journey to health was mine, the quest for healing was mine and I was ready to go through with it, whether people talked shit about it or not.” Shameen added that her partner was caring enough and avoided eating around the house when she fasted and that he does not fast. That made me think that they must have a strong and respectful relationship, but I didn’t get much into it since this was not a relationship interview. We got into Cole’s style of coaching and the fact that he coaches for free. “Cole is very smart. He also just wants to help people. I got lucky that when I contacted him the community was still small” – Cole now has over 400 thousand followers and subscribers across all his social media.

 

It seemed to me that the challenge with the fasting lifestyle was not merely the person’s mindset but how they deal with the people around them, “food is such a universal way to connect socially, so it takes a strong why and mindset to stick with fasting as a lifestyle.” Shameen added that once people got used to her not eating around them and the success of the herpes cure, they stopped commenting on her “strange lifestyle.” This lifestyle or short-term diet for some also goes against the norm. “The diet and health industry are always trying to push a miracle supplement or miracle food, but with the Snake Diet you are going against all that, so I understand when people are resistant to it.” The people looking for an alternative now seemed to also be people that can’t afford to spend tons of money on healthy meals and holistic supplements, which makes the Snake Diet the perfect option for the low-income population. “Cole started working with kids as well, diabetic kids and obese kids. And like I said he coaches for free, so all sorts of people look for his help.”

 

I can conclude that the Snake Diet is not an easy concept to digest – no pun intended – but that has the potential to resolve or at least assist on many health issues experienced by people nowadays. Although diabetes and weight loss are the issues the majority of people come to Cole for help, people with other more serious issues like herpes are giving the Snake Diet a try just like Shameen did. “The concept of not eating to bring your body back to balance is still something a lot of people judge and find hard to accept, but in just one year I have seen a shift happen. So the more willing people are to share their personal experiences, the more open others become to the idea of fasting. That makes me hopeful.”