A British student has tragically died in Bali after following an extreme “fruitarian” diet, leaving her weighing just 3.5 stone at the time of her death.
Karolina Krzyzak, originally from Poland but a former student at the University of Leeds, had been experimenting with restrictive eating for almost a decade before she was found dead in her hotel room in December 2024.
The 27-year-old checked into the Sumberkima Hill resort in Bali, requesting that only fruit be delivered to her villa. But staff were left alarmed by her frail appearance. Witnesses described her as “emaciated,” with sunken eyes, protruding bones, and so weak she needed help to reach her room, per the Daily Mail.
When staff urged her to see a doctor, Karolina repeatedly refused. Within days, she was dead.
A long battle with food and body image
Karolina’s struggles had started in her teens, when she developed anorexia. At 15, she posted online: “Why do you cry? ‘Cause I’m fat.”
After moving to Leeds for university, she became immersed in the wellness scene; yoga, veganism, and eventually raw vegan and fruit-only diets. She often posted bowls of berries and smoothie pictures on Instagram, where thinner photos of her body attracted praise and validation from followers.
By 2017, she was messaging vegan influencers asking if fruit could “heal” her anorexia and bring her period back. Soon she was eating nothing but raw fruit.
Doctors warn that such diets are dangerous. A fruitarian diet excludes protein, fats, and essential nutrients, leaving the body at risk of malnutrition, organ damage, and bone loss. Karolina herself suffered rotting teeth, yellowing fingernails, and osteoporosis before her death.
The Bali trip that turned fatal
Friends say Karolina dreamed of moving to Bali after years of family conflict and unhappiness in Warsaw. The island’s wellness community (filled with yoga retreats, raw cafés, and detox camps) had become a hub for fruitarians and digital nomads.
In September 2024, she finally made the move, Kursiv Media details. But her health was already deteriorating. One raw-vegan coach who met her in Ubud recalled she looked like she weighed no more than 60 pounds.
By December, she could barely stand unaided. Hotel staff described helping her turn in bed because she lacked the strength to move herself. When they eventually entered her villa after a concerned friend raised the alarm, they found her dead. Her skin was mottled, her hair grey.
The dangers of online “clean eating”
Karolina’s story highlights how vulnerable people battling eating disorders can be drawn deeper into harmful wellness trends online.
Friends later admitted they felt “guilty” for encouraging her. One, who has since abandoned fruitarianism, told The Cut: “She needed medical and psychological help, and the community often validated her behaviours instead.”
Karolina’s tragic end has reignited warnings from health experts about extreme diets pushed by influencers. Nutritionists stress that fruit-only eating is not sustainable and strips the body of vital nutrients.
As one former friend put it: “She thought she was healing. In reality, she was starving herself to death.”