The 52-year-old ‘king of spin’ had finished a 14-day ‘juice cleanse diet’ before his shocking demise. Health experts say that these crash diets could increase the risk of heart attacks and malnutrition
File image of Shane Warne. The Australian bowling icon passed away in Thailand on 4 March. AFP
The world was left shell-shocked last Friday when Shane Warne, the cricketing legend, passed away at the age of 52.
Shane Warne was holidaying with friends on Thailand’s Koh Samui island when he died on 4 March. The 52-year-old cricket legend was found unresponsive in his room at the luxury Samujana Villa resort at around 5pm local time.
An autopsy concluded that the iconic Australian bowler had died of natural causes.
It was reported later that his manager James Erskine told The Sydney Morning Herald that the cricketing icon had finished a “ridiculous” 14-day liquid crash diet in the days before his death.
We take a look at what exactly this diet entails and why experts warn against adopting it.
Warne’s 14-day diet
On 28 February, Shane Warne, who is known to have struggled with his weight throughout his life and had previously followed extreme diets, shared on social media about being 10 days into “operation shred” on his Instagram account, revealing in the last post before his death he was determined to “get back” into shape.
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This isn’t the first time that Warne turned to a crash diet to lose weight. In 2021, Warne had stated that he had benefited from a “traditional Chinese medicine”, which helped him lose 14 kgs of weight.
“I’ve dropped 14kg, I’m trying to lose another three or four more to get down to 80kg but I haven’t had any work done to my head. I haven’t had, whatever they call it, fillers, injections and all that sort of stuff!” Warne had told a media house in May last year.
Notably, the legendary cricketer was banned from playing for a year in 2003 after taking a slimming pill that resulted in him testing positive for banned diuretic drugs.