I Did The Raw Carrot Salad “Lip Filler” Challenge For 30 Days: Here’s What Happened

And the algorithm is all too happy to meet you there with more natural beauty trends than you could ever ask for. My feed is full of them. Bone broth, face yoga, ice plunges, and lately, the viral carrot salad.

I’m a believer that what we put in our bodies matters just as much (if not more) than what we put on them. Still, it’s hard not to notice how injectables seem to have become the norm, even for women as young as their 20s. 

I totally get the appeal (and the pressure) to fit a certain beauty standard, and I have zero judgment toward anyone who chooses Botox or fillers. But it does make me wonder: Are we trading short-term beauty boosts for potential long-term health risks? Known side effects can range from mild swelling to more serious issues like filler migration or granulomas. And while severe reactions may be rare, the truth is, we still don’t know exactly what the long-term effects might be, especially as more women start these treatments younger and keep them up for years.

Enter Dr. Ray Peat’s Carrot Salad

Talk to anyone who has gone down the “pro-metabolic health” rabbit hole, and chances are they’ll name-drop Dr. Ray Peat. He was a biologist, researcher, and author known for questioning conventional health advice long before it was trendy. While there’s some controversy over his ideas, Peat believed the key to radiant health and balanced hormones comes down to supporting your metabolism. One of his favorite hormone-healing hacks, the raw carrot salad, has spread like wildfire across Instagram and TikTok.

Is this Salad Actually Good for You?

According to Peat’s research, raw carrots have a special kind of fiber that helps the body sweep out excess estrogen and endotoxins in the gut. Adding coconut or olive oil to the mix amplifies this detoxing action by triggering the gallbladder to release bile, which binds to toxins and old hormones so they can exit the body instead of getting recycled back into your system.

In the right amounts, estrogen is essential for a healthy cycle, but too much, a.k.a. estrogen dominance, can throw your hormones off-kilter. Peat found that when women added a daily carrot salad to their routine, they noticed fewer PMS symptoms, including less cramping, fewer acne breakouts, and better digestion.

What Does This Have to Do with Lip Filler?

According to wellness influencer and coach Kori Meloy, “premature aging goes hand-in-hand with elevated, excess estrogen, which increases the production of cortisol.” She goes as far as to call cortisol the “number-one aging hormone.”

Beyond the hormone-balancing benefits, Meloy started to notice something unexpected in the women she works with. After just 30 days on the raw carrot salad, their lips looked noticeably plumper. She believes this natural lip filler effect comes from the regeneration that happens when a woman’s body is supported in lowering excess estrogen, freeing it up to produce more progesterone.

Progesterone, often called the calming hormone, helps regulate stress so we can rest and digest. It naturally rises after ovulation during the luteal phase and stays elevated during pregnancy (hello, pregnancy glow). On her podcast and Instagram, Meloy suggests that fuller lips, softer hair, clear skin, increased libido, steady weight loss, and even less cellulite are all signs of hormones working in harmony, as nature intended.

After seeing these changes in her clients again and again, Meloy created the “Nature’s Lip Filler Challenge.” The steps are simple: Eat the raw carrot salad every day for 30 days and see what happens.

How to Make the Carrot Salad

Before I started the challenge, I felt a pull to perfect the recipe. I’m not much of a salad girlie myself, so if I’m going to commit to eating one for 30 days straight, it’s got to taste good.

The basic version floating around the internet is a good start. It’s made with raw carrots, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt. But I wanted something with a touch more flavor and sophistication, something I could look forward to enjoying as a side dish with my regular meals. So I got inspired by the classic French recipe for carottes râpées and developed my own twist.

A teaspoon of Dijon mustard gives the dressing a much-needed kick, and my favorite Meyer lemon honey vinegar adds brightness without the sharp tang of the standard ACV. I also throw in chopped parsley for some freshness to balance out the sweetness of the carrots. Possibly the most surprising result of this challenge was that I actually found myself craving this crisp, tangy salad day after day.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch fresh carrots

• 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 tablespoons vinegar (I like this one, but any unpasteurized vinegar will work.)

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon raw honey

• 1 pinch unrefined sea salt

• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. To make the dressing, whisk together the coconut oil, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, salt, and pepper until the mixture is emulsified. (Pro tip: If you have one on hand, a milk frother works perfectly here.)

2. Gently scrub and dry the carrots. Using a vegetable peeler, shave each of the carrots into thin ribbons.

3. Top with the parsley, drizzle with the dressing, and toss lightly before serving.

My Results

I went into the challenge with curiosity but minimal expectations. After all, aside from my daily date with the carrot salad, I made no other notable changes to my diet, exercise, or sleep routine. If anything, I was under more stress than usual, between moving to a different state and making a career change all in one month, so this girl’s hormones were probably not in their most balanced era. Could the carrot salad really offset the impact of what’s often been ranked by Americans as one of life’s most stressful undertakings?

My before-and-after results aren’t exactly going to make me go viral. But while the carrot salad didn’t bless me with the lips of a TikTok beauty blogger, I did notice some other, more subtle shifts underneath the surface. For one, my skin hasn’t been this smooth since before adolescence; my digestion feels more consistent, and my period cramps were significantly milder compared to my previous cycle. I can’t say for sure whether it’s all thanks to the carrot salad, but I’d like to think it played a part.

The Verdict

While the 30-day challenge format feels bite-size and approachable for busy women, it may take more time for some of us to see measurable results. In her book The Period Repair Manual, Dr. Lara Briden states that it takes about 90 to 100 days for a follicle to fully mature into an egg, which means that it can take three or more cycles for a woman to truly feel the effects when she makes positive lifestyle changes to balance her hormones. So maybe part of the secret is focusing on foundational habits for good health and sticking with them long enough for your body to respond.

I may not be the poster child for the Nature’s Lip Filler Challenge, but I did walk away with a favorite new recipe I can feel good about eating, especially when my luteal phase hits and I could use that extra estrogen detox support. More importantly, I got a reminder that every woman’s body has its own rhythm and will respond differently to new inputs. While the changes I feel can’t be seen in the mirror, I feel them from the inside out.

Looking for more ways to get lip filler results without the toxins? Evie recently explored six hacks to get bigger lips naturally.