Last night I attended a talk with Tonya Zavasta in Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island. I was curious as to how she presents raw foods, and I was interested in challenging her caloric restriction theory.
The session started out wonderfully, Tonya is a great speaker. She presented information on raw foods in an up-beat, energetic fashion integrating well thought out humor. She discussed different organs in our body, and how they are affected by the types of food we eat. She covered the process of change in these organs and the timelines for healing ourselves with proper nutrition. Tonya spoke about her journey, which was also very interesting.
Throughout the presentation she was quoting numerous health professionals and individuals like Albert Einstein. She even quoted Dr. Douglas Graham and stated that "eating fruit is never a problem!"
It was all going great......until...."And now I'd like to speak to you about caloric restriction with optimal nutrition". This was when my eyes started to glaze over...
Tonya showed us her daily food intake on a projector.
It consisted of 2oz of nuts in the morning followed by 8oz vegetable juice. Lunch was 12oz green pudding. Dinner is a salad of vegetables, one small bowl. I was sitting in the audience eating almost double her day's worth of calories in oranges for dinner. She couldn't have been consuming more than 500 on a daily basis.
I immediately raised my hand to ask about athletic performance when she started speaking about caloric restriction and yoga. She would not take my question. It wasn't until I got her alone, after the session that she would address caloric restriction. I gave my two cents and she replied with "I don't advocate for exercise, because it takes energy from the body, I only participate in yoga, because it gives me energy". So I asked if she would recommend calorie restriction for someone in a regular training regime, and she answered "Of course not, I would direct them to Dr. Douglas Graham who has experience training athletes. I am only interested in anti-aging. I have never met an individual who eats a lot and looks good."
There were young females in the audience and all that they heard was "You must restrict your calories to look beautiful."
At the end of the presentation she was speaking about beauty, aging, and caloric restriction when she said "And all you have to do to be beautiful is buy my creams, potions, brushes...and all of my books..."
Everyone crowded around the merchandise table afterwards automatically taking Tonya's advice, and not once questioning calorie restriction. No one knew the dangers,and they were not told that to restrict calories so severly you must be almost entirely sedentary.
At least I got the truth out of her. The audience didn't hear her admit that if someone would like to exercise, she would advise them to eat much more. The lesson here: Eat your sweet juicy fruit! Don't restrict your calories if you want to be fit and fabulous!
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Her daily caloric intake much resembles mine most of my adult life. High fat and calorie restrict, no more than 900/1,000kcals a day. As a result I was too fatigued to go places and do things, I could not be an active and involved mother of a then 1yr old. I was sick, depressed and very, very unhealthy. I looked young, though, I always did. Tonya, to me, doesn't look like an 18yr old, more like indeed, as being said in the above, a well-preserved 58-60yr old. My mom who is 67, on an omnivorous diet, WITH osteoporosis and without wearing tons of make up, looks much, much younger and is way more vibrant and active than Tonya is.
Don't mean to be mean, though, I'm sure she is a great lady, just that whatever people (also people who swear by her teachings) told me about her, raises all kinds of alarm bells with me. I am 36yrs old looking at least 10-15yrs younger. I eat like a maniac, 3,000kcals a day in fruits, fruit juices, salads, water and I sleep around 10 hours per night. I am moderately active, in fact, more sedentary than active.
811 is not just for sporters, it's also for sedentary people. A breakfast of nuts and veggie juice would just gross me out at this point. Yuck. Even if I believed in Tonya and her teachings, I'd be have to paid in dates and bananas to eat like that. ;-) Gross.
Let me get something straight. You raised your hand and asked your question, and she "would not take the question?"
That says it all!
I know of another guy who eats very little. He is not an athlete - but is quite active (gardening, home business..etc..). He does not eat during the daytime.. has one meal @ 8pm or so. He is vegan - prefers fruit - but has baked sweet potatoes, squash..etc.. sometimes (esp in winter).
He feels fabulous - and looks healthy as well (6' tall ~ 200 lbs).
I cannot be sure - but he claims extended fasts have enabled him to become quite efficient.
Hershal Walker also eats only once daily.. and trains hard... not sure how much he eats at night - he says he does not count...
I guess my point is.. for some reason - there are folks who seem to need less.
I really believe moderation is key - both in activity level and diet... too much of anything is not the best idea.
We may be 'secure' here, but my heart (and fins at the moment) go out to the likely 10,000's of lives that are negatively affected annually by her. I base this assumption on her speaking giving out dis-information to at least a 100 people twice a week.
Tanya may be a sweet and well meaning woman but her advice is likely to do irreparable harm to those (especially youth) influenced by her.
Though I do try to follow the best and natural anti aging ways it is not my primary goal - which is to be as healthy as I can be and as fit as I can be - this requires more than 500 calories a day ;)
ps. I love her moisturizer, shampoo and conditioner :P
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