Loni Jane Anthony pregnant and eating 10 bananas a day: She says “80:10:10 diet saved my life”
A pregnant woman eating 10 bananas a day in Australia is making world-wide news and stirring a lot more than raw cacao and acai bowls… Loni Jane Anthony is a 25-year old pregnant blogger and instagram sensation, famously known as “10-bananas-a-day” Loni Jane.
Loni Jane was recently featured on news.com.au in Australia where she discussed her the details of her “extreme diet,” considered even more extreme to many because she is now 26 weeks pregnant.
“It all started about three years ago. I started getting skin infections, acne and putting on weight which was weird because I’d always been so slim. I wanted to sleep all the time and ended up with a whole range of health problems including candida overgrowth, hormone imbalance, irregular periods and hair loss,” she said.
She says that years of a party-hard lifestyle with excessive partying, drinking and alcohol left her sick and desperate for a solution. She turned to the 80-10-10 diet, a diet created by Dr. Doug Graham consisting of low-fat, whole, fresh, uncooked fruits and vegetables after her health hit rock bottom.
“It wasn’t for weight loss or for a quick fix. I was internally really sick; I was killing myself slowly. If I’d kept living that lifestyle I would’ve ended up with a disease like cancer or early ageing. So giving up that food was really quite simple for me,” Loni said.
“I came across the 80:10:10 Diet from an extreme fruitarian. She really taught me that you can live and thrive on this lifestyle by just eating higher carbohydrate vegetables, fruits and juices, and keeping your diet low fat. You even keep good fats low to keep your blood sugar stable. It’s been amazing.”
Loni also tried the Paleo Diet and Gerson Therapy before converting to 80-10-10 or “811,” a low-fat, plant-based diet – which is 80% carbs, 10% fat and 10% protein.
Now 26 weeks pregnant with her first child, Loni Jane says The 80:10:10 Diet ‘saved her life.’
“I usually wake up about 4.30am-5am and have up to two litres of warm water with lemon. I let that go down for two or three hours. In summer I like to eat half a watermelon to get hydrated,” she said.
“If I don’t have watermelon I’ll have a big smoothie with at least five bananas, but usually more than five because organic bananas are smaller, and about a litre of filtered water. I also always have oranges in the morning being pregnant. I’m obsessed with eating oranges.
“At lunch I usually like to have a mono meal, meaning one type of fruit, which is really good for digestion and goes straight through you. At the moment it’s mangoes I’m hooked on so my meal for lunch will be at least five or six mangoes. I might then have a salad later depending on how active I am that day.
“Dinner is always a huge salad with a tahini dressing. If I decide to have something cooked I’ll have it on the side like at the moment my crispy no-fat potatoes are divine.”
“I feel like now I can share who I really am and I’m not trying to hide behind alcohol and partying. I don’t need to alter my state and get drunk to feel like myself or to have fun. I didn’t quit alcohol altogether but it’s no longer five days a week, it’s more like once every five months.”
“If you live your passion people will see that. I’m just living it, and living exactly what you see, and that’s what inspires people I think. Because I’m at an age where most people are out getting super-drunk and taking heaps of drugs and having no self-respect, so I like to inspire girls because I was once in that position as well.”
So, the big question… is this ok? Is it safe for a woman to be eating 10 bananas a day while pregnant? First I should say that I’m happy to hear of any story that gets us talking more about fruits and vegetables! Loni Jane is a very pretty girl. It sounds like she’s feeling great during her pregnancy and I hope she’s getting her iron levels tested and regular health check-ups to make sure the baby is ok.
From my own point of view, I personally think Loni Jane is a bit too thin and she looks very thin in her pregnancy photos, but just that’s my opinion. Of course, some woman can be very thin and healthy while pregnant. The most important thing to do while pregnant is have regular doctor visits and make sure the baby is developing at the right rate, that the heart rate is ok and that the mother is not anemic or mineral deficient.
When I see photos like this, I worry more about the implications of what kind of image this puts out to young girls and women. I’ve worked with many women with eating disorders and I’ve seen the obsession with flat-belly “selfie photos” all too often… I’ve also worked with many women who had drug and alcohol addictions, and went straight from that addiction into a strict and regimented 100% raw food diet. Replacing one addiction for another keeps an obsessive-like behavior, it isolates a person from family and friends, and keeps them locked into a “perfection-seeking” lifestyle. Often these women will binge and purge between raw food and junk food, desperately trying to find a stable middle-ground. Underneath that can be a real lack of self-value, self-worth and self-love. Some women will even combine their 100% fruitarian diet with getting breast implants, cheek fillers, lip fillers and botox but then profess their love of raw food and living a “natural life.” When young girls see an image of a size 0 women with size D silicon gravity-defying breasts drinking a green juice or holding a handful of bananas, it just doesn’t give plant-based diets or raw food a good name. How do we find a balance, when it’s clear that sex and beauty sell? In truth, there is no easy solution.
It’s definitely important for pregnant and breast-feeding mothers to get enough fat, protein and calcium in their diet. If a pregnant women is vegan, vegetarian, fruitarian or raw foodist, she should be extra attentive to her nutritional needs. Eating 10 bananas a day while pregnant is perfectly fine. (How many women eat 2 bagels, a bag of cookies, ice cream and cake while pregnant…and no one bats an eye?) However, in the early stages of pregnancy, it’s especially important to avoid too many high Vitamin C foods. High doses of Vitamin C can stop the body from making progesterone, the main pregnancy hormone. It could be dangerous for young pregnant women to follow Loni’s diet if they eat too many mangoes and oranges thinking they are doing the right thing, when in fact the high amounts of Vitamin C could trigger a miscarriage. It’s also not a good idea to go straight from a SAD or meat-eating diet into a 100% raw food diet at the onset of pregnancy and this can stir up a lot of toxins from the natural detox effect and that’s not good for a growing baby.
In Loni’s case, she seems to be doing well at 26 weeks and I wish her all the best. She’s got a creative eye and her photos of raw food are great! I’m happy that she is bringing a lot of attention to eating a more plant-based diet and she sounds like she’s pretty grounded in her approach to dealing with her new-found fame.
What do you think? I look forward to reading your comments below!
Related Article: Is it safe to detox while pregnant or breastfeeding?
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Jennifer Betesh
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I enjoyed this article, I think its interesting to read a critique which takes into account the fact that Loni’s doctor says she and her baby are healthy. Its so important and its amazing how many articles overlook this fact in the interest of creating a sensation. It shouldn’t be overlooked, like you say if anyone were to try to emulate her diet during pregnancy they too should be consulting with their doctor.
Good or bad “the obsession with flat-belly selfie’s” is something that is not going to go away, our culture seems to be developing around our desire to put our lives on show. Within this pressure to look a certain way I find Loni a fascinating change of perspective, from obsessive exercise regimes and juice fasts to an actual sustainable diet without calorie restriction. Her diet isn’t focussed only on short term weight loss, it is focussing on long term health.
We all have the capacity for obsessive behaviour. Isn’t it positive for people with drug and alcohol addictions would be able to re-direct their attention away from a damaging and destructive behaviours towards a constructive search for health. Loni’s diet may seem extreme at first but as raw diets go, it is not too bad, she has not demonised cooked foods or sugar or fats as some raw foodists do and recognises that these foods have a place in diet as well.
It seems that often the “binge and purge between raw and junk foods” happen when people are not meeting their nutritional needs on a raw food diet. People who don’t realise that fruit and veg are less calorically dense or are scared to eat larger volumes of food end up craving more calorically dense junk foods because they are starving their body of calories. This may not be the only reason this happens but this is something I have seen quite often
I am curious why “a size 0 women with size D silicon gravity-defying breasts” gives raw food a bad name. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you mean, but it seems like a bit of an elitist attitude. There are plenty of women in the raw food movement who don’t look like this and there are some who do. If they are bringing attention to a healthy way of living surely it isn’t fair to police what kind of women are allowed to eat raw food and which women aren’t.
Hi Jennifer, I think you have pretty much summed it up. I would love to do a juice detox and throw myself in a 100% raw lifestyle, however I’m still breastfeeding my 16 month old and I’m worried about releasing dangerous toxins.
I try to eat as much raw food as I can and we all have green drinks and smoothies, for now its along side a healthy plant based diet.
Love reading your blogs
Linda
The most impressive part of this article is how you’ve kept your emotions out of this post. You’ve done a really awesome job at staying non-biased, highlighting the importance of monitoring your health and you stuck to the facts. I agree with everything you’ve said here. Well done!