Pregnant woman promotes extreme fruit diet involving 20 bananas a day

A blogger has hit the headlines for the extreme diet she's continuing to follow and and promote despite being six months pregnant.

Based on the 80/10/10 diet, Loni Jane Anthony can eat as many as 20 bananas a day and subsists on a mostly raw, vegan diet involving smoothies for dinner and mono meals (meals that consist of just one food - usually a vegetable).

The 80/10/10 plan was created by Dr Douglas Graham and is based on the idea of a raw, vegan diet that's 80 per cent fruit and veg, 10 per cent protein and 10 per cent (good) fats.

Loni, 25, advocates the diet to her 100,000 Instagram followers as well as on her website and tumblr, but she's been criticised for setting a bad example, after appearing in the national press in Australia. Particularly as nutritionists baulk when they hear that she's continued following this diet during pregnancy - a time nutritional needs are different.

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Describing a typical day's eating, Loni says: "I start with a litre of warm lemon water first thing at 6am, then two hours later I had half a watermelon.

"At 12pm I had seven bananas and four date coconut rolls, at 2pm 1.5 litres of lemon water. Then at 5pm rice pasta with low fat low sodium tomato sauce and a huge salad with a raw tahini dressing! Then for a treat, a (presumably raw, vegan) coconut chocolate ice-cream."

Nutritional therapist Caroline Skirrow, from Nuffield Fitness and Wellbeing Covent Garden explains what sort of benefits the diet can bring:

"Short term weight loss is likely with this diet, mostly because it's pretty impossible to eat enough calories on a vegetable-based diet to maintain or put on weight. To do that you'd need to be eating vast quantities of greens."

She continues: "It will make you go to the toilet extremely regularly - this is a very high fibre diet, full of digestive enzymes - so you can expect a bowel movement four to five times a day. So it definitely clears you out."

But for more than a few days, Caroline is dubious.

"There is no evidence for the long term effects of following the diet, it's all based on one man’s theory. There are no trials on what this does in the long term.

"And physically this diet is extremely difficult to follow, it restricts you socially and just imagine eating two kilos of apples for breakfast."

Nutritionist and author of The Natural Health Bible for Women Marilyn Glenville agrees:

"It seems in this case, much of the 80 per cent is made up of fruits such as bananas, rather than vegetables.

"Fruits are a simple carbohydrate and release their sugar quickly into the blood stream so have a higher glycaemic effect than vegetables, which release their sugar more slowly. 

"And bananas especially have a higher GI than some other fruits such as apples and berries.  We want foods that have a low GI because they give slow releasing energy throughout the day. "

Loni's diet doesn't sound like it would sustain us in our non-pregnant state, and Caroline tells us the idea of following this diet while pregnant is extremely concerning.

"It's an extremely bad idea to follow this diet in pregnancy.

"This woman's body is creating a baby. Her protein needs are much higher than normal.

"There's also the risk of a deficiency in iron and in terms of hormone control and development of the baby’s brain, she needs to have a much higher intake of essential fats and fat generally because she needs to extra energy in the third trimester and later for breastfeeding."

She adds: "Vitamin B12 is absolutely essential for tissue development in the baby and you can't get that in a vegan diet. I would recommend supplementing."

Marilyn agrees, adding: "A healthy, varied diet, including fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans and pulses, eggs and fish is important in pregnancy.

"Both the mother and the baby need fat and particularly the Omega-3 fats found in oily fish, egg yolks and flaxseeds. 

"These are crucial for brain, eyes and central nervous system development in a growing baby and they are even more vital in the last trimester, when the intellectual development is as its most critical point.

"Research indicates that these essential fatty acids are important not only for the brain development of the baby, but they can also help prevent low birthweight and decrease the risk of a premature birth."

What's also striking is the obsession with food and diet Loni's social media profile shows off. Posting 'thinspo' pictures of herself and cataloging her every mouthful isn't healthy, however much she insists she's never had an eating disorder.

Though Loni may claim she's never looked or felt better or healthier, we're not about to jump on this bandwagon.

Instead, we prefer Caroline's suggestion that if you want to get healthier and get to a healthier weight for life, try improving your diet a little at a time and stick to principals that have been tried and tested and have some scientific backing.

"No extreme diets are good and if you're going to embark on any dietary change it should be with the advice of a professional. This could be a nice way to cleanse the system for a week and kickstart a healthy eating plan but I would not advise it for the long term.

"For the long term, you need to make lifestyle changes. Try Nuffield's Healthy Eating Plan for a sustainable and healthy diet for life."

You can also head to www.marilynglenville.com for more information on booking a consultation with Marilyn.