Today we’d like to introduce you to Tonya Portis.
Hi Tonya, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My weight has been a challenge my entire life. For years I have taken part in many types of fad diets with success and failures. With consistency, I was always able to lose the excess weight, but of course gained it back. As time went on, I developed several different health issues that caused me a lot of pain. I began to understand that fad diets and weight loss had benefits, but not the ones that helped you achieve optimal health. Now let’s fast forward to 2020.
During this time, I was scheduled to have surgery to relieve my fibroid pain that I had been taking pain medication regularly to get temporary relief. I was also diagnosed with high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, high cholesterol and had given up on getting relief from years of migraine headaches. During the pandemic, I had no problem finding fruit and vegetables on store shelves. Things like can goods, milk, bread, meat and anything else that did not promote good health usually left an empty shelf. During that time, I decided to go back to what I had not done consistently in the past. I began one simple life-changing habit. I added a green juice to my morning every day. I also ate a mostly Low Fat Whole Food Plant-based diet with lots of raw fruit and veggies. Adding more raw foods to my lifestyle has made a night-and-day difference in the quality of my life. I even suffered from severe, debilitating at times, migraine headaches for over 17 years.
To top it off I also suffered with IBS, acid reflux, low energy and host of other undiagnosed discomforts. I eventually lost more than 40 pounds of my weight and regained my vitality. I noticed one day that I was not having fibroid pain. After speaking with my doctor, I canceled my surgery. She still requested that I come in and get evaluated. So, it was then discovered that my fibroids had miraculously shrunk. The radiologist was in awe and my Doctor said it is her lifestyle with a smile.
I also had to revisit my primary care physician to look at my blood work again. Believe it or not, after six weeks all of my bloodwork and blood pressure was normal in optimal ranges. During that time my migraines began to gradually diminish along with my IBS symptoms and feelings of not being well. Today I feel awesome. I look at every day as a journey for improvement. I was never perfect in my lifestyle changes. I just made small steps to be able to keep going. This was such a huge life-changing accomplishment that I wanted to share the experience with other women. I became so passionate about teaching others about Plant-Based, Raw and High Raw Lifestyles that I became a certified Master Trainer and Nutritional Coach and earned a degree in Exercise Science. I have researched many different nutritional lifestyles for more than 18 years and counting. My specialization and passion reside with living Raw & High Raw Plant-based lifestyles. I love learning and sharing information with other women about the impact that food and our environment has on our health.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey here has been an up-and-down challenge and it continues to be. When starting out on my journey, there was not as much information available about plant-based lifestyles. I always found myself reverting back to what was believed to be optimal despite the fact that I felt better. As years passed, more options and access to information was available. Now I am in a space of sharing information and helping others because I know how hard it is to adopt a new lifestyle without access to the right information and a real understanding of why certain choices give you great benefits to your health.
We’ve been impressed with RAW Naturalellie, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
RAW naturalellie is an online community dedicated to educating women how to maximize the benefits of Raw food to enhance Weight Loss, Wellness & Vitality. The community offers a safe place for women to share their experiences, health issues, goals and more to gain healing, be motivated and inspired to change what we hold most valuable, our health. In my community, we all walk together down the path toward the goal of optimal health. I find that taking the journey together motivates more than just talking about the journey.
The community is free to join: Rawnaturalellie.community
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
The biggest characteristic that I find that is important to my success is carrying a smile even on a rainy day. I usually find myself speaking to a lot of people and sharing helpful information just from the fact that I had a smile on my face at first introduction. I love to share what I have learned and to answer questions. This is actually what led me to create a community to help other women like me.
Contact Info:
- Website: RAWnaturalellie.community
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawnaturalellie/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tonya.portis.5/
