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18572

Life’s hardest lessons came early to <a href="http://www.beautifulonraw.com/Beautiful_On_Raw_contact_information.html">Tonya Zavasta</a>. Born in the Soviet Union with a physical disability brought Tonya face to face with pain—and with opportunity. Says Tonya, “I’m no stranger to physical or emotional pain. But neither am I a victim. Rather, I’m an overcomer.” Tonya’s birth defect—damaged hips—led her to trauma both physical and emotional. Her challenges would seem to anyone discouraging, and to some downright overwhelming. She spent most of her childhood in surgeries and casts. Doctors told her she’d never walk without a limp, and would likely end up in a wheelchair. The dream Tonya harbored deep in her heart…that someday she’d find a way to walk normally. Embracing a defiant confidence, Tonya had to be sure that, when the pivotal moment arrived, she would be at her most beautiful, most radiant self. Tonya became interested in health and beauty and wanted to learn all she could about people who looked younger than their age. Beginning in Russia, Zavasta pursued advanced degrees in mathematics and engineering. Her family later immigrated to the US. “I knew by now,” Tonya says, “that health was an integral part of beauty. I became first a vegetarian, then a vegan. I sought out promising orthopedic surgeons who were willing to help me make my dream a reality. Soon, I became interested in the <a href="http://www.beautifulonraw.com">raw food diet</a>.” She began to pour her energies into research and the study of nutrition and its effects on beauty. Initially, she embarked on the raw food diet to offset the horrifying effects of anesthesia from so many surgeries. “After all, I didn't want to look old and haggard and fresh out of the hospital when I was about to realize my lifetime dream,” she says. With remarkable dedication on Zavasta’s part, the raw food diet became a catalyst for astounding changes in both physical and emotional health. “And even more profoundly,” she adds, “in what I was seeing in the mirror. I admit I surpassed even my own expectations, discovering my life purpose in the process.” One of the most surprising things Zavasta has learned is that when we eat the way we were designed, <a href="http://www.beautifulonraw.com/rawsome_beauty.html">our true beauty emerges</a>, in body and soul. Tonya finds joy in her work: “Now I delight in helping others find the health and beauty-enhancing benefits of raw foods.” Tonya travels the world lecturing, teaching, and sharing the tips, methods and products she has discovered over the years which bring out the uniqueness and beauty of not only women, but of men, too. She has developed <a href="http://www.beautifulonraw.com/natural_beauty_store.html">her own line of beauty products</a> using the most pristine and effective ingredients she could find. The miraculous results Tonya has experienced after discovering how raw foods affect health and how health affects beauty have led her to author several books on these subjects. Her most recent endeavor is the book entitled <a href="http://www.beautifulonraw.com/Book_Raw_Food_and_hot_yoga.html">Raw Foods and Hot Yoga: From Severe Disability to Superior Health</a>. The book focuses on the beneficial aspects of combining Bikram yoga with the raw food diet, with much information on anti-aging as well. Not ego but simple honesty makes Tonya smile as she observes, “At 51, <a href="http://www.beautifulonraw.com/raw_food_transformations_before_and_after.html">I look and feel better than I ever have</a>! With the life-generating practices I’ve acquired through years of research and experience, I can offer inspiration and hope to health seekers the world over who want to make improvements in their lives beginning with the raw food diet.” If she can attain her heart’s desire despite being disabled and over 50, then Tonya Zavasta is living proof that it’s possible for anyone who’s willing.

2009-04-06T19:01:56Z

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2009-04-15T19:17:19Z