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Press Releases

Zonya is always on the move so keeping up isn't always easy. This is the place to find out what's new and what's next in Zonya's campaign to do away with diets and introduce healthy eating habits!

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NO TIME FOR FITNESS OR NUTRITION?
No Excuses! Zonya makes it easy with new PBS TV series and popular cookbook

America's Nutrition Leader Guides People
of All Ages Towards a Healthy Lifestyle

October 5, 2005 – Before she became America's Nutrition Leader, Zonya Foco was a 16-year-old looking to earn some cash and get out of doing the dishes.

"My mom offered me $40 a week to cook for the family, and she'd do the dishes," Zonya remembers. "It was a no-brainer! I made her shake on it then and there."

But after poring over her mother's cookbooks, Zonya over-bought at the grocery store and struggled with getting a whole meal on the table at once.

"You know how you get to the end of the recipe and it says, ‘serve with wild rice and French-cut green beans?'" she asks now, incredulous. "When are you supposed to make those? Why don't they tell you?"

Today, the teen-cook-turned-nutritionist is telling, on her PBS program "Zonya's Health Bites," in her popular cookbook, Lickety-Split Meals For Health Conscious People on the Go!, and at public speaking engagements throughout North America.

"Zonya's Health Bites," currently airing in more than 45 markets, including seven of the top 10, is making converts to smart, healthy eating all over North America. The program incorporates lively cooking demonstrations, smart shopping and exercise segments, and is peppered with quick "bites" of information on topics from heart-smart foods to portion size. Audience response leaves no doubt that Zonya's enthusiasm and ability to connect with an audience are motivating thousands of people, some of whom have serious weight and health issues, to change their lives with the power of one good habit.

A self-described health and wellness zealot who once struggled with her weight, Zonya uses humor, hard facts and common sense to help people of all ages incorporate healthy habits into their busy lives. Lickety-Split Meals' simple recipes are organized by their prep time and feature comprehensive nutritional information for every dish. The book also includes detailed grocery lists for stocking the pantry and a section on how to "speedisize" your kitchen, a step Zonya says can save cooks up to five hours a week.

"It frees-up all that time to exercise!" she says with her trademark enthusiasm. Because she's committed to the idea that small, simple steps are the key to long-term lifestyle changes, Zonya stresses consistency over intensity when it comes to exercise.

"Exercise for five minutes a day, and at the end of the week you can look back and say you exercised every day," she says. "That's an accomplishment for most people. From there it's just a matter of increasing that time by a few minutes every day."

Lickety-Split Meals helps readers find that time with its "Oven-Exercise-Eat" section -- complete meals designed to bake while you exercise.

While Zonya's methods are up-beat and lively, she doesn't take the importance of healthy habits lightly.

"Statistics tell us more than 60 million adults in this country are obese," she says, "and the list of diseases associated with obesity are as long as your arm. The effects can be reversed, but people have to change their behavior, and to do that they need resources that set them up to succeed."

Zonya offers those resources via her TV show and on her website, www.Zonya.com. The site features free recipes, articles and tips, as well as an on-line store offering Lickety-Split Meals, DVDs and companion products from America's Nutrition Leader.

Before launching her speaking, writing and publishing career in 1994, Zonya worked for eight years as a clinical nutritionist for the Michigan Heart and Vascular Institute at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich., where she led work-site nutrition wellness programs, performed individual nutrition counseling and taught weekly weight and cholesterol workshops. She is a registered dietitian with the American Dietetics Association and is certified as a health and fitness instructor by the American College of Sports Medicine. Zonya is also the only registered dietitian in the country to have earned the prestigious Certified Speaking Professional designation.

Zonya, husband Scott and son Ridge, 5, live a busy, healthy life in Onsted, Mich.

About Zonya

Zonya Health International (ZHI) was founded by Zonya Foco, America's Nutrition Leader, in 1994. Together with its sponsors, Eden Foods and Natural Ovens Bakeries, ZHI produces the PBS program "Zonya's Health Bites," currently airing in more than 45 markets nationwide, as well as books and DVDs promoting Zonya's keys to good nutrition and healthy living. Products are also available on the website, www.Zonya.com.

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