Who is Freelee the Bananagirl? Freelee the Banana girl (Leanne Ratcliffe) is an Australian YouTube personality, personal trainer, weight loss expert, vegan activist and author. She is also a fruit-based Nutritionist. Freelee has been vegan for over 12 years and is one of the most influential vegans of our time. Freelee is the Author of the popular ebooks: The Raw Till 4 Diet (which went viral in 2016), Go Fruit Yourself in 2014 and most recently in 2019, My Naked Lunchbox. 

In 2009 Freelee created the website forum 30bananasaday.com and this year she changed the domain name and layout of that website to thefrugivorediet.com in order to breathe new life into the forum. Forum members talk about topics such as veganism, raw food, gardening and exercise.

This website, thebananagirl.com was created in 2016 and here you can find blog posts, articles and eBooks.

Freelee is a Weight Loss Expert and the leading authority in women's permanent weight loss on YouTube. She has lost over 40lbs and maintained for 10 yrs. She has helped countless women lose weight but most importantly KEEP IT OFF. In her videos she 'weighs in' on unhealthy fattening diets pushed by uneducated creators. 

Freelee created her YouTube channel Freelee The BananaGirl back in 2007 where she talks about her diet, exercise and making positive changes in her lifestyle. In 2019 her channel is largely dedicated to reviewing popular fad diets and “What I eat in a day” videos. Her channel was one of the first ethical vegan channels on YouTube and has accumulated over 780 thousand subscribers and 330 million views since its creation in 2007, making it one of the most viewed ethical vegan channels of all time. 

Freelee’s popularity on the internet began to rise due to her honest, straight up unapologetic approach as she promoted her “extreme” vegan diet that is a high fruit, high carb, vegan diet. Freelee made a video once eating up to 50 bananas a day which gathered scrutiny from out of shape Dietitian's around the world. Freelee eventually went on to debate a meat-sponsored dietitian live on National TV which she talks about in this video. Chubby pale Dietitian's will review Freelee the Banana Girl's diet but their physical results speak louder than any of the words they utter. 

Freelee was born on September 17th, 1980 and is often mistaken for a woman in her 20's due to her youth-promoting Raw Till 4 diet. She was raised on a farm in Queensland, Australia. On the farm her family grew organic fruits and vegetables but also ate animal products. Ironically while growing up at the farm she had access to a small banana plantation at her doorstep which she ate from daily. Freelee was raised mostly on a standard western diet but she also tried the Paleo Diet, Atkins Diet and other High Protein Diets which damaged her health and led to various eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. All of which she overcame on a Raw Vegan and Raw Till 4 Diet. Freelee has often been accused of having orthorexia, which she debunks in this video.

As stated Freelee has lost over 40lbs of weight following the Raw Till 4 Diet eating unlimited calories. She likes to call it "free eating", eating freely with no calorie restriction. She doesn't take weight loss pills, drink coffee, overexercise or restrict her food intake. The Raw Till 4 Diet is vegan diet plan for maximum weight loss which includes raw foods only (mainly fruits) until 4pm followed by a high carbohydrate, low fat cooked vegan dinner. The Raw till 4 Diet includes over 55 full color recipes, a 30 day meal planner, a 30 day shopping list, weight loss testimonials and the full diet guidelines.

Freelee has studied optimal human nutrition and weight loss since she was 17.  In 2000 she began studying to be a Dietitian (yes she has proof, see tafe nutrition cert. page linked below) but withdrew due to terrible dietary recommendations corrupted by big industries and an obese teacher who was clearly clueless. Freelee discovered raw veganism in 2001 after being sick and taking the advice from a yoga teacher to try juicing. In 2005 she ran a successful personal training business and gained certification in nutrition for weight management, trainer of special populations, advanced aerobic conditioning and advanced resistance training from the Fitness Institute Australia. Most of her education though came from her own nonstop research in her quest to find the optimal diet and lifestyle for a permanent lean healthy body.

Freelee the Banana Girl originally started her channel to keep a record of her progress and to spread awareness about her diet techniques to help other people. She has had various other jobs in her past some of which she speaks of in detail in her new book “My naked Lunchbox”. She has been a bartender, a “promo” girl for an alcohol brand, a snack vendor at a movie theatre, a receptionist at a real estate and for some time she even worked at McDonald’s. Freelee gained considerable online popularity in 2014 after making a the video “Why is Jenna Marbles Gaining Weight?”. Jenna Marbles subsequently went Vegan and credited Freelee the Banana Girl for this change. Jenna Marbles is still at least plant based in 2019. Freelee also influenced (amongst many others) Joey Graceffa, Trisha Paytas, Shane Dawson, and Emma Chamberlain to try a vegan lifestyle.

In 2017 Freelee moved to the jungles of South America where she lived "off grid" with her partner. In 2019 she now resides in Queensland, Australia. Freelee sometimes makes Off Grid videos which are viewed by millions of people.  

Freelee has been featured in publications such as Men’s Fitness, Huffington Post, Daily Mail and News.com.au. Freelee is also active on other social media like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter where she amassed a large social media following. 

Freelee's latest social media endeavour is the new The Frugivore youtube channel, check it out as it has many videos with new information and there is also a bunch of educational response videos.

Take control of your life and weight by checking out Freelee the Banana Girl's hundreds of videos and value-packed ebooks here.

 Written by Leanne Ratcliffe (Freelee The Banana Girl)