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on Feb 8th, 2016 and filed under Ella Woodward’s top tips for natural and healthy living – BT.com
A self-confessed ‘sugar monster’, Ella Woodward gave up eating unnatural, refined foods when she was diagnosed with Postural tachycardia syndrome in 2011, which left her bedridden.
She started blogging as a way to cope with the illness – and in less than two years had transformed her health, simply by changing her diet.
“Healthy eating does make you feel a lot better and when you feel better in yourself, you often put a lot more energy and effort into other things,” she says.
Her first book, Deliciously Ella, was a huge hit last year, becoming the fastest selling cookbook ever. She’s just opened The Mae Deli in London with her fiancé Matt, has teamed up with Method to promote natural cleaning, and is back with her second book, which simplifies the ingredients.
“Healthy eating is not about fancy ingredients, it’s about having porridge for breakfast, rather than sugary cereal and that’s something I really wanted to illustrate in the book and help people understand,” says the 24-year-old.
Natural eating
“When I started changing the way I ate, I didn’t think, ‘I’m going to love this’. It was like taking antibiotics – I would do it for x amount of time until I was better and then I was done. But I found I was really enjoying it and feeling the effects of it in a positive way, and it was really becoming a part of the way I lived.
“Your taste buds change so much, you don’t think about refined foods anymore. It’s not that you don’t crave sweet stuff and the indulgence and gorging on deliciousness, but it’s just what I feel like doing it on is really different.
“I’m not like, ‘Give me that kale!’ – I like making my brown rice pasta with pesto and veggie curries with brown rice, and mango flapjacks and all that kind of stuff.
“I do like proper food and feeling really full and satisfied, I don’t think it’s about just eating little salads.”
[Related story: Is miso soup good for you?]
Natural cleaning
“Over time, it was weird to be really conscious of what I was eating and then wash my plate with some product that was horrible, or put moisturiser on that was going into my blood stream that was full of all the stuff I was trying to avoid.
“Because I cook a lot, I clean a lot. Unfortunately the two have to go together and I do find the skin on your hands feels quite different when you’re using quite [astringent] products. When you’re washing up and spraying all day, especially if I’m doing a day of filming videos, using natural cleaning products, like the Method range, makes a big difference.
“For me, tidy space is tidy mind. If you don’t put your stuff in the dishwasher because you can’t be bothered, you come back home and you’re like, ‘It’s a dump’. It’s quite stressful when everything looks a mess.
“I can go to bed without doing the dishes, but I put them all in the sink, or I rinse them, so I don’t come down and there are bits of food everywhere. I give them a quick rinse – like cups above the dishwasher ready to go in – rather than leaving them scattered around.”
Natural beauty
“I started being really conscious of beauty products – I don’t carry around my own soap, but I love a brand called RMS. I love their mascara, their Living Luminizer and all their eyeshadow is amazing – I use a lot of that. And Neal’s Yard for skincare. I love all their bath stuff, and I did a half marathon last year and used their arnica gel.
“I’m obsessed with coconut oil for skincare, I use it for mascara removal, it’s the best thing ever. A tiny bit on a cotton pad, it just disappears – and especially if you do a photo shoot and they cake it on, I find I can never get it off with anything apart from coconut oil. I also use it as hair conditioner. I put a little bit on the ends, leave it in overnight and wash it out in the morning.”
To celebrate its limited edition pomegranate range, method has collaborated with Deliciously Ella to create an exclusive new three course menu. Inspired by the fresh ingredients – pomegranate, almond and clementine – in method’s pioneering natural cleaning products, the dishes bring new meaning to the phrase ‘eat clean’ – try the recipes by visiting https://www.facebook.com/methoduk/
What are your natural living tips? Share them in the Comments section below.
