Wholesome Hedonista is about combining two important quality of food factors: health and pleasure. Healthy, wholesome food can absolutely be delicious – indulgent even. I’m here to bring you incredible recipes that will contribute to your health and wellbeing just as much as they will tantalize your taste buds.
About me
Hey there, I’m Emily Daniels. I’m a foodie who’s also passionate about health. I love to indulge. If I lost all inhibition you would probably find me “treating myself” to three desserts a day. I love food. I think its part of what makes life worth living.
I’m passionate about health and think it’s the most important investment you can make. While I love smoothie bowls and salads, I have a proclivity for rich, indulgent foods. So how would one reconcile a love of indulgent food and a strong appreciation for the mental, physical, and emotional benefits of healthy eating? This blog seeks to answer that – to combine two seemingly opposing concepts: clean eating and indulgence. I’m here to prove to myself and others trying to heal without wanting to sacrifice flavor or joy from food, that the two are not mutually exclusive. That you can have your cake and be healthy too!
I’ve taken on the exciting challenge of creating delicious recipes free from refined sugar, animal products, grains, and legumes – to focus on what matters most: fruits and vegetables! I think that the overlap of diets is where the real truth of health can be found. I try to incorporate fruits, vegetables, and/ or superfoods into every recipe and always use healthy fats and nutrient-packed, unrefined sweeteners. My recipes are inclusive to many types of eating styles; they’re all plant-based vegan, paleo, and gluten-free and most are friendly to many other special diets (AIP, Whole30, etc).
These recipes stand up taste-wise against their less health-focused alternatives. I strongly believe we can heal through food and that is my mission, to do so while experiencing every bit of food-derived pleasure in the process.
I take on the most indulgent dishes like chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and hot fudge and make them taste just as good, if not better than the versions you know and love – all while exclusively using whole plant-based ingredients.
I hope you enjoy these truly guilt-free yet incredibly indulgent recipes that show you don’t have to sacrifice health to enjoy one of life’s great pleasures.
My Backstory
Today I have a great relationship with food, but that wasn’t always the case. Growing up, my family struggled with weight and was obsessed with both food and dieting. The combination lead me to have a multifaceted obsession and a black and white concept of food. I developed an all or nothing mentality when it came to eating healthy.
At the age of 12 and weighing only 98 pounds, I tracked every single calorie I took in. If I went over the very low caloric benchmark I set, I would work out for hours to compensate.
A couple years back I got into weight training and the consistency of that lead me to have a much more balanced approach to eating. I realized I wasn’t the type of person who could non-obsessively count calories and I began focusing on quality over quantity. I researched everything I could about health and nutrition from many angles and dietary approaches. While every diet is different and even the research can seem contradictory, most diets stress vegetables and the importance of fruit. Intuitively I feel that this is the simplest and most effective way to approach healthy eating – a focus on fruits and vegetables. I understand that what constitutes a healthy sustainable diet is different for everyone, however, my recipes are all-encompassing and what I believe to be optimal for healing.
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