Creating healthy plant-based meals for the busy “non-cook”

• You want to be healthy but don’t know where to start. With all the fad diets and conflicting health info out there, no wonder you’re confused.
• You’re not someone who wants to spend hours in the kitchen. You need food everyone will love but without too much hassle – you’ve got other stuff to do.
• You want to add more plant-based foods to your diet – whether it’s for health reasons, helping the environment, or because you love animals.

I’m here to help!

I believe you can make healthy food choices – you just need a little guidance on what will work for you.
I believe you can create delicious plant-based meals even when you are short on time
I believe food can aid or hinder one’s health and want to share my knowledge with you.

You might be surprised to learn that I don’t love cooking. Say Whaaat? A nutritionist/food blogger that doesn’t like cooking? Well honestly…no, I don’t.

As a nutritionist, I know how important home cooking is for health so I do it. BUT if someone wanted to cook healthy plant-based meals for me for the rest of my life, I’d take it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon, so I aim to create easy to make recipes and meal planning/prep tips and share them here with you.

I practice functional medicine nutrition which takes a science-based, holistic, and personalized approach to wellness. I want to empower people to make smart personalized decisions for managing their own health and to do what’s right for their unique body.

I share a variety of recipes with different options for foods because we are all bio-individual. Our biochemistries and genetic makeup differ from person to person, which means not every food will not be perfect for everyone. What might work for you, might not work for someone else – even in your own family.

Most of my recipes are gluten-free because wheat gluten can be a problem for many people (including myself). I also offer substitutions (like oil-free options) and share diverse meals and ingredients to cater to a wide variety of food allergies, sensitivities, and restrictions.

About Mary Ellen

My Journey

My journey started when I was home from college one summer. I had the worst stomach aches and couldn’t get out of bed. All I wanted to do was eat Snickers bars, but (not surprisingly) they only seemed to make things worse.

The doctors were confused about my symptoms and said I could have anything from diverticulitis to IBS. Somehow I got better, but I still had similar issues for a long time.

After college, I dealt with an unhealthy outlook on my body which led to restrictive eating and obsessive calorie counting. This added to the painful digestive problems I was already experiencing.

It was then that I realized I needed to help myself by dealing with my food issues and making whole foods a foundation for my health.

I grew up eating a SAD (standard American diet) filled with processed foods and absolutely no vegetables which, looking back now as a nutritionist, caused many of my stomach issues like leaky gut and food intolerances.

Once I went through the process of healing myself, I realized my passion for helping others and decided to go back to school to get my master’s degree in nutrition.

As for my plant-based diet, I’ve always been an animal lover so I knew going vegan was the right choice for me. I’ve learned how focusing on vegetables can aid my health, help the environment, and save animals too.

A little more about me… if you’re still interested

Basically, you can sum me up as an animal-loving, sparkle-obsessed, nutrition nerd.

When I’m not working at my full-time job, getting lost in nutrition and wellness articles, or testing out new recipes, I enjoy running, reading teen fiction & murder mysteries, and planning my next vacation.

I also love spending time with family and friends, especially my husband, Matt, and our sweet Shih Tzus, Firenze & Sophie. My husband and I enjoy watching sports together (soccer is our favorite) and I’m also obsessed with the Miami Dolphins (go Fins!).

Matt and I try to make time to travel as much as possible. We love immersing ourselves in different cultures while trying to find some fun plant-based food along the way.

Education

I obtained my Master’s Degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Bridgeport where I have learned clinical and evidence-based nutrition from a functional medicine perspective.

Once I finish my nutrition internship, which I am doing at the Sandy Hook Clinic with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a leader in Integrative and Functional Medicine, I am planning on obtaining the certification to be a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS).

I received my bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University and my MLIS degree from Rutgers University.

I am also a Certified Holistic Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.