A self-confessed 'sugar monster', who was struck down with a rare illness that attacked her nervous system and left her bed-bound, cured herself through healthy eating - and now she's cashing in.
In an effort to turn her life around, Ella Woodward, 23, embraced a fully vegan lifestyle and managed to beat her illness and launch her own successful business, which has lead to the release of her debut recipe book documenting her story and sharing her healthy living tips.
Ella, whois the eldest daughter of Camilla Sainsbury, the supermarket heiress, and Labour MP and former Cabinet minister Shaun Woodward, blames her former diet for a multitude of problems.
Ella Woodward, 23, embraced a fully vegan lifestyle to beat her POTS syndrome. She started blogging about her healthy living journey at Deliciouslyella.com, which has lead to the release of her debut recipe book documenting her story and sharing her healthy living tips
Her childhood was extraordinarily privileged but her diet, by her own account, was appalling and she blames it for her poor health.
In 2011 Ella was diagnosed with a relatively rare illness called Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS.
RELATED ARTICLES
- Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next
- Queen of bling! duch*ess of Cambridge turns unknown jeweller... Learn how to draw:In this new series, we'll show you how...
- Good looks run in the family! Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's...
Share this article
Share
The syndrome effectively breaks down your autonomic nervous system: the system that controls everything that is meant to happen automatically in the body - so your heart beat, digestion, circulation and immune system.
Speaking to MailOnline, Ella said: 'As you can imagine this had a pretty devastating effect on my life. I literally couldn’t walk down the street, I slept for 16 hours a day, was in chronic pain, had blackouts, never-ending heart palpitations, unbearable stomach issues, constant headaches - the list goes on.'
Ella, who is the eldest daughter of Camilla Sainsbury, the supermarket heiress, and Labour MP and former Cabinet minister Shaun Woodward, blames her diet for a multitude of problems but her has fully recovered ever since overhauling her sugar-filled lifestyle
Ella, who lives in London, was bed-ridden 95 per cent of the time and prescribed conventional medication and steroids for about six months but they didn’t make much difference so she decided to make a change herself.
'I began researching natural healing which is how I came to change my diet. Overnight I gave up refined sugar, gluten, dairy, anything processed or refined and meat,' she said.
ELLA'S ONLINE REACH
Blog: over 17 million hits
App: 70,000 downloads
Instagram: over 250,000
Facebook: over 64,000
Twitter: over 25,000
YouTube: over 420,000 views
'It was a huge change from someone that lived off a delicious mixture of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream; mountains of Cadbury’s caramel chocolate, lots of fizzy pick-n-mix and millions of jars of peanut butter and strawberry jam eaten with a spoon.
'I noticed a difference after just a few weeks of eating well though and 18 months later I was able to come off all the medication - which I should have been on for life - and now feel absolutely amazing.'
Ella tracked her progress and shared all her favourite recipes via an online blog, Deliciously Ella.
She quickly saw her internet fame sky-rocket, garnering 17m blog hits, 250,000 Instagram followers and 420,000 YouTube viewers, who avidly follow her colourful 'food p*rn' snaps and enthusiastic attitude to clean living.
Brimming with tantalising photography of Ella's fresh, simple recipes, this book is sure to inspire readers to embrace a new mind-set that celebrates food and lets natural ingredients shine
Ella, who studied History of Art at the Duke and duch*ess of Cambridge's University, St. Andrews, was so inundated with recipe requests that she decided to launch an app and runs regular cookery classes and supper clubs.
While Ella starts the day with a green smoothie and follows with salad bowls, hearty soups, kale chips and homemade houmous, we don't all have the time or taste for that.
The lifestyle guru advises: 'I think just making one small change a day is amazing, just adding in one new serving of fruit or vegetables a day is fantastic, some sweet potato wedges or guacamole make an insanely delicious addition to any meal and they’re such an easy place to start.'
I think just making one small change a day is amazing, just adding in one new serving of fruit or vegetables a day is fantastic
And that's where her new namesake book comes in.Brimming with tantalising photography of Ella’s fresh, simple recipes, this book is sure to inspire readers to embrace a new mind-set that celebrates food and lets natural ingredients shine.
It contains over 100 brand new recipes from energising breakfasts and quick snacks to simple suppers and sweet treats – think creamy coconut porridge, buckwheat and beetroot risotto, courgette noodles with avocado pesto, and zingy key lime pie.
She also gives practical advice on the key ingredients you’ll need in your store cupboard and how to prepare them, and provides menu ideas for dinner parties, picnics and Sunday lunches.
And it seems the book has already taken the country by storm and it’s not even officially published yet.
It has been the number. 1 bestseller on amazon.co.uk for over a week now, and her publishers have already re-printed the book six times and push back publication date by a week to keep up with demand.
Ella suffered from a rare illness that left her mostly bed-bound but discovered a vegan lifestyle and has cured herself - and now she's sharing her story in the glossy pages of her new recipe book
Ella gave up refined sugar, gluten, dairy, anything processed or refined and meat - and noticed the difference within two weeks
So how does it feel? 'Pretty crazy really,' said Ella. 'I never expected the book to do anywhere near as well so it’s quite a surreal feeling, good surreal though! I’m really happy that so many people want a book that helps them eat better though, it’s amazing to know that society is getting excited about healthy eating.'
Ella is also training as a nutritionist at the College of Naturopathic Medicine, was recently named as Red magazine’s Blogger of the Year 2014, and is one of ESPRIT’s Everyday Amazing muses for Autumn/Winter 2014.
But Ella isn't interested in making money, she simply wants to inspire people to adopt her way of life and hopes it can help them like it helped her.
She said: 'It's beyond inspiring to read that Deliciously Ella has impacted people’s lives in this way and I’m still so touched and humbled every time I read an email or comment saying that I’ve made such an impact.'
Ella, who tries her best to reply to as many questions on social media and her blog as possible, says her favourite thing is being able to help people get excited about healthy food.
'It’s so amazing to get emails and messages from people who’ve changed the way they eat through my recipes and now feel great. I love being able to share everything I’ve learnt with people and knowing that it makes a difference to someone makes this all so worthwhile,' she said.
The budding chef is so excited about everything she has going on that she's 'not totally sure' what the future holds.
She concluded: 'I’m not planning on making any major changes but the ultimate plan is to be the go-to site for all things related to health, happiness and wellness.
'In five years time, I will hopefully still be running Deliciously Ella and I want to expand the company over the next few years but I don’t have any particular goals or specific plans at the moment.'
SNEAK PEEK OF ELLA'S FAVOURITE RECIPES
OATY SMOOTHIE
Makes 1 large glass
Ella's oaty smoothie
4 brazil nuts 1½ mugs oats (180g), 1 ripe banana, peeled, 2 Medjool dates, pitted, 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon honey, optional superfoods: 1 teaspoon maca and/or 1 teaspoon baobab powder
Leave the brazil nuts and oats to soak in a bowl of cold water for an hour or so to soften, or overnight.
Drain the water from the oats and nuts and then place them in a blender with the peeled banana, pitted dates, cinnamon, honey, maca and/or baobab powders, if using, and ½ mug (150ml) fresh water. Blend until smooth and creamy.
Key Lime Pie
This Key Lime Pie is one of the more adventurous recipes in the book and I’m sure that as you look at the ingredients list, you’ll be questioning whether or not it really does taste good; so you’re going to have to trust me that it does taste wonderful. The avocado and coconut milk together make the dessert insanely creamy, while the lime gives it a fantastically fresh flavour and the maple syrup adds some delicious sweetness. Don’t worry, you can’t taste the avocado in it at all!
Serves 10–12
For the base
2 mugs almonds (400g) about 30 Medjool dates (600g),pitted
2 tablespoons coconut oil
For the middle
5 very ripe avocados
juice of 3 limes (30ml)
¾ mug maple syrup (225ml)
Ella's key lime pie
4 tablespoons coconut milk (I take the tablespoons from the solid part of the milk in the tin, not the liquid part)
1 more lime, to grate
For the base
Start by making the base. Place the almonds into a food processor and blend for a minute or so until they break down into pieces (not as smooth as a flour though).
Add the dates to the food processor with the coconut oil and blend again, until the dates have all been crushed and the mix is sticky.
Use a spatula to press the almond and date mix firmly into a 20–25cm cake tin – the base should be about 2–3cm thick and very compact. Leave the base to one side while you make the middle.
For the middle
Scoop the flesh out of the avocados, discarding the stones, and place all the flesh into your food processor.
Add in the lime juice, maple syrup and coconut milk and blend until the mix is totally smooth and creamy.
Pour the mix onto the base and place the cake tin in the freezer to set for about an hour and a half – you want it to be firm but not frozen!
Once you’re ready to serve, grate the zest of the remaining lime over the top of the pie.
Top tip Make sure that the flesh of your avocados is really green.
If they have brown spots in them, then your pie will look less vibrant green and more swamp colour!
Coconut Thai Curry with Chickpeas
This Coconut Thai Curry was the first recipe I did for this book and it’s still one of my favourites! The coconut milk makes it wonderfully creamy, while the ginger, chilli flakes, coriander and miso add a fantastic array of different flavours. The chickpeas make it really hearty too, so it’s amazingly filling. I love it served with brown rice, but it’s delicious with buckwheat too or brown rice pasta. It keeps really well, so you can make extra portions of it to store in the fridge to fuel you through the week.
Coconut Thai Curry with Chickpeas
Serves 4
2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
2 x 400g tins tomatoes
2-3cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1-2 teaspoons chilli flakes
1 large butternut squash (1kg)
2 medium aubergines (600g)
Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained
3 teaspoons brown miso paste
Brown rice, to serve salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C).
Put the coconut milk, tinned tomatoes, grated ginger and chilli into a large saucepan with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and allow it to heat until boiling.
As it heats up, peel the squash and cut both the squash and the aubergines into bite-sized pieces. Add these to the coconut and tomato in the pan.
Allow the mixture to cook for about 30 minutes in the oven, at which point add the coriander and chickpeas to the pan with the miso and place the pan back in the oven for 30 minutes. It’s ready when the squash is soft.
Serve the coconut curry with the brown rice. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Top tip
If you don’t like chickpeas, you can leave these out. You can also substitute any of the veggies for other ones you have in the house; cauliflower, courgettes and sweet potatoes are all delicious.
www.deliciouslyella.com Deliciously Ella will be published on 29th January by Yellow Kite, £20
