Episode 4: Ella Mills
At the time of recording Ella Mills, British food writer and entrepreneur, was still pregnant. Now she has given birth to her second daughter May, sister to two-year-old Skye. In this episode Ella (a.k.a. Deliciously Ella) opens up about how she has been experiencing pregnancy during the months of lockdown while running a business that has made plant-based and vegan eating approachable to many. She founded Deliciously Ella – then a recipe blog, now a full-blown brand with a deli, cookbooks, healthy snacks and cereals and a cooking app – after she got sick herself. At 20 years old she was diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome. It was through nutrition that she was able to heal herself and she decided to share her new-found wisdom with the world. Recently she also made an appearance on Netflix’s Down to Earth with Zac Efron, a tv show exploring healthy, sustainable ways to live all around the globe. During this interview Ella talks about her health journey, her pregnancy cravings and how she would like the global food industry as well as food awareness in schools to change. She speaks on the connection between mental health and nutrition and how she juggles motherhood and career.
Motherhood
“It’s unbelievable how different I feel working from home and being 35 weeks pregnant compared to working normal office hours.”
“I’ve never felt more support, compassion and kindness going into motherhood, it felt almost like a universal sisterhood. But on the flipside, I’ve never felt more judged by people.”
“Yes, parenting is hard, but hard can still be amazing, because it has been the most enriching, positive and incredible bonding experience I’ve ever had in my life.”
Change
“The last few months have taught us that there is a beauty in flexibility, you can get a lot done at home. It’s so much more about what you do rather than where you do it.”
“We’ve moved so far away from it being normal to cook every day and seeing it as one more chore, I’m very keen to shift that mindset and make it something again we enjoy doing.”
“Healthy living should be something that is not a diet, it’s never about deprivation, it’s about abundance, it’s about joy and it’s about balance. In order to do it everyday for decades to come it needs to feel genuinely enjoyable and exciting and something you look forward to doing continuously.”