As a food blogger, my life revolves around food — between brainstorming, recipe testing, photographing, and sharing, it can be a pretty big mouthful. Like most food bloggers (and people), my relationship with food hasn’t always been the best. It’s been balanced, disordered, healthy, restrictive, obsessive, and pretty much everything in between.
Thankfully, I’m happy to say that my relationship with food is currently the best it’s ever been. Not to say I don’t struggle at times, but I’ve gotten a heck of a lot better at truly listening to my body and giving it what it’s asking for.
- NOT the food I think it “should” have
- NOT the food society, and Instagram trend, or an unqualified blog article tells me I need to have
- and certainly NOT the food a random person promotes to me on social media because it makes them “thin” or “thick” or “beautiful” or whatever — every body is different, and all foods are going to act differently inside of us too.
How did I get here? Through following a lot of body and food-positive accounts, doing the inner work, and reading this book. I also filmed a video talking a little more about my journey, if you’d like to watch.
As my relationship with food has changed over the years, so has this blog.
From My Bowl has always been full of easy-to-follow, vegan recipes that actually taste good. Because that’s what I love! In saying that, though, I have to admit that some of the older recipes on this site were created from an orthorexic mindset. I still believe that they taste great, but I also believe they could perhaps be better if I had focused more on flavors rather than macronutrients and calories. As I have reflected on my past (and plan recipes for the future), I thought it would be best to share my food philosophy, as of the present moment.
Here are my PERSONAL takes on calories, fat, oil, and vegan recipes. In case you were wondering. And if you weren’t, please go to literally any other page on this blog and make yourself something tasty 🙂
Please note: I am not a dietician or licensed health professional – these are merely my opinions.
ON CALORIES
I have never posted the calorie count on my recipes, and I never intend to. Counting calories led me to a very dark place in my life – a place of excessive control, restriction, and negativity. While I am in a healthier place with food now (and don’t count calories), numbers can still be triggering for me sometimes. I would never want to trigger someone else, and personally believe that we should all go by fullness cues, not some random number. Also, serving sizes are TOTALLY arbitrary and should not be taken to heart. Like I just said – eat until you are full, not until you have hit a certain number/portion size.
If you like to count calories, or need to for some specific reason (and it doesn’t hurt you physically/mentally), know that that’s cool too! There are plenty of free calorie-counters out there, such as Cronometer. If you’d like to find out the calorie content of a recipe you can plug all of the ingredients in there and you’ll get your answer!
ON OILS AND FAT
Fat tastes good. It’s a fact – fat coats your mouth and allows you to taste and experience flavors more fully (and for a longer period of time). The good news is that fat is also good for you, and a balanced diet should contain some level of fat.
When I first started this blog I was *legitimately* scared of fat, particularly oil. Personally, I don’t think that’s healthy. All of my recipes were completely oil-free, and pretty low in fat. This began to change as I incorporated more fat into my diet (for personal health reasons) — I gradually incorporated more whole-food fats into many of my recipes, but still skipped the oil.
Nowadays, I use oil a good amount in my personal cooking, and really enjoy it! It makes a lot of food taste better, and allows for certain textures and flavors that oil-free food simply cannot replicate. You can make your own personal decision on whether you think oil is “healthy” or not, but I no longer feel afraid to use it (again: good thing, no?).
Moving forward, From My Bowl will share recipes that contain oil. I feel kind of silly for making a big deal out of this, but there is a pretty big oil-free vegan community out there, and I know a lot of you (hi!) appreciate that my recipes are oil-free. That being said, I will still continue to offer an oil-free substitution for every recipe that I post, as long as it is possible from a culinary standpoint.
ON VEGAN RECIPES
I am vegan for the animals, for the planet, and for my health. All of the recipes on this blog will always be vegan, but you don’t need to be a vegan to make them. Whether you’re fully committed to a plant-based diet or simply plant-curious, there’s a space here for you 🙂
