I’m a nutritionist holding a Masters in Food, Nutrition and Health from University College Dublin. I became fascinated several years ago in the role that good nutrition can have on our overall health.

While there is significant evidence that the foods we choose to eat can affect our protection against chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, various cancers and diabetes, I think that what gets people more excited is the effect that good nutrition can have on our overall vitality and wellbeing.

We all live busy lives these days, and choosing foods that maximise our physical energy and mental focus throughout the day can help us get the most out of each day.

While I work with people and develop nutrition plans based around individual preferences and where people are currently at with their diets, the recipes I post are focused around whole plant based foods. There is now a convergence of recommendations from national health authorities and scientific advisory boards of various organisations around the world (eg European Society of Cardiology, American Cancer Society) advising people to choose a more plant-based food pattern in order to optimize health and avoid disease.

I believe that if we can learn to make great tasting meals from healthy and nutritious ingredients, then we are well on the way to achieving our health goals. Even if its just introducing one healthy meal per week, and building from there, this can have a profound impact over time. Sometimes gradual changes become more sustainable in the longer team.

Bringing more plant-based meals into our diets is also a way to reduce our carbon footprint and impact on the environment. Plant-based food patterns are associated with much less environmental impact from the perspective of greenhouse gas emissions, fresh water usage, and biodiversity loss, etc.