Deliciously Ella's recipe book is best-seller (2024)

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.

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.

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 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.

'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.

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.'

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.

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.'