Cityline Featured Blogger: Allison from Clean Wellness

We love reading about her adventures in the kitchen, creating enticing plant-based recipes that are as healthy as they are delicious!

There are so many fabulous bloggers out there, and we want to highlight them on Cityline.ca. We’ll be profiling different lifestyle bloggers from month to month — they might write about food, fashion, beauty, décor, parenting, entertaining, gardening, you get the idea! For July 2014, we’re putting the spotlight on healthy foodie Allison from Clean Wellness. Run by Allison Day, we love reading about her adventures in the kitchen, creating enticing plant-based recipes that are as healthy as they are delicious! Here’s our Q&A with Allison:

allison-cropWhen did you start Clean Wellness and what was your inspiration behind the blog? How did you come up with your blog’s name?

I started Clean Wellness in July 2012. I was attending nutrition school, and found myself running home to cook the foods I was learning about, and wanting to share those recipes with others. I’ve always enjoyed writing and cooking, so I hopped online and began documenting my kitchen creations, with a few health articles peppered throughout. My blog is now wholly devoted to food, with just a few health tidbits here and there, and more personal stories from my life.

I came up with the blog’s name by trying to summarize what healthy food really means to me. I wanted something that was a tribute to the straight-from-the-earth ingredients that I love to use in my recipes, as well as showcase my compassion towards animals, the environment, and my body. To put it simply, it’s all about plant-based recipes that are naturally delicious, approachable, good for you, and visually alluring. I’m completely unsure about whether or not that comes across in the blog name, or if it will be suitable in five years, but I think all bloggers have a bit of a blog name identity crisis!

We love great food photography and yours is gorgeous! Do you have a background in photography?

Thank you! Food photography and food styling have become a bit of a passion. I don’t have formal training in photography at all; I’m self-taught. I went online and read dozens of tutorials, and watched many videos, until I could learn how to capture food properly. I’m still learning food photography every day, as there is so much more I wish I could do with my blog photos. There are some great free resources out there which have helped me, and continue to help me, create a lively food photograph. I also get a lot of inspiration from other food blogs, magazines, and cookbooks. As far as equipment goes, I initially started with the lens that came with my camera, and transitioned to macro and portrait lenses — such a huge difference! I’ve discovered that it’s all about the lens.

mango-stirfry

Tell us about a few posts that you’re particularly proud of and want to share with Cityline.ca readers.

What do you hope your readers get from visiting your blog?

I truly hope readers get excited about real, whole foods. I want them to be inspired by their simplicity, and prove that healthy food can be approachable, affordable, and mouthwatering. My recipes are vegan and gluten-free, but that doesn’t mean fringe and flavourless. I’m hoping to encourage readers, with any dietary preference, to implement more vegetables, fruits, and meatless meals into their week, because it makes you feel pretty darn good.

What are some other blogs you love reading?

My current favourites: Cookie and Kate, Minimalist Baker, Feed Me Phoebe, The Roasted Root, and Oh My Veggies.

parfaits

What’s your top advice for other bloggers?

Keep at it; choose a topic you love; designate some time to reading online tutorials; comment on other bloggers’ sites —

you’ll make some fantastic friends from all over the world; learn a bit of coding and design; buy a good lens for capturing your subject; don’t be afraid to speak your mind, but always keep a little something to the imagination; and post on a regular schedule.

We want to hear from you! Do you know a blogger we should feature on Cityline.ca? Maybe it’s you! Email us at submissions@cityline.ca and include “Cityline Featured Blogger” in the subject line. And don’t forget to include a link to the blog! Look forward to hearing from you!