About

About Myself:

My name is Elle and I'm a photographer, embroidery artist, and vegan recipe developer. I have a BFA in photography from The School of Visual Arts. I started Wholesomely Elle in 2016 to share my recipes as well as information about starting a whole food plant-based diet. I am certified in plant-based nutrition through eCornell and T. Colin Campbell's nutrition certificate program.

My Vegan Story:

After graduating with a BFA in photography in 2013, I spent some time working as a fashion blogger and photographer in New York City. I was dealing with worsening anxiety and I realized that I was no longer on a path that aligned with what I could see myself doing in the future. 

I made some major life changes- I deleted my fashion blog, tapered off of my anxiety medications, and I started meditating and being more present with what I was feeling. I gradually learned how to work through it rather than continue to mask the symptoms with medications. Slowly, the things that had always been important to me came back into focus.

I've always loved animals and became a vegetarian at age eight when I first understood that the meat on my plate was an animal's body.

From then on, I refused to eat meat, but for years I continued to eat dairy and eggs, purchase leather, and even wear fur. I was completely disconnected from the impact I was having as a consumer and how what I purchased was directly funding some of the worst atrocities imaginable to animals and other humans.

When I finally allowed myself to watch some documentaries and see the true effect my food and clothing choices has on other sentient beings, I went vegan overnight.

Coming from a junk food vegetarian diet, at first I ate a lot of vegan junk food, but overtime I began to realize how much better I felt if I stuck to unprocessed whole plant foods. 

Once I started eating mostly whole unprocessed plant foods and introducing more fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains, I immediately noticed how much better I felt. My digestion improved, I felt like I could think more clearly, and I even noticed a major improvement in my mood.

Preparing healthy, mostly-unprocessed recipes has become one of my favroite hobbies and for the past five years I've spent most of my time experimenting in the kitchen. I’ve loved sharing and documenting my recipes here on my blog- while I am currently no longer making new recipe content, I will keep this blog updated with my latest embroidery artwork.

My husband and I currently live in rural Washington with our three rescued rabbits, Lavender, Sage, and Maple.

☆ How to find me on social media:

I'm not currently on Facebook or Instagram, but I do frequently use and post to Pinterest.