Want to Eat Smart, like Niomi? She reveals her journey towards a healthier lifestyle and what inspired her to create her first cook book, Eat Smart!

I went to university to study Law. As much as I loved studying the legal system, I realised near the end of my final year that this path wasn’t for me. After graduating I created a blog because I found I had so many different passions outside of my law degree that I needed to have my own outlet where I could express myself, focusing on beauty and fashion. After a few months I also started my YouTube channel, where I could connect with my audience that had grown on my blog.

It was around this time that I discovered the importance of eating well. A couple of people in my life were diagnosed with serious illnesses. It made me question the food we have become accustomed to eating now – fast and processed, pumped full of sugar, salt, additives and all kinds of chemicals that are difficult to digest and it made me wonder what sort of effects these foods have on our bodies. I started researching this and I couldn’t believe how detrimental it can be to your health to eat this way.

I realised how important it was to prepare nutritious, homemade meals using fresh ingredients, and how it could impact my overall wellbeing so I cut out processed foods and started cooking my own meals at home instead of buying ready meals. While doing my research the plant-based way of eating seemed to be a recurring topic.

Like others, I had hugely misinterpreted eating plant-based as being restricted to bland salads lacking in flavour or substance. However, healthy food doesn’t have to be bland, and can in fact be fun and creative. The more I looked into it the more appealing it sounded. I found it fascinating hearing how much of a positive impact plant-based eating was having on people around the world, from supposedly curing illnesses to simply having more energy. I had to try it myself, so that’s when I cut out all meat, fish, dairy and eggs.

I had no idea how long I would eat this way because I decided to listen to my body rather than limiting myself to a set time scale. After only a couple of weeks of eating plant-based, I had so much more energy, my skin looked clearer and brighter than ever, my hair and nails were growing at the speed of lightning and I felt happier and more positive.

I would often Instagram my food and people would ask for the recipes, and that’s when my ‘What I Eat in a Day’ videos on YouTube were born. These videos range from what I eat when I’m travelling in places such as Bali, to what I eat when I’m training for a marathon in London. Hearing from people how they have been inspired by these videos and that they have had such a huge impact is incredibly rewarding and gives the videos a real purpose. And in turn, this has inspired me to share my recipes with my first cookbook, Eat Smart.

Pre-order Eat Smart here!