Ashley Collins / Nourish Me Mum

Nourish Me Mum began on a total whim. I started an Instagram profile about 18 months ago at the encouragement of a friend who pitched it to me as a ‘digital scrapbook’ for friends and family to access my recipes from anywhere in the world. Canada (where I am from) or Australia.

After receiving such a positive public response Nourish Me Mum was launched a few months later as a home for more imagery and information to accompany the recipes I was sharing on social media.

I have always loved creating new recipes and sharing them with anyone and everyone.

I really just started the whole thing to save myself writing recipes on napkins for people at parties, or sending lengthly emails on the best gf flour substitutes for banana bread haha

I was forever finding myself in conversations about food, diet and wellness with colleagues and friends often asking for recipes for their gluten free aunt, or healthier alternatives to make for their children's parties.

Now instead of counselling people in the aisles of the supermarket looking perplexed over gluten free products, (although I totally still do that ) I can take to social media and reach a wider audience that may have the same questions or interest in nourishing food.

How Nourish Me Mum has unfolded was not something I ever could have foreseen when I began a year and half ago. It just kind of happened!

My goal has always been to create, share and celebrate each day with delicious, healthy food. That’s just me, how I live life. Each meal is an opportunity to express love, share your day and nourish your family.

But through the course of the Nourish Me Mum journey the audience has grown and changed.

It’s no longer just for my aunt in Toronto, or a former colleague here in Melbourne. There are 60,000 people all over the world following along and it brings me great joy to think of sharing my food in the homes of those people. I am so grateful to be a small part of their lives each day through Facebook, Instagram or my website.

I want people to feel excited and encouraged. Empowered to give something a go! For those new to my style of food I want them to see that eating well doesn't have to be deprived or difficult.

You do not have to go without, it’s just about a new way of doing things. Learning a little bit about new foods, or new methods. Shifting the focus to whole ingredients and nutrient rich foods.

I think sometimes people don’t know how good they can really feel, so I hope in some way that I can help people make small changes and swaps in their diets that will lead to a greater change in their overall health and wellness or an open-mindedness or desire to learn more about the power of their dietary choices. For themselves and their families.

Once you feel your best and identify what makes you feel well and what doesn’t, you never look back. You become passionate about feeling good and living well and you want to give your body what makes it feel its best.

It’s like a fog is lifted and you feel clear, light and switched on. It’s an amazing feeling that alluded me for the better part of my late teens and early 20’s.

I ate well, exercised daily, I knew the importance of hydration and rest. I have always been interested in health and wellbeing, I knew all the tips and tricks to live well. I should have felt great. But I didn’t. What was up?

Thankfully through reading, research, a great naturopath and patient GP, discovering the NCGS and dairy intolerance was the awakening for me that has lead to my bodies happy place.

No actually. Although I grew up in a healthy household it was traditional. We ate well, both of my parents cooked using local produce, meats and seafoods, lots of variety and what we now call ‘real food’ but I also learned to bake with flour, butter and sugar like most. I drank milk growing up and ate lollies and chocolate bars like all kids in the 80’s & 90’s! As I got older, into my late teens and really enjoyed learning more about health and nutrition as I mentioned, I began making healthy swaps and slowly changing how I baked and certain things I ate. I began exercising and understanding movement and the concept of wellness. It has been a slow and natural progression over the last 15+ years to where I am now with the big catalyst being the understanding of my bodies reaction to gluten and dairy.