Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved food. At three years old, you’d find me in the backyard with a humungous bucket of homegrown tomatoes, juice smeared across my cheeks and eyebrows. At five, I’d stand beside my pappou (grandpa) on Easter Sunday, waiting for him to pass me ‘the good bits’ from the lamb on the spit. At ten, I’d wake up excited every Sunday to experiment with my own pancake recipes. Throughout primary school, I’d beam with joy knowing my grandparents were picking us up - because that meant car snacks, a Greek feast for afternoon tea, and cans of lemonade shared with cousins.

Alongside those beautiful memories came more complicated ones.

By fifteen, I’d learned that I could manipulate my body’s shape and size with food and exercise. I believed that smaller was better, and used food as a form of control, belonging, and social acceptance. I wanted to be liked, I wanted to be loved, I wanted to be praised for having the willpower to stay so thin. I wanted to look like the models on my instagram feed.

I spent years shrinking my body. I missed out on birthday cake, trialed every diet under the sun, became vegan, then vegetarian, then pescatarian, all in an effort to meet unrealistic beauty standards and quiet my anxiety.

Eventually, I found my way to Nutrition and Dietetics, and that’s where my healing began. I rediscovered my love of food, cooking and recipe creation. I unfollowed and followed the right people. I stumbled upon phrases like ‘weight-inclusive care’ and ‘non-diet focused nutrition’, and my world shifted. These concepts changed my life, professionally and personally.

Today, my mission is to support others in fighting back against diet culture, finding peace with food, and nurturing their mental health, through balanced and compassionate nutrition. As a proud Greek-Australian, I’m also passionate about keeping culture alive by sharing the tastiest (yes, I’m biased!) Mediterranean recipes passed down through generations.

Welcome to our community of foody’s!

I’m so glad you’re here.

Lots of love

- Ariana x