Doreen Ellis takes pride in talking about the many foods that she abstains from eating.
“It’s not that I’m allergic to these foods,” says Ellis, while carefully peeling a pomegranate and placing its seeds individually onto a folded paper towel. “It’s more that my entire sense of self is now built entirely on not eating certain things, and telling other people about it.” She adds, “It’s liberating to have something to constantly focus on.”
Ellis was as much as five pounds heavier before she gave up a long list of foods, having occasional aches and pains, and sometimes being bloated. Now she just gets cold really easily, “which has always been a goal of mine,” explains Ellis, pulling a cardigan tightly around her bones.
“Now I don’t eat sugar, gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, corn, rice, meat, nightshades, or seafood,” says Ellis. “And I feel great!”
Ms. Ellis’s popular blog, “I Don’t Eat This,” has catapulted her into the national spotlight in recent months, at least among groups of people who are similarly passionate about not eating things.
“This isn’t about not eating anything,” adds Ellis. “This is about not eating certain things, which if I didn’t mention it before, are sugar, gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, corn, rice, meat, nightshades, and seafood.”
“I like the blog because it gives me a legitimate reason to subsist on kale,” says Annicka Huber, a devoted “I Don’t Eat This” follower. “It’s good to know there are others like me out there.”
“Ultimately it’s about knowing who I am and knowing what’s best for my body,” says Ellis. “I don’t try to say what’s right for you. All I know is that what’s best for my body is not eating sugar, gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, corn, rice, meat, nightshades, and seafood, and then telling you about it.”
