Ella Woodward

"In the summer of 2011, just after Id finished my second year of university, I was diagnosed with a relatively rare illness called Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. Its a very strange illness and even now my closest family and friends cant quite get their heads around it. The syndrome effectively breaks down your autonomic nervous system: the system that controls everything that is meant to happen automatically in the body—your heartbeat, digestion, circulation, immune system etc. As you can imagine this had a pretty devastating effect on my life—I literally couldnt walk down the street, I slept for sixteen hours a day, was in chronic pain, had blackouts, never-ending heart palpitations, unbearable stomach issues, constant headaches and the list goes on. It was anything but fun and I was bedridden 95 percent of the time."

"After a lot of Googling I came across some incredibly inspirational people, in particular Kris Carr, who overnight changed my life. She had changed her diet to manage her cancer and had written a wonderful book all about it, so I ordered the book and immediately realized that if she could come back from that, I could absolutely come back from where I was. So, overnight I started a whole-foods, plant-based diet and gave up all meat, dairy, sugar, gluten, anything processed and all chemicals and additives. As you can imagine it was a really difficult change for someone who had never eaten fruit or vegetables before, let alone quinoa, buckwheat and chia seeds! Ill never forget the looks on my familys faces when I told them I was becoming a gluten-free vegan—I dont think Ive ever seen people so surprised and confused."

"My healthy eating adventure had really worked and in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for life. It felt like a miracle: my symptoms had all but disappeared and my self-esteem was rebuilt, all thanks to the goodness of plants. It was amazing. I felt free and truly like myself again. The decision to change my diet really was single-handedly the best thing Ive ever done. It allowed me to take control of my illness and get my life back, which was so empowering."

"When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and sparkle all day."