Women in Food: 10 Questions with Elise of Eat Healthy Designs

If you like to hand write notes like I do, you're going to love this post. I love pretty paper. I love food. I love puns. So when I stumbled upon Eat Healthy Designs on Instagram and saw it was all three things in one place it was a pretty exciting day. Elise just became a registered dietitian which makes me love this brand even more!!! If you need a gift for yourself or a foodie in your life, go shop the store!!! 

Elise / Eat Healthy Designs/ @Eat_HealthyDesigns

1. Tell us about yourself and your business.

I just graduated with my masters in nutrition and passed the test to become a registered dietitian! I’ve had many different passions growing up, but one thing that was constant was my need to be creative. Insert EAT healthy designs; it’s the product of my love for food and nutrition and my need for being creative.

After graduating with my undergrad in nutrition, I went to look for some cute nutrition themed stationery to write out thank you notes to my nutrition professors and wasn't pleased with what was out there. It wasn't until last year EAT healthy designs became an idea. Travis (my business partner) and I started tossing around ideas and one thing lead to another, and we were fist bumping our way to producing our first line of nutrition themed greeting cards. Almost one year later, our line of greeting cards has grown and we have expanded to selling shirts and totes as well with plans on expanding into children’s clothes and more stationery next year. 

2. If you could define your food philosophy in one sentence, it would be….

Live to eat, don’t eat to live.

3. What are your 3 must have foods in your kitchen?

Oatmeal, Olive Oil, and eggs

4. It’s your birthday. What are you eating?

Brunch! I like to say it’s my favorite meal. Or, we will go out to dinner at a restaurant I’ve had my eye on. Either way dessert will be ice cream or a good slice of cheese cake!

5. Signature cocktail?

Mimosa or peach bellini. Again, gravitating towards the brunch theme!

6. Food you can’t like no matter how hard you try?

Peas. Never been fond of them, and still can’t bring myself to enjoy them. 

7. What are your go-to resources for all things food (websites/magazines/groceries etc)?

For all things food, I subscribe to a couple different magazines (Cooking Light and Bon Appetite are my favorite)! But for day to day inspiration I look to my feed on Instagram. As far as where I get my groceries, I frequent Trader Joes and the local farmers markets  

8. Food fad you wish would die a horrible death?

This over obsession with bacon-please go away!

9. Must have kitchen tool:

I’ve been getting a lot of use out of my food processor. (Hello, sun dried tomato pesto!) 

10. What’s the one thing you learned this year that changed the way you think about food?

I spent the last 6 years in school for food and nutrition and have had so much information thrown at me, but wasn’t really taught a whole lot about food’s impact on the environment, and sustainability. Recently, I learned about the positive impact eating local has on a community and our world. Food can travel thousands of miles, leaving a huge carbon footprint behind, before it hits our plates. I started reading Michael Pollan’s books, and learning more about sustainability in general, and came to the conclusion that I will grab for what is in season and shop farmers markets before any thing else.