Last updated on March 22, 2026 at 04:43 pm
Hi, I’m Manja — and I’m genuinely glad you found your way here.
I want to tell you a bit about who I am and why I started this. Not the polished version. The real one.
The moment that changed everything
My best friend got cancer.
Watching her fight — really fight, with everything she had — was one of the most humbling and devastating experiences of my life. Through her own extraordinary determination, she began to understand the deep connection between what she ate and how she felt. What foods supported her body. What made things harder. She researched, she changed, she taught me more about nutrition in those years than I had learned in the decades before.
She also left behind her children.
I am a mother of two. And that fact — that she was a mother too, and that her children had to grow up without her — settled into me in a way I haven’t been able to shake. It changed how I think about my own health entirely. Not as something abstract or future-tense, but as something urgent and present and deeply connected to the people who need me to be here.
The more I learned about food and its relationship to chronic disease, the more I felt something I can only describe as responsibility. Not just for myself — but for my children, my husband, and eventually for anyone I could reach through this site.
I cannot control everything. But I can control what I put in my body. And I can share what I learn.
What that responsibility looks like in practice
It looks like small, consistent changes. Not dramatic overnight overhauls — but a steady, deliberate evolution of how I eat and how I live.
I removed plastic containers from my kitchen and switched entirely to glass for food storage. I replaced our non-stick frying pans with safer alternatives. I added a proper water filter and started using Celtic salt or mineral-rich filtered water to maintain good electrolyte balance. These aren’t things that make headlines. But they compound over time, and that’s the point.
I studied Nutrition Science at Stanford University, where I learned from Professor Christopher Gardner — a world-leading researcher in plant-based nutrition and the microbiome. That gave me the scientific framework to understand what my friend had discovered through instinct and necessity. It confirmed that so much of what we accept as inevitable — weight gain, fatigue, skin conditions, high blood pressure, digestive problems — is profoundly influenced by what we eat, every single day.
That knowledge felt too important to keep to myself.
What my kitchen actually looks like
Because I think you learn more about someone from what’s in their fridge than from what’s on their CV.
There is almost always a jar of kombucha fermenting on my counter — I brew my own and couldn’t imagine stopping. Chia seeds soaking overnight in homemade almond milk with a splash of maple syrup, ready for breakfast. In the fridge, containers of batch-cooked grains from Sunday — quinoa for the protein, freekeh because I’m slightly obsessed with it, maybe barley for a soup later in the week.
On Sunday mornings I bake for the kids’ lunch boxes — cakes, muffins, granola bars made with puffed quinoa and amaranth. I make my own yoghurt, my own stocks, my own almond milk. Not because I think everyone should — but because knowing exactly what goes into our food matters to me deeply now. It didn’t always. It does now.
My weeknight staple is a freekeh and tofu stir fry. Quick grain bowls with whatever vegetables need using up. Simple, nourishing, real food — built around a philosophy that doesn’t require perfection, just intention.
What I believe about food
I am not here to sell you a doctrine. I’m not vegan, I’m not strictly vegetarian, and I have no interest in making anyone feel guilty about how they eat.
What I believe — backed by science and lived experience — is that whole foods are the foundation of everything. Real ingredients. Minimally processed. As close to how they came out of the ground as possible. That’s the non-negotiable. Everything else is flexible and personal.
almostplantbased exists because I wanted a space that doesn’t tell you there’s one right way to eat. Instead it gives you a few important principles — grounded in science — and trusts you to build them into your own life. Whether you’re an athlete, someone wanting to lose weight, someone managing a health condition, or simply a parent who wants to do better for their family. The knowledge should fit around your life, not the other way around.
The name says it all. The direction is plant-forward. The destination is yours.
Who this site is for
It’s for people who are curious. Who have a nagging feeling that food matters more than they’ve been told. Who want to make better choices without being lectured, restricted, or made to feel like they’re already doing it wrong.
It’s for parents who want to feed their families better. For people managing chronic conditions who’ve never been told that what they eat could make a real difference. For athletes who want to understand how nutrition affects performance. And for anyone who simply wants more energy, better sleep, and a clearer head — and is willing to start in the kitchen.
You don’t have to overhaul everything at once. You just have to be willing to start.
Where to begin
If you’re new here, start with the Beginner’s Guide to a Whole-Foods, Plant-Based Diet — it covers the foundations clearly and without overwhelm.
If you’re ready to go deeper, the Eat Healthier in 21 Days Challenge is where I’ve put everything I know into a structured day-by-day programme — with meal plans, 200+ recipes, and the science explained in plain language.
For athletes, the Plant-Based Athlete course covers performance nutrition, body composition, and fuelling properly on a plant-forward diet.
And if you just want to read and learn, the articles are all here — on everything from hypertension and psoriasis to chia seeds and whole grains. All science-backed, all written with sources, all written from genuine curiosity rather than agenda.
I’m so glad you’re here.
Manja 🌱
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