Almost two million people flock to Eloise Head’s Instagram page, Fitwaffle, for daily baking inspiration and guilt-free recipes. The 28 year-old foodie has also recently released a Sunday Times best-selling book, Fitwaffle’s Baking It Easy, which has climbed to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list. We sat down with the wellness expert to chat all things mindful eating, the dangers of diet culture and the importance of a wind-down routine.
What makes your approach to wellness different than other creators in the space?
“My approach to wellness is all about balance and moderation when it comes to food. I understand how diet culture can affect people mentally, as it did to me quite a long time ago. So I’m quite aware of that. Years ago, I feared foods that I basically thought were bad for me and I restricted many foods from my diet, which led to a really poor relationship with food for quite a few years. So now I try to spread the message that you can enjoy all foods in moderation and still live a very happy and healthy life.”
Your account really took off at the height of COVID. Have a lot of those followers stuck around since then?
“Yeah, absolutely. I think there’s a couple of reasons why it grew so quickly at the start of COVID and the start of lockdown. At this point I basically transitioned from mostly posting food from restaurants to posting my own recipes online. So this was quite a big shift in the style of content that I was producing. And I really thought I provided more value through this type of content, especially when restaurants had closed and everyone was at home, they needed something to do and that’s exactly what I was providing for them. Everyone was at home and they were on social media, so I think there was a lot more eyes on my content anyway. And cooking and baking was really popular at this time. So I think the two just went hand in hand.”
If there was one change you could recommend to readers to make for a healthier lifestyle, what would it be?
“My tip would be a bit more wellness-focused. It would be to go outside without social media and go for a walk or just do some form of exercise daily if you can. I think just stepping outside and getting outside of your own home and your own head can be so beneficial.”
Without promoting the idea of weight loss, what are some foods you commonly cook or bake with a lot that naturally lead to a healthier lifestyle?
“I don’t really recommend any specific foods for weight loss, because I try not to give foods any sort of like moral value, or put some foods on a pedestal and demonize others, for example. But if I was to generalize, I would say that what I found really helpful for keeping myself full is having protein with every meal, so that’s something I try to do, and I find it helps keep my blood sugar level and it also helps me to keep feeling full and satiated. I also try to eat lower calorie-dense foods, so things like green vegetables and berries are very low in calories, but they keep you feeling fuller.”
What is a typical day in your life and what you commonly find yourself eating throughout the day?
“Typically, I would get up, get dressed, do my makeup, and then I would go to the store if I needed any ingredients for the day. Then I would start baking as early as I can to make sure that I get ahead of it. When I start to feel hungry, this can vary, but it might be around about 10 or 11 o’clock, that’s when I have breakfast. And I usually have something like Greek yogurt, which is high in protein, I have some fruit with that, and maybe some honey on top. I don’t tend to eat a lot for breakfast, I tend to find that my meals get bigger throughout the day.
Then I’ll bake throughout the afternoon and do my content for social media. I’ll usually snack on whatever I’m baking throughout the day before having some lunch, which is generally something really quick and easy because I’ve been baking on in the kitchen cooking pretty much all day. Usually I’ll just have some sort of vegetable with a protein filling, maybe a salad. Then I’ll post to all my social media accounts and have a snack if I’m hungry before going to the gym. So something like a protein bar, or something with protein in or fruit or something like that.
Then I’ll go to the gym, I’ll usually train with weights for about an hour to an hour and a half. I’ll come home and have dinner, which is usually a source of protein like chicken or fish and a carbohydrate, which could be something like potato or rice, and then some sort of vegetable like peas, or carrots. At the end of the night, I really like to have something sweet. So I might have a little bit of what I’ve been baking throughout the day, or I might have a small ice cream or a couple of chunks of chocolate or something like that just to cut my sweet tooth. And then in the evening, a lot of time I’ll continue editing or do some work on my computer if I need to.”
How do you unwind?
“It’s something I struggle with, to be honest. I think because social media is so nonstop, it’s very difficult to put my phone down and to not work because it’s so convenient when I’ve worked straight from my phone to just not switch off and just continue working. So what I try and do if I can, is I’ll try and sit down in front of the TV and watch like an hour of TV or something like that. Or I’ll even go for a late night walk with my fiancé. So sometimes we just go out and we’ll have a quick 10 to 20 minute walk. And I actually think that really helps and just allows me to switch off and my brain before going to bed.”
