Been there, tried all of it

There’s a whole lot of talk about health and wellness on the internet these days. Track your macros, cut your carbs, drink your greens, buy this $100 supplement. And boy oh boy, have I been down that road. AIP, Wahls, keto, and at some point my banned-foods list got longer than my grocery list.

The funny thing? It didn’t make me healthier. It made me obsessive, and if I’m really being honest… sad.

It’s been a winding road, but today my philosophy is the opposite of all of that. It’s about making my life easier, more delicious, and way, way bigger. It’s about using health to support my dreams, not overshadow them.

And that’s why I started VLH Health. This is my little corner of the internet where I develop recipes that I want to eat. Mostly because they taste good but also because they support my life and my goals. They aim to be high-protein and around 500 calories (loosely).

No tracking, no rules, no banned foods, no restrictions.

This is a place for people who love food and flavor but also want it to support their big dreams. This is all about eating well to feel good.

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Where this all started

I grew up in Los Angeles, and in my family, dinner was an event. My dad learned how to cook while living in France and brought so many of those traditions home with him. Helping with dinner wasn’t optional. It was mandatory, and it was something we all looked forward to doing together as a family.

And when I was around seven, my dad was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. And that affected all of us. He took his health pretty seriously and made some lifestyle changes, like eating a lower-carb diet and making exercise and movement a huge priority. And the whole house changed the way it ate alongside him. Less sugar, lower carb, protein at the center of the plate, lots of fresh veggies.

And this became the start of my own health journey as well.

I went to NYU, in New York City, and you can only imagine how small my kitchens were (if I even had one). During that time, I missed cooking so much that the first thing I’d do when I was home in LA was start chopping veggies (seriously!)

But even so, moving to New York was one of the biggest adventures of my life. And I went hard. I fast-tracked my education, interned as if it were a full-time job, and even stacked on top of that waitressing and hostessing. I took my health for granted until I couldn’t anymore.

My sophomore year, around the age of 20, I was diagnosed with several autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis. It forced me to slow down, take medical leave, move home, and start a treatment plan that turned my life upside down.

After that, health became my whole personality. I tried every autoimmune protocol I could get my hands on. I made my own bone broth, quit alcohol, ate only organic, read every nutrition book I could find, and listened to every podcast, for years. I even ran a keto food blog back in 2016.

The answers weren’t in those strict diets. They just left me obsessive, isolated, and exhausted by my own rules.

Then, at an arthritis benefit, I had a brief conversation with a stranger. He turned my thinking on its head when he said he used to obsess over his health until he decided to do the opposite. Obsess over his life, his impact, his passions, and use his health to support all of that.

It’s still the best health advice anyone has given me.

I stopped making my life smaller so my health could be the main event. Health belongs in the background, holding everything else up.

Maybe it sounds a little crazy for someone who runs a health blog, but that’s still how I live today. I use the tools at my disposal to feel my best so that I can focus on other things instead of obsessing over wellness trends and the latest diet.

How I develop and test every recipe

I LOVE cooking, but this is a space for maximum flavor with minimal effort. That means I aim for big bold flavors with the shortest ingredient list possible and the fewest bowls and dishes to clean. Creating balanced recipes is important to me, and I generally aim for around 500 calories with over 30 grams of protein per serving.

Whether you’re an experienced chef or new to the kitchen, I aim to make the instructions super easy to follow. Detailed step-by-step instructions (most with pictures), imperial and metric measurements, the quantities directly in the instructions so you don’t need to scroll back and forth while your hands are covered in food. I even added a “Start Cooking” button to all of my recipes so you can follow along as you cook.

Publishing isn’t the final step. A reader question or a low rating can easily send the recipe back into my kitchen for further testing. And older recipes get updated and re-photographed as the site grows (along with my cooking skills!)

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Where my nutrition information comes from

I’m not a dietitian, and because of that, I hold nutrition claims to a higher standard. When I mention how protein steadies blood sugar or keeps you full longer, it’s checked against published research, and I link to it. Macros are calculated per serving through my recipe card’s nutrition database and are careful estimates. Nothing here is medical advice, but it’s what a decade of managing my own autoimmune conditions has taught me (cross-referenced against actual research).

A few things about me

• Blind taste tests are my thing. At this point, I think I’ve tested almost every product in the store. If there are 5 dijon mustards, I tested them all to make sure I know which one is best.
• Grocery stores are my second home. No matter where I am in the world, I always feel at home in a grocery store.
• I can’t order the same dish twice. I always have to try the weirdest thing on the menu.
• Condiments are my love language. And I have a sacred ritual of choosing up to 5 condiments to throw on the table for every meal.

Say hi!

Questions, recipe requests, or something that didn’t work the way it should? Email me at hello@vlhhealth.com. I read every single message.

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Last updated: July 2026