DeepSummary
Danielle Walker, author of several gluten-free, grain-free, and dairy-free cookbooks, shares her journey of being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an autoimmune condition, in her early 20s. After struggling with medications and their side effects, she discovered that changing her diet by eliminating grains, lactose, and sugar helped control her symptoms.
In 2009, Danielle started a blog called Against All Grain to share her recipes and connect with others with similar dietary restrictions. The blog gained a following, and in 2013, she published her first cookbook, which became a bestseller. Danielle's success stemmed from her relatable story, thoroughly tested recipes, and her passion for helping others feel less deprived.
Over the years, Danielle has expanded her business to include multiple cookbooks, spice mixes, cooking courses, and a line of apparel. She sees her role as more than just providing recipes but also advocating for research on diet's potential to help manage autoimmune diseases.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Danielle Walker overcame ulcerative colitis by adopting a grain-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free diet, which inspired her to start a successful food blog and publish bestselling cookbooks.
- Danielle's success stemmed from her relatable story, thoroughly tested recipes, and her passion for helping others feel less deprived while following restrictive diets.
- Danielle advocates for research on the potential of diet in managing autoimmune diseases and aims to provide accessible and affordable healthy food options.
- Danielle advises aspiring creators to find their passion, differentiate themselves, and stay true to their mission and values.
- The growing mainstream acceptance and availability of alternative, healthy food options align with Danielle's mission of promoting healthy eating.
- Danielle's business has expanded beyond just providing recipes to include spice mixes, cooking courses, apparel, and advocating for research on diet's impact on health.
- Danielle sees potential synergy between traditional medicine and dietary approaches in managing health conditions.
- Danielle's journey exemplifies how a personal passion can evolve into a successful multifaceted business.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I think you need to find your passion clearly, and you do need to figure out what makes you different from the next person, because, yes, there are so many now.“ by Danielle Walker
- “I will say one thing that I had always said back in the very beginning, because I had seen western doctors and more like eastern or functional kind of natural doctors, and I just said, I just always wish that they could, could, could work together. I think there's such a synergy, you know, even from my own personal experience, when I am eating a clean paleo diet, the medications that I am on at the time seem to just be drastically more effective.“ by Danielle Walker
- “I mean, even just the amount of ingredients, like we've mentioned, you know, I mean, the fact that you can buy cassava pasta or chickpea pasta, and you could not buy anything like that back in the day. It's encouraging to me to see that, you know, there's big brands that are, that are acquiring smaller health food brands that kind of started in infancy when I started writing my cookbooks and just to really see that there is an emphasis on it and that people are wanting to at least look to food as a tool in their healing toolbox.“ by Danielle Walker
- “And the thing is, in each case, I actually benefited from sticking to those diets. And while I pretty much eat everything these days, those diets have really helped me organize the way I cook.“ by Sky
Entities
Company
Product
Person
Book
Episode Information
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz | Wondery
4/18/24
Growing up, Danielle Walker’s family often convened for big meals prepared by her Italian grandmother, Grandma Marge. Back then, Danielle enjoyed a wide variety of food without restriction; but she began experiencing severe abdominal pain in her 20s that ultimately led her to totally transform her diet—cutting grains, lactose, sugar and more.
As Danielle found relief in this approach—and realized that others with similar ailments could as well—she began compiling her recipes in an online blog called Against All Grain. Before long, the self-taught chef became a bestselling cookbook author, more recently branching out with her own product lines and cooking courses.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Danielle talks with Guy about being an ‘accidental entrepreneur’ as she chronicles her journey to building a multifaceted business centered around healthy eating. Plus, Danielle shares her advice for other creators looking to build an audience and discusses food’s potential to help millions suffering from autoimmune diseases.
This episode was produced by Katherine Sypher with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella with research help from Sam Paulson. Our audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.