Moving Away From Plantbased Pixie

Goodbye ‘Plantbased Pixie’, hello ‘Pixie Nutrition’!

Well, kind of. You might have noticed that the blog hasn’t changed. In fact, all that’s really changed is my social media usernames.

I’ve been wanting to make this change for a little while now, and it’s been a relief to finally take the plunge and go for it. But I feel like I owe you all a little explanation.

There are several key reasons why the change:

Firstly, ‘Plantbased Pixie’ is a username I created about 6 years ago, when I was very much a wellness wanker. I was eliminating all the food groups, eating all the superfoods, drinking the juices, and making the stupid health claims. The username matched the style that a lot of people at the time had, and the alliteration worked well with my name.

I am not that person anymore. I’m a wellness rebel, a skeptic, and that username and those ideals don’t reflect me as a person anymore. I kept it for a long time, using it as a way to keep a foot in wellness, to infiltrate wellness spaces, as I hoped events organisers would simply see the food pictures and the name and make assumptions about me. Which they did. For a while I was able to use that to my advantage. I like to think in that way I helped to reach some people who wouldn’t otherwise listen to someone who was saying it’s ok to eat all the foods and that we should enjoy food.

This method doesn’t work anymore; I’m too well-known for my myth-busting, and now I’m being invited to speak based on my knowledge and expertise rather than because of the way I eat. I definitely prefer this over being asked to do a cooking demo!

Secondly, there is still a lot of confusion out in the world about what the term plantbased actually means. Many still believe it to be synonymous with vegan (it’s not, read more here). This has led to me receiving a fair amount of abuse, as well as a lot of confused questions from people. I understand the confusion, as I said, not everyone has the same definition of plantbased, but I do not tolerate the abuse. By removing myself from the word plantbased I’m hoping it’ll mean less abuse comes my way, as well as fewer questions about what I eat. I always maintain that what I do or do not eat is irrelevant to the scientific information I share. Now it’ll be easier to do that.

Thirdly, the more I’ve read about nutrition, the more I don’t want to be defined by the way I choose to eat. I am not plantbased, I may choose to eat a plantbased diet. I want the freedom to eat whatever I want to without feeling the need to put myself in a neatly labelled box. There is so much more to me as a person than what I eat. I am a nutritionist, I have 2 degrees, I have my own private practice, I am a guest lecturer, I am an author…these things are far more important and define me far better than the word plantbased.

Finally, as a nutritionist, I have an ethical responsibility to be as neutral and objective as possible. I feel that by having the label of plantbased in my username (regardless of whether I eat that way or not) I am unable to demonstrate that objectivity as well as I would like. ‘Pixie Nutrition’ is diet-neutral. It does not imply or suggest or promote or discourage any way of eating. Which is exactly what I’m about.

My content isn’t really changing. I’ll still be sharing nutrition science, busting myths, and getting angry about misinformation. I’m still the same person. Just with a different, better username.