Beyond a Recipe
Beyond Beautiful: Disability, Liberation, Love
Season 3, Episode 8 - Beyond a Recipe
🧭 Episode Summary
What if accessibility extended all the way to the dinner table?
In this episode, Mandi sits down with Nina Blake, The Grain-Free Lifestyle Coach, to explore how food, creativity, and inclusion intersect. After being faced with eliminating grains and numerous allergens from her diet, Nina refused to accept that she had to give up the foods and traditions she loved. Instead, she began "breaking recipes"—reimagining familiar comfort foods in ways that are both delicious and allergy-friendly.
Together, Mandi and Nina discuss the emotional impact of dietary restrictions, the importance of creating meals everyone can enjoy, and how adapting recipes can foster connection rather than exclusion. This conversation is about more than food—it's about belonging, accessibility, resilience, and making sure no one has to miss out.
💬 Key Themes
Food as accessibility and inclusion
Adapting instead of excluding
Creativity as an accessibility tool
Joy as a form of inclusion
🚨Partnership
Intersectional Access has a partnership with Buoy, a company that creates hydration drops designed to support people living with chronic illnesses and conditions where maintaining hydration is especially important. Before agreeing to collaborate, I reached out to my community to hear about their experiences, and many people shared that Buoy has been helpful for managing symptoms and staying hydrated. One thing that stood out to me is their Chronic Illness Support Program, which offers people living with chronic illness 35% off their orders for life. If you use my referral link, you’ll Up to 31% off + free dopp kit on first order over $40. Everyone else will receive 20% off their orders. I do earn a small commission from purchases made through the link, and that support helps sustain the podcast and the work I do to amplify disability-centered conversations. Use this Referral Link.
📜 Full Transcript
Mandi: Welcome to Beyond Disability Liberation Love. I'm Mandi, your Queer Christian Disabled host.
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Mandi: One thing that reminds us that accessibility isn't just about ramps, captions, or automatic doors. Accessibility also shows up around our dinner tables, in our kitchens, and in the ways we create spaces where everyone can fully participate.
For millions of people, food allergies, sensitivities, and chronic health conditions can make something as ordinary as sharing a meal feel isolating or overwhelming. But what if dietary restrictions didn't have to mean missing out?
Today's guest is helping families rethink what is possible. I'm joined by Nina Blake, also known as the Grain Free Lifestyle Coach. Nina is passionate about helping families create flavorful, grain-free, allergen-friendly meals that everyone can enjoy together.
After facing the life-changing challenge of eliminating grains, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, almonds, cashews, and other allergens from her own diet, Nina refused to believe that meant giving up the foods she loved. Instead, she began what she calls breaking recipes—reimagining favorite comfort foods without the ingredients that no longer served her health.
Today she's the recipe developer and founder behind Break a Recipe, where she shares delicious grain-free recipes, cooking classes, coaching, and practical tools that help families gather around the same table without anyone feeling left out. Because, as Nina says, everyone deserves pizza and cake on their birthday.
In our conversation today, we explore food as community, what it means to adapt instead of give up, and how creativity, inclusion, and joy can transform our relationship with food. So whether you're navigating food allergies yourself, supporting a loved one, or simply curious about creating more inclusive spaces around the table, I think you're going to take something meaningful from this conversation.
Let's get into Beyond a Recipe.
MANDI: Hello, welcome to the Beyond Beautiful Podcast. How are you today?
NINA: I'm doing great, Mandi. Thank you so much for having me.
MANDI: Well, I am really excited to have this chat today. And for listeners who are just meeting you for the first time, can you introduce yourself and share a little bit about your journey into grain-free and allergen-free living?
NINA: Hi, my name is Nina Blake, and I am the Grain Free Lifestyle Coach. And for those of you who are going, "She's a what?" I teach families to enjoy their favorite foods without grains and the allergens that wreak havoc on their body.
And that's a big shift because most of our comfort foods are made with top allergens like wheat and eggs and dairy and soy. And God help you if you have a corn allergy like I do. It's really about learning to live and eat all over again. But I believe everybody deserves to eat safely, and I'm on a mission to make that happen.
MANDI: I love that so much. I am curious, though, is there, like, a specific moment when food allergies and sensitivities shifted for you from just being a dietary preference to something that was more impactful in your daily life and identity?
NINA: So I grew up in the ignorance of privilege. Food allergies were peanut allergies. And then probably when I was in my early 20s, at church, I learned about celiac disease. And there was the celiac table for the three or four members of our church who had celiac. And, you know, we would do what we could. We'd bring veggie platters, nothing with gluten. And I was like, "Man, I don't want to be them."
So, in 2012, at 31 years old, I was sitting at an infertility appointment. And here is the gobsmacked moment where my doctor said, "You have endometriosis. You need surgery. And by the way, the reason that you can't lose weight, the reason that your body is in a state of chaos all the time, is because you need to avoid grains and dairy."
And that was my moment where I felt like a deer in headlights. But I couldn't be sure that the lights weren't from an oncoming train, because it was that powerful. And I remember shaking, going, "But what do I eat?"
Because I knew about gluten-free. But in that one moment, every bread, every pasta, every breakfast dish, every holiday meal had been taken from me. And I needed to rebuild my life. I needed to learn to live and eat all over again. That was the moment my world broke.
MANDI: Yeah. There are two things that you kind of just mentioned here that I really want to lean into or expand on. The first was really just that community piece. And I also grew up kind of in the school system where the peanut allergies were like the main thing, but it really was always kind of brushed off. It never seems like it was that big of a deal.
So I am curious how food allergies have impacted your ability to be in different spaces, events, and, you know, within the community. I know you mentioned church, so I'd love to hear a little more about that.
NINA: Well, I've learned to always bring my own food. Whenever I go somewhere, it starts with, "Where am I going?" And I have to contact the host if it's a residence, and if not, I have to contact the venue.
This past weekend I went to a wellness retreat. And unfortunately, the people at the wellness retreat, they were not that accepting. They told me yes, I could bring my own food and they gave me a refrigerator to keep it cold in. But I ended up running around the facility trying to get my food heated.
Now, what else could they have done? I asked them for the menu and they wouldn't share it with me. Like, you know what you're serving, why won't you share it with me? It would have been so simple. They could have just kept a few things separate, not for everybody, but just a little platter on the side of what I could eat safely.
I wasn't asking them to turn their event upside down, just asking to enjoy what they were already serving in a safe way.
So thankfully, most places are not like that. And of course, if I'm invited to someone's home, I will contact the host and ask what they're serving, graciously offer to bring something, ask if there are other guests with allergens. So that way it's not only on the host to accommodate me. Maybe I can help. Maybe I can bring some grain-free brownies that everyone will enjoy or, you know, something like that.
Other times, if I'm going to a venue, I'll check with the venue before. And some venues I find the smaller the venue, the more accommodating they are. You think that it would be the opposite. You think the bigger venues would have the capacity. But it's the smaller venues, the mom-and-pops, that want their guests to come back again and be truly comfortable as though they're in their own home.
This past weekend I went to a wellness retreat. I contacted them ahead of time and they wouldn't tell me what they were serving. They would provide me with a refrigerator for me to bring my own food.
So when it was time for breakfast, I noticed they were serving all kinds of food that I could have, but due to cross-contamination, it wasn't safe for me to enjoy it. So the salmon was being served right near the bagels, and I'm not going to risk contamination by grains. And the cherries, beautiful, wonderful, gorgeous black cherries, were being served right beside the bananas. I have a banana allergy.
So it would have been a small tweak just to take some of the foods that I could enjoy safely and put them aside. They wouldn't have had to do anything for the other guests, just a separate plate. And I wish that they had done that, but they didn't. They didn't respond. And that made me feel quite awkward.
MANDI: Yeah. And I'm hearing you kind of start to hint at this a little bit, and it's something that I think a lot of people don't understand really, about any type of disability, but specifically disabilities that people can't see or may not be as familiar with. There is emotional and social labor that goes into existing in our society with different types of disabilities.
So what do you wish people understood about the emotional and social labor that's involved in navigating severe allergies?
NINA: I wish people understood that it's not something we choose. It's not something we can turn off. It's not something that we're doing to be difficult, because there are—I've had people accuse me of having my food allergies be a diet. "And can't you just break your diet for a day?" No. I wish I could.
You know, I want to participate, and I do participate. And if I can't try your food, I'm not rejecting you. I'm keeping myself safe.
MANDI: Sometimes that is—sometimes I'm just gonna say that's so important for people to understand. I think especially in cultures where food is such a central part. Myself being a Latina, it's a big part of our kind of welcoming vibe to serve food to people.
And I remember growing up, you know, having people come and may not like the food or may not be able to eat the food, and it's so easy to take offense. So I really appreciate that you shared that. You know, it's not a personal offense to you or even that you don't like the food. It's literally that you need to keep yourself safe. That's so important.
NINA: I grew up in an Italian American family, and one of the happiest moments ever—well, first, the saddest moment was when I realized I couldn't eat almost anything at Christmas Eve. And, like, gutted, gutted me. And I remember crying, crying, crying to my aunt. "I can't even have a cookie."
And my aunt went and found a way for me to have cookies. So God bless her. Thank you. Like, I will be forever grateful for Auntie Anna. But about three years later, we together, she and I, had found a way to get all of our traditional Christmas Feast of the Seven Fishes recipes back on the menu for me. Grain-free, dairy-free. And we were all eating them together again.
And so if you're listening to this and you have food allergies, I want to encourage you to try and break down those barriers, because foods don't have to stay off the menu forever. You can enjoy your family traditions safely using safe ingredients.
MANDI: I love that. And we're definitely going to get into that more because I know you have so much to offer on that.
But before we jump into that, I know you mentioned a little bit about the grieving of losing foods that you really enjoyed, or things that, you know, people traditionally eat around holidays and different things like that. Did you ever struggle with feeling like you were too much or feeling like you were an inconvenience because of this need that you have, the allergies?
NINA: Feeling like I'm an inconvenience or being actually told that I'm an inconvenience, because both actually happen.
I was told that, you know, this group of people that I was a part of, "We can't do anything anymore since you have food allergies." Like, what? What? Like, there's plenty of things we can do. They just don't all have to revolve around food.
Like, we can play cards. I can play cards with you. You know, you can just eat different snacks than I do. Why do we all have to eat nachos? Why am I offending you if I don't eat nachos?
You know, the whole concept of everyone has to do the same thing. So there were more times than I would like to remember where I was made to feel that what I needed to be safe was an inconvenience.
Or times where I went to a party and I checked with the host and I was told, "It's just cake and ice cream." So I bought a little cupcake for myself and some dairy-free ice cream to share with the group.
And I walk in and, surprise, there's pizza. Nobody told me there was pizza. I asked, "Oh, pizza was last minute." The hostess said, "No, it wasn't. You called for pizza. When you called for pizza, you could have called me. I wouldn't have had time to make pizza, but I would have brought something else that was safe to eat."
You made the choice to single me out, to make me different.
MANDI: Yeah. You're really hitting on, like, so many things I want to talk about, specifically around the potential social isolation or the difficulties with anxiety or even with mental health related to food allergies, really because of the way society treats people or doesn't consider people's needs.
So can you speak a little bit about how being someone who has food allergies can affect mental health, stress, anxiety, or even social connections?
NINA: If it's all right, I'd like to talk about something that we all have: a birthday. And if you can imagine sitting at your birthday celebration and watching everyone but you eat cake, skipping cake on your own birthday because you don't know how to get yourself a safe cake and nobody else does either.
And you have your little bowl of dairy-free ice cream, and then you ask yourself the question, "Is this what my life is going to be? Will I ever taste birthday cake again?"
It really shocks you from the ground up, where everything that you used to look forward to has to either be rebuilt, reimagined, or abandoned in order for you to feel like yourself.
MANDI: Yeah, for sure. And this actually takes me into the work that you've been doing. So I know that you have a site and really the way I think of your theme is "breaking recipes," and I really love that phrase. So can you explain what breaking recipes means and how it became part of your mission?
NINA: So I tried to go through that birthday without cake, and it left me with a flavor of sadness and emptiness in my mouth for a year. And I promised myself that I was not going to ever go without cake on my birthday again.
So I tried recipes, but there were too many things to substitute. Too many things. And instead of cake, I made bricks. Instead of cookies, I made shingles and sheetrock. Instead of bread, I made doorstops.
And I got to that point of desperation where I've tried everything. The only thing I haven't tried is making my own recipes.
And you know what? Maybe instead of looking for a recipe here and there and kind of playing whack-a-mole, maybe I could find the inside way to make recipes safe for me.
And so there came the title of my website, Break a Recipe. Because when I look at a recipe, I break it down and I remove the ingredients that are not safe, and I add back ingredients that are safe for me that do the same function.
Is it okay if I get into a little deeper about that, if that's all right?
MANDI: Yeah, absolutely. Please do.
NINA: So something that your audience is probably familiar cooking with is eggs. Well, eggs aren't just eggs in a recipe. We use eggs in a recipe because of what they lend to the recipe.
Eggs lend moisture, protein, emulsification, and lift to a recipe. So anybody who's ever tried to make a cake or brownies with applesauce in place of eggs knows applesauce is only adding moisture. It's not emulsifying, it's not adding protein, and it's not giving lift.
So you get a very dense, moist, chewy brownie and cake. And that is awesome. But when you go into the world of food allergies and now you're cooking without eggs, without dairy, without grains, without soy, without corn, you really have to get that egg replacer right.
And so my egg replacer does—I'm super proud of this—it has all four functions of eggs. It adds protein, it adds moisture, it emulsifies, and it gives you lift. And so you can get a fluffy cake that contains no grains or top allergens.
Because we can eat safely, we can have pizza and cake on our birthday, and we don't need a PhD to do it. This stuff is ready to go now for you.
MANDI: I love that. I think a lot of people who are kind of on the go or even just not as familiar in the kitchen are nervous about replacing things or trying new recipes.
So I love that you're saying you don't need a PhD. You don't have to, you know, have all of this science-y background to be able to make this work for you.
So I'd love to dig in a little bit more in understanding how you help people move from this survival mode around into confidence and creativity.
NINA: So when I meet people, they are often in that moment that I was in at the doctor's office, where the foods that they love have been taken away from them and they just want to eat again.
And they can't live their life subsisting on protein and veggies. They want themselves and their children to have pizza and cake on their birthday.
And so what I teach them to do is I teach them to make normal foods without grains and the allergens that cause chaos in their body.
And as we move forward through their journey, they learn to make pizza. They learn to make dairy-free cheese so that they can have real mozzarella cheese on their pizza, even though they're avoiding grains and top allergens.
And they learn how these ingredients work together so that they can do what I've done and apply that to their family recipes.
One of my clients, her family tradition was a donut tower. Kids in her home wake up on their birthday to a donut tower and everyone has breakfast together.
But that's really hard when one of the children has to avoid grains, dairy, eggs, soy, corn because of food allergies.
And it was his birthday and he was all down like, "Mommy, can I have donuts this year? Mommy, I can't have donuts anymore."
And so we worked together, she and I, to break the recipe. So she didn't just have one donut for her son. I taught her to make one donut recipe and she broke the recipe.
And so from the chocolate donut recipe, she made lemon blueberry squares and she made strawberry donuts and vanilla donuts.
And this little boy, his birthday didn't skip a beat. He and his siblings and dad and everybody, they were just digging in, having a normal life, having a normal birthday while being safe and avoiding grains and allergens.
MANDI: That is so awesome. And I love this idea that you're not just teaching, like, "Hey, here is a recipe you can use." You're actually teaching what you call the breaking recipes, right? Break a recipe so that someone can do that same thing, replicate it for other things that they like.
I think that's so empowering to people. And we've talked a lot about this idea of the birthday or the celebrations. And you said everyone deserves pizza and cake on their birthday. Why is reclaiming this joy and celebration through food so important to you?
NINA: It's important to me because at one point I thought it was going to be my only way of life. And again, as an adult, I've had birthdays. But even as someone who had 30-plus birthdays, when I started this, the thought of never having cake on my birthday was devastating.
And to think about a child who's gotta skip cake on their birthday—I mean, when you're seven years old, your social functions are birthday parties and get-togethers and sleepovers. And so to think about children being permanently excluded from this part of life, or to be othered, or to be made to feel like they just can't, rocked me at my core.
I never thought there would be kids with these food allergies and sensitivities. So when I work with these children, it's so rewarding to me to see them have a childhood in a way that their parents didn't think they ever might.
Their parents thought they had to choose between healing protocols and a normal life. And the truth is, both can work together.
MANDI: Yeah, absolutely. And you've really touched on kind of this grief that can happen around this transition with foods. And I think more so, you know, you've been talking about it with young people, but I think even adults can go through that experience as well.
And did you have an experience where when this transition for you started happening around foods and ingredients, where you felt grief, where you felt like you were losing comfort, where things that really just connect you to others? Can you just share a little bit about that?
NINA: Well, I've told you about Christmas Eve, I told you about birthdays. So I think that apart from that, there was a pervasive just feeling of sadness that you just learn to live with until it goes away.
And for me, that grief, or the way that grief dissolved, came in the form of a grilled cheese sandwich.
Because nobody celebrates a loaf of bread. But I was home by myself and I had baked a loaf of grain-free bread. And you know, when you work with people, people, community happens around food.
And so I would watch my coworkers have breakfast, have lunch, but I was at home and I had made a nice loaf of bread and I had sliced it up and I said, "You know, I think I could make myself a breakfast sandwich with this. Wouldn't that be nice?"
And so I made myself a breakfast sandwich and I had it, and I decided, "I'm gonna actually make this and I'm gonna take it to work and I'm gonna, you know, this'll be a good lunch for me."
And it was so exciting to sit at the lunch table and to not get the looks, to not get the "You're not eating a salad today, Nina?" "Oh, yeah, all you eat is salad." To just have people actually ask, "What is that? What kind of bread is that?" To be included.
And I guess what I'm saying is that grief and sadness became, for a few years, a permanent cycle. It was a permanent way of living as I struggled my way through building my life back together until normal food became an option for me.
MANDI: Wow. Thank you so much for sharing that and just being vulnerable about that time in your life and your experience.
I hear you talking a lot about the importance of community and the impact that community can have, either for the positive or being part of that grieving process, right, of the judgment that can come.
So I'm really curious, from your perspective, what does allyship look like when someone has severe allergies or dietary restrictions?
NINA: And being an ally looks like caring enough to ask, not assume.
I've heard so many people say, "I'm just trying to..." Awesome. I love that you're trying, but wouldn't it be better if we talked before?
Like, it's great that you marinated the chicken. That is fabulous. I called, you said it was taken care of. I asked for the list of the ingredients, and you said you had it. And now you're upset that I'm not eating your chicken because you marinated your chicken in Wish-Bone dressing, which includes corn syrup. Corn is a grain, and I can't eat it.
So being an ally looks like being open and supporting your friend, family member, neighbor with food allergies in a way that they appreciate. Not that you think is right.
The same way that if someone has a visual impairment, you ask them, "How can I support you? Are there certain types of lighting that are better for you? Are there certain types of, you know, how do I set up the environment to make it better for you to navigate?"
We don't make the assumption that we know. We ask, and we do the best we can to accommodate based on the feedback we receive.
So when people do that, I'm so grateful. Even if they say, "I can make a salad. That's all I can do." Cool. Make a salad. Please don't put anything on it. If you've got dressings, if you've got toppings, put those to the side. Would it be okay if I served myself first? And that way there's no cross-contamination.
And those are all things that people say.
MANDI: Really?
NINA: That's all it is. That's all it is. Thank you for supporting me. I want to be part of your get-together, and I so appreciate you asking so that we can all eat together safely.
MANDI: I love that. And I'd love to kind of broaden this also. So moving from, you know, a little bit beyond just the individual allyship and thinking about broader systems, like, what are some ways that schools, workplaces—you had mentioned church earlier—so churches, or really just these restaurants, kind of on a systemic level, how can they become more inclusive for people with food allergies?
NINA: For restaurants, they need to train their staff. I'm always floored that the staff at a restaurant doesn't know what the top allergens are.
There was one particular time I went out and I asked for this salmon bowl, and I explained that I had a soy allergy. Well, the salmon bowl came with edamame. I said, "I have a soy allergy. So no soy," right? No one who was on the premises knew that edamame was soy.
They just didn't know.
So if restaurants can educate their servers and be willing to make small accommodations, we can ensure safety.
For schools, schools do a really good job with 504 plans, and every individual's 504 plan is different. So sometimes what one person needs is not what another needs.
I think schools have done a really good job banning the food, so saying, "We just can't have peanuts at our school. We just can't have peanuts here." Everybody gets to enjoy peanuts at home, but because of safety, we're not going to make those who can't have peanuts sit in a different room. We're just gonna say peanuts are something we enjoy elsewhere so that everyone is included, because when there it's life or death, we can't take that risk.
MANDI: Yeah. I've definitely found schools to be, like, a little bit of an easier place to set policies into place, like the no-nuts. And I have found other places, like the workplace, plays a lot harder to really create policies around this because some people feel that having restrictions is somehow limiting their own freedoms or liberties.
And I see this across different disability types, but in particular about food allergies. And so do you have any tips or advice on how workplaces might be able to be more supportive or inclusive for people with food allergies?
NINA: So a lot of times when they do staff appreciation, it's all food-based. Consider having non-food options.
And that is inclusive not just for the food allergy community, but for those people who are either on diets, who don't want a donut. Right? Have options so that your staff can receive gratitude in a way that makes sense.
MANDI: I love that so much because I specifically like that you're saying this benefits everyone, right? Because I really love to promote that idea that accessibility really does benefit everyone. It's not just for a particular group.
And the truth is, yeah, you're right. There may be people who don't attend celebrations or don't feel as included, and it can be totally unrelated to food allergies.
And it also, I think, is more inclusive in the fact that we have so many different religious cultures that prepare food in different ways. And so when we're limiting our options to—or our celebrations to—just food-based, it does exclude a lot of people. So I really love that you are bringing that up.
As we start to wrap up, I would love for our listeners to know where they can find your recipes, your coaching, and your cooking classes. So how can people find you?
NINA: So you can find me on my website, breakarecipe.com. And if you are on social media, most of the world is. I am on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook at Break a Recipe, where I share daily grain-free lifestyle tips and share recipes daily and do free live trainings once a week.
MANDI: That's amazing. And what could someone expect from coaching with you, from having you as their coach?
NINA: They can expect to step into the most delicious grain-free lifestyle that they have been dreaming of. My mission is to take what I have learned in 14 years and use it to help them eat like normal again.
So if you are listening to this and you're going, "I just want mac and cheese again. I just want to eat dinner with my family." Let's connect. It's not impossible. It can happen tomorrow.
MANDI: I love that. And I do want to touch a little bit on the body transformation. Can you share, like, is there body transformation that happens when eating in this different way?
NINA: So when I began my journey, I had unexplained infertility and I had unexplained weight gain. I was eating 1,200 calories a day, 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. And I gained 24 pounds in a year eating 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day. That math does not math.
My body should not have done that. Meanwhile, I couldn't sleep at night, I couldn't wake up in the morning, and I just felt, ugh. I felt like I was wearing someone else's body over mine. It just—I knew it was my skin, but it wasn't me. And I was doing all the right things, everything that the doctor said, and I was told, "Honey, this happens when you turn 30." No, no, no, no, no, no.
So what happened to me? When I got off the grains, my body calmed down and instead of overproducing insulin to process the foods that it couldn't digest, I lost the weight slowly and I got back to who I was.
I didn't know I had brain fog, but my thinking cleared, right? I was able to fall asleep at night.
I have scoliosis. And now you're never going to make scoliosis go away. What I didn't know was that I had arthritis around my curves, and that those curves and the arthritis were causing pain from the inflammation that was making it hard for me to fall asleep. And I couldn't get a restful sleep and I couldn't wake up in the morning.
So once all of that calmed down, I became the person that I recognized again.
For my clients, the biggest transformation that I've ever seen has been in my very first client, and she is a rock star.
She came to me with a paunchy attitude and a list of, "Let me tell you what I'm not doing." And she told me, "I'm gluten-free, I'm dairy-free. You're the only person I know who's doing real food, but I'm not going grain-free."
And I was like, "That's cool. Thank you for telling me your boundaries. Now let's get you food."
So, long story short, her transformation included a rapid-fire increase between her mouth and her brain. She had so much brain fog that she didn't need a filter because there just weren't thoughts happening. She would not say very much. What she said she meant, but she would get exhausted from conversations.
So we get the grains out of her diet. After she finally went for testing, she found out that although she was gluten-free, a lot of the grains in gluten-free foods were actually causing her problems.
And when you have inflammatory problems and you're eating inflammatory foods, you got the inflammatory foods out. Her body calmed down.
So she went from being someone who needed a walker to walk in the house to someone who can walk up flights of stairs unassisted.
Okay. Halfway through her transformation, she got that spitfire tongue where she had no filter between the brain and the mouth. So she was saying stuff that she never would have let slip out before.
And her children and her husband were like, "Why are you so mean?"
And with her doctor, she problem-solved. "This is actually part of your healing. You will catch up with that filter, but right now, ask your family to give you grace. Try and control your words. But you can't heal without going through this process because she had so much brain fog and it was just dropping so quickly."
It was really miraculous to witness.
MANDI: Wow, that's awesome. And this was all through just changing what this person was eating.
So I think we, especially—I'll venture to say in America—are so used to eating things that are not good for us that we don't really know how our bodies or our minds can really be optimized if we start to really consider what we are putting into our bodies. Really appreciate that.
And finally, because of the title of this podcast, I would love to know what disability liberation and love mean to you within the context of food and healing.
NINA: Liberation and love within the context of food allergies means being able to share meals with those you love so that you are no longer an observer in your own life, so that you can kiss your partner after they've eaten whatever meal, so that you can sit shoulder to shoulder and not worry about if you're going to need to reach for an EpiPen, if you're going to need to keep yourself safe, so that you can fully experience and access life and all of its flavors.
MANDI: I love that so much. Thank you so much, Nina. We are going to include the link to your website in the show notes so listeners can check that out. I will also include your Instagram and YouTube channel so people can follow you and check out your recipes.
I'm really grateful for your time and your vulnerability in sharing your stories today, and I look forward to trying out some of your recipes.
NINA: Oh, thank you, Mandi. I can't wait to hear how yours turn out. I'm gonna give a quick little plug for the fast mac and cheese that is in my free cookbook. It's ready as fast as the mac and cheese in the box and it's super budget-friendly. So if that's your first recipe, you're gonna love it.
MANDI: Awesome. Thank you so much, and take care.
NINA: Take care.
MANDI: What I love most about today's conversation is that it reminds us that accessibility often begins with creativity. Sometimes inclusion doesn't mean finding a seat at an existing table. Sometimes it means reimagining the table altogether so that everyone can gather, belong, and be nourished.
A huge thank you to Nina for sharing her story, her wisdom, and her passion with us. If you'd like to learn more about Nina's work, try one of her recipes, or connect with her coaching and cooking classes, you'll find all of her links in the show notes.
And if you do make one of Nina's recipes, I'd love to hear about it. Share your favorite creation on social media and tag both of us.
Or if there is a favorite dish you've always wished could be made grain-free or allergy-friendly, let us know. What's a recipe you'd like to break?
Before we wrap up, I also wanted to share a quick update with all of you. If you've been following along, you know I had a live workshop scheduled for this Sunday as part one of my Breaking Biblical Barriers series.
After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to pivot. Instead of hosting the workshop live this weekend, Part One will be released as a full-length podcast episode, completely free for anyone to listen to.
One of the things disability justice continues to teach me is that sometimes our plans have to change. Prioritizing our access needs, our capacity, and our joy isn't a failure. It's part of living out the very values we talk about on this podcast.
Sometimes the most justice-centered thing we can do is give ourselves permission to pivot.
I'm really excited to share this conversation with you, and I can't wait to break down biblical barriers surrounding LGBTQ Christians with this community on Sunday.
Until then, thank you for listening, thank you for being here, and thank you for helping build a community where disability liberation and love are always beyond beautiful.
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