What began as a joyful push to get people cooking more vegetables<\/a> has hardened into something louder, pricier and, in her view, far less effective.<\/p>\n \u201cWellness just wasn\u2019t something that existed in the ether around us,\u201d she tells Emilie Lavinia on The Independent\u2019s Well Enough podcast<\/a>, recalling the early days of Instagram<\/a>, spiralised courgettes and the novelty of almond butter. \u201cAnd now it\u2019s a multi-trillion dollar industry.\u201d<\/p>\n The problem, Mills argues, isn\u2019t that people care about health<\/a>. It\u2019s that modern wellness has become so overcomplicated that it\u2019s actively pushing people away from the basics. <\/p>\n There are pluses and minuses to that evolution, she acknowledges. But as wellness has grown, so too has the pressure: pressure to buy gadgets, powders and supplements; pressure to follow increasingly dogmatic rules; pressure to optimise every corner of daily life. \u201cWe\u2019re letting go of the basics,\u201d she says. The result? \u201cI don\u2019t think the wellness industry is working.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s not a claim designed to provoke for provocation\u2019s sake. It\u2019s rooted in the data Mills keeps returning to: we eat fewer vegetables than at any point in the last 50 years; more than half of our calories now come from ultra-processed foods; most of us aren\u2019t getting anywhere near enough fibre. <\/p>\n \u201cOur foundations, when it comes to food<\/a>, are really struggling,\u201d she says. \u201cThis shouting at each other about whether you\u2019re following X, Y or Z diet<\/a> is incredibly frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n For Mills, the contradiction is glaring. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can have a multi-trillion dollar industry that\u2019s grown at that speed when we\u2019re collectively getting more ill and say the wellness industry is a wild success,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s making a lot of money. I\u2019m not really sure it\u2019s making enough people more, well.\u201d<\/p>\n When Mills started Deliciously Ella<\/a> in 2021, wellness felt inherently optimistic. \u201cIt was exciting,\u201d she says, recalling the novelty of roasting lentils until crispy or blending spinach into smoothies. \u201cIt was people saying, \u2018Have you ever tried this?\u2019\u201d Social media, then, was about encouragement rather than correction. <\/p>\n Fast forward to 2026, and the tone has shifted. \u201cIt\u2019s wildly nuanced, very dogmatic,\u201d she says. \u201cLots of people shouting at each other from different corners of the internet, making vast sums of money from products that do absolutely nothing.\u201d Wellness has become something to buy, rather than something to practise. <\/p>\n That shift has consequences. With every scroll comes a contradiction: one day, oat milk<\/a> is virtuous, the next it\u2019s villainous. One week, seed oils are toxic, the next they\u2019re misunderstood.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single time you open your podcast app or Netflix<\/a> or various media outlets, you\u2019re going to see everything contradicting each other,\u201d Mills says. \u201cAnd it becomes so overwhelming that there\u2019s almost a sense of, \u2018What\u2019s the point?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n \u2018Wellness has become something to buy, not something to practise,\u2019 says Mills, who believes modern health culture is making us busier \u2013 not better (Supplied)<\/p>\n This matters because the stakes are high. Fear-based headlines about chronic disease collide with an already anxious world. \u201cYou kind of look at this and think, \u2018What on earth am I meant to do? This will kill me, that will kill me, the next thing will kill me. It just becomes mad.\u201d<\/p>\n For Mills, the tragedy is that wellness has drifted away from the very behaviours that most reliably support long-term health. \u201cIt needs to feel more approachable, more inclusive, more straightforward,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is how you eat some more broccoli in a delicious way, and less, \u2018You\u2019re doing it all wrong\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n That philosophy underpins Mills\u2019 approach to New Year\u2019s resolutions, and why she believes most of them fail. \u201cHealth isn\u2019t a six-week bikini plan,\u201d she says. \u201cHealth is genuinely supporting your mind and body so you get the most from your life for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n The problem, she argues, is that humans are wired to overreach. \u201cWe really overestimate what we\u2019re going to achieve today or next week,\u201d she says, \u201cand we wildly underestimate what we\u2019re going to do in a year or two years.\u201d Grand promises \u2013 cutting out sugar<\/a>, exercising<\/a> every day, overhauling an entire diet overnight \u2013 crumble the moment stress or fatigue enters the picture. <\/p>\n Instead, Mills advocates for what she calls \u201cgentle habits\u201d: small, repeatable actions that don\u2019t demand willpower. \u201cEating super well this week will not do anything for your long-term health,\u201d she says. \u201cBut small things every single day, for decades, will do enormous things for your health.\u201d<\/p>\n That might mean adding one extra portion of plants a day. It might mean stirring lentils into a familiar bolognese, throwing raspberries into porridge or batch-cooking once a week. \u201cIt\u2019s that idea of 1 per cent closer to your goal every day,\u201d she says. \u201cIt sounds like nothing, but over a year, you\u2019ve gone miles.\u201d<\/p>\n Crucially, these habits are designed to survive real life. \u201cLife ebbs and flows,\u201d Mills says. \u201cDays unfold as we don\u2019t expect them to.\u201d In short, if a habit can\u2019t flex, it won\u2019t last.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n \u2018Quick Wins\u2019 distils Mills\u2019 philosophy into one-pan, low-effort cooking designed for tired evenings, not idealised wellness routines (Yellow Kite)<\/p>\n Nowhere is that realism more evident than in how Mills talks about evening meals \u2013 the moment many good intentions unravel. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that I didn\u2019t have 15 or 20 minutes to cook,\u201d she says of her own burnout period. \u201cIt was that I didn\u2019t have the headspace.\u201d<\/p>\n Her solution wasn\u2019t discipline; it was structure. Loose meal plans, a weekend shop and knowing, on Tuesday night, post-school run, exactly what was for supper. \u201cYou get home and you think, \u2018Right, I\u2019ve got the ingredients, this will be ready in half an hour. Done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n This is where her latest book, Quick Wins, lives: food that feels comforting, requires minimal washing up and removes friction at the point of decision. Take her \u201cfancy beans on toast\u201d, a regular fallback. Garlic, chilli flakes and cherry tomatoes cooked down, butter beans stirred through, finished with lemon, yoghurt and basil, spooned onto toast. \u201cIt\u2019s comfort food<\/a>,\u201d she says. \u201cIt takes 10 minutes. It\u2019s not crazy ingredients. And you feel like you\u2019re winning.\u201d<\/p>\n Another go-to is a one-tray bake: peppers, red onion, tofu and spices roasted until crisp, garlic softened in its skin and squeezed into yoghurt, served with rice and avocado. \u201cFive minutes of prep, one tray, one bowl,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s the middle of the Venn diagram for me \u2013 it has to be delicious, easy and genuinely nourishing.\u201d<\/p>\n Mills is clear that toast or takeaway aren\u2019t moral failures. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with toast,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s just that adding things to the toast is more beneficial.\u201d The goal isn\u2019t perfection. It\u2019s reducing decision fatigue so healthier choices become default, not heroic. <\/p>\n Mills has also watched \u2013 with some frustration \u2013 the way plant-based eating has been recast in recent years. What began as a movement towards whole foods became, briefly, a race towards technological substitutes: bleeding burgers, ultra-processed meat alternatives, the promise of eating \u201cnormally\u201d without meat.<\/p>\n![\"\u2018Wellness](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/deliciously-ella-well-enough.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\u2018Quick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/quick-wins.jpeg\")
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