Name: Abbey Sharp
Blog name: Abbey’s Kitchen
Where were you born? Toronto
Where are you living now? Toronto!
Why did you start your blog?
I started blogging well before it was the thing to do. I was in school studying nutrition, and was always known as the girl to ask advice on recipes and hot Toronto restaurants. One day one of my colleagues turned to me and said, ”Hey, you should start a blog!” I didn’t even know what a blog was, but I went home and signed up on blogger and the rest is history. At first, it was mainly just like a visual on-line journal of my greatest recipe successes and favourite meals so that I wouldn’t forget about them, but then obviously the following grew and so did my goals.
How did you decide on your blog name?
Great question. I often try to remember this myself. I honestly think it happened a bit accidentally. I wanted my name in it, I knew I would be talking about food, so the name was organically born. I didn’t search online, I didn’t spend days thinking of something catchy – it just happened.
What do you blog about?
I’m a Registered Dietitian and foodie, so I blog about nutrition myths, controversial diets and food topics like GMOs and organics, and of course, healthy delicious recipes.
What post on your blog most encapsulates you?
Well this one is about me, and is near and dear to my heart. It’s about the somewhat new phenomenon called orthorexia, an eating disorder that is quickly on the rise thanks to social media and the media’s representation of a healthy diet. It also describes my own struggle with the disease and how blogging actually helped me gain control.
Which post do you wish received more love and why?
My post on exercise and your workout routine may actually be making you GAIN weight. This post is actually one of my top posts, but I still wanted to see an even bigger impact because it literally took our team months to write. It required an extensive amount of research and whenever I read it, I feel like I’ve learned so much about some really simple things I may be doing wrong at the gym. I think you will be really blown away at what the research says and how this may be the key to unlocking your fat loss potential.
Which post’s success surprised you and why?
This is my post about the best high protein post-workout snacks. I knew it would do well, but I didn’t think it would do as well as it did. Check it out, these are some of my personal go-to snacks!
What’s your biggest challenge as a blogger?
Probably just staying on top of the analytics and tracking successes and failures and constantly changing the direction of our blog. Most of my time is actually spent as a spokesperson doing TV tours, which takes a huge amount of time out of my day, so to worry about all of these little google-related details is incredibly taxing.
Share a couple of your favourite food blogs to read. Why do you like them?
I love My Food & Happiness, Amy’s Healthy Baking, FitFluential. They all have great recipe content that gives me inspiration. I also like Stop Hating Your Body for some body positive inspiration.
Favourite food - care to share a recipe or a restaurant destination?
I love all dessert but especially cheesecake. I know, not exactly very dietitian friendly but I absolutely love it. Every once in a while (usually for the holidays) I include some really tasty decadent recipes and these Mini Egg Trifles with a cheesecake mousse and hot cross buns are a MUST any time of year. You’re going to die when you try these.
What are you working on next for your blog?
We just have relaunched the blog on WordPress after years of a custom Concrete5 site. It was a bit of a nightmare for SEO so as much work as it has been to transfer things over (we’re still working on it), it will be worth it. We are also about to launch our shop with some great fun foodie apparel and Abbey’s Kitchen tea. You’re going to love this.
What else should we know about you that may or not be in your “About Me” page?
I dropped out of grad school to blog full time. I had a full scholarship at U of T to study my masters and had plans for a PhD afterwards, and after a few months I just thought, “why am I putting off what I really want to do" (which was working in media, TV and writing). I made the big leap and it was the best decision I ever made.
What makes your blog unique?
I think there are a lot of specialty blogs out there that cater to a specific diet niche, and clearly that’s a good thing for SEO. But as a dietitian, who’s whole life is built around loving food, finding pleasure in food and balance in food, I have aimed to build a brand that really does appeal to the masses. I have gluten free recipes, I have vegan recipes, but these are recipes that I (neither gluten free or vegan) absolutely love for their own merits. I never want to write vegan recipes that you say “ Oh that’s great for a vegan recipe”. I want to write vegan recipes that you say, “That’s great.” Period. The end. Healthy food should be delicious, the healthiness should just be in implicit fact.
What part of the FBC site do you find most useful?
Probably the SEO tips.
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