Ricki Heller

Ricki Heller is the voice behind the popular food blog RickiHeller.com, which celebrates sugar-free, gluten-free, allergy-friendly whole foods through a low-glycemic, vegan lifestyle. With over 600 foolproof recipes, humorous anecdotes and comments from two chatty canines, the blog illustrates Ricki's philosophy that "a healthy lifestyle CAN be sweet." In 2011, Diet, Dessert and Dogs (the blog's name then) was nominated for the SHAPE Magazine "Best Healthy Eating Blog" and as a "Best Healthy Cooking Blog" by The Kitchn in 2013. Ricki's latest book, Living Candida-Free was published in 2015 and became an instant Amazon best seller (NOTE: as of 2021, THE PUBLISHER HAS CHANGED THEH BOOK'S FORMAT SO THE PHOTOS ARE IN BLACK AND WHITE ONLY. AS THE AUTHOR, RICKI HAD NO SAY IN, OR CONTROL OVER, THIS DECISION. Everything else in the book remains the same). Her first book, Sweet Freedom: Desserts You'll Love without Wheat, Eggs, Dairy or Refined Sugar caught the eye of Ellen DeGeneres and is one of only three cookbooks recommended on DeGeneres's website. Ricki has also written three anti-candida ebooks. After being diagnosed with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), Ricki first began to change her eating habits and realized how much the food we eat influences or health. Later, after suffering from candida and following an anti-candida diet for more than 3 years, she determined to learn more about the healing power of foods and obtained her Registered Holistic Nutritionist designation. These days, Ricki still shares her recipes through her blog and books, and coaches women individually to help them stick with their healthy eating. She is also a fiction writer who is currently working on a novel. Ricki has worked as an Associate Editor for the hugely popular Simply Gluten-Free magazine, for which she wrote a regular column. Her articles and recipes have also appeared in Clean Eating magazine, Living Without Magazine, Allergic Living magazine, Canadian Living Magazine, VegNews.com, The Huffington Post, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and others. Ricki's television appearances include CBS News (Chicago), Canada AM, CityTV's Breakfast Television, Global Morning Show, as a featured guest on York Region Living, In the Know, and as a regular guest on Rogers' daytime (York Region and Toronto). She was also a speaker at the inaugural Nourished conference in Chicago in 2012. Ricki lives and works in Vaughan, Ontario, with one husband and two lab-border collie cross dogs.