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THE BUSINESSWOMAN, KNOWN FOR HER COOKERY BOOKS THAT PROMOTE A PLANT-BASED DIET, IS THE GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF LORD ALAN JOHN SAINSBURY, OF THE SAINSBURY'S SUPERMARKET-OWNING FAMILY SION
MORGAN Head of Audience and HANNAH ROBERTS PA ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER 11:32, 29 May 2025 Food writer Ella Mills has said she knew people would call her a "nepo baby" when she set
about creating her recipe blog and brand Deliciously Ella. The businesswoman, known for her cookery books that promote a plant-based diet, is the great-granddaughter of Lord Alan John
Sainsbury, of the Sainsbury's supermarket-owning family. She told Good Housekeeping UK: "I passionately wanted to do Deliciously Ella on my own. Of course, it didn't take
journalists long to link the dots and I felt so bad in retrospect. "I knew people would say I was just a nepo baby, but you don't sell 100 million products because 40 years ago
Sainsbury's went public. "At the same time, having that connection meant I had a subconscious wish to do something quite different, against the odds, as my great-grandfather had
done." In the mid-2010s Mills was touted as a pioneer of the "clean eating" movement, despite telling a magazine in 2016 that "I would never use the word
'clean'." Article continues below The concept, promoting minimally-processed foods, was controversial, with Nigella Lawson telling BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that
"behind the notion of clean eating is an implication that any other form of eating is dirty or shameful". During this time, Mills received backlash for her gluten, meat and
dairy-free recipes, as well as her personal wellness journey, which was associated with the clean eating movement. She told the magazine: "It (the backlash) was instigated more by the
media than by social media. "I don't have it as bad as some people who've been trolled, but I'm aware that a fair share of people don't like me, for sure. "I
accept that if you have a public platform and you share your opinion with the world, the world is quite right to have an opinion back. "If I can help people to eat more plants and have
a more natural diet, then that's more important than anything a troll can say about me." Speaking further about the wellness industry, she said: "You have this bizarre, quite
ironic dichotomy: as our collective health gets worse, the wellness industry gets bigger, noisier, more confusing and more niche. "If you go online, people are following these extreme
morning routines, achieving so much by 9am. "My concern is that too many people think that their health is synonymous with expensive powder and wildly elaborate routines.
"Everything I suggest is evidence-based. It's not about gimmicks or fads. I changed my diet (to plant-based) and it changed my life." In the summer of 2011, Mills was
diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is when your heart rate increases very quickly after getting up from sitting or lying down, according to the NHS
website. In her book, Deliciously Ella, published in 2015, she said that changing her diet meant "in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for
life". Article continues below Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK's July issue, on sale from June 29.