About Candice Walker and Food Blog Proportional Plate

In a world of ‘clean eating,’ fad diets, and detoxing, eating what you want has a lot of negative connotations. We’re fed the idea that we must rigidly follow this healthy regime or that restrictive diet, so many people end up feeling guilty about all food. We all know the feeling – “I can’t eat that”, “I shouldn’t eat that after what I’ve eaten today”. And this guilt often drives our food choices.

Welcome to Proportional Plate. The guilt stops here.

Woman in a bamboo forest next to woman cooking in kitchen.

TABLE OF CONTENTS hide

1 About Candice Walker, Founder of Proportional Plate

2 A Note from Candice

3 What does it mean to eat proportionally?

4 Some fun facts about Candice...

5 Press, Interviews, & Publications

6 Contact Me

There’s no need to feel better or worse than anyone else for the diet that you choose. We need to remove the stigma attached to our food choices and be confident that whatever we choose to eat, that choice is not wrong.

This blog is dedicated to encouraging you to eat exactly what you want and to feel confident in that decision. It’s a place for you to learn what foods feel good to you. It’s a place to experiment, discover, and have fun!

About Candice Walker, Founder of Proportional Plate

Candice Walker is the voice behind Proportional Plate, a food blog focused on helping you feel less guilty about your food choices and step up your food game! Her plant-centered recipes inspire excitement through global and fusion cuisine. From her experiences living in different countries around the world and through her mixed heritage, you will find fusion influences in most of her recipes. Thoughtfully placed ingredients are found in wonderfully unexpected places and you’ll learn accessible dishes, ingredients, and techniques along the way.

Candice encourages you to choose your own adventure and pleasures in your own food journey through dispelling food guilt and learning what foods feel good to you. Her body-positive and choice-positive messaging is welcoming to everyone. She’ll encourage you to start listening to your body and tap into your own personal needs instead of following a directive that may work for someone else, but not for you.

Come cook with me! I offer Virtual Cooking Classes starting at just $5/month.

Let's Cook Together!

A Note from Candice

Hi, I’m Candice, and I started Proportional Plate because I want people to stop feeling guilty about their food choices.

Everyone’s bodies and lifestyles are very different. What might work for me may not work for you. We should all strive to create food that is right for how we feel and make choices that feel good for us, whatever they may be. It’s up to us to experiment, to listen to our bodies, and to learn!

I’m also learning to let go of the guilt I feel around my food choices – and I invite you to come on the journey with me. It takes bravery, and I still get those feelings of having ‘messed up’ or made a bad food choice. But none of my food choices are wrong choices, they are just choices. Ultimately, food should be a source of joy: it’s creative and therapeutic and messy and fascinating and unites people all over the world. Let’s make food that feels good!

What does it mean to eat proportionally?

We all learned the food groups in elementary school, but much has changed since then. How do we know if we are eating a balanced meal or eating proportionally in general?

Everyone's body and lifestyle are very different. A big part of the journey to eating proportionally is learning your body. What does it need to feel strong, powerful, energized, and balanced? What foods make you feel sluggish, moody, and unbalanced?

A few rules I follow:

Eat mostly plants: I keep my portions of non-plant foods smaller than my plant-based foods. I try and keep it a minimum of 70% vegetarian.
If I need to eat before a workout, I eat protein. Carbs after.
Don't follow everything you read on the internet. Test things out and see how they work for YOU. For example, It took me a long time to learn which adaptogens work for my body. Take the time. It is worth it.
Learn what foods you are allergic to by doing an elimination diet.
Stay active. Even if it's just a 10 minute walk outside.
Stop eating when you are full!
Dessert is usually fresh fruit. It's summer, people! Let's take advantage of all this amazing summer fruit!
I snack on raw veggies throughout the day, especially if I don't think I have time for lunch. Keep them chopped and ready to go in the fridge, and grab a few handfuls for lunch on the go.
Eat high-nutrient foods, grains, and seeds like sweet potatoes, wild rice, farro, and quinoa. Stay away from low-nutrient foods like white potatoes and white rice.
Do everything in moderation. I eat meat, drink alcohol, and enjoy decadent desserts. You don't have to cut things out of your diet because you think they are bad. Have 2 spoons of ice cream or a piece of chocolate instead of splurging on that sundae that makes you feel sluggish the next day.

Because everyone is different, take the time to learn what works for your body. Keep in mind that what works for me may not work for you. Celebrate YOU by learning more about yourself. And always keep it simple, keep it healthy, keep it delicious! Read more here.

Some fun facts about Candice...

I live in Portland, OR and love how close it is to so many outdoor activities. Nature fuels me in a way nothing else does. I spend as much of my time as I can in my garden.
I married my best friend, and we quit our jobs to travel around the world for a year. We want to do it again....soon.
I am a certified yoga instructor, but don't teach anymore. Most of my working out now is rock climbing related.
I have a mixed heritage and have lived in other countries, so you will find fusion influences in most of my recipes.
I LOVE learning everything I can about food & it's impact on our health and well-being.
I throw pottery, and you'll see much of it in my photos.

Press, Interviews, & Publications

Candice has been interviewed on podcasts like the AllRecipes Homemade Podcast, Dishing Podcast, The Fit Fifteen, and Eat Blog Talk, and has had articles published on Thought Catalog and Medium. She has been named one of Perez Hilton's 'Who's Who' that you need to know.

Candice’s recipes have been featured in many publications including BuzzFeed, Eater, Vents Magazine, Parade, Shape, Williams Sonoma Taste, and more.

Her clients include Headspace, Procter & Gamble, Kroger, Tillamook, OXO, Mr. Clean, RX, The Mushroom Council, American Lamb Board, Copper River Salmon, among many more.

Candice also does regular cooking demos and classes on KATU Afternoon Live, at Williams Sonoma & Surfas Culinary District and the Megan Pormer Show on Playworks. She is currently teaching virtual cooking classes on Patreon.

Media kit available on request. See below contact form for links to select collaborations.

Contact Me

media@proportionalplate.com
5331 S. Macadam Ave.
Portalnd, OR 97239