North Jersey Native Teaches Others How To Make Healthy Food On YouTube Channel

One Fair Lawn native is doing what she can to inspire others to eat healthy.

Dani Spies’ YouTube cooking channel, ”Clean & Delicious,” attracts thousands of viewers a month. Instead of being restrictive and telling people what they shouldn’t eat, Spies shares recipes and food insights with viewers.

That non-restrictive strategy led Spies to lose, and keep off, weight.

Spies, a Glen Rock resident, started binge eating and up-and-down dieting when she was in the fifth grade. As a teenager, she said she tried all the fad diets, including Atkins, South, Weight Watchers, and Nutrisystem.

Then, it all changed when she took a trip to Italy.

“I lost nearly 10 pounds just by changing what I ate and how I ate. I didn’t snack and just sat and really enjoyed each meal that was freshly prepared,” Spies said. “There was a presence and awareness to each meal that I hadn’t experienced before.”

Spies earned a degree in psychology and then studied integrative nutrition and holistic health counseling.

She’s taken baby steps. She switched from eating processed foods to eating whole, mostly-organic foods. She also tracks her eating in a journal, a habit she started years ago.

“Keeping a journal is my salvation,” Spies said.

She launched “Clean & Delicious” in 2006 as a hobby, posting occasional videos until 2013 when she and her husband moved back to New Jersey from California and now does the blog full time.

Spies posts two videos a week. Most of them are recipe videos, but others focus on nearly a single ingredient, including mushrooms, eggplant, and squash.

Now, Spies eats what she wants, when she wants, and she listens to her body.

“I do find that because I eat well most of the time, my tells me when I need something that might not be the most nutritious thing,” Spies said. “But I’ve gotten used to feeling good.”

She wants to use her videos to make others feel good and be healthy.

“It’s nothing revolutionary. It just requires a little effort to take the time to cook and get back to the basics,” Spies said.