Hi! I’m Deryn. I live in Vancouver, BC and I do all the writing, recipe development and photography here at Running on Real Food.
I started this blog in January of 2013 so I could share my experiences in healthy eating and fitness, and to motivate and inspire a healthy lifestyle in others. Since then, Running on Real Food has grown. It is now my full-time job and I love what I do.
What does Running on Real Food mean?
Running on Real Food means fuelling your “engine” with real food. It’s all about using whole foods to fuel a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
My hope for this website is for it to be a complete resource with everything you need to eat a healthy diet and feel great while doing it, without restriction.
I make room for plenty of treats too and am all about balance so you’ll find a wide variety of plant-based recipes to suit your needs, from healthy bowls to decadent desserts for every occasion.
About the Blog
Running on Real Food is a vegan food blog that focuses on simple, healthy plant-based recipes anyone will love. You’ll also find a wealth of free workouts and articles on health, wellness and nutrition.
About the Recipes
All the recipes you find on Running on Real Food are plant-based and I try to keep my recipes as simple as I can by using easy to find ingredients. Since I ate fully plant-based much of my adult life, those are the recipes that I feel confident developing and sharing.
It’s important to me that healthy eating be realistic and doable for everyone and that anyone who wants to improve their health can find resources at Running on Real Food to support them.
How I Eat
I eat all foods but I do enjoy eating plant-based meals and proteins but I am not vegan. You can read more about my food philosophy here.
To get started with some of my most popular recipes, resources and healthy living posts, check out my Start Here page.
Although I enjoy eating a plant-forward diet and love eating whole foods, I also love enjoying life, traveling and just having as much fun as I can while I’m here, so along with all that healthy food, there are plenty of treats. I do not restrict my diet in any way.
Food to me is can be both functional and pleasurable and while I mostly eat for function and to support my active lifestyle, I always make room for pleasure.
Fitness
I’ve always had a passion for health and fitness. I grew up with competitive swimming and over the years have competed in triathlon, running and CrossFit.
Over the past 25+ years I’ve done just about every kind of strength and conditioning. CrossFit, powerlifting, Olympic lifting, functional bodybuilding, bodybuilding and loved it all.
When CrossFit classes were shut down during Covid, I never really went back to CrossFit. I’d been doing it almost 9 years with recreational competing. After CrossFit, I shifted to a more functional bodybuilding approach with some CrossFit-style conditioning workouts thrown in and I was running occasionally.
In 2021, I did a 100 km a month running challenge into running 5 km a day in January of 2022. I was still lifting 5 days a week through this but after the 5km a day challenge, my running came to a halt and I didn’t run much in 2022 after January.
Towards the end of 2022, I felt like I needed new purpose to my training, so signed up for my first half marathon, marathon, sprint triathlon and Olympic distance triathlon for 2023.
Endurance sports were new territory for me as I’d mostly been lifting with a bit of running for more than a decade.
I’m proud to say I completed all these events in 2023, in addition to my first two trail races. I achieved my goal of sub-4 hours in my first marathon with a time of 3:59:30, and ran my first half-marathon in 1:46:34, just missing my goal of sub-1:45.
I had a lot of fun completing the two triathlons, even trying something completely new to me – open water ocean swimming.
Throughout marathon and triathlon training, I cut back the gym to 3 days a week since the volume of running and then triathlon training was quite high. I focused on the basics with 1 lower body, 1 upper body and 1 full body day per week and including squat, bench, deadlift, overhead press and plyometrics once a week, but fell in love with a hybrid approach to training, or concurrently training for strength and endurance goals.
Since I loved having new purpose to my training, I decided on a fresh set of challenges for 2024, namely to complete 5 trail running events ranging from half marathon distance to 28k. 2025 will include a 50k trial race and I do see a half ironman and probably another marathon at some point but I’m not sure when that will be.
In addition to training, I also love walking my dogs, hiking, swimming, yoga and generally just staying active and moving my body.
You can follow me on Instagram if you’re interested in my workouts or check out my collection of workouts on the blog.
My approach to training is that (seemingly boring) and basic works – progressive overload with managed overall training volume and using sport-specific training when needed.
I also think consistency and essential healthy habits are more important than advanced training and nutrition techniques and that all movement is good movement. I think training should be fun, enjoyable and something everyone should include and can benefit from, if able. I also think physical exercise is incredibly important for mental health and self-esteem, especially for younger people. Also that should be a positive addition to our lives, not consume them. It should be there to elevate our lives by keeping us strong and healthy so we can do, and keep doing, everything we enjoy. And finally, that the lifelong journey of training, and not any result or end goal, is what it’s all about, though tackling big goals and accomplishing them is awesome too.
Education
I’m a Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach, CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, GGS Women’s Coaching Specialist, I have a Bachelor of Science degree and I’ve taken many courses on nutrition, personal training, sports nutrition and wellness.
I’m currently finishing the Sleep, Stress and Recovery Coaching Certification with Precision Nutrition and recertified my personal training. Previous certifications include NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (considering recertification), CPT, Group Fitness Trainer Cert., Corrective Exercise Specialist, Various other sports conditioning certifications over the years.
As for my personal experience in the fitness industry, I have 25+ years of lifting and training experience, I’ve also worked as a group fitness instructor, spin instructor, personal trainer, small group trainer, boot camp instructor and nutrition coach.
eBooks & Guides
- Super Simple Plant-Based
- Vegan Protein Smoothies
- 7 Day Vegan Meal Plan
- 75 No-Bake Bars, Balls and Bites
- 8-Week Dumbbell Training Guide
- 2-Week Plant-Based Protein Meal Plan
You can view all my ebooks here and check out my bundle for a 50% off.
Get in Touch
Please give me a shout anytime, you can always find me on Facebook and Instagram or feel free to shoot me an email at the address below. I love connecting with you guys more than anything.
Contact me by email at deryn {at} runningonrealfood {dot} com, or visit my Contact page for more information.
