I’m Daisy, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist based in Austin, Texas. I have a B.S. in Dietetics from Ohio State University, a culinary arts background, and over a decade of experience working with real people on real nutrition goals, from hospital patients to busy parents to first-time gym-goers who just want to eat better without overhauling their entire life.
Food has always been central to who I am. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, the eldest of three kids in a family where dinner was made from scratch most nights. My grandmother taught me to bake at age seven. Food was love in our house, which made it confusing when, at sixteen, I developed a difficult relationship with it while trying to lose weight for swimming.
That struggle is a big part of why I studied dietetics at Ohio State. I wanted to understand the science so the confusion could never win again. College reframed everything: I stopped obsessing over calories and started building meals around protein and whole foods. My energy improved. The anxiety around food largely disappeared. And I realized this was something I wanted to help other people experience too.
From the Hospital to Your Kitchen
After graduating, I moved to Austin for a clinical dietitian role at St. David’s Medical Center. I spent three years counseling patients on therapeutic nutrition and weight management. I loved the work but I kept hitting the same wall. Patients didn’t need more handouts with food pyramids. They needed someone to show them what to actually cook.
In 2016, I left clinical practice to build a private nutrition coaching practice. I worked with over 200 clients one-on-one, developing recipes alongside coaching programs, running a small meal-prep delivery service, and learning what people actually struggled with in the kitchen. Spoiler: it wasn’t knowledge. It was time, boredom, and not having recipes they genuinely wanted to eat.
Thegains101 launched in January 2019, quietly, as a weekend project. A place to put the recipes I was already creating for clients. I shot the first photos on a Google Pixel in my 800-square-foot apartment kitchen. The content resonated because it was genuinely different: high-protein recipes that tasted like food, not diet food.
Pinterest started sending traffic in 2020. In 2021, a single cottage cheese pasta recipe went viral and brought 400,000 page views in one month. I shut down the meal-prep delivery business and went all-in on the site. Today, Thegains101 serves over 2 million monthly readers across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia.
What Thegains101 Is Actually About
Protein First, Everything Else Follows
Protein isn’t a trend. It’s the foundation. Build the plate around it and everything else gets easier: hunger, energy, body composition, how you feel at 3pm on a Wednesday.
Most people are chronically under-eating protein. Not because they don’t care, but because nobody has given them recipes that make hitting 100 to 150 grams a day feel normal and achievable. That’s the gap I’m trying to close. No expensive supplements required. No exotic ingredients. Just smart recipe selection and a bit of prep strategy.
Real Food. Real Ingredients. Real Life.
Every recipe on this site passes what I call the Tuesday Night Test: will someone actually make this after a long day, with kids asking what’s for dinner and forty-five minutes on the clock? If the answer is no, it stays in draft.
I don’t use ingredients you can’t find at a standard grocery store. I don’t publish recipes I haven’t tested at least twice. And I don’t believe healthy eating should feel like a punishment. Flavor comes first. The protein numbers follow.
No Diet Culture. Ever.
You won’t find the words “guilt-free,” “clean,” or “cheat meal” anywhere on this site. I don’t believe in punishing cardio or burning off your food. I don’t use before-and-after framing or language that makes any food feel morally loaded.
What you will find: honest macros on every recipe, substitution tips for different dietary needs, and nutrition information that’s grounded in evidence and explained the way I’d explain it to a friend, not a textbook.
How Every Recipe Gets Made
Developed, Tested, and Tasted By Me
I write every recipe on Thegains101. I test everything in my kitchen, usually multiple times, before it ever goes live. My studio kitchen in South Austin has a dedicated photography setup, a second stove, and a refrigerator organized specifically for shoot-day readiness. Recipe development is not a quick process here.
When a recipe fails (and they do fail), I note what went wrong and start over. The version you see on this site is the one that actually worked.
Nutrition You Can Actually Trust
Macros are calculated using Cronometer and verified manually for every single recipe. When I make a nutrition claim in an article, I link to the source study. When I recommend a protein powder or kitchen tool, it’s something sitting in my cabinet right now.
Sponsored content and affiliate links are always clearly disclosed, in the intro of every relevant post and in the site footer. That transparency is non-negotiable for me. My readers have trusted me with their kitchens and their health goals. I don’t take that lightly.
My Credentials
Education and Certifications
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN)
Credentialed through the Commission on Dietetic Registration, the gold standard in nutrition credentials in the United States. This means my nutrition guidance meets rigorous professional standards, not just personal opinion.
B.S. Dietetics, Ohio State University
Graduated magna cum laude in 2013. My foundation in nutritional biochemistry, clinical nutrition, and medical nutrition therapy informs every piece of content I publish.
Culinary Arts Certificate, Austin Community College
Completed in 2015. Cooking school changed the way I approach recipe development, understanding technique, flavor building, and texture in a way that pure nutrition training never covers.
Precision Nutrition Level 1 Coach (PN1)
Certified in 2016. PN1 shaped how I coach behavior change around food, the psychology of eating, habit building, and making sustainable changes in real life.
Recognized By
Thegains101 has been featured in Eating Well, Healthline, Parade Magazine, Well+Good, TODAY Food, Women’s Health, and PopSugar Fitness. In 2023 I spoke at the Austin Food and Wine Festival nutrition track, and I’ve been a guest on multiple nutrition and food blogging podcasts.
Life Outside the Kitchen
Austin, Texas, Home Base
I live in South Austin with my husband Ryan (a software engineer who used to survive on frozen meals, and I consider his cooking evolution one of my greatest professional achievements), our two kids Lily and Noah, and our golden retriever Biscuit.
I’m up at 5:45 most mornings. Coffee first, always Stumptown Hair Bender in a Chemex, then fifteen minutes of journaling before anyone else is awake. I strength train four days a week on an upper/lower split, walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps daily, and run one half-marathon per year just to prove I still can.
Weekends Look Like This
Saturday mornings we hit the Austin Farmers Market at Republic Square. Saturday afternoons I’m usually in the studio kitchen testing two or three recipes. Lily and Noah are my most honest critics and my least patient ones. Sunday is for batch cooking: chicken thighs seasoned three ways, a big pot of ground turkey, a sheet pan of roasted vegetables, a dozen hard-boiled eggs. The week runs better when Sunday is productive.
What I Eat
My go-to protein sources are chicken thighs, 94% lean ground turkey, cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, eggs, canned salmon, and edamame on plant-forward days. My most-used kitchen tools are my Instant Pot 8-quart, my Lodge cast iron skillet, and my OXO kitchen scale. Measuring by weight genuinely changed how I cook.
Friday nights I pour a glass of Pinot Noir. That part is non-negotiable too.
Work With Me
Brand Partnerships
I take a small number of brand partnerships each year, typically six to eight, and only with products I genuinely use and believe in. My current brand partners include Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt, OXO Kitchen Tools, Thrive Market, Cronometer, and Lodge Cast Iron. Categories I’m open to: dairy and protein foods, kitchen equipment, and grocery and pantry staples that align with a protein-first approach.
If you’re interested in collaborating, please reach out through the contact page with details about your brand and what you have in mind.
Media and Press
Thegains101 has a full media kit available on request, including site statistics, audience demographics, social following, and past partnership examples. For interview requests, expert quotes, or editorial features, you can reach me directly through the contact page.
Speaking
I speak on topics including high-protein cooking for everyday life, nutrition communication for food bloggers, and making evidence-based nutrition accessible to general audiences. I’ve spoken at the Austin Food and Wine Festival (2023 and 2024) and at Mediavine Conference (2024). Speaking inquiries welcome.
Thegains101. Real food. Real macros. For real life.