Terms of Use

Last Modified October 1, 2026

Welcome to Downshiftology. These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of Downshiftology.com and any related websites, content, features, digital products, or services operated by Downshiftology, Inc. (“Downshiftology,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

By accessing or using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand these Terms. Certain features, purchases, or services may require you to affirmatively agree to these Terms.

1. USE OF THE SITE

The Site provides recipes, cooking information, lifestyle content, videos, photographs, articles, recommendations, educational information, and other content.

You may use the Site and its content for your personal, noncommercial use, subject to these Terms.

You agree not to use the Site for any unlawful purpose or in a manner that violates these Terms or the rights of Downshiftology or any third party.

2. PRIVACY POLICY

Downshiftology respects your privacy. Our Privacy Policy describes how we, our vendors, and our service providers collect, use, disclose, and otherwise process personal information when you use the Site.

Our Privacy Policy is expressly incorporated into these Terms by reference.

3. OWNERSHIP AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Unless otherwise stated, the Site and its original content, including photographs, videos, text, recipes, articles, graphics, illustrations, logos, designs, downloadable materials, compilations, and other original materials, are owned by or licensed to Downshiftology and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

Except as expressly permitted in these Terms or with our prior written permission, you may not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, sell, license, modify, create derivative works from, publicly display, publicly perform, or commercially exploit Site content.

You may not remove or alter copyright notices, watermarks, trademarks, attribution, or other proprietary notices appearing on Site content.

Nothing in these Terms grants you any ownership interest or license in any Downshiftology trademark, trade name, logo, service mark, copyrighted work, or other intellectual property except for the limited personal-use rights expressly described in these Terms.

4. RECIPES AND PERSONAL USE

Recipes and related content published on Downshiftology are provided for your personal, noncommercial use.

You may print or save recipes for your own personal use.

You may share a link to a Downshiftology recipe. However, except as permitted by applicable law, you may not reproduce or republish Downshiftology’s original written content, photographs, videos, compilations, or other protected content on another website, application, publication, social media account, database, commercial service, or other platform without our prior written permission.

Requests for commercial use, syndication, licensing, or republication should be directed to Downshiftology.

5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AUTOMATED ACCESS, AND DATA SCRAPING

Except with our prior written authorization, Downshiftology does not consent to the use of Site content for the development, training, fine-tuning, operation, evaluation, or improvement of artificial intelligence, machine learning, or similar automated systems.

Without our prior written authorization, you may not use Site content for purposes including:

training or fine-tuning artificial intelligence or machine-learning models;
creating or augmenting training, evaluation, benchmarking, or synthetic datasets;
creating embeddings or storing Site content in vector databases for third-party commercial artificial intelligence or machine-learning applications;
systematically extracting recipes, photographs, videos, articles, or other Site content;
building or populating databases, applications, websites, products, or services using Site content;
generating substitute or competing content, products, or services from Site content;
using automated systems to reproduce, summarize, transform, or distribute Site content at scale; or
training or operating image-generation systems using Downshiftology photographs, videos, graphics, or other visual content.

Automated access, scraping, crawling, data mining, harvesting, or extraction that is inconsistent with these Terms or our technical directives is prohibited.

Nothing in this section is intended to prohibit ordinary indexing by legitimate general-purpose search engines when performed in accordance with our robots.txt file, robots meta tags, other machine-readable directives, and applicable law.

The absence of a noai, noimageai, robots directive, or similar technical signal on a particular page or file does not constitute permission to use that content for artificial intelligence or machine-learning purposes.

6. DIGITAL PRODUCTS

Downshiftology may offer downloadable or other digital products.

Unless otherwise expressly stated at the time of purchase, digital products are licensed, not sold, to you for your individual, personal, noncommercial use.

Purchasing or downloading a digital product does not transfer copyright or other intellectual property rights to you.

You may not reproduce, distribute, resell, sublicense, share, publish, upload, or otherwise make a digital product available to others except with our prior written authorization.

Additional purchase, refund, subscription, or cancellation terms presented at the time of purchase will also apply.

7. USER CONTENT

The Site may permit users to submit comments, reviews, photographs, messages, or other content (“User Content”).

You retain ownership of intellectual property rights you hold in your User Content.

By submitting User Content to the Site, you grant Downshiftology and its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, consultants, agents, and representatives a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate, reformat, host, store, and publish the User Content in connection with the operation and promotion of Downshiftology and its business.

You will not be compensated for our permitted use of User Content.

You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise have the necessary rights to submit your User Content and that our permitted use of it will not violate the rights of another person or entity.

You understand that User Content may be publicly visible and that we may identify it using the name or username you provide.

We may, but are not obligated to, moderate, edit, refuse, or remove User Content.

8. ACCEPTABLE CONDUCT

You may not use the Site to submit, distribute, or otherwise make available content that:

violates applicable law;
infringes intellectual property, privacy, publicity, or other rights;
is defamatory, fraudulent, obscene, pornographic, threatening, abusive, or otherwise unlawful;
advocates or encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability;
contains malicious code;
impersonates another person or misrepresents your affiliation with another person or entity;
constitutes unauthorized advertising, spam, fundraising, or solicitation; or
interferes with another person’s use of the Site.

We reserve the right to remove content or restrict access to the Site when reasonably necessary to protect the Site, Downshiftology, our users, or third parties.

9. SITE SECURITY AND PROHIBITED USES

You may not attempt to:

access systems, accounts, content, or data that you are not authorized to access;
probe, scan, or test vulnerabilities without authorization;
circumvent security or authentication measures;
interfere with the operation or security of the Site;
introduce malware, viruses, or harmful code;
overload, flood, spam, mail bomb, or otherwise disrupt the Site;
send unsolicited email or advertisements using the Site;
forge TCP/IP packet headers or other technical information;
reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble Site software except where applicable law expressly permits it; or
use automated means to access or extract Site content in violation of these Terms.

Violations may result in suspension or termination of access and may expose the violator to civil or criminal liability.

10. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND DMCA

Downshiftology respects intellectual property rights.

If you believe material appearing on the Site infringes your copyright, please follow the procedures described in our DMCA Policy, available through the Site.

Our DMCA Policy is expressly incorporated into these Terms by reference.

11. FOOD, RECIPE, ALLERGY, AND NUTRITION DISCLAIMER

Downshiftology provides recipes and food-related information for general informational and educational purposes.

Although we make reasonable efforts to provide accurate information, ingredients, products, manufacturing practices, formulations, labeling, and nutritional information can change.

References to a recipe or ingredient as “gluten-free,” “dairy-free,” or by another dietary description do not guarantee that a particular ingredient, packaged product, restaurant item, kitchen environment, or preparation method is free from an allergen or substance of concern.

If you have celiac disease, food allergies, food intolerances, or other dietary restrictions, you are responsible for reviewing ingredient labels, verifying products with manufacturers when appropriate, avoiding cross-contact, and determining whether particular foods are suitable for you.

Any nutritional information provided on the Site is an estimate provided for convenience. Actual nutritional values can vary based on ingredient brands, quantities, substitutions, portion sizes, preparation methods, and other factors.

You are responsible for following appropriate food-safety practices, including safe handling, storage, preparation, and cooking temperatures.

12. HEALTH AND WELLNESS DISCLAIMER

Content on the Site relating to nutrition, health, fitness, wellness, or similar topics is provided for general informational and educational purposes only.

Downshiftology does not provide medical, nutritional, diagnostic, or other professional healthcare advice through the Site, and Site content should not be treated as a substitute for advice from a qualified healthcare professional.

Do not disregard or delay seeking professional medical advice because of information you have read on the Site.

13. AFFILIATE LINKS, ADVERTISING, AND THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

The Site may contain advertising, sponsored content, affiliate links, and links to third-party websites, products, or services.

Downshiftology may receive compensation or commissions from certain links, recommendations, advertisements, sponsorships, or purchases. Additional disclosures may appear on relevant pages or content.

Third-party websites and services are controlled by their respective operators. We do not control and are not responsible for their availability, privacy practices, terms, content, products, services, accuracy, security, or conduct.

Your interactions with third parties are governed by the terms and policies of those third parties.

14. BINDING ARBITRATION (“ARBITRATION AGREEMENT”)

a. Applicability of Arbitration Agreement

You agree that any dispute or claim against us, or our vendors or service providers (collectively, “We” or “Us”), related in any way to your access or use of this website, to these Terms, or to any aspect of your relationship with Us, will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that (1) you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify, so long as the matter remains in such court and advances only on an individual (non-class, non-representative) basis; and (2) you or We may seek equitable relief in court for infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, trade dress, domain names, trade secrets, copyrights, and patents.

You agree that you must commence any arbitration or other claim within one (1) year after the dispute arises; otherwise, the claim is permanently barred, which means that you will no longer have the right to assert a claim regarding the dispute.

This Arbitration Agreement will apply, without limitation, to all claims that arose or were asserted before the effective date of these Terms or any prior version of this Arbitration Agreement.

You agree in advance that you will not participate in or seek to recover monetary or other relief in any lawsuit filed against Us alleging class, collective, and/or representative claims on your behalf. Instead, by agreeing to arbitration, you may bring your claims against any of Us in an individual arbitration proceeding, except for any Batch Arbitration as described below.

If successful on such claims, you could be awarded money or other relief by an arbitrator.

You acknowledge that you have been advised that you may consult with an attorney in deciding whether to accept these Terms, including this Arbitration Agreement.

The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement.

b. Process

To begin a claim, you must first send a letter describing your claim in detail, including your name and contact information, your legal claim, the specific facts giving rise to your claim, including the date(s) and amount(s) of any relevant transaction or interaction with us, and the requested relief, to:

Downshiftology, Inc.
PO Box 833, Leona Valley, CA 93551

You and We agree to attempt in good faith to negotiate an informal resolution of your claim.

If a resolution is not reached within thirty (30) days, you may commence an arbitration action as set forth herein.

The arbitration will be conducted by JAMS, an established alternative dispute resolution provider.

Disputes involving claims and counterclaims under $250,000, not inclusive of attorneys’ fees and interest, will be subject to JAMS’s most current version of the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures. All other claims will be subject to JAMS’s most current version of the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures.

JAMS’s rules are available at www.jamsadr.com or by calling JAMS at 800-352-5267.

If JAMS is not available to arbitrate, the parties will select an alternative arbitral forum.

You may choose to have the arbitration conducted remotely, based on written submissions, or in person at a mutually agreed location.

We will be entitled to make an offer of judgment in the arbitration proceeding. If the offer of judgment is not accepted, and the award is not more favorable than the unaccepted offer, you will be solely responsible for all costs incurred by Us after the offer of judgment is made to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

c. Fees

If the arbitrator finds that you cannot afford to pay JAMS’s filing, administrative, hearing, and/or other fees, and you cannot obtain a waiver from JAMS, we will pay them for you.

If the arbitrator determines the claims are frivolous, you agree to pay Us our attorneys’ fees and costs in the arbitration, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

d. Authority of Arbitrator

The arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, will have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute related to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or formation of this Arbitration Agreement, including, but not limited to, any claim that all or any part of this Arbitration Agreement is void or voidable.

The arbitration will decide the rights and liabilities, if any, of you and Us.

The arbitration proceeding will not be consolidated with any other matters or joined with any other cases or parties.

The arbitrator will have the authority to grant motions dispositive of all or part of any claim.

The arbitrator will have the authority to award monetary damages and to grant any non-monetary remedy or relief available to an individual under applicable law, the arbitral forum’s rules, and these Terms, including this Arbitration Agreement.

The arbitrator will issue a written award and statement of decision describing the essential findings and conclusions on which the award is based, including the calculation of any damages awarded.

The arbitrator has the same authority to award relief on an individual basis that a judge in a court of law would have.

The award of the arbitrator is final and binding upon you and Us.

e. Waiver of Jury Trial

You and We hereby waive any constitutional and statutory rights to sue in court and have a trial in front of a judge or a jury.

You and We are instead electing that all claims and disputes will be resolved by arbitration under this Arbitration Agreement, except as specified in Section (a) above.

An arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court and must follow this Agreement as a court would.

However, there is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is subject to very limited review.

f. Waiver of Class or Consolidated Actions

Except with respect to Batch Arbitration as defined below, all claims and disputes within the scope of this Arbitration Agreement must be arbitrated on an individual basis and not on a class basis.

Only individual relief is available, and claims of more than one customer or user cannot be arbitrated or consolidated with those of any other customer or user.

In the event that this subsection is deemed invalid or unenforceable, neither you nor We are entitled to arbitration and instead claims and disputes will be resolved in a court as set forth in these Terms.

g. Batch Arbitration

You and We agree that, in the event that there are fifty (50) or more individual requests for arbitration of a similar nature filed against Us within an approximately thirty (30)-day period, or otherwise in close proximity, regardless of the state(s) in which such claims are filed, JAMS will administer all such similarly situated arbitration demands on a collective basis as a single, consolidated arbitration, subject to a single set of fees, proceeding schedule, and, if required, hearing, before a single arbitrator in accordance with the requirements outlined elsewhere in this section.

If the arbitrator deems it impracticable or inequitable to administer all such claims collectively in a single arbitration, the arbitrator may group demands for arbitration into groups of not fewer than twenty (20) matters, plus a remainder group as needed, or as otherwise deemed by the arbitrator to be practicable, equitable, and in best keeping with the spirit of this provision, and arbitrate each group of matters as a single, consolidated arbitration. Either structure constitutes a “Batch Arbitration.”

You and We agree (1) to work with JAMS in good faith to facilitate the resolution of disputes on a Batch Arbitration basis and (2) that requests for arbitration are of a “similar nature” if they arise out of the same event, agreement, or factual scenario and raise the same or similar legal issues and seek the same or similar relief.

Disagreements over the applicability of this Batch Arbitration process will be settled in a single, consolidated arbitration proceeding that includes all affected parties and is resolved by a single arbitrator subject to the requirements of this section.

This Batch Arbitration provision shall in no way be interpreted as authorizing a class or collective arbitration or action of any kind, or any suit or arbitration involving joint or consolidated claims, under any circumstances other than those expressly set forth in this section.

h. Severability

If any part or parts of this Arbitration Agreement are found under the law to be invalid or unenforceable, then such specific part or parts will be of no force and effect and will be severed, and the remainder of the Arbitration Agreement will continue in full force and effect.

i. Survival

This Arbitration Agreement will survive the termination of your relationship with Us.

j. Modification

Notwithstanding any provision in these Terms to the contrary, We agree that if We make any future material change to this Arbitration Agreement, it will not apply to any individual claim(s) for which you had already provided notice to Us.

These Terms of Use incorporate our Privacy Policy, which discloses how we, our vendors, and our service providers collect and use data when you use the Site and/or mobile applications.

You hereby consent to the collection and use of data by us, our vendors, and our service providers as described in the Privacy Policy, including any links to other policies therein.

You can revoke this consent at any time by following the opt-out instructions in the Privacy Policy or clicking the provided links on the Site.

16. NO WARRANTIES

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.”

DOWNSHIFTOLOGY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, SECURE, ACCURATE, COMPLETE, CURRENT, OR ERROR-FREE.

Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

17. LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY

YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE, OR OUR VENDORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS (COLLECTIVELY, “WE” OR “US”), SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, OR ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO OR USE OF OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE WEBSITE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF ANY OF US EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID OR PAYABLE TO RAPTIVE BY YOU FOR THE WEBSITE DURING THE SIX-MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THE ACT, OMISSION, OR OCCURRENCE GIVING RISE TO SUCH LIABILITY; OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

THE LIMITATIONS OF THIS SUBSECTION SHALL APPLY TO ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, STATUTE, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE PARTIES HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

18. INDEMNIFICATION

To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Downshiftology and its affiliates, owners, officers, directors, employees, contractors, consultants, agents, and representatives from third-party claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising from:

your violation of these Terms;
your unlawful use of the Site;
User Content you submit; or
your infringement of another person’s intellectual property or other legal rights.

19. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms shall be construed in accordance with and governed by the Federal Arbitration Act where applicable and otherwise by the laws of the United States and the State of California, without reference to conflict-of-law principles.

For any dispute that is not subject to arbitration under Section 14, you and Downshiftology consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the appropriate state or federal courts located in Orange County, California.

20. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

We may modify these Terms from time to time.

When we do, we will post the revised Terms on the Site and update the “Last Modified” date.

Where required by applicable law, we will provide additional notice or obtain consent before material changes become effective.

Changes will apply prospectively from their effective date unless applicable law permits otherwise.

Your continued use of the Site following the effective date of revised Terms constitutes acceptance to the extent permitted by applicable law. Where affirmative consent is legally required, continued use alone will not constitute that consent.

Changes to the Arbitration Agreement are also subject to Section 14(j).

21. TERMINATION

We may suspend or terminate access to all or part of the Site if we reasonably believe a user has violated these Terms, threatens the security or operation of the Site, infringes our rights or the rights of another person, or engages in unlawful conduct.

Provisions that by their nature should survive termination will survive, including provisions concerning intellectual property, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution.

22. SEVERABILITY AND WAIVER

If a provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Our failure to enforce a provision of these Terms does not waive our right to enforce it later.

No waiver will be effective unless made in writing by an authorized representative of the waiving party.

23. ENTIRE AGREEMENT

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, DMCA Policy, and any additional terms or policies expressly incorporated into them, constitute the agreement between you and Downshiftology concerning your use of the Site.

If additional terms apply to a particular product, service, promotion, or feature, those additional terms will also govern your use of that product, service, promotion, or feature.

24. CONTACT INFORMATION

Questions regarding these Terms may be directed to:

Downshiftology, Inc.
PO Box 833
Leona Valley, CA 93551
lisab@downshiftology.com