If you are looking to shed the “quarantine 15” you might have gained this year while on lockdown, health coach and part-time Beacon resident Marika Blossfeldt has some tips that anyone can incorporate in their daily diet.
The cookbook author and health coach — whose book “Cooking with Marika: Clean Cuisine from an Estonian Farm” — was released last year, is not a fan of adopting a fad diet. She states that people looking to shed the extra pandemic weight can follow an 80-20 rule, meaning that they can eat clean and healthy foods 80 percent of the week and enjoy a favorite indulgence for the rest of the 20 percent.
“There is no need to be a perfect eater 100 percent of the time,” she said. “After all we are just human and need a little room for play.”
As a health coach with practices in both Beacon and her native Estonia, Blossfeldt knows that good nutrition is the key to better immunity and mental health, both of which are essential during the pandemic.
“A balanced nourishing diet will allow your body to run smoothly both on the physical and mental plane,” she said.
For that nourishing diet, Blossfeldt recommends opting for superfoods such as leafy greens, and cutting back on dairy.
She also encourages eating Vitamin C-rich foods such as red and green bell peppers, kiwi, broccoli, kale and parsley.
She argues that food should be seen as energy-producing, and not as a remedy for emotional anguish.
“So often we reach for food to compensate, console or numb us when our non-food nourishment is lacking or out of balance,” she said, “but food will never be able to fill that gap, to even out imbalances or undo inadequacies in these vital areas of lives. That is simply not food’s job.”
It is also important to incorporate exercise, social interaction, a connection to spirituality, laughter and sleep into our daily routines.
She believes all of these things give both our immune systems and mental health a boost.
“While food can sustain and regenerate our bodies, it can never solve the shortcomings in our relationships, our work/study situation, our physical activity level or our spiritual life,” she said. “However, a nourishing, satisfying and grounding diet can provide just the right amount of support and stability we need to resolve imbalances in these other fundamental areas.”
