Helga is an author, wellness coach and a business consultant who I absolutely adore and admire. When I first started studying nutrition, I came across her instagram and instantly felt a connecting. Little did I know that years later we would become friends! I am so excited to have her share some valuable information with all of you guys today, these are just some of one and done workout healthy benefits.

Tell Us About Yourself

Name?

Helga

Based in?

London (and currently Bali)

What do you do?

Author, wellness coach, and business consultant.

What or who inspired you to do what you are doing now?

I went through two eating disorders and through healing myself, I realized I had a deep passion to help others escape feeling fearful of food. The more I started changing lives (one person at a time), the bigger the desire became to do this on a mass scale.

Tell us a bit about your modeling career?

I started when I was 16 in Colorado then at 18 moved to LA to pursue it. At 20 I went to Shanghai and following that lived in Sydney, Seoul, Bangkok, Athens, London, and NYC. What I loved about it was the travel, working with creative teams of people who all get to share their talents, and getting to transform myself through clothes and makeup. I left when I was 24 and created The 5-Day Detox ebook along with my company.

What does spirituality mean to you?

It’s all about being connected to yourself, to others and to our planet. The more I listen to my body, the more I feel that I understand others emotional states. It’s about being grateful for all things, even the hard moments, and to know that there are lessons in everything we are meant to learn.

Food

What is your food philosophy?

Balance in all things. Don’t go too far in any one direction… eat salads and enjoy wine, this will prevent binging and restricting. Read more about biofit probiotic.

What do you eat in a day?

I tend to fast until 11 or 12pm then eat a huge lunch of mainly plant based foods. I tend to not snack unless I’m quite active and walking a city in which case I’ll have fruit, nuts, or bliss balls I make. Then dinner can be anything from pasta, to pizza, some local dish, or a stir fry at home with wine.

What is your favorite meal of the day?

Both lunch and dinner! I love lunch because I go for very colorful foods which always nourish me and make my body feel energetic, then dinner I love having wine, sitting with friends and connecting about our days.

What is one healthy snack you can recommend?

Raw almonds or other nuts paired with a banana and bottle of water. I say this because you can get it at any gas station, supermarket, or airport and it’s a quick, easy, and nutritionally balanced snack that will fuel you.

What would be your last meal on earth?

Italian – a divine homemade pasta with pesto, a mozzarella pizza, burrata and tomatoes with basil, and red wine. Red wine in a moderated dosage is vital for a good cardiac balance, if you rather prefer natural supplements try out  Metabofix.

Nutrition

Tell us about your “5-Day Detox Book”?

It started as an ebook in 2013 that I wrote for myself because there was nothing on the market that was like it. It’s based on 5 meals a day for 5 days of nutrient dense meals that will reduce cravings, help you lose weight and bloating, clear up your skin, and improve your immune system. The premise is to remove certain “bad” things while flooding your body with tasty, nutrient dense foods that are simple to cook. You can expect to see up to 10lb weight loss in 5 days that does stay off after the detox. It’s available in the iTunes app store and as a book.

What are your thoughts on juice cleanses?

I personally think juicing is great as a supplement for health, however I am not a fan of doing them as a cleanse. This is because I’ve seen too many people feel super restricted then binge or get some form of disordered eating post cleanse. When you cleanse with real food (such as my detox) you do not see these types of issues.

Tell us about your second book “Meal Prep Your Way To Weight Loss”?

This was a follow up to the 5-Day Detox as I realized that people need to be set up for success all the time, not just for 5 days. So it’s a 4-week plan with shopping lists, information on superfoods, what to eat and not, as well as very easy-to-understand prepping instructions. The recipes are delicious, easy to make, and will help you see incredible results.

Can you take us through a day of eating meal prepped foods?

For example, in week one, it’s Soups and Smoothies to make it easy on you if you’ve never cooked. So you’ll start with one of the two smoothies, lunch is a salad that’s loaded with a variety of tastes and textures from raw to cooked ingredients, then dinner is a soup, such as my favorite Helga’s Thai Sweet Potato soup. There is a whole chapter on snacks from popcorn to bliss balls that you can have during the day as well.

Do you have any advice on how to overcome emotional eating?

Stop restricting! If you are not eating (healthy) carbs for example you are more likely to then binge on unhealthy carbs later. Balance is key and this is what I share through all my posts on IG.

Workout

What does your workout schedule look like?

I tend to workout in the morning because I’ll put it off later in the day normally, but lately in Bali I have been enjoying an afternoon run or sunset workout. I tend to do yoga, running, lifting, walking or hiking 5x a week.