‘I have so much more energy now!’
She has recently launched her own yoga business, teaches daily exercise classes, and still manages to run around after her four-year-old daughter – and Kristina Rihanoff credits her vegan diet for her endless energy. “I love being vegan so much – my body feels so good for it,” she says. “I feel so healthy and I have so much more energy now.”
It’s been over three years since Kristina, 42 – who is mum to Mila, four, with her rugby star partner Ben Cohen – switched to a plant-based diet, and she attributes much of its success to helping her drop a dress size, from a size 12 to a 10, after giving birth.
But the former Strictly dancer says that despite generally eating healthily, with plenty of fruit and vegetables in her diet, she loves being able to treat herself every now and then. “There’s so much choice out there for vegans now, which is great,” she says. “I never feel like I’m depriving myself – you can buy dark chocolate vegan desserts, which are the best.
“For breakfast, I’ll typically have a fruit bowl with coconut yoghurt, then for lunch I’ll have two slices of brown bread and avocado with seeds on the top. I’ll snack on carrots, houmous and tofu. Then for dinner, I love something like vegan Quorn sausages, meat or chicken slices with lots of roast veggies and rice.”
Kristina, who is a qualified yoga teacher, has been working hard setting up her wellness centre – Soo Yoga – with Ben in Northampton, and she says they are running online classes while the business is shut due to the pandemic. “Ben and I love working out together and we also teach classes at our wellbeing centre. Mila joins in when we do family yoga and I’m so glad she already enjoys exercise. Keeping fit and exercising is so great for your mental health and I want to pass that down to her – it gives us a special bond.
“Yoga and meditation free you from the outside world and it can help to suppress anxiety. I’ll never have my size 8 Strictly body again, but I’m a size 10 and I feel great. It’s about treating your body as a temple and growing stronger.” By Katie Banks & Annabelle Lee
● For online classes, visit Sooyoga.com or email info@sooyoga.com