Kaidi Klein says healthy, happy living can feel like a full-time job

Living healthily and happily can feel like a full-time job, Kaidi Klein said on Vikerraadio, the Estonian radio station, in an interview with its Vikerhommik morning programme. ERR reported that Klein co-wrote the book Rokkides sajani with Britt Normet, bringing together advice on staying healthy, energetic and confident at any age.

The book is based on Klein and Normet’s podcast of the same name. They have recorded 30 episodes, not all of which have aired. Klein said listeners had told them they sometimes needed to rewind episodes to hear advice again, prompting the pair to collect tips from the specialists who had appeared on the programme.

Klein said the aim was to get experts to offer simple, practical advice that women and men could apply in their lives. She added that experts sometimes give conflicting advice, particularly about food, and people should take from it what is useful to them rather than follow everything to the letter.

She said feeling guilty after eating risotto or a pastry, or drinking a couple of glasses of wine, was not a healthy way to live because guilt can create stress. In her view, eating very healthily while feeling stressed and preoccupied with worries can be worse. Klein also said the gut and mental health are connected, and that people should pay attention to how their bodies respond to food.

The book also devotes a chapter to menopause. Klein said the subject had long been somewhat taboo, although it is now discussed more often. Women may not understand what is happening to them and can feel too embarrassed to discuss intimate symptoms with a doctor, she said, adding that help is available.

Another chapter focuses on men. Klein said 64 percent of men in Estonia are obese or overweight, and that women are more proactive in this respect.