Watch Valentina Zelyaeva Shop the Farmer’s Market—and Make Her Favorite Healthy Sunchoke Soup

Stepping into model Valentina Zelyaeva’s downtown apartment can feel like a New Year’s resolution wake-up call. The Russian beauty and longtime face of Ralph Lauren takes a 360-degree health-conscious approach to all aspects of her life. Zelyaeva’s guest room is currently being modified into a “zen zone” where she can meditate, while her Ocelot-sized cat has a more balanced diet than most—we’re talking organic chicken, fish oil, and cucumbers. Her lifestyle site, ValZelyaeva.com is also a vitamin-fueled, inspirational mecca for anyone who wants to learn about the benefits of clean eating and regular exercise.

Each month, Zelyaeva shares a lineup of colorful recipes, from a breakfast made of shredded apples with cinnamon, fresh blackberries, and oranges, and beauty tips that include natural toothpaste concoctions and juices for the skin. But according to Zelyaeva, the trajectory from fledgling model to wellness-guru-in-the-making didn’t happen overnight. As a young girl growing up in Moscow, she recalls traveling to her grandparents’ village, where everything was fresh from the ground to the table, but that quickly changed when she started modeling. Constant travel soon contributed to a seesaw diet that swung between a surplus of junk food or a salads-only approach. “I had no idea about nutrition. I thought by eating salads you’ll stay skinny,” she says. “Later, I discovered that it is more than that. You need good fats, you need proteins, and my roots reminded me of that.”

Now, Zelyaeva is studying to be health coach and will graduate from New York City’s Institute for Integrative Nutrition this March. And it doesn’t stop there: She wants to branch her knowledge of all-things healthy into a potential book and, eventually, offer a series of industry retreats that would equip young models with the knowledge to support a more well-rounded approach to nutrition, cooking, and exercise.

But why wait? In today’s Vogue.com video, we asked Zelyaeva to take us shopping at the Union Square farmer’s market—then show us how to make her favorite quick and easy sunchoke soup. Here’s to healthy beginnings for the year ahead.

The post Watch Valentina Zelyaeva Shop the Farmer’s Market—and Make Her Favorite Healthy Sunchoke Soup appeared first on Vogue.