cover model q&a
up close with ... Samantha Bloom by brianna snyder | photo by leif zurmuhlen
I
t took Samantha Bloom, 45, “some serious convincing” to apply for HealthyLife’s cover model contest this year. “My husband is actually the one who got me to apply finally, after several friends encouraged me to apply last year,” she says. “I’ve never done anything like that, and it was a little — a lot! — out of my comfort zone.” Bloom and her husband, Tracy, have three children: 19-yearold Max, 6-year-old Zoe and 4-year-old Viviana. We chatted with her by e-mail about her happy and healthy life.
What’s your favorite kind of exercise? My favorite exercise is definitely walks with my family. We often go outside together after my husband gets home from work. But more often I am able to get on an elliptical machine, which is not as exciting and entertaining, but you don’t have to worry about weather when you’re in the gym. What’s your favorite food to cook? Some members of my family have severe food sensitivities — to soy, dairy and wheat. So this keeps our menus pretty simple and wholesome. Many substitutes for dairy and for wheat are soy-based ingredients, so I read A LOT of labels. Most foods that come in boxes are off limits to us. We eat meat, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and nut milk. We buy a local, organic, grass-fed cow each year and split it with another family. I guess my favorite thing to cook is my own recipe for apple crisp. I’ve developed it over many years, and it has now been converted into a dairy-free, soy-free, wheat-free recipe with very little sugar. My family loves it, and I always get compliments on it. But cooking is actually one of my least favorite things to do. What kinds of things do you like to do with your family? I am a big family person. I like to try and do things with them as much as possible. We camp every summer in the Adirondacks. Those trips are so much fun! We put all our gear in a boat and paddle out to an island in the middle of a lake, where we stay for 10 days. We pitch our tents, cook over a fire, swim and hang out together. It’s blissful. My parents have a house (on a different lake) in the Adirondacks, which I take day trips to from home, with the girls in the summer. We all love to be outdoors.
58
healthylife
Behind the Scenes Hair and makeup by Kimberley’s A Day Spa, Latham. Photo taken by Leif Zurmuhlen at Sixty State Place, in Albany. Above: sweater by Rafaella, skirt by Calvin Klein, jewelry by Ashley Cooper. Select clothing available at Boscov’s Clifton Park. Visit facebook.com/ healthylifenymagazine to view our Behind the Scenes photo gallery, or scan the QR code at right to link to our HealthyLife photos page on Facebook.
Where’s the best place you’ve ever been? The best place I’ve ever been is a trip to Italy that I took with my husband and son before the girls were born. We got to take him to see the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, and all these amazing places, and each night he wrote in his journal he kept for school about the food he ate. I still have that journal. It’s probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. If you could have lunch with anyone living or dead, who would you pick? I would love to have lunch with Leonardo da Vinci. An artist, an inventor, a genius who was way ahead of his time. HL
‘Before’ photo by Colleen Ingerto.
How do you live a healthy life? I live a healthy life in many areas, from diet to caring for my body. My husband is a chiropractor who also specializes in diagnostic nutrition, so I have great resources available to me. I get great care, and make sure our children do as well. I eat wholesome foods, and make sure I take time for myself also. I look out my window every morning when I’m getting ready, to peek at a little nature and take a few deep breaths. It makes for a good start to each day.