Samantha Vallejo-Nágera, 56: “I wake up at 7:30 and have bread with ham, oat-milk coffee and a kiwi”

Samantha Vallejo-Nágera starts her day at 7:30 a.m. with bread, ham and tomato, oat-milk coffee and a kiwi. “Very normal, really,” the chef and television presenter told Lecturas.

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I wake up every day at half past seven in the morning. I have bread with ham and tomato and coffee with oat milk. Also a kiwi. Very normal, really.

She said she pays close attention to the quality of what she eats. She prefers sourdough whole-grain bread, freshly sliced ham, tomatoes from Almería and a little extra-virgin olive oil. “I take great care that everything is good because I like quality,” she said.

Exercise is another pillar of her routine. Vallejo-Nágera said she goes to the gym, swims on Fridays and changes her activity from day to day, alternating strength training, yoga and spinning, with one rest day. She describes herself as “hyperactive.”

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I try to make sure the whole-grain bread is sourdough, the ham is freshly sliced at home and the tomatoes are from Almería. And a little extra-virgin olive oil. I take great care that everything is good because I like quality.

At 56, she is also moving into a new professional phase. After 13 years as a judge on MasterChef Spain, she left the program to focus on new television projects and her food businesses. She said the past decade had been intensely demanding as she combined television, chef work and raising four children.

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These years have been extremely difficult; I had 13 years of incredibly intense work. In the end I was always running, always in a hurry, always committed to something.

“These years have been extremely difficult; I had 13 years of incredibly intense work,” she said. She now feels calmer, although she plans to continue working. Her projects include a new brand image for her catering business, which is marking 30 years, online cake sales, conventions and other television work.

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Now that I am calmer, I say: ‘There is no need to be at full speed.’ Although I will continue doing television and I have a project, I am in a good moment now.