How Kristina Zalnieraite Leads the Way in Promoting Wellness and Healthy Living

Head of Nutrition and Wellness at Kilo Health, Kristina Zalnieraite has bachelor’s degrees in Clinical Health and Dietetics, a Master’s degree in Human Nutrition and Food Safety, and is currently deepening her knowledge with a Ph.D. in Medical Science and Dietetics. On top of her extensive academic qualifications, she’s also got more than 8 years of experience in the field and is a key player in the major success of the digital health and wellness brand Kilo Health.

Kristina has been behind several of the brand’s innovative nutrition projects, working to connect nutrition with digital technology and helping users better understand their health. The technology used by Kilo Health includes advanced AI, which collects data on individual users to create in-depth trend analysis. This, in turn, creates completely personalized plans for every user.

Recent research published in the Nutrition Journal has found that personalized nutrition plans are a fantastic way to achieve sustainable weight loss and further research published in the Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders concurred that a personalized approach in the case of diabetes may also be effective.

Everyone is different, and as Kristina says, there is no one-size-fits-all regarding healthy eating and living and the management of chronic diseases. As the research catches up to this notion of personalized nutrition, many other digital health and wellness providers are playing catch up.

Kristina is also a proponent of the importance of mental health in overall well-being. A trend in recent years has seen the health and wellness industry forefront the necessity of good mental health for overall wellness, but Kristina has been talking about this since her earliest days at Kilo Health.

Mental wellness and nutrition are inextricably linked. Much research has been done on the gut-brain connection, showing how what we eat can affect our mental health and vice versa. A review, published in Frontiers in Nutrition in 2022, found that there is a link between what we eat and how we feel, with healthier and whole foods offering more bio-protective properties than ultra-processed foods.

This review took into account a huge number of research papers submitted in the last decade concerning the gut-brain connection and how what we eat can affect our mood and our overall mental well-being, showing the massive increase in interest in this area of nutrition in recent years.

While much of her work is informed by scientific studies and the necessity of healthy eating, Kristina also knows that eating well and exercising regularly can be exhausting, which is why she advocates for everything in moderation.

She advises clients and users of the Kilo Health apps to not totally restrict themselves. There is no harm in enjoying a piece of chocolate every now and again. If you totally cut out everything you like, you’re much less likely to stick with your healthy eating plan.

The same advice can be given about physical activity too, with Kristina advising that you should find a type of exercise you actually like—and it might be something as enjoyable as gardening, swimming, or regularly walking around your neigborhood. It is much more likely you will do the exercise if you like it!

Kristina is a pioneer in the health and wellness industry, and her time is spent empowering the users of Kilo Health’s digital app catalog to lead healthier and happier lives. She offers a gentle approach to dieting and the management of chronic diseases, and has been helping others get to where they want to be for a long time already!