Which Celebrity Do You Eat Like?
Even if you’re not celebrity-obsessed, it seems like you can’t walk through a grocery store check out line without being confronted by the latest diet or food fad of the rich and famous. Most of them are pretty out there — some are even downright dangerous.
This week we’ve rounded up several celeb food fads to give you the quick and dirty on how silly they actually are.
- “Golden” Turmeric Lattes: Gwynth Paltrow (of course you’d find her on a list like this) is a fan – should we be drinking them too? An active compound in turmeric called curcumin has been shown to be an incredible anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, as well as to reduce cancer risk, support detoxification, and more. Curcumin is an ingredient in some of our favorite inflammation-fighting supplements like Inflammatone. Most of us would likely benefit from regular culinary use of turmeric, and you can easily add it to a scramble, stir fry, curry, or yes, a turmeric latte. Don’t forget to add a pinch of black pepper to help activate the curcumin.
- The verdict? As it contains turmeric and other powerful spices (like ginger!), a golden latte is probably a great way to get in some anti-inflammatory spices on the regular. Just don’t go overboard with going heavy on the honey or other sweeteners.
- Golden Turmeric Latte:
- Ingredients: 1 cup unsweetened milk of choice, 1/2 tsp powdered turmeric (or grated fresh ginger), 1/4 tsp cinnamon, pinch of black pepper and dash of powdered ginger (or pinch of fresh grated ginger). Optional to add your favorite sweetener to taste.
- Method: Warm milk in a saucepan and add spices. Blend if you want it frothy. Tweak to suit your taste. Enjoy!
- Fruitaterian Diet: As you can problem imagine from the name, this diet consists of all fruit — and sometimes nuts. Made famous by Steve Jobs, this is the diet that Ashton Kutcher followed to get him ready for his film role playing Jobs… that later landed him the hospital with pancreatic problems. Fruit is chock full of antioxidants, and also contains water, fiber, and more – but does not contain enough of our required nutrients to be the entire basis of a diet.
- The takeaway: To live a healthy life and give your body all the nutrients it needs, eat fruit as part of a beautiful, balanced diet — but not your sole source of calories.
- HCG Diet: This is the diet we’d NEVER like to try. You get injected with the pregnancy hormone HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) to trick your body into thinking you’re pregnant, and then theoretically burn calories like crazy since you’re not growing a baby. Oh, and you’re also following a 500 calorie diet. Though the FDA has called the hCG diet “fradulent,” “dangerous,” and “illegal,” celebrities like Laura Prepon (who plays Alex Vause on Orange is the New Black) have tried it. We’ve talked with many people who have tried this one, with pretty scary after-effects. As in, gaining all the weight back (and then some) after damaging their metabolism, not to mention all the money that went down the drain.
- Verdict: Save your money, don’t put your body through hell, and come see us instead
- The Cookie Diet:The “Hollywood Cookie Diet” recommends consuming 9 of the company’s cookies per day, and one calorie-restricted meal. Apparently celebs like Jennifer Hudson, Mandy Moore, Snookie (from “The Jersey Shore”), Madonna, and the Kardashians have tried it. Don’t get us wrong, we can understand the allure – but this is just another crash diet based on processed junk.
- The verdict? No offense Snooks, but we’ll be avoiding this one.
- The Master Cleanse: We get a little out of sorts when people get “cleanse” and “fast” confused – such is the case with the “Master Cleanse.” To detoxify your body, you need loads of nutrients, like amino acids, antioxidants, B vitamins, and much more than maple syrup, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper provide. Sure, a few days of a fast might be used effectively in an appropriate therapeutic setting, but simply starving yourself while drinking sweetened lemonade is not the way to detoxify your body and can be dangerous. Chances are high that any weight you starve off during this fast (it’s not really a cleanse) will pile right back on once you go back to eating normally.
- Supposedly tried by (and made famous by): Beyonce, Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie, and more.
- Avoiding Nightshades: While avoiding nightshade vegetables (like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and more) can make a huge difference for people with autoimmune disorders, leaky gut, or joint issues (like arthritis), most healthy people won’t see much effect by cutting these veggies out of their diets. Some people in the health and nutrition community argue they are highly inflammatory, though there doesn’t seem to be much hard evidence supporting those claims.
- Most recently made famous by Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady.
- The verdict: If you suffer from a health issue and suspect you might benefit from avoiding nightshades, certainly give it a try (give it at least 30 days, potentially longer). But there’s not much evidence other folks should be eliminating these colorful veggies without cause.
- Drinking Bone Broth: Rather than being a newly concocted fad, bone broth is one of those things that people scratch their heads and say, “Oh, my grandma used to make that.” It’s recently come back into popularity, and for good reason! These broths are rich in nutrients, easy to digest, and boost healing. Plus, they’re super tasty and easy to make at home. They’re also a great source of minerals our bodies need, like calcium, magnesium, silicon, phosphorus, and more. They also contain compounds found in joint support supplements – like chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine. Bone broths are also a great source of collagen (the same stuff that keeps our faces looking supple and our joints feeling youthful) and amino acids like glycine, glutamine, and proline. It can help support skin, joint, gut, and immune health. What’s not to love?!
- Though there isn’t yet strong mainstream scientific backing, the Westin A. Price Foundation (a wonderful resource for information on the benefits of traditional nutrition) and other experts in the field recommend it, so we give this one a big thumbs up.
- Celebrity fans: Salma Hayek, Kobe Bryant, and Gwynth Paltrow.
Ingredients:
- 1-2 lbs of high quality bones (chicken, beef, lamb)
- Water
- Apple cider vinegar
- Optional: any veggie scraps you have around, herbs (rosemary, bay leaf, black peppercorns), or other flavorings for your broth (garlic, onion)
- Method: Add bones to your largest stock pot, and cover with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar to help draw the minerals out into your broth. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer for at least 6 hours. Cook time depends on the type of bones you’re using: up to 24 hours for chicken, though go longer for beef bones – closer to 48+. Add veggie scraps (carrot tops, veggie peelings), herbs (rosemary, black pepper, ginger), and any other yummy ingredients (garlic, onion) for the last few hours. Strain if desired (though not required).
- Tip: To get the rich gelatin you really want, don’t forget to include the bits that we normally don’t buy (or even see) at the butcher counter, yet are the rich sources of collagen we’re looking for. You may need to ask for them (like chicken feet, necks, etc). You can reserve bones from meat meals you’ve eaten at home and stockpile them in the freezer, along with veggie bits that would otherwise go in the compost. Waste not, want not!
- What to do with it: Drink on its own, cook your grains in it, make it into a soup, or freeze any extra for later. Julia gave quart jars away as gifts last Christmas, and it was a hit!
Feeling lost and don’t know what to cook to stay healthy? Sign up for a Cambiaiti Healthy Cooking class now! Clean eating has never tasted so good!
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