Camila Cabello is heating up the internet with her latest Instagram post. The Havana singer showed off her toned abs in a fiery bathing suit while vacationing in Athens, Greece. She jokingly captioned the photo: “Can’t wait to be back to chronic low level anxiety in Florida’s shark infested waters.” The Voice coach has been enjoying a European holiday for the last few weeks and flaunted her curves in another image wearing a white sequin dress. She wrote, “party demon UNLOCKED.” The 26-year-old looks amazing, but that is no surprise since she lives a healthy lifestyle and works hard to stay fit. With the help of her trainer Jenna Willis, the star has adopted a positive mindset when it comes to eating and working out, and here’s how she does it—with advice from seven professional health experts we talked to.
Jumping on the latest trendy diet can be tempting, but Willis told Hollywood Life that’s a big no-no. “I tell my clients crash diets and overdoing workouts can be like a bad relationship. If they seem too good to be true, they are,” she said. And other health experts agree. “Fad diets are typically very restrictive and difficult to follow long-term,” Taylor Carberry, RDN, CPT tells us. “Following fad diet after fad diet leaves you trapped in the yo-yo diet cycle; starting a restrictive diet, giving up, then trying another restrictive diet, and the cycle repeats. On the contrary, avoiding fad diets and opting for more sustainable habits and lifestyle changes is the best way to get healthy and stay healthy long-term.”
It’s not just fad diets that are off-limits for the star–it’s all diets. “It isn’t about dieting, it’s about healthy lifestyling,” Willis told Hello!. Registered dietitian Bess Berger, who specializes in PCOS and menopause, likes the idea of moving away from focusing on dieting. “Culturally, we are very all-or-nothing with food. Either food is good or bad. Or I hear, ‘I’m eating good or I’m eating bad.’ Food and wellness is not about all or nothing. The idea of a diet doesn’t work. A better mindset is ‘We want to eat healthy most of the time.'”
Jennie Waegelein, a NYC-based dietitian adds, “By taking a lifestyle-first approach and figuring out how you operate best, it becomes easier to prioritize things like eating regular meals, having better quality sleep, and drinking enough water. By starting small and bringing awareness to your day and making shifts in your routine to see what makes you feel best, you take the pressure off of ‘dieting’ or doing everything ‘right’ and everything begins to fall into place.”
To help get into shape, Cabello avoids alcohol, according to her trainer. “Alcohol is one of the quickest ways to add unnecessary calories and sugar into your body with zero nutritional value,” Willis told Hello! Amy Beney, MS, RD, CDCES, with Nutrition Insights, explains why limiting alcohol can help your waistline. “Initially, alcohol can be high in calories one 4 oz glass of wine can contain 94 calories, 12 oz of a light beer can contain at least 95 calories, and 1 oz of vodka contains 65 calories. Often our serving size may be larger than the recommended serving size of alcohol. ”
She adds, “Also, some alcohol, such as hard liquid, is mixed with high-calorie mixers that can add a lot more calories than we realize. Other than the calories in alcohol, drinking can sometimes lower our inhibitions, and we may eat differently and choose higher calorie food items or more of a food than we would if we had not had any alcohol. Lastly, alcohol, although it may initially make up for feeling tired, can affect our sleep and interrupt our REM sleep, leaving us tired and possibly affecting our food choices the next day.”
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We can all be guilty of eating too fast, but it’s more harmful than you think. “A lot of times we don’t realize we’re full until it’s too late,” Willis said. “Another little tip is to chew all of the food in your mouth before taking the next bite. This is one of the best ways to avoid overeating.” Slowing down to eat can help with digestion, Jesse Feder, RDN, CPT with My Crohns and Colitis Team says. “Taking time to chew your food can help improve digestion and nutrient absorption, and reduce possible bloating or stomach issues. Additionally, taking your time to chew your food can help increase satiety and/or fullness which can prevent you from overeating!”
Destini Moody, RD, CSSD, LD adds, “Chewing and savoring your food can help you improve your relationship with food by helping you view eating as an enjoyable and comforting activity rather than a chore or obligation.”
Eating large meals is easy to do when you’re hungry, but eating too much at once isn’t healthy. To help avoid this pitfall, Willis has her celeb client “eating nutrient-dense foods [and] enjoying smaller meals.” Nutritionist Sara Oberhammer tells us, “Eating small, balanced meals throughout the day helps your blood sugar to stay balanced which lessens cravings and provides you with steady, sustainable energy.”
The singer packs her meals with essential nutrients and Berger explains why that’s key. “Nutrient-dense food means the food you’re eating is packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other micronutrients that make your body healthy. Eating natural, unprocessed foods is better for your body and very often more filling than processed foods. Unprocessed, nutrient foods can be a big help to people wanting to eat healthy and moderate portions.”
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