Tacos and Green Juice! What Flip or Flop’s Christina El Moussa Eats in a Day
This article originally appeared on People.com.
In the midst of a divorce, HGTV star Christina El Moussa‘s stress level had left her without an appetite and feeling unhealthy.
“When I’m stressed, food is the last thing on my mind,” the Flip or Flop star, 33, tells PEOPLE. “I knew I needed to get back to being healthy for myself and my babies.”
So El Moussa consulted her good friend, nutritionist Cara Clark, who set her up with a daily nutrition plan.
“She is so sweet she made me a bunch of smoothies for me to freeze and dropped them by my house,” El Moussa says. “She gave me some easy recipes to get me back on track.”
Now, she maintains “a very clean, organic diet,” and learned to snack throughout the day to keep her energy levels up, something fans noticed when El Moussa shared photos of herself in a bikini.
“Nutrition is very important to me for both my own health and wellness, but also for my children,” El Moussa says. “It’s all about everything in moderation. If I want a glass of wine I’m going to have it, or some chocolate — sure why not! For me, my nutrition routine is a way of life, and I have so much energy when I exercise and eat a healthy balanced diet.”
Breakfast
8 oz. coffee with organic creamer
Overnight oats with peanut butter, cinnamon and banana
Snack #1
Green juice from Mother’s Market
Perfect Bar or a rice cake with peanut butter
Lunch
Kale and quinoa salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes and feta or goat cheese
Snack #2
Blueberry muffin smoothie (Clark’s recipe), with blueberries, greens, rolled oats, vanilla, cashews, chia seeds, maca powder and almond milk
Dinner
Chicken or carne asada tacos on corn tortillas
Two Nights a Week
Glass of wine
Justin’s organic mini peanut butter cup
Total Calories:
2,115
The Verdict:
“Christina’s calories and macros are spot on for an active woman,” Atlanta-based dietitian Marisa Moore says. The overnight oats at breakfast pack heart-healthy fat and protein from the peanut butter, filling fiber from the oats and banana, and the cinnamon helps keep blood sugars stable. El Moussa gets more thumbs up for her snack, though the Perfect Bar is calorie-heavy at 300 per bar. “It’s inching closer to a meal replacer,” Moore says. But it works in tandem with her lighter lunch, which adds more healthy fats and beta-carotene from the greens. El Moussa’s dinner is “satiating and a perfect way to end the day,” though Moore suggests adding a vegetable slaw to round out the tacos. And she gives El Moussa a thumbs up for enjoying wine and chocolate a few times a week for “a nice treat.”
NOTE: It is recommended that women eat at least 1,200 calories per day, and men eat at least 1,800 calories per day.
Additional reporting by Emily Strohm
