Piper Perabo On Krav Maga, Tracy Anderson And Genetically Modified Soy
By mar
Source: Social Work Out

Now that I just turned 30, I’m interested in preventative health. I’m actively participating in trying to be healthy. I exercise every day. I try to eat organic and local. I try to get at least eight hours of rest. I do a mix of things for exercise. I’ve done Pilates and yoga for ten years. I was doing a pilot for a television show, so I was doing a lot of martial arts. Krav Maga and boxing. It’s the hand-to-hand combat they use in the Israeli army. But, before that, I did the Tracy Anderson gym. I really like the Tracy gym. I found it challenging and fun. I like to change how I work out. They have a room that looks like a ballet studio with a sprung wooden floor and mirrors and the ceiling is lined with different colored tension bands. They have boxes that look like Pilates boxes, and you stand on them and take bands of equal tension. A lot of it has to do with being off balance, and using the muscles in your core to hold yourself in balance. All the tiny muscles that control your balance are working during the workout.

Right now I’m into the Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier. I do a shake which is a pear, two cups of cold water, dates, a tablespoon of ground flaxseed, two tablespoons of hempseed and a banana. It’s really good. Or I do a muesli — mixed grains with blueberries and bananas and hemp milk. I actually just started drinking hemp milk. I was doing soy milk, but then I read the Jane Goodall book, and I started learning about GMO’s. A lot of American food is genetically modified. I’m not into the soy.

I eat lunch at work. So there’s catering. I usually have, like, a big salad. You can’t eat a big steak in the middle of the day. It makes you too dull. I’m sort of in transition trying to decide if I want to be a vegetarian. Sometimes l’ll just have kale and beans for my protein. Right now, all the beautiful squash are in season, so I’ve been cooking acorn squash. I was doing spicy tomato sauce with arrabiatta and butter beans. I love butter beans. They’re a big manilla covered bean. If you overcook them they get too mushy. But they’re a rich flavor. I pray before I eat. I bring myself to center.

I didn’t really play sports when I was growing up. I did one year of sports in high school. I threw javelin. I sailed and played outside all the time. I wasn’t interested in organized sports. My parents were into nutrition — no sugary cereals. Apples and peanut butter. No Twinkies or soda. Honey Nut Cheerios was the big splurge cereal. We couldn’t have Coco Puffs. I was pretty healthy but I wasn’t sporty.

I’ll go to the gym before I go to work. When I wake up, I drink coffee, which I know isn’t good. I just read a book that said it’s important to get outside right when you get up. I always walk to get my coffee to get the natural rhythms. In the morning I get coffee, work out, and make my breakfast.

Acting is not a healthy lifestyle. We work a lot of times fifteen to sixteen hour days. It’s a long work day. And you’re acting out emotionally dire circumstances. It’s draining on your body, and your subconscious. When I first started working in film, I didn’t have the exercise and nutrition regime that supported the long days. I drank a lot of martinis.

Right now I make my own green tea. Half green tea, half pomegranate juice. I relax by breathing. I’m working on just breathing.