I follow Milla Jovovich on Instagram and she often livestreams her crazy hard workouts. I haven’t watched more than a few seconds of them, it feels voyeuristic to me, but she clearly works really hard. It turns out that she’s training for an action movie coming out next year called Monster Hunter. She’s also in Hellboy, which just came out last week. She told People Magazine about her diet and fitness plan and I wanted to talk about it because it’s one of the most sensible and non-faddish diets I’ve heard. We so often talk about celebrities cutting out entire food groups, fasting for large portions of the day and subsisting on very little food. Milla just kicks butt at the gym every day, eats mostly vegetables and used portion control. She also has some reasonable things to say about keto.
Milla Jovovich tells PEOPLE Now that she’s found the keto diet “can be hard to sustain.”
“You have to kind of be an expert in nutrition to really know that you’re doing it correctly,” she adds…
“I changed my lifestyle over a year ago to prepare for a new action film I’m doing called Monster Hunter that’s coming out in 2020. To be honest, I just found that making sure that 80 percent of my diet during the week is vegetable-based and everything else is just smaller portions, helped my skin, helped my energy levels, just helped everything,” she says.
Additionally, Jovovich makes time to work out “every day,” which helps boost her energy levels.
“Mentally I just feel so much better,” she shares. “I used to get overwhelmed and deal with depression, I just feel so much sharper.”
“I can truly stand behind it, and that’s why I started posting,” she says. “This isn’t just something I’ve done for a few weeks and I’m like, ‘Hey it works.’ I’ve done it for a year and I see that it works.”
As for cutting out entire food groups, the actress takes a more realistic approach.
“I eat everything,” she says. “I think we all need to eat a little bit of everything, I just keep the processed foods to the weekend.”
As for the other changes she’s made that have helped alleviate her depression, Jovovich shares that she’s learned to “do things that made me feel positive” — which includes focusing on her daughters: Ever Gabo, 11, and Dashiel Edan, 4.
“For me, gardening was something that I started doing before the fitness stuff. I’ve always loved drawing, I’ve always loved artwork, design, music. But of course being a mom is my no. one hobby,” she says. “I love it. It’s so much fun. I love being there for the girls.”
“It was just trying to do things that made me feel positive, like growing things. Having hobbies, having interests, it’s really important to not just sit around and be in your own head. You got to be curious and interested in the world around you, and I think that helps,” she adds.
I like how she says she eats everything but in small amounts if it’s bad for her, like processed food. This is nice to hear from a celebrity eating reasonably instead of depriving themselves across the board. She also really tries to focus on things that bring her joy and help her be creative, like music, art and gardening. I found this interview kind of inspiring to be honest. She’s so enthusiastic about making these changes and she gave a lot of good advice about doing what makes you happy. I need to listen to more music and make sure I’m getting in a workout every day. I love working out but have been recovering from a medical procedure and have only recently been able to start exercising again. It really makes a difference in my mood and how I feel about myself as she mentioned.
Milla’s Hellboy outfits have been kind of crazy though.
Photos credit: WENN and Avalon.rd
To me the most sympathetic thing is “I needed to prepare for an action movie so I started working out five days a week.”.
Like, can more actresses just come out and say it like that so we all know how fucking unrealistic their shapes are for “normal” people with 9-5 jobs too? The male action guys do it all the time and I love that she just flat out admits how much work goes into it too.
This!! It’s a huge struggle for me as a working mom of two with a commute to get enough time for for a workout. I do pretty well on weekends when my husband and I can tag team, but until the baby gets a little older it’s just hard. Even 30 minutes a day is hard to find when you’re working all day, commuting, have after school activities for one kid, homework, dinner, a baby whose sleep schedule is still hit or miss….
If it were my job to be in shape I think it wouldn’t be that hard. I love being outside, hiking, sailing, rowing, swimming. I love running and the gym. I just never have enough time to get it in my day regularly. Not if I want to get some sleep and spend time with my kids and husband.
She looks amazing and I love that she basically admits how hard she has to work out to prep for her new role.
Was the Hellboy premier an 80s themed party???
I’ve got nothing as far as her diet & exercise, but I’m getting serious Joan Collins vibes from those premiere pics.
smcollins :
I’m laughing in my office, because that was my first thought after seeing pictures of Mila and after scrolling down I’ve seen your comment. I’ve never personally found her attractive, but to each his own.
I don’t quite understand the crazy levels of exercise of some people.
I know she has to prepare for a film, but sometimes when I read of these exercise routines, it sounds pretty nutty.
KETO sounds like a very bad diet and very irresponsible in regards to climate change, all that meat, I wonder what it really does to people’s kidneys.
I don’t think we should all be vegan, but even cutting out 50% of animal products would be good for our health and planet.
The West is really over doing the MEAT DIET.
Keto seems too complicated to maintain long-term, at least for me. I do well with diets that have simple rules and don’t deprive you of what you want, as long as you don’t eat too much bad stuff. I like to eat out with friends and family and probably do so at least twice a week, so it’s important for me to have a diet/lifestyle that works even if I’m ordering from a restaurant.
Love Mila and yeah I know several people that during the week are careful what they eat (some fast for a day or 2) with no alcohol and then at the weekend eat what they want in smaller portions with a few glasses of alcohol.
I’ve lost 6kg since Jan this way!
Mon – Fri afternoon I eat pretty healthy/low-cal, work out 2-3 times a week (pilates & dance)
Fri night – Sunday I eat whatever I want, but try (sometimes fail) not to go overboard portions wise
Sustainable, and still lets me be social, and have pizza and alcohol when I want it!
There’s so much disordered eating disguised as dieting “for your health” and it’s incredibly disturbing. Healthy is one thing, but I just can’t imagine these Martin/Paltrow and Brady kids growing up with such complicated ideas of food. They’ll need some help down the road learning the actual truth (as for the Brady kids, their heads will explode when they try ice cream for the first time). I’m just concerned for all these people thinking they’re being healthy while taking the advice of trainers and diet enthusiasts and Hollywood food “experts”, and especially the kids growing up with these norms that are definitely not normal.
Long story short, go Milla! We need more famous women like her.
I think her being upfront is awesome! But I do laugh when celebrities/sources/interviewers talk about celebrities “making time” to work out. As though that isn’t part and parcel to their very livelihood and daily routine.
Keto is the easiest diet I’ve ever been on. The first 2 weeks were rough, but it’s been a breeze ever since. I actually had to ease up on it because I was losing too much weight too quickly. But different strokes.
Yes, been keto for nearly 4 months, and found it really easy to stick to, apart from a treat on my birthday. I haven’t lost crazy amounts of weight, but feel great on it. I think the biggest benefit has come from cutting out sugar.
I enjoy it too, but I agree w/Mila. It takes a lot of calculation to do it right, and if people aren’t used to/or up for that, or even if you are, it can be challenging. You have to completely relearn what you can eat. There is also a physical adjustment period which takes time to convert to fat-burning; which for me was mild, but not mild for everyone. It made me quite sluggish for a few weeks, and I got off easy.
It’s quite a science at first. And it’s kind of a ‘hardcore’ kind of eating style. This coming from someone who did raw for 3 years as well as all kinds of other restrictions for health/allergies, etc. I wouldn’t “promote” the keto diet to anyone. Even for me, it has a tendancy to almost start somewhat disordered eating even when I went lenient on it. You forget how to eat normally is what I mean : )
It also has a tendancy to make one acidic (esp. if you are doing less than 20 carbs, but even at 50). I’m doing it now and not giving up my veg. juices. I don’t care how many carbs they have.
I’m doing a “sort of” keto diet. I think real keto has you eating something like 20-30 grams of carbs a day, but I’m closer to 50-60 grams of carbs per day (not including fiber). I’m a pescatarian so I don’t eat any meat besides fish. I do eat lots of dairy, though. I used to eat tons of bread and sugar every day—I’d put a couple scoops of sugar in my coffee and I drank coffee 4-5 times a day. I ate sandwiches and ice cream and cookies a lot. I use a sugar free coffee syrup now, but as my body has adjusted to not eating any raw sugar or super sugary foods, I find that I’m adjusting very easily to coffee with nothing but cream in it. I enjoy the whole milk and full fat yogurt and full cream that I can have on my sort of keto diet. I’m less hungry when I eat these foods and have cut my daily calories nearly in half. I’m at the correct daily amount for someone my age, height, weight, and level of activity. I used to be way above. I keep track with an app on my phone that tracks my calories and nutritional facts. I’m 5’3” and not very active, but I’ve lost 13 pounds in about 3 months. I don’t do the weird stuff like butter and oil in my coffee—it tastes weird and I don’t like it.
I don’t fast during the week or any other days, but I do eat very healthy and very light during the week. Weekends at good restaurants with friends and cocktails are earned with that. 🙂
I’m on a restrictive diet (no wheat, gluten, sugar, corn, or dairy), but there’s really no need to be on one unless you have actual food allergies?? Or HPA-axis dysfunction like PCOS? Or myalgic encephalitis?? I can’t imagine eating like this if I hadn’t been instructed to, tbh.
I was recently, finally diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos and when I read about mast cell activation syndrome, I finally realized that’s what paleo people are referring to when they use pseudoscientific terms like “leaky gut.” So restrictive diets do make sense for, you know, the chronically ill—and more power to anyone who’s gotten relief from symptoms through dietary changes—and it’s true that medical research doesn’t understand very much yet about genetic mutations, hormones, or neuroimmunology, so there’s definitely guesswork ahead for patients and their specialists. But if you can eat bread, omgggggg eat bread! Do it for the rest of us!!!! 😭
I used one of those little trampolines after my last baby was born.
It worked really well and got me back into running shape.
I also held little barbells and you’d be surprised how much of a work out it can be.
A few years ago, I joined this get fit program and didn’t know (my bad) the Nutritionist was into the PALEO diet.
Do you know what that is?
You are supposed to eat like cave men ate.
One day, he told me not to eat beans.
I LOVE beans!
Cold kidney beans on chef salad and ham and beans w/ cornbread and butter beans and lots of Mexican/Tex-Mex dishes have beans.
I asked, “Why not?” and he said, “Cave men didn’t eat beans.”
Then he went on to tell me he puts BUTTER in his COFFEE.
No beans but butter and coffee are okay??
I said, “I’m out.”
So, I don’t go along with any of these fad diets. The only thing I’ve really done in the last few years is to go vegetarian a few days per week.
Just less meat and it hasn’t been difficult because of BEANS and cheese and eggs and pastas w/ sauce, Greek dishes like spanakopita, all kinds of salads and such.
I feel better and not deprived.
I’d recommend something similar.
Yeah, the “he-man rawr” aspect of that community is… regrettable, yeesh.
My husband put butter into my coffee once, and I immediately threw up, so… that’s how I feel about *that* 🤢
Ha. That nutritionist was full of caca, as are most promoters of the Paleo diet.
Paleolithic people ate beans in the Phaseoleae family all over Eurasia. They ate wheat, too, at least in the Natufian culture.
If we can take something positive from the diet of pre-agricultural people is the variety of foods they consumed. They were opportunistic gatherers and they ate something like ten times the types of foods that we eat. And that’s about it.
Cavemen didn’t drink coffee with butter in it…LOL!
Gawd, that butter in the coffee thing is dreadful! I’m on Vancouver Island, kind of a hippy-dippy vibe like the west coast of the US. Here they have something called “bulletproof coffee” which has coconut oil, butter and raw sugar if you like your coffee sweet. Coconut oil is NOT the best oil for you despite what the naturo-nuts tell you. Just like butter, it’s high in saturated fatty acids, and saturated fat has been linked to high cholesterol levels and heart disease. Second, you’re supposed to have bulletproof coffee as a meal in the morning but it doesn’t have the nutritional value of a proper breakfast so you tend to eat more at lunch and dinner, and if you have a few coffees throughout the day you’re getting a massive fat overload. I will continue to drink my coffee with a little milk and unpasteurized honey.
I will also continue to eat beans as I don’t eat beef, pork or lamb (I do eat seafood and poultry) and I LOVE beans too. Black bean enchiladas, hummus, a nice beany minestrone, etc. are staples in my diet. This paleo/keto stuff is ridiculous, it’s been proven again and again that a Mediterranean diet with a focus on lean sources of protein, vegetables and monounsaturated fats from nuts, olive oil and avocados is the healthiest diet.
I agree! I do Keto (half-ass over the winter, but going back to it now)… and I hate the oil in coffee thing. It’s not even a Keto-unique idea, so not sure why it’s famous for it. but yuck!
I finally know what the heck is bulletproof coffee
one of my friends keep on posting about it
@jaded I’m from the Island too! But currently living in the mainland, which is worse I think.
Agreed. 🙂
We do eat avocados and use olive oil a lot.
I’ll make a lunch out of guacamole with a few chips or pita.
My husband gave up all meat but fish and seafood a few years ago and I’m not so sure it’s helped him.
He’s had some issues and it turns out, some seafood isn’t so good for you.
I tried to tell him!
Some is high in cholesterol. I think scallops are.
I think he should have a little meat.
I order seafood from Alaska (we used to live there) for him.
They catch it, clean it, throw it in a cooler with ice packs and send it over night via Fed-X. You just have to buy quite a bit of it.
It’s not cheap but per pound, about the same as it costs here in the middle of the US.
Just don’t eat farm raised and we only eat seafood from North America and Norway not China or anywhere else.
I love, love, LOVE her. Since the 90’s she has been my girl crush. I find her the most beautiful woman on the planet. LOL, and I agree with the poster who got the Joan Collins vibes, I did too.
I’ve loved Milla since her modeling days! still think she’s one of the most beautiful women in the world! Her album “the divine comedy” is still on my desert island list. I wish she would do music again. her sound was really special and unique 🙂
I love Mila. The 5th Element is one of my favorite films. I follow her on Instagram too because I like her workouts.
I’ve been prescribed a keto diet by my neurologist. A lot of us with MS are prescribed this diet. I think without it, my MS symptoms would be a lot worse. I would not do this diet if I didn’t have to. I’ve been told by several folks who’ve tried keto that it’s difficult because if you stop you will gain weight back quickly. It’s very acidic on my body but I think it’s a large part of the reason the disease has not progressed as much as it could have.