What Meghan Markle Eats in a Day

The world is abuzz with information about Meghan Markle, the American actor who wed Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. Between her impressive career and work ethic, her effortlessly gorgeous aesthetic, and her wealth of knowledge on all things lifestyle, people are clamoring for more details on all aspects of her life. 

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Chief among those topics are her food preferences and eating habits — because, let’s be honest, she’s got #HealthGoals, #LifeGoals, and #SquadGoals all rolled into one. Luckily, she loves food, and loves talking about food just as much, so we were able to get an in-depth look at what she really eats in a day.

No to caffeine and yes to green

While most people rely on a jolt of caffeine for energy when that mid-afternoon slump hits (the struggle is real!), Markle takes a different approach. 

“Green juice is a food-as-medicine philosophy for me,” she told Delish. She elaborated in an interview with Shape where she explained, “I think trying to go for coffee or things like that only end up hurting you in the end.” Instead, Markle relies on things like green juice and kombucha to help keep her going during long hours on set. She calls them a “really good natural source of energy… that gets right into your system as a nice pick-me-up.”

She elaborated on this in an interview with TODAY, noting that green juice is definitely her preferred method of staying awake and alert. “If I blend some apple, kale, spinach, lemon and ginger in my Vitamix in the morning and bring it to work, I always find that sipping on that is a much better boost than a cup of espresso,” she explained, noting that “at the end of the day, your body will thank you for nourishing it with so much fresh goodness.”

Conditioned to like Cali food “from the womb”

Perhaps not surprisingly, growing up in Los Angeles led Markle to embrace fresh, whole foods as a way of life. As she explained to the lifestyle blog EyeSwoon, Californians “are so spoiled with our produce there, and my love of simple ingredients prepped well is completely linked to that.” Because fresh ingredients are the foundation of California eating, Markle noted that “the diet tends to be healthier as well — acai bowls, green juices, chopped salads, perfect sushi, grilled fish tacos… those are all things that make me think of home.”

When it comes to Baja-style foods, which she told TODAY she was “conditioned to like from the womb,” Markle especially enjoys grilled fish tacos seasoned with lime. “If you ever find yourself in LA, go to Fresh Corn Grill and order salmon tacos,” she said. While it may sound a bit odd to wax poetic about fish tacos, her love for them is legit. “I dream about those tacos,” she said, “and they are not paying me to say that!”

Can’t get enough of this trendy bowl for brekky

So, what does a foodie like Markle eat for breakfast? The owner of Revitasize, Markle’s favorite Toronto-based fresh juice shop, told E! News that Markle “is incredibly health conscious and very aware of what type of food she’s putting in her body,” noting that she used to come in multiple times per week for acai bowls with a rotating blend of super foods added in. 

The owner added that it was perfect for multiple times a week because Markle “could customize it by adding super food such as bananas, chia seeds or hemp hearts. She was always switching it up,” he explained. Markle also provided her favorite acai bowl recipe to EyeSwoon, noting that it’s an indispensable part of her morning routine  — so by all means, fire up that blender.

Her sworn method to avoid feeling sluggish

During her interview with Shape, Markle noted that in addition to trying “to avoid the things that I know are going to make me feel lethargic or sluggish,” she’s also a big fan of the Clean Cleanse. 

The 21-day cleanse, which was designed by Dr. Alejandro Junger, advocates removing both processed foods and foods that commonly cause allergies or intolerances (such as sugar, gluten, and dairy), while also focusing on shakes and smoothies to minimize the work that the digestive tract has to do during the course of a day and eating mostly produce, lean protein, and whole, non-gluten grains.

Markle also told Canada’s Best Health magazine that she’s especially careful about her food habits when she’s filming, noting that she tries to eat vegan during the week. 

Balance, y’all! Weekends are to treat-yo-self

While Markle is careful about what she eats during the week, she also doesn’t totally cut herself off from less-than-healthy foods. “I think that if you deprive yourself of something, you’re just going to crave it more,” she told Shape. She explained that it’s all about balance, which includes sticking to her clean-eating protocol from Monday to Friday, “and then treating yourself to whatever it is you want over the weekend.”

And she certainly has some favorite treats. Speaking to Delish, she explained that she’s come to embrace Canadian specialties like poutine (fries covered in gravy and cheese curds) and beaver tails (funnel cakes made in the shape of beaver tails and smothered with toppings like caramel, chocolate, and/or cinnamon). 

It’s a good thing she sets boundaries on her indulgences considering she noted to Best Health, “I could eat French fries all day.” She also told EyeSwoon that macaroni and cheese is one of her all-time favorites. “I throw some frozen peas into it and have this gooey, simple, childlike meal. I used to cook it for the kids I would babysit and I always enjoyed feeling like a kid and eating it with them,” she said. “I’m also not averse to eating tater tots. With ketchup and sriracha.”

Every day she’s cookin’

“I love to cook,” Markle explained to Best Health magazine. Growing up on the set of Married with Children, for which her dad was the lighting director, meant that she spent a lot of time with the folks in craft services. “Because of the content of the show, my dad would have me help in craft services, which is where they make all the food and nibbles,” she said, noting that it wound up being a formative experience that sparked her interest in food and cooking.

Spending so much time in multi-cultural cities has also had a major impact on her appreciation of various cuisines. She told Best Health, “With LA being such a melting pot — much like Toronto — I think that all developed my fascination [for food].”

In fact, she loves cooking so much that she told Shape she whips up something every single day: “Even if it’s just a pesto that I can put in the fridge for later in the week, or any little component that you feel like you can take some pride in,” she explained.  

Steal her yummy little cooking secrets

Not surprisingly, Markle’s love of food and cooking means that she has some fantastic culinary tricks up her sleeve. As she explained to Delish, she likes to add a squeeze of lemon juice to steaks before serving them, noting, “Nobody tastes the lemon, but it really brings out the steak’s flavor.”

She also has a secret strategy for making a surprisingly rich pasta sauce: slow-cooking a zucchini for four to five hours, which leads to a “filthy, sexy mush” that can be tossed in with a bowl of pasta. 

“The sauce gets so creamy you’d swear there’s tons of butter and oil in it, but it’s just zucchini, water and a little bouillon,” she said. For the pasta lovers among us, this sounds like an incredibly easy and healthy way to jazz up some noodles!

Copy her tricks to actually crave veggies

As part of her efforts to eat lots of veggies, they’re the backbone of her go-to snacks. Speaking with TODAY, she explained that carrots with hummus and crackers is her “trifecta snack.” While the combination may sound surprisingly simple, she said that it “satisfies so many senses — the savory taste, the textural crunch, the unctuousness of the hummus.”

She also enjoys making kale chips, even though the process of washing and drying the kale can be a bit time consuming and labor intensive. Despite that, the 25-minute cooking time is relatively minimal, and when kale chips are “drizzled with good olive oil and sprinkled with Maldon or Himalayan pink sea salt, they become your healthy potato chip alternative that you can reach for when you want to munch on something.” So, the effort is worth it in the end!

This post originally appeared on The List. It has been republished with permission.