Jennifer Garner is in the best shape of her life. Along with steady dance-inspired sweat sessions with celebrity trainer Simone De La Rue, the actress has nutritionist Kelly LeVeque on speed dial — literally.
“She’ll text me, she’ll call me, ‘Hey, I’m on HBO’s Camping. I’m really filming like every single night from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. What can I do?’” LeVeque, who was first introduced to Garner by her longtime trainer De La Rue while prepping for her role in the action-thriller Peppermint, tells Us Weekly exclusively.
To help the 46-year old actress navigate her late night cravings on set, LeVeque offered this advice: “I might pull back on the alcohol. I might say ‘I know you love your red wine but let’s not have that,'” LeVeque tells Us. “I also might add a little more protein so she feels more full because that lack of sleep is gonna increase her hunger hormones. So it’s really just ways to prevent her craving, crashing and sort of feeling bad about yourself.”
The Be Well By Kelly founder’s approach is simple but based on science. “I teach clients how to balance their blood sugar. Old science told us the best way is eat five to six small meals a day,” she explains. “If you understand biology, you don’t need to eat that often and you can actually eat specific foods that shut down hunger hormones and elongate your blood sugar curve so you don’t spike up as high and crash down as hard. You’re less hormonally hungry and more satisfied on a biological level.”
All of the Los Angeles-based nutritionist’s clients, who also include Busy Philipps, Emmy Rossum, Chelsea Handler and Jessica Alba, have to follow this rule: incorporate what the pro deems “the fab four” into every meal — that’s protein, healthy fat, fiber and greens.
Whenever LeVeque is critiquing Garner’s meals, she asks the Alias alum: “‘Where are your leafy greens? Where are your herbs? I need beautifying foods,’ they’re alkalizing and detoxifying,” the author of Body Love: Live in Balance, Weigh What You Want, and Free Yourself From Food Drama Forever (out in January 2019) tells Us. “So whether it’s in her shake or she makes something from Ina Garten’s cookbook or a veggie scramble with avocado.”
LeVeque also explains that eating enough fiber every day is a major player in getting and maintaining a healthy and buff physique like Garner’s.
“We’re lucky if we get 15 grams of fiber a day. If you eat a big leafy green salad, you might be getting one gram of fiber, a cup of broccoli might get you four,” says LeVeque. “But when we’re getting that healthy fiber, we’re feeding the gut microbiome that’s keeping us healthy, decreasing inflammation, speeding up how our body is able to detoxify and tone up and feel full. So the healthier your gut bacteria is, you and I can eat the same piece of pizza and if I have better gut bacteria, my blood sugar isn’t going to spike as high.”
Since the Once Upon a Farm cofounder’s diet was already superhealthy, LeVeque says her approach with the Wonder Park star is more about making tiny tweaks.
“With Jen it was really about being sure she was getting that quality down — making sure she was cooking with healthy oils and getting really healthy proteins. She has a garden and prioritizes getting healthy food and understands the process of regenerative farming, which is basically having your produce and your chickens all in the same area. It’s really good for the soil, it’s really good for the land and it’s really good for the health of the actual plants that you eat,” LeVeque explains. “What a golden child — she really is.”
