Milla Jovovich Says the Keto Diet 'Can Be Hard to Sustain': Here's What She Does Instead
The keto diet can help you lose weight quickly, but it can also be incredibly difficult to keep up with.
Opening up about how the low-carb, high-fat meal plan doesn’t work for her, 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.
Instead of following the strict diet, the Hellboy actress, 44, has adopted a different course of action, which has “helped everything.”
“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.”
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The mother of two went on to share that she only decided to open up about the health changes she’d made after she was sure they really worked for her.
“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.
Jovovich went on to emphasize the positive effect healthy eating and exercise can have on mental health.
“I would definitely say if somebody is like, ‘Oh, you should take antidepressants or you need pills,’ I would try changing your diet and going to the gym an hour every day before, and do it for a month, and see how that works,” she shares.
“I truly believe it can help probably half of people that don’t have more serious issues,” she adds.
