Christina Milian on Eating Fish and Trying to Unwind
(Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
By Christina Milian as told to Leah Rodriguez
Ever wonder what the singer of a hit song from the aughts is up to these days? We frequently do. Turns out Christina Milian, whose club jam “Dip It Low” can still move a room, is all over your TV: She was on the just-canceled comedy Grandfathered alongside ’90s royalty John Stamos, and she has her own reality show. We talked to the star, who’s known for that music video where she gets what looks like toxic sludge poured on her (it was body latex), about her views on wellness.
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How I start my mornings: I’ll have an egg-white omelet with some spinach and some peas, or tomatoes, or salsa. I try not to mix everything with juice because of all the excess sugar, so I’m going to enjoy some cheese. I mean, I love good old classic American cheese. I love any cheese. I’m a cheese lover.
What wellness means to me: Taking care of yourself inside and out. I think it’s happiness. You need to keep a good attitude and have a positive way of challenging yourself to be better. There’s fitness and health, of course, too, but at the end of the day, just always try to better yourself.
How I like to work out: I’m an outdoorsy person, but right now since it’s so cold over here [Toronto], I’ll just do about 20 or 30 minutes on the treadmill — a little bit of speed-walking or running. I used to have the TV on, but now I’ll listen to music. I’ll listen to like Drake or Future or Beyoncé or Rihanna. I can do situps and squats.
How wellness has changed for me: I’m a pescetarian right now, but I’m off and on. I just started in January and it’s new for me. The only thing was that I found myself eating more carbs. I had to find a balance because I wasn’t getting as full [as I was] from red meat. I love pork. My family, they get it. My sister has done it before, and she’s done it for two years. I’ve actually tried to challenge them to do it. Exposure to information helps create the change toward being well. I do my own research and get information from friends.
How my approach to wellness and beauty has changed over time: It’s about finding newer and better ways to take better care of the things that are growing out of my body, from nails to hair. For example, I might switch from acrylic to gel. Then it’s like, I’m going to try and take biotin and not dye my hair as often. I consider wigs now, too, because that way your hair can grow out naturally, without having to worry about any breakage. Brushing your hair more often and massaging your scalp — those are other kinds of things that I do. It’s kind of basic but I’m trying to shampoo my hair less often, and with nothing that has all the parabens. Once in a blue moon I’ll do a coconut oil treatment.
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My biggest wellness struggle: Maybe keeping up, with things such as the differences of eating organic and not. But I’m paying more attention to it now.
How I unwind before bed: I don’t really. I feel like I never unwind. Usually I’m on my phone right until I go to bed and will check some emails. I’d love to say it’s wine, but wine is not always the best thing to sleep on. Maybe a hot bath?
I always go on Instagram or Facebook or else I’ll just take a really, really hot shower. But I feel like those things kind of keep you up later. Usually, I just take a really hot shower, get in my bed, and allow my body to fall asleep. Whole Foods has this, like, scoopable do-it-yourself bath soap, but I don’t really have a particular one. I like lavender.
My wellness shortcut: I don’t think there is a shortcut for anything. If there is anything, maybe drinking lots of water. Even for trimming down, I think the biggest shortcut is hydration. I have never counted but I always have bottles of water around. I always have bottles by my bed or in my car so it’s never an issue. At least the option is there to drink water.
How I like to eat when I’m alone: I like everything. I wouldn’t even say chips — it’s more like tuna fish on toast. I’ll make myself a little tuna melt and if I’m really going for it, I’ll get dill chips or something.
My wellness advice: I’ve always said, “I can’t ever see myself being vegetarian or pescetarian,” but then I realized, “Okay, well, it’s a challenge that I could probably take and is worth it.” After you challenge yourself once, it becomes a lot easier to challenge yourself to not do other things.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
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