Kelly Ripa Has Been Following Something Called The Alkaline Diet Since 2015

From Women's Health

• Kelly Ripa has followed an alkaline diet-based lifestyle for years, according to her longtime nutritionist Daryl Gioffre.

• Her eating routine is 99 percent plant-based, and she primarily eats dark green leafy vegetables and healthy fats for lunch and dinner.

• Kelly is also a big fan of intermittent fasting and generally eats within an eight hour window.

Kelly Ripa, 49, is basically the energizer bunny in heels, and sometimes ballet slippers. She wowed all her fans with a seriously impressive dance audition for J.Lo's Super Bowl Halftime Show. It makes you wonder, where does she get all her energy?

One answer may be her alkaline diet that she's followed since 2015, when she first started working with nutritionist Daryl Gioffre. This diet involves only eating foods that are low in acid (aka alkaline), like fresh vegetables, healthy fats, whole grains, and low-sugar fruits. "It's just the way she's been eating for years and she she feels really good, so she's not going to stop."

Kelly is also all about healthy whole foods, in fact, "99 percent of her diet is plant-based," says Gioffre. "Once in a while she will have a an animal protein, like a wild-caught fish, but it's always the best quality." Otherwise, her diet includes moderate amounts of protein and fiber-rich carbs, according to Gioffre. She also ditched alcohol years ago—she even joked about the wine industry losing sales when she stopped buying booze.

Kelly is a big fan of intermittent fasting, but Gioffre says she doesn't do it to restrict how much she eats. "Intermittent fasting is not about eating less, it's about eating less often," he says. "Calorie counting goes out the window—when it's healthy food, nutritious food, you eat as much of it as you need to feel satiated."

Overall, "she doesn't deprive herself," says Gioffre. "That's what makes her human, and that's the best thing about her." Instead, Kelly's diet focuses on healthy, satisfying foods to fuel her workouts and jam-packed days.

Kelly's Breakfast

As part of Kelly's intermittent fasting style, she generally skips breakfasts and eats within an eight-hour window during the day. Instead of a full meal, "she'll have a greens powder mixed with water when she wakes up first thing," Gioffre says. "It's a great way to start your day, since it's energizing and high in chlorophyll."

Kelly also starts her day with coffee. "She'll have a couple cups of coffee,"Gioffre says, noting she adds in coffee alkalizer, which is meant to reduce the acid.

When she does eat breakfast, she often whips up a batch of pancakes, or opts for avocado with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and cumin. She also loves chocolate chia pudding, says Gioffre. "The pudding is the perfect blend of minerals, protein, healthy fats, and fiber to fuel her workouts and her day."

Kelly's Lunch

For lunch, it's salads, soups, or stir fries. One of Kelly's go-to salads is piled high with kale, red and yellow peppers, avocado, and drizzled with a lime juice and extra virgin olive oil vinaigrette, according to Gioffre. "[The salads are] high in minerals, fiber, and nutrients, but low in sugar," he says. "So 80 percent of her diet is things like dark green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and healthy fats."

What Kelly Eats Pre- and Post-Workout

After a heart-pumping mid-day workout, Kelly turns to a protein shake to refuel. "She loves our plant-based protein because it's a great way to recover fast" says Gioffre. "It has plant-based proteins from hemp seeds and chia seeds."

Kelly's Go-To Snacks

In between meals, if Kelly needs a pick-me-up, she goes for an energy ball. Her go-to recipe is made of almond butter, flax seeds, dates, chia seeds, cacao, cinnamon, vanilla, and hemp seeds.

Nut butter is also a key part of her snacking. "She's a huge fan of raw nut butters, especially almond butter," he says. "You can add it to your protein drinks, you can eat it right off the spoon."

Watch Kelly Ripa answer all your burning questions...from bed:

Kelly's Dinner

Kelly's dinner plate often looks very similar to her lunch plate. "They're completely interchangeable," Gioffre says. For example, she might have a burrito bowl or a salad. "Greens will make up most of the plate," he says. "If there's going to be any animal protein, like a wild-caught salmon, it needs to be the sideshow, not the main event."

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