Cindy Crawford, a celebrated model, has maintained a successful career through a combination of natural beauty and a disciplined lifestyle. Her approach encompasses healthy eating habits, regular exercise, and sufficient rest. While she acknowledges her Midwest upbringing exposed her to less healthy foods, such as vegetables with Velveeta cheese and ultra-processed meals, she transitioned to a balanced diet as she matured.
Balanced Diet: The 80/20 Rule
Cindy Crawford considers herself a healthy eater who believes in enjoying food without excessive restrictions. In general, she adheres to a healthy diet about 80% of the time. This balanced approach became particularly important when she had children. She wanted to instill in her daughter, Kaia Gerber, also a model, that success doesn't require obsessive dieting but rather a focus on healthy eating.
Crawford tries to include a salad and green tea in her daily diet while limiting sugar intake. She avoids refined grains, such as white pasta, bread, and rice, but allows herself occasional treats like cocktails, ice cream, or chocolate. In fact, she enjoys a piece of chocolate every day.
Portion Control and Mindful Eating
In addition to making healthy choices, Cindy Crawford emphasizes portion control. She avoids severe limitations but also refrains from mindless eating. She typically avoids snacking throughout the day or in front of the TV, as it distracts her from enjoying her food. As she explains: "I would say to stop mindless eating and focus on portion control. If you sit on the couch with a bag of chips, it could be gone very quickly. I'm not saying don't have the chips-put however many you think is an appropriate serving in a bowl and eat that."
Occasional Cleanses
Cindy Crawford occasionally incorporates three-day cleanses into her routine when she feels the need. However, she avoids overly restrictive diets. She mentions that she doesn't eat a lot of meat and could easily be a vegetarian, but it's not a practical choice for her family.
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Daily Meal Choices
Crawford starts her day with a cup of green tea, having switched from coffee due to stomach sensitivities. She follows this with a protein shake, varying the ingredients to ensure a variety of vitamins and minerals, but typically includes spirulina and turmeric. On weekends, she enjoys an omelet with spinach and mushrooms, occasionally sampling her husband's French toast.
For lunch, Cindy Crawford almost always opts for a salad, sometimes with chicken. She also enjoys the kale salad with grilled salmon from True Food Kitchen in Malibu.
Dinner is more varied, with Crawford eating out about half the time. She enjoys sushi with her family and visits Cafe Habana Malibu, owned by her husband, where she might order the kale and manchego salad. When dining at home, she cooks simple meals like turkey meatballs with pasta, salad, and an additional vegetable. While her kids eat the pasta, she usually skips it. Her favorite treat for dinner is caviar with chocolate for dessert.
Cindy Crawford's Essentials by Urban Remedy
Cindy Crawford collaborated with Urban Remedy to create the Cindy Crawford's Essentials line, which offers plant-based options for busy lifestyles. These products are made with organic, natural ingredients designed to last for three days, or longer if spread out. The line includes items like Cold Brew Light Coffee, Mint Cacao Chip shakes, trail mix, sweet potato hummus, low glycemic juices, and salads like the green quinoa salad.
The Mint Cacao Chip shake, for instance, includes spinach, mint, cacao, almond milk, banana, cashew, vanilla, and stevia. The trail mix contains superfoods like goji berries, cacao nibs, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and inca berries.
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Exercise Routine: Consistency and Variety
Exercise is a crucial part of Cindy Crawford's lifestyle. She has been working out since she was 20 and considers it part of her job. She schedules her workouts in advance to maintain discipline. She also emphasizes the importance of sleep for overall health, as feeling well-rested helps her stay motivated to exercise.
Cindy Crawford begins most mornings with 10 minutes in her Jacuzzi for meditation. Following this, she engages in 20 minutes of cardio in her home gym, including 10 minutes of jumping on a trampoline and 10 minutes of running upstairs. She listens to podcasts or audiobooks during her workouts to make the time pass more quickly.
In addition to her daily cardio, she enjoys being active with her husband or friends, going on bike rides or hikes. She aims for at least one hike per week.
Crawford typically does resistance training workouts 3-4 times a week, working with trainer Sarah Hagaman on circuit training. She prefers whole-body workouts using weights and incorporates traditional exercises like lunges, squats, and bicep curls. She also varies the type of cardio during the circuit, including running upstairs, sprinting, or biking.
Adaptations and Flexibility
Even with a disciplined workout routine, Cindy Crawford acknowledges that it can be challenging to maintain consistency, especially when traveling. During the pandemic, she shared a quick 10-minute bodyweight workout on her Instagram, demonstrating exercises she did when she was younger.
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Cindy Crawford's Approach to Fitness Over 50
Cindy Crawford, now in her 50s, maintains a balanced and approachable fitness routine. She works out about 4-5 days a week, incorporating Pilates on a reformer machine twice a week. She also works with a trainer twice a week, focusing on exercises like free weights, lunges, pushups, and running stairs. Additionally, she enjoys hiking with friends.
Crawford emphasizes consistency over pushing herself too hard, viewing fitness as "the long game." She acknowledges that aging is a natural process and focuses on staying healthy and active.