Nikki Reed, known for her roles in "Thirteen" and "The Twilight Saga," has evolved into a multifaceted individual: actress, activist, entrepreneur, and mother. She is a super mom to little Bodhi, wife to Ian Somerhalder, a badass actress, activist and an avid healthy eater. Beyond her acting career, Reed has dedicated herself to wellness, environmental activism, and ethical entrepreneurship. This article explores Nikki Reed's approach to diet, exercise, and overall well-being, drawing from her interviews and ventures.
Plant-Based Diet
Nikki Reed has been wowing us on the screen since 2003. Reed has been a plant-based eater for almost a decade. "For the past eight years I've been a plant-based eater," she said. She and her family try to live a pretty plant-based lifestyle so their fridge is pretty fruit and vegetable heavy. She emphasizes the importance of fresh, whole foods. "Nothing tastes better than a carrot that just came out of the ground," she says. She enjoys simple foods like tomatoes with fresh basil, olive oil, and a sprinkle of sea salt. Carbs are a huge staple of her diet and she tries to be conscious of her intake, like, 'Maybe you don't want another stack of toast, since you've already had six pieces.' Right now, she really loves cashew-based chocolate ice cream!
Reed makes her own cashew milk and almond milk so she has a couple jars of that. As a busy mom, she appreciates quick and healthy snacks, such as cutting a butternut squash in half and cooking it in the oven.
Family Meals and Convenience
Mealtime is really important for us as a family. We’re busy, working people and life right now is less about spending time in front of the stove and more about being present and spending together. Nikki Reed prioritizes family mealtime. She acknowledges that life as working parents is hectic, so she focuses on being present with her family rather than spending excessive time cooking. She uses Raised Real for Bodhi, we eat it also. She knows it’s meant for tiny humans but it’s just so easy and so flavorful.
She admits that before having a child, she spent more time making elaborate meals, but now a brown rice stir fry seems to be her signature dish.
Read also: Nikki Newman: Health and Drama
Postpartum Nutrition and Support
Nikki Reed emphasizes the importance of a support system and help, especially postpartum. She had a whole postpartum plan in place with a team of friends and mamas in place, her mom was a part of that, and we all researched and tried to prepare the most nutrient-dense meals, and then as time went on and she started cooking for herself again and for her child. You find yourself really struggling with getting creative. She highlights the struggle of finding time and creativity for cooking nutrient-dense meals after childbirth.
Exercise Routine
Nikki has always lived a very active life, doing Pilates, yoga, and more - she's maintained this through her pregnancy. "I still do workouts," she told FP. "I take a 30-minute walk every day. Five days a week, I do 30 minutes of cardio, usually either jogging - which is now kind of a combination of jogging and scooting - or the elliptical. I carry two-pound weights and do hills." She does a little bit of everything: "I do yoga. I lift weights. I do workout videos when I can't do outdoorsy things. And I just got water weights, so I can work out in the pool. I've always been an active person. It's what makes me feel good. As long as the baby's fine, I'll keep it up."
Mindset and Body Image
As an actress, she's surrounded by chatter about my body," she said. "How do I look on the red carpet? Whose dress am I wearing? Pregnancy helped secure Nikki's love for her body. Nikki acknowledges the challenges of maintaining self-esteem in the public eye.
Sustainable Living and Ethical Entrepreneurship
Nikki Reed is also an entrepreneur; with her brand BaYou With Love, the multi-hyphenate Reed designs sustainable jewelry and sells ethically produced lifestyle, home, and beauty products, partnering with small artisans and even brands like Dell to turn recycled tech products into jewelry. In August, BaYou released its first line of loungewear, perhaps just when the world needed it most. The entire line-which includes silks, robes, and pajamas-is made from plant materials and colored only using fruit dyes.
Reed's brand, BaYou With Love, focuses on sustainable jewelry and ethically produced lifestyle products. She partners with artisans and uses recycled materials, such as turning recycled tech products into jewelry. BaYou released its first line of loungewear, perhaps just when the world needed it most made from plant materials and colored only using fruit dyes.
Read also: A story of transformation: Nikki Woods
Morning and Evening Routines
Mornings are crazy right now! I wake up at 5:30am to get a head start on work by 6am. Some of my colleagues are on the east coast so it’s nice to get an early start, plus I’m a morning person! Before I had my second baby, I would prioritize a workout or 30 minutes in the sauna before the house woke up, but now I am in full-on mom-juggle mode. This particular season of life just doesn’t allow for that, which I am embracing. Now, I wake up, get to work, get the babies up, make breakfast, pack lunch, do school drops offs, roll calls on my way home, and dive back into work until evening. If I am lucky, I jump on my stationary bike and pull myself off video during a Zoom while listening in, or I sneak away to do a 10-minute workout video outside.
Reed wakes up early to get a head start on work. She used to prioritize workouts or sauna time before the house woke up, but now she focuses on mom duties. She tries to sneak in workouts when possible.
Then usually, we're hovering in the 9:30 range, and I get super, super tired. If I'm having an “okay, I'm going to do my routine” feeling that night, then I'll go to the bathroom, and do coconut oil pulling. I'll try to make sure I wash my face. I use face wash from a company called Klei, and it’s just like magic. They make little glass jars of different clay formulas that you can use to nourish or scrub or mask. Prima is a great company that I love, founded by a dear friend of mine, Jessica. Prima serums and oils are all CBD-based, and use very simple ingredients. Plantfolk Apothecary makes a vetiver hair oil that's so dreamy. You can put it all over your body if you want. Poppy & Someday makes some amazing mists and balms, things like that. If I'm lucky, I'll take a shower for a second so I have maybe 30 minutes of self-care. There's a tea called Rest Easy from Prima that I drink every single night, and it's passion flower combined with CBD. We all know about blue light and how hard it is on our eyes and our minds. I think setting a space that's not bed to work in has been really a big deal. Not bringing devices to bed really helps with sleep and I try to read when I go to bed instead of watching television.
For a long time I would set my alarm for 5:30 so that I could have an hour or an hour-and-a-half of just total quiet in the morning. If I wanted to get a head start on work, fine, but also if I wanted to just, like, sit outside for a quick second and close my eyes, that was my me time. And then I started embracing this rule of, maybe the luxury is actually setting my alarm at 7:00 and taking that extra hour-and-a-half of me time to actually sleep.
She has a nighttime routine that includes coconut oil pulling, washing her face with Klei products, and using Prima serums and oils. She also uses Plantfolk Apothecary hair oil and Poppy & Someday mists and balms. She drinks Rest Easy tea from Prima and avoids devices before bed, opting to read instead.
Read also: Self-Acceptance and Weight Loss
Skincare
Nikki Reed believes in putting things on your skin that you can put into your body. She often mixes manuka honey with spirulina or cacao for face masks. She advises using coconut oil or avocado on the skin and hair.
I realized that I have been neglecting my skin and hair and body more during this quarantine than I ever have. So if you're a multitasker, and you're already making something to eat and that thing can go on your skin, do it. So if it's coconut oil, and you're already cooking with it, rub some on your skin, put it in your hair. If it's honey, great. If you've got avocado, smush that shit up and stick it in your hair.
Hair Care
My whole life, I've spent straightening or curling my already curly hair to change or perfect it, and it had never dawned on me that you can actually cut your hair for your hair texture. About six months ago, I watched a YouTube tutorial on razor cutting for fine curly hair from a woman named Jane. Her salon is Edo Salon. And I watched it and I was, like, you know what, I'm going to do this because I don't have time anymore to do my hair. I have a daughter, I have a company, I'm working full-time. And so I started cutting my hair for my curl. I color my own hair a little bit, too. Hair for me is like an art. It's super fun, and it's also kind of a meditation. I cut Ian's hair, I cut my daughter's hair, I cut everybody's hair. I said this to Ian the other day, I was like, “This is the first time in my life I've ever gotten out of the shower and then just let my hair dry and actually felt comfortable with what I'm supposed to look like.” I think you're more beautiful when you're in whatever your natural state is. Like, I think we're born with this thing that we're supposed to have, that you just need to learn how to work with, and when you fight that, I actually think you take away from, or distract from, your own personal individualized beauty. I wasn't born with straight hair, I wasn't born with perfect curls. That's not what I'm meant to look like. I'm meant to just embrace my crazy, wild hair.
She emphasizes embracing natural hair texture and finding a cut that works with it. She cuts her own hair and her family's hair. She uses a shampoo and conditioner bar to avoid plastic bottles. She also makes her own salt spray and avoids towel-drying her hair.
Mental and Emotional Well-being
Mom, for many years, has been the voice that gently whispers reminders to meditate, do yoga, enroll in school, and go for walks-anything that prioritizes exercising the mind and the soul in the same way I do my fitness routine.
Nikki emphasizes the importance of mental and emotional well-being. She encourages listening to one's body and vocalizing feelings. She advises rethinking relationships that make you feel bad and prioritizing activities that nourish the soul.
Supplement Brand
When Nikki Reed and husband Ian Somerhalder founded their supplement brand, The Absorption Company, back in 2023, the goal was simple: To bring transparency and efficacy to an industry that often lacks both. But for Nikki, wellness is more than just her business-it’s something she strives for on a personal level.
Nikki and her husband founded The Absorption Company to provide transparent and effective supplements. She emphasizes that wellness is more than just diet and exercise.