THE ACTORS DIET: Lynn - Appetite Found

What is The Actors Diet?

Let's make it clear. We're not calling this "The Actors Diet" to tell you how to eat so you end up looking like a certain celebrity. We know that like all people, actors come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and their diets vary accordingly. But unlike most people, actors have unique circumstances that center around their bodies. Sometimes we need to get strong for an action movie, lose weight to look sick, tone up for a bathing suit scene, figure out how to fit into the same costume for reshoots.

How to deal with all this in the healthiest way possible? Especially when confronted with the crafts service table on set?

"The Actors Diet" will show you how we attempt to navigate these unique challenges.

Christy's Story

Food has always been an important part of my world. My parents were always insistent that we eat healthy - lots of vegetables, limit the sweets - you know the drill. My grandfather had a huge garden while I was growing up and we spent countless hours helping him tend to his plants and ate mostly the food that he grew.

When I moved to NYC and began working as an actor, I developed a different relationship to food. Because an actor's body is their instrument and they often need to change it to fit a role, eating disorders are rampant. Every actor you meet is on a different diet of some sort. In an effort to preempt an eating disorder for myself, I went to school and studied nutrition.

During that time, I really got to know my body and how it wanted to be fed. I started to see food as a tool (a yummy tool!) that could help me do the things I wanted to do and see the results I wanted to see. From there, it became easy to understand how to change my body healthfully and stay creative and energized. Now, in addition to working as an actor, I counsel other people around their health and nutrition! (Take a look at my new website - How to Chow)

My hope is that this blog will dispel the crazy diets you hear about in celebrity magazines and tabloids. That we can talk openly about what we eat and what works for us and our bodies. And that it will encourage you to try some new things and see what works for you.

Lynn's Story

Ugh. I kinda hate talking about my history with food because it’s been such a roller coaster. I’ve been a binge eater my entire life and have spent the last six years balancing it out with anorexia.

In 2003 I had literally worked my butt off to play a ballet dancer. When I stopped the dieting, I naturally gained the weight back. But my managers weren’t happy. My fans called me chubby. My relatives commented. And since I wasn’t booking, I figured it must be because of the weight. I looked for examples of women who were about my size but I wasn’t even sure what I saw anymore; the bingeing and anorexia were taking over every aspect of my life.

In an attempt to get my life under control in a healthful way, I tried to do what I thought other actors did. I went on the zone, did cleanses, ate macrobiotic, got hypnosis, hired a personal trainer, had private pilates sessions, ate specially delivered/overpriced meals, went vegetarian, all while seeing an eating disorders specialist. I would scour magazine interviews with actors, stopping when they described anything having to do with food. “She ate a hamburger and fries,” I would read, and think, “And then what? How much of it did she eat? Did she have anything else the rest of the day? What about the next day?” I couldn’t figure out how other actors did it, why it was so difficult for me to stay as small as everyone else around me without counting every calorie.

I took a year off from show business to come to terms with my disordered eating. I’ve been doing well,and now I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been, both mentally and physically.

Now that I’ve reentered the acting world, I want to hold myself accountable. The same pressures are going to be there and I don’t want to fall back into abusive behaviors. I’m hoping this food blog will present an honest look into this actor’s diet, burgers and fries and all.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Lynn - Appetite Found

Whew. Hunger came back with a vengeance 3 hours after my mini lunch yesterday. It kinda hit me out of the blue - one second I was reading blogs on the couch, the next I was screaming, "Are you ready for dinner, Abe?!"

Luckily there were wonderful leftovers to be consumed, stat. I'd made a lazy lasagna on Thursday night, this time using only cottage cheese (no yogurt) with a sprinkle of Nutritional Yeast on top.

I'd forgotten to add an egg, and we still don't have mozzarella cheese in the house, so once again, it didn't meld fantastically. Tasted delightful, though.

Dessert was a thick slice of pumpkin bread and a cup of Decaf Sweet Coconut Thai with organic skim milk and Erythritol. I'd made a loaf from some store-bought pumpkin mix, substituting the milk with rice milk, the eggs with egg whites, and the oil with canned pumpkin puree.

The result was tremendous - super moist and bursting with pumpkin. I'm stocking up on more bread mix and canned pumpkin this season! I felt so happy and content eating this delicious meal after feeling ravenous. (I've also snapped out of my poopie mood today, by the way!)

We watched the documentary "Every Little Step," which follows the casting of the Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line." The movie was good - it was entertaining, and truly captured the emotion involved during the casting process. I even shed a few tears for those actors - the ones who made it, and the ones who didn't. I also felt incredibly relieved that I no longer go out for musicals, which I did when I was first starting out in NYC ten years ago. Those dance routines and cattle calls are brutal!

While watching the movie my mouth was bored so I sucked on a raspberry tootsie and drank some extra bubbly seltzer from my Sodastream.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend, especially those at the Foodbuzz Festival! I'm a little sad because I had originally planned on stopping by - I was supposed to be in San Francisco for an "X's and O's" screening party but wound up canceling since I'm doing a lot of traveling these next few months. It looks like everyone's having a great time so far. Happy Saturday and don't forget to enter our Chobani giveaway, which ends on Wednesday!

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19 comments:

CindyNovember 7, 2009 at 2:57 PM
Yay! for good appetite, mood and food!
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Food Makes Fun FuelNovember 7, 2009 at 3:11 PM
That pumpkin bread sounds really good. i was planning on making a loaf today or tomorrow.
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JennyNovember 7, 2009 at 3:28 PM
thank goodness you appetite kicked in just in time for all the yumminess!
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katsdailyplateNovember 7, 2009 at 3:32 PM
I'm very impressed with all of your baking- the pumpkin bread sounds wonderful. Im sad I am not at Foodbuzz either. San Fran is one of my favorite cities in the world!
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weitouNovember 7, 2009 at 4:52 PM
That's a very cute mug!I love it!!!

that lazy lasagna recipe would work for me:) looks so easy and yummy!
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AlisonNovember 7, 2009 at 6:54 PM
hahaha I'm not surprised looking at food blogs made you hungry! There's some hormone that's released when you look at pics of food and basically turn on the hunger! True story.

I wish I was at FoodBuzz too! I had no plans to go but I still would have loved to go. Maybe next year!
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weissmanNovember 7, 2009 at 7:24 PM
Pumkin Braed, we had pumkin flavored pasta today at Costco, both me and my daughter loved it.
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SophiaNovember 8, 2009 at 2:47 AM
Damn it, it would have been so nice to finally meet you, Lynn! PLease make it to the next one (fingers crossed that there will be a 2nd festival), because it was freaking AWESOME!!

And lol, reading food blogs will make that hunger appear again!
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Simply LifeNovember 8, 2009 at 4:00 AM
oh that pumpkin bread sounds fantastic! Great idea with the substitutions! Glad to hear your appetite is back!
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julialivingfreeNovember 8, 2009 at 5:34 AM
I would love to see that documentary, sounds good!
That pumpkin bread looks delicious, makes me wanna have a bite;)

xxx Julia (Taste of Living)
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GinaNovember 8, 2009 at 6:49 AM
Mmmm, pumpkin bread!! Love it.
And, lazy lasagna? Even better! It sounds like an oxymoron, as lasagna usually takes forrrreeever! But it's always worth it in the end.
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AngieNovember 8, 2009 at 7:01 AM
My lasagna always looks bad, but tastes delicious!!

And, I am loving pumpkin bread right now!!
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ChristinaNovember 8, 2009 at 8:51 AM
That lasagna looks delicious. And I'm lovin all your game drinkware. The Scrabble mug is adorable!
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laura dishesNovember 8, 2009 at 11:07 AM
Pumpkin bread... yum! I finally found canned pumpkin today at TJ's- it's the strangest thing, but there is some sort of pumpkin shortage going on in Atlanta!
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cward151November 8, 2009 at 11:38 AM
I'll have to check out that documentary. I moved to NYC to be an actor, and while every aspect of it is pretty daunting, the competition amongst singers and dancers is its own beast.

That pumpkin loaf recipe sounds amazing. Lollipops are always a good oral distraction.
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liveloveeatandplayNovember 8, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Good food is always a great way to snap out of a bad mood!
Love the PacMan glass!
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JennaNovember 8, 2009 at 12:33 PM
Lasagna and pumpkin bread. I don't think it can get much better! :)
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MelissaNibblesNovember 8, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Pumpkin bread? Yes please!

The documentary sounds great. I love "A Chorus Line." It was one of the first shows I saw on Broadway. I was only 7 or 8 years old and loved every second! Thanks for the heads up on the doc!
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LowNovember 9, 2009 at 7:59 AM
Glad your appetite came back! That lasagna looked great!
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