During Tyra’s modeling days, she maintained a lower weight because, despite her best intentions, she often didn’t have time to eat well. “Sometimes the only thing in my kitchen when I got home at night was Tang and microwave popcorn, so that was my dinner,” she says.
Today, she eats plenty of fresh fruits (her favorites: mangos and papayas) and salads with chicken, shrimp, or other protein, and she snacks on crudités with onion dip. She recently hired a part-time chef to help her out in the evenings. “He makes meals and leaves them for when I get home,” she says.
“I realized I needed to take better care of myself, and I knew this would be the best way to do that.” She still loves to cook, however, and tries to make some dinners herself.
Lately she’s been experimenting with recipes from her favorite cookbook, 400 Best-Ever Soups, by Anne Sheasby. “Whether it’s a big beef chili or a seafood bisque,” she says, “they’re all delicious.”
Tyra Banks’ workout Tyra Banks has a confession to make: “Whole months went by when I didn’t work out,” she admits. “Months! But then I’d get on a kick, become really motivated, and do three miles every day on the treadmill for weeks.” It was her doctor who told her she needed to make exercise a consistent priority in her life.
He actually wrote out a prescription for her: one hour of cardio every day, a “drug” she’s embracing. “Now I’m much more diligent,” she says. “I do treadmill intervals – I mix walking and running. Or I just run outside.”
Tyra’s found that taking her own advice – increasing her time at the gym, eating better, and loving herself just the way she is – has helped make her even more confident. “Hey,” she says, “I’m only human.
When I see someone running around without any cellulite, I think, Gosh, I wish my butt could be that smooth. But doing what I can to take care of myself means I don’t worry about that so much.”
