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Victoria Beckham’s Diet And Exercise: Fish, Veggies, HIIT, And More
Has Victoria Beckham’s diet been the same for the past few decades? Read to learn about what she eats, her exercise regime, and her health and fitness journey.
It is curious how a woman who is a fashion designer, singer, entrepreneur, and mother of four gets fueled by the same boring meal every day. Hence, Victoria Beckham’s diet has always ignited curiosity among her fans. In an interview, David Beckham once mentioned how he has seen his wife eat the same thing every day since the day he met her, and that she rarely deviates from her extreme diet. It is perhaps her exceptional dedication to health and strict lifestyle choices that make Victoria Beckham still look gorgeous and in perfect shape, even in the fifth decade of her life. Let’s scroll away to learn more about it.
Who Is Victoria Beckham?
Having started her career in the 1990s as a member of the popular girl group Spice Girls, Victoria Caroline Adams made it big in the entertainment industry as a singer. In the group, she was particularly popular with the nickname Posh Spice, owing to her outwardly elite and highbrow personality. Multi-talented as she is, she also ventured into fashion design and became a global style icon.
With the Spice Girls becoming the best-selling girl group of all time and selling over 100 million records worldwide, Victoria’s popularity soared and made her a likable television personality. However, after the group split in 2001, she started her self-titled debut solo album.
Victoria's Secrets (2000), Being Victoria Beckham (2002), The Real Beckhams (2003), Victoria Beckham – A Mile In Their Shoes (2004), and Victoria Beckham: Coming to America (2007) are five popular documentaries that she starred in.
Her marriage to the popular British football player David Beckham accelerated this increasing stardom, further. Some of Victoria’s best works include Wannabe, Viva Forever, A Mind of Its Own, Mama, I’m Not Such an Innocent Girl, Midnight Fantasy, etc.
Lately, the pop star ventured into entrepreneurship with her makeup brand Victoria Beckham Beauty as well as her fashion e-commerce brand, which sells high-fashion apparel, accessories, and glasses.
Victoria Beckham Profile
Profession: Singer, fashion designer, television personality, entrepreneur
Birthdate: 17th April, 1974
Birthplace: Essex, England
Spouse: David Beckham
Children: Brooklyn Beckham, Romeo Beckham, Cruz Beckham, and Harper Beckham
Victoria Beckham’s Strict Diet
David Beckham, on the River Cafe Table 4 podcast, had once revealed how his wife has been eating the same thing every day since the day he met her, and that she rarely deviates from it.
The only time he really saw Victoria eating something off his plate was when she was pregnant with Harper, their fourth child. While the ex-footballer didn’t remember exactly what Victoria ate, he does recall it being an incredible evening due to this fond memory.
Victoria Beckham is impossibly strict and disciplined with her diet and food choices, and ensures that everything she eats serves a purpose — building muscle, staying in shape, improving skin and hair health, energy and antioxidants, etc. She seldom indulges in foods to satisfy her cravings as the Posh Spice singer cares deeply about maintaining a healthy physique and body weight. The following are some insights that we have about her diet.
1. A Shot of ACV:
Victoria starts her day with 2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. At the same time, many health experts recommend the consumption of apple cider vinegar for weight loss. A few human and animal studies back this up with evidence of improvement of gut microbiota and fat-burning activity (1), (2), (3).
However, experts also warn against consuming apple cider vinegar undiluted, on an everyday basis. This could include feelings of nausea, stomach burning, and depletion of the protective lining in the gut (3), (4).
2. Warm Water with Lemon:
After starting her day with ACV, the Stop singer likes to consume a glass of warm water with lemon. She likes to double up on the acid cleanse on an empty stomach, and prefers having something sour over caffeine for a daily wake-me-up. While both steps are regarded as healthy practices to flush out toxins in the gut and reduce weight, experts warn against consuming too many acidic drinks on an empty stomach, every day. This cautions against gut inflammations and tooth erosion (5), (6).
3. Green Smoothie:
Similar to Kate Middleton, Victoria Beckham, too, enjoys having a green smoothie or green juice for breakfast on many days. Her power smoothies usually consist of apples, kiwi, lemon, spinach, broccoli, chia seeds, and coconut water. While green vegetables such as spinach have an alkalizing effect on the gut with a punch of flavonoids, apple, and coconut water add natural sweetness to the beverage along with electrolytes and essential vitamins (7), (8), (9).
4. Mashed Avocado on Ezekiel Toast:
Avocados are a major part of the singer’s diet. She eats a total of 3-4 avocados in her daily diet, to feel satiated in her low-carbohydrate diet. Now, avocados are an excellent source of omega fatty acids, dietary fiber, and healthy unsaturated fats such as MUFA and PUFA (10).
However, considering the high-fat content in a single avocado (typically 15 g to 30 g), consuming more than one or two on a daily basis is cautioned by health experts. This way, Beckham’s consumption quantity of avocados is not fully healthy and not recommendable.
Beckham likes to smear a generous amount of mashed avocados on toast. She specifically consumes Ezekiel toasts that are made with gluten-free whole grains and sprouted legumes. This packs loads up her meal with complex carbohydrates, plant-based protein, and loads of dietary fiber, to keep her full for a long time.
5. Grilled Fish And Steamed Vegetables:
Now, coming to the ex-Spice Girl’s most infamously boring but nutritious meal that she has been consuming for the past 25 years (variably for lunch or dinner) — grilled fish and steamed vegetables. She may consume healthy fish options like salmon or sea bass with a generous side of leeks, tenderstem broccoli, and other seasonal vegetables.
The combination is quite healthy as fish is an excellent source of protein and omega fatty acids, whereas the steamed veg packs a punch of antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (11), (12).
However, according to experts, there are two fundamentally wrong aspects to this diet approach. Firstly, the lack of diversification in her meals deprives her of several beneficial nutrients such as vitamin K, calcium, potassium, iron, zinc, etc. (based on the popular opinion of nutritionists).
Secondly, the sheer lack of carbohydrates in her typical meal may not work for many people and can cause nausea, fatigue, indigestion, bloating, etc. if beginners were to try out this diet (based on anecdotal evidence).
Read More: Zac Efron’s Diet And Workout Plan That Keeps Him Fit And Ripped
6. A Glass of Wine on Occasion:
While most of the meals that Beckham consumes are exceptionally healthy, she does indulge in some alcohol once in a while. The 50-year-old doesn’t like it when people obsess too much over the calories in a glass of wine and believes that life is too short not to have fun once in a while.
In addition to consuming high-protein and high-fat meals, Beckham likes to steer clear of food categories such as refined sugar, refined carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, and foods that are heavily processed and lack nutritional value.
Regarding her approach to food, fans, and critics have expressed that the ex-Spice girl’s diet definitely lacks spice. Besides, the Wannabe star is not exactly a seeker of culinary experiences. In one of the behind-the-scenes footage shared by Victoria Beckham, her youngest daughter Harper was seen mocking her mother’s cooking skills, saying how she can’t even make cereal. It appears that cooking is, after all, not among all the exceptional talents this mother of four possesses.
Victoria Beckham’s Exercise Routine
The secret to Beckham’s incredible physique alongside her boringly healthy diet is her strict and strenuous exercise regime. The singer has often posted videos of her working out with her husband David Beckham, reflecting the shared love for fitness that the couple has. The following are some of the main components of Victoria Beckham’s workout routine.
HIIT: In the early part of her career as a Spice Girl, Beckham mostly engaged in heart rate-boosting high-intensity interval training workouts, alongside cardio. This is a full-body intermittent training workout that comprises short, explosive movements followed by short breaks for recovery. Research deems this as a superior form of exercise that improves cardiac health, oxygen uptake, and metabolic health and optimizes oxidative and glycolytic energy systems (13).
Read More: Snooki’s Weight Loss: Weight Training, HIIT, Protein-rich Diet, Etc.
Heavy-weight Training: Beckham picked up strength training with weights as a part of her regular workout routine in addition to HIIT much later in her career. However, once she started, it really stuck as she thoroughly enjoyed its benefits.
She incorporates heavyweights in her squats, Russian twists, lunges, shoulder presses, kettlebell swings, etc., and uses dumbbells, weighted plates, barbells, and kettlebells to cater to the needs of different exercises. Weight training, as per research, helps with building lean muscle, boosting metabolic health, increasing bone density, and weight management (14).
Body-weight Training: In addition to weight training, Beckham engages in functional bodyweight exercises such as seated tricep dips, squats, lunges, push-ups, crunches, etc.
Barre: Beckham’s workout routines usually place great emphasis on strengthening and toning the lower body. Hence, she usually mixes up her HIIT routines with barre workouts, which focus on muscle groups at the calves, knees, glutes, thighs, and abs. A study shows that this ballet-inspired workout may help with flexibility, strength, and better posture (15).
Yoga: Considering that her exercise regime typically incorporates a great deal of strength training and cardio, Beckham makes sure to engage in yoga too, to get a good stretch and have a therapeutic effect on her muscles and joints.
Running: Whether it's on her treadmill or an exhilarating outdoor experience, Beckham is quite big on running. This simple cardio exercise helps her energize and get a boost, especially in her morning workouts.
High-intensity Cycling: In cardio, Beckham also engages in high-intensity cycling at the gym to give a boost to her thigh muscles and calves, while also maintaining a good posture.
Victoria Beckham’s Journey with Health, Wellness, And Weight
After the birth of her first child Brooklyn, Beckham’s body was harshly criticized by the media. On the front page of a magazine, her postpartum body has arrows pointing at areas where she needed to lose weight. In an interview, she admitted that those things affected her deeply back in the time, which perhaps became the cause of her ultra-strict fitness regime.
However, she recently acknowledged how she has become more accepting of her appearance and more unapologetic. She seems to have found a balance between a disciplined lifestyle and having fun and knows what works for her. Today, Beckham is very happy about the fact that “thinness is becoming old-fashioned” and how people care about overall health and fitness more.
Victoria Beckham’s diet has been a topic of curiosity in the media for a very long time. She doesn’t switch up the things she eats very often and sticks to her fish and veggies meals and avocado snacks most of the time. This is a nutritious choice of foods that Beckham has discovered works best for her, which is why she hasn’t been keen on changing her diet in the past two decades.
This extreme decision to follow the same diet every day came after much scrutiny about her body, which made the Spice Girl make a commitment to herself. However, due to the lack of variety in her diet and the lopsided quantity of avocados she consumes, health experts and nutritionists aren’t a fan of her diet. Hence, it is not a good idea to hop on the bandwagon if you’re looking at losing weight, too.
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