Inside Jennifer Lopez's 'healthier' diet at 56 including number one rule she swears by
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@jlo
Jennifer Lopez admitted a few years ago that the physique she’s honed in her 50s is far superior to the one she crafted in her 20s, claiming: “I embrace who I am. I feel sexy, I feel youthful, I feel pretty sometimes.”
And the 56-year-old doesn’t just rely on genetics…she puts in the work and has a bulletproof diet to back it up.
In addition to getting at least eight hours of sleep every night, the Marry Me icon works out at least three days a week, rarely choosing to mix up her routine.
“Sometimes, I work too late the night before, and I’m like, ‘Ugh, I can’t do this.’ But I tell myself, ‘Just do it. It’s only an hour.’ It’s just talking yourself off the ledge of being a lazy bum,” she confessed to US Weekly in 2015.
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“I don’t like doing it later; it’s harder to get there when I have my day going already.”
As well as splitting her one-hour sessions into 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of resistance training - which starts with legs, then back and shoulders, and ends with core - the celebrity lives by some other health rules.
According to an interview with People Magazine, the ‘Jenny from the Block’ singer said that the number one rule she swears by is not denying herself anything.
“Throughout the years I’ve learned the importance of maintaining a healthier […] diet,” she stated. “I still eat some of the foods I love, but in moderation. I don’t deprive myself.”
According to her trainer, Tracy Anderson, founder of The Tracy Anderson Method, the mother of two is a ‘very balanced person’.
“She’s not going to miss out on Thanksgiving or a holiday with her children," says Anderson of Jennifer's balanced approach to eating well,” she stated.
But making sure she eats a balanced diet and indulges in the odd chocolate chip cookie and lick of ice cream isn’t the only rules that Lopez follows.
“I’ve taken care of myself, and now it shows,” she said in another interview with InStyle US.
The mother of two reports that she always chooses to eat all-organic food like leafy greens and spinach.
She also gets her protein from egg whites, white meat turkey, chicken breast, and grass-fed beef, and chooses to eat salad or veggies with halibut or cod when dining out with her friends and family.
“I have her eating very clean because she needs really good fuel for all the things that she’s doing,” Anderson wrote via her website in 2018.
“It’s all organic and it’s all very well thought out, with the balance of very high quality proteins and a lot of nutrient-dense food… everything is fresh.”
Other rules include: making sure complex carbohydrates are included in her meals, grabbing ‘healthy’ over chocolate, and drinking a minimum of seven glasses of water per day.
Despite claiming she doesn’t ‘deprive’ herself of anything, there are two things Lopez will not put in her body - and one of them is a daily staple for many of us.
"I don't drink or smoke or have caffeine,” she once said in an interview with US Weekly. “That really wrecks your skin as you get older.”
However, the Kiss of the Spider Woman star has been known to partake in a decaf coffee in the morning.
Olay describes caffeine as a dehydrator that, when consumed in excess, causes skin redness, inflammation, a dull complexion and dryness.
Overconsumption can cause the area around the eyes to appear sunken.
Studies have also suggested that the beverage can make acne worse.
Despite previously showing alcohol the red light, Lopez claimed in 2023 that she does occasionally enjoy drinking cocktails.
The confession came after she founded Delola, a line of ready-to-enjoy, premium spirit-based cocktails.
“To tell you the truth, that was true for a long time. I didn't drink. A few years back, as you will see from several photos of me out over the past 10, maybe 15 years, I have been having the occasional cocktail.
“I do enjoy the occasional cocktail,” she stated.
Lopez apparently sips on her decaf coffee alongside a low-calorie shake or protein-packed smoothie.
In an interview with People, it was revealed that the latter contained strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, Greek yoghurt, cinnamon, honey, ice cubes, a scoop of protein powder, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
For lunch, she enjoys a salad packed with veggies like broccoli, and courgette (or zucchini, as she probably calls it), chopped kale, pumpkin seeds, and mixed shallots.
Dinner time, she’s reaching for a lean protein source with quinoa.
“It feels like rice and beans, which I grew up with. And I like pork and chicken—especially Puerto Rican style!,” she explained.
EatingWell has also shared another one of Lopez’s go-to meals: grilled chicken, roasted veggies, an Italian-inspired salad with olives, cheese, salami and cherry tomatoes, a side of French fries and a loaf of crusty bread with butter.
The site claimed that the carbohydrates were for her children, twins Max and Oskar, 18. However, she did claim that she would nibble on them, too.