From athletes like Naomi Osaka and Kelly Slater to entertainers like 50 Cent and Rebel Wilson, a majority of successful people share a focus on well-being and performance, despite their diverse careers. Their daily diets reflect a balance of discipline and indulgence, demonstrating that health and enjoyment can go hand in hand.
Whether it’s Hailey Bieber starting her day with an avocado-topped Ezekiel English muffin, 50 Cent avoiding alcohol, Naomi Osaka’s morning smoothies or Chris Paul embracing a plant-based lifestyle, the common thread is their commitment to making choices that fuel their demanding lifestyles while keeping a keen eye on their well-being.
Hailey Bieber
On a typical day, Hailey Bieber is up by 8am every morning and is usually working out within an hour. Her go-to breakfast is an Ezekiel English muffin with sliced avocado, lemon, salt and pepper, but if she wanted to treat herself, “I’d do chocolate chip pancakes and bacon and two eggs over medium, with a side of hash browns,” she told Marie Claire.
For her lunch, Bieber likes to keep it light — usually a salad with fish and grilled vegetables, or a sandwich. “I love a good kale Caesar salad [but with] no croutons,” she told Elle. “That’s usually one thing I leave out.” Dinner is usually similar to lunch. Bieber makes sure she’s sipping on water throughout the day to stay hydrated — she typically consumes a couple of bottles per day.
Things look different if it’s a cheat day. “A cheat day for me, the first thing that I crave, I’ll eat,” she revealed. “That’s my rule. So if I wake up and I want pancakes, I’m gonna eat pancakes. If I want a cheeseburger for lunch or for dinner, I’m gonna eat it. If I want fries, I’m gonna eat the fries.”
Rebel Wilson
On a typical day in Rebel Wilson’s daily routine, she wakes up at around 8am, after getting about eight hours of sleep. According to the actress, if she doesn’t get at least eight hours or more a night, she “literally can’t function.” She doesn’t drink coffee either, although she’ll drink a Diet Coke when she’s filming at night and needs a caffeine hit.
When it comes to her daily meal plan, Wilson has cut back on her previous 3,000 calories a day and stuck with a high-protein diet that includes a lot of fish, particularly salmon, and chicken breast. On filming days, she’ll also have some Olly gummy vitamins at around 3pm — “They’re not candy, but they remind me of the Haribo gummy bears I used to eat and they actually have things that are good for me.”
Despite her recent health kick, it doesn’t mean that Wilson doesn’t have the odd cheat meal every now and then. It’s all about overall balance for the actress. “We’ll be like, ‘Should we get In-N-Out burger?’ And I’m like, ‘Nothing is forbidden,’” she explained. “I can go there, I just might eat half of what I used to eat before. You know? And I’ll have a burger, and a few fries, and then you feel fine.”
50 Cent
For his diet, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson prefers to avoid carbs and processed food, focusing on eating whole foods and vegetables. He broke down a typical meal plan in his book, “I’m not really a breakfast guy, so just a smoothie or protein shake of some sort will do. For lunch, it’s usually a salad. If I’m eating out for dinner, which is hard to avoid for me, I’ll order something like a chicken and lettuce wrap or a steak with asparagus.”
Unlike many rappers, Jackson is famous for being a non-drinker and non-smoker; preferring to stay clear-minded for business opportunities. Even when he’s partying at a club or hosting a party, he has a strategy for staying off the alcohol.
“First I’ll pour drinks from a bottle of Champagne for everyone who is in VIP with me. When the bottle is empty, I’ll give it to one of my guys and have him quietly refill it with ginger ale,” he wrote. “For the rest of the night I’ll have that bottle in my hand. I’ll take swigs every now and then just to keep the vibe right, but I’m not drinking anything but Canada Dry.”
Priyanka Chopra
On a typical day, Priyanka Chopra is up between 8-9am, and the first thing she does is have a large cup of espresso which she says is how she gets her brain started for the day. If she’s in New York then her assistant will come by with a Sweetgreen bowl made up of scrambled eggs, veggies, and farrow.
She told Elle years ago that she doesn’t have a diet and tends to “wing it by the seat of my pants.” If she feels like she’s put on some weight, then she’ll start eating more salad, protein, and soup. On the flip side, if she’s feeling like she’s in great shape, then she’ll indulge in cheeseburgers and pizza.
At around 6.30-7pm, Chopra will have a break for dinner (”Vietnamese chicken with zucchini noodles, Lebanese food, Greek, Thai”), before heading back to work for a few more meetings until 9pm, at which point she’ll finish up her day and start her nighttime routine.
Gordon Ramsay
To cater to his demanding lifestyle, as well as maintain his health, Gordon Ramsay keeps a close eye on his diet and exercise. For breakfast, he’ll usually keep it simple with a bowl of oatmeal. During the reddit Q&A, Ramsay described his go-to oatmeal recipe:
“The night before, put 3-4 bananas in the oven on a pilot light. And the next day, squeeze the bananas into almond milk, bring it to a boil, then add the oatmeal and dried cranberries, and you’ll have the most amazing oatmeal for breakfast.”
When it comes to the rest of his meals, Ramsay likes to stick to grazing on small dishes throughout the day. “I like the Asian approach of four, five meals a day—small meals—because by the time I get to an entree, I’m full,” he explained to Delish. “I like eating small bits and moving on. I’m pretty picky on that front.”
Misty Copeland
On a typical morning, the legendary ballet dancer is up at around 6.30-7am to nurse her son. The first thing she does upon waking up is hydrate. “I sleep with water next to my bed,” she said in an interview with Domino. “That’s the first thing I do. I don’t drink coffee or tea or anything, there is no caffeine in my diet, I’ve never been someone that feels like I need it.”
For breakfast, she’ll have something like a muffin or bagel with scallion cream cheese (according to her book Ballerina Body), before doing a light warmup routine in her living. “I’m not working out and sweating, but I have little light weights that I’ll put on my ankles and I’ll do inner thigh exercises and calf raises and things like that,” she explained. “Just getting those small little muscles that once I start my day, it’s so hard to focus on because I do so much other stuff.”
Then for the rest of the day, Copeland will keep her meal relatively light and consistent. “I’m not someone who wakes up and has bacon and eggs and then has a sandwich for lunch,” she said. “I’m constantly on the go, so I like to have things that I know will fuel me but not weigh me down and make me too full.”
A typical lunch for her might consist of a spinach salad topped with pecans, goat cheese, dried cranberries, light vinaigrette, and slices of avocado, while dinner could include grilled salmon, roasted onions, carrots, and butternut squash.
In addition to these meals, the dancer also snacks throughout the day to maintain her energy levels, with nuts being a particular favourite. “Nuts have become my go-to snack,” she explained in her book. “I always carry a baggie or a small container of them in my purse and my locker at ABT’s rehearsal studio because they satisfy my hunger and provide a quick burst of energy.”
Kelly Slater
On a typical day Kelly Slater isn’t much of an early riser. “I like to get my eight hours and I like to stay up late at night,” he told Bon Appétit in 2012. “If I want to get up and surf, maybe I’ll get up at like 7 or 8 and look around for surf.”
But before he hits the water, Slater usually starts off his day with some warm lemon water as a morning cleanse, then makes himself a smoothie. “My favorite breakfast is just making a big healthy smoothie, some fresh fruit and some protein powders and some little health remedies that I throw in there,” he told GQ. Other days he might have some eggs and pancakes, although that doesn’t happen as often.
Then again, there are some days where he’ll skip breakfast just so that he can get into the surf as soon as possible. “If the waves are really good, I have trouble even bothering putting food in my mouth unless I know I’m going to be surfing for a long time and have to eat something,” he explained. “Surfing is the best way to wake up.”
Chris Paul
With Chris Paul’s renewed approach to nutrition and training, it’s no longer about on-season and off-season anymore, but rather a continuous and sustainable routine focused on taking care of his body. “I don’t even know if I took a week off from lifting. It’s not so much the on-the-court shooting and moving, but I’m constantly stretching and in the weight room,” he told GQ. “I never really took a full week off from that.”
In the same interview, Paul gave readers an example daily meal plan as part of his plant-based diet.
Breakfast usually includes a JustEgg scramble with vegetables, Beyond Meat sausage patties, a side of fruit and my vitamins. Lunch would be salad, a sauteed vegetable bowl with rice and a protein drink. For dinner, my chef prepares meals that give me nutrients I need to perform the next day. I eat a variety of beans, grains, and veggies.
THE REAL-LIFE DIET OF CHRIS PAUL, WHO’S EATEN PLANT-BASED SINCE 2019 | GQ
But just because he’s plant-based doesn’t mean that Paul doesn’t have cheat meals here and there. But those meals are no longer the burgers and fries or fried chicken and pulled pork. “My cheat day meal now: I like cookies,” he said. Luckily for the Suns point guard, he has access to a variety of delicious plant-based cookies, including gluten-free fried Oreos, gluten-free brownies and vegan cookie bars.
Naomi Osaka
When Naomi Osaka wakes up the first thing she does is drink a breakfast smoothie prepared by her strength & conditioning coach, Yutaka Nakamura, which is made up of kale, spinach, coconut water, and kiwi. She’ll then have something to eat like rye bread with smoked salmon and avocado.
For lunch, Osaka will usually grab something from the healthy restaurant chain, Sweetgreen, at 2pm. When it comes to her diet for the rest of the day, Osaka enjoys snacking on onigiris with umeboshi (Japanese rice balls), a big bowl of fresh berries with melon, or mixed nuts. “I also enjoy drinking BODYARMOR LYTE because the potassium really helps me stay hydrated,” she told PureWow in 2021.
At around 6-7pm, Osaka will have dinner, smoked salmon and avocado toast is one of her favourite meals to end the day. Simplicity is a key trait to Osaka’s daily diet – before matches she likes to eat plain pasta with olives or chicken.
