Zoe’s Food Philosophy: “It’s about eating to live, not living to eat.”

Zoe Saldana is a mother of three boys and a movie star, which keeps her very busy, but still, she finds the time to work hard to keep the body she has. She doesn’t believe in diets, but in having a balance when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle.

“I can’t work out regularly, so I compensate by eating a lot healthier than I might otherwise. Once you have relatively healthy eating habits, your workout can become playing with your kids, strolling around the neighborhood, playing airplane, or just changing diapers,” she says to Shape. She tries to workout three times a week, but doesn’t believe in getting on one machine for 30 minutes, she does 20-minute intervals at the gym or at home and then mixes it up with squats or lifting a medicine ball.

“I don’t believe in cheat days because I don’t believe in diets. I try not to deprive my body of anything, because the moment I have just salads and protein for a few days, I crave carbs. But when I eat everything in balance, I think less about food and more about everything else. It’s about eating to live, not living to eat.”

Her philosophy of food is to eat simple, fresh, and clean. She grew up partially in the Dominican Republic where her grandmother would pick herbs from the garden and get local fresh seafood. “I like food that is fresh. I don’t go for things that come in can—and I’m losing trust in things that come in plastic. And we’re starting to move in the direction of becoming a vegetarian family; society has a very violent, dysfunctional, and wrong relationship with how we cultivate and produce meat. So if I have to pay more to eat better, then I’ll just balance my checkbook better,” she says.

She knows what it is to grow up with very little and still eat fresh. “I know what it’s like to live on a tight budget, but my mom was one of those parents who gave us great food despite our budget. That’s where I get who I am from, and I’d like to be a voice of inspiration for my Latino community, as underage diabetes and high blood pressure are on the rise.”

Saldana was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in 2012, so she’s very health conscious. “I know I’ve become a very boring person to take to dinner, but I’d rather be that way than deal with health issues. When you have an autoimmune condition, you have to stay away from foods that cause inflammation.”

One thing that she and her husband Marco Perego pride themselves in is that they love to cook. They’re really into Asian food, and love cooking with spices and vegetables, which can really pack on the flavor.