Summer diet for Phoenix
The latest Phoenix to hit Hollywood stays fit, naturally
"Coffee... sugar...cigarettes." Summer Phoenix, the youngest and
newest actor in the Phoenix clan, is ticking off the vices she has to kick
before she's a bonafide body of health. In that order. "Yeah, I'm a true
addict."
And though she's sucking on her third American Spirit cigarette (of the twenty
she smokes a day) since settling in at a West Village cafe, the 23 year-old
actress is making strides towards said goal as she sips her second cup of decaf
on this, her second day of a caffeine-free existence. "I
got sick, and I had no desire to drink coffee, and so ... I just quit,"
she explains. Easy as pie. "And, honestly, I feel so much better. Things
that would normally stress me out just aren't."
Like every member of her family, Phoenix has also sworn
off animal products. She wears neither fur nor (with the slight exception
of a pair or two of second-hand shoes) leather. "Let
me tell you, $13.99 Payless plastic shoes -- which I do love -- smell really bad
in the summertime," she explains. "And, by the way, I'm desperately
seeking out the designer who makes good non-leather shoes. The selection out
there is vile."
Today, however, she's happy in a pair of cleft-toe Nikes. And as
for her diet, she's been vegan since birth - so much as a stray pat of butter in
a meal nauseates her.
The tofu-lovin' looker also swears by the health and
beauty benefits of such a diet. "There's no cholesterol in it, and I'm
convinced that dead flesh in your intestines absolutely contributes to illnesses
like colon cancer, heart disease, clogged arteries, and everything else
that people are like 'Where did that come from?'"
"And, as for its physical benefits," she continues, "I have a
couple of friends who went off their vegan diets and gained weight and were like
'Whoa, what's with the adult acne?' I'm explaining to them that it's not a
coincidence it happened when they changed their diet."
And, not surprisingly, yoga plays a role in her life,
although it's a minimal, almost non-existent portion of what appears to be a
workout regimen. "I used to do yoga regularly at the Iyengar Institute, and
then I would take a couple of classes here and there. Now, I just do it
occasionally, at home," she says, bashfully wrinkling a forehead a bit.
"I've been really bad lately about working out.
She's definitely doing something right now. Not only
does she look slim and sexy, slung into her Seven jeans and fitted,
recycled-vintage tartan jacket, but in her most recent film -- an
English-language French flick entitled "Esther Kahn" which opened last
week in select theatres -- Phoenix exposes herself in a full-frontal nude scene,
and looks fantastic doing so.
"Yeah, that," she says, blushing a bit. "You know, I ran into
Anna Friel in London right before shooting started, and she told me to drink
apple cider vinegar and water - that it helps to reduce bloating -- and I think
I did do it for a bit," she explains, noting with a karate-chop gesture
that apple cider vinegar, with cayenne, can also kick a
cold right out of you. "But other than that I did nothing to prepare
my body. In fact, I sort of forgot about the scene, until it came about."
Phoenix had best prepare for the heat her new roles are going to bring her.