Actor and horror filmmaker Eli Roth takes us through the contents of his fully stocked fridge, shares what his current diet looks like and how he prioritizes nutrition during long days on set. Plus, Roth shares his current boxing routine to stay fit.
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00:00 (knocking)
00:01 - Hey Eli, it's Men's Health.
00:02 - Hey Men's Health, I hear you wanna check out
00:07 my workout in my fridge.
00:08 Come on in.
00:14 - Let's see the kitchen.
00:25 - Welcome to my boring fridge,
00:27 it's really not that exciting.
00:28 - Okay, we'll be the judge of that.
00:30 People hear it's my fridge and they hope
00:32 that there's body parts or chopped up heads.
00:34 Maybe chopped up heads with lettuce.
00:37 - I'm glad there's no body parts.
00:40 So what staples do you keep in the fridge?
00:41 - So here's what's going on in my fridge.
00:43 First, tuna, turkey breast, salad.
00:48 If I want a snack, maybe blueberries.
00:51 Pickles, I mean this is the whole milk for the kefir.
00:54 Almond milk for my shakes.
00:56 The jams, I use the ghee butter for my Ezekiel muffins.
01:00 - What would we never find in your fridge?
01:01 - Well, you would never find pork or ham
01:04 or prosciutto in my fridge.
01:06 And it really is because I had a pet pig.
01:09 Now my wife's Italian, so if it's in the fridge,
01:11 like if it's hers or she orders it or we have it,
01:14 like it's kinda gotta be gone the next day.
01:17 I can't even look at it or smell it.
01:18 So I will never have pork in the fridge
01:20 just 'cause it makes me sad and reminds me of my pet pig.
01:23 - That's a strong bond.
01:24 So what's your go-to protein?
01:26 - Fish, turkey, or steak.
01:28 We always have a vegetable component with it,
01:30 but I'll marinate the chicken breasts
01:32 or we'll roast a whole chicken on the slow roaster
01:35 and have that for the week.
01:36 Sometimes we're lazy and order takeout like everyone else,
01:39 but we found that whenever we're cooking at home,
01:42 whenever we take the time to do it, I always feel better.
01:45 I always sleep better and I just, you know,
01:47 my workouts are better and I stay in shape.
01:48 - What's the first thing you grab
01:49 from the fridge in the morning?
01:51 - First thing in the morning, a half a cup of lemon water.
01:53 It's a great way to rehydrate yourself.
01:55 Then celery juice.
01:57 I grind the celery.
01:58 And you want it with all the greens.
02:00 Don't cut the greens off.
02:01 But I'm actually growing it in my front yard.
02:03 My wife and I have a garden.
02:04 Lemon juice, celery, then kefir.
02:07 Very, very big on gut health, probiotics.
02:10 I did a whole kind of gut reset cleanse.
02:13 You can order kefir grains online.
02:14 My wife got me doing this.
02:16 Put the milk in with the kefir grains.
02:18 You strain it.
02:19 It sits there for 24 hours and in the next day it's fermented
02:22 and then you have your delicious, ready to go kefir.
02:27 Yeah, it tastes like fermented milk.
02:29 It's super weird, but better than dying, right?
02:32 - Yeah.
02:32 - Do you eat breakfast?
02:34 - I've passed out in gyms before.
02:36 So I know I need to load up.
02:37 If I'm ever gonna overdo it, I overdo it at breakfast.
02:40 So I have oatmeal, organic Scottish oatmeal.
02:43 I like to load it up.
02:43 If I'm boxing in the morning, I like to put walnuts,
02:47 dried cherries, blueberries, maple syrup.
02:49 That's like my treat for the day
02:51 'cause I know I'm gonna burn it off.
02:52 I got addicted to these.
02:53 I like bread, but I can't really eat it all the time.
02:55 So the Ezekiel muffins are pretty good.
02:58 I try not to go too crazy with these.
03:00 Lemon water, celery, kefir, oatmeal, Ezekiel muffins.
03:04 And that's my breakfast.
03:05 - That's a solid meal.
03:06 Do you still have a protein shake?
03:09 - Then after working out, I get one of these Gut Health.
03:12 One of these shakes, which you can order online
03:13 from this company, they're fantastic.
03:15 I put hemp seeds, flax seed in it,
03:17 but also I'll put frozen blueberries,
03:20 frozen wild blueberries.
03:21 That goes into the smoothie right after working out.
03:25 - What's your onset snack strategy?
03:27 - My last movie we were shooting all night out in the cold.
03:30 And if it was two in the morning
03:31 and I know I was gonna finish at eight,
03:33 if I ate a full meal of pasta,
03:35 I was fine for a couple hours.
03:36 But then when I got home at 7.30, eight in the morning,
03:38 I couldn't sleep, I felt gross.
03:40 So lean chicken breast is great.
03:42 Turkey slices, almonds, and tea.
03:45 And that's what I have.
03:46 And a little bit of dark chocolate, like 70 or 80%.
03:48 And that's really good for energy.
03:50 It's like, it's good for your creativity.
03:52 Kind of holds me over.
03:53 - What's your go-to comfort food?
03:55 - I'm like an addict with pizza.
03:56 We have a pizza oven,
03:57 which is our favorite thing in the world.
03:58 But if we're gonna make pizza,
03:59 we gotta start the dough on Friday,
04:01 let it rise until Sunday.
04:02 Maybe I'll do it once a week,
04:04 but even that gets to be too much
04:05 because it's just so good.
04:06 I'm being perfectionist and pizza addicted is a problem.
04:10 - How has your diet changed over the years?
04:13 - I think one of the reasons I'm healthy now
04:14 is I was so unhealthy as a kid.
04:16 And it's not that my parents didn't instill
04:18 those values in me.
04:19 My dad was a marathoner.
04:20 My parents are in very good shape
04:22 and they're still in excellent shape.
04:23 But it was the 70s and 80s when it was like,
04:27 oh, just calories are calories.
04:28 Eat cookies, you'll burn it off.
04:30 I think that all the problems I had,
04:31 I was guzzling milk and eating sugar
04:34 and eating cookies and going, wow.
04:36 And once I switched to almond milk,
04:39 cutting out processed crap, cookies, refined sugar,
04:42 I realized how much it was affecting my taste on everything.
04:45 Keep it around for other people,
04:46 but I sort of don't like having it in the house.
04:49 I don't even want to be tempted with it.
04:51 - Word is you're serious about your espresso.
04:53 Will you show us your setup?
04:55 - Coffee's very important,
04:56 but I got to show you over on the Marzocco.
04:58 - Oh, La Marzocco, the Ferrari of espresso machines.
05:01 - I became a total coffee snob after I went to Italy.
05:05 The La Marzocco Linea Mini,
05:06 which is one of the best home machines there is.
05:09 It does perfect nine bars of pressure on the paddle,
05:12 but it also comes with this app for the timing.
05:15 I didn't realize that coffee was like wine,
05:16 that whether you pour it for 20 seconds or 27 seconds,
05:20 it's gonna have a huge difference in the flavor.
05:21 So you want to look at what's the beans you're roasting.
05:24 In this case, I use Maru beans,
05:26 the local Los Angeles roaster.
05:28 If you go too hot on the dark roast, it'll burn the coffee.
05:31 You want that at 199.
05:32 Lighter roast, you want to go up to about 204.
05:34 I like a medium roast, about 201, 202.
05:36 So then you grind it, you get the grind right,
05:39 and then you want your pour between 19 and 29 seconds.
05:41 You want to do a two to one extraction.
05:43 If you're doing it the way I do it,
05:45 you have that espresso, you want to grind it perfectly,
05:47 you want to get it at 26 seconds,
05:49 you want it at the right temperature, it's heaven.
05:51 The problem is I can spend 45 minutes
05:56 trying to get the grind right,
05:57 and then my wife will come in and (imitates grinding)
05:58 and then she does the grind and she forgets to reset it.
06:00 So you do your coffee and then it's at 16 seconds,
06:02 not at 26 seconds.
06:05 This is the story of my life.
06:06 I mean, look, this is the biggest problem of my life.
06:07 I'm doing pretty good.
06:08 Now that we're heavily caffeinated,
06:10 let's go hit up the gym.
06:11 All right, I've told you about what I eat.
06:13 Let's go work out.
06:14 (claps)
06:15 (upbeat music)
06:18 - This is a great setup back here.
06:26 - This is my trainer, the Olympian, Jose Navarro.
06:30 - How often do you work out?
06:31 - We train three times a week.
06:33 I found that doing more than that,
06:35 I tend to get injured 'cause I'm 51 now.
06:38 So I want to be strong, but I got to take it easy.
06:41 So usually Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
06:43 we try to hit about eight or nine in the morning.
06:44 - Did you always have a trainer?
06:46 - You know, boxing is something that you can do on your own
06:49 if you know what you're doing,
06:50 but there's so many little technical things.
06:52 I found that if I went to go and hit a heavy bag,
06:55 within two hours, I've injured myself.
06:57 I always, I'll hit it too hard, I'll do it wrong.
06:59 And what I like about training with Jose
07:01 is he's such a great technical trainer and so patient
07:04 that it's just doing those basic drills
07:06 of the way you're turning the wrist,
07:08 the way you're hitting with the knuckles.
07:09 I mean, you would know the difference
07:11 from the time I started.
07:12 - Yeah, he's improved a lot.
07:14 He likes to learn and focus a lot on technique
07:16 and I really like to push him hard.
07:18 This guy doesn't stop, he's a machine.
07:20 - Do you do any other types of training?
07:22 - Weightlifting was great,
07:23 but there's really nothing quite like boxing.
07:25 It's just so primally satisfying.
07:28 It's a great way to get out your aggression,
07:30 keeps me calm.
07:32 I'm type O blood, and as my wife would say, an Aries.
07:35 So I need to get out my aggression.
07:38 And I find that when my body is calm and worked out,
07:42 my mind is calm and I can tackle creative problems
07:45 and otherwise, once I've gotten it out in the ring.
07:48 I always sleep better at night when I box.
07:50 - What's your current fitness goal?
07:52 - Obviously when you're training for a movie
07:54 or for a TV show, you wanna do it for looks.
07:55 You wanna pump up, you wanna look great,
07:57 you want this muscle to be ripped.
07:59 But what I really want is functional strength.
08:01 I want a really strong core,
08:02 I wanna have as low body fat as I can within reason.
08:06 And I just wanna be able to do everything.
08:08 I don't wanna be able to not do an activity.
08:10 I can play any sport.
08:11 If I wanna play a softball game,
08:13 I'm not gonna get injured.
08:14 If someone's playing basketball,
08:16 you wanna go hiking or climbing.
08:17 The level of fitness that I'm at,
08:19 it allows me to be able to do anything.
08:21 - What keeps you motivated to stay fit?
08:23 - I try not to use anything negative,
08:24 but sometimes I'll see people my own age who stop training,
08:28 and it's like they gave up.
08:29 And I feel like if you can keep your body in shape,
08:32 you can keep your mind young, keep everything young.
08:34 And a lot of my job is sitting around.
08:37 You know, when you're on set, you're moving,
08:38 but when you're editing or writing,
08:40 you're sitting in a chair.
08:41 So I really, really need to exercise
08:44 and get that out of the way.
08:45 But the nicest part is when you see like a great shirt,
08:48 like a nice vintage clothes and you put it on and it fits.
08:51 That's the best.
08:52 - What's the best training advice you've received?
08:55 - Someone told me to eat within 20 minutes after working out
08:59 that that's the best way to recover.
09:00 And I always keep it in mind.
09:02 Like, yes, you can, sometimes you can't always do that,
09:04 but I'll always take a shake with me to the gym.
09:06 And sometimes after you're done working out,
09:07 you're really hot, you don't feel like it.
09:09 But if you have that protein shake within 20 minutes,
09:13 I really feel like it replenishes your muscles.
09:15 - What's one exercise you no longer do?
09:17 - I used to be able to do really heavy squats,
09:20 but my knees have taken a beating over the years.
09:22 So I can do squats now,
09:24 but at this point if I can get up and down out of a chair,
09:26 that's a successful squat.
09:28 - What music do you listen to while training?
09:29 - So I'll have like 80s punk rock or Devo
09:33 and Iron Maiden and stuff like that.
09:35 And then I'll always throw in a Celine Dion.
09:37 Jose loves Journey and Celine Dion.
09:39 If you put on, you know, "My Heart Will Go On,"
09:42 he gets emotional.
09:43 Like he starts hitting really, really hard.
09:46 And everyone in the gym's like, "Watch out."
09:48 That was like a song coming into the ring,
09:50 with Celine Dion.
09:51 - The walking song.
09:52 - Yeah.
09:53 - Do you use any special equipment?
09:54 - The CoreChill Ice Tub.
09:56 Is that ice therapy is now a big part of my routine.
09:59 I won't train without doing the cold plunge
10:01 because I need to reduce the inflammation in my body.
10:04 Like before I could get away with it, I was fine.
10:06 But now if I train and I don't do it, I really feel it.
10:09 - You might have to hit the cold plunge
10:11 after these rapid fire questions.
10:13 Workout time, 7 a.m. or 7 p.m.?
10:18 - 7 a.m.
10:19 - Squat or deadlift?
10:20 - Ooh, deadlift.
10:21 - Favorite song in your workout playlist?
10:23 - "Uncontrollable Urge" by Devo.
10:24 - Crossfit, yay or nay?
10:26 - Nay.
10:27 - Pull-ups or chin-ups?
10:28 - Pull-ups.
10:29 - Dumbbells or kettlebells?
10:30 - Dumbbells.
10:31 - Run on the treadmill or in the great outdoors?
10:33 - Great outdoors.
10:34 - Cardio or weights?
10:36 - Mm, weights.
10:37 - Big legs or big arms?
10:39 - Big legs.
10:40 - Biggest compliment, jacked, ripped, swole or cut?
10:43 - Cut.
10:44 - If you could work out with anyone in the world,
10:45 dead or alive, who would it be?
10:47 - I'd box with Jean-Paul Belmondo.
10:49 - Good choice because it looks like this section
10:52 left you a little breathless.
10:55 - All right, everyone, you've seen my routine,
10:57 you've seen my bridge, you've seen my trainer,
10:59 you know our playlist.
11:00 Now it's up to you, go get 'em.
11:02 (upbeat music)
11:04 (upbeat music)