Shining a spotlight on celebrities and athletes who love to travel. Created and developed by Stacy Steponate Greenberg.
They say true beauty comes from within. Well, that may or may not be true. But when you are labeled The Face by Life Magazine and on more magazine covers than just about any model to date, the inner beauty can sometimes be overlooked. The reality, however, is that if you don’t take care of the inside it will start to effect the outside, which is exactly what Carol Alt decided not to let happen. The iconic supermodel long ago realized her unhealthy lifestyle was making her inside much less beautiful, so she took action. The result was The Raw Diet, which has transformed Carol’s life for the past twenty years, cultivating the beauty on the inside, and helping maintain and preserve the outside as well. The Overhead Compartment couldn’t wait to chat with Carol Alt and learn all her secrets, which can now be found in her brand new book: A HEALTHY YOU: Boost Your Energy, Live Cleaner, and Look and Feel Younger Every Day.
The Overhead Compartment with Carol Alt begins now…..
OC: As a model, actress, author and entrepreneur your travels take you all over and you are considered a raw food expert, how do you handle eating when you are traveling?
CA: Education, if I have to put it in a word it’s education. The great thing about the way I eat is it’s just about the process you put your food through. So literally I can go anywhere in the world and find something to eat. There is salad everywhere, there are vegetables everywhere and fish everywhere. So there really isn’t any issue eating or staying on my regime. The only concession I make is I carry a little bottle of Udi’s Choice Oil and Kelp Sea Salt, because it’s what they put on the salads that makes them so deadly.
OC: How about on airplanes?
CA: That’s easy, I always have a bag that is food so I can have healthy meals.
OC: What’s your favorite healthy snack?
CA: My favorite healthy snack is raw milk with my crackers. I don’t really snack, my meals are enough. But before I went raw, I was always hungry….everything looked like food to me. A photographer looked like a hamburger, literally everything reminded me of food. But now, the only time that I ever really snack is when I make a mistake, when I have’t eaten right that day for some reason.
OC: Is it difficult to find a variety?
CA: Anything you cook, I can find you a raw cousin that tastes exactly the same. Raw bread for example, it’s sprouted bread that is dehydrated.
OC: What would you recommend for kids to try and eat better?
CA: Involve them in their food decisions. If you involve your kids they will be interested. Have fun in the kitchen, they can make a juice and if they made it they will love it. Also, let them try all the different raw bars and find one they like.
OC: In your new book, A Healthy You, Boost Your Energy, Live Cleaner, and Look and Feel Younger Every Day, you give advice on food, fitness, fashion, beauty and aging. What would be the very first thing someone starting out needs to know to help kick-start this healthy lifestyle.
CA: I think what they need to know is that raw food is everywhere and it’s not scary. I think people get all freaked out “Oh no I can’t do it?”. Here’s the lowdown on nutrition, the body needs certain things and it’s not found in cooked and processed foods. Period. So you have to look elsewhere. But you don’t have to do it 100% of the time. I am not an angel. If I’m at a hockey game, I want my popcorn. I don’t over indulge, I know I can have it. I used to start my day with a scotch and coffee…everyday. I would have a scotch and coffee to get me out of bed if I wasn’t working. If I was working, I would have a cappuccino and pizza bread, or coffee and a bran muffin. By the way, it’s all the same to the body….sugar is sugar. But now when I want that scotch and coffee, immediately my mind says, “Oh, scotch and coffee, sounds so good but I stop and think…uh-oh, I didn’t eat right today, I didn’t have enough.” So I say to myself, “Alright, I will have my scotch and coffee after I eat something,” and if I still want it, that’s the concession I make. Because usually I will eat and not want it. It’s when I don’t eat properly, my body is calling for it, that’s what can lead to problems. The big things is to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen and dinner like a pauper. If you do the opposite, by the time you get to dinner, you eat the bread on the table, you have wine, it’s all sugar.
OC: What is a typical breakfast?
CA: I don’t have a typical breakfast, my breakfasts are really hardcore, but I’ve been doing this for 20 years. But there are several things I would recommend to someone for breakfast….with a lot of of the raw breads out there, you can have raw bread and cheese. You can make yourself Kefir. It’s just milk mixed with a kefir starter and it makes a great yogurt-like substance that’s got amazing probiotics in it. I mix that with a Go-Raw granola and I add extra raisins, because I love raisins. I dehydrate grapes and make raisins out of them. Mix those in, fabulous! Now, in many places the juice presses have popped up everywhere and they have oatmeal. So I grab the oatmeal and put it in the dehydrator and make oatmeal cookies. I can grab oatmeal cookies to go, there are also bars that are already made like Natures First Law and Go-Raw has bars. They are completely different than the cooked bars, those are all processed. There is a picture in the book of the bars that I liked the best.
OC: Some people have an image of an unhealthy lifestyle for models. What was your experience?
CA: Oh yes. Guilty. Coffee….I lived on eight cups of coffee. I probably lost 50 pounds to model, which can only work for so long. Once I hit my 30’s, it was awful, I was always sick, taking a million things for my headaches, to fall asleep, sinus infections. I was constantly taking Tums and Nyquil, it was awful. The minute I changed my diet, I was able to literally get off everything. I haven’t taken an aspirin in close to 15 years. If I get a little bit of a headache, I know I haven’t had enough to drink. Understanding the language of your body is key.
OC: What is the first thing you do when arriving at a hotel in your room?
CA: Unpack. I have to make the immediate area homey.
OC: Complete the following sentence: I never leave home without________
CA: Raw food!
OC: With your life experience, would you consider yourself a hockey expert?
CA: Oh yes, for sure!
OC: What is one secret no one knew about Carol Alt until right now?
CA: I’m probably a dork. I really am. Do you ever wonder what people do when they are alone? I’m probably the weirdest person when I’m alone.
Carol Alt, please use care upon departure as items may have shifted in The Overhead Compartment during our journey. Thanks for choosing us for your travel tips! Have a wonderful day!
