Sarah Chalke's Stay-Slim Secrets

Sarah on Her Eating Habits and the Hollywood Diet

FITNESS: What's your worst health habit?
Sarah Chalke: I drink coffee and tea at temperatures that are way too high. Sucking down scalding hot beverages is just not a good idea.

FITNESS: What's your best health habit?
Sarah Chalke: Wearing sunscreen every day. Right before Scrubs was starting, we lost my aunt to melanoma and my grandmother to cancer. It definitely made me feel a little less invincible. My aunt was the healthiest person I've ever known. She meditated and did yoga and was a vegetarian her whole life, but she lived in Sri Lanka for 10 years and was always in the sun. Now my whole family is just OCD about using sunscreen.

FITNESS: Are you the kind of celebrity who nibbles two celery sticks and calls it dinner?
Sarah Chalke: No! I was raised to eat good-for-you foods, but we often had pie or ice cream for dessert. So that's how I eat now -- I love really, really healthy stuff followed by a really, really naughty dessert, like pumpkin pie. Dark chocolate is my favorite. I sometimes make hot-chocolate soup, which is basically a thick bar of chocolate melted and topped with whipped cream.

FITNESS: What foods are always in your refrigerator?
Sarah Chalke: Eggs, apples, peanut butter, and fresh berries. In my drawer there's dark chocolate, and I have an entire cabinet of different kinds of teas.

FITNESS: Would you eat differently if you weren't in Hollywood?
Sarah Chalke: I would like to say no, but I think the answer is probably yes. There are definitely pressures in this business to look a certain way. I believe you have to try to find a happy medium and put your health first. I don't even own a scale, actually.

FITNESS: If you could place your own personal motto on a bumper sticker, what would it be?
Sarah Chalke: "Life's uncertain; eat dessert first." I can't take credit for that quote, but I really believe in it.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, March 2009.