According to the Daily Mail, Helen Mirren swears by the Royal Canadian Air Force 12-minute exercise plan. The routine, which was created by Bill Orban in the 1950s, includes 10 basic exercises, designed to give you a total body workout in a limited amount of time.
As Helen said, “It is the exercise I have done off and on my whole life. It just very gently gets you fit. Two weeks of doing that and you think: ‘Yeah, I could go to the gym now.’”
Mirren said she believes in balance when it comes to her daily food choices, but admits that she’s always on a diet
The “Winchester” star told People magazine, “I’m just like everybody else — I’m always on a diet!” Still, she added, “I’ve never done anything to excess. I’ve never drunk or eaten too much. It helps to stay balanced.”
She enjoys going out for a “special treat” once or twice a year
Mirren said she prefers only to dine out at upscale restaurants for special occasions, telling the Radio Times, “My husband and I love funky local restaurants. We do go for very beautiful, grand dinners and we love them, but it’s not something that I would want to do more than once or twice a year. I want it to be a special treat, memorable.”
Aside from special occasions, she said she her husband typically just dine out in hole-in-the-wall restaurants.
When traveling, Mirren relies on a few British staples
Mirren told Radio Times that, she always brings tea bags and Marmite when she travels. She said she’ll occasionally bring porridge oats, too— all British favorites.
She added, “The curious thing is that when I’m away from England, the cuisine I crave is Indian food. … in a weird way, Indian food has become British food, my home food.”
Still, she says she’s “unbelievably lazy”
Mirren, named “Body of the Year” by L.A. Fitness in 2011, doesn’t actually work out that often.
“Three weeks every six months, I decide to work out,” She told Women’s Wear Daily in 2010. “I’m unbelievably lazy. If I had any form of self-discipline, I would look a lot better than I do.”
Mirren says when it comes to working out, it’s good to start easy
In 2015, Mirren told People her top workout advice, saying, “My thing with exercise is start really easy, just so you only do three sit-ups, you know? Then do four next week and the next week do five. Start really easy.”
Sources:
- https://www.insider.com/helen-mirren-diet-workout-2018-11
- https://www.womansworld.com/posts/health/helen-mirren-12-minute-exercise-169968