wellness theories

Wendy Williams Attributes Her Health to Fake Meat and Constant Moisturizing

Wendy Williams. Photo: 2015 Getty Images

How is Wendy Williams doin’? Just fine, thank you very much. The talk-show powerhouse with an opinion about everything and everyone celebrated her 53rd birthday last week and just capped off the eighth season of The Wendy Williams Show. As a testament to her willingness to broach any subject, she also teamed up with TheToiletTalk.com to talk about, well, poop. That’s what brought the Cut to Williams to discuss her relationship with health and wellness. Her take? Everyone needs to stare down the toilet bowl before flushing; no one should forgo lotion; and the best kind of exercise involves a whole lot of talking.

How I start my day: I wake up at 5:30 and then I give the house another half hour to still sleep — that would be our dog, my husband, and my teenage son. So from 5:30 to 6 it’s all me. I take a fistful of supplements and drink a lot of water. I moisturize a lot. Once I get to the office, I like to start my day with two green-juice shots, which I’ve been doing for years. And I might have a bowl of oatmeal with fruit or a breakfast sandwich from one of the places I like — nonmeat, but with the meat flavor. Then I do the show.

My approach to nutrition: I love lentil soup. I love greens — spinach is my favorite. I love kale, avocado, and cauliflower. There’s some really great brands that I’ve discovered that are meat-like, but not real meat. One is called Beyond. They make patties — oh my god, the best burger patties, ever. In the search for the perfect brand I’ve had so many bad, mushy, disgusting vegetarian burgers, it’s ridiculous.

This particular brand also makes crumbles. If my family and I want tacos, then I take out a bag of crumbles from the freezer. They also make something like chicken and that’ll go in my chicken stir-fry for the night. By the way, instead of a bun, I like my burger in raw green cabbage. We always have cabbage in our fridge. I’m a pescatarian, so I do eat the occasional fish, but I don’t eat meat meat meat. My whole family is vegetarian, which makes it easier.

My relationship with alternative medicine: I take supplements three times a day. Each supplement does something different, but they’re all in alignment with me being a woman of a particular age, who also has colon cancer in her family. My grandmother passed away from colon cancer, so on my 50th birthday I celebrated by getting a colonoscopy. Happy birthday, Wendy! That was three years ago.

When I go to the bathroom now, before flushing, I always stand up and inspect what’s in the bowl. When I see something, I want to say something.

Also, one of the doctors on my team happens to be a holistic doctor. I can appreciate modern medicine, but you need someone to poke their head in who tells you something different.

How I like to sweat: I like Pilates. That’s the most I can do. I’m not going to run on your track and I’m not going to balance on your ball, but Pilates raises your heart and keeps you limber. I can’t keep up with a class, so I use a trainer. I like the trainer to have a whole conversation with me to distract me while we’re doing Pilates. Let’s talk about the grocery prices, or children, or the price of rent, and then you tell me when it’s over because I can’t even deal with working out. Pilates hasn’t cured me from anything; I’m just trying to stave off everything.

How wellness has changed for me: I used to be a ham hock. I wouldn’t just use the ham hock to flavor meals, I would eat the ham hock, suck the back off, and let the fatty part of the ham hock slide down my throat. When I reached 50, it was like an equator to my life. I lost 50 pounds in time for my birthday on my own.

And once I turned 50, I was like: Now hold on, I can still do knee-bends? There’s still a wiggle in my walk? I’m not an old-lady grandma when I pick up my son in the school line? And I got a successful career? Let me keep this going. I haven’t always been this way, but I am this way now.

My wellness struggle is: Taking a fistful of pills three times a day. There will be times when I take them at 11 at night even though I’m supposed to take them at 7, but then I’ll just be too lazy to get out of the bed. And then I need all that water. And then I need to wait for them all to go down because it’s a chunk in your throat. I also drink a liquid vitamin.

Do I like to do all of this stuff? No, not really. The only pharmaceutical I take is my thyroid pill. I’ve had thyroid disease for almost 18 years now.

My wellness advice is: Moisturize your entire body. You can use something as simple as Aveeno. The most important thing is that you have to do it while your skin is still moist. When you get out of the shower the first thing that you grab should not be your towel, but your moisturizer, and you should moisturize from head to toe. And don’t forget your neck. People only think of their face, but you know what? My elbows are not discolored. Neither are my knees.

You’ve got to moisturize and pay attention to your skin. You can be wearing a $2 dress, but if you have a million-dollar skin, that’s what matters. A lot of people think they need the million-dollar dress, but then their elbows are a mess, or their knees are a mess. Their neck! I mean, what is going on?

The other thing is, people need to put the right things in their body. I’m not judging people who want a ham sandwich, but in between the ham sandwich, have fruit in the morning, a lot of vegetables in the afternoon. I’m not judging, I’m just saying. Put the right things in your body, and teamwork makes the dream work. You can’t be the only one in your house doing it, you need to pull everyone along.

Our refrigerator is ridiculously shaven down. I entertained yesterday and all I had were cashews and water. I told them [my guests], “Before you come, eat something.” Well, they’re not on our diet!

I’m just trying to live my best situation right now. I’ve got a young son, a hot husband, and a good career, and I want to live!

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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