“It’s important to give ourselves grace and not beat ourselves up,” the Hills alum, 34, told Us Weekly exclusively on Friday, May 14. “For so many years in my early 20s, I was all or nothing. I have the best relationship I’ve ever had with food and health because I’ve let go of a lot of that control. It’s about consistency — just keep showing up.”

The Uncommon James founder said that fitness is “very important” to her, but admitted that she relaxed a bit during the coronavirus lockdown. “Like everyone else, my workout and health routine has been up and down during quarantine, but I finally have gotten back on track,” she explained. “I lift weights, but I do circuit training to keep my heart rate up. I also started doing hot yoga every once in a while. I don’t do it as often as I would like, but I love it when I’m able to make it happen.”

One of her best tips for maintaining a healthy diet? Dining at the kids’ table. The former Very Cavallari star shares sons Camden, 8, and Jaxon, 7, and daughter Saylor, 5, with her estranged husband, Jay Cutler. The pair announced their split in April 2020 after seven years of marriage.

“I eat with my kids every night at 5:15 p.m.,” the reality star told Us. “I find that I sleep better when I eat early like that. And I eat enough so that I’m not hungry before I go to bed.”

Cavallari doesn’t follow a specific meal plan, but she does emphasize the importance of eating food “as close to as its natural state” as much as she can. “The way I eat is a lifestyle,” she shared. “Organic as often as possible, tons of veggies, meat, nuts and seeds, complex carbs like buckwheat soba noodles, berries, tons of fat — I even eat butter.”

Some of her favorite meals include scrambled eggs with goat cheese, avocado and sautéed spinach for breakfast and a “big salad” for lunch. For dinner, she whips up enchilada casseroles, burrito bowls and poké bowls. “My kids love pasta,” she added. “We use brown rice noodles or lentil noodles.”

She doesn’t do takeout very often, but when she does hit a restaurant, she lets herself go wild. “I make dinner 90 percent of the time. I think that’s important because that’s the only way to truly know what’s in your food,” she said. “When I go out to eat or go on vacation, I eat whatever I want and then I really enjoy it.”

After so many years of working with a trainer, the Dancing With the Stars alum feels confident enough to plan her own workouts, which she tries to do four to five times a week for at least 45 minutes per day.

“I like having some muscle definition without being bulky or looking ‘jacked,'” she said, noting that she does at least one leg or butt-focused workout during each session. “Seeing results makes me want to push harder and gets me excited in the gym. I can honestly say my butt has gotten a lot bigger from being consistent in the gym, working on it for the past year. These results don’t happen overnight. It’s important to be patient and stay the course.”

With reporting by Diana Cooper

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Eliza Thompson