In his new Peacock series Orlando Bloom: To the Edge, the actor Orlando Bloom scales a 400-foot crag, freedives 100 feet on one breath, and jumps out of a plane at 13,000 feet to try wingsuiting for the first time. His wellness practices, as he tells GQ, have involved a similar amount of gutsiness: getting dosed with frog poison, embarking on a fast that involves eating bentonite clay.
More than 20 years after Bloom was first introduced to audiences worldwide as the platinum blond elf Legolas in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he’s now a 47-year-old dad and engaged to pop star Katy Perry. (He also doesn’t eat gluten anymore, so there is no lembas bread on the menu.) He’s retained a taste for adventure, even after suffering a near-death accident during which he broke his back. In Orlando Bloom: To the Edge, he discusses the aftermath of that, all while still pushing his body and mind to extremes.
GQ caught up with him to learn how he stays in shape with an eye for longevity, the healthy fats he feeds his brain, and what the deal is with frog poison.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
GQ: What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Orlando Bloom: We have a family bed. So Katy will be like, “Thank God for the day. I’m just grateful in every way.” And Daisy will go, “Mommy, daddy,” and we’ll have this cute moment. I’ll say [the Buddhist chant] “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo,” because that’s part of my practice. And then we’ll embark on the day. Sometimes it’s stumble around and find the coffee, and sometimes it’s take the tinctures necessary to get my brain online.
What are those tinctures?
I take an adrenal thing and I take some green powders. And I take things that just help me rehydrate, like salts and stuff, lemon tea.
What’s a day’s worth of typical meals?
I try to eat a whole food diet as much as possible. I try to avoid sugar, because I’m an addict to sugar. Once I start, I can’t stop.
It’s hard. What’s your poison?
Cookies. Ice cream. So I try to have a balanced diet really—greens and proteins. Gluten makes me fall asleep.
We see a few clips of you exercising in the show, but what does your typical routine look like?
I try to be functional with how I train my body. I try to think about full body movements, ground to overhead, or a lot of support from my glutes, my legs. Try to get my back supported because obviously I had this back injury. I have a stretch routine, which you see in the show, which is something that I’ll do every morning first thing.
I try to mix it up. So I walk a lot or I cycle. Or I try to get cardio at a low heart rate, and then try to get a high cardio heart rate a couple of times if I can. I’ve moved away from really heavy weights. I’m thinking more, as I’m in my mid-forties, about longevity. How does my body feel and how do I enjoy this for the long-term?
Speaking of longevity, you brought your uncle on for one of the episodes and talked about this idea of your family aging “vitally.” When did you start thinking of longevity as part of your wellness routine, and are there any longevity thinkers whose work you subscribe to?
Yeah, Dr. Mark Hyman, is somebody who is a friend and somebody I’ve spoken to at different times. We had a conversation about the benefits of Bragg’s apple cider vinegar in your life. Sometimes I’ll have a shot of apple cider vinegar and it’ll just switch my brain on almost. It feeds the microbiome in a way that helps me to focus. [Ed. note: Bloom and Perry are among investors who acquired Bragg Live Food Products in 2019.]
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