Hello, Marilu: meet the actress who lives total health

In the airy kitchen of her Los Angeles home, Marilu Henner is doing juggling act: putting away her fresh, organic groceries in between a few outdoor basketball games with her biggest fans, sons Nicholas (10) and Joseph (8 1/2). She just finished filming a TV miniseries Gone But Not Forgotten that she was working on 6 days a week, but she looks like she's spent the past month vacationing at a spa. While many actresses complain that the second they turn 40, leading roles and opportunities simply start to disappear, the 52-year-old actress, dancer and best-selling author of Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover, Healthy Life Kitchen, The 30-Day Total Health Makeover, and Healthy Kids remains super healthy, busy and vibrant. The self-styled diet and exercise pioneer seems to do it all, including managing her own Web site, www.marilu.com, where she actually teaches classes online.

Supportive Supplements

Her crusade for optimum physical condition began more than 20 years ago when a health scare and weight problem forced Henner to create a health and fitness plan for herself--one that she could truly live with. "Controlling weight, eating clean foods, keeping energy up and boosting my immune system is total health," she explains.

"I think it's so important for people to look at the big picture.... Everything is connected to everything. I always say: The way you eat is connected to how you think, how you move, how you behave. You can't just say, 'I'm going to work our and then go and eat junk foods, drink and smoke. You just can't. It's a total picture."

Eating well to live longer and healthier is Henner's big picture. Although she has not consumed dairy products in more than 25 years, she gets her calcium from a vegan supplement and healthful foods--fruits, soymilk, tofu, leafy greens, whole grains and oatmeal. In addition, she takes vitamin E for overall lubrication, Ultimate Oils (a comprehensive formula) for her skin twice a day and Pro-EPA, "which has properties of flaxseed and black currant oils, pumpkin and sunflower oils, plus molecularly distilled omega-3 fish oil, guaranteed not to have any mercury in it. I've been so careful of the fish I eat or give my kids lately because of the mercury content, so no canned tuna, no swordfish and only wild salmon--no farm-raised salmon.

"I guess you could call me a 'Presbyvegetarian' because I do cat some fish."

In addition to these supplements, Henner takes pyconogenol, garlic and coral calcium, plus the occasional antioxidant or goldenseal and echinacea supplements "for preventative reasons when I know I'm going to be in different environments or around sick people. I do eat well, but I know I have to fortify my eating with supplements and vitamins. It's very important to have some kind of good vitamin or supplement regimen to combat all the unknowns--different cities, different waters, different environments," she says.

Delicious Diet

The 5'7" redhead has her own regimen of a no-diet diet that has kept her feeling great and kept her weight stable while not skimping on portion sizes and eating five meals a day.

"I mean, I eat; I love to eat. The worst way to lose weight is to stop eating--it slows your metabolism so you bum calories less efficiently." She avoids caffeine, beef, citrus fruits, dairy and sugar. "It's white flour, white sugar and dairy. More and more, I'm convinced that sugar is the evil empire because it's so bad for children. I have arguments with parents all the time because they think of it as a reward--or punishment. Sugar is part of our self-sabotage, and by that I mean self-sabotage as our body armor.

"Protecting yourself with extra weight because you don't want fire responsibility of what happens when you see yourself as a sexual creature or it keeps you closed in so you don't have to become a powerful person. Self-sabotage is anger and eating your feelings." To promote awareness on owning your own power and controlling self-sabotage, her infomercial Body Victory addresses these topics.

Extensive Exercise

But it's not just clean eating that keeps her in tiptop shape. Henner's exercise routine, which site follows to keep her heart healthy and her figure slim ("I've been between 120 and 122 forever"), is as practical as her nutrition. Henner takes three Pilates classes a week; on the remaining four days, she makes sure to break a sweat for at least 10-20 minutes. "I like to walk around my hilly neighborhood or go on the treadmill. If I haven't worked out and want to work up a sweat, it's a game of basketball--HORSE--with my two sons. We were laughing so hard the other day, and I was getting this great workout while the kids were playing a game with their mother."

Another way the runner Chicago star likes to get in her 20 minutes is by dancing. "I put on some music and blast it while I dance around the house."

And a new exercise development in the Henner household is the Rebounder. "It's like this little trampoline," she explains enthusiastically. "If you do it for 2 minutes, that's all you need. Not only does it warm you up, but it triples your white blood cell count for an hour after you're done. So if you do it five times throughout the day, you'll see how much stronger and energized you'll feel."