What Meghan Markle Actually Eats in a Day

"French fries and vino are my vices," she says, explaining that she'll forego a gooey, chocolatey dessert for a "big, beautiful red" just about any day. Tignanello is her all-time fave (she loves it so much she named her lifestyle site, The Tig, after it), but she's also a fan of Argentinian Malbecs, French cabs and pinot noirs from Oregon. "In the summer, though, when I'm out with my friends, it's rosé all day," she laughs.

That whole "the camera adds 10 pounds" thing means that Meghan often ate cleaner during shoot season. She would get picked up around 4:15 a.m., she says, and spent the rest of the day on set.

Here's what that looked like: She'd have hot water with lemon right when she woke up, then ate steel-cut oats with bananas and agave syrup for breakfast. For lunch, it was usually a salad with some kind of protein, followed up by an apple with almond butter later than afternoon. If Meghan needed another snack, she'd go for a green juice. An example of her dinner would have been pasta with zucchini, lots of parmesan, and a glass of wine.

"On hiatus, all bets are off," Meghan says. She's not exactly balling out on chili cheese fries and supersized milkshakes, but her diet gets a bit more relaxed. For breakfast, she would have opted for an omelette with herbs and cheese plus toast. Lunch was seafood ... and French fries. "I'm always hoping I'm having lunch with people, so we can share fries. It's its own food group for me," Meghan says. Then for dinner, she'd go for soup."I'm more peckish then, so I usually go lighter for dinner."

Meghan drinks green juices pretty regularly, but she doesn't consider them life-changing, like some people do. "Green juice is a food-as-medicine philosophy for me," she explains, drinking it more as a way to boost her energy, like you would a late-afternoon cup of coffee.

For her, a truly life-changing dish isn't about its health benefits; it's one that shifts the way you look at food, like the plate of pad thai she had at a tiny, six-table restaurant outside of Bangkok. "There's no Michelin star, it's not fancy," she explains. "I took a bite and said, 'Oh my God, what have I been eating all my life? This is what pad thai's supposed to taste like?'.

Working in Toronto — where Suits was filmed — made Meghan very familiar with an even more famous Canadian specialty: poutine, aka fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy. Many people, though, use the wrong kind of cheese. (Hint: Back away from the mozzarella.)

"It's got to squeak when you bite into it," Meghan says. "Really. The cheese curds should make a squeaking noise when you bite into them or squeeze them. That's how you know you've got the right kind."

Just before serving steaks, Meghan squirts them with lemon. "Nobody tastes the lemon, but it really brings out the steak's flavor," she says.

When Suits — a USA show about a genius pretending to be a lawyer — finished filming its fifth season, a coworker excitedly announced they'd be celebrating with platters of BeaverTails .

"I was like, 'Wait, I'm sorry; what's coming in?" says Meghan, who played paralegal Rachel Zane. She didn't hesitate to give it a try, though — especially when it turned out to be funnel cakes shaped like beaver tails, covered in caramel, chocolate, and marshmallows.
"Apparently, it's a Canadian thing," she explains. "It's a sticky, delicious indulgence."

A friend convinced her to slow-cook zucchini for four to five hours, until it breaks down into a "filthy, sexy mush" to toss with pasta. "The sauce gets so creamy, you'd swear there's tons of butter and oil in it, but it's just zucchini, water and a little bouillon," Meghan says.

Meghan admits it's a cliché actor thing to say, but she has noticed a big difference in how her skin looks on-camera and how much energy she has during the day when she cuts out gluten completely. "It gets such a bad wrap," she says. "However, when I'm traveling, I won't miss an opportunity to try great pasta. I come back from vacation every year with a food baby, and I've named her Comida. I get to the set and I'm like, 'Hey, Comida's here, and she's kicking.'" Sounds like us after lunch—pretty much every day.

Almonds and almond butter are two of her favs. Most health-conscious celebs tout almonds or some other kind of nut as a favorite healthy snack, and they're pretty well-known at this point for their healthy fats and plant protein. But beyond keeping you full between meals, it turns out almonds are also good for your skin.