What Harley Pasternak tells his clients to eat

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Uber trainer Harley Pasternak.  | Getty Images

Harley Pasternak is known as the trainer of the stars. Halle Berry, Lady Gaga, Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Pattinson are among the many celebs he’s given eating and exercise advice to over the years.

So when I saw this interview with Pasternak by Bobbi Brown on Yahoo! Beauty I paid attention. Not so much to the exercise part, but what he tells his clients to eat.

Take notice. Pasternak advises eating protein. And not just a little bit. (Brown rattles off her lunch to him, which included one hard-boiled egg, and he bluntly told her that was not enough protein.)

The Toronto native — who holds a master’s degree in exercise physiology and nutritional sciences from the University of Toronto — did give an idea of the size of the protein we should have at a meal: “Each meal should include a protein that is the mass of your hand,” he told Brown.

The mass of your hand is sizably bigger than the “deck of cards” recommendation you usually hear. What this means is if you are going to eat protein, you have to be all in. If you don’t eat enough, you won’t be satisfied.

Here’s another interesting thing I found in Pasternak’s comments on meals. When it comes to what else is on the plate, Pasternak told Brown “a high fiber grain or a high fiber fruit.” Notice the word “or,” people. Not the grain and fruit; they are both carbs. One or the other.

People sometimes figure you can eat as much fruit as you want, that they are interchangeable with veggies. (I love, love, love fresh fruit, so I know I drift into periods when I eat too much of it, as I have lately. How do I know? My dress pants are fitting a little too snug. Again. Sigh.)

But telling them to go easy on the grains and fruits, Pasternak also realizes people have to eat enough at meals or they’re going to be munching on the wrong things laer. So he told Brown he advises them to eat all the non-starchy vegetables they can.

Yes, Pasternak gets his celebrity clients looking toned. But you have to start with a body that has limited fat on it before you can start building tone and muscles. He does that by making sure they eat well. Good advice!

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