Healthy Living with Gwyneth Paltrow

At 35 years old, Gwyneth says she's realized she can either starve herself or eat what she wants and do serious cardio to maintain her shape. "There's no free ride," she says.

Thanks to her intense workouts, she says she doesn't have to watch her diet quite as carefully these days. "I don't eat four-legged animals, but I eat birds, I eat cheese, I eat dessert," she says. "I eat everything."

Gwyneth says dieting has never worked well for her. "I'll immediately gain like 5 pounds even just by thinking about cutting out dessert. It's a nightmare," she says. "I decided, for me, the healthiest thing was to eat what I want and just exercise. Some women can watch what they eat, but I just can't do that."

When she sits down at dinnertime, Gwyneth says she doesn't count calories, points or carbs. "If I did that, I would be 300 pounds. I would eat everything in sight," she says. "I think maybe it's the idea that you can't have something—the restriction."

In the past, Gwyneth did restrict her diet in a different way. She was once a macrobiotic eater, which means she didn't eat anything processed, anything made with sugar or anything refined. "You eat locally, seasonally and organically, but you don't eat sugar and cheese and stuff which now I eat," she says. "It's actually a really good way to eat. It's good for the environment."

Gwyneth says she still prefers to use fresh foods when cooking for her family of four. "It's better to just try and make something at home," she says. "I'm sort of getting into the idea of nourishing your inner aspect and doing that by investing in your family and making a meal and creating time together."