Hayden Panettiere’s Diet and Workout

Known for her petite frame and muscular physique, Hayden Panettiere has long been admired for her amazing body. And being a vegetarian, this is even more impressive.

Ever since she was young, Hayden (now 23) has always been in great shape, which helped her snag her breakout role as the cheerleader in “Heroes.” Now in her twenties, and getting to know her body even better, here is how this Earth-conscious actress keeps her body in camera-ready shape.

The workout

While some people choose to be a vegetarian for health reasons, Hayden chose to be one for ethical reasons, and is passionate about saving aquatic animals, which explains her love of diving, one of the activities/sports she likes to pursue as a way to stay in shape (she likes to dive with humpback whales, and can dive down to depths of 60 feet).

She loved to play sports to get in her workouts, either by playing volleyball, softball and baseball, and she’ll also walk her dogs in the hills by her West Hollywood condo to burn some calories when she can. And when Hayden works out in the gym, which she says, as she’s growing older, is becoming more necessary (sometimes everyday if she’s filming), and will workout for an hour at a time.

In the gym, since she is 5’1, she likes to stick t lighter weights, and does high reps so she can still get in a good workout without building up too much muscle mass. She is particularly a fan of the “bicycle ab blaster” workout to get her abs in shape, where she lies on her back and brings her legs above her head, simultaneously bending and straightening each in a peddling motion, for 15 repetitions. Hayden also loves real-life bicycling.

Overall however, she prefers to get her exercise from everyday life as much as possible. Instead of taking the elevator for example, she’ll take the stairs (even if it’s 12 flights; no shame). She’s also a practitioner of Bikram yoga, which she says helps detox her body and mind by sweating out toxins and water weight.

The diet

Despite being a vegetarian, Hayden has to make sure to get adequate amounts of protein, which are essential to building muscle and maintaining her fit frame. Hayden will typically reach for tofu as her main protein source. She also drinks smoothies with whey protein powder. Her favorite smoothie has protein powder, almond milk and a banana.

She also likes to makes sure her favorite foods are healthy. Some of her favorite foods are raspberries, strawberries, vegetables and egg whites, yet she has one guilty pleasure – salty and crunchy food. And her biggest vice?  Potato chips. To prevent herself from overindulging, she’ll eat something healthy before letting herself have potato chips, which helps make her more full before breaking open a bag.

Hayden however makes sure that most of the carbs she consumes are healthy. This includes eating a salad everyday, or any kind of greens, which gives her both carbs and vitamins and minerals. She also like to get her carbs from fruit, one of her favorite foods. She loves pineapples, papayas and mangoes.  A typical breakfast for her is oatmeal with one of her favorite fruits. For lunch, she’ll typically have a salad with marinated tofu, and for dinner she’ll have something like a vegetable soup (soup is a favorite of hers) or a vegetarian burrito.

Hayden now more than ever, with her new TV show “Nashville” premiering this fall, needs to be in near-perfect shape. With her realistic workout plan and low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, she should have no problem staying in the amazing shape she is in.