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Christina El Moussa's Nutritionist Breaks Down Her Diet—Spoiler: Margaritas Are Allowed!

The expert encouraged her client to take the emotion out of eating and to stop worrying about counting calories

By Samantha Schnurr Apr 06, 2017 8:49 PMTags

When it comes to a healthy diet, Christina El Moussa doesn't flip or flop. 

Instead, the mother of two stays committed to a food routine that works for her, designed by nutritionist, fellow mom and BFF Cara Clark. According to the California-based expert, the first task was increasing calories. 

"She's always been super active and she was like any typical client of mine that is very healthy aware. She was way undereating at that point when I met her," Clark told E! News exclusively, explaining that her food intake was not enough fuel to support her busy daily life.

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"I upped her calories probably like 800 calories immediately and she had a ton of success with my methods of more calories, combining your macros correctly and eating your fats and proteins with carbs and not worrying about calories, which she's never done since. She's never, ever been calorie-conscious or even worried about ordering a margarita while we're at the pool or anything like that."

While El Moussa is not restrictive about her meals, she also sticks to a nutrient-dense plan. While "a lot of people will go off plan for a week at a time, she never ever goes off plan," Clark said. 

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According to her nutritionist, Christina is "simple" when it comes to food. "She could eat the same thing every day," Clark dished. So, she sets the star up with Perfect Bars, nuts, peanut butter toast, rice cakes and other meals that are easy to take on the go and that she doesn't get sick of repeating.

With her hectic life, El Moussa is also not afraid to order exactly what she needs at restaurants, like salmon that's not cooked in butter for example. "We all have the rights to order the way we want," Clark advised. "Most people don't take advantage of it, but she does. Plus, she is going to places that have health-conscious restaurants and people."

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In addition to customizing her meals when she's dining at a restaurant, El Moussa limits gluten and dairy, but doesn't fret about having creamer in her coffee or a slice of cake at a party. "She just limits it to that 10 percent," Clark said. 

Typically, El Moussa sticks to upwards of five meals a day, starting off with overnight oats or chia seed pudding daily. Next, she'll have a smoothie followed by either a salmon salad or Cobb salad. "If she didn't eat salmon at lunch, she's eating it for dinner," Clark said. "She pretty much eats salmon every day. I don't know how she doesn't get sick of it!"

Overall, Clark encouraged the HGTV star to take the emotion out of eating. 

"Food isn't a reward. Food isn't just a treat. It's not something that you take advantage of—it's something that you use for fuel and I think that's what she realized when I first started working with her. She was eating kids nutrition bars! They just weren't enough," the nutritionist recalled.

"So, she didn't realize how many calories she needed since she's on her feet all day. So, when you take the emotion out of counting calories and dieting, then you actually realize and you can intuitively figure out what you need and how much you need of it and what works best for you...Taking the emotion out of it and not worrying about counting calories is the number one thing."

—Reporting by Alli Rosenbloom