Everything You'll Find In Kate Middleton's Daily Diet
It's no secret that Kate Middleton leads a healthy and active lifestyle. Even with her long days of philanthropic projects and other official engagements as a working royal, the famous mother of three still manages to make nutritious food choices a priority for herself and her family. Kate's daily diet is clean eating at its best, full of protein, antioxidants, and complex carbohydrates, reports Good Housekeeping. She also favors plant-based foods, though she's not a vegetarian.
The Duchess of Cambridge is such a high-profile figure that the world has taken notice of what she eats. The nutrition and fitness site Barbend recently analyzed the number of monthly Google searches for the daily diets of the most prominent British royals and their results showed that Kate topped the searches! In fact, she had "seven times more searches than the average for all royal diets and four times more searches than the next highest trending diet: Meghan Markle," noted Eat This, Not That!.
So admit it: You're probably curious as heck about Kate's daily diet now, right? Well then, let's dive into it!
Lots of vegetables
Kate clearly places importance on getting a wide variety of vegetables into her meals — and the fresher, the better. "We grow our own vegetables," she once told British baker Mary Berry on a TV special. "We've got carrots, beans, beetroot — a massive favorite — Louis [the royal's youngest son] absolutely loves beetroot," Kate revealed in the BBC holiday show "A Berry Royal Christmas" (via People).
Prince Louis may share his mother's love of garden-fresh veggies, but his eldest sibling George apparently wasn't as smitten as a toddler. During a tour of New Zealand and Australia a few years back, Epicurious published that the duchess reportedly confessed to one young girl that Prince George wouldn't eat his veggies unless they were mashed up "so he wouldn't notice."
By growing and harvesting food at home, it's at peak ripeness and in its most nutritious state. So it makes perfect sense that the hyper-nutrition-conscious duchess would make fresh-grown produce a priority for her family's meals.
Watermelon salad
An antioxidant-rich organic diet is what fills Kate's plate on most days, and for many lunches her choice is a salty-and-sweet watermelon salad, reveals Eat This, Not That!. If you haven't heard of watermelon salad before, it's a delicious mix of flavors and textures, featuring cubed watermelon along with ripe avocado slices, onions, crunchy cucumbers, and crumbles of Greek feta cheese. The unusual combination goes together surprisingly well, and it's loaded with vitamins A and C, antioxidants, and electrolytes, per Healthline. It's no wonder the dish is one of Kate's midday favorites. It's also super hydrating (watermelon is comprised of 90% water) and especially refreshing on a hot summer's day.
Just like the rest of us (except with bodyguards), the duchess has been spotted from time to time grocery shopping at local markets, according to Harper's Bazaar. Who knows, but perhaps she was picking up a few stray items for her favorite salad?
Healthy green smoothies
The duchess starts most days off with a vitamin-packed green smoothie, reports Bustle. She makes hers loaded with kale, spinach, romaine, coriander, blueberries, spirulina (a blue-green algae supplement), and a finely ground green tea powder called matcha (per the Daily Mail). The nutrient-dense health drink is loaded with vitamins and minerals, and it makes a great start to anyone's day.
Dark leafy greens, blueberries, and green tea are all considered superfoods, which means they are rich in nutrients and low in calories. "Superfoods help promote health by increasing your immune function and decreasing your chance of disease prevention or progression," explains Cleveland Clinic registered dietitian Beth Czerwony.
Green smoothies, like the wholesome ones Kate blends up, are also an excellent source of B vitamins, notes WebMD. The greens in the drink are brimming with antioxidants, which help lower cholesterol levels. Kate's addition of blueberries gives the drink an anti-aging boost as well. "On average, people who eat more berries seem to live a little bit longer," says Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, via the Washington Post. So keep those berries coming!
Roast chicken
The working royal is known for her love of home cooking, notes Bustle, and she even likes to get her children involved in the prep. Roast chicken is a regular meal she likes to prepare when she has the time, as according to reports, it's a favorite dish of her husband Prince William. "In the evenings she indulges her hobby of cooking William's favorite supper, roast chicken," a royal correspondent once wrote in Vanity Fair. Prince Harry, William's famous younger brother who also has a fondness for the poultry dish, was known to have stopped by a time or two for chicken dinner at the couple's Kensington Palace apartment before he was married, Newsweek reports.
Since Kate is known for focusing on light meals during the day, she typically reserves the heavier, more traditional entrees for dinnertime. According to Woman and Home, the duchess "typically eats a portion of lean meat or fish in the evenings, which will ideally be flavored with a nice dashing of spice."
Porridge
When she's not in a smoothie mood, insiders say that Kate will opt for a warm bowl of porridge (via Eat This, Not That!). Although porridge sounds positively Dickensian, it is really just another name for oatmeal — most Britons make it with oats — although the high-fiber dish can be made with any grain such as buckwheat, quinoa, and brown rice, reports BBC Good Food.
"Kate's affinity for oatmeal and berries for breakfast is an excellent choice for an active lifestyle, as the meal will give her bursts of energy throughout the day to meet all her commitments, including her regular exercise routines, rather than reaching for something sugary which can lead to an energy crash," a spokesperson for the nutrition and fitness site Barbend commented to ExpressUK.
Porridge seems to have no bounds. It's helpful in lowering cholesterol, maintaining blood-sugar control, and improving gut health (via Healthline). And although it's a dish that has a reputation in the U.S. as being bland geriatric food, British chef Jaime Oliver demonstrates on his YouTube channel that the breakfast food is really quite versatile, incredibly satisfying, and amazingly delicious!
But definitely not almond milk
A charity in England that helps drug addicts and the homeless learned the hard way that the rumors about Kate's fondness for almond milk are not based in fact.
Multiple news sites, including the Daily Mail, had reported that the future queen consort had a preference for almond milk — a dairy- and lactose-free beverage made from ground nuts and water (via Consumer Reports). It was completely believable to think that Kate, who often opts for plant-based foods, would prefer the drink. So when she and her husband Prince William visited a cafe for a planned event, the organizers made sure that almond milk was available at the royal's tea. "We put almond milk on the table because we had read that she had it," says Kim Gardener, a former addict who led the charity Betel UK's women's houses.
Kate herself, however, broke the unfortunate news that the reports were not true. People confirmed that in a candid moment, just as volunteers set out a plate of cakes, tea, and almond milk, the duchess told the volunteers, "Don't believe everything you read — I don't even like almond milk."
Sushi and sashimi
According to Hello!, Prince William and Kate are wild about sushi and sashimi. It's not surprising, as the popular Japanese staples are generally very nutritious too, which fits right into Kate's healthy eating patterns. Sushi comes in many different types. It features small slices of usually raw fish with seaweed (nori) and a ball of vinegared rice. It's served with soy sauce, wasabi (a Japanese horseradish), and pickled ginger (via Healthline). Sashimi is more of a solitary figure. It is thinly sliced raw fish (or meat) without rice.
So when the royal couple attended the official opening in 2018 of Japan House London near their apartment at Kensington Palace, they were more than happy to oblige and taste the beautifully prepared spread made by Japanese Chef Shimizu Akira (via People). After enjoying the delectable salmon sashimi, Prince William complimented the chef by saying, "Thank you very much. My wife and I love sushi. We might have to come down here for lunch when no one else is in."
Indian curries
The Duchess of Cambridge likes her curries, and she likes them spicy hot. During a Canada tour in 2016, she and Prince William were served a maharaja-style coconut curry made by Chef Vikram Vij, a celebrated Indian-born Canadian chef, at a food and wine festival. At that time, Kate revealed she loves cooking. "Yes, especially curries," she said (via the Mirror). Likewise, during a tour of India, the royal pair tucked into Kate's favorite dish once again, this time a lentil curry prepared by Chef Raghu Deora at the Taj Mahal Palace (per Hello!). Kate isn't vegetarian, but she is said to prefer mostly plant-based meals for lunch, says Eat This, Not That!.
But it wasn't the first time the world learned of the Duchess of Cambridge's fondness for the Indian mainstay. During her first pregnancy, it was widely reported that Kate was a fan of the curries whipped up by long-time acquaintance Chan Shingadia, a shop proprietor in Kate's hometown of Upper Bucklebury, Berkshire (via US Magazine). The particular dish contained potatoes, peas, black lentils, spinach, and cauliflower. "She has been eating them during the pregnancy," Chan revealed at the time. "The Duchess has come in several times for our curries, before she got married, and quite a few times afterwards."
Ceviche
In keeping with the emphasis Kate places on clean eating habits, the Peruvian dish of ceviche fits right in. According to the Daily Mail, the Latin American marinated entree, a mix of raw fish "cooked" without heat in citrus juice and spices, is a favorite of the royal. Health benefits of eating ceviche are numerous too, as it's low fat and a great source of protein, minerals, and vitamins (via Sharp Health News).
"[Ceviche] is one of the most iconic dishes of Peruvian cuisine," declares Mitsuharu Tsumura, chef-owner of Lima's renowned Maido restaurant (which is currently ranked seventh in The World's 50 Best Restaurants list). "You can have it any time in the year, for lunch in a working day, on Sundays, for a hangover, as a street food, or in a restaurant for $30," he told National Geographic.
Commenting on a Daily Mail piece about the duchess eating only raw foods one day a week, registered dietitian Keri Gans, author of The Small Change Diet, says, "Kate appears to be eating really healthy foods, but there isn't any science to suggest raw is better for you than cooked foods. A lot of times, [meal] plans like these are a way to weed out and eliminate unhealthy foods from the diet" (via Women's Health).
Healthy snacks, always
When she's feeling a bit peckish, Kate reportedly nibbles a lot on raw veggies and immunity-boosting goji berries, which are tiny antioxidant-rich berries with medicinal properties (via Healthline). As a disciplined eater, the duchess avoids snacking on the processed junk so many of us with less willpower eat — though she has shown some weakness for popcorn, reports Hello!.
But it's not all veggies and berries. No, Kate is a giant fan of olives as well. Olives are known for their long list of health benefits, so it's not surprising she loves them. Bursting with Vitamin E, olives make a great snack: They not only taste good, but also have beneficial properties that may reduce the risk of many conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease (per WebMD).
During a 2018 visit to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, the royal once told a four-year-old heart-transplant patient that they both shared a love for olives. "I used to eat lots and lots of olives when I was little, as well" (via E! News).
She follows the Dukan Diet if she feels the need
When she feels like losing a pound or two, the Duchess of Cambridge has been known to follow the French Dukan diet. According to Bustle, she was a devotee of the strict keto-like food plan before her 2010 wedding, and again after each of her three pregnancies. On an everyday basis, however, Kate opts for a more balanced and sustainable "flexitarian" approach to eating, which means she consumes mostly vegetarian foods, but without completely eliminating meat or dairy (via Prevention).
Physician Pierre Dukan's high-protein, extremely low-carb diet method puts your body into a ketogenic state, so it switches from burning carbs to burning fat for energy (per BBC Good Food). There's the original plan that Kate followed for weight loss, which features four phases called attack, cruise, consolidation, and stabilization. However, while it's effective for rapid weight loss, a 2015 study says, "Many nutritional abnormalities were found in women on the high protein Dukan diet. Adopting this diet in the long-term may pose health threats through acquiring kidney and liver disease, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease." Since that time, a new version of the plan, the Dukan Diet 2, was released that promotes a more gradual reduction in weight.
Sticky toffee pudding (but not every day)
Even with her healthy eating routine, when Kate does indulge in sweets, she goes all out and chooses a really sweet and decadent one. Darren McGrady, the former personal chef to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Princess Diana, and princes William and Harry, revealed that Kate goes wild for sticky toffee pudding. He even shares the exact recipe he used to make for Britain's royal family on Delish.
The classic English dessert is a dense sponge cake made with chopped dates and then topped with a sweet buttery brown gooey toffee sauce. The chef says the unrefined cane sugar used in it, muscovado sugar, is the secret in the sauce that is poured over the dessert and topped with clotted cream. This is Kate's special treat on the weekend, says the chef. The duchess has been known to dig in to this treat at the Old Boot Inn in Stanford Dingley, a village in Berkshire, England, near her hometown, notes People.