Tia Mowry, widely recognized for her roles in Sister, Sister and The Game, is also an accomplished cook and author of her own cookbook. Recently, Tia took to Instagram to share highlights from a relaxing beach day, where she posed in the water wearing a stylish black swimsuit, captioning the post, “Full-joy.” Beyond her acting career, Tia is passionate about healthy living, from her love of swimming and cooking to her focus on a nutritious diet and supplements.
As you can see from her recent post, Mowry likes to swim to stay in shape. The Cleveland Clinic states that swimming has a lot of benefits. “We’re not saying that swimming is easy (far from it!), but swimming takes much less of a toll on your body than, say, running or riding a bike. That’s because exercising in water lessens the impact of your body weight on your joints.”
Mowry makes sure to eat healthy. She shared her typical diet with Women’s Running. Mowry revealed that she loves soup, even in the morning. “Miso soup with brown-rice miso, seaweed, tofu and carrots is a favorite. I’m a huge fan of soups in the morning. The Japanese believe hot soup in the morning is a great way of preparing the digestive system for a meal. I usually start with that, then have some egg whites with spinach and some oatmeal.”
Mowry revealed to Shape that she had to make some major changes to her diet. “I was diagnosed with endometriosis in my 20s. I had two surgeries. My doctor said, ‘If you don’t want a third one, you’re going to have to change your lifestyle.’ She got me on the path to eating right. I learned that certain foods promote inflammation in the body, and that’s important because endometriosis is a highly inflammatory condition. I saw a huge shift in my health when I started to eat organic and avoid anything overly processed. Now I focus on real foods — vegetables, protein, grains. Foods that come from the earth.”
Mowry shared some of her favorite recipes to make with Shape. “Pasta, for sure. There’s a mac and cheese recipe in the book that’s so good. What I love about it is that you pour milk into the pan with the noodles so that they soak up the flavor while they’re cooking. It gives the mac and cheese richness. Also steak, chicken, salmon. I like to experiment with my cast-iron skillet — it’s one of my favorite things to do. I love a good sear. You can get a nice crust with cast iron, especially if you’re working with salmon. It starts to caramelize, and that’s when you get all the flavor. I make steak and chicken that way too, searing them in the skillet and finishing them in the oven. It’s delicious.”
Mowry tells Shape that supplements helped her with her health struggles. She says that this inspired her to release her own supplement line. “I realized there weren’t any women of color in the wellness arena. I didn’t see anyone who looked like me, and I wanted to change that. So I started Anser, which is a line of supplements that help us reach our health potential. I want them to be available to everyone, so it’s important to me that they’re reasonably priced but still high quality. I’m very proud that they are. What drives me is inspiring others to believe in themselves. Representation is so crucial in wellness and cooking. I want people to say, ‘She looks like me. If she can do it, I can do it too.'”