Danica Patrick Gets Swimsuit-Ready Eating These 5 Foods

Danica Patrick is enjoying a beautiful, sun-soaked vacation in Spain. Patrick shared pictures of herself posing on a yacht in a black bikini, enjoying drinks with friends. "Sea? Sí! 🇪🇸," she captioned the post. Patrick follows a paleo diet these days, after a blood test revealed she had an intolerance for certain foods. "I have always been interested in the human body and how it works, and I spent hours flipping through the pages learning new ways to take care of myself. It was the beginning of my experimentation with diets: I think the first phase was low-fat, then low-carb, then dairy-free, then whole grain, then a 40/30/30 balance . . . Then I turned my world upside down with a blood test," she said. Patrick changed her diet and has never felt better. Here are 5 foods she eats to stay swimsuit-ready and the photos that prove they work.

Patrick loves almond milk, and makes her own chia pudding with it. "I like the taste of homemade almond milk better," she says. "It's thicker and probably fattier, but it has a more full-bodied taste. I mix almond milk with chia seeds and let them sit overnight. They become tapioca-like."

Patrick makes her own green smoothies with banana, apple, and lemon. "I'll put three big handfuls of spinach in the blender, and only enough ice and water to get the spinach to make [the blades] spin," she says. "The colder the ingredients, the better, so I like to use frozen fruit. Take the seeds and skin off the lemon, and just toss it in. It really helps the flavor."

Patrick loves using pumpkin and hemp seeds as a source of protein. "Pumpkin seeds have many health benefits and make for a nutritious snack," says registered dietitian Maxine Smith, RD, with the Cleveland Clinic.  "Pumpkin seeds are a good source of plant protein and other nutrients which can act as antioxidants to help protect against certain diseases. I recommended opting for unsalted or lightly salted options."

Patrick enjoys making delicious and healthy meals from eggs and vegetables. "Eggs are a wonderful source of protein, about 6 grams per egg, and they provide good amounts of vitamins D, B, and A," says April Litchford PhD, RDN. "Eggs are also rich sources of the mineral selenium and choline, which is a vitamin-like substance that helps our livers function properly and contributes to a healthy heart."

Patrick uses avocados to elevate any meal or snack. "What we have learned from this study is that avocado is a very unique fruit," says Dr. Zhaoping Li, chief of the division of clinical nutrition at UCLA. "It has a lot of fibers, monounsaturated fatty acids and phytonutrients and it has an impact on many, if not all, of the organ systems inside of our body. If you can swap out your high-fat processed foods like sausages with avocado, you will be doing yourself a favor. Avocados are high in fat, but it's good fat. This counters the public opinion that all fats are bad."