Bold and the Beautiful Star Jennifer Gareis Shares Swimsuit Photo of "Lake Life"

The Bold and the Beautiful star Jennifer Gareis had a wonderful trip to Lake Tahoe with her family, and posted the photos of her vacation on social media. Gareis, 53, shared pictures of herself paddleboarding on the lake in a black bikini, looking absolutely stunning as she soaked up the sun. "My dad was a sweetheart and actually got in the water to take these pictures so I feel obligated to show a few of them! Thanks dad for your hard work to get these 📸 #southlaketahoe #dadsanddaughters #paddleboarding #familyvacation #familyiseverything #lakelife😎," she captioned the post. Gareis works hard to stay in shape and eat a healthy diet—here's how she does it.

Gareis lifts weights and does Pilates. "I like to shock my body ev­ery once in a while with some­thing new be­cause if I do the same thing ev­ery day, I get bored," she says. "I swim. We have a pool at home. I use my home gym. I go to the gym and do it on my own and some­times I'll use a trainer. I'm train­ing with weights. To­day, I did Pi­lates. Pi­lates works the smaller mus­cles, whereas lift­ing works the big­ger mus­cles. I al­ways try to in­cor­po­rate three things: car­dio, stretch­ing and lift­ing. Some­times, I'll walk with my cousin, just put on my sun­block and my hat and we'll go power walk­ing, or maybe go to the beach and take a re­ally nice beach run — just as long as I'm do­ing some­thing. But don't for­get to rest."

Gareis enjoys a healthy, well-rounded diet for herself and her family. "I eat healthy about 90 per­cent of the time: pro­tein, veg­eta­bles, fruit, yogurt and milk," she says. "I al­ways try to pre­pare a well-rounded meal. For break­fast, I will make a veg­gie omelet or I will make pancakes, but I make oat­meal pancakes now, as op­posed to mak­ing them with flour. We'll squeeze fresh or­ange juice. For lunch, we all have those con­tain­ers that have five dif­fer­ent spa­ces and I make sure I have ev­ery lit­tle food group. At din­ner, I will have four kinds of veg­eta­bles, and one, some­times two pro­teins. I'll have a com­plex carb, like brown rice. Some­times, I'll get a pasta that has quinoa in it in­stead. My kids don't know the dif­fer­ence and they love it."

Gareis also did some wake surfing on her Lake Tahoe vacation, and posted the video on Instagram. "I figured out how to let go of the rope and navigate the wave! I am now completely addicted!!!!" she captioned the post. "Wakesurfing is a great way to release stress and tension," says Krish Tangella, MD, MBA, FCAP. "The combination of physical activity and being out on the water can have a calming effect on the mind and body."

Gareis loves spending time with her family, which experts say offers benefits both mental and physical. "There have been more than 20 years of dozens of studies that document that family dinners are great for the body, the physical health, the brains and academic performance, and the spirit or the mental health," says family therapist Anne Fishel. "In terms of nutrition, cardiovascular health is better in teens, there's lower fat and sugar and salt in home cooked meals even if you don't try that hard, there's more fruit, and fiber, and vegetables, and protein in home cooked meals, and lower calories. Kids who grow up having family dinners, when they're on their own tend to eat more healthily and to have lower rates of obesity."

Gareis wants to set a good example for her children when it comes to health and nutrition. "I don't like the word 'diet', for my­self or for par­ent­ing," she says. "When I talk to my kids, I talk about grow­ing foods. We talk about avo­cado be­ing brain food, or pro­tein will help build your mus­cles, and milk will help your bones. We talk about all the pos­i­tives of food. I never say, 'Oh, this is fat­ten­ing,' or 'No, this is bad for you.' I just say, 'First, we eat our grow­ing food, and then we can have dessert.'"