Jean-Claude Van Damme has arguably one of the most recognisable faces - and voices - in action filmmaking. In the thirty-plus years that have elapsed since 1988's Bloodsport first brought him international recognition, the actor helped mould and then quietly subvert the "Hollywood tough guy" trope. (See: Jean-Claude Van Johnson, a mostly self-aware send-up of his career that streams on Amazon.) We recently caught up with the now-58-year-old "Muscles from Brussels" - whose latest movie, We Die Young, is now out on Blu-ray and digital - to learn more about how he eats, trains, and thinks in order to maintain the physique that made him famous.
GQ: I was looking through your IMDB page and, man, you've been in a lot of movies. How has your approach to your diet changed over the three decades that you've been in the business?
Jean-Claude Van Damme: I came to a point where I understand nutrition, the pluses and minuses of it. Because we have so many different types of diets, there's so many different types of ways of eating. Different books with different sequences, and this and that.
I think you should eat what makes you feel good. Not like cream cheese, and cake, and chocolate all the time. But your body knows. After so many years, my body knows what to eat. Believe it or not, I can feel it. For example, I wanted salmon, and for a week my body wouldn't let me eat eggs. And then on Monday and Tuesday I would eat eggs. I just go by how I feel. I listen.
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Take me through a typical day for you. Is it different in terms of what you eat when you are preparing for a role versus when you are not?
It can be different, yeah. Maybe just the amounts. I eat more when I'm training, obviously. I'm not too much of a meat-eater or fish-eater. I like a lot of vegetables and pasta and salads and hummus. But also it’s good to add some Omega-3. You need to have some Omega. You don't need fish; you can have Omega via vegetable or fish oil. But it's important, Omega.
Also, let me say, it's important to eat your vegetables, because all disease starts from the gut. You have to peel the tomato skin. You have to peel peach. Apple skins - you have to peel them, not clean them. It is microscopic to our eyes, but the tomato skin is like a wall of protection. That's why in the old times, our grandparents, they used to eat tomato without the skin.
A lot of people say vegetable and fruit skins are actually pretty important and nutritious.
It's BS. The food industry tries to fit us all into one model.
I'm awful at eating in the morning. What can I do to break that habit?
It's best to eat berries in the morning. Blueberries, strawberries, all types of berries - antioxidants and anti-inflammatory. But when you go to a shopping centre to buy groceries and they put it in front of you, it's meat, meat, meat. Chicken, chicken. They say egg whites are good for you. Egg white is the worst. If you eat an egg, eat the yellow - two or three yellow, and one white.
Years and years ago, they had to wake up in the morning and go to the woods and pick out some berries first. If you find an egg, you will eat an egg. But to find an animal that has to run, you had to chase it. The hunt is difficult, and if the hunter catches his animal, he maybe will deserve the meat. We don't hunt. You know what I'm saying. You have to think like in the old-fashioned way.
Are you one of those people who likes to eat a lot of smaller meals throughout the day?
Yes. I eat six, seven, eight times a day. Small portions. If you eat three times a day, the body will retain like 70% of fat to protect you against starvation. You should eat like five, six, seven times a day, and slowly your metabolism will change, and the body will retain only 30% of fat. If you're eating every hour, and eat well, then you can have a piece of chocolate. Life is short. You should go for chocolate, and go for a good one. If one day you want fries, you can have four or five good fries instead of twenty that taste like shit.
But go easy on the meat.
Yeah. Meat is good once a month, maybe. It's important to eat all kinds of food. I ask my grandma, I say, "Grandma, how have you been alive so long?" And she says, "It's because I eat many foods."
Can you see a time in your life when you might become fully a vegetarian? It seems like your philosophy is definitely moving away from meat over the years, right?
When I was young, I ate lots of meat. Now, I feel better. I know what I should eat now. I've had blood tests, allergy tests, to help me decide what to eat and what not to touch. A lot of it is mistakes, and time.
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