Ask Alexandra – November 2012

1) If you don’t mind answering, what was the craziest thing you saw at Burning Man?
Rashaad

Hi Rashaad,

Probably the craziest thing I saw was a guy running the 4th annual 50K ultramarathon around Black Rock City (the name of the 50,000 person encampment at Burning Man). He was completely naked, except for running shoes! I got such a kick out of that, not to mention tons of admiration for him and all the participants who ran 31 miles in the desert dust and the 100 degree heat.

The most mindblowing thing is that this city is only up for 8 days! And it is such an organized city, with streets and street names. No money is exchanged at all, except to buy ice. Everything else is on the barter system, or in the spirit of Giving (Read Burning Man’s Ten Principles to get an idea of the sense of community there). No cars unless they are “art cars” also known as Mutant Vehicles (Burning Man is primarily a celebration of creativity). I went with Ian and his best friend Konrad and they gave free bike repair (most people travel around on bicycles, and the desert sand is hard on them). I gave away gummy bears, which unfortunately melted in the sun, so I was a pretty useless gift giver!

Burning Man is an amazing experience. People from all over the world were there! And the desert is so beautiful. What I loved best is that people felt free to express themselves in ways that are forbidden in the alternative world.

Are you thinking of attending next year? Maybe I will see you there!

Alexandra

2) Please explain IN DETAIL what you eat or diet in order to stay healthy, slender and muscular? what do you take in order to keep yourself energized (ex. Hydroxycut)? will you ever write pilates book?
Your Friend,
Ana

Hi Ana,

Here is my basic lifestyle: I go to bed around 10pm and wake up about 6am. I exercise at least one hour of cardio 6x a week, usually swimming or the stepmill machine. 3x a week I do a 45 minute yoga session at home. These days, I am also walking an hour briskly almost every day, during which I make phone calls. On my one day off each week, I still walk at least an hour and do 45 minutes of yoga. I have not been lifting weights in the last year, mostly due to a shoulder injury, but if I were lifting I would do it every other day for about 30 minutes. I also have my awesome Treaddesk, which means I do not sit as much! I use light weights and go up to 15 reps, but weightlifting improves muscle tone and is very important for bone health. When I was on Baywatch, my first year on the show I did not lift weights, but when I started again the second season, it is very apparent in how my body looks.

In terms of diet: I have been a vegetarian since I was 14, and 2 years ago I became a vegan, which means I do not eat, wear or use products that come from animals. No honey, eggs, milk, gelatin etc in my diet, and of course no fish or meat. I try to eat 100 grams of protein a day (I weight 130 lbs and am 5’10” tall), and I get that mostly from Vega Sport protein powder (I like the Vanilla flavour). I know, I should also get it from whole foods like beans and vegetables, but frankly I do not spend as much time as I should in the kitchen, so having protein powder mixed with water and flaxseed works well for me.

I do not smoke or drink alcohol, coffee or soda. In fact, I never drink anything except for water, and the occasional herb tea with lemon.

I have great energy, so I do not take any energy supplements except a B complex vitamin, which contains B12. I also take a multivitamin, iron, calcium/magnesium, vitamin D.

I write down what I eat every day. Every few weeks, I see my nutritionist, Matt Mahowald , we look at my food diary and discuss where improvements can be made. He measures my body fat (currently 13%) and weighs me, as I do not have a scale at home. That way I have an idea of how I am doing healthwise and also keeping my weight in check.

Lastly, happiness and passion for what one is doing in life is very important for energy. Sadness and lack of focus saps us of energy. So it is important to have goals that give your life meaning and make it interesting.

I hope this helps! Best of luck to you if you are making healthy changes in your life!

Alexandra

3) I’ve seen some of your films on Lifetime; I actually consider “Love Thy Neighbor” as my favorite. I’ve noticed that you are always cast as a lead protagonistic role, which you are great at. I finally saw “A Sister’s Secret,” and even though your character wasn’t villainous, there is a scene where I just loved where the actual villainess imagines you teasing her, which is actually followed by what appears to be an evil laugh. My question is: Have you ever played a villain in your acting career? I imagine that you would be great at portraying a sinister villainess.

Clyde

Hi Clyde,

It is funny you should mention that dream sequence in A Sister’s Secret, where my character is evil. I had forgotten about it, but the producer, who has hired me alot to play a heroine in his movies, was very surprised at my performance there and said that I should play more villains. He said he wanted to hire me to play one (but so far he hasn’t :). So in terms of villains, the only time I have been hired to play a villain was in Baywatch Hawaiian Wedding. For most of the film my character was charming, and at the very end I wield a gun and get tough (but not as tough as the Baywatch lifeguards, who get me in the end).

In House of the Damned (aka Spectre) I become possessed by a demon and try to kill my kid, which was pretty fun and I got to be baaaaad. Check out the trailer and you can see some shots of me being less than polite to my family 🙂

Thanks for noting my acting range – let’s hope I get to play a really awful person sometime soon!

Alexandra