Shakira’s Trainer Reveals The High Protein & Low Sugar Diet The Singer Followed Before Super Bowl

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When Shakira, 43, received the game-changing text that she’d be performing at the Super Bowl on Feb. 2, her trainer Anna Kaiser was right there in the same room. It was October of 2019, and Anna was already training the Latina songstress in Barcelona. Of course, she had to step up Shakira’s game for her first ever halftime show! That meant a strict diet was in order — including more time in the gym — which Anna revealed in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife! “We just decided to make small changes to what she was doing and take it up a notch. So she went from working out five days a week to working out six days a week. And we cut out excess sugar and dairy in her diet and added more vegetables and high quality proteins, so that she would be ready,” Anna told us. The trainer, who owns the AKT studio in Los Angeles, dived into what exactly Shakira’s meal plan looks like.

“So right now we’re focused on high quality protein and lots of vegetables,” Anna revealed. This includes foods that aren’t necessarily common in U.S. pantries! Anna explained that in Barcelona, people have “a different way of eating than we do in the US,” and so she wanted “to really bring in more plant protein, greens, minerals.” Macadamia milk, monk fruit and tiger nuts are among these foods that Anna brought with her from Barcelona to spice up Shakira’s diet.

Anna then went into specifics, laying out what an average breakfast, lunch and dinner is for Shakira. “Generally for breakfast, it’ll be egg with an avocado drizzled in olive oil or turkey lettuce wraps with an avocado or quinoa and some vegetables,” Anna revealed. “Lunch is a big salad with maybe fish or shrimp.” In between meals, Shakira’s favorite snacks include smoothies (iced berries and plant protein), a green powder mixed with water or pureed vegetable soup, and sardines with tomatoes. Come dinner time, Shakira enjoys “sauteed vegetables and an organic pork chop or a white fish,” Anna added. Of course, not even Shakira is immune to the temptation of dessert — her vice is chocolate. “So we would just take cocoa powder, regular cocoa powder and macadamia milk and then add a teaspoon of monk fruit and it tastes like hot chocolate, it’s delicious. But there’s only two grams of sugar,” Anna explained, revealing her low-sugar solution for Shakira’s sweet tooth.

Of course, diet alone didn’t result in the toned abs you witnessed on the halftime show stage. Anna explained that such a six-pack required much more than your standard crunches. “So I want to emphasize that you cannot get those abs by doing core exercises. It’s everything; you have to do a high intensity exercises, cardio as well as comprehensive strength,” Anna told HollywoodLife.  Anna’s fitness program/dance concept she developed, AKT, hits all these requirement since it’s a “combination of four different workouts: tone, circuit, dance and bands.”

Anna also revealed that Shakira upped her cardio before January arrived. Prior to 2020, the legendary performer was tackling dance rehearsals and 16 hour days! “So we wanted to make sure that we could get her in tiptop shape before she started that process in January, when she was really getting down to business with the Super Bowl,” Anna explained. Once the new year rolled in, Shakira shifted her focus on strength, often alternating between “high rep/low weight” and “high weight/low rep and power” exercises.

Overall, variety is key; Anna told us, “We’ll do like an hour and a half dance interval workout and the next day we’ll do 40 minutes of just tone and then the next day we’ll do a HIIT power workout, so that she’s constantly challenged. And then that really helps develop long lean muscles along with a healthy diet.” Now, you too can follow along with the exercises Anna gives Shakira for her arms, core and lower body on the trainer’s Instagram, @theannakaiser!