Gwyneth Paltrow shared details about her COVID-19 infection last year and the changes she made for her health.
The “Iron Man” star, 49, appeared on the “Dear Chelsea” podcast on Thursday and said she “started to feel so good” after she stopped drinking alcohol at her doctor’s recommendation.
Ditching Wine
“It’s been a long year of barely any alcohol, I mean I’ve had a sip here and there, but very rarely,” Paltrow said.
“You know me, I love a drink, I love the ritual of it, and I love to sit down and have one and chat. I love the taste of alcohol, like, I love whiskey and wine and, whatever, vodka. I’ll take it all,” Paltrow continued. “But I think what happened was, having gotten COVID and having felt like s—, or like having had long COVID stuff for a while, I just didn’t feel vibrant.”
Improving Her Health
As per People, the Academy Award winner revealed in February that she “had COVID-19 early on.” She then turned to functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole, who put her on a diet that doesn’t allow sugar or alcohol.
“I didn’t feel good, and I had really high inflammation levels, and the doctor was like, ‘Look, you really need to clean up your act. You gotta, at least for three months, no alcohol, no grains, no sugar, nothing processed,’ everything like that,” Paltrow told host Chelsea Handler, 46.
The actress also admitted that wine and her comfort food got her through the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they made her gain 14 pounds. She did lose most of the added weight, crediting Dr. Cole for subsequently helping her lose 11 pounds.
Reflecting On The Change
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“And so I kind of begrudgingly did it, and then I just started to feel so good. And I don’t know, I’m not going to do it forever, but I think 2021 has been about me trying to value my health and wellness a little bit more because, especially during COVID, I was just eating whatever, drinking seven nights a week. And it’s been really interesting. I sleep so much better with no alcohol, it’s wild,” Paltrow explained.
COVID-19 Diagnosis
In a past interview, the mother of two shared that she has been improving her health together with husband Brad Falchuk, 50, despite experiencing “a bit of fatigue and brain fog.”
Paltrow said in March that Falchuk “only got his taste and smell back in January, so nine months after he lost it.”
She added, “But there’s so many people who are going through it and we’re getting better all the time.”
Paltrow announced that she tested positive for COVID-19 last year.
“In January, I had some tests done that showed really high levels of inflammation in my body,” she wrote in a post on her Goop website. “So I turned to one of the smartest experts I know in this space, the functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole. After he saw all my labs, he explained that this was a case where the road to healing was going to be longer than usual.”
