At six-foot-four and a cut 200 pounds, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds is obviously in great shape. His band wins Grammys and packs stadiums worldwide, and he marauds around those massive stages like a linebacker. With a physique like that you might assume he was putting hours in the weight room for the purpose of looking shredded—who could blame him? But the 35-year-old’s desire for fitness is much more practical: Despite growing up eating a fairly ascetic diet, Reynolds developed serious autoimmune diseases in his early 20s. He says he’s only become more strict what he eats as a means of mitigating his illness while minimizing his reliance on medication. Getting ripped may be a pleasant side effect of these choices, but, he shares with GQ, it was never the point.
For Real-Life Diet, GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and other high performers about their diet, exercise routines, and pursuit of wellness. Keep in mind that what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
Dan Reynolds: My diet growing up was very conservative. We ate meat sparingly, and typically it was moderation in everything, but clean, regimented. No smoking, no drugs, anything like that. A conservative, Christian upbringing, in that regard, but you throw in coffee, too.
It was really frustrating. When I was on my mission in Nebraska, 20 years old, I got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. It’s obviously genetic—my brother had ulcerative colitis and had to get a portion of his colon removed on his mission in the Philippines. But also it’s a super stressful time. You’re being made fun of all day and sucker-punched, having Slurpees thrown at you, doors slammed in your face, and you call home twice a year on Mother’s Day and Christmas. I was angry with God, I was angry with everything. I’m doing everything quote-unquote you’re supposed to do, and yet my body’s not working.
I got home, got married, had a kid at 23, and then was additionally diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which also two of my brothers have. It’s a spinal autoimmune disease where your body attacks the joints, because it perceives them as a disease. If you don’t address it, you bones can fuse and you can die. I was prescribed biologics, Humira, which is an autoimmune suppressant, but then I was out on the road touring, and one of the side effects of that is you get sick and it’s really hard to get better. I’d get sinus infections, and then you can’t sing. I was at this juxtaposition of, like, this will fix my back, but it will ruin my career. Something had to give, and that’s when I really started to dig into health and diet, and revamp everything.
How do you clean up an already clean diet?
I cut out basically all processed foods, sugar—except fruit; I eat a lot of fruit—and add a lot of vegetables, a lot of complex carbs. I try not to eat red meat. Lamb is fine, chicken is fine. But no dairy. But all that being said, I don’t do it a hundred percent. I do it probably 95 percent, or else I‘d lose my mind. And I notice if I maintain that, and I work out every day to flood all my joints—specifically my hips—with blood, that activity and diet together has kept me in remission for about seven years.
You’ve said that fitness came late in life to you. How was that adjustment?
It was definitely out of necessity. I did not grow up in the gym. I did not grow up in athletics, either.
Well, you were an Eagle Scout. That’s got to count for something.
I wish I could tell you it was my choice. Technically, my mom didn’t put a gun to my head, but all my brothers were Eagle Scouts, and it was, like, this is what you do in the Reynolds family. So yeah, I am an Eagle Scout.
But now I do a lot of Olympic lifting: a lot of legs and hips and stuff that you don’t really want to do. It’s a lot of full-body, a lot of ass and legs and hamstrings and core. Everything’s supporting my spine, so there’s no inflammation of the spine.
Are you doing this all by feel, or did you get medical advice on how to train with your disease?
It’s my rheumatologist, Susan Baker. It’s great to feel fit and celebrate the body. I grew up wearing Mormon garments my entire life, so I never could go shirtless anywhere. But I’m proud of my health. I don’t enjoy going to the gym at all. For me, it’s either go to the gym or be in pain and don’t have a career and have my spine fuse and die. It sounds extreme, but that’s the truth for me.
What’s your daily routine like?
I love coffee. I always start the day out with a little bit of caffeine, whether it’s coffee or pre-workout, and oatmeal with a bunch of berries and some sort of fat or almond butter. An hour and half, two hours later, I’ll have a protein shake or a protein bar, and then another hour and half, two hours later I’ll have chicken and rice, vegetables, and then another two hours later, it’s another meal of some sort of vegetable, some sort of protein like lamb—I love lamb, because it’s anti-inflammatory but it feels like I’m eating steak.
I know a lot of people are all about fasting and the clarity of mind that comes from that. I’ve done that for a little bit, but I felt so cranky in the mornings. I do feel more clarity from [fasting], but I feel like if I never eat heavy, then I’m never that tired. It gives me sustained energy and I feel it ramps up my metabolism and gives me all the energy I need.
How does what you eat pre-show differ from your everyday diet?
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