Zooey Deschanel Revealed Her Go-To Snack for Busy Days—It's Simpler Than You Think

Zooey Deschanel is a busy bee. Not only has she been filming for season 3 of the comedy Physical, but she also splits her days between her New Girl-themed podcast and her co-founded food initiatives Lettuce Grow and Merryfield. Not to mention, she's the mom of two young children. As if she isn't busy enough, she recently hosted a new educational television show What Am I Eating? on Max.

What Am I Eating? focuses on helping people make more informed decisions about the food they buy and eat. In the show, Deschanel and her crew answer questions around which types of carbohydrates help you lead the healthiest lifestyle, the best oils to use when cooking, whether you should eat organic foods and more.

We caught up with Deschanel about her favorite lessons from filming What Am I Eating?, go-to snacks for staying energized on busy days and thoughts on what eating well means to her. Read on for more on what the multi-faceted star had to say in our interview.

EatingWell: How do you start your day and what is your favorite part of your morning routine?

Deschanel: Yeah, my coffee. I can't live without coffee. It's very important to me. And I would say that I've always made it the same way. I change machines—like my coffee delivery system changes. I'll go from espresso or espresso-type drinks to drip coffee to cold brew. The common denominator is coffee, and I need it.

EatingWell: How long are the days on set?

Deschanel: Well, it depends on what I'm doing. I just finished [filming] the show Physical. The scripted shows are longer days. The unscripted shows are shorter days. Like What Am I Eating?–I think probably 8 or 10 hours a day. Not super long. But the scripted shows, you can work 12, 14, 16 hours sometimes. They're long.

EatingWell: Do you have any snacks that you eat regularly to keep you energized through filming days?

Deschanel: I do, actually. My favorite snack, I recommend it to everybody, because I just think it's the best snack. I haven't had one person that doesn't really agree with me once they start doing this snack, and it's a classic: an apple and peanut butter. Can't go wrong. It's healthy. It has fiber and vitamins, carbs, protein and fat. It's got everything, and it sustains you [for] a long time. If you just eat an apple you get really hungry an hour later, but if you have an apple with peanut butter then you're all good for a couple of hours.

EatingWell: What motivated you to debunk some myths about food by filming What Am I Eating?

Deschanel: Well, there's so much conflicting advice about what you should or shouldn't eat and a lot of shame around it. First of all, I think people tend to make better decisions when they have information and feel empowered to make decisions for themselves. That feels a lot better than being shamed into making some choice that you're not sure about, you know? So, we wanted to give people facts from the experts and kind of break it all down in easily digestible ways. Anybody could watch this and get something out of it. Whether you like to cook or just like to eat, it's how we connect. It's how we sustain ourselves. It's how we keep our energy. Food is this connector in so many ways, so I wanted to make it joyful and also help people make the healthiest choices that [feel] good to them.

EatingWell: Was there one fact about food that shocked you the most in the filming process?

Deschanel: I was shocked at how different potatoes tasted fried in different oils. We did an experiment with fried potatoes in different oils. It made a huge difference in the taste and texture. Those things, you don't necessarily know until you do an experiment—you taste them side by side and go, 'Oh wow.' And everybody's different, too. I would like to inspire people to do these experiments themselves and see what they liked the best.

EatingWell: What would be the ideal meal you would make on your not-so-busy days?

Deschanel: Well, my kids are not crazy adventurous, you know, because they're kids. So, [I'm] always trying to make it fun for them. And having them help cook really makes a difference, engaging them in that kind of food play. Like doing pizzas, having them decorate their own. I'll either make pizza dough or buy pre-made pizza dough. Then, we'll roll it out, and each person gets to decorate their own pizza. That's really fun. It will have bell peppers, mushrooms, olives, cheese and tomato sauce, and they can just put as much or little as they want. No matter what, they always like the pizza they make.

EatingWell: Have your eating habits changed since you started to dive further into the food world?

Deschanel: Yeah, the kind of precursor to [What Am I Eating?] was this show called Your Food's Roots. So, I have been doing this for a while. At first, I was a vegetarian for a while after I started doing the show, because it really was apparent how much more sustainable it was to be vegetarian, but that was hard to maintain for a long time. So, now I eat fish which is a very sustainable protein source as far as animal protein. So when I first started the whole process, I ate everything and then I started eating less red meat and stuff like that. No judgment on anybody eating red meat! I think people should eat what makes them feel the best, but for me that was a good choice.

EatingWell: What does eating well mean to you?

Deschanel: To me, eating well is eating in a way that makes you feel good—that is nurturing but also connects you with others. Growing up, meal time was so important, and my parents love to cook. I remember the amazing dinner parties they would throw, and it was how they would connect with their friends and family. I think food is so much more than just how we nourish our bodies. It's how we nourish our souls. It's how we nourish our friendships and our relationships. So, to me eating well is a very holistic concept, and we should think of it as a way to connect to others as well as a way to connect to ourselves.