Shadowing Practice: Everything Ian Somerhalder Eats in a Day | Food Diaries: Bite Size | Harper's BAZAAR - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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- Hi, I'm Ian Somerhalder and this is everything I eat in a day.
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- Hi, I'm Ian Somerhalder and this is everything I eat in a day.
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(upbeat music) First thing I do when I wake up, I eat two small puppies, no I'm joking.
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The first thing I do when I wake up, it's kinda strange, so, I have a first breakfast and a second breakfast.
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So, we make a lot of our own stuff, right?
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Nik and I grow a lot of our own food, it's gonna sound unnatural, like, I eat that much.
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So I usually have a broth first thing in the morning with a bunch of supplements, like vitamin stuff, and green juices with my tea that I then whip in the NutriBullet with coconut oil and cacao, and salt, believe it or not.
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So, you're getting the electrolytes, you're getting the caffeine, and you're getting the fat with the cacao, so that's like a, (blastoff noise) energy.
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Then I train, and then I gobble, like, really weird things.
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I don't eat a lot of meat, so I substitute it with fish.
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So I have to eat, like, two giant handfuls of nuts, walnuts or cashews or pecans or brazil nuts, and then meat.
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So, usually it's fish, and I'll alternate ocean fish, freshwater fish, usually broil or pan-fry.
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But, I cook in a lot of cast iron, or ceramic coated cast iron, which, I guess the jury's still out.
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No nonstick, it is as toxic as the day is long.
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I mean, on the stove, cast iron or ceramic coated cast iron, lemon, a little bit of high-heat oil, like sunflower oil or something, and salt.
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Boom, lid, steam it.
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(eating noise) And then, I eat two giant handfuls of vegetables.
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So, whether it's root vegetables, steamed vegetables, spinach, anything.
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So two of those, boom, on a plate.
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Gobble that.
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Nik also makes me, we also make a lot of our own stuff, so she makes me these, like, amazing chia puddings with coconut milk and chia and cacao and salt, and then she'll just leave that in the refrigerator and I'll get up in the morning and I'll gobble that.
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In the morning, ya know, most people eat tons of carbohydrates.
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Twice a week I'll eat just massive, huge stacks of pancakes, but it's only, like, twice a week Then I'll have my coffee, and then the baby gets up.
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That's the beginning of my morning.
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That's from 6 to 8:30.
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Then it's feeding her, it's feeding the baby, then it's cooking, then I'll finally sit, and I'll have even more, sort of, steamed or sauteed vegetables, with another cup of tea.
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And so, we feed the baby usually fresh fruits, hash browns, sheep's yogurt or coconut yogurt, stuff that's fermented and good and high protein.
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And then we sit there and I'll eat that too, so.
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It sounds kind of insane, but when you eat really clean you're eating tremendous amounts.
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It's hard to do that because that requires tremendous amounts of packaging and plastic, right?
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So most of the stuff we get is farmer's market stuff or we grow it.
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I love trying to really cut all this waste, but I live like a tornado because, I, there's just so much going on, that sometimes for convenience sake I'll use it.
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What my wife did was do an audit of what we use and I think it's gonna become a big movement, which is farmer's market vendors are gonna start buying stuff in bulk.
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So you can go and get your dish soap and dishwasher soap, and all that stuff, you can buy it in glass from farmer's markets, and what they do is, they buy it in bulk.
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It's saving 65 bottles, 65 plastic bottles.
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So, if you have a million households doing that, that's just at a million, that's 65 million bottles a month you're saving.
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Lunch, again, is gonna be a fish, huge amounts of vegetables, sweet potato, quinoa, big white potatoes, and some high density fats later on.
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Oh, I forgot, the other thing in the morning I do, half a lemon, lukewarm water, and a quarter of a teaspoon of pink salt, cause that just goes into your adrenals and just, (blasting noises) Now, if you have a heart problem, really bad idea, if you have high blood pressure, not a good idea, but I'll do that again in the afternoon.
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I do do a lot of coffee and tea, but I also mix it with a tablespoon of coconut oil and if you whip it, you're binding caffeine molecules to a fat lipid so your body burns it slower and more evenly, as opposed to, like, whoosh, straight up and straight down.
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And, people forget, yes, sugar is the devil, one fifth of all the sugar and one fifth of all the oxygen your body intakes, your brain uses, so you have to remember to give it that.
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I always do what the Rock says, "it's not a cheat, it's a treat meal." So a treat meal is just this, like, giant, massive, amazing stack of gluten free pancakes with just fruit and maple syrup, although I didn't realize how much energy production it takes to get maple syrup.
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You know, you tap this tree, and then you boil this stuff for hours and hours and hours and hours, I mean hours.
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Yes I love maple syrup, but I use either local honey, you can also just take blueberries and just grind them and put, like, a little sugar, or a little honey in them and all of a sudden you get this, like, amazing compote situation.
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Another great treat, dark chocolate, loaded with antioxidants, it's got some caffeine in it, but it's just so good for you, it's ridiculous, you can also just take cacao, tumeric, honey, a little bit of salt, you can just mix it with hot water and then shake it up and it's like dessert, but it's loaded with all these huge super food, sorta, properties.
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Every dinner we make sure we get home as a family.
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Dinner, again, is super crazy healthy starches, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, quinoa, gluten free pastas, fish, vegetables.
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Or, a lotta times, no, no animal proteins.
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Ya know, you can take one big head of lettuce, cut it up, put it in a cast iron pan, water and salt, cook it down a bit, boom, olive oil, spices, whatever you want, and bam, you have, like, this amazing vegan amazing meal.
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You can put it over rice, quinoa, you get incredible amounts of nutrients and carbohydrates and proteins from dense, amazing vegetables.
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The planet's better for it, your body's better for it, your brain, your energy production, all of it.
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That's it, that's everything I eat in a day, which should probably be five days.
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And, thank you!
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(upbeat music)
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Why practice speaking with this video?

Using the video featuring Ian Somerhalder and his daily eating habits, learners can improve their English speaking skills by engaging in shadow speak. This engaging content offers a unique context to practice speaking about healthy eating, cooking methods, and lifestyle choices. As you emulate Ian’s speech, you will not only enhance your pronunciation and intonation but also learn vocabulary related to food and nutrition. Moreover, discussing such relatable topics can boost your confidence, making it a perfect fit for IELTS speaking practice, where personal topics are often suggested.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

In the video, several key grammatical structures and expressions are prevalent:

  • Present Simple: Ian often uses the present simple tense to describe his daily routines, e.g., "I eat two small puppies... no I'm joking." This playful structure opens up conversations and engages the audience.
  • Imperative Forms: Phrases like "Go and get your dish soap" encourage learners to practice giving instructions and recommendations effectively.
  • Conditional Sentences: Ian mentions, "If you have a heart problem, really bad idea," which is a great way to learn conditional structures that reveal possibilities and consequences.
  • Comparative and Superlative: Expressions like "the best" or "more amazing" can enrich vocabulary, allowing learners to compare and elaborate on their food choices.

Employing these structures while speaking will enhance fluency and adaptability in conversation.

Common Pronunciation Traps

There are several words and phrases in the video that may pose pronunciation challenges:

  • Nutrition-related Terms: Words like "quinoa," "chia," and "cacao" can be tricky for non-native speakers. Listen closely to Ian’s pronunciation to master these terms.
  • Compound Words: Phrases like "high-density fats" and "coconut oil" require attention to articulation. Shadowing Ian can help you familiarize yourself with the rhythm and flow of these compound expressions.
  • Colloquial Expressions: Ian often uses informal speech that may include slurring or blending sounds, such as in "gonna" instead of "going to." Recognizing these pronunciations can help you speak more naturally.

By focusing on these pronunciation aspects, learners can enhance their speaking skills and improve their ability to communicate effectively in everyday conversations.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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