As the old saying goes, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Except when you hear the word apple nowadays, you may not think of the fruit, rather the trillion dollar company, Apple Inc. Co-founder of Apple Inc, Steve Jobs, dropped out of college in 1972 and later started his company with Steve Wozniak in 1976.
Apple Inc started with computers but eventually evolved into the iPhone, MacBooks, Apple watches, and many other tech gadgets we use everyday. The tech company has become a household name, but Jobs had a not-so-clever reason for calling it that.
In a Steve Jobs’ biography by Walter Isaacson, the name Apple came into fruition simply because Jobs liked apples. He also stated, “It sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating...plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book.”
If you knew much about Steve Jobs’ diet, his love for apples and other kinds of fruits was evident.
Unfortunately, his love for apples didn’t keep the doctor away as he passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2011, but during his lifetime he made an enormous name for himself and his company.
Despite his unfortunate diagnosis, Steve Jobs lived a fairly healthy lifestyle, even if his eating habits were interesting to say the least.
We got a peek into the life of Steve Jobs in the 2013 movie, “Jobs” starring Ashton Kutcher, but through interviews with Time Magazine and Isaacson’s book, we learned more about the entrepreneur's daily routine.
Jobs woke up at 6am because he liked the mornings and wasted no time getting started on work. At 6:30am, he started working at home.
“I have a pretty sophisticated setup,” Jobs stated, “Whether I’m at Apple or at Pixar or at my home. Wherever I am, my complete world shows up, all my files. Everything...I put in a T1 to my house. So my office is at home too. And when I’m not in meetings, my work is fundamentally on email. So I’ll work a little before the kids get up.”
When the kids got up, they’d have breakfast together around 7:30am.
While the typical breakfast we think of is something like eggs and toast, Jobs preferred whole and dried fruits, vegetables, and Odwalla juices.
A lot of the fruits that Jobs ate came from their home garden.
Breakfast wasn’t the only time the billionaire opted for fruits and veggies as he classified himself as a fruitarian. Jobs adopted this diet, giving up meat, dairy, and grains, after reading the book, “Mucusless Diet Healing System” by Arnold Ehret.
The fruitarian diet is one of the most restrictive diets there is, even more so than a vegan or vegetarian diet, since it involves eating primarily fruits.
According to dietitians, the fruit diet is typically not recommended because there’s risk of malnourishment. Although fruits are generally healthy foods packed with vitamins and can aid in weight loss, your fruit intake should only be about 30% of your diet.
It’s clear to see by Steve Jobs’ diet that he didn’t necessarily take this advice as he would sometimes eat the same one or two fruits and vegetables for weeks. Other times, Jobs would fast for up to a week at a time and break it only with water and leafy vegetables.
In between work and meetings at the office, Jobs would eat lunch, typically consisting of only fruits and veggies. Dinner would be the same.
He ate dinner with his children and wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, which looked something like pasta with raw tomatoes and corn from the garden, steamed cauliflower and carrot salad.
Jobs rarely drank alcohol except for the occasional glass of wine and opted for mineral water like SmartWater.
Once Jobs was made aware of his diagnosis, he continued a strict vegan diet in an attempt to heal himself. In 2008, he had surgery to remove part of his pancreas, and doctors encouraged him to include more protein into his diet, so his wife started including fish and other proteins into their meals.
As a vegan or vegetarian, it’s important to get enough protein, carbs, and fat in your diet. To get more protein, you can check out our plant-based protein powder, Veg-Pro.
Even after an adjusted diet, Jobs was still losing weight, and by 2011, the cancer had spread to his bones, and he was eating almost no solid foods. He passed away in October that year.
In an attempt to truly step into the life of Steve Jobs, Ashton Kutcher adopted his diet before filming the movie.
Kutcher revealed on the YouTube series “Hot Ones”, where a host interviews celebrities while eating progressively hotter and hotter wings, that he suffered some health issues as a result.
The actor discovered Jobs’ love for Odwalla carrot juice, and that he would drink it so much, his skin would have an orange hue.
“So, I started just drinking carrot juice nonstop all day long,” said Kutcher.
Until one night, he went to the hospital for a shooting pain in his back.
Kutcher was diagnosed with pancreatitis and was afraid he was turning too much into Steve Jobs.
It was never totally revealed how Kutcher got pancreatitis, but it does seem like too much of a coincidence to ignore.
Although Jobs didn’t follow a conventionally healthy diet, he tried to make time for exercise. In released FBI files, Jobs revealed he was a member at the New York Athletic Club, but he didn’t use it and had never even been there.
Instead, Jobs did a great deal of jogging, according to his neighbor. He laced up his New Balance 992 running shoes and took off.
It’s unclear as to how far he ran, but he was quoted, “There are times when you run a marathon and you wonder, Why am I doing this? But you take a drink of water, and around the next bend, you get your wind back, remember the finish line, and keep going.”
There’s speculation as to whether or not he’s talking about an actual marathon he had run, or if it’s simply used as a metaphor. Either way, we know that Jobs was a runner of some sort.
We’re told to eat our fruits and vegetables, but even too much of a good thing can have negative consequences.
It’s unclear whether Jobs’ diet caused his diagnosis, but what is clear is that maintaining a healthy, balanced diet and lifestyle is essential.
There’s nothing wrong with a vegetarian diet as long as you’re getting enough calories and macros to sustain yourself. If you’re thinking about a plant-based diet, you can consult a nutritionist to find out your best options of staying healthy and energized.
Steve Jobs was an innovator and was motivated by his goals for his company and for the world. He was dedicated to his consistent lifestyle, and that’s an important takeaway.
