Extraordinary Health Magazine Extraordinary Health Vol 31 | Page 27

ON BEAUTIFUL HOME
ON STAYING IN SHAPE
Daniel has tapped into his interior design background with his
upcoming reality show, Beautiful Home. When he was approached
with the concept, redesigning aging Chinese villages into modern
vacation villages, he was glad that it was “not foolish, with
celebrities just acting silly.” Instead, he gets to help villagers who
have been faltering at the sudden boom in China’s economy over
the last ten years. Young adults have moved from the villages to the
cities to find work, sending money home to support their parents.
The villagers were eager to work with Daniel and his crew, who not
only made the homes beautiful, but also environmentally friendly,
with solar panels and other modern conveniences.
It was “an easy choice” to pursue a healthy lifestyle, Daniel said,
as he has been “experimenting since his teens” with muscle
building and protein powders. Non-organic options often
“messed with my system, leading to upset stomach, diarrhea
and breakouts. The Garden of Life products I use are clean, have
no bad effects, and are organic and vegan. I started using Garden
of Life two years before I became a brand ambassador. When
I train for eight or nine hours, I need a clean option, without the
sugar. Since Garden of Life started first in probiotics, then vitamins
and protein, I feel like it’s based in a stable moral ground, versus
only the pursuit of money. When the body starts rejecting other
companies’ non-organic protein powders, it’s just not worth it.”
ON TOMB RAIDER
The 43-year-old has to eat six or seven meals per day to maintain
his weight, due to his high metabolism. Instead of struggling
In the upcoming Tomb Raider movie starring Alicia Vikander as
to eat that many meals, he supplements his three meals per day
Lara Croft, Daniel plays Lu Ren, “a ship captain that agrees to take
with protein shakes, using Raw Organic Protein or SPORT
Lara on her quest to search for her father.” Daniel says that his
Plant-Based Protein powder combined with juice or water.
favorite parts of playing this role included “not fighting daily,
He also uses mykind Organics vitamins, Raw Organic Perfect Food
as it takes a high toll on the body” and “working with a small cast,
Energizer, Raw Protein & greens ™ and Minami Platinum Omega-3
which gave the production a more intimate feel, versus a huge
movie like Warcraft was. With hundreds of actors and stunt doubles, Fish Oil. He started using vitamins in his thirties, and has noticed
you might never properly meet them all.” He also enjoyed watching how they contribute to his huge energy levels.
Alicia’s transformation as Lara Croft, whose “physical and mental
transformation was apparent throughout filming, as she took on
every challenge with aplomb, becoming a true powerhouse.”
"I started using Garden of Life
two years before I became a
brand ambassador. When I train
for eight or nine hours, I need a
clean option, without the sugar."
ON INTO THE BADLANDS
Season 3 of AMC's extremely popular series, Into the Badlands
holds new challenges for Daniel’s character, Sunny, who must
raise his baby in a hostile environment. Sunny’s challenges have
varied wildly since the beginning of the series, which took him
from “being one of the most respected members of society
to being transported on a slave ship, then finally on his journey
to find his family.” His greatest accomplishment with the series
is “bringing Hong Kong style action to American households,
inspired by the Shaw Brothers fighting movies of the 1970s”
he noted, as they “have two crews on set at all times: one for
the overall drama and story, and the other for the fighting scenes.
With up to 30 martial artists on set, they often work twelve hour
days. They eat, sleep, and train well, like professional athletes,
with a training camp when they’re not filming. It includes martial
arts, strength and coordination, yoga and flexibility to keep in
shape.” This high level of training helped Daniel when he sprained
his knee shortly before his character’s battle against Quinn. His
doctor