Why Guy Fieri Never Eats Before Filming Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

If you ever find yourself at a really great diner, drive-in, or dive restaurant, chances are that Guy Fieri has already been there. Since 2006, the celebrity chef and restaurateur has been traveling across America just to find the best eats in the country and share them with viewers. While it might sound like a dream job to road trip around in a red convertible visiting all the various Flavortowns in the U.S., the truth is that taste-testing excessive amounts of food during long filming days can get pretty uncomfortable, and Fieri has adapted his eating habits from experience, as he tells People. "The way the system is now has changed dramatically from the way it was," Fieri told the magazine of how the show is currently filmed. Previously, he said, "It would take five days to make one show."

Since those early days, filming has become a lot more intense with more rapid pace production. Fieri's demanding schedule, coupled with the success of the show, means that "Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives" now uses two separate 10-person crews that film at three to four restaurants at a time. And instead of the filming being spread out over the course of a week, it's done in a single day. Not only does that mean Fieri has little time to eat off-camera, he also believes drinking is better than eating before filming, opting for espresso and lots of juice. "I know the immunity [of it], and what the body needs when everybody's on the road and working crazy hours," he explained.

All of Guy Fieri's reactions to the food you see on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" are as genuine as it gets — and that's just the way he wants it to be. After all, it's hard to comment on the deliciousness of food when you're already stuffed, so Fieri ensures that doesn't happen by filming on an empty stomach. "When you do three locations in a day, two dishes per location, it can very quickly escalate," he told People. "If you eat too much, and you get too much in your mouth, you overload your palate, you desensitize it. I don't wanna do that." 

Instead of eating before filming, Fieri drinks his juice and an Americano, and makes sure to squeeze in a good workout. As he further elaborated in an interview with Insider, he also only eats breakfast two times a month. When he does, it's either one of his two childhood favorites — grits or granola. Otherwise, he's all about the juice. "Juicing to me is one of my favorite things," he told Insider. "And gnarly ones — kale, beets, spinach, all that. Big, hardy, healthy juices, [I'm] not a real fruit-juicy kinda guy." It's hard to imagine the mayor of Flavortown being a big juice guy, but apparently it's the key to filming all those episodes of Triple D we love so much.