Fabio’s name has been shorthand for “hunk” and “OMG that hair” since he started modeling at age 13. In nearly four decades (he’s 57 now), Fabio has racked up so many TV and movie cameos (including an inspired bit in Zoolander) that he has achieved a cultural omnipresence, even if you’d never seen one of the dozens of romance novels with covers that boast his tastefully displayed pecs. He’s back to work with his old sponsor, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, looking better in a tank top than most men ever will. Also, he’s a newly minted American citizen, and an official participant in the national pastime of talking smack about the Kardashians.
(Yes, that’s Fabio’s face on a laser-printed piece of toast. The future is now and it’s eating its own bread-head.)
Despite his Italian heritage, Fabio doesn’t go for the nation’s favorite starch: “I’m not really big into pasta but my father taught me a really simple and easy recipe. It’s the same as alfredo sauce but you don’t use cream. It’s just I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and parmesan cheese.” [Note: this has not been tested in the GQ kitchen.] That’s his go-to when he needs complex carbs, usually after a lot of cardio or dirt biking (seriously).
“Life can be as complicated as you want, if you complicate it,” he says. “But if you keep your life simple, you get the best results.” So his meals are pretty steady—mornings with oatmeal and an omelette, and fish and vegetables over the day—and he stresses that only being healthy two months out of the year and eating like crap the other ten isn’t enough to really keep in shape.
Fabio has cut all sugar from his diet, but he’s got an advantage there since he’s claimed to never like sweets even as a kid: “My mom used to tell me the first time she put something sweet in my mouth, I was six and a half or seven months, and I spit it out. My worst nightmare was birthday parties because people would want me to eat cake. Mothers would insist and I would say no and they thought I was being polite, and I was like, ‘I’m not being polite, what part of “no” don’t you understand?’”
Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana and pecans
Egg white omelette with spinach
Lunch
Grouper with broccoli
Dinner
Salmon and asparagus