LOS ANGELES — Ellen DeGeneres may be one of the busiest stars in Hollywood, but she isn't turning to sugar to help get her through the day.
"No cake, no cookies, no candy," she tells the May issue of Shape magazine about her "sugar fast."
One can forgive DeGeneres if she needs a little energy boost with a busy schedule that includes her daytime talk show and a judging gig on American Idol. So how does she stay energized? DeGeneres credits her vegan diet for keeping her body running full steam ahead.
"It's so weird," she explains. "Food used to be really important to me. I loved steak, I loved hamburgers, I loved all that stuff. I can't believe how irresponsible I was, eating what I ate."
DeGeneres recalls her teenage years when she acted out after her mom's divorce and gained a lot of weight.
"All I did was eat," she says. "Cheeseburgers, fried chicken, fried things... and then some things happened in my life, and, as a lot of young girls do, I put on weight as a barrier, as protection, to keep people away. I was always dieting, always struggling, always trying to lose it. Diets don't work. It has to be a way of life."
Today, she relies on a rigid diet consisting of "no animals, no dairy, nothing processed; a lot of soup, veggies, rice, beans, legumes."
"I want to be on my toes; I want to have energy," she says. "And as much as the diet seems like a sacrifice, it's helping me."
DeGeneres plans to stick with her diet until her first season on Idol wraps, but says she might "relax a bit" this summer. While she's fit and trim at 52, DeGeneres confesses she's lucky to have a wife and power yoga partner in Portia de Rossi who doesn't care how she looks.
"She loves me no matter what," she says of de Rossi. "Whenever I feel bad about myself, or if I'm in a period where I'm not working out, she's constantly telling me that she doesn't notice, that I look beautiful. She'll say, 'I think you could gain 10 more pounds.' She would rather have me heavier than thinner, and she really hates that I ever doubt myself. She loves how I look. She wants me to be happy and never think about it."
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