Ellen On Her No-Candy Lifestyle: ‘I Want To Be On My Toes’

First Published: April 15, 2010 2:04 PM EDT Credit: Michael Rozman/ Warner Bros

Caption Gerard Butler sports a kilt on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ on March 24, 2010

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- As the face of two of TV’s most popular shows — hosting the “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” by day and “American Idol” by night — Ellen DeGeneres has one of showbiz’s busiest schedules.

Doing all that hosting takes energy – and the star told the May issue of Shape magazine that means she’s given up junk food.

“No cake, no cookies, no candy… It’s so weird. Food used to be really important to me. I loved steak, I loved hamburgers, I loved all that stuff,” she told the mag. “I can’t believe how irresponsible I was, eating what I ate. All I did was eat. 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.”

She added that she’s since realized that dieting’s not the way to go.

“Diets don’t work. It has to be a way of life,” Ellen said, explaining her current vegan regimen. “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. And as much as the diet seems like a sacrifice, it’s helping me.”

However, once “Idol” is off for the summer, Ellen may let some sweets back into her life.

“In the summer, maybe I’ll relax a bit,” she said.

While the star is trim and fit at 52, she said there’s one person who doesn’t care how she looks – wife Portia de Rossi.

“She loves me no matter what,” Ellen said. “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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