Soap Opera Digest
November 30, 1999
Product Queen

In my last column, I answered the most frequently asked questions sent to Product Queen. But I left out the No. 1 question: How did I lose weight?

I, like many other people struggle with my weight. I bought Suzanne Somers’s book, Eat Great, Lose Weight as a last-ditch effort to pare down my big … well, you know. It is the easiest diet I’ve ever been on -- and I like to eat! I have always maintained that if I weren’t and actress on a soap opera, I’d be at home, fat as a house, eating bon-bons and watching soap operas. My body does not want to be a size 4. I have to work my literal ass off to stay this size. Once in a while, I let it go a little until I can’t fit into my costumes and I feel bad about myself – you know the drill.

I honestly don’t think it’s a bad thing to be overweight. How we see ourselves is key. Some people don’t mind a few extra pounds, and I say more power to them. However, if you’re looking to lose a few pounds, run – don’t walk to the bookstore and buy this book. It’s not so much a diet as a new way to think about how we eat, And, guys and dolls, let me tell you, you will lose weight on this one. You’ll get to stuff yourself like a Christmas goose and you still lose. It’s fantastic.

I will warn you, though, you have to give up sugar, which is my favorite food group. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But after I got through the first seven days without it, I started to reap benefits you can’t even imagine. No more mood swings, I sleep better and I don’t wake up with a puffy face anymore (sugar and white flour does that). I feel like I am in control of my life. If you like to cook, there are fantastic recipes in the book that even a kitchen moron can make. I put my husband Michael [E. Knight, ALL MY CHILDREN’S Tad], on it and he lost weight even faster than I did.

I know you like to hear about the stuff that will transform us with a stroke of a brush or the squeeze of a tube, but this truly changed the way I feel about myself and I think that is even more important.

Good luck. And I want to hear from you all in about a month when you’ve had to go shopping for new jeans!