Jillian Michaels on Her Mission for ‘Losing It’

"There's only one way to eat, and it’s real food in moderation," says "Losing It" star Jillian Michaels.

Watching personal trainer Jillian Michaels whip the overweight into shape on The Biggest Loser fills us with admiration — and a little fear. We’re not sure we’d want this drill sergeant of a fitness coach to train us, much less move in with us. But that’s exactly what she’s doing this summer on Losing It With Jillian, a new NBC series in which she plays houseguest to a different family each week.

“Save a family, save the world,” declares Michaels. “It’s a grassroots thing, and it starts with education. You have to give people the information and then you have to give them the tools to make it accessible.”

In addition to encouraging families to get active, the über-fit Michaels advises her hosts to eat organic and banish processed “Franken-food.” “I don’t eat beef or chicken but I eat fish, eggs, organic dairy,” says the 36-year-old, who offers several recipes based on these ingredients in her latest book, The Master Your Metabolism Cookbook (Crown, 2010). Mindful of economic factors, Michaels notes that healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive. “You clip coupons. You eat less meat,” she suggests. “You start buying groups in your church or community to get vegetables at a discounted price. Or you grow your own and can for the winter or freeze them.”

With the new series, Michaels says she’s on a mission to change America before it succumbs to the obesity epidemic. “We’re going into communities and asking these families to be role models,” she says.

Who’s your health role model?

Photo credit: NBC Photo/Andrew Southam

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