Eating unhealthy is a no for Randy Jackson, dawg.
The former American Idol judge recently opened up to People about the “drastic measures” he took to lose over 100 pounds and what he had to do will surprise you.
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Randy Jackson has always been open about his weight loss struggles.
One of the first times he opened up was in 2008 when the former American Idol judge spoke to Today about his childhood.
“I didn’t even know what exercise was until I was 13 or 14 playing organized sports in school, because you’d be outside playing all the time,” Jackson told former “Today” anchor, Matt Lauer.
“You never thought about the word ‘exercise,’” he said .
Growing up, food became a comforting way to solve his problems.
In his book, “Body With Soul: Slash Sugar, Cut Cholesterol, and Get a Jump On Your Best Health Ever , he wrote, “I wouldn’t quite say that life is always a party in Louisiana, especially during these post-hurricane days, but when I was a kid, you ate like you were celebrating.”
Overeating became engrained in his childhood and culture.
“There was constant encouragement to eat. ‘My God, you’re looking like skin and bones,’ my grandmother would say. ‘You better eat something.’”
He continued:
“In my Southern, African-American world, just like in a lot of cultures that struggled with adversity in the past, being able to eat as much and whatever you wanted was a sign of prosperity.”
After gaining more weight in the ’90s during the beginning of his music career, his turning point took place in 1999.
“I had a huge wake-up call. I was really feeling crazy ill,” Jackson told Lauer.
“I went to the emergency room and found out I had type 2 diabetes. I had to do something because I was feeling terrible.”
Now, in 2020, Jackson recently spoke to “People” about the “drastic measures” he took to lose over 100 pounds and get his diabetes under control.
For the former TV judge and musician, this meant undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2003.
But don’t think that Jackson relied solely on the surgery to get healthy.
He put in the work, too, by changing his habits with help from fitness experts, nutritionists, and even mental health professionals.
Doing so has helped him lose 114 pounds!
Jackson also told “People” that he felt pressure to lose weight when he was on “American Idol.”
“I think it was season 2 on Idol. You come in and they go ‘Yeah dawg, you’re telling me I’m terrible but you’re fat!’”
“And I would go, ‘I am. I have mirrors in my house. I know!’ So I think that finally, it was that and also I had an emergency room visit that I thought I was really sick and had a cold or something.”
As recalled earlier, that was when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes — the severe diagnosis that would change his life forever.
“Managing type 2 diabetes also runs hand in hand with managing your weight,” he said.
It’s why co-founded Unify Health Labs , a company that sells weight loss products.
He told “People” that these products help “other people in their journey to get healthy — while sparing them the long confusing search I went through.”
The products means a lot to him. “This is me sort of giving back,” he shared.
“Something that’s a simple solution because all of us probably have 50 bottles on the counter or 50 bottles in the bathroom of different vitamins and things that we take.”
He continued:
“The root causes of these certain diseases and trying to get your best health, it all starts in the gut. Gut health is really best health.”
For those looking to make major weight loss progress, Randy said that it all starts with changing your relationship with food.
“You have to almost have a complete divorce break up … and start back bit by bit and find out the things that work with your body and you also find out the allergies and really pay attention to how you feel.”
We’re so happy that the star is happy and healthy these days — and continues to be!
For more of his interview with People , you can find it here .
