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"  Going to the supermarket with Alison Sweeney feels a lot like taking a toddler to a toy store. Walking through the parking lot of her local Ralphs in Los Angeles one recent evening, she gets a little giddy. &amp;quot;Grocery shopping makes me happy, because I love food,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a creative outlet for me to envision what I&amp;#039;m going to cook with all the ingredients.&amp;quot; Once inside the mammoth supermarket, the host of The Biggest Loser and longtime star of Days of Our Lives makes a beeline for the fresh-produce section, where she ogles yellow bell peppers \u2014 good for slicing up and taking on-set as a snack \u2014 and spies some kale &amp;quot;to make kale chips. You just bake them in the oven with a little olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;My kids love them.&amp;quot; This is, quite simply, how Sweeney&amp;#039;s mind operates: firing on all cylinders, all the time. Kids, health, diet, marriage, and her two jobs are tossed into the mix. While others might crumble trying to juggle the demands of such a full life, Sweeney has found a way not only to make it all work, but also to have fun. And she&amp;#039;s happy to share the strategies that keep her pulled-in-every-direction days on track. Sweeney, who&amp;#039;s just finished a long day of filming TBL, is still swooning over kale. With her long blond hair in a topknot and wearing snug jeans, black riding boots, and an apple-red cardigan, she might resemble any other busy mom, but her enthusiasm for leafy greens blows her cover. A few shoppers who recognize her sidle closer to hear her tsk-tsk the high calorie content of prefab smoothies. She also quotes TBL&amp;#039;s fiercely fit drill sergeant, Jillian Michaels: &amp;quot;I remember her saying, &amp;#039;You don&amp;#039;t want to drink your calories. You won&amp;#039;t be satisfied by a drink.&amp;#039; &amp;quot; Clearly Sweeney, 36, hasn&amp;#039;t just been dialing it in when playing den mother to contestants on TBL for the past seven years. The experience has armed this actress \u2014 who once struggled with her own weight \u2014 with a whole new set of be-well rules to live and shop by. HER HEALTHY-EATING HANDBOOK &amp;quot;I used to buy only ready-made foods and frozen dinners. I never cooked for myself,&amp;quot; Sweeney confesses. Now she cooks all the time (grilling is a favorite method) and always has a game plan before she heads to a supermarket. First, she never, ever shops on an empty stomach. Yes, it&amp;#039;s a time-honored guideline, but Sweeney takes it seriously, at times stopping to eat a snack (say, a handful of nuts) before she gets out of her car. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;ll make healthier choices and won&amp;#039;t buy stuff that you don&amp;#039;t need,&amp;quot; she says to explain why this is helpful. Her next rule is to stick to the store&amp;#039;s perimeter, making it easier to bypass those interior aisles laden with nutritional land mines like chips and cookies. Ignoring the ice cream freezer, she heads straight for the dairy case. There, she grabs 2% milk fat Greek yogurt. &amp;quot;There is way more protein in Greek yogurt \u2014 like 18 grams \u2014 than in regular yogurt,&amp;quot; she explains. &amp;quot;It keeps you satisfied longer.&amp;quot; Sweeney maintains this steely &amp;quot;eat healthy&amp;quot; focus well beyond the store. Ironically, even shooting TBL can test her willpower. The set is dotted with tables of salty and sugary snacks for the crew. (The contestants have much healthier fare.) Business as usual is for Sweeney to glide right by that tempting table and dip into her own supply of snacks. This is a woman who is always prepared for hunger pangs. &amp;quot;I keep my favorite things, like cut-up bell peppers, in my dressing room,&amp;quot; she says. Bell peppers and carrots are some of her preferred foods because &amp;quot;you can eat them almost endlessly, they&amp;#039;re so low-cal \u2014 and they have that satisfying crunch.&amp;quot; (Other strategies: She stashes high-protein snacks like almonds in her car&amp;#039;s glove compartment and chops up raw veggies for flights.) Sometimes, though, Sweeney does come to a grinding halt in front of that on-set spread of treats. &amp;quot;I have been known to stand there staring at a plate of cookies,&amp;quot; she laughs, admitting that freshly baked sweets have a hypnotic effect on her. &amp;quot;Someone else will come up next to me and I&amp;#039;ll say, &amp;#039;You have to make me walk away. Please help me!&amp;#039; And they&amp;#039;ll lead me away. It may sound silly, but tricks like that really work. And that&amp;#039;s a good thing, because it&amp;#039;s hard for me to say no to a brownie, just like it is for everybody else.&amp;quot; Every now and then, she&amp;#039;ll go ahead and have a cookie: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ll be honest with myself [about my cravings] and eat one. But even then, I&amp;#039;ll try to split it with someone or just bite off a piece and chuck the rest.&amp;quot; (This doesn&amp;#039;t mean Sweeney never digs into a full serving of something sweet; it&amp;#039;s just that when she does, it&amp;#039;s probably a slice of her mom&amp;#039;s famous red velvet cake that she&amp;#039;s savoring. &amp;quot;Worth it!&amp;quot; she says, smiling.) Sweeney shares another trick that gets her through moments when her willpower is flagging: &amp;quot;I visualize my caloric intake for the day like the numbers on the Biggest Loser scale.&amp;quot; Imagining that total rocketing upward can get her to think twice about whether she really wants that goodie. Sweeney is well armed with strategies for dining out and steering clear of all the calorie bombs lurking at restaurants, too. Before leaving home, for instance, the actress always scans the menu online to familiarize herself with the healthy possibilities. She also applies her avoid-an-empty-stomach rule to eating out, and will munch on an apple beforehand to fill up. She squelches hunger by drinking water with lemon before and throughout the meal. Bread? She tells the server never to let it near the table. &amp;quot;You have bread at home in your kitchen. Eat the good stuff that you went out to dinner for,&amp;quot; she says, adding that she loves a juicy steak. She and hubby David Sanov, a California Highway Patrol officer, also usually split one appetizer and one entr\u00E9e. (When the kids are with them, the family splits two entr\u00E9es.) &amp;quot;My husband says, &amp;#039;We can always order more. They&amp;#039;re not going to kick us out,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; she says. Next:   HOW SHE LOST BIG In fact, Sanov has long been an inspiration to Sweeney. In 1998, the 5&amp;#039; 4&amp;quot; actress found herself hovering at a size 12 and  bemoaning her inability to slim down. &amp;quot;I would just complain about my weight and then go and eat a pint of ice cream,&amp;quot; she recalls. &amp;quot;And I had tried  everything \u2014 the shakes, the cabbage-soup diet. I did a cleanse one time, too.&amp;quot;  Sanov, then her beau, called her out: &amp;quot;He said, &amp;#039;Stop talking about  it. Either do something about it or don&amp;#039;t.&amp;#039; &amp;quot;  At that time, Sweeney already had a cult following for her role as conniving coquette Sami Brady on  Days, a part she landed at age 16. (She broke into the business in a Kodak ad at age 4.) Being around chopstick-thin actresses only increased her  self-consciousness, though she&amp;#039;s quick to point out that her soap opera producers never pressured her to slim down. Doing something, as Sanov  suggested, could have meant slinging a missile of H\u00E4agen-Dazs at his head. Instead, Sweeney took his no-nonsense directive to heart. &amp;quot;I wasn&amp;#039;t mad at him,&amp;quot;  she says. &amp;quot;I had this realization that I complained and felt bad \u2014 and then ate something to cover those feelings.&amp;quot;  It was a familiar cycle. She&amp;#039;s  admitted that when casting directors for Beverly Hills, 90210 told her she didn&amp;#039;t have the &amp;quot;right body&amp;quot; for the show when she was 15, she went home  and comforted herself by overeating.  As Sweeney began to educate herself about nutrition, she was amazed to find out how little she knew about  calories and portion control. &amp;quot;I was definitely one of those people who fell for the fat-free cookies and chips and stuff that are loaded with sugar and  calories,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t understand portions. I thought a bowlful of pasta with a couple of pieces of broccoli on it was good for you.&amp;quot;  And  while she cannot recall exactly how much she weighed at her heaviest, Sweeney does know that she felt &amp;quot;defeated&amp;quot; by the scale. &amp;quot;When you&amp;#039;re buying bigger  jeans, you realize what&amp;#039;s happening, and it&amp;#039;s not a good feeling,&amp;quot; she adds. &amp;quot;I finally said to myself, I&amp;#039;m not buying another size. I&amp;#039;m going to make  these jeans work. I&amp;#039;m going to figure it out.&amp;quot;  So Sweeney cut out all sugar, including high-fructose corn syrup. She lowered her carb intake and  increased her consumption of protein. She scrutinized the ingredients in everything she bought. This shift in eating habits is her top tip. She also  had to get smart about fitness. &amp;quot;I was really intimidated by the gym,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I didn&amp;#039;t know how to use any of the equipment there, and I didn&amp;#039;t want to  ask for help.&amp;quot; Instead of becoming a gym bunny, she started playing racquetball with Sanov: &amp;quot;I was terrible at it, but I&amp;#039;m very competitive, so I played for  hours just to keep up with him.&amp;quot;  Within three weeks of Sweeney&amp;#039;s starting her slim-down plan, her jeans were sliding down to her hips. &amp;quot;The pounds  just fell off me,&amp;quot; she recalls, wide-eyed at the memory. She picked up a new pair of jeans in a size 8, and three weeks later, she was swimming in them. When  Sanov asked why she hadn&amp;#039;t replaced her baggy bottoms yet, she gleefully revealed she was wearing the new pair.  &amp;quot;That was such a great  feeling,&amp;quot; says Sweeney, who now wears a size 2 to 4. &amp;quot;I realized I had found a lifestyle change that really worked for me. I was way beyond some fad diet.&amp;quot;  NO PAIN, NO (RE)GAIN Then it became all about keeping it off. No small feat when you consider that one estimate says about 80% of people who lose  weight regain it all \u2014 or more \u2014 within two years.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s easy to feel like, I did it, and now I&amp;#039;m going to go and eat a piece of cake,&amp;quot; says  Sweeney, who adds that she has seen how easy it is for some TBL contestants to relapse once they achieve their goal weight: &amp;quot;What&amp;#039;s wrong with extreme  dieting and hard-core fitness plans is that they don&amp;#039;t take into account the rest of your life. What are you going to do next?&amp;quot;  In Sweeney&amp;#039;s case, she  continued on a low-carb, high-protein diet, eating a scant 1,200 calories a day. That changed when she started hosting TBL in 2006 and met Michaels,  who thought Sweeney needed more nutrition \u2014 especially given that she was now regularly doing intense boot-camp workouts \u2014 and eased her into eating more  complex carbs like oatmeal, quinoa, and lentils.  Michaels also encouraged Sweeney to branch out and try other types of fitness; yoga and resistance  training became part of Sweeney&amp;#039;s routine. &amp;quot;I learned that it&amp;#039;s vital to find a balance and be well-rounded in my exercise, too,&amp;quot; she says.  Her  current routine: four days of cardio \u2014 running, hiking, biking, or spinning \u2014 for up to an hour a pop. One day each week, she lifts weights or does  resistance training. If she&amp;#039;s feeling truly unmotivated to get moving, she thinks about all the former Biggest Loser contestants: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve watched them  climb escalator stairs backward for hours,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;When I&amp;#039;m tired and feeling lazy, I think, If they can do it, so can I.&amp;quot;  Her role on  TBL has sculpted her big-picture thinking on weight loss and fitness in other ways, too. She advocates not letting a slip or two turn into a nosedive.  &amp;quot;I now know it&amp;#039;s not about my last meal or my next meal. I don&amp;#039;t hold my mistakes against myself. It&amp;#039;s about, What is the best thing I can do right now? &amp;quot; she says, echoing the kind of pep talk you might hear her giving contestants on the show.  &amp;quot;Working on Biggest Loser is such an amazing  experience, because you feel you&amp;#039;re helping people save their own lives,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;To know that&amp;#039;s possible and that I&amp;#039;m a part of it is so special.&amp;quot; Next:   HER KEEP-CALM SECRET  For Sweeney, that 24/7 commitment to walking the TBL talk is a perfect counterpoint to her extremely unpredictable  work life. She can&amp;#039;t foresee very far in advance what a day may hold, schedule-wise or role-wise. As her daytime alter ego, Sami, she&amp;#039;s kidnapped her baby  sister, gotten hit by a car, gone to jail, been married at least five times, and had four children \u2014 and she&amp;#039;s about to become a grandmother.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s so  ridiculous, and yet there&amp;#039;s something freeing about it. I get out a lot of my negative emotions at Days. As a result, I feel like I take things pretty  much in stride in real life. It takes a lot to get me wound up at home,&amp;quot; she says \u2014 unlike her character on the daytime soap, who is pure drama  queen. &amp;quot;My mom used to call me up and say, &amp;#039;I&amp;#039;m glad you never looked at me like that!&amp;#039; &amp;quot; Sweeney says. Her mother, Polly, a former concert violinist,  and her father, Stender, a business investor, still live in nearby Pasadena, CA, where she grew up. Sweeney and her mom are close, and she can quote some  maternal advice that helped her 20 years ago and still helps her today.  Back when she started on Days, Sweeney was a junior in high school and  faced two weeks of grueling AP exams. Understandably, she panicked about studying for the tests and memorizing her lines. But her mom advised her to  calm down, separate the tasks, and focus on each separately. &amp;quot;That was a really great life lesson for me to learn how to compartmentalize my thoughts and not  let events overwhelm me,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;Ever since then, I&amp;#039;ve been pretty good at that.&amp;quot;  That skill sure comes in handy when you&amp;#039;re a tornado of activity  like Sweeney. Four years after taking on her second job, as TBL host, she wrote The Mommy Diet, a fitness and nutrition bible for new moms. And  last year, she trained for and completed her first marathon. Multitasking comes naturally to her; &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m that type A woman. I like to carry all my groceries in  at once,&amp;quot; she says. Though her shooting days can stretch to 16 hours, you won&amp;#039;t catch Sweeney grumbling \u2014 even though she once hopscotched from a 5  A.M. wrap on one show to a 6:15 A.M. start time on the other.  &amp;quot;The deal I made with myself when I decided to take on both jobs was that I wouldn&amp;#039;t  complain about my schedule or about being tired,&amp;quot; says the woman who has never once called in sick to work on Days in 20 years. &amp;quot;Nobody asked me to do  this. I made this choice, and it&amp;#039;s tough on a lot of people, not just me.&amp;quot;  THIS (WORKING) MOM&amp;#039;S LIFE  Indeed, given Sweeney&amp;#039;s demanding work schedule, her priorities sometimes shuffle. Just recently, for instance, she  couldn&amp;#039;t take her son, Ben, now 8, to a doctor&amp;#039;s appointment, much as he wanted his mommy there. &amp;quot;I felt guilty about not being able to take him,&amp;quot; she says.  But instead of berating herself for not being there with him or glossing over Ben&amp;#039;s bruised feelings, she talked with him after the visit, and then the two  of them read together.  &amp;quot;As working mothers, we shouldn&amp;#039;t minimize our child&amp;#039;s unhappiness or feelings by saying, &amp;#039;Oh, don&amp;#039;t be sad,&amp;#039; &amp;quot; Sweeney says.  &amp;quot;You should acknowledge that those feelings are important.&amp;quot; Other ways she keeps the communication flowing: She texts Ben during the day and leaves notes in  his and daughter Megan&amp;#039;s lunch boxes if she&amp;#039;s not there when they wake up in the morning.  One thing mommy guilt will never drive her to do is abandon  her eat-healthy family rules. &amp;quot;In my house, it&amp;#039;s all about, &amp;#039;I&amp;#039;m the parent, you&amp;#039;re the child, and I said to eat your vegetables!&amp;#039; &amp;quot; Sweeney laughs. &amp;quot;And you  don&amp;#039;t want to make any food, especially sweets, a reward. If I do treat them, it&amp;#039;ll be things like, &amp;#039;You can pick which movie we see or which activity we do  when we get home.&amp;#039; With Ben, it might be building with Legos and then smashing and crashing them down; for Megan [now 4], maybe it&amp;#039;s coloring. I keep rewards  activity-based.&amp;quot; The topic of parental guilt also reminds Sweeney of one of her pet peeves: &amp;quot;Moms act like going to the gym is the same as getting a  massage or a pedicure \u2014 a luxury,&amp;quot; she says, shaking her head. &amp;quot;You should never think of it that way! Working out is a natural antidepressant that keeps  your body healthy and sets a good example for your kids.&amp;quot; Sweeney never passes up an opportunity to raise her heart rate by playing baseball with Ben or  chasing Megan around the back lawn of their home in the Hollywood Hills.  And she and Sanov have a pact: &amp;quot;If one of us wants to go to the gym, the  other one always watches the kids, no matter what our circumstances are.&amp;quot;  FROM SCHOOL CHUM TO SPOUSE  Sweeney gets a little starry-eyed when she talks about her husband, whom she has known almost all her life (her mom  and his dad worked together). &amp;quot;I always had a total crush on him,&amp;quot; she says of Sanov, who is four years older than she is and who once babysat his now-wife.  After their school years, Sweeney ran into Sanov when she was on the cusp of turning 21. She invited the young policeman to her birthday party. &amp;quot;I saw him in  his uniform and thought, Oh my gosh! I have to make sure he knows that I&amp;#039;m interested.&amp;quot; He got the message. They married in 2000, and she remains  totally charmed by him: &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s so funny that he literally makes my sides hurt from laughing.&amp;quot;  As one might expect, type A Sweeney has some strategies  for keeping her marriage strong: First of all, her date nights with Sanov never go awry, because they are very low-key. &amp;quot;When you&amp;#039;re in a relationship where  both spouses work and are busy all the time, you end up putting so much pressure on date night,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;One stupid little thing like tons of traffic can  ruin it, and the next thing you know, you&amp;#039;re both disappointed.&amp;quot; To prevent such a romance buzzkill, the two often cook together, then camp out on the sofa  with a movie or the latest episode of Survivor. And Sweeney doesn&amp;#039;t shimmy into a sexy little dress. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t have to try hard [for David],&amp;quot; she says,  sharing an opinion that would have some marriage experts protesting. &amp;quot;I can be in sweats and no makeup and relax, and it&amp;#039;s good.&amp;quot;  On their wedding  anniversary, Sweeney and Sanov have an unusual tradition \u2014 what she says is like an employee review. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re celebrating, so why not acknowledge what can be  better?&amp;quot; she asks. &amp;quot;We talk about what we love, what we don&amp;#039;t love, what we could do differently, and what we need more of.&amp;quot; On the rare occasions when the  couple doesn&amp;#039;t see eye to eye \u2014 usually over Sweeney&amp;#039;s crazy schedule \u2014 they practice an adult version of a time-out and retreat until the anger recedes.  &amp;quot;Later, you can be rational and take responsibility for your part,&amp;quot; she says.  Of course, she worries about Sanov on the job; as a law-enforcement  officer, he can find himself in potentially dangerous situations. To cope with her anxiety, Sweeney relies on her faith and focuses on the positive.  &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;s smart, he loves his job, and he works really hard. I know you can&amp;#039;t always count on that [to keep someone safe],&amp;quot; she says, and then shares  perhaps her most valuable life advice. &amp;quot;So I handle that by just enjoying every minute in the present and believing that the best is yet to come.&amp;quot; Next:   Ali&amp;#039;s Food Diary 6:30 I have a half-cup of steel-cut oatmeal with agave sweetener and cinnamon almost every morning. It sticks to your ribs. I also have a nonfat cappuccino with heavy foam.  10:30 Time for a snack! I have fruit like cantaloupe or Greek yogurt with some peach, strawberries, or mango in it. 1:15 Lunch...usually a salad with salmon or chicken. I&amp;#039;m not afraid of flavors, so I&amp;#039;ll add bell peppers, orange slices, walnuts...maybe goat cheese or cranberries.  4:00 For a light snack, I&amp;#039;ll dip into a little bag of cut-up cucumber or carrots and some hummus.  7:00 I eat with my kids. Most nights, it&amp;#039;s a lean baked or grilled protein \u2014 like a white fish, turkey, or chicken \u2014 plus veggies: steamed broccoli and green beans, or baked Brussels sprouts. I chew gum afterward...no dessert for me.  Ali&amp;#039;s Smart Swaps Instead of French Fries... Try Baked Sweet Potato or Yam Fries &amp;quot;Way better for you; your body processes the carbs differently&amp;quot;  Instead of Chocolate Chip Cookies\u2026 Try A Square of Dark Chocolate... &amp;quot;Eat it with a few almonds; it&amp;#039;s like making your own candy bar&amp;quot; Instead of A Cheeseburger\u2026 Try A Turkey Burger Without a Bun &amp;quot;Grab a fork, or wrap it in lettuce. And skip the ketchup, which has lots of sugar&amp;quot; Instead of Potato Chips\u2026 Try Nuts &amp;quot;You still get the salt \u2014 plus protein \u2014 and that satisfying crunch&amp;quot; Ali&amp;#039;s tips for becoming a &amp;quot;Big Loser&amp;quot; -&amp;quot;When I go off track occasionally, I do a &amp;#039;shape-up week&amp;#039; to focus myself again. I work out every day and eat super-clean.&amp;quot;  -&amp;quot;If you overdo it at a party, don&amp;#039;t let yourself think, Oh, my diet is ruined! and go on to eat everything in sight.&amp;quot;  -&amp;quot;People think that diet food is synonymous with bland. I use lots of curry, coriander, and cumin. I even grow herbs in my backyard.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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