Fitness and diet guru Susan Powter was a mid-1990’s self-help sensation, recognized by millions for her "Stop the Insanity" mantra, signature high energy, direct delivery and white, buzz cut hairstyle.

Through Susan's personal story of losing over l30 pounds as a single mother of two babies, she changed the diet and fitness industry forever.

Susan decided to follow-up her success by spending the next 10 years raising her third son. During that time, Susan continued to maintain her physique and a healthy lifestyle for herself and her family, and she further developed her proven weight loss and wellness program.

Recently seen on Your World with Neil Cavuto, The Insider, The Simple Life, The Today Show and Good Morning America, and featured in Elle magazine, Susan has reemerged to build a new destination for people seeking weight loss and wellness in their lives.

Susan Powter, the internationally-known brand name, three-time New York Times best-selling author, one of the top TV sales personalities of all time and the woman dubbed "the Lenny Bruce of Wellness" by Shape magazine has a brand new book called: "The Politics of Stupid"

Name: Susan Powter

Birthday: (can be without year) December 22, 1957

Location: Los Angeles

Website: www.susanpowteronline.com

Diet Detective: Hey Susan, you're an inspiration to us all - thanks for taking a few minutes to share your wisdom with us. My first question is about your dramatic weight lose and turn around -What motivated you? How did you do it?

Susan: First, thank you, what a lovely opening. By understanding one of the most important things connected to losing as much weight as you choose to lose, motivation the myth! Motivation to lose over l30 pounds and, never find it again doesn't happen in a moment. Millions of people are looking (everywhere) for the motivation to change the way they look and feel and, they never "find" it because motivation isn't out there anywhere waiting to be bumped into. De-bunking the myth of motivation is where all the motivation is.

Motivation comes with doing. Take a walk. Your body doesn't want to jump from being a couch potato to an athlete but you will feel better when you take a walk, swim, bike ride or just move. Do it again the next day, then add some time to it. Ask yourself how you feel when you're done. Are you sorry you worked out? Of course not, you feel better, which in turn will lead to better food choices. Do you want to work out and then eat half a cow for dinner? Probably not. Motivation is in the doing, good choices beget good choices. Feeling better begets feeling better. Don't sit around and wait to be motivated because you won't. Make your own motivation.

Diet Detective: Question: What do you think is the one most important thing that makes or breaks a diet/fitness program?

Susan: The most important thing about a fitness program is actively participating in wellness, daily. It's about living a healthy lifestyle, eating well, making good decisions and moving your body--Eat, Breathe, Move and Think. Dieting (also known as starvation) doesn't work. Eating right and exercise does. Diets don't work because you are literally starving yourself. By the time you've run all day and taken care of the one million things you've had to take care of your dieting body is screaming for fuel. It's a physiological reaction. This is why people find themselves standing in front of the frig shoving food down their throats. Also, Americans average 65% of their daily intake as processed junk. Switch it around, eat some real, whole food as in "Did it grow that way".

Have you ever seen an oatmeal tree? A pasta bush? Eat more whole, real foods and give yourself the fuel you need to get through your day and actually live the healthy lifestyle you keep promising yourself.

Diet Detective: About your most recent book --- "The Politics of Stupid" - that's a pretty interesting title. I'm intrigued - what's the theme and what makes the book unique?

Susan: Understanding the Politics behind millions of people living a lifestyle that doesn't serve them is vitally important in solving the problems of overfat and unfit, forever. What's more political than a 276 billion dollar a year food industry and the lobbying power?  Everything is "a great value for you and your family" Processed, pummeled and stripped­ that's what food is today. Chemical, colorings and additives. And obesity is at epidemic proportions. Does everyone have the same willpower issues? No. But everyone is so confused that people don't know what to put in their mouths any longer. The Politics of Stupid addresses these and other issues like Time Management (we all have the same 24 hours in a day) and discusses consciousness, honesty, behavior and responsibility. It gives the power back the all-powerful consumer.

Diet Detective: Tell us the biggest secret that diet gurus typically don't tell their clients, but should?

The biggest secret is that there is nothing "guru" needed to change the way you look and feel. No mountain top, no gong. Simply by eating, breathing, moving and thinking every day, you can change more than most people could ever imagine possible until now, of course.

Diet Detective: How do you get a body by Susan Powter? What do you need to do each day?

Susan: My body, your body, every human body has to do the same things to be lean, strong, healthy and well. Move in oxygen to burn fat. Build lean muscle mass to have the most active tissue in the human (all humans) body. Build heart/lung strength, cardio endurance strength. Oxygenate every cell and muscle in your body. All of which does not only active a body, it also activates ... exactly!  A great body doesn't happen overnight. You didn't wake up with 40 (or however many) pounds hanging from your body so you know it's going to take some time to change but make the changes you must. The Politics of Stupid discusses the power of the pause, one moment in time before you take an action to consider the reaction. Sitting on the couch and eating crap has been the action ­and the reaction is being tired and out of shape. I make very different choices now than I did when I was 133 pounds heavier.

Diet Detective: I know you've lost a lot of weight--what do you do when you "fall of the wagon?"

Susan: There's no wagon to fall off when you don't eat poison. No wagon to fall from when quality is the daily goal. When the Politics of refined white is understood and avoided like the plague it is, simply whole, real, stunningly good food and movement. No need to fall off that wagon.

Diet Detective: What's in your refrigerator and pantry right now?

Susan: Whole foods; The spiciest of spices; Milks from soy beans; Eggs from the chickens; Veggies from the garden. And all the other foods we have the privilege of, the highest of quality, of course because what you ingest has everything to do with how you look and feel absolutely true when, you think about it.

Diet Detective: So are you saying that we should only eat natural foods -- nothing processed at all? 

Susan: If you want to be lean, strong and healthy you need to eat high quality food. Processed food should not be over half your daily intake. It should be reversed. 

Diet Detective: If you could only do three strength training exercises, which would they be?

Susan: Weights, Endurance, Interval... Starting out with 2 or 3 pounds weights and adding weight as you build lean muscle mass. Weight is added resistance to movement. Endurance training builds heart/lung capacity. Any movement in oxygen for 30 minutes or more is considered an aerobic activity. When you're sucking wind you're not in oxygen, you're out of oxygen. March in place until you get your breath back. Modify, modify, modify and you will have moved for 30 minutes. The fattest of the fat and the fittest of the fit need to move within their fitness level to burn fat and increase lean muscle mass.

Diet Detective: What's your favorite "junk food?"

Susan:  Junk, why would anyone want to eat junk? Certainly not when there are soooo many fabulous, snacky, high quality choices around. Junk? No need, ever.

Diet Detective: What's your favorite healthy breakfast?

Susan: So many ways to break the fast from porridge to toast from France, so many ways. 

Diet Detective:  what's in your porridge?

Susan: Choices, choices, choices­…honey, maple syrup, raisins, peaches, whatever fruit you like, sweetened by nature.

Diet Detective: What's your latest healthy food find-anything new and exciting out there?
 

Susan: Homemade organic summer popsicles, not out there anywhere, in my fridge right now.

Diet Detective: Please, tell us how you make them?

Susan: Organic fruit through the juicer, in any type of container in the freezer with a popsicle stick (put in when they are starting to freeze). Perfect on a summer day.
 
Diet Detective: If you had to choose a specific song or band to get you excited for your workout, what would it be?

Susan: Madonna, the Queen of everything but, I'm sure would agree never only one not of anything that good.

Diet Detective: What do you do to reduce stress, relax and center your mind?

Susan: Knit, read, read, read, yoga, art, mostly recently gardening.

Diet Detective: What was your worst summer job?

Susan: Being married.

Diet Detective: What's your motto?

Susan: Freedom!!

Thanks!!!

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