Even master illusionist Penn Jillette couldn’t magically make his weight disappear – but he was able to drop from 330 to 225 lbs. by making a drastic change in his eating habits. The 6’7” entertainer decided to get healthy after his high blood pressure landed him in the hospital. “I was on six very powerful meds to bring the blood pressure down,” Jillette, 60, tells PEOPLE. “My doctor said I needed to get my weight down, and if I brought it down 30 or 40 lbs. it would be a little easier to control. And then he said something in passing that completely blew my mind – he said, ‘If you got down to 230, you probably wouldn’t need any of the meds.’ The Wizard Wars judge decided to do just that, spending December through March on an “extreme low-calorie program” in which he consumed about 1,000 calories daily and was able to lose an average of 0.9 lbs. a day. Since reaching his goal weight on his birthday, March 5, Jillette has stopped restricting the amounts he eats, and instead follows Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian diet – this means he consumes no animal products, no processed grains, and no added sugar or salt.

“I eat unbelievable amounts of food but just very, very, very healthy food,” says the magician. His typical daily diet consists of an “enormous salad” with vinegar as dressing for lunch (he doesn’t usually eat breakfast) and a dinner consisting of 3 lbs. of greens and three servings of black or brown rice with a vegetable stew, along with lots of fruits for dessert (his favorite is “an enormous amount of blueberries with plain cocoa powder”) and vegetables with vinegar or Tabasco sauce as a snack. “I could probably have a steak or a doughnut every couple of weeks, but I just haven’t felt like it,” says Jillette. “When you’re feeling as bad as I felt, and you go to feeling as good as I feel, the temptation to go back to doing what you were doing when you felt bad is not very great.” Although he wasn’t exercising during his extreme weight-loss phase, he now exercises every other day, doing the “scientific 7-minute workout” along with weight lifting, juggling and 10-mile tricycle rides.

“Now it’s really fun to exercise,” he says. “The only hard part of exercise is keeping it hard enough to be hard.” Dropping the weight has come with many more pluses than dropping 10 pant sizes (from a 44 to a soon-to-be 34).Asos River Island Lace Prom Dress “I have so much energy and I feel so good,” says Jillette. Tacky Prom Dress Party“I’m just plain happier.”Homes For Sale Roanoke Va One Level It’s something his two children with his wife Emily, 49 – Moxie CrimeFighter, 9, and Zolten Penn, 8 – have definitely noticed. “My relationship with my children has always been wonderful – I always spend a lot of time with them, but now they know that I’m a lot more energetic,” says the Las Vegas-based performer.

“They notice that and like that.” However, there is one downside. “It’s really expensive because the suits on the Penn & Teller Show cost a s—ton, and so we had to get all new suits!” For more of our interview with Jillette, and to get a peek inside his Las Vegas house, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.GOMBBS: Greens, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Beans, and Seeds “GOMBBS” is an acronym you can use to remember the most nutrient-dense, health-promoting foods on the planet.  These are the foods you should eat every day, and they should make up a significant proportion of your diet – these foods... Pistachio nuts may improve erectile function Pistachio nuts have a unique nutritional profile – they are especially rich in plant sterols, carotenoids, tocopherols (vitamin E), and arginine.  Plant sterols are structurally similar to cholesterol, and provide a cholesterol-lowering benefit.1 All nuts have cholesterol-lowering and other...

Eat fiber-rich foods now, not later! There are a few different classifications of fiber, and their common characteristic is resistance to digestion in the human small intestine.   Eating fiber-rich foods is associated with a number of health benefits:  Fiber promotes weight maintenance by slowing... Red meat consumption increases ischemic stroke risk Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the U.S., and the third leading cause of death, killing 137,000 Americans each year.[1] There are two types of stroke – ischemic and hemorrhagic.  Most strokes (about 85%) are ischemic strokes, in... A child needs a healthy diet to build a healthy brain A nutrient-rich diet is essential for children to develop optimal brain function. A recent study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health followed the dietary patterns of nearly 4,000 children from birth for over eight years. The human mind prefers a healthy carotenoid glow over a suntan

In spite of the well-known damaging effects of the sun on our skin, many of us still perceive a tan as healthy-looking.  But you don’t need to risk the health of your skin in the sun or a tanning bed... Fructose fuels cancer cell growth? A recent flurry of news articles have reported on a recent study that showed that treatment of pancreatic cancer cells with fructose increased cell proliferation - uncontrolled proliferation is a hallmark of cancer.  This follows on the heels of another... Excess weight and animal protein contribute to early puberty A new study published in Pediatrics measured the proportion of girls who had entered puberty by ages 7 and 8, and saw striking increases  compared to data collected in 1997, only 13 years ago.  This study of U.S. girls found... Pooled data from 12 different studies: High meat intake increases diabetes risk by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. and Deana Ferreri, Ph.D. Usually, when we think about foods that increase diabetes risk, we think of white flour-based processed foods, sugary sodas, and desserts, since these foods are known to produce dangerous increases in blood...

Zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and prostate cancer survival A study in Sweden examining the effects of zinc and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA on mortality in prostate cancer patients was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in April.  Five-hundred twenty-five men with prostate cancer... A story that should be on the front page of every newspaper in America "Mr. Valentine, I'm so, so sorry, but you're going to have to have bypass surgery, and you're going to have it quickly." When chest pains sent Ronnie to the emergency room in September 2005, those were the words he heard.  Fruits and vegetables provide only modest protection from cancer? Visit Dr. Fuhrman's website. You've probably seen these headlines on the internet or television recently, claiming that fruits and vegetables provide very little protection against cancer.  Of course something like this makes big news - it makes eaters of the... Walnuts keep your blood flowing

It's no secret that nuts are good for your heart.  We know that consuming nuts can dramatically reduce cardiovascular disease risk, but scientists are just beginning to figure out how this works.  A recent study found that almonds have a... Conventional prenatal vitamins may do more harm than good It is imperative to make women aware that they may be endangering their health and the health of their unborn children by using conventional supplements. Nearly all multivitamins and prenatal vitamins contain folic acid.  Unlike most physicians, I do not... Omega-3 fatty acids slow cellular aging In coronary heart disease (CHD) patients, higher levels of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA in the blood are associated with survival.1,2  Since patients with higher circulating omega-3s seemed to live longer, scientists wondered whether these patients were actually... CDC reports risk of urinary tract infection from chicken products by Joel Fuhrman, MD and Deana Ferreri, PhD There is growing concern about the safety of agricultural products, especially meat.