When Aretha Franklin made an appearance by video at the Grammy Awards last Sunday she revealed a shocking weight loss leading to whispers that her recent hospital stay may have had something to do with gastric bypass surgery. Aretha, however, credits her dramatic weight loss to diet and exercise...
From USA Today
"I want to not only maintain the weight I am at now, but better it, by one dress size," the Queen of Soul said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Associated Press.
The 68-year-old Franklin underwent surgery for an undisclosed ailment in December. She calls it "more than minor surgery."
At the time, word spread that her situation was dire, and she received a multitude of prayers and well wishes from fans. She dismissed reports that had her on her death bed: "You can't stop people from saying whatever it is they're going to say; you have no control over that."
Since her surgery, Franklin has been working out and walking on a track three times a week for at least a mile.
But she said her biggest health change has been in her diet: She's given up her beloved chitterlings, pigs' feet and ham hocks in favor of a Whole Foods-type diet, and she hopes to get down to a size 16.
"They're off my diet. They just really don't fit with Whole Foods," she said. "I had it for enough years that I don't miss it. You can't continue to eat things that are not good for you."
