Diet Books Crowd Shelves in Time for New Year's

7:00 AM PST 1/3/2013 by Suzan Colon

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From Ellen's yogi Cameron Alborzian to Jillian Michaels, how to slim down like a star.

This story first appeared in the Jan. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

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January means New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get fit, but publishers know mere diet books are so Mayan calendar. What’s the new twist? Books by stars — or the people who get stars slim — that are less about calories and more about lifestyle.

50 Cent’s Formula 50 (Penguin, $30) focuses on the specialized method of metabolic resistance training, but the glossy photos depict an old-school, serious workout requiring 50 shades of dedication. Readers could become as lean as Fiddy, and cook Mediterranean-style chicken like Fiddy (or his personal chef), but can anyone be as hard as Fiddy?

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Then again, even 50 might not be as hard as Jillian Michaels, the notoriously tough Biggest Loser coach. Her Slim for Life (Harmony, $25) isn’t quite Jillian screaming at you ’til you cry, but it delivers workout, nutrition and even lifestyle info in her signature “cut the crap” style.

Want less drill sergeant and more BFF? Access Hollywood reporter Keri Glassman’s The New You (and Improved!) Diet (Rodale, $24.99) repackages basic diet tips in super-encouraging advice to have more sex and breathe your way thin.

Or, you can meditate your way to health. During Ellen DeGeneres’ grueling schedule of taping both her own show and American Idol, she stayed slim and sane with Yogi Cameron Alborzian. In The One Plan (Harper, $24.95), the former supermodel-turned-yoga and ayurvedic therapist uses ancient yogic ethics to achieve modern wellness, addressing not just weight and disease but the causes (stress, imbalanced lifestyle). Those expecting to sweat their asanas off will find a chapter on yoga poses, but the yearlong program is more about getting physically fit by being spiritually fit -- possibly the most challenging regime of them all.