Country superstar Trisha Yearwood is a down home gal.
Spend five minutes with her on a cool fall day and it feels like you've known her for years.
A few days before Thanksgiving, you can find Trisha at the Oklahoma home she shares with her husband Garth Brooks, their daughters and a bevy of pooches running around.
Somehow the conversation settles on how I can lose a few pounds prior to the holidays and Trisha tells this story.
"We were in Vegas for the last of Garth's shows," Yearwood says. "I have a friend there who is a beautiful size zero.
"She was telling me about cleanses," she says. "I was like, 'You should eat a sandwich!'
"Then she told me about this six week program to lose 50 pounds. She said you have to give up all carbs, eat no sugar and absolutely no alcohol.
"I said, 'If you give up sugar and carbs you're going to need the alcohol!'" Yearwood jokes.
"My friend said, 'But Trisha, you can have as much lettuce as you want between meals,'" she says
"I said, 'Kill me now!'" she says with a whooping laugh.
DIET AND DIET SECERTS, PLUS COMFORT FOOD ON "TRISHA'S SOUTHERN KITCHEN"
Trisha, the star of the addictive "Trisha's Southern Kitchen" on the Food Network, is happy to put down her spatula and frying pan to talk beauty with me.
Despite the country goodies that come out of her southern kitchen, Yearwood keeps her figure slim by eating in moderation.
On the show, Trisha shares family recipes and lighter versions of her favorite Southern cuisine.
"I make my fried chicken about once a year," she says. "You just can't eat those kinds of things every single day."
"My books are about comfort food," she says of her many cookbooks including the best-seller "Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood."
"My mom had a home-cooked meal on the table every single day by six. Now, I couldn't do that if I tried," she insists with a laugh. "I would say 80 percent of the time, Garth and I are on the go and eating healthy.
"On those special occasions, I make the comfort food," she says.
"My diet is balance," she insists. "In the perfect world, if you ate really well about 80 percent of the time and bad about 20 percent of the time then you would be fine.
"I'm more of a 50-50 girl," she says with a laugh.
"I do believe the best diet is eating consciously and smart, so you can enjoy yourself when you have a little treat.
"I say, 'If you eat the mashed potatoes, the next day you eat a grape,'" she jokes.
Yearwood says that she could lose some weight.
"It's not age that stops me. It's hard to lose weight at any age," she says. "Honestly, I don't want to eat what it would take for me to be 30 pounds lighter.
"I know exactly why I can't lose weight…I love to eat!" she says. "I love to cook. And I don't really like to exercise."
She adds, "I do exercise to counteract what I'm eating," she says. "If I didn't exercise, I'd weigh 500 pounds."
TRISHA'S BEAUTY SECRETS: GREAT SKIN AT A LOW COST
Trisha has amazing, ageless skin and I ask her for a few secrets.
"The skin is partly heredity," she says. "When I was growing up, I was pale. When I got my first record deal, all of a sudden my skin was porcelain, which is a nicer way of saying pale!"
She adds, "My mom had really great skin. As I've gotten older, I've kept more tabs on my skin.
"When you're 20, people tell you not to lay out in the sun and that you'll regret it because you'll develop wrinkles. At 20, you don't care. Wrinkles are so foreign.
"Of course, I would lay out in the sun," she says.
"I'm 48 now. I knew a few years ago that I needed to start doing real stuff for my skin," she says.
Her routine is a basic one. "I drink a lot of water. I don't lie out in the sun. And I never go into tanning beds.
"I do basic skincare," she says. "And I don't do anything fancy."
Her go-to product might surprise you given that she could buy anything on the market.
"I use Oil of Olay and I've used it my whole life along with soap and water. I'm an over-the-counter gal," she says "Now, that I'm a little older, I use Garnier, which is still over-the-counter."
She admits that the more expensive brands actually hurt her skin.
"Any of the real expensive skincare stuff makes my face break out," she says. "That's why I stick with the Oil of Olay and Garnier."
TOMORROW: TRISH TALKS ABOUT HAVING GORGEOUS HAIR, PLUS LIFE WITH GARTH AND THEIR LASTING LOVE
