buzz muddleheaded: Exclusive: Nick Cannon Talks 'Healthy Living'

'I don't get to eat the things that I like,' Cannon says in first on-camera interview since his hospitalization.
By Nadeska Alexis

Nick Cannon
Photo: MTV News

On Tuesday (January 17) Nick Cannon returned to the office for his first day back to work after being hospitalized for kidney failure two weeks ago. After an initial diagnosis of kidney stones, doctors determined that Cannon's kidneys were beginning to fail thanks to an overdose of protein, medication he was taking and a lack of proper sustenance. Sitting at his desk, Cannon told MTV News that his road to recovery includes a new diet, which forces him to cut back on some of his favorite eats.

"I'm feeling good, I'm in the office, I'm grinding, the only thing that sucks is that I'm on the renal diet," Cannon said. "It's all about healthy living and fueling your system, but I don't get to eat the things that I like to eat. You've got to stay hydrated and [eat] fruits and vegetables for breakfast."

After admitting that a more typical breakfast would usually include Lucky Charms cereal ("I can't have none of that stuff anymore"), Cannon explained that simple foods like oats are now on the menu.

"Not even the good oatmeal," Cannon said. "Real oats, like horse-feed stuff — but it's cool. I've got to start to love it."

According to Cannon, the diet will be implemented in phases, and as his body slowly recovers, he'll be able to incorporate Lucky Charms and other banned foods into his regimen once again.

"Right now I'm still on the strict diet and I can't have any sodium, but as a couple of weeks go by and everything gets leveled out, then I can start having low sodium," he said, revealing that hot sauce has been his solution for adding spice to his diet. "I can still have Tabasco sauce, so I'm excited about that because I love hot sauce. I'll be putting Tabasco sauce on carrots, like, 'This tastes delicious!' "

Dietary restrictions aside, the entertainment mogul and father of two is also reassessing his approach to healthy living. His hesitation to visit doctors, for example, is out the door. "I feel 100 percent right now, but obviously the doctors tell you to take it slow," he said. "This is definitely the first time anything like this has ever happened to me. I've always thought that I was doing the right things, but that's why I now encourage everybody to get checkups, get physicals, know what's going on in your system and don't play around with your body.

"I always considered myself as someone who was in great shape, but I was doing too much [to my body] so my immune system got confused and just started attacking my kidneys," he continued. "You look at my Twitter picture and I look like I'm in shape, but I was putting the wrong stuff into my body, speeding all the time, not sleeping and eating properly — it's all about taking time and really caring about yourself and how you fuel yourself."

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