Al Roker heard Jillian Michaels stark statements about the keto diet and the Today Show weatherman struck back. The two NBC powerhouses publically sparred over the controversially popular diet online. A private email from Michaels may have quashed this feud for now, but Roker got in a good hit while he could.
Michaels spoke with Women’s Health in January 2019 and was asked her opinion of the keto diet. Keto, short for ketogenesis, is a diet where participants eat foods with high fat, adequate protein and low carbohydrates in an attempt to train their body to burn fats rather than carbs. In response to the keto question, Michaels exclaimed, “I don’t understand! Like, why would anyone think this is a good idea?”
“Your cells, your macro molecules, are literally made up of protein, fat, carbohydrates, nucleic acids,” The former Biggest Loser trainer explained. “When you do not eat one of the three macronutrients — those three things I just mentioned — you’re starving yourselves.” Roker didn’t take too kindly to Michaels’ take on the diet he’d been following since September.
The weatherman, who began his own keto journey in September of the previous year, took to Twitter to express his displeasure and used the opportunity to hit Michaels where it hurt: her performance on The Biggest Loser. “So @JillianMichaels says #Keto is a bad idea,” Roker wrote. “This from a woman who promoted on camera bullying , deprivation, manipulation and more weekly in the name of weight loss. Now those sound like bad ideas,” Roker tweeted.
Feel The Burn
This tweet led to Jillian Michaels reaching out to Roker over email, which he brought up the next day on The Today Show. He would not share the email, explaining that it was private and he intended to keep it that way. Still, it was clear that the message from Michaels did little to change his mind on the matter.
Al Roker kept it simple when he described his own experience with keto. “My point is, what works for you, works for you,” Roker told his co-hosts. “There’s science on both sides that says it’s not a great idea and science that says it is a great idea. I think it’s up to people, with their doctor, with their medical professional.”
Since he began the diet in September, Roker says he’s been keeping track of his health stats. “I’ve been checking blood work and vitals every month, and my cholesterol has gotten better,” he revealed. “It was good to begin with. My blood pressure is great.” Obviously, this is a touchy matter for both Michaels and Roker, but it looks like both plan on keeping things classy moving forward.