Carnie Wilson Quit Gluten and Sugar After She Hit 240 Lbs. and She Was in 'Gastrointestinal Hell' (Exclusive)

The singer tells PEOPLE she feels "so much better” since making the dietary changes and losing 45 lbs.: “I treat my body with respect now"

A few weeks ago, Carnie Wilson baked an Insta-worthy Oreo cake, garnished with cookies and whipped cream and dripping with a chocolate glaze. After proudly posting a picture of the finished product on her grid, she declined to indulge in it.

“I still love to make decadent things, but I’m not tempted anymore," Wilson, 55, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "Now I have control.”

For years, sugar had the upper hand. “It was my kryptonite,” she says. “It took over me.”

Since stepping into the spotlight in the ’90s with the Grammy-nominated trio Wilson Phillips, Wilson has struggled publicly with weight, even after gastric bypass surgery in 1999 and lap band surgery more than a decade ago. But in September, the “Hold On” singer gave up sugar and gluten, and since then she’s lost 45 lbs. and gained a healthier relationship with food, which she celebrates on her new cooking show Sounds Delicious, premiering Tuesday, April 16, on AXS TV. “I feel so much better,” she says. “I treat my body with respect now.”

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As the daughter of Beach Boys cofounder Brian Wilson and singer Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, “I didn’t grow up eating dinner around the table,” Wilson says. “That wasn’t my childhood.” Although she developed a love for cooking while making matzo ball soup and chocolate chip cookies with her grandma, food became a crutch and, she says, an addiction. “I have eaten to stuff down emotions. I eat when I’m happy, bored, anxious, annoyed, angry, frustrated, sad. I will find an excuse,” says Wilson, who has also faced alcohol and drug addiction in her past and still participates in a recovery program. “Food will always be emotional for me.”

Wilson decided to make a change after she reached 240 lbs. and experienced “gastrointestinal hell” and joint pain. “There was a voice going, ‘You’ve got to change the way you eat. You don’t have a choice anymore. It’s for your health,' ” the former Masked Singer contestant says.

After Wilson learned that her cholesterol was high and that she was close to being diabetic, her doctor suggested trying a weight-loss drug like Ozempic to curb her appetite. But the potential side effects “scared the s--- out of me,” she says. Instead she opted to eliminate sugar and gluten, which she thinks contributed to digestion issues. “It was hard at first, but now I love it," Wilson says.

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A typical breakfast these days might be cottage cheese and blueberries with a few nuts on the side and two slices of turkey bacon. Favorite snacks include cheese sticks, hardboiled eggs and carrots. “It’s a world of difference. I don’t wake up going, ‘What am I going to eat today?’ ” she says. “I’m like, ‘What do I get to put in my body that feels great?’ ”

Wilson brings that sense of excitement as host of Sounds Delicious, where she cooks lasagna, chicken parmesan and chocolate cupcakes with guests like John Stamos, Lisa Loeb and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. In the kitchen, “I found my zone,” says Wilson, whose cooking cred includes winning Chopped in 2013, guest judging on Beat Bobby Flay and owning an “obnoxious” number of cookbooks — at least 1,400 by last count. “Cooking makes me feel centered and purposeful,” she says.

At home Wilson’s lifestyle changes have rubbed off on her family, including her husband, guitarist Rob Bonfiglio, 56, who lost 12 lbs. after he also gave up sugar. “He said, ‘I feel less self-conscious,’ and I’m like, ‘Honey, you were never fat,’ ” Wilson says. But, he told her, “I feel better about myself.” Says Wilson: “That’s what it’s about.”

Even if she doesn’t indulge, Wilson still enjoys cooking for daughters Lola, 19, and Luci, 14, both of whom are following in their parents’ footsteps with a love of music: Lola, a college student, often sings with Wilson onstage, while Luci plays the cello. “I love serving people and watching them eat,” Wilson says. “It’s an act of love and of self-love.”

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By the end of this year, Wilson hopes to reach a goal weight of 170 lbs., and she aims to add exercise and more water to her daily routine. But the singer has been on her health journey long enough to give herself some grace. “I’m not a health fanatic freakazoid,” she says. She still puts creamer in her coffee, and when she gets a late-night craving, she’ll have a small handful of Cheetos puffs or potato chips: “I allow myself that.”

If she doesn’t reach her goal on the scale, “I’ll continue what I’m doing,” she says. “Life throws a lot of stuff at you. I try to remain positive.” This time, she says, “it’s not a promise to anyone, and it’s not a show. I’ve been through all of it, and this is not for anyone except for me and my well-being. And I do feel happy and really grateful.”

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