Talk about #willpower.

One year ago, will.i.am decided to change things up in the interest of his health.

"This time last year I weighed 210 pounds. I wasn't sleeping right," the Black Eyed Peas frontman told Arianna Huffington during an interview on her Thrive Global Podcast on iHeartRadio. "I was eating bad, sleeping bad -- no regimen, just no order, and I was creating different types of disorders."

After his doctor warned him about his high blood pressure, which he compared to that of a 60-year-old, and his cholesterol level, particularly given his family history of heart disease and diabetes, the musician, producer, actor and all-around creative force decided to take control of what he calls the "toxic environment" he had created in his body.

"I switched my regimen, went plant-based and it changed my life," the performer, who is currently going by the moniker "will.i.am atoms," said. "I lost 20 pounds. My cholesterol came down. My high blood pressure came down. My stress levels came down naturally. I have more energy. My sleep regimen is awesome."

While he used to go to sleep around 5 a.m. and sleep only maybe four hours a day, now he's routinely hitting the sack around 11 p.m. or midnight, he said.

He's also a big advocate for plant-based eating. "You don't need the meat. You don't need to have decaying flesh in your body. The more I'd think about it the more I was like ugh. I had death in me," he now says.

He also eliminated processed foods – the "crazy chemicals I can't pronounce ... you wouldn't put that [stuff] in your car," he suggests, before driving home his point with a few choice comparisons.

"We live our life, like ... 'Yo, I can't wait to get that Mercedes,' and you pull up to the gas station, you're like, 'Yeah, premium gas, only premium gas. It's a Mercedes. $100,000 for this car. You know what I'm saying? I need that fine gas up in it ... Gimme an oil change, too. Best oil, best oil.' We treat our cars like what?" he says, displaying, as he does elsewhere in the interview as well, a remarkable mastery of mimicry. (He does a great Huffington – and what we can only assume is a spot-on impression of his grandma.)

But we are not nearly as kind to our bodies as we are to our cars, he notes.

"You be like, 'Yo, let me get some chips, and ... let me get that candy bar, and let me get that fizzy pop,'" he goes on. "You put the...worst [stuff] in your body, but you take care of your car freaking awesome."

Same goes for our pets. "You be like, "Yo, yo, I got me that new dog ... I give my dog the best food, best food ... I'm all about animal protection ...' You treat your animal great," he says, "but then you're like, 'You know, let me get that double-sized double-double and also let me get that fizzy pop.'"

Will.i.am says he realized that the junk he was putting in his body made "no sense." So he decided he was going to "flip it up" and "take care of my body, like, 'What would a Jedi do?'"

Pausing to note that he can't recall ever seeing a Jedi eat anything in a movie — no scenes of Luke Skywalker snacking — will.i.am nevertheless concludes, "I'm pretty sure if I saw the last supper of Jedis they're eating plants. That's probably in the Jedi Code."

Use the fork, Luke, and all that.

Related Links:

Does a Plant-Based Diet Mean Eating Vegetarian?

The Best Plant-Based Proteins

Healthy Vegetarian Recipes