(Updated October 6, 2019) Music mogul Simon Cowell is vegan now. The former “American Idol” host, producer, and author made the shift in April ahead of his 60th birthday later this year.

The 59-year-old says getting into a routine has helped and the diet is improving his energy levels and helping him sleep. He also says it’s helping him keep up with his five-year-old son, Eric.

“Once you get into a pattern I’ve found it quite enjoyable. It has helped me sleep and I wake up feeling less tired. I noticed a massive difference in how I felt in about a week,” he told the Sun.

“I have more energy and focus and it wasn’t difficult. I don’t like to use the word diet because that’s the reason I never went on a diet before — the word diet makes me miserable.”

The star also said he lost 20 pounds since adopting a vegan diet.

“A friend of mine, who is a doctor, recommended speaking to an expert, and I did it on a whim. I was allergic to melon, so I didn’t eat it for six months, but I saw this man and he explained it and it made sense,” he said in a recent interview with the Sun. “Within 24 hours I changed my diet and I’ve not looked back since. You feel better, you look better. I cut out a lot of the stuff I shouldn’t have been eating and that was primarily meat, dairy, wheat, sugar – those were the four main things.”

And the shift caught the attention of the “Britain’s Got Talent” audience and judges on a recent live appearance. Fans were tweeting and judges Ant and Dec commented as well.

“If I was on a one to ten scale of being handsome, I was an eight and now I’ve gone to an 11,” Cowell told the Sun recently.

An Easy Shift to Veganism

The shift was easier than he expected, Cowell told the Sun. In addition to ditching the foods that he’s allergic to, the star says he’s also given up fish, going fully vegan.

“I loved those comfort foods, that’s all I’ve eaten all my life. I love jam tarts, hamburgers, spaghetti Bolognese. I can eat fish but this year I will go the whole way.”

And, he says, it was way easier than he thought. “Like, I used to have yoghurt in the morning and I changed it to almond-milk yoghurts. I have almond milk in my tea.”

The shift may have also been motivated by a fall in 2017 that came as a result of living an unhealthy lifestyle.

The one thing he craves the most? Pizza. “That’s been really, really hard,” he said.

Cowell Speaks Out for Animals

Cowell’s shift to a vegan diet may also be motivated by ethical reasons, too. A recent photo on his Instagram account features his dog Daisy, who he says was rescued from Barbados.

Last May the star also lent his name to a petition along with nearly 100 other celebrities urging Indonesia to end its dog meat trade.

“These animals, many of them stolen pets, are subjected to crude and brutal methods of capture, transport and slaughter,” the celebrities wrote, “and the immense suffering and fear they must endure is heartbreaking and absolutely shocking.”