Jessica Alba covers the October issue of Health magazine to promote Machete Kills, which is her zillionth Robert Rodriguez-directed movie. He’s basically the only reason she’s still in movies. If it sounds like I’m picking on Jessica, I’m really not. She’s done wonders to build her own lifestyle company that sells practical household products without going the full Goop. Like Jessica sells things that people need (diapers, wipes, soap) for reasonable prices; Gwyneth sells useless crap (elite paper clips and ugly onesies) for the price of your quarterly grocery bill.

In this interview, Jessica does pimp her Honest business. She also talks about making it two decades in Hollywood (remember, she started young with Dark Angel). Of course the most interesting stuff she says is about her figure. She brings up the post-partum corset/girdle topic again. She also says she’s a lot less critical of her body now that it’s not perfect. At least I think that’s what she’s getting at:

On starting The Honest Company: “There were certainly moments when it was scary. The day we launched, I was like, Is anyone even going to go to our website [honest.com]? Our distribution is mainly the Internet. It took me about three years of people telling me I was crazy and that there’s no way it could ever happen before I found the partners who could balance my weaknesses.”

Her mantra: “Breathe. I swear. It’s been so hectic. And I’ve been doing more work in movies and on television lately.”

Her acting career: “This year, I’ve acted for 20 years. That’s so messed up! How did I do anything for 20 years? [Laughs] Now I don’t work just to work. To me, doing two or three days on a movie with a cool director is more important than spending my life on a set.”

A natural lifestyle works: “Yeah, I used to have a stuffy nose every morning, and once we got a HEPA filter in our main air-conditioning unit in our house, it went away. Just having clean air: crazy! Even Cash–we would both wake up, like, ‘Honk,’ blowing our noses with swollen eyes. And now we don’t.”

Be natural in one easy step: “Read labels on everything: what you’re cleaning your house with, what you’re cleaning yourself with and what you’re putting in your body. You have the power to not expose your kids or yourself to chemicals that are endocrine disruptors or allergens. You don’t need to live that way.”

Honest workouts: “I like dancing. There’s a choreographer I used on a couple of movies, JJ Dancer [aka Jennifer Johnson]; her dance moves are so fun, so it doesn’t feel like you’re working out. And I like interval training on a treadmill, with sprinting and then uphill walking, then sprint, then uphill walk, then sprint. This morning I did sprint intervals with a high-incline walk. Otherwise I get bored–I can’t just do the same thing over and over.”

What’s in her green drink? “I normally do one with kale, spinach, green apple, blueberries, ginger, cucumber and celery. So this has all of that but also tomato and turmeric and pear. I blend with the skin and everything. There’s only so many times that you can wake up, get right into the grind and all of a sudden it’s dinner, a glass of wine…and then two. Then you go to bed, wake up tired and it starts all over again. I just felt like I was in a rut. So now I’m waking up, working out right away and doing juice.”

Her changing body image: “I was a lot more critical of my body when it was probably pretty awesome. It’s like, why did I not ever wear jean shorts? That’s so crazy. I was so skinny! I didn’t have any cellulite…what was I thinking?! I was more willing to wear short skirts after I had my kids. I never wore them before. Ever. I was so self-conscious. But I remember I was 28 or 29, at an MTV award thing, and my girlfriend Kelly was like, ‘You should wear a short skirt, because you are not going to be this age forever.’ Now I’m a lot more confident in my skin–because who cares? At the end of the day, it’s so much time spent on something that really doesn’t matter that much.”

The best way to relax: “A bath after the kids go to sleep. I put in a bag of Epsom salts or Honest Bubble Bath, and sometimes I’ll watch TV or sometimes I’m on my iPad on Pinterest. There is no way that taking a bath is fun when the kids are awake, because they want to get in, too, and they’re for sure peeing in it!”

[From Health]

Juicing doesn’t do it for me. I don’t care to drink my calories unless the beverage is alcoholic. Give me some food, you know? Eating is much more pleasurable than drinking IMO. I wish I could get with the juicing program but accept it will never happen. Props to Jessica in that department. I do think she’s a little bit nutty by thinking plastic toys can be aired outside to make them safer. The rest of the stuff she does to improve her home’s environment sounds reasonable.

Do we buy what Jessica’s saying about her shifting body image? I remember reading how she was shocked by having to work out to lose the baby weight. She scheduled some silly Campari calendar shoot a few months after giving birth to Honor. At the time, she described working out as the hardest thing ever. I guess she’s changed her mind.

Here are some photos of Jessica with Cash, Honor, and Haven yesterday. They were attending an LA birthday party. The girls are so cute.

Photos courtesy of Health & WENN