If you’re a Real Housewives of New Jersey fan, you definitely remember the days when alum Caroline Manzo ruled supreme — or at least went head-to-head with Teresa Giudice on the reg. Nowadays, though, she’s been focusing on family and staying fit and healthy, which seems a lot more drama-free. The RHONJ original spoke with Life & Style exclusively about the secret behind her slim new look.

“Pretty much a plant-based diet,” the 58-year-old exclusively revealed on the red carpet for BravoCon: Bravo All Stars – OG Housewives Edition on November 15. “Fruits and vegetables and I walk about eight to 10 miles a day.” It all started “last January,” according to the Bravo OG. “It’s been almost a year,” she confirmed.

Her reason, though, might make you tear up a bit. “My granddaughter,” she said. “Because you love ‘em so much and I was playing with her one day and I said, ‘I gotta be around long enough for her to remember me and to know how much I love her.’ So that’s why I took everything and changed everything I did, the way I eat and live and everything else. For my baby.”

But just because she’s found a bit of zen by way of her new lifestyle doesn’t mean she’s entirely without an opinion on Teresa’s bombshell comments. Her former costar alleged that she might have been the catalyst in husband Joe Giudice‘s arrest during the Joe and Teresa: Unlocked tell-all interview with Bravo boss Andy Cohen.

Caroline Manzo
Dia Dipasupil/Bravo

“I’m not going to fight it. If that’s what she believes, you’re not going to change your mind. It’s just, it’s so beyond ridiculous that it’s not even worth a comment to it,” she explained, adding that the comments were “bizarre” and that the 47-year-old was “grasping at straws.”

Believe it or not, Caroline’s heard it before. “She said it before,” she continued. “I heard she said it on a reunion a couple years ago and I haven’t responded. I’ve never … because that’s how crazy it is. But then this time it was just so in your face and those are big words and you have to be responsible when you say things like that. That’s why I had to respond to it, because it was just irresponsible on her part.”

Some things never change, huh?