Why should Snooki get all the attention on Jersey Shore? Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola is on a tough-but-healthy eating plan that’s led to a 15-pound weight loss.

The reality-show star, who seems like a character out of Little Women compared to Snooki, told Life & Style Weekly that the key to her weight loss was a significant change in her daily eating habits.

For one thing, she doesn’t eat pasta anymore. But she still longs for it. “I miss it like crazy,” Sammi told the magazine, according to AOL. Instead, she’s concentrating on eating fresh food. “I eat my vegetables and try to stay healthy.”

Read Meet the New Jersey Shore Cast Member

That change, as we all know, is a lot harder than it sounds. But for Sammi, the rewards were almost immediate. “The pounds just came off,” she said in the interview.

Exercise helps, too. "I do soccer drills -- I jog a lap, then sprint, jog the rest of the way, then sprint again."

A big motivating factor: the show was filming in Miami, and she wanted to look as good as everyone else there. "Beautiful people are everywhere you look! You don't want to turn into a slob."

Now if Sammi could just get Snooki on that diet… (AOL).

Jane Farrell is a senior editor at BettyConfidential.

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