Nick Cannon placed on diet

Los Angeles - Nick Cannon has been placed on a strict diet following his recent health problems.

The America's Got Talent host was hospitalised two weeks ago with mild kidney failure - which he says was due to an overdose of protein, medication he was taking and a lack of proper sustenance - and though he is on the road to recovery, he has had to overhaul his eating habits.

Nick said: "I'm feeling good, I'm in the office, I'm grinding, the only thing that sucks is that I'm on the renal diet.

"It's all about healthy living and fuelling your system, but I don't get to eat the things that I like to eat. You've got to stay hydrated and eat fruits and vegetables for breakfast."

'This tastes delicious!'

Explaining he has had to give up his favourite Lucky Charms cereal in favour of oatmeal, he added: "Not even the good oatmeal. Real oats, like horse-feed stuff - but it's cool. I've got to start to love it."

Nick - who has eight-month-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with wife Mariah Carey - will gradually be able to relax the strict diet but in the meantime, he is turning to hot sauce to make his meals more exciting.

He told MTV News: "Right now I'm still on the strict diet and I can't have any sodium, but as a couple of weeks go by and everything gets levelled out, then I can start having low sodium.

"I can still have Tabasco sauce, so I'm excited about that because I love hot sauce. I'll be putting Tabasco sauce on carrots, like, 'This tastes delicious!' "