Jessica Alba covers the new issue of Entertainment Weekly to promote her role in Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For. It’s weird to see her promoting a film role instead of her lifestyle company, right? Jessica reprises her good-girl stripper character, Nancy, who never actually takes it off. She just dances in a bikini and chaps. Nancy disrobes in the comic books, but Jessica has a no-nudity clause. Jessica tells EW that she’s grown up so much since playing Nancy in the first movie: “I have a fearlessness now that I didn’t before.”

Jessica also has a new interview with People where she talks about her life organizational skills. She’s chatting up her new Zico (coconut water) campaign and telling us how we can achieve “that famous Alba balance in our own lives.” Sort of:

She’s not perfect: “As I’ve gotten older and after I became a mom, it became more of a priority to be healthy for the right reasons. It’s more important to have a balanced approach instead of trying to be perfect. I don’t deprive myself … I have [junk] if I want it. When I do feel that I am depriving myself, I find that I binge. That’s not a balanced way to go about it.”

Her non-gym days: “If I’m not going to sweat I go for a walk for an hour and a half [with the girls]. I’m not so much into preaching, more into practicing. I like to swim with them, go on family walks. The kids like it too, they go crazy, bouncing off the walls if I keep them inside. They’ll throw balls around, and I’m going, ‘You can’t throw balls in the house! That’s our lamp!'”

A coconut water plug: “I feel good and have a lot of energy when I start my day off with a great smoothie,” she says. (Her go-to recipe: 8 oz. Zico, 1/2 cup each frozen blueberries, strawberries and yogurt, a banana, 1 tsp. flax seeds.) And she was touting the benefits of coconut water long before she was getting paid to. “I was an early adopter! Water can get a bit boring. What’s the alternative to just water? This tastes like a treat. My kids are obsessed [with the chocolate flavor]. That’s all they want. I’ve even brought it when we have a family dinner out. I’d rather them have that than whatever they have at the restaurant. It just feels better.”

Her ideal day: “Sleeping in until I felt like getting up for sure, then having some kind of smoothie, then some kind of workout, because I really do like how I feel after a workout. Then actually to be able to look through a magazine or a book by the pool or beach would be nice. And a massage! Then I’d hang out with my kids by the pool — that’s usually the most fun thing. They love that so much, they’re like little mermaids, it’s so fun swimming with them. Then having dinner with my husband! We’d go for sushi [or maybe] a steak dinner — whatever I was feeling that day.”

[From People]

These excerpts aren’t great. Jessica is a somewhat bland interview subject, which is a change from her old stance about how hard it is to be taken seriously as a beautiful woman in Hollywood. Now she’s courting the diaper & household goods crowd, so she has to appeal to those masses. That’s why she’s giving the standard line about having a “balanced” approach to fitness, life, diet, and parenting. Alba may not be the best actress, but she’s a shrewd businesswoman.

We never covered these photos of Jessica at an LA Mother’s Day luncheon. She was given the “mother of the year” award by the Helping Hand organization.

Photos courtesy of Entertainment Weekly & WENN