Pooja Bedi is a personally and professionally successful woman who has donned many hats. And even after so many years, she continues to be a fitness inspiration.
To begin with, Pooja Bedi does not believe in fad diets and deprivations
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pooja says that fad diets are essentially a lot of fun because it is new
- She followed the General Motors soup diet once
- She believes that deprivation from food is the unhealthiest thing to do
She is beautiful, she is witty, a super-mom, an actress, a television show host and most of all, a true fitness inspiration; she is Pooja Bedi! One person and multiple attributions, could we be any less inspired! Pooja Bedi is a personally and professionally successful woman who has donned many hats. Bollywood's Pehla Nasha girl became an eye-candy the first time she made an appearance and till date, she has not escaped our hearts. Besides this, the former Bigg boss contestant proves to be a fitspiration for everyone. And when we say an inspiration, we are referring to much more than her ageless skin and toned figure. We also refer to her views towards a healthy being, which we ensure, will make you look up to her even more. To begin with, Pooja does not believe in fad diets and deprivations.
While speaking to NDTV, Pooja Bedi revealed some of her fitness secrets and debunks some popular misconceptions about health. Keep reading...
Also read: These Dietary Changes Will Help You Fight Ageing1. While considering weight loss, what is the first thing you would recommend?
"The first thing while considering weight loss would be to have a solid gain plan in place. That should have a well-balanced diet in place and it should include a reasonable time frame in place and a realistic goal as to what you choose to achieve during that time frame."
2. What is your opinion about fad diets?
"Fad diets are essentially a lot of fun because it is new. However, most of these fad diets tend to be unhealthy because they ask you to skip an entire food group completely or have excess of certain things. Most of them end up leaving you with incredible amounts of starvation which lowers your metabolism. This will make you lose less weight in the short term but you end up gaining more weight in the long term."
3. Have you ever been on a fad diet? If yes, how was your experience?
"I have actually attempted the General Motors soup diet once in my life. The reason I chose that diet was because you can eat any amounts of that soup and you don't have to starve. So the good part was you can have as much of the soups as you wanted because the more you eat the more you lose. However, by day 3 I was completely bored. I was adding sauces into it to make it taste different and I just gave up by day 5. I couldn't last a week in this diet. I was subjecting my taste buds to the same thing over and over and over again."
Also read: Keto Diet: 5 Things You Need To Know Before Going On A Ketogenic Diet
4. Which form of diet would you recommend?
"The only, if you want to call it fad diet, which I have given weight to is the blood group diet. The only reason was the fact that this diet focused on well-being and not so much about weight loss. This diet is extremely relevant to your fitness. However, the quality of food that we are ingesting nowadays needs to be questioned. For example, a lot of vegetables that you eat and the fruits that you have are colored, filled with chemicals, and grown in unhealthy conditions. Even if you have chicken and feel that it is pure lean protein, you must know about the hormones injected in chickens to pump them up. Instead, you can opt for red meat instead of hormonally pumped up chicken meat. These things also need to be considered."
Also read: 10 Dangerous Side Effects Of A Low-Carb Diet
5. What is your opinion about fats?
"Also, a lot of people have negative healthy associations with fat. For example, cheese or oil and butter. However, I personally feel that there is something called good fat and something called bad fat. A lot of cheeses, the natural ones not the processed variety, are actually beneficial for you. They are good for your skin and they contain a lot of protein and other nutrients beneficial for the human body. As far as butter and oil are concerned, a certain amount of them is necessary for your body. It reflects in your skin tone and texture and hair. I don't think that cutting these out from your diet is the answer. However, the deep fried foods should be avoided, for example potato which sucks up a lot of oil. But in general, fat is not your enemy, it can also be your friend."
6. Do you think deprivation is the answer to fitness?
"And I honestly believe that deprivation from food is the unhealthiest thing to do because you torture yourself emotionally, mentally and physically. Your body goes through cravings and your mind gets distracted. When you cut out foods like grains and sugars, your brain chemistry starts to change. You become more irritable and it reflects in the way you treat people around you. It can also make you short-tempered and can lower your energy. You may even fail to work properly and your academic strengths are also negatively affected. In every manner, going on a fad diet, crash diet or deprivation diets, hurts your emotional health, it hurts your environment and in no way can it benefit you. It is a negative impact on everyone and everything that surrounds you."
Also read: These Are The Best Exercises For Your Heart
7. Which form of workout do you prefer and why?
"I tend to keep alternating my forms of exercise so that it stays stimulating for me. I thoroughly enjoy spinning classes which involves cycling, disco lights and music in a gym environment. I love swimming, I love the feel of water and it is a fun form of exercise. In addition to this, I love sports. I have been a sports lover all the time. Be the swimming team or the hockey team or the basketball team in school, I was always there. And then there are stretching exercises like yoga which are incredibly beneficial for the body. You are breathing; you are stretching, your suppleness and all of that."
Also read: The Best Exercises To Burn Max Calories In The Least Time
8. What is your opinion of sugar? Do you think giving up on sugars is the key to staying healthy?
"While there is a lot of merit to the argument of sugars being bad for you, especially white and refined sugar, I have a sweet tooth for some healthy forms of it. My personal favorite is mishti dohi which has to be healthy because it is jaggery and curd. Then I love gur ka parantha, gajar ka halva and cheese cakes. Everything in small quantities is permissible and is fine. Chocolate, though I am not a huge fan of it, is known to stimulate a happy feeling. So it is not entirely prohibited to eat sugar. Small quantities of it can induce good sugar high, good brain chemistries and to pep you up in general when you are feeling low."
9. What according to you is more important for fitness; diet or workout?
"There is no such thing as which is more important for fitness. Be it diet or exercise; a healthy diet nourishes your body, mind and soul. This is because we have some emotional connections with the foods that we eat and there are some foods which are important to charge up your body. Workouts on the other hand are important for enhancing your cardiovascular functions, bone and muscle strength and your stamina. So both have a very important role to play in what is termed is fitness because one cannot be complete without the other."
Also read: This Is The Best Time To Exercise To Lose Weight
"I don't believe anything in extreme is good for your body. If deprivation is extreme, I don't recommend it and so is the case with fad diets and even your workouts. I think the most important thing for fitness is a well-balanced body, mind and soul," Pooja added.
Pooja concluded by saying, "And lastly as I always say, we are not human being seeking a spiritual existence; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. And the amazing food on this planet adds to the joy of our incredible existence here. So as long as you do not have a disease, due to which you have to limit your intake of a certain food or anything, I feel that people really need to make the most the joys of existing on this planet. Eating and exercising both need to be enjoyed equally because they both create a lot of happiness and harmony in the body."
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