Actress, fitness enthusiast, author, a keen cook... and did you know she’s trained in taekwondo and was a volleyball player too? Shilpa Shetty Kundra was stirring a glass of sattoo, plonked on the sofa, when we walked into her room at ITC Sonar on a Tuesday afternoon. She had flown in from Mumbai at 2am, woken up at 9am, attended a Ficci Ladies Organisation (FLO) Kolkata do and had a couple of more appearances lined up before catching a flight back home at 11pm. We felt tired just from hearing her schedule! Shilpa? Of course, raring to go.

Lunch recommendations were at the tip of her tongue, fish topping the list. The lively banter, her team said, was a regular affair when Shilpa was around. “Today they are listening to me. Otherwise they don’t. (Laughs out loud) They are fed up. They don’t eat in front of me. But now, strangely, they want to make a change,” she said, laughing some more and adding a pinch of a mix to her sattoo from a small silver case that came out of her handbag.

What’s that, we asked. “A jeera, saunf and ajwain mix,” she smiled. Were there more such secrets up her sleeve? Oh yes, and Shilpa was only too happy to share.

WHAT I REALISED AS I GOT OLDER

I think with age you realise that there are changes happening in your body and also with age you gain experience. Also, dabbling in the field of health and wellness, I want to tell people that if I can maintain my health and look the way I do because you guys compliment me… this is how I do it. It is very simple. I enjoy my food on Sundays. I binge. Rasgullas are my favourite, again from Calcutta. I love them hot. It is healthy too, great for a upset tummy… I got to know from Anurag dada (filmmaker Anurag Basu). He told me on the sets of Super Dancer.

I have ordered my mishti doi because that’s gur. There are lifestyle modification changes that I have made more after my baby (son Viaan) was born, around six years ago.... I discovered sattoo around a year ago. I used to first import this P-protein… organic P-protein, vegetarian-base P-protein from abroad. Now I have realised what better protein than this! It’s in-house, local, best quality and also cooling and filling.

THE LIFESTYLE CHANGES I MADE 

I made changes like eating more raw in the day and keeping it simple for the night. These are things which have evolved over time. We’ve grown and learnt. I have realised that you start doing things slightly differently and you find changes in the body and then you want to continue doing those. 

Over the years, I have tried, excluded, added… done things like those in my lifestyle which I have seen have made a big difference to my body, health, energy. I have stuck with some and left some. 

Carrying my sugar has been one of the major changes I have made in the last one year. I have eliminated white sugar completely. Only on Sundays, I am allowed to eat that. I started with the Sunday binges because people used to say ‘Arre yaar, Shilpa Shetty toh khati hi nahin hoyengi! Mitha nahin khati and she doesn’t enjoy her life. Anybody can make a body like that if you don’t eat.’ Sunday binges were literally done for the lark and they caught on. I have a terrible sweet tooth and I eat it. I realised that if that can catch on, why not use that as a catalyst and direct people towards good health? I started using my social media to send out health messages or encourage people to make healthy recipes for their kids which are nutrition-filled and quick in the kitchen.

WE ALL HAVE ISSUES 

I did have small issues. I used to be a little low on energy… I had low BP. I went to the doctor seven years ago and he told me that I am bordering on osteopenia. After that I never went to him! I really feel that most diseases are psychosomatic. I was like, ‘No, I have to get out of this!’ I think I am healthier today than I was eight years ago. I read a lot. That is a good thing for me. If there is any such thing as reversing it, I have successfully managed to do that. 

With age you will lose muscle mass and bone density. So, as women after 35, you should be aware of that and you should include some kind of heavy D3 or magnesium tablets. I sit in the sun. Why do you need to ingest anything?

LOSING WEIGHT WAS NEVER AN ISSUE

I never struggled with staying fit. I have to be honest. Not just good genes, it also came from my background of being a sportsperson. I had an athletic built when I joined the industry but I think I was one of those first actresses to go to the gym and see the hero down there! I remember wanting to lose weight for Dhadkan. Dharmesh (Darshan, director) had said he wanted me to look like Gwyneth Paltrow. I went on a lean diet which a lot of heroes and actresses are doing now. I used to read even then, but not in the way I read today.

I AM FAR FITTER TODAY

Back then, I didn’t work out as much. I did not have that much time. I did not breathe that much and I would eat very late in the night. All those things are out of my life now. I am far healthier and fitter today than when I was young. I am still young! (Laughs) 

You know, when you are young you can get away with a lot of things, but once you touch 35… and after you have had a baby, it gets worse. It’s an uphill task. I want your readers to know that I still have a bit of fat on my lower belly. I just camouflage it very well and then I have to go on a low-carb diet for two days if I am wearing a really tight outfit. So, there’s mehnat. 

You might think we have the luxury of going to the gym… no, my friend, I am far busier than you’d think! I am constantly on the move. The only way I can maintain a good health is with a balanced diet. Seventy per cent is diet and 30 per cent is how you keep your metabolism high. 

MY WORKOUT REGIMEN

For me it is a necessity — to be able to go out and breathe in my garden. On a good day, which is twice a week, I work out in my home gym for around 45 minutes and I breathe for around 20-25 minutes. On days I cannot work out, I breathe and meditate at the end of the day for 15-20 minutes, when my make-up is off and I am in my pyjamas… I will think about the day. My husband (Raj Kundra) doesn’t even wait for me! 

MY BEDTIME ROUTINE

That’s another lifestyle modification that my husband has made. He would love the lights to be out by 10.30pm, but invariably for some reason or another, it is on till 12. I want to make it 11… to be realistic. In life you have to just prioritise. That’s the way I have led my life.

MY LOVE FOR COOKING 

I did cookery classes because I was inclined. My mom saw that. I would always want to be in the kitchen and see how she’s making things. When I was younger, around 13, I started making soups. I would read these recipes and make different soups… call it soup no. 21… different concoctions! That’s when my mom said that I needed to go to a class. At 14, I was in a cookery class and I learnt a lot. I love watching MasterChef Australia. I love trying to innovate and doing different stuff and the book, The Diary of a Domestic Diva, came from there. 

It came from the fact that I come from a middle-class family. I have seen my mom struggling to balance her life, work and family. I wanted to call it the Perils of a Domestic Diva, but I thought it would be too negative! I really thought of all the women who want to cook and think cooking is such a chore and really time-consuming… it’s for those people.
I simplified things. That’s how I function in my home. It really comes from my heart. The first book, The Great Indian Diet: Busting the Big Fat Myth, was written with Luke (Coutinho). I intend to write and share my experiences with people. Every place I go, people ask me what do I eat, how do I lead my life, how can we be like you… I feel very humbled. If people look up to me for something, I want to share that with people. What is the use of me just dying with it? And it’s so easy to do. 

MY RECIPES ARE TRIED AND TESTED

The Fruit and Nut Chia Salad is one of my favourites because it is truly an original in my quest for innovation! I have given it a 2.0 upgrade… if you want to make it easier for yourself, you can even put chiki on to it if you don’t want to make your own brittle. There is the crazy cake… Pratibha Aunty’s Crazy Cake… I actually just lost her. 

Alkalising your body is a huge piece of advice I would like to give people. If you can manage to do that, half or most of your battles will be won. Most of our bodies today are unfortunately very acidic, which is why we are dealing with so many immunity issues and issues with our gut. You can alkalise your body with simple things like potato, home-grown vegetables, your greens… you don’t have to source avocado. Things like jeera, saunf, coriander… all the leafy condiments we put in top, the mint, lemon water… add a lot of that into your food.

MY FOOD IS NOT BLAND

I love spices. Again the word ‘spices’ is bastardised. In the West, when you say spice, it means chilli or pungent. That’s not what spices are about. Each spice has a job to do. There is something for digestion, flatulence, something to increase your BMR, an acid in the ghee actually makes you salivate and prepares your gut to digest. 

WHAT I CARRY IN MY BAG

The jeera, saunf and ajwain mix is always in my bag in a silver dabba… that’s precious to me. This is sattoo… this has come from Bombay, but the sattoo is from Calcutta. My sattoo comes from Calcutta. The quality of sattoo is the best here. It’s unadulterated. 

The other thing I carry with me is buckwheat and almond biscuits for when I feel hungry. I always carry my coconut sugar wherever I travel because I have to have my two cups of tea… one in the morning and one in the evening. I also try to carry my bhains ka doodh! (Laughs) But sometimes, it is impossible. So, when I am at the shoot, my boy always carries my milk from the house. This has been a routine for quite some time now.

WHAT VIAAN WANTS ME TO MAKE

Mango lollies. I am actually going to work on that for summer. Right now his favourite is mango-and-yogurt lollies with vanilla essence. There’s only agave used as a sweetener. He loves it. It’s one way of giving him yogurt.

MY ADVICE FOR MOMS WHO CANNOT MAKE THEIR KIDS EAT

This might sound a little weird, but you need to become a little strict. Because you have to play mom, you have to play bad cop. The child doesn’t know any better. If you are going give them the choice of ordering aerated drinks on a dinner table, you are doing a bad job. Or taking him to a burger place…. 

I am trying to do my job well. Parenting is a very difficult job already and inculcating the right eating habits is as important to me as inculcating good values. It’s your child’s health and that is your future. We have good health because our parents did a good job.

The lunch had rolled in… “Look at that… gorgeous!” smiled Shilpa. We spied steamed greens and beans.

My diet

♦ I start my day with warm water or honey. I put tulsi. That’s it. I have lots of raw. So, I start with a lot of fruits… banana, jamun, jackfruit. I love jackfruit… vitamin C, fibre. Apple…very good alkaline. After 15-20 minutes, I have protein or some oats cooked in water, again fibre. Protein means eggs. I eat the full egg because the food to make the chicken grow is in the yolk. So, if you are taking out the yolk, all the protein is lost.

♦ After that I have my tea. I try to have sourdough bread for a bit of carbs.

♦ Then I have a very big lunch. That is my biggest meal. I’ll have white or brown rice, doesn’t matter. I try and avoid dals. If I do have a dal, it’ll be sprouted. So, it’ll be akha moong ka sprouted dal. I love rajma-chawal. I’ll soak the rajma overnight and have it. There will be a tablespoon of ghee in my food every day for lunch, without fail. Then I’ll have something raw. There will be cucumber, kakri or roasted or steamed beet with lots of pepper and nimbu. There’ll be protein in chicken or fish. If it is a vegetarian day, it will be soya or paneer. Then I’ll have a piece of gur ki chiki for dessert or kala gur which you get in Mangalore.

♦ Then I have my tea with coconut sugar and toast with peanut butter or almond butter without any sugar. Or, I’ll have two eggs in any form.

♦ I’ll eat my dinner by 7.30pm with my son... chicken or a mixed vegetable soup. I’ll have protein again… chicken, fish, masala omelette or a frittata, with lots of vegetables.

One book I read every night: A book on positive quotations.

Ingredients I cannot do without: Turmeric, ghee.

Life is: Great! Full of gratitude.

Last movie watched: Hichki