“I am a Punjabi kudi and don’t deny myself my cravings,” says Hasleen. She is fond of sweets and believes in eating everything but in right proportion. “My fit look is 80 per cent diet and only 20 per cent workout,” says model-actor Hasleen Kaur and Miss India Earth 2011, who was in Delhi to promote her debut film Karle Pyar Karle.
“I eat dal, roti and sabzi because that is what fills me. I don’t starve. The only alteration is, I break down my three meals into six small meals plus lots of fruits and juices as supplements,” says Hasleen, adding that she also has lots of green tea for detoxification. “My ambrosia for skin is coconut water and it is great for our metabolism, digestive system and helps in getting a glowing skin. It keeps you fit, active and full of energy.”
Hasleen attaches a lot of importance to workout. “I approach my workout with different strength training schedules on alternate days. I do cardio, pilates and weight training on alternate days. I had a back problem for a long time, pilates helped me strengthen my core muscles. It also helped me to keep my posture straight. Mix of cardio and weight training is equally important. With the amount of junk food and sweets I eat, cardio-weight training helps me a lot. I run to get rid of unwanted fat and sweat all the toxins out of my body. Weight training gives me a toned body.”
Commenting about the current obsession of young girls to have a size zero figure by adopting unhealthy exercise regimes and extreme crash diet without realising the risk, Hasleen expresses, “Slim is not fit.” The model-turned-actor says she never punished herself to achieve size zero figure, as she believes starving will not help and eating healthy food can take us a long way. “Health means I should have a good toned body, look good in the clothes I wear, good body posture with high fitness level. We actors have erratic working hours and to sustain the pressure of work I need to have such fitness and diet to ensure that I don’t fall sick and feel energetic all the time irrespective of the weather. Size zero is not what I want for myself.”
Exercise with caution
Hasleen feels it’s the lack of knowledge and environment which has led to the wrong practices in fitness industry. She feels if possible one should start exercising under a certified gym instructor and consult dietician before following any diet plan. “You need to approach fitness cautiously. We often deny ourselves proper food and it carries for some period. Then we go back to eating and all our efforts go waste. This works as de-motivation as cutting down on food will have reverse impact on people and they put on more weight. This leads to leaving training halfway citing poor results as the reason. Idea is to keep eating what you want and at the same time increase healthy food in your diet and continue with workout. Doing workout consistently is the key for good results and it also takes care of our heart problems, skin and adds confidence to our personality,” she explains. Yet another must for Hasleen is proper sleep. “Good sleep, never miss on that. Never skip breakfast as it is the most important meal of the day. Enjoy lots of fresh juice as apart from the nutrition it also helps in controlling damage due to junk food. Lastly, exercise for at least an hour daily, five times a week and drink lots of coconut water as well.”
