She’s a big fan of the low-carb high protein diet and the 5 meals a day theory. We present her daily dietary chart:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and fruits

Noon snack: Brown bread with egg whites and protein shake

Lunch:  Dal, veggies, roti and grilled chicken or fish

Evening Snack: Brown bread with egg whites

Dinner: Soup, salad, grilled chicken or fish

For in-between snacks she munches on dry fruits and carries fruits while she is travelling to avoid hunger pangs.

Her exercise regime consists of everything including weight training, yoga and pilates. When she gets the time she plays squash and or swims. She followed this routine for a year and lost 30 kg.

Although now she can afford to eat whatever her heart desires she still sticks to a strict regime, indulging only occasionally. She starts her day with a tall glass of lukewarm water and follows it up with another glass of warm honey and lime water. She also drinks a lot of fluids throughout the day like coconut water, cucumber juice and buttermilk.  

Read about her cousin Arjun Kapoor’s weight loss regime as well

Does smoking on screen harm youth? Some feel depicting actors smoking in films and TV shows can affect young, impressionable minds, but others do not agree with this. ”Youth consider celebrities as role models and when they see actors smoking on the screen, it affects them more. If a youth does not start smoking before the age of 22, he doesn’t get into it,” Anita Peter, director of the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA), told IANS.

A statutory warning on a cigarette pack or running a statutory warning during smoking scenes in films is not enough, says Karan Malhotra, director of “Agneepath”. ”Just by putting a sticker of ‘Smoking Kills’ on a product is not good enough. Besides, I think it’s futile (to put a statutory warning). It is not required. It will not do anything good or bad for a smoker. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Malhotra told IANS.

Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital.

If psychiatrist Samir Parikh is to be believed, smoking on screen can affect young minds.

“It is a statistically established fact that observational learning plays a very important role in the growing up years of children. So there are no two ways that smoking on screen influences children to try it,” said Parikh, director, Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare.

“If they hero-worship an actor and if the actor is shown smoking, it increases the chances that youngsters will do the same. The entertainment industry needs to impose self-censorship about what to show and what not to show.

“They can reduce the number of smoking scenes unless it is very essential to show it. And on their part, they should, without the pressure of any outside body, spread awareness about the negative effects of activities like smoking,” he added.

Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan agrees that “smoking is bad” in real life but doesn’t support the idea of banning it in movies.

“In movies, it is fine. This is what I feel. I am not for a ban on smoking scenes in films. It depends on the character. I won’t make a character smoke a cigarette just because it looks cool,” said the director, known for films like “Johnny Gaddar” and “Karthik Calling Karthik”.

Musician Loy Mendonsa of composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy understands “it is difficult to get off tobacco once you are used to it and it’s a good thing to be healthy” but dismisses the argument that Bollywood motivates youngsters to smoke.

“I don’t think people follow something just because someone is doing it in movies. If you see Superman running in front of a train or a bus in a film, logically, you will not follow him. There might be rare cases, but generally it doesn’t happen. If someone does it, it’s very stupid,” he said.

In reel or real life, smoking is not good in any form and actor Eesha Koppikar vehemently opposes tobacco use.

“Consumption of tobacco in any form is one of the worst things that a person can indulge in. The sad part being that despite knowing its ill effects, people still smoke. I urge all youngsters to kick the death stick and live a healthy and long life. And for those who think smoking is cool, it’s anything but that,” she said.

Tobacco is one of the worst kinds of addiction, feels actor Ashmit Patel and adds that it should “be in the list of scheduled drugs”.

“I support an anti-tobacco NGO called Salaam Bombay Foundation and even ran a marathon for them this year,” said Ashmit, who has smoked on screen, but says he will always make sure his characters never glorify smoking.

Read more about World No Tobacco Day:

• Quit smoking or die!
• Shaan’s “Life Se Panga” anti-smoking song
• Health benefits of quitting
• Did you know smoking can give you heart disease and strokes?
• 200,000 children die from passive smoking every year!
• WHO urges governments to watch out for tobacco industry interference
• Heart attacks, cancer on the rise in young smokers
• Want to quit tobacco? Here’s a helpline to your rescue!
• Women and smoking
• Are tobacco-less e-cigarettes less harmful?
• 10 facts about passive smoking

Source: IANS