“I was 68-69 kilos when I started; went down to almost 50 for Tashan and decided that the skinny look was not for me. I wanted to be curvy and feminine, so came up to 66 kilos. I like looking like this,” she says, champagne eyes sparkling on her alabaster complexion. What’s unbelievable is that Kareena manages this through yog and a strict diet that includes everything.
“I believe in the holistic approach. I want to be fit internally and eat everything. Yoga helps me do that,” she says. And not the new-fangled power or artistic yoga. Kareena follows Yog without the ‘a’. Her trainer Twinkle Singh says no two workouts are alike. Says Twinkle, “Kareena buys books, DVDs and every day, she’ll tell me what she feels like doing. If she’s had a hectic schedule, we’ll concentrate on pranayams and bandhas. She’s clued-in to what her body needs.”
Listening to her body is also the crux of her diet. “It’s not as much a diet, because I eat everything!” says Kareena. Not for her the morning detox of warm water with honey and lemon, the metabolism boosting green teas and banishing of carbs.”I love cheese and have a cheddar sandwich every day at 5. I also have a bowl of spaghetti every alternate night with olive oil and fresh sauce made from scratch,” she says.
Kareena’s diet is regimented by sports nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar who believes in eating fresh, local food in small portions every two hours. Kareena has become such an expert at juggling her meals that she jokes that she can now serve as Rujuta’s assistant.
“I told Rujuta that I can’t give up my dal-chaval-subzi. In fact, I just had dosas for lunch with nariyal chutney.” And what about little sinful treats? “There are no cheats when you can eat everything, in limited quantity. Fries, pizza and cheese are my weaknesses. And I have these whenever I want. Rujuta is against cutting off carbs.”
Work out
Kareena has a history of bad back and stomach problems. “With yoga, my back muscles have become so strong that they support the spine effortlessly. Pranayam and kapal bhati took care of my stomach problems and immune system,” she says. Twinkle adds, “Kareena needs stamina because of her hectic routine. We do inverted bends that send blood gushing to her face, brain and eyes. It makes her skin glow and her eyes sparkle.”
Twinkle mixes up Ashtanga and Iyengar yog and focuses on holding poses for longer rather than doing them hurriedly. “I have Punjabi genes and easily put weight on my arms,” says Kareena ruefully. “So I do handstands. I can hold for one minute and we do 4-5 in a session.”
They also do a lot of backward and forward bending asanas, shoulder and headstands and a variation of suryanamaskars, which are full-body exercises. “I can do 40-80,” says Kareena proudly. “Before shooting Chammak Challo, I would do 40 in the morning.” Some sessions only have varieties of suryanamaskars and those days, Bebo does around a 100.
Yog also allows Kareena to be “light on her feet”, a crucial job requirement. It also works out the neck and facial muscles. “Bebo does shirsasan extremely gracefully,” says Twinkle. “So she doesn’t put on weight as easily, despite eating what she wants. Earlier, Kareena suffered from vertigo, which does not hinder her now.”
For balancing the system, keeping the glands healthy and reducing stress, there is pranayam and its advanced form, bandhas.
Kareena does up to 600 repetitions of kapal bhatti to flush out toxins, 2-3 minutes of anulom-vilom which calms the mind. Bandhas concentrate on holding your breath in different postures for 30 seconds or more, this concentrates on holding your energy.
When on holiday, or on outstation shoots, Kareena likes, “Long walks in the Alps. Here there is no place for walks and the heat is sapping.”
Diet
“Bebo’s diet principle is KISS -- Keep it simple and be smart with your food,” says Rujuta. “She’s involved with her meal plans, in tune with her hunger signals and understands that food nourishes beyond just the body.”
So it’s appam in Kerala, momos in Ladakh and pasta and cheese in Europe. “The idea is to eat more when more active and vice versa. She has learnt to nurture her appetite and not suppress it,” adds Rujuta. Kareena plans her food breaks and takes along home-made snacks such as nuts, chana and makhana.
She’s vegetarian and takes supplements as her vitamin and mineral requirements are higher than those working a 9- 5 desk job. Since there is no such thing as “bad” food, she plans and relishes sweets and mithai in her diet without feeling guilty.
She wakes up to a fruit, usually a banana, and then has a solid breakfast. Every meal is two hours apart dinner is two hours before bedtime. If she is still hungry, she’ll have a bowl of soup or a glass of milk. Fruits and fruit juices also form snacks.
She drinks two cups of chai with milk and coffee is also slotted into her meals. Apart from that, it’s about three litres of water and avoids packaged or processed foods.
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