Not every practice that a celebrity adheres to in the name of fitness is worth following, highlight experts, admitting that some indeed hit the bull’s eye
Bobby Deol and Milind Soman
Vocal for local
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Luke Coutinho and Dr Vishwanath Prabhu
A host of actors source food items like ghee and berries from different Indian states and countries in a bid to source organic products. But Luke Coutinho, integrative lifestyle expert, says there is the need to go “vocal for local”. “We don’t need berries from other countries. We [should] first choose our local berries. We have amla, Indian gooseberries, and strawberries that are grown in our own country. Pure ghee exists in our own country. We don’t need to buy it from abroad because, mostly, it’s exported from India to other places. Of course, our food products and Indian brands have a lot of adulteration, which is why it’s extremely important for the FSSAI [Food Safety and Standards Authority of India] to verify brands that make [tall] claims. There are great upcoming traditional brands that are learning to do things the right way.”
The sooner the better, indeed
Bobby Deol
Having adopted regimented fitness programmes at a later stage in life, both actor Bobby Deol and host Mini Mathur stated that they were certain they would be in better shape had they begun training decades earlier. When we ask Dr Prabhu if individuals who do not train from a young age “miss the bus” when it comes to achieving athletic superiority, he says, “Yes, if you start young, you can develop skill sets that you can subsequently polish as you age. Even if your skill sets are challenged as you grow older, you can still practise them. Having said that, I will not discourage somebody from taking up a routine or learning new skills as they grow older. There are hurdles that one needs to be aware of if you’re trying to replicate the skills that someone who started training from a young age has. But, in a country like ours, where movement is zilch, it’s crucial to lay emphasis on its importance. Motion is lotion. Developing a fitness regimen at any age helps.”
Marathons, not for everyone
Milind Soman
Easily among the most admired physical training formats, marathons and other forms of long-distance races have found favour among a large number of Bollywood celebrities, with artistes like Milind Soman and Saiyami Kher being the faces of the style regimen.
However, running a marathon when one is untrained or undernourished can do more harm than good. Dr Vishwanath Prabhu, Dean-Exercise Science Academy, Faculty-American College Of Sports Medicine (India Chapter), agrees that a large chunk of the Indian population may not be meeting their protein intake, making an activity like a marathon less favourable to participate in. “A lot of people have taken a shine to marathons. When you run, there is a surplus of energy that your body needs to provide. The engine that is being deployed is the muscular system, which is predominantly [composed of] protein. One must be cognisant of the amount of protein that one consumes. Our modern-day culture has made us more carb-orientated. That puts things into a negative [protein] balance. In this scenario, when you take up a sport like a marathon, which requires the consumption of a good amount of protein so that muscle mass can be retained, the balance goes awry. You start steering towards depletion of muscle mass because the input and output ratio is not favourable,” he say.s
Dr Prabhu highlights that individuals would benefit by categorising marathons as a “sport” instead of perceiving it as an activity that can be easily adopted by the masses. “Technically there’s nothing wrong in practising a sport. But not everybody is cut out to run. Marathon training has a lot of boundaries. Injuries suffered during marathons are not generally acute but chronic; they happen over a period of time.”
1,200-calorie diets?
Sunidhi Chauhan
In past interviews, celebrities like Sunidhi Chauhan, and those who have lost weight for film projects in a short span of time, have admitted to adhering to diets comprising as little as 1,200 calories. Coutinho says, “The fact is that adhering to a 1,200-calorie diet can be detrimental for someone’s health, metabolism, and muscle mass if it’s not done the right way. Calories are always calculated according to a patient’s height and weight, and the amount of exercise they do in a day. We also consider any co-morbidities that they may have. No one should blindly adopt a 1,200-calorie diet because most people would be starving. Losing weight through starvation is the wrong way to do it. It messes up one’s hormonal profile and muscle mass, and can also be detrimental to the heart and brain.”
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