ON THE PLATTER: HEALTH & BEAUTY

She likes her food to be good, and look even better

Known to carry at least 12 lipsticks in her bag, the former editor of Cosmopolitan India, Payal Puri, was always keen on beauty — but now her focus has shifted to eating healthy. She knows that beauty and the hour-glass figure will follow naturally

Intrinsically, I am a lazy person – a procrastinator, you may say — so, I end up having a super hectic schedule most days, trying to fit in everything, and do a good job at it! Being a consultant with an exclusive lifestyle club, and frequent travelling — both for pleasure and work — requires me to keep up my energy, so no starvation diets for me. And besides, I love food too much.

I try to follow some basic rules which cover my need to be healthy, and of course, be slim enough to fit into my favourite dresses. I’m not a morning or breakfast person; a smoothie works fine for me. A combination of frozen fruit, leafy vegetable — spinach most times – some chia seeds or any other seed at hand, whizzed with milk or coconut milk and I’m done. Fortunately I don’t hanker for rice or roti, but unfortunately, my weakness is bread. If I’m travelling in Europe especially, there’s no way I can resist the warm, delicious aroma of fresh bread. I try for portion-control but I am not too successful.

Payal Puri, the former editor of Cosmos, India, is a busy consultant, and travel enthusiast

Three to four times a week, I try to ensure that one meal of the day is a hearty salad: leaves, cucumber, snow peas, nuts, seeds, some fruit for contrast, and one protein — either sautéed shrimp, roast or smoked chicken — topped off with plenty of fresh herbs. I get bored very quickly so I need to keep changing the combo.

Frequent travelling requires me to keep up my energy, so no starvation diets for me.

Ordering in, I like to tick kebabs, fish (roasted or grilled) and of course salads, but minus the usual creamy dressing. My advice to anyone trying to eat healthily is to spend time on identifying good food one likes and then eat your fill.

If binging happens, don’t kill yourself. There’s always tomorrow!