We recently had the chance to catch up with the ever stunning Huma Qureshi to chat about all things fitness & diet, just as the latest issue of Femina with her gracing the cover hit the newsstands. Read on as the newest addition to Team MissMalini (our very own health & fitness blogger) chats it up with Huma on her fundas to achieve and even more importantly, maintain a healthy body.
Team MissMalini (Team MM): Would you say you are more dedicated to a strict fitness regimen or a diet regimen?
Huma Qureshi (HQ): I have a personal trainer who comes to my house and helps me with stretching and yoga. I eat six small meals in a day and try eating healthier. My approach is to live healthy. Healthy living is not about becoming a size zero and going on strict diet regimes. I will not kill myself to look a particular way and be apologetic. As women, for far too long we have been made to feel bad about ourselves. We are constantly taught not to love ourselves. All the advertisements around us tell us something is not right about us. I think the time has come, when we, as women look at ourselves and realize how beautiful we are. People who criticize need to look at women differently. It’s their perspective that needs to change, not our weight. My approach towards fitness has changed completely. I have never been so health-conscious before and perhaps that is why people are saying I have lost weight or my skin is glowing. Weight is not about shedding pounds. It is not about losing four or five kilos. It is about how you are doing it and why you are doing it. I don’t want to be apologetic about myself. I think that’s very important. When my friends and family look at me in the movies, they shouldn’t think of me as someone I am not. I want to be a positive role model for people who watch me on screen.
Team MM: Speaking of diet, what’s a typical day of eating look like for you? Do you try your hand at cooking or is it mostly eating out as your schedule is quite on-the-go?
HQ: My approach is to eat balanced meals and live healthy. I eat six small meals in a day and try eating healthier all the time. I am a big foodie. I like cooking but I haven’t cooked in a really long time. However, I must confess, I enjoy eating the most. I love my non-vegetarian fare, ghar ka khaana (home food) is what I love the most, needless to say. But I am a Delhi girl, and I miss the delicious street food. I must mention I have a big sweet tooth, and I can eat meetha (sweet) at any time of the day. I need to cut down on my caffeine intake, as I drink a lot of coffee.
Team MM: What is your take on the ongoing size zero fad that girls are chasing after? Given the industry that you are in, how much do you feel the pressure to strive for something along those lines? Especially because in reality, from a health perspective, it isn’t a healthy notion at all.
HQ: Guys don’t like really thin girls. It’s all about fitness for me. I have realized for myself and the fact that I am losing weight is because I feel I should be fit and healthy for myself. I am not doing this by following any drastic diet and killing myself. I am eating right and following a very healthy diet and working out and doing it in a very sensible way. I am doing this because I respect my body. I want to wear nice clothes and look more fashionable and that’s what I am working towards and not trying to be someone else. I’m loving myself for who I am. That’s the reason so many people have gone crazy with the Femina cover page, ‘My Body, My Rules’. I think everyone is unique and we have flaws which make us look beautiful, otherwise we all will look like factory products. What is my individuality as an actor or as a person? The idea is not to be a factory product. But it’s your body and life and your rules. Following your heart, realizing one’s inner voice is something that’s unstoppable for me. When I told my family about acting, they asked me, do you really want to dance around the trees? They were like, ‘Dimaag kharab ho gaya hai‘? But frankly, I feel that was probably the best decision of my life.
Team MM: Actors and actresses often have to put in a lot of work in terms of putting on or losing weight depending on what a role demands. Do you feel it is harder for actresses?
HQ: As an actor, if I have to lose weight, groom my hair and shave my head, I will do all of that, because it’s my job. I would like to do that, as that’s what separates us from others. I have never been told that I don’t look nice. I have been lucky to get good roles and good directors, and there has never been a dearth of work. Why would I ever feel apologetic about how I look when I feel I am beautiful and get all the attention which is good?
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