A Spoonful of Good Health

Is it possible for a man who is around food all the time to remain fi t? Celebrity chef Kunal Kapur takes up the challenge.

- Shalini Minocha-Beri

On the fitness regime

Being a chef is an active job, you’re always on you feet and never still. But, by the very nature of the job you start putting on weight very fast. I only realised how unfit I was when I went to a place where the lif wasn’t working; I decided to take the stairs, two at a time as I usually did. By the time I reached the firs floor, I was so out of breath (a first for me) that it had me worried about my health and I knew it was time to do something about it.

I wasn’t a gym person, many paid-for-but-not-at tended gym fees were testament to it. I also knew it was a matter of discipline, something I had to do myself I took stock of my life; no structured meals. I skipped breakfast because I knew, come 11am, I would taste at least fifty dishes—a spoon each of rich fare and this was just one reason for the weight gain. If it was warm I would unthinkingly down several cold sodas, with out a thought to the calories. If there was a buffet of a hundred and fifty dishes, I’d taste them all! Then there were the odd hours! No meal was at a regular time most often dinner was late.

All this had to stop.

The three-meal regime came into place. Breakfast a 8am. Two other tasting chefs to divide the workload A good lunch, and a cup of tea or coffee with a couple of biscuits in the evening. A light dinner consisting o soup, vegetables and perhaps a piece of chicken. The colas and packaged juice stopped completely. Definite ly no indulgence in pasta, pizza and other ‘junk’ food