I don't believe in diets: Malaika Arora Khan

Malaika Arora Khan who has one of the 'hottest' bodies in Bollywood, does not believe in dieting, and lives by three "simple principles" to stay fit and healthy.
The former model and video-jockey, has candidly divulged her food and fitness secrets in a new book titled, "Gorgeous: Eat Well, Look Great" compiled by International Shvetha Jaishankar.
The book features inventive ideas and recipes from the kitchens of India's top models like Malaika, Priyanka Chopra, Milind Soman, Gul Panag and Madhu Sapre among others.
"I don't believe in any of the fad diets I read and hear about. I just follow simple principles when it comes to my diet," Khan says in the book.

Opening up about how she worked towards building and maintaining her much-praised shape, she says she never eats after 8 pm and is in bed by 10.30 pm, so that she gets a "good rest".
She abides by the rule, "anything white is not always right" and avoids everything from bread, pasta and cakes, ocassionally cheating with white rice, which she loves.

A mother of one, she also makes sure to consume home-cooked food whenever possible.
"Even when I am shooting, I try to get food delivered to me from home," she says.
Beginning her day with a glass of warm water with lime, honey and cinnamon powder and followed by a litre of water, she feels that those who complain of not being able to follow their food routines while on the move, are only making "excuses".

"You just have to make time for any form of activity and stop eating the wrong stuff," she says.
While she does not drink tea or coffee and removes as much starch as she can while eating rice, she indulges in mutton biryani and gulab jamuns every once in a while.
"I absolutely love mutton biryani and my in-laws serve the best version of it. Honestly, if I could, I would eat biryani daily.
An exceptional dancer, Malaika has trained in ballet, Bharatnatyam and contemporary dance, and it wasn't until after giving birth to her son Arhaan, that she first joined a gym.

"Way before I became a model, I was a dancer. It involved a lot of exercise in the form of stretching, jumping and kicking. It was only after the birth of my child that I first joined a gym. Until then, dance alone kept me fit," she says.
While she agrees that maintaining one's fitness levels and eating right is not easy, she also does not see it as a "sacrifice".
The actress shares an experience in the book, when she was "frustrated" with her body right after child birth.
"I had given birth to Arhaan and had, as a consequence, a lot of stretch marks that I just couldn't get rid of. Until then, I had never had a single mark on my body and now it had these ugly scars and it bothered me for a long time. One day I just snapped out of it.

"When Arhaan was younger, he would ask me what those scars were and I'd say, 'These are my battle scars from when I fought a tiger to get you. He loves that story and so do I!" she says.
Malaika is thankful to her son for complaining about her lack of cooking skills.
It was only after Arhaan expressed his unhappiness at his mother's inability to prepare his tiffin or make goodies for his school fair, that she decided to learn the art of cooking.
"This woke me up and fuelled my need to learn cooking. Today, I love shopping for my own groceries, too. I now love cooking especially from cook-books," she says.

The 43-year-old actress who loves to cook on Sundays and in her free time, can now make a "superb sushi meal" for her friends and a host of other dishes from other cuisines.