Yummy mummy Kareena Kapoor Khan is looking fabulous than ever and getting back into shape with the help of dietician turned author Rujuta Diwekar. She looked superhot and sizzling in her much-awaited comeback film, VEERE DI WEDDING. Kareena prodded Diwekar to write a book on pregnancy and how to stay healthy before, during and after. Pregnancy is a time when a woman is at her most vulnerable phase and this exposes her to many half-baked truths. Rujuta Diwekar’s latest book ‘Pregnancy Notes’ caters to such women. The book opens with a personal note by Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, who shares her experience of motherhood — from her pregnancy till the birth of her son Taimur. Here in this exclusive excerpt, I am going to share Kareena Kapoor pregnancy tips.
Kareena said, “someone recently commented on a picture of mine post a yoga class and said I looked fat. I thought how insensitive people can be even if a woman has just delivered. It got me thinking about how women must feel about (and deal with) changes in their body post delivery. Maybe their world shatters, maybe they feel so under-confident that getting back into fab shape starts feeling like a faraway dream. I decided to share with you what I learned during my pregnancy and post delivery, my personal notes you can call them.”
Kareena Kapoor Pregnancy Tips: WORK ON GETTING FIT EVEN BEFORE YOU GET PREGNANT
Just few months after her delivery, she started looking much lighter and slimmer and has already lost a lot of weight. Here is what Bebo has to say on this-
I look the way I do because I have been at it for a decade, and not because of what I did or didn’t do in the last two weeks or immediately post my delivery. I have made a conscious effort to eat correctly, exercise and generally lead a more disciplined life, since 2007. When Rujuta Diwekar (nutritionist) and I started on this journey, marriage was not even on the cards, and pregnancy wasn’t even a faint idea in my heart; it started with getting in shape for a role and evolved into a lifestyle.
So, for you, if it starts with getting in shape for a wedding, job, holiday, choose your diet plan cautiously and ask yourself the big question — does it have the potential to evolve into a lifestyle? And if it cannot and is something that’s just a two-day or a two-month affair, drop it.
If I could shoot during pregnancy, walk the ramp and travel the world, it’s only because my body was healthy. So before conceiving, prepare your body. Make health a priority and clean up your diet. Incorporating an exercise regime will help make sure you’re fit throughout the pregnancy and for labour when the time comes.
ENJOY YOUR PREGNANCY AND STAY ACTIVE
The one time when heaps of advice gets loaded on you is during pregnancy. Eat this, don’t eat that. Don’t drink this. Don’t take up that role, etc. Emotionally also, it’s the most vulnerable stage a woman can go through. It’s the one time that you may actually consider every random advice coming your way and worse, implement it. A friend of mine stopped exercising, and we all know many who quit their careers due to their pregnancy. It’s not the time to start or stop anything, it’s the time to take everything in your stride, to go on. So keep up with eating wholesome food, don’t let some random fool tell you that it has too much carbs or fat or whatever. Wear the clothes you want and don’t limit yourself to mommy’s section or whatever. You are alive, with another life inside you, so if anything, live every moment twice.
ALSO READ: Fitness Rules And Healthy Lifestyle Of Shilpa Shetty Kundra.
Pregnancy is a physiological milestone, don’t confuse it with a sickness – and surely don’t let the people around you, including your doctor, treat it like one. Do you have to be careful of hydration, meal timings or calcium intake? Yes. But do you have to give up on living your life and make it all about the pregnancy and the growing stomach? No. And this is exactly why a history of staying healthy helps.
Stay active, don’t lounge around in bed. Staying active during pregnancy has more than one benefit. Not only does it helps in ensuring a comfortable child birth but also makes your body more energetic and stronger. While exercise is important during your pregnancy and post pregnancy — the kind of exercises will differ as per the stage of your pregnancy. It acts as a catalyst for weight loss once the baby is out!
ALSO READ: Pregnant Kareena Kapoor Sharing Her Diet And Cravings.
DON’T HURRY TO GET BACK INTO SHAPE
Mother Nature has your back. Just like pregnancy gives you a specific shape, albeit a round one, post delivery too, you are in a specific shape. Don’t be in a rush to get rid of it. The extra fat is required for many important tasks such as lactation and protection of both the baby and the mom from infections and illnesses. If you have a long history of fitness and ate right through the pregnancy, then just like the body grew, it will also shrink back naturally. The key here is patience and compassion.
Eating very little, or nothing, in a bid to lose that weight is just silly. If you think, losing weight means shopping for exotic food, you are wrong! Buying expensive foods and ingredients never guarantee you lose weight. Veggies from your local bhaji wallah will do the trick! Simply eating regular home cooked meals and seasonal foods is the secret.
I remember specifically the conversation between me and Rujuta post my delivery when I told her to put me on the Tashan diet. She said no, we have to be careful, compassionate, feed the body well or risk hormonal imbalances later. Lolo (Karishma Kapoor) was in agreement with Rujuta. She had knocked off some 25kgs post her second delivery and famously done it eating rice and fish curry, and she in my eyes is the fittest mom out there. And Saif, on his part, told me women are inherently beautiful so they really shouldn’t bother with losing weight, it’s the men who really need to get their act together. Very sweet he is, I know.
ALSO READ: Tummy Toning Exercises After Pregnancy.
RELAX AND SPEND SOME “ME TIME”
Don’t forget yourself after you deliver. Give your body some recuperation time. Pregnancy is tough, delivery is tougher and the toughest job of your life, motherhood, is just about to start. It takes a village to raise a child, goes a famous African proverb. So surely allow your family to help you with the baby – the husband, maasi, older cousins, let them spend some time with the baby while you get some peace and time to yourself.
Having your own life, staying healthy, keeping up with your work life are all important for the baby. A baby who grows up around a healthy and happy mom can build a good life for herself and contribute towards society much more meaningfully. We even have science now backing this up: sons of working mothers are kinder and daughters are smarter. Not having a life of our own doesn’t automatically turn us into great mothers, nor does being skinny. So be kind to yourself.
WATCH THE VIDEO: In a Facebook chat before the official launch of the book, celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar went live with Kareena Kapoor Khan and they discussed food, fitness and everything on pregnancy.
POSTPARTUM HAIR LOSS
A lot of pregnant women complain of hair fall, which continues till post delivery. This happens to the best of us and it is a combination of the weather and the hormones getting back to what they were pre pregnancy. So what can you do?
Rujuta said that the answer lies in ancient Indian wisdom.
- Get a hair massage (champi) with warm coconut oil.
- Include coconut in your meals with chutneys, salads, a little bit in the tadka, curries. etc.
- Dry coconut in the form of laddoo or halwa helps replenish your hair. It also prevents greying.
- Til ka laddoo or mithai and adding til to your tadka or sabzi is equally useful.
- Chakli is one snack that’s healthy too – it is dairy free and gluten free.
ALSO READ: Foods For Strong And Healthy Hair To Make Them Grow Faster And Thicker.
POSTPARTUM SKIN CARE
Kareena looked radiant throughout her pregnancy and even now, she looks wonderful. How to maintain that new mom glow?
“Nope, it isn’t a cream she endorses but it is related completely to what she eats. What you eat is what shows on your face. Your skin conditions depend entirely on food, gut conditions and the amount of sleep a new mom gets,” said Rujuta.