‘My life is my gym’

For Priyanka Chopra, who now divides her time between two continents, her ‘hectic’ life has become her gym, during which she follows her customised exercise regime, ‘PC’s on the job workout’. The actor has let out her food and fitness secrets in a new book titled, ‘Gorgeous: Eat Well, Look Great’ compiled by former model and Miss India International Shvetha Jaishankar.

The book features inventive ideas and recipes from the kitchens of India’s top models like Chopra, Malaika Arora Khan, Milind Soman, Gul Panag and Madhu Sapre among others. “I work eighteen-hours a day with little or no time off. I’m never sedentary in those hours – running between set and my make-up trailer, going from one event to the next... it kind of makes up for the lack of exercising that I do! My life is my gym and my playground,” says Chopra in the book.

She credits the “amazing metabolism” that she was born with for her fitness, and says that coupled with her work routine, it works wonders for her, allowing her to gorge on anything that she might want to eat. “I am blessed with an amazing metabolism. That coupled with my hectic work schedule allows me to pretty much eat what I want. “I don’t ever have to think about what I’m eating or count the calories, (except when I am training for a specific look), so I eat what makes me happy,” she says. The former Miss India World, who began her Hollywood career with the American television series ‘Quantico’ is starring in the upcoming film Baywatch. Chopra likes to have an ‘eclectic mix’ on her plate with her favourites ranging from tuna tartare and rajma chawal to pizza! The actor is also an expert at concocting her own recipes to satiate her taste-buds. In the book, she talks about one such enduring food memory, when on a promotional trip to LA, she made one of her greatest food discoveries - Caviar and potato chips.

“A match made in heaven and a Priyanka Chopra creation,” she says. Her latest recipe is the ‘Refrigerator Scrambled Eggs!’  

“This can even be made by kitchen challenged individuals. All you need to do is open your refrigerator and pull out eggs, cheese, a dash of milk and every type of meat you can find,” she says. Having grown up as a tall and lanky child, she “always wanted a wholesome body”, which she says she “eventually grew into having one”.