Many won’t know that author Tahira Kashyap Khurrana had only tomatoes in the name of diet as a teenager but now she is against any kind of diet plan.

“I’ve done a whole lot of diets such as having tomato throughout the day or sweet potato through the day which is why I screwed up my gut. You don’t release happy hormones when you deprive yourself. So, I’m against any sort of diet,” she explains.

When we spoke to Khurrana, she was enjoying a balmy winter afternoon in Chandigarh. The author, who has battled through many obstacles in life, has found her way to being fit and happy. Responding to one of our questions about her fitness mantra, she gave us a holistic sense of being fit. “Exercise is for mental and physical well-being both. I practice chanting for mental workout and for physical fitness, I go cycling and walk around the lake for 40 minutes. Earlier I was doing aerobics but I keep switching to stay agile and active,” she tells us.

Khurrana kickstarts her day with having two tbsps of soaked sesame seeds, two almonds and two walnuts, followed by a bowl of fruit and a glass of green juice. She takes whatever greens she has at home, churns them and drinks it up. So, cucumber, bitter gourd, leaves of vegetables, coriander, guava leaf, just put it in the mixer and have it as green vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre but low in calorie.

Sharing her kitchen health hack, the author throws her weight behind mixing flours for better nutrients. “I have different millet, we should mix these fibres as India is rich in millets,” she recommends.