Urvashi Rautela’s anti-bloating diet is the secret everyone could use

Her nutritionist Shweta Shah shares deets on what goes into getting her toned and fit body.  

By Ismat Tahseen
30 March, 2023
Urvashi Rautela’s anti-bloating diet is the secret everyone could use

For someone who loves her food and desserts, actress and diva Urvashi Rautela has stayed svelte, rocking her well-toned frame in movies, dance videos, and more. The leggy star, who represented India at the Miss Universe pageant in 2015, and turned heads at the Cannes Film Festival last year, says it’s all thanks to her nutritionist Shweta Shah.

Rautela says, “People emphasise on exercise, but they forget that 80 per cent of the time, the diet works for your body and exercise is just 20 per cent of that. I am not into keto or other fad diets. Shweta Shah helped me realise the power that food has in healing your body.” 

The nutritionist did not restrict Rautela from eating any food, making it pleasant for the actress who adds, “Who doesn't love desserts, right? If I feel like eating something sweet, Shweta has given me some really tasty date and coconut balls that I can eat every day without any guilt.” 

And this is just one part of her smart eating plan. We got Shah, who’s also nutritionist and dietician to Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone, to reveal it all. 

Focus on inch loss not weight loss

Shah chalked up the diet master plan for Rautela keeping several aspects in mind. She says, “I believe in holistic and clean eating and my approach towards making a diet plan for Urvashi was also the same. The diet took care of her skin, hair, energy levels, work schedule, and travel.” 
They followed a few weeks of intermittent fasting as well as normal, clean eating. They also kept tweaking her diet with different meal options. “Her diet was focused on fat loss and inch loss and not weight or muscle loss. It was about targeting bloating and water retention,” informs Shah. 

Millets made for the power-up

millets

To begin, Shah is clear that on days she wasn't intermittent fasting, Rautela’s breakfast included a mixture of proteins and carbs, as it was to be consumed after her workout, and had to be the most energy-giving. “We gave her eggs and protein shake, oats shake, plus poha with sprouts and fruits for breakfast.” Lunch and dinner comprised basic roti-sabzi fare.
“We skipped broccoli and zucchini as she isn’t fond of those, but she likes all the other vegetables. We made sure dinner was protein-rich; it included a variety of grilled chicken, fish, and dudhi muthiyas (steamed snacks made with bottle gourd).” 

Millets were the mainstay here. She had parathas and chillas (savoury pancakes) for dinner. The plan included a variety of millets in her parathas as substitutes for rice. “I remember her being surprised about millets tasting good,” recalls Shah. The millets were made in different ways, from kodo millet to a foxtail millet khichdi, chilla, roti, moong dal chilla and quinoa rice.

A fan of soups and juices

A soup or broth is often like a one-bowl meal and luckily for Rautela, that’s on top of her list. Shah admits, “Urvashi loves her soups and stews, so I try to incorporate them as fillers and don’t swap them with main meals. Ash gourd soup is a must; it takes care of her acidity and is her favourite. We also mix and make her diet interesting with vegetable broth, drumstick-celery soup, pumpkin-carrot soup and spinach soup.”

Without juices her diet is incomplete. Shah lists different juices that take care of her skin and hair. While it includes mint and coriander juice, it also features parsley, celery, mint and grated ginger juice, which takes care of her digestion. She also has carrot, amla, and beetroot juice as a blood purifier, which gives clear skin and a fantastic glow.” 

Tackling bloating with kadhas

Kadhas

The actress has a tendency to retain water, so there had to be definite diet tips to help resolve this. “Urvashi’s water retention and bloating were the focus of the diet. Jet lags, long flights, lack of sleep, eating at odd hours, all contribute to water retention in her body.” 

Here’s what Shah did. “To cope with bloating, I gave her a coriander-fennel-jeera kadha and advised her to have it twice on days when she travels. I also introduced star anise kadha and a kadha of fennel with black pepper powder in her diet.”

Detox waters played a role in tackling the issue. She continues, “I ensured infused water was part of her diet between 11:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. It was either kesar strands with fennel in water or a celery stem with 10 parsley leaves and grated ginger-infused water.” It worked wonders! She adds, “This took care of her bloating and water retention and gave her amazing results. She also saw surprising results in the one-week khichdi diet that we suggested.”

Supplements were a no-no

Whenever Rautela is home, she ensures her meals are on time. When she is on shoots or is travelling, eating outside food is a complete no. She likes to eat right and even if she indulges in a snack once in a while, she ensures they’re homemade chips and never store-bought. “It makes a big difference to follow clean eating,” explains Shah, “She never takes any supplements. All of her nutrition is only through food and has a natural approach to it. We tweak her diet to fit in the requirements of any upcoming role, but always make sure she has a balanced diet with all the five elements of nature.” 

How alkaline foods helped

black raisins

Alkaline foods are increasingly recognised as the need of the hour for everyone in today’s times. “Thanks to erratic meal timings, wrong choice of food, busy schedules and stress, we often turn our systems acidic, leading to gas, acidity, ulcers, heartburn, and more. To tackle this, it is essential to have alkaline foods in our diet,” informs Shah. 

Those consuming a high protein diet also need to include alkaline foods in their diets to balance the heat, she advises. For Rautela, she suggested having ash gourd juice or soup, pumpkin-bottle gourd dishes or the fennel-kesar kadha, which effectively beats acidity. Soaked black raisins had early in the morning also took care of this.”

The diet immensely helped Rautela. “Shah’s all-natural approach has really worked for me; I’m not starved, my energy levels are high, and I feel good,” adding, “I don't even feel like cheating on my diet now.

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