Health, fitness awareness a global phenomenon now: Milind Soman

From his sensational screen presence as a supermodel to making a mark as Limca Record holder for running to create awareness about environment, receiving appreciation from critics for his performance in "Bajirao Mastani" and his recent marriage -- the 50-year-old model-actor Milind Soman has been in news for various reasons.But he says his fitness routine has been widely talked about because health has emerged as a global topic of discussion.

Milind told IANS here: "I think my association with health and fitness has got serious attention in the last five years. But the fact is I am into sports and physical activity from my childhood. People did not pay much attention to it back then. Perhaps that is because the awareness on health and fitness is a global phenomenon now."

A champion swimmer who represented India, Milind says earlier people were only interested in his work as a supermodel.

Narrating a story about how most of the mainstream media was ignorant about his achievement on health and fitness, he said: "I ran from Delhi to Mumbai in 2012 (1,500 km in 30 days) and one of the news channels covered the event. However, no one asked me anything about that run.

"Nowadays, even if I run for five km, media asks me about it. So, I believe the whole talk and awareness has happened in the mainstream media and people are talking about it because adapting a healthy lifestyle is a global topic of discussion."

He says perhaps people started noticing his passion for fitness when he did Ironman Challenge in 2015.

"I posted a picture on social media with a caption, "One Ironman done #50"," added Milind. 

Emphasising how most diseases are a result of bad lifestyle and not all of them are genetic, Milind said: "For instance, my father died of diabetes and heart attack. He had diabetes from the age of 22. But I do not have any issue like that. My mother has high blood pressure, but she is on constant check. My blood pressure is normal. So, the fact is, we have to work on our body to achieve fitness.

"We have to keep our body and mind in sync to achieve that. Saying one will surely suffer from a disease because it is in his gene is another excuse not to work on a healthy lifestyle."

Milind is also the ambassador of Pinkathon, India's women only marathon.

He says it is because people's "mind is the weakest" that despite having all the knowledge and information about bad lifestyle and eating habits, people neither stop eating junk food, nor do physical exercise regularly.

"Our body is strong, and it is capable to adapt any lifestyle. It is the duty of our mind to drive our body in correct manner. Otherwise after a point, our body will surely give up," said the actor, who never compromises on his healthy lifestyle even with his busy schedule.