Sonali Bendre recently had a heartwarming chat with Farah Khan, who visited the Behl household along with her cook, Dilip, to prepare the actor’s all-time favorite fried fish.
During their candid conversation, Sonali revealed that she prefers having dinner quite early. “I usually eat dinner around 6:30–7:00 pm. After that, if others are eating and I have to sit with them, it feels quite unfortunate,” she told Khan, who agreed with her approach.
Talking about her marriage into a Punjabi family, Bendre shared how she was initially surprised by the endless supply of food at home. “I often wondered. Whose wedding is it today? There was always so much food around. Being a Maharashtrian, I was used to simple dal-chawal every day,” she said. She also praised her mother-in-law, Madhu Ramesh Behl, for encouraging her not to cook daily. She told me that as an educated woman, I didn’t need to be in the kitchen every day. I just needed to know how to manage it, Sonali recalled.
Madhu also mentioned that when Sonali became part of the family, they made adjustments to their meals, introducing more steamed dishes. At this point, Farah Khan chimed in, “Goldie is now a vegetarian,” to which Sonali jokingly responded, I had nothing to do with that.
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The conversation also touched on a more serious topic, Sonali’s cancer journey. She was diagnosed in 2018 and declared cancer-free in 2021. “We often think we don’t have the time, but I wish I had followed up more aggressively. I had some symptoms, and early detection truly saves lives. Please get your scans and tests done,” urged the 50-year-old actor.
Highlighting the importance of early dinner from a health perspective, Dr. Rajiv Kovil, head of diabetology and weight loss expert at Zandra Healthcare and co-founder of the Rang De Neela Initiative, explained that meal timing plays a crucial role in blood sugar control.
Eating earlier gives your body more time for digestion and insulin action before you sleep, which helps reduce overnight glucose spikes. A lighter, earlier dinner can also improve sleep quality, vital for metabolic health, he said.
According to Dr. Kovil, aligning your eating habits with your body’s natural circadian rhythm can lower the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and metabolic syndrome. When you shift your dinner time earlier, you’re more likely to make healthier choices and stick to your regular meals, instead of giving in to high-calorie, late-night cravings, he added.
I am Manish Gupta – a pharmacy graduate from PSIT Kanpur and the founder & CEO of Medicovada. Medicovada is a health and wellness blogging platform that promotes evidence-based information on natural lifestyle and preventive care.
