Padma Lakshmi Dishes on Her Budding 'Buddha Belly'

Dave Allocca/Startraks

Initially determined to keep her pregnancy under wraps due to her battle with endometriosis, Padma Lakshmi is ready to share her happy news with the world — and just in time, she laughs during a Monday appearance on Live with Regis and Kelly! “It was a little touch and go, but everything is fabulous,” she says.

“Now that I’ve told everyone, I think my body has relaxed and my stomach has just said, ‘Alright!’ I wasn’t really showing that much and the last four days I’ve just got this little Buddha belly.”

Counting herself among the lucky in that she has not suffered from nausea or morning sickness — “because I’m not 20 and I was worried what would happen” — Padma shares that her pregnancy has been a breeze. “I was already eating for two!” she jokes of her increasing appetite.

Now craving avocados and the occasional “beef steak tomatoes for breakfast with the eggs,” the Top Chef host, 39, insists that, except for sushi, she has not curtailed her food habits. “I’ve had no food allergies before, I don’t have them now,” she notes.

“I don’t eat sushi so much, but there are a lot of things in sushi that people don’t realize…you can still go eat sushi, you just have crab or other things. Ask your doctor because every pregnancy is different.”

Baby-on-the-way is due in late March/early April.

Source: Live with Regis and Kelly

– Anya

Comments

“Counting herself among the lucky in that she has not suffered from nausea or morning sickness — “because I’m not 20 and I was worried what would happen” What does that have to do with it? What does she mean?

- annie on October 13th, 2009

Annie, I’m a little confused by that comment, too. I wonder if it was taken out of context, and she was talking about having a high risk pregnancy because of her advanced (according to obstetrics) age. In that case, the remark makes more sense to me.

- Michelle Z. on October 13th, 2009

I think Padma merely meant that, because she’s a little older than most first-time moms, she was concerned about how the pregnancy would affect her.

Congratulations to her. She’s lovely and gracious and absolutely deserves the joy of motherhood, especially after her struggle with endometriosis.

- Alison on October 13th, 2009

aww, she just seems so cute and happy.
glad she is able to enjoy the pregnancy she’s waited so long for.

and she’s right about the sushi… it used to be my favorite food until I learned more about what can be in it. oh, why are so many of the good things in life bad for you?

- fuzibuni on October 14th, 2009

Actually fuzibuni, I think she tried to say that pregnancy doesn’t have to mean a blanket ban on sushi, sinve there are many varieties that are totally ok for pregnant women, like the ones with avocado or omelet.

- MiB on October 15th, 2009