The TV presenter, author and former model, 35, talks about the importance of family time, her new love of meditation and her weakness for Dairy Milk.
By Larissa Chapman
My day begins with the school run then a quick blast of high intensity interval training (HIIT). I do this at home and it boosts my energy levels and gets me ready to take on the day. After that it’s breakfast, which usually consists of a big bowl of oats and berries. The rest of my day is often filled with meetings with the team at my charity, The Katie Piper Foundation, and working on upcoming projects. I spend a lot of time recording my podcast, working on my new book and doing plenty of filming – it’s a real mix! In the evenings, we like to have dinner as a family. My husband, Richie, and I will take it in turns to bathe the girls and read them a bedtime story. Then, we love to curl up on the sofa and watch a good TV drama together.
Katie Piper with TerriAnn Nunns, who co-founded The Healthy Happy Mum Plan with Katie. (C) 2018 DAN KENNEDY
I try to do at least 25 minutes of exercise each day. Whether it’s at the gym or a power walk on the treadmill in my kitchen, followed by squats and lunges in my front room, I always do something. I like to do a mixture of cardio and weight training. When I’m at the gym, I tend to work on strengthening exercises and often use resistance bands, gymnastic hoops and the pull-up bar. My husband and I like to do fun runs and bike rides at weekends, and I often go for power walks while pushing my daughter Penelope, age one, in herpram. Keeping active and working out does wonders for my mental health and really helps to keep any stress and anxiety in check.
I had the best time on Strictly Come Dancing last year. I just loved the sequins, amazing hair and fake tan! I’ve made some friends for life and Gorka was such a funny, kind and patient partner. It was a huge challenge and I was completely out of my comfort zone but it was great to try something different and light-hearted, as a lot of my day-to-day work can be quite serious and heavy. My four-year old, Belle, loved watching me on TV, which was so lovely – we would often record the episode and watch it together on a Sunday.
Katie Piper with TerriAnn Nunns and children. (C) 2018 DAN KENNEDY
Food-wise I love fish – my favourite meal is seasoned salmon with rice and vegetables. One food I absolutely cannot live without is avocado – I’ll often add it to salads or even just snack on it on its own. This is all quite healthy but on a Saturday night I can’t resist a G&T and a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk – it’s my guilty pleasure!
I’ve recently started meditating, which is something I hope to learn more about and do more often. I’ve just completed a four-day meditation course, which was so fantastic and really helped to focus my mind.
Katie Piper with TerriAnn Nunns who lost seven stone through her own healthy eating plan. (C) 2018 DAN KENNEDY
I’m pretty low-maintenance when it comes to my beauty regime. Make-up wise I don’t want anything too fussy: just a little bit of concealer to hide dark circles and a sweep of bronzer, which usually takes me about 10 minutes. I always apply SPF each day to protect my face from sun damage, and for my skin, that is really important [Katie still has scars from when acid was thrown into her face in 2008, which caused serious burns and blindness in one eye]. I also drink a lot of water – it’s so simple but makes such a difference.
This year has already been a busy one. Earlier in the year I took part in Channel 4’s ‘Famous and Fighting Crime’ series, which was a great experience and really opened my eyes to the incredible work the police do for us every day. I was really nervous to begin with but they made me feel so welcome; it was really quite life changing for me. As well as TV, I’ve also been busy working on The Healthy Happy Mum Plan (an online plan packed with food, fitness and wellbeing advice for busy mums)and of course my weekly podcast and passion project, ‘Katie Piper’s Extraordinary People’. Each week we feature a guest speaker who has overcome adversity – it can be really emotional at times. I also have some other exciting projects in the pipeline for the rest of the year so watch this space!
