Chennai, March 26 (IANS): Actress Shraddha Das, who has been actively practicing yoga for nearly two years, says she doesn't do it to lose weight but for attaining mental peace and to be able to eat freely.

"I'm not crazy about losing weight or health conscious. I do yoga, Monday to Saturday, two and a half hours daily, for mental peace. I don't go there to lose weight and I enjoy thoroughly doing it. I have never been to the gym, it's always been either kickboxing or yoga," Shraddha told IANS.

"Another reason I do yoga is I like to eat a lot. I eat sweets everyday and I can't control that. When I do yoga, I can eat anything from rice to kheer to halwa. So, I do yoga because I can eat freely and for mental peace," she added.

Shraddha, however, says yoga helps to maintain body weight.

"The good effect of yoga is that you do maintain particular amount of weight. I have gone down from having a waist of 32 inches to 27 inches in a span of three months. I achieved this without dieting. I follow traditional yoga and I do in a garden," she said.

She says yoga leaves a lasting effect on the body unlike gymming.

"When you stop gymming, your muscle shrinks and you have more fat in the body. With yoga, there's nothing of that sort. I didn't do yoga in between for four months in the last one and a half years, but I didn't gain weight even without dieting and consuming the same amount of fat," she said.

"I would really suggest yoga to everybody because in the long run it's the best. We have real examples in our industry like Shilpa Shetty and Kareena Kapoor, who are over 30 and they still look really beautiful," Shraddha added.

Shraddha has been training under yoga guru Vikash Kumar, who has been teaching for five years.