Would Top Chef Host Padma Lakshmi Ever Do the Keto Diet?

Bravo's Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi has said she gains weight during filming of the show — typically 10 to 15 pounds per season — and she regularly detoxes when she gets back to her off-camera lifestyle. She's even been vocal about a "Drano"-like cleanse recipe she swears by. But would she ever try the most talked-about diet of the day: Keto?

The Feast asked Padma when we caught up with her on the red carpet for an April 16 Emmys panel featuring Top Chef as well as Project Runway. Padma Lakshmi, Gail Simmons, as well as the full group of Season 16's five finalists were also in attendance at the event in Los Angeles.

"I think the Keto diet has a lot of really good health benefits," she told us — but still, it's not for her. "I don’t do well on anything that’s very restrictive. My philosophy about food is that you should eat a little bit of everything unless you’re allergic to it."

In general, Keto isn't in the cards for Padma because of the diet's restrictive nature. "It’s nice to have a wide variety of things in your diet," she explained. "That’s what makes your hair shiny, your skin healthy, your mood better, and you have energy — all of those things come from food."

Season 16 finalist Eric Adjepong, also weighed in about the Keto diet, telling us that he thinks it's actually "smart" — a word choice notable because it's the exact opposite of a word other high-profile personalities have used to describe it.

For instance, The Dubrow Diet author Dr. Terry Dubrow has called it "really dumb." Elsewhere in the Bravo universe, Andy Cohen has said he's against Keto, as has The Real Housewives of Orange County's Tamra Judge, who explained she dumped the diet after she got sick from it. 

Here's what else celebrities have said about Keto — on both sides of the debate: