Helena Christensen works out so she can eat "pasta and cheese".

The 52-year-old supermodel exercises regularly but was keen to stress she does so in order to be strong and healthy, not so she can lose weight, though she admitted being active means she doesn't have to cut back on her favourite foods.

She said: “I work out to make myself stronger, so that my body can be healthy and I can move gracefully.

"[And so I can eat] pasta and cheese. I just would not be able to cut it out. Food is one of my favourite things in life.”

Helena likes to mix up her workouts, but is a particular fan of boxing.

She told Vogue: "I want to do something that is super high-intensity and hardcore, so I won’t be distracted or bored.

"Then I do a lot of conditioning. I walk a lot and sprint, and I try to do yoga a couple of times a week."

The brunette beauty wishes she didn't "suck" at meditation because she's heard so many good things about the discipline.

She said: “I really, really wish I was great at meditating. The amount of times I’ve heard about meditation changing someone’s life… It really frustrates me that I suck at it, but I just do.”

However, she's found her own way to relax and reach a higher state; through being in water.

She said: “I do a lot of things on my own, at my own pace, in my own little universe. When I’m in water, that’s the highest form of meditation I can experience for sure...

“I want to be in it and around it as much as possible. When I go upstate, as soon as I arrive I just run to the river and throw myself in. It makes me feel alive.”