Whatever it is that you do to your body now will soon have an effect on your health.

That was Denise Laurel’s most important takeaway from what happened to her after Your Face Sounds Familiar 2, where she emerged the grand winner.

While the contest was ongoing, she noticed something about her body.

“I couldn’t understand because I was so healthy, I was working out, I was doing soap and Your Face at the same time, pero I was gaining weight,” she told PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) in an exclusive interview on November 24, at the Wellness Moms event of P&G Philippines and Robinsons Supermarket.

She resumed, “Yun pala that’s my body, it’s stressed na.

“My body started acting up.”

What she did next has become her perennial advice to those who want to make sure they're in the pink of health: Have a check-up.

“They found a mass in my breast, my lymph nodes, and in my ovaries.

“I have cysts all over!”

The culprit: Puyat.

Now 29 years old, she was discovered by Star Magic’s Johnny Manahan in a play of Repertory Philippines at the age of 15.

Prior to that, she’s been performing on theater stage.

Denise remarked, “Twenty-one years of non-stop working and pushing myself to the limits sometimes, which I love to do.

“Nobody forced me, I loved to do that.

“I was younger, fit, because I exercise, what could go wrong, right?”

But she eventually experienced the ill effects of “puyat,” and “exercising while puyat” brings too much stress to the body.

She underlined, “No one is really invincible.”

Is she okay now?

It can be recalled that last June, in a video she posted on Instagram, she revealed, “I know some of you have been wondering what I've been up to.

“I've been on a break, getting healthy, and today is a beautiful day because I just found out I do not have cancer.”

READ Denise Laurel happy to reveal she doesn’t have cancer

Are the cysts gone?

“I’m gonna have to take out some of them. In time. There’s no rush.

“But I’ve already taken out half of what’s inside my breast, pero I dunno, I don’t like operations, e.

“So I’m gonna do it little by little.

“And I’m not taking any medication because it messes with your system.

“And I wanna be good, energetic mom for my son.”

Denise has a five-year-old son named Alejandro.

HEALTHY LIVING. Denise has since made an effort to change her lifestyle.

First, “Do not take sleep for granted. I also catch naps whenever I can.”

Second, she changed her diet: “no sugar, less sodium.”

Smiling, she told all the moms who went to the event of P&G Philippines and Robinsons Supermarket, “Masaya pa rin ang buhay.”