Basic Principles

Immerse yourself in the desirable ethos before you begin, and settle into good habits once you do. Alcohol is immensely useful in bringing real depth of flavour to food cooked without fat, but if you really want to lose weight, I think you have to give up drinking. I am more of an eater than a drinker so I don’t mind, but I know this is difficult for many people. It’s not just the calories in the alcohol: even a small drink makes me feel positively insouciant about weight, diet, food, calories, all of it. This is a wonderful feeling while it lasts, but dismal when – several thousand calories later – it stops. Also if I drink enough to give me even a little shadow of a hangover, I have to eat vast amounts of fatty, stodgy food the next day to absorb – or so it feels – all the excess alcohol of the previous evening.