Three years ago, around this time of year, I went on a detox and had an intensive few weeks of juicing to clear my system of all the rubbish I’d been filling it with.
"I’m chuffed I discovered this before properly introducing my boys to food!"
I spent my nights happily flicking through cookbooks, dreaming up the nutritious meals I would eventually start cooking, as well as watching endless food documentaries. I found it fascinating and knew I needed to tweak the way I viewed food.
One documentary, Earthlings, which is narrated by actor Joaquin Phoenix, changed my outlook completely – and Tom’s, too. After watching it, we both decided to swear off eating meat.
I became a vegetarian while Tom bravely opted to become a vegan. As I was drooling over cookbooks by Hemsley + Hemsley and Deliciously Ella, packed with amazing veggie recipes, it didn’t feel daunting.
More than that, though, we felt amazing – sparkier, brighter with endless amounts of energy.
However, things got more difficult. Tom was on tour and the options for vegan meals were almost non-existent. I’d started working on a new book, so I didn’t have hours to creatively experiment.
We decided to reintroduce meat, but in a more considered way. We still eat lots of veggie meals because, as it turns out, vegetables are flipping delicious – I’m chuffed I discovered this before properly introducing my boys to food!