Best known for presenting BBC TV’s DIY SOS and Who Dares Wins, Nick Knowles has now written a cookbook of meat-free recipes. As he prepared to visit East Anglia to promote Proper Healthy Food,
If he can do it, says Nick Knowles, anyone can.Nick, once a committed carnivore, now eats a vegan or vegetarian diet, with the odd day off. And he’s on a mission to help everyone discover the joy in a meat-free meal – without having to give up a Sunday roast at the inlaws or a bacon buttie at the footie.
His cookbook, Proper Healthy Food, which he recently promoted at Jarrold’s store in Norwich, promises hearty vegan and vegetarian recipes for meat lovers.
Nick says he is now “happier, healthier and fitter than ever”. Yet, in 2015 he was feeling unhealthy, out of shape and on the verge of burning out. Determined to change his lifestyle, he travelled to Thailand with a camera crew and fellow DIY SOS stars Billy Byrne and Julian Perryman for a detox, involving a week-long fast followed by a purely vegan diet.
Nick lost nine kilos in three weeks, his cholesterol fell by a third and his blood pressure dropped to a healthy level. The experience was documented in the BBC Two series The Retreat.
Nick says: “Having done The Retreat, I realised the benefits of a more plant-based diet - what a massive difference it can make to not only your physical wellbeing, but your mental wellbeing. When I came back to the UK I found it difficult to find the foods and meals that I wanted.
“I’m a big unit. I’m a rugby player. I’m 6ft 2in, I’m 100 kilos. I stand out in the cold doing DIY SOS for, like, 16 hours a day. When I come in I want a big, wholesome, healthy, filling meal, and I wasn’t getting that from the kind of vegetarian options that were available.
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