I'm home alone with James (6) over the weekend. On learning this was going to happen he wrote the above list of things to do whilst I was at work. They are:
1. me and dad have the best party ever.
2. we go to football
3. make lots of lego
4. play a game
Attaboy.
Yesterday was so bonkers I didn't have time for a vlog or a blog, which is a shame as I ate like a champion, worked like a dog and was in bed before 8pm. That's living.
Not drinking means all the boring stuff I could usually put off forever gets done. Although I have found I would rather clean the whole house than write invoices. I've also started pursuing a story I let lie for a while last year, though that might be because I met a useful contact last week.
On the food front, the vegan ready-meals have been great. I now have weekday routine - energy bars and fruit in the morning, nuts for lunch and a vegan ready meal for dinner.
Last night I had a proper feast. Crisps and salsa, followed by vegetarian samosa, vegan chickpea curry ready meal, then raspberry sorbet with grated organic chocolate on top.
I could quite happily be a vegan, and whilst I'm not going out and not drinking, it's easier not to eat animal (by-)products.
If/when I reach a point where it's easier to be vegan than it is to be omnivorous or vegetarian, I'll do it. Whilst it's not, I won't.
On the health front the weight certainly appears to be sloughing off. This morning I weighed 11st 5.6lb, which means if you believe the 11st 12lb my scales reported on 2nd Jan, is just under half a stone in 10 days. If I manage another 5lb before the end of the month, I'll be happy.
Today's vlog is below (and here, if you can't see it), below that, the tale of the tape.
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Weight: 11st 5lb
Exercise: 5 mins cycling
Food:
Hike and Raw bars, apple, banana and satsuma
Tesco Wicked beans and mash
Jamie Oliver's vegan bean chilli with rice
Crisps and salsa
Carrots and Houmous
Two soy americanos
Last night I went to M&S and bought a new work suit, then went to the adjoining Tesco and spent £20 on their vegan ready-meal range, and as I suspected, Mrs Wallis wasn't best pleased. I have already filled up the cupboards and fridge with vegetables. Last night I went to bed with my second crushing headache this month (I never have headaches) and this morning I walked to work suffering from severe stomach cramps. I brought the Tesco felafel meatballs and pasta with me. And wore my new suit.
This is the first time I have taken food which needs heating to ITN, because you never know where you're going to be or what you're going to be doing. Nonetheless, I spend at least half my shifts at Gray's Inn Road, and when that happens, I usually get time for a break after the lunchtime news. I thought I might get lucky. Nope.
After shooting two interviews, a piece to camera, several voxes and then going on a plastic rubbish hunt, I had to write, voice and edit my piece in time for the lunchtime news. It's a team effort, and I was ably assisted by the newsdesk (sourcing and booking second interview), ace cameraman Russ Padwick, top producer Vicky Coxon (sorting the graphic, fact-checking my script, making sure the astons were correctly timed), Ruji on the regions desk sorting the Cornwall pictures and Martha on the picture desk sorting the stills, Nick Lloyd the brilliant editor for tidying up (ie vastly improving) my edit all under the sage guidance of legendary output editor Mike Rigby. But it was still on me if it f***ed up, so I was feeling it a little bit. I was also starving. Breakfast had been the usual Hike/Paleo/Apple/Banana/Satsuma medley, eaten at various stages between 7am and midday, but by 1.30pm I was ready to fall over. I kept myself going by thinking that after the debrief at 2pm I'd have a chance to heat my exciting vegan ready meal.
During the programme debrief I was asked to go immediately to an industrial estate in SE15 to interview someone important at Veolia about their (gargantuan) recycling facility and what it does to the plastic which would otherwise end up in landfill or the sea. No swanky lunch at my desk. Oh no. I ordered a cab, and whilst waiting for it, went to the kitchen, nuked my meal for the requisite time before edging into a corner to eat it standing up. A colleague queueing for the microwave said I looked like the human embodiment of January. A miserable man shovelling vegetables into his mouth by a bin.
"Christmas," she said, "seems a long time ago, doesn't it?"
Of all the places I could have chosen to visit wearing a new suit, I'm not sure it would have been a recycling facility, but at least it has now been blooded. Thanks also to everyone at Veolia. One of the privileges of this job is getting into places people don't normally see. And until you've clambered around recycling machine the size of a football pitch, you haven't lived.
I had to rush to Waterloo to catch the train back to Walton - I needed to be back in time for my daughter's birthday party. The rail strike meant things were a little, er, up in the air at one stage, but I made it back in good time.
I need a drink. But I'm not going to have one. Vlog below (or here), showing my vegan ready meal purchases in all their glory. Below that, the tale of the tape and food consumption so far today.
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Weight: 11st 8lb
Exercise: 10 mins cycling, 30 mins walk
Food:
Hike/Paleo/Apple/Banana/Satsuma.
Wicked felafel meatballs and pasta.
Boots veggie and quinoa sushi (I ate that standing up, come to think of it).
Carrot sticks.
Two handfuls of roasted, salted cashews and peanuts.
Two rice crackers.
It is my first of four earlies at ITV News. A heartening start came from stepping on the scales shortly after getting out of bed. I am (or was at 5am) 11st 7lb, after reaching the giddy heights of 11st 12lb earlier this week. I know weight fluctuations and scale inaccuracies mean that I haven't really lost 5lb, but I'd rather my scales were showing an unreliable loss rather than a similar-sized unreliable gain.
Yesterday I ate my own bodyweight in roasted nuts, which gave me my recommended daily allowance of salt in one sitting. It did fill me up, though, and by the time I got home at 11pm it was too late for dinner.
Earlies are terrible for the metabolism and it's very easy to eat four meals a day, so I try to wait as long as possible after waking up before I have anything.
After showering, getting dressed and navigating my way to an anonymous doorstep location, I variously stood outside in the cold, or when it was safe to do so, got in the van to keep warm over the course of two and a half hours from 6.45am to 9.15am. I felt a bit dehydrated, but the last thing you want to do is take on any fluids, as that just means you'll be needing to go to the toilet for an indeterminate period of time, which is horrible.
Anyway, we got our shot, which I'm sure you'll see on the news today. I am heading back to base to get rid of my thermals and make myself available for the lunchtime news. I have already finished off a Hike and Paleo bar, and I have some fruit and the inevitable nuts in my bag. If I can get away for an itsu after the lunchtime news that would make me very happy, but we'll see how it goes.
Today's vlog (from the secret doorstep location) is here, and below. Below that is the latest tale of the tape and all the Vegan Dry January posts to date. Oh and do like and subscribe to the vlog if you like it and want to subscribe to it. You can have these blog posts delivered via email too. There should be a little box to fill in on this webpage - just put your email in there and confirm it when you get the request in your inbox. You will never miss an exciting instalment of the Nick is Not Drinking blog. Until you unsubscribe. Have fun.
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Weight: 11st 7lb
Exercise: 10 mins cycle, 30 mins walk
Food:
Hike bar
Paleo bar
Soy Americano.
Apple, satsuma, banana.
Unsalted nuts.
Sainsbury's minestrone soup.
Two slices homemade bread with pure spread.
Oatly in tea (didn't separate!).
Total daily salt recommendation in one convenient packet.
In an attempt to get this blog on track I'm publishing today's post earlier than usual. You'd presumably much rather have the opportunity to read about Day 8 of Vegan Dry January on Day 8, rather than the day after.
I also had a crack and doing a better quality vlog (in terms of sound and framing, if not content), which you can see here, or below.
Today's big news comes courtesy of ace journalist and former Surrey Life editor Caroline Harrap who noted on facebook that Tesco had heard my request for a vegan ready meal supplier and promptly launched a new range of vegan ready meals.
Photo: Tesco
Whilst I'm not exactly taken on the "smeared poo" element of the ready-meal packaging, this could represent a big leap forward in the normalisation of vegan eating.
Photo: Tesco
It also means idiots like me, who don't have time to cook and only retain a tangential interest in veganism, can easily access convenient vegan food.
Photo: Tesco
There are vegan wraps and sandwiches available too, in which the poo smear is less obvious.
If you want to read all about it - here's the Wicked Healthy brand website.
Whatever you think of Tesco, this could lead to more people eating a plant-based diet, and plant-based foods making up a larger part of "omni" diets. I suspect the other UK supermarkets will be watching the sales of this stuff very closely. If it holds up or takes off, they will be rushing out their own ranges quicker than you can say quinoa bean curry, because what's being offered here could divert people away from other supermarkets.
Exercise: 40 mins circuit training, 40 mins cycling
Food:
Shreddies, cornflakes, oatly and soya milk all in the same bowl. Complex.
Hike Christmas Pudding bar (basically food find of the year - I'm going to buy Aldi out before they stop stocking them)
Paleo Macadamia and coconut bar.
Apple and satsuma.
75g mixed, salted, festive nuts.
Having finished the almond milk on Day 5, I started on the unsweetened soya milk yesterday morning and found it separated in both instant and ground coffee, but survived tea. It tasted okay. This morning I had the soya milk in my shreddies and put the oatly in my coffee. The oatly separated, but not as much. Same with tea. It also tasted okay. I am now having more black tea and coffee and things like jasmine green tea, in order to avoid the coffee/tea/not-milk jeopardy/rigamarole altogether.
Lunch was leftover spaghetti and tomato, preceded by tomato, red rice and quinoa soup from Covent Garden. Why has Covent Garden soup taken to putting a plastic screw-top in its paper cartons? It means they're no longer recommended for use in the microwave, and they now have a lump of sea-float sitting on top of their previously worthy waxy paper cartons. They're probably reacting to feedback from people who find opening elo-pak cartons too difficult or confusing, but it does seem a self-defeating move.
I shouldn't be moaning on here. I have created a separate, safe space to moan elsewhere. This is my first 50 Micro-Irritations, collated before Christmas and recorded last week. It still needs work (the next one will not have those black bars on the side and will have better sound), but I like it and I'm already half way through collating my next bunch. The stupid new plastic openings on Covent Garden soup cartons is in. As are vegan bloody milks which separate on contact with hot liquids.
Bowl of shreddies with soy milk.
Bowl of oat cheerios with sugar and soy milk.
Tomato, red rice and quinoa Covent Garden Soup
Small bowl of pasta and tomato.
Carrots and houmous (several kg today)
Crisps, baby tomatoes.
Being sober 24/7 means that you have loads more time to get boring, pernickety things done. Things that aren't remotely creative, but still require you to think in a structured, methodical manner.
So the chore my accountant has been hassling me to do for three months got done today. A hard-drive got reformatted. New LED bulbs were chosen and ordered. This is productive on one level, but utterly tedious on another. I usually spend Saturday mornings bimbling about with a mild hangover, either eating a bacon-and-egg bap or wondering when I'll get a chance to. Most of this Saturday I just wanted to be over.
The weekly shop was fun, though - buying anything which fitted my criteria of a) vegan b) two minutes prep time. I bought far too much and spent a fortune. It was great.
I did also make the Jamie Oliver veg chilli (see above and in the vlog below) which people on facebook recommended. It was very tasty, but took about 90 minutes to prepare, cook, eat and wash up. I spend most of my weekend catering for and cleaning up after small people, so I don't need to be doing the same for me.
I am on the look out for a vegan ready-meal supplier. If there isn't one - I have a business idea. The Lazy Vegan. Hit me up. It might catch on.
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Weight: 11st 7.8lb
Exercise: None.
Food:
Two slices of toast, pure olive spread and marmite.
Handful of grapes.
Porridge with the last of the almond milk, thank god. Syrup.
Half a packet of lime salted naan chips.
Spaghetti and tomato and chilli.
Hummous and a carrot.
Jamie Oliver's vegetable chilli.
Hello special friends. I thought this newly reactivated blog would be mainly about not-drinking again. It's not. The vegan aspect has entirely taken over. I will admit to a couple of Friday night drink spasms which passed as quickly as they arrived, however the novelty of veganism has meant I haven't missed animal products at all.
I think what I particularly like is being able to eat as much as I want and still lose weight, though that will plateau for a bit, especially after what I ate on Day 5. It's all posted below, as is my daily vlog in which I admit to start feeling like something of a vegan imposter, but for the rest of this post I'm going to hand over to Mary Sweeney, a vegan who plays for the roller derby team "Soy Division" ("rad name, huh?").
Mary very kindly, on the back of a passing suggestion from a mutual friend, sent me a *load* of advice on sensible vegan eating. The volume of information and her writing style was too good to keep to myself so asked if I could post her email up here. She very kindly acceded. If you are thinking of going vegan (particularly if you live in London), here's the 101:
"DAILY TIPS
I know you're a journo and you're often out and about... chain cafés are getting their act together when it comes to offering vegans (and gf/coeliac people also) options. They're getting better with their labelling. Caffé Nero offer some kind of fruit-based crumble bar that's pretty scrummy. I tend to stick with soya milk at coffee shops. I've tried coconut milk at Starbucks and it's just a bit flat for me. Some indie coffee shops offer Oatly Barista milk for their drinks, which is the tits.
Pret - one of the few chains to open a 'Veggie Pret' - there's one in Soho just by the John Snow pub. All veggie and vegan. Proper impressed the community with that :) So they're definitely a company who are committed to providing more options. All of their stores do daily soups, and try and offer a vegan / gf option every day. Souper Tomato, I've also had a great lentil-based one that was scrummy. They offer some vegan sandwiches, but I am not often a fan of those.
SNACKS
Stock up on the likes of Trek bars (they're good), bags of nuts and pieces of fruit...on days off, I eat more avocados now, but that's when I have time to mash one up with a smidgin of garlic, lemon juice, and mash it all down on some toasted sourdough...mmmmm.
VEGAN CHEESE
I'll be honest, I miss cheese. It tastes great! But let's remember it's essentially breast milk from another mammal that we've been conditioned to think we need to have. We don't. Also - something else to put you off... lots of cows get mastitis (infected udders) so don't think it's just pure milk you're getting in your pint...and also, when do mammals produce milk? When they're pregnant. How comes we're drinking that milk? Because the calf is taken from the mother shortly after birth so we can rinse her for all of her milk. When her body is knackered from repeated births...she's sent off to be slaughtered for cheap cuts of meat. Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty horrendous, just so we can have a cheese and Branston cob, right? There are lots of standard-style 'cheeses' you can get and I'd say try - on your first outing - Violife mozzarella style cheese..maybe melted on some toast, with some mushrooms on top and some fresh basil. Mmm... toastie goodness. There are also artisan 'cheeses' small vegan companies make...which taste great but are also rather expensive!
WHOLE FOODS / HEALTH SHOPS
They offer a lot of great 'equivalents' if you wish to go down that road. Worth a visit if you're not busy to go and have a gander. I visit them to get odd things to supplement my diet. There is a school of thought or some vegans who really avoid all that 'fake meat / cheese' stuff and just go full on for the leafy veg, fruit, grains, pulses, etc. Definitely go for the natural stuff whenever you can.
COOKING
TONS of recipes on the internet for a plant-based diet. And you can veganise existing recipes if you're any type of foodie / someone that's good with cooking.
EATING OUT
There are SO many good restaurants catering for vegans nowadays, whether it's a regular 'omni' style place offering a few options, or, even better, dedicated veggie & vegan places. Here's a short list of a few of my faves:
Mildreds - branch in Soho, I hear there is a branch in Marylebone too now Tibits - off Regent Street, on Heddon St. Buffet-style but the food is good if you're around W1 and want a plate of decent food quick. I think they're Swiss originally. The Gate - Hammersmith. Round the side of the Apollo, heading down towards the river. I take a few Omni mates there who are happy to eat veg occasionally and they all love it. Food is soooooo good. You won't be disappointed. Check out their website.
DIRTY FOOD
If you're craving some down 'n' dirty vegan fried 'chic'n' at some point and you can be arsed to go to Hackney, try the Temple of Seitan! :) - a 5 min walk from Hackney Central Overground, on Morning Lane. I believe they're planning a second branch in Camden at some point.
If you're doing this for weight loss I'd also advise getting some chia seeds into your diet. You can buy them in supermarkets - usually stocked in the same area as Trek bars, energy bars, all that wholefood type stuff. When I say supermarkets I mean Waitrose, I think Sainsburys, Tescos. Morrisons... probably not. Otherwise good old Holland and Barrett. Used in South America by people on long treks you can add water to them and they swell up into this gel. Really really good for you. I sometimes add oat milk to them and a touch of cinnamon and shake it up and leave it for 30 minutes for a healthy breakfast style smoothie. Could probably put a teaspoon of chocolate protein powder in there if you wanted for extra flavour.
CRISPS
Lots of crisps have milk in. I KNOW RIGHT WHAT'S THAT ABOUT?!?! It fixes the flavour. Kettle Chips are good with labelling their products as suitable for vegans. Walkers - not so. I was overjoyed at Ikea Wembley today (!!) to find their sour cream and onion crisps are vegan.
PROTEIN
As you can't fill your body with animal stuff, you may get hungrier initially. We don't need as much protein as we're often told we do, but you do need to think about where you are getting your protein from. What I do tend to have in is a chocolate vegan protein powder for days I am active. Sometimes I add a spoonful of peanut butter and a banana to it and blend it up. Usually have that combo if I'm playing roller derby that day. The powder I use is called Amazing Grass which Whole Foods stock. I asked my vegan pals in the roller derby challenge team what they would recommend and they suggested looking at supplements and shakes from Huel, the vegan range from Protein Works, Jacked on the Beanstalk, Simnett Nutrition, Soy Protein Isolate from Bulk Powders and Vivolife.
SUPPLEMENTS
B12. Get a decent B12 supplement from Whole Foods. Makes like Solgar, or BioCare, Viridian, or Terra Nova are decent companies who should do a B12 supplement. I've bought Solgar's before. Some plant milks are fortified with B12, but not sure all are. I think Alpro fortify all of their milks, but I tend to stick to Oatly now, and not sure they do. Apparently some breakfast cereals are fortified too but cereal is a big barrel of nonsense as far as I'm concerned so I don't touch the stuff. B12 is also in Marmite, so if you love it and don't hate it, have that too. But for a regular supply a B12 nugget is probably best.
You'll also do yourself a favour if you have Omega 3. Tbh, EVERYONE could benefit from Omega 3 from all I've read - I think a typical Western diet has too much Omega 6 and 9 but not enough Omega 3. The aforementioned chia seeds are good for Omega 3s. You can also get Omega 3 oils. I sometimes - every few months - get a bottle of hemp oil from the chilled section at my local health food shop in Ealing.
FRUIT AND VEG
...ah, Nature's goodness. You'll be eating more of that I reckon. Fill your boots. The more you eat raw, the better, your gut will thank you for it. Look up the idea of 'crowding out' - it's about 'crowding out' the bad foods with so many good / filling / fibrous foods that couldn't eat toxic nonsense even if you tried! Great huh? :)"
Thanks Mary. I went back to Mary and asked her about vegan booze, just to complete the set, not that I'm wavering or anything (honest!) and I will put together an end of Dry January Vegan Booze Celebration list at the end of the month. Maybe we should have a party or something...?!
Two slices of home made toast with Pure olive spread and Apricot Jam
Hike Christmas pudding bar
Granny Smith apple
Raw cashew and date bar
Entire bag of roasted unsalted cashews
Wagamama meal including veggie gyoza, a vegan curry and vegan sorbet
Finished off the Montezuma Black Forest Gateau chocolate
