Dry January, Veganuary … when it all gets a bit much, reach for something simple like shepherd’s pie or mushroom soup
By the time you read this, it will all be over: the advice about what to do in January. Either you’ll still be sticking to your resolutions, food- and exercise-wise, or you will have already abandoned them – unless, like me, you didn’t make any, for which reason you will be currently neither glowing nor guilty. Regular readers will know that I like nothing more than to sit atop my spike; after the holidays, I could hardly wait to get back to work. But I also find the winter hard enough without depriving myself of things.
Still, it was worse than ever this year: the advice, I mean. We were assailed from all sides, Veganuary joining Dry January as the latest thing. Looking over, if not exactly reading, an article in one newspaper – we’re all 3.3lb overweight, it said, and should drastically reduce our salt intake; we should also, in the interests of avoiding cancer, make sure our roast potatoes are golden yellow rather than brown – I was beset by the same anxiety I sometimes experience in a supermarket: even when it comes to self-improvement, the multiplicity of choice is overwhelming.
Shop as little as possible, eke things out. Think of less as more; turn one thing (chicken) into another (risotto)
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