Day 1

Of course, as soon as I try to examine our diet to see where healthy improvements can be made it seems easy to justify nearly every culinary decision and entrenched habit. But I'm still on for the project. I'll start by listing the aims:

1) Reduce alcohol intake to the month to zero. This is for health reasons, to give my system time to regroup and repair without adding additional challenges.

2) Cut down on oils and fats. Actually, as vegans who make most of our own food we don't really get through excessive amounts of fats but it's tempting to eat fried food more often than we should and I have become a little bit generous when putting that first dollop of oil into the pan at the start of the cooking process, so this month is time to be a bit more thoughtful about it.

3) Make sure that the daily five fruit and vegetable target is met. This is an almost entirely arbitrary figure dreamed up by social engineers who want to make healthy eating easier for morons but it does represent a target that will be achievable by swapping fruit for my afternoon tea and toast.

4) Pay more consideration to my salt intake. I'm not afraid of salt but enjoy it to the extent that I wonder if I'm damaging my palate by over salting. I have high blood pressure so salt is generally considered a bad thing, but I'm on a medication which expels salt and so leaves me at risk of a potassium imbalance giving me something of a let out. On the other hand, making nearly all our own food I have much better control over our salt intake than many and by my estimation we are coming in at pretty much the NHS recommendation of 6g daily. This month I hope to reduce that by half or so. This may have benefits for my sense of taste.

5) We don't do many cakes or puddings. Anything we have this month will be the lower fat reduced sugar options just for completeness. However, certain junk foods, chips from the shop, weekly takeaways and so on will be suspended for the period, just to break the habit.

6) Supplements; we rarely use supplements to our diet but for the month a daily low dosage B12 tablet and some other trace minerals seem attractive. Also some cold pressed oil rich in omega 3 for salads.

What the month is not about:

It's not about abstinence for the sake of it. I have a couple of dinner dates and Valentine's day booked for the month and I intend to enjoy those outings, although I'll try to keep the alcohol free bit true and avoid anything excessively rich.

It's not about weight loss. Not trying or intending to lose weight and if I'm hungry I'll eat, but I'll try to eat healthier alternatives.

Orange Salad

This is a simple side salad that can be eaten as a snack to vary the monotony of a fruit diet!

Carefully peel and slice some sweet juicy oranges catching all the juices. Finely slice a red (or yellow) onion and divide into rings. Arrange the orange slices and onion rings attractively in your serving dish. Pour over the juices, season with a little finely ground pepper and decorate with a small spoonful of capers and pomegranate seeds.