CURTIS STONE

Celebrity chef and TV host Curtis Stone has released a new Cook with Curtis kitchen collection

Do you get your five a day?

I generally eat really well, I grow my own vegetables so am always fossicking in the garden and creating dishes based around them. When I opened my restaurant Maude in Beverly Hills (LA), we spent four years changing the menu every single month to create a 10-course tasting menu around one vegetable or fruit.

Have you ever dieted?

I prefer a strenuous workout to curbing my consumption. I’m constantly having to taste in the kitchen so that makes dieting a bit tricky. I do live by the “everything in moderation, including moderation” edict. Sometimes you just need to indulge.

Sleep or sex?

Both should always be on any healthy menu.

What is your absolute blowout meal?

Tacos – and a lot of them. Or a really decadent steak that has a heart-thumping salt to fat ratio.

Have you had any operations or broken bones?

We were doing a brunch at my brother’s and Lindsay (actor/wife Lindsay Price) was going to meet my family for the first time. I felt so rough, and by the time we got there I was in so much pain. I tried to tough it out, but eventually my beautiful new girlfriend took me to the hospital where they told me my appendix had ruptured.

What’s been your biggest health mistake?

I burnt the candle at both ends in my 20s, but then who doesn’t? I was working long days and nights in London in the ‘90s – and when we knocked off we’d party then up the next day to do it all over again. I look back and think, how on earth did I do that?

What regular vitamins do you take?

Mother Nature has all the vitamins we need in her fruit and veg. I think unless you’re really deficient in something you can generally find everything you need in real, organic wholefoods.

What health advice would you have given yourself 10 years ago?

To take up boxing earlier. I only discovered it a few years ago and it has been hugely transformational in my life. It’s a full body workout, you can get your frustrations out and feel pretty damn

tough at the same time.

Would you have plastic surgery? Botox?

No, I’ve never even considered it.

What is your guilty pleasure in life?

My name is Curtis and I’m a chocoholic. I love a spectacular glass of wine too.

The 19-piece kitchen

collection Cook with Curtis is available now at Coles