Under the microscope
TV presenter Nick Knowles, 54, answers our health quiz CAN YOU RUN UP STAIRS?
YES and I often do just to get the blood pumping if my workload stops me getting to the gym.
GET YOUR FIVE-A-DAY?
ALWAYS. I love fruit. I eat pretty healthily being 80 per cent vegan, 15 per cent veggie and 5 per cent ‘I’ll have whatever I want today’.
EVER DIETED?
YES, but only for health. I’m 6ft 2in and 15st 10 lb (100kg). My ideal weight is 15st, 2 lb (96kg) If I need to shift some weight, l just eat less.
ANY VICES?
I USED to smoke up to 40 a day. I tried lots of times to stop, but I liked it. In the end, it just annoyed me that it controlled me, rather me controlling it, so in January, I stopped. I still occasionally have a cigarette if I’m out with friends.
ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?
THERE is history of heart disease on my father’s side, but he loved fatty foods and my diet is very different. But I do keep an eye on cholesterol.
WORST ILLNESS OR INJURY?
I FELL off a truck in Africa in 2007 and almost broke my neck. I fell on my shoulder and neck, and the shoulder gave way, shattering the collarbone and dislocating it. The fall also tore the ligaments in the other shoulder. I was flown back to London for an operation at St Thomas’ Hospital, London. I also caught TB on a Comic Relief trip to Zambia in 2003 and was quite ill for eight months before it was recognised by a doctor in A& E in Southampton. I had three months of pills, but no ongoing lung problems. I’ve also had a lot of high-speed accidents on motorbikes and have broken my ankle and wrists twice.
HAD ANYTHING REMOVED?
THE end of my collar bone after the fall in Africa to fix a replacement ligament in my shoulder that involved screws and carbon fibre. Everything works, so that’s good.
EVER HAD PLASTIC SURGERY?
NO, BUT many people think I need it! I’ve never minded looking like a bag of spanners. I think people look too primped on television, especially the blokes.
IS SEX IMPORTANT?
VERY. I like it better than fruit crumble and custard, better than rugby, better than motorbikes — and I like them all a lot!
EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?
EVERYONE gets a bit low from time to time, but I’m not sure I ever had ‘depression’.
HANGOVER CURE?
A SACHET of rehydration salts, a slice of bread and a pint of water before sleep.
WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE?
SEX!
LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?
GOD, no. It’s the order of things that a brighter, more creative generation comes through.
Nick’s series The Retreat — 28 Days To change Your Life is being screened nightly this week on BBc2 at 7pm.