Don’t knock dinner for one – it’s far more appetising

One of the great pleasures of being on one’s own is, of course, being able to let loose. Nowhere is this more enjoyable than in the domain of eating.

So I was taken aback to see that, in a new study of mental health, eating alone had the biggest negative impact on well-being. (Then again, it was commissioned by Sainsbury’s.)

Eating alone, the figures suggested, makes people feel even worse than not sleeping or being immobile.

I can see that elderly people eating alone must feel very sad.

But for those a bit younger, I don’t understand it at all.

For, without company to enforce some modicum of civility, one can, well, do whatever one wants, however unseemly. This can mean letting oneself be a proper pig, shovelling Waitrose Chinese food straight out of the container, with no clothes on, while watching Netflix.

It can mean following up said Chinese with a five-course dessert of certifiable strangeness (does anyone else like alternating oatcakes and chocolate slabs?).

Or it can simply mean preparing the exact meal that you want, which can be healthy – unappealingly healthy. What woman hasn’t tried to make up for kebabs and chips earlier in the week with dinners of stir-fried greens by the mountain-load? Exactly. Not social.

Eating alone is a chance to return to our elemental selves. We should embrace, not fear it.