I used to be a big fan of Patrick Holford, and it was his books that helped me dramatically improve my health way back in 2004, along with a nutritionist recommended on his website.

I still like Patrick Holford a lot, and read his emails from his mailing list and sometimes listen to his podcasts. But I am now slightly more cautious about believing 100% of everything he says. I am slightly uneasy about the fact that he sells his own brand of supplements, which makes him biased towards recommending those supplements. Whereas American nutrition expert Andrew W Saul is not affiliated with any supplements or products at all, and never recommends specific brands.

I never got vaccinated. It was not a decision I made lightly, though. I took a deep dive into the data and made that decision for myself. I was actually looking to prove myself wrong, but it never happened. In fact, for a long time I was analysing the monthly stats when they were released. I had it all in a big complex spreadsheet, and every month I would look to see whether it looked like getting vaccinated was the best option, but I was never convinced. I know I'm not an expert, but I decided to take the responsibility of it for myself. But I never told anybody else to not get vaccinated. It was purely about deciding for myself and owning that decision.

In fact, the only people I've discussed it with is my parents. My mum was particularly insistent that I get vaccinated, and that was the main reason I set out to look at the data. I made a promise to her: I will look at the data, and if I'm convinced vaccination is the right option, I will get vaccinated. But I wasn't, so I didn't. But when we would have disagreements about it, I would say, "Okay, so do you want to come and look at my spreadsheet?" Nope. Okay, end of conversation.

I suspect I might have had COVID-19 before the vaccine rollout and developed natural immunity, but I cannot be sure. In February 2020, I caught a bad cough from somebody in my improv group. I don't normally get coughs and colds, so it was unusual, and it was persistent for a while.

Then later, in November 2020, I got a mysterious illness that didn't match the main official COVID-19 symptoms but which was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. Crazy heart palpitations (like a violent seizure), followed by several days when I had to sleep during the day. I just could not stay awake. It was crazy! A few weeks later, the heart palpitations happened again, and I went to the doctor. I got blood tests done and wore a heart monitor for a while, but everything came back fine. But I never got tested for COVID-19 because they weren't the official symptoms. But something unusual happened to me, for sure.

But apart from those two things, I've been absolutely fine. And back when free lateral flow tests were available, I was testing myself every week and always getting a negative result. Plus, I'm almost obsessive about using hand sanitisers.