Grace Dent has made a name for herself in the world of food but away from fame has undergone her own health transformation, from losing weight to becoming a "part-time" vegan.

The food critic, 50, who sensationally quit I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! after just one week, is a regular judge on BBC's MasterChef UK. For six years she wrote her own restaurant column for the Evening Standard and is now a restaurant critic for The Guardian.

With a distinguished palette, it's no wonder jungle life took a toll on the star who has to eat for her job. Last year, Grace spoke about her journey when it comes to weight and what she eats, including her transformation.

Writing in The Guardian, Grace explained how her job required her to eat more "than a human being probably should". Sharing that "early on in this game" she realised she could only eat high-calorific meals if she "ate quite sparsely the rest of the time."

Having a huge knowledge of food, Grace said she "really" watches what she puts into her body and realised "from your mid-40s, everything you eat and drink shows in your face." So much so that the star went "teetotal" towards the end of 2021.

She explained: "I had been drinking in a very British way since I was 14. I wouldn’t have said I had an alcohol problem – I didn’t binge or drink secretly – but I began as a teenager in a field, then moved on to student bars, dinner parties, the media industry, and then to reviewing restaurants where endless drinks are on offer. I grew sick of losing bits of life to feeling shit. So I just stopped completely. My skin looked radically different right away. When I go out now, I usually have a shrub or booze-free aperitif."

Talking about her diet, away from the indulgent dishes she gets to critic, Grace said: "I skip breakfast a lot – often, it’s just a litre of coffee with oat milk – and I eat lots of protein at lunch, eggs in any form, a block of tofu I’ll have marinated and baked, lots of nuts and dried fruit. And I roast loads of vegetables: broccoli is a favourite. I eat like a wild animal – apart from the meat. I drive my man mad. His idea of joy is cooking half a cow three different ways. I’m more of an ape; I love vegan food."

The food critic explained that she's "not fully vegan" which can cause a backlash with both meat eaters and those who are vegan. She said: "It does seem to fascinate people, though, that I’m a food critic who doesn’t love foie gras. Stereotypically, those guys love a kidney, bone marrow, sweetbreads. Not me."

Explaining why she has "trouble with meat" Grace said it was because she's a "massive animal lover" and is "uncomfortable with killing animals." She went on to add that her dream would be to go "full Celia Hammond and have a little animal sanctuary" at which point she would "stop wearing a bra and ditch the false eyelashes."

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