I’m thrilled vegan diets are fashionable
It’s just a shame that so many people come to them because they’ve been sick. I went vegan after I lost my leg [in an accident when she was 25], ruptured my lung and split my head open. A friend of mine suggested it. She was suffering from breast cancer and went vegan to heal herself. I thought she was totally nuts, but my body healed and I felt better than ever. I knew I was onto something.
Kids will eat healthy food
I want to get in contact with Jamie Oliver and say you can’t take a kid from burgers to broccoli overnight. You need to give them a healthy equivalent of what they’re already eating. I opened a free fast food restaurant for kids in The Bronx in New York serving plant-based versions of burgers and shakes. We then introduced some vegetables and pulses and in months the obesity rate went down. There’s now a vegan option in every school canteen in New York State.
I’m a morning person
I only get four or five hours sleep a night, that’s all my body needs when I’m eating healthy, plant-based foods. I get up early, go to gym and learn my German on my duo lingo app when I’m on the bike. Then I’ll make a healthy protein shake for my daughter with cacao, maple syrup and some fruit before taking her to school.
When I lost my leg, I didn’t feel sorry for myself
I accepted the loss and thought, now, how can I get a leg that looks good?’ Sport kept me sane, too. I worked to develop prosthetic running legs you now see in the Paralympics. I wanted to see if I could do everything I had done before with a leg missing. To me, it was just a new challenge.
I’m an extremes person
I work very hard to have the body I’ve got at 47; I train hard and I eat well. But I have a good binge sometimes. I’m full-on or full-off. I won’t drink alcohol for nine months and then I go out partying and dancing with the girls. There’s a close-knit group of 10 of us and we’ve been mates for the past 30 years.
People are threatened by assertive women
A good friend of mine was dealing with breast cancer when all that [Mills’ divorce from Sir Paul McCartney] was going on. She said, ‘You’re going to go through hell. But monuments were never built for the critics, they were only built for the criticised.’ Every woman who is strong and asserts herself will be criticised.
My critics have made me stronger
It took me getting a huge battering from the press to step back and focus on myself. Before I was dedicating all my energy to trying to save the world and everyone in it. But now I remember to take time for myself too, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’ve got my daughter, my family and my friends. Now with the phone hacking trials, lots of the journalists who wrote that rubbish about me are going into prison. If you don’t do the right thing, life comes around ands hits you in the face.
I’m really fussy with men
I’ll never be in another relationship where I put the man first – it needs to be equal. Too many women are brought up to please. You have to be true to yourself and if a man is a real man he will respect you and support you and if he doesn’t, he’s not the right one. I’ve learned that it’s much better to be alone than to be lonely in a relationship.
Heather Mills has launched a vegan deli, V Bites, in Holland and Barrett, Chester. www.hollandandbarrett.com