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Comedian Ed Gamble has opened up about battling his “obsessive” tendencies and the “evil” bathroom scales while discussing losing weight. The stand-up comic and panel show regular lost seven stone in weight in his early twenties, and is now releasing a memoir about his relationship with food titled Glutton: The Multi-Course Life of a Very Greedy Boy. In a new interview with The Times, the comic – who hosts comedy food podcast Off Menu with fellow comedian James Acaster – opened up about the ways losing weight changed his life. “After losing weight, I got more obsessed with my image. You do feel different, wondering, ‘Oh, maybe I’m attractive now.’” Gamble, 37, said that he had developed a fixation on fitness after losing weight, and currently took part in the “cult” of CrossFit. However, the Great British Menu judge – who has Type 1 diabetes – had to watch his more obsessive tendencies when he first began to lose weight after he dropped to 12 stone. At this point, Gamble was weighing himself every day. “That’s not a weight I operate well at,” he recalled. “It means I don’t have a social life; I’m always exercising and thinking about what I eat. “At that point, my mum said, ‘You don’t need to keep doing this. Build in having fun again.’” Gamble said that while had weighing scales in his bathroom at the time, he saw them as “evil”. “You’ve put on 2lb. So what? Stop looking. Go with how you feel,” he said. Growing up as a “posh little boy”, Gamble often used food to prove that he was “like the grown-ups”. Speaking to The Independent in August, Ed Gamble recalled first eating poached salmon when he was three or four years old. “I think it would be easy to serve child me in a restaurant,” he said. “I think you’d think I was weird, possibly, because I’d be sat bold upright at the table, sort of like a mini [food critic] Jay Rayner, just demanding everything.” Glutton: The Multi-Course Life of a Very Greedy Boy is released on 26 October. For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040 Read More Should plus-size travellers be asked to take weight-loss drugs for flights? It’s plane crazy Paloma Faith on her heartbreak and being a single mum: ‘Our relationship ended because we had those children – it was worth it’ Weight-loss jabs linked to ‘severe’ stomach problems – study Some people are born with a ‘talent for happiness’ – so what’s their secret? Presenter Louise Minchin: Menopause conversations are no longer taboo – but we need to keep going Israel-Hamas conflict: How to talk to teenagers about distressing news stories

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The term ‘soft life’ is trending on TikTok, with the #softlifeera tag clocking 12.2million views. While not brand new, it seems a growing number of social media users are leaning towards the lifestyle concept – but what does soft life actually mean and how can it benefit people? Where does the trend come from? As the wording suggests, soft life is all about veering away from stress and struggle and embracing a more easy and enriched life. But this isn’t just about life looking ‘perfect’ on social media. “Soft life isn’t new, however I’m really grateful to see its resurgence,” said Chlöe Pierre, founder of wellness platform thy.self and author of Take Care: The Black Women’s Guide To Wellness. “Essentially to me, especially as a black woman, soft life is about making choices that can avoid me having to live a much longer, and unsustainable, life in hardship. For me it’s about wellness in general, and sustainable wellness. “My only concern when seeing trends [on social media] is that they are inclusive, and generally they aren’t. First and foremost, soft life is a choice – and it’s a privilege to be able to make that choice,” Pierre added. “Originally, the soft life kind of movement had origins in places like Nigeria and other places around the continent, but was popularised via America and a lot of African American women, [who were often] fictional characters on TV. Because there weren’t, especially not in the UK, reachable or visible representations of black women and women of colour that had amassed a wealth, and therefore the privilege of living a ‘soft life’.”Permission to live a soft life For Dr Evelyn Okpanachi, author of The Emotionally Empowered Woman, it makes sense people are increasingly leaning towards the trend. “Collectively, we are still tired. We have had the Covid era, austerity and more, and we simply want to live and breathe a little. This is why we are leaning towards it more right now. Collectively, we are breathing a sigh of relief,” said Okpanachi. “Most people associate the soft life with booking last-minute flights, mojitos on the beach, dining at nice restaurants and all of the externalities. It is in part, but it a lot deeper than that. “Soft life is living life on your terms. Creating a career you want, the business you want, and looking after yourself holistically. This starts with empowering yourself to succeed by elevating your mindset and knowing you deserve to live a soft life.” Nothing comes easy Okpanachi noted the work that can be involved, however. “In order to enter the soft life era, the average person tends to go through an element of stress. Nothing comes easy,” she explained. “It is essentially about purposely creating a lifestyle with minimal stress and setting boundaries – boundary setting is key. It’s embracing the things that serve you and letting go/eliminating the things that don’t. We all deserve to live a soft life, and we all should. But we have to put the work in to attain it.” This is something social media can often miss out. As Pierre noted, influencers or celebrities may “show you one side of their life – you don’t get to see the struggle they have had to get to that point, or to maintain that lifestyle they have in front of the camera”. Making space for a softer lifeFor many, the dilemma is making these things a reality when work takes up so much energy, along with caring/parenting duties, health challenges and everything else. Pierre discusses in her book about how our identities can be “very wrapped up” in work, which can make it so much more draining – especially for black women who have faced “more hardship in the workplace, compared to other demographics”. Setting “clear expectations and intentions” for yourself can be helpful, she added, and getting to know yourself better. “So making clear expectations about who I am, what I will accept, and what I want – and having the belief that I don’t have to go through too much hardship, that it’s not a benchmark for who I am,” Pierre explained. “This can even be applied to dating.” Ditch the guilt Donna Noble, yoga teacher and author of Teaching Body Positive Yoga: A Guide To Inclusivity, Language And Props, also believes making things intentional is key for how people can embrace the soft life in their everyday routines. “[People] can prioritise their me-time and be intentional about it – for instance, meditating, journaling or doing yoga as soon as they get up (before the rest of the world invades their space), as this will set you up nicely for the rest of the day,” said Noble. “I believe rest and self-care are part of our birth-right – no feeling guilty for just being and not doing. Normalise taking the pause, and that it can be the most powerful thing we do in our day.” For those who struggle to put themselves first, Noble suggested taking time to work on giving yourself permission. “The key here is a shift in perspective and empowerment – you’ve got to discover the precious gem that is your wellbeing. Society’s old scripts may try to hold us back, but rewriting the narrative is where the magic happens,” she said. “Giving ourselves a permission slip to prioritise self-care isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity. It’s about understanding that nurturing ourselves isn’t selfish; it’s the foundation for health and wellbeing.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Kim Kardashian teased as the face of a major fashion brand Shoppers make seven big impulse buys per year on average – survey Even 4,000 steps a day could ‘reduce risk of death’ – study

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A landlady has been accused of “outrageous” and “control freakish” behaviour for setting unusually harsh restrictions for prospective tenants. The homeowner used an estate agent to advertise her two “spacious, sun-drenched” apartments in Brooklyn, New York, which were valued at $4,500 (£3,580) and $5,750 (£4,490) per month. When you’re charging such eye-watering rates, you’d hope these flats – with “spectacular outdoor spaces” – would be pretty exceptional homes. And yet, for many interested parties, the dream was shattered when they spotted that the “wonderful vegan landlord” had one eye-catching house rule: “No meat/fish in the building." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Andrea Kelly, the agent managing the flat, explained to the New York Times (NYT) why the landlady had made such a strict stipulation. She told the paper that the apartments weren’t, technically, “vegetarian-only,” but added that “the owner lives in the building and doesn’t want the smell of cooking meat drifting upstairs.” To be fair, this means that tenants could enjoy the likes of sushi, ham sandwiches and even meaty takeaways without causing a scene. But woe betide anyone harbouring hopes of a Sunday roast or sausages barbecued in their “spectacular outdoor space”. The owner, Michal Arieh Lerer, refused to speak to a NYT reporter about her controversial regulation, but her ex-husband, who co-owns the building and is also vegan, admitted that they’d refused to rent their property out to keen carnivorous cooks since they bought it in 2007. “It’s not about discrimination,” ex-husband Motti Lerer insisted. “You have to fit into the building.” For anyone wondering whether this could legally be classed as discrimination, the answer is, perhaps surprisingly, no. New York’s Human Rights Law lists 14 characteristics that landlords must not consider when choosing a potential tenant. These include age, race, family status, and sexual orientation – there's no mention of dietary preferences. Lucas A. Ferrara, an adjunct professor at New York Law School told the NYT that an interested renter might be able to fight the meat ban if they could prove that they had a medical condition which required some sort of “reasonable accommodation” on the landlord’s part. Still, we’re not familiar with many illnesses whose sufferer needs to regularly fry steaks or grill fish as a matter of urgency. The original listing which caused such a stir was taken down from nextdoor.com on Friday, a day after it was posted. However, the apartments are still listed on the estate agent’s own site, although there’s no mention of the cooked veg-only policy. The listings do note: “Cats welcome on a case-by-case basis (only one, please).” We just hope those felines are happy to forgo mouse hunts or particularly pungent meal pouches, for their sake. Social media commentators have shared their horror at the meat-free rule, with a number suggesting Lerer "shouldn't be a landlord". One Facebook user wrote: "[She] can’t just tell people they can’t cook meat in a home they rent off [her]. It’s like telling a kid they can not play with toys." Another said: "Well I hope they/them enjoy paying the mortgage when they get no tenants." But a third suggested tenants should just find a way around the restrictions. "[Her] property, [her] rules," they pointed out, before adding: "If you lie to [her] and cook meat while [she] doesn't get to know then it's a win-win situation." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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