Nigella Lawson has said she has never been a big drinker and that alcohol leaves her with a “horrible tight feeling of worry”.
The food writer and TV presenter also said she has to train herself to drink more when preparing for a trip which might see her having more wine than she is used to.
Lawson, 58, told Jessie Ware on her Table Manners podcast: “I’ve never been a big drinker.
“I do like it, I do try to (drink), because I think sometimes if you don’t drink, it’s like after the first hour of a party you’re in a different room from everyone else, and that can be quite difficult.
“I feel that I’m quite an anxious person and drink can really exacerbate that anxiety.
“Afterwards, that horrible tight feeling of worry, and just generally not feeling quite right.”
She added: “I don’t mean that much drink, but it does something to me, but maybe that’s an age thing.
“It’s being out of practice, so last year I went into training a bit because I went to Italy for three days, and so the two weeks before that I started having a glass of wine a bit each week to get myself used to it.”
Lawson also revealed the truth about her famous midnight feasts in her TV programmes, which see her raiding the fridge for a snack.
“I do that in TV more,” she said.
“I try not to, I only really do that if I’ve been drinking at all, because I’m not very good at alcohol.
“If I come back from havingeven two glasses of wine, it makes my blood sugar go up and I need to have lots of food afterwards.”