James Blunt says he developed ‘symptoms of scurvy’ after going on all-meat diet

If you want to know about music, singer-songwriter James Blunt might be the person to turn to for good advice. But if you’re in the market for dietary tips, he might not be your guy.

Blunt came to that conclusion when sharing his personal tale of a diet gone wrong and the nutritional deficiency he developed as a result of it.

On the latest episode of Jessie Ware’s foodie podcast, “Table Manners,” the “You’re Beautiful” singer shared that he gave up fruits, vegetables and grains back in his college days at the University of Bristol. In the early '90s, the not-yet hit-maker was pursuing an education in both aerospace manufacturing engineering and sociology, and he said he was looking for a way to stand out among his peers.

“On the engineering side, there were 170 men and only three girls,” Blunt said. “And then on the sociology side of things, there were 170 girls and only three boys, of which all the girls were vegetarians or vegans.”

So he got on the special-diet bandwagon, too.

“Out of principle, I decided I’d become a carnivore and just lived on mince, some chicken, maybe with some mayonnaise,” Blunt explained.

Because he eliminated foods that play an important part in a balanced diet, Blunt fell ill.

“It took me about six to eight weeks to get very, very unhealthy (and) see a doctor, who then said, ‘I think you’ve got the symptoms of scurvy,’” Blunt recalled.

Scurvy, an ailment common in undernourished sailors centuries ago, is caused by vitamin C deficiency, as Blunt’s physician told him.

“He said, ‘You’re really lacking in vitamin C,’ so then I took it upon myself to just drink a liter of orange juice every night,” the 46-year-old said.

Problem solved? Not quite.

“I immediately developed acid reflux,” he noted. "So as you can see, food's not necessarily my forte.”