Live Well .. Eat Well .. Be Well

It’s probably not uncommon to consider an illness to be quite temporary, however unpleasant it may be while it’s happening. Or maybe that’s just my take, formed quite early in my life following the then catalogue of childhood illnesses; mumps, measles, chicken pox, German measles. I had them all, and they all came to an end after a few weeks’ duration. With Chronic Fatigue, I find that I’m having to exchange expectation for hope; I can’t assume that I will fully recover, but I certainly hope that I will, and more recently I’ve dared to feel optimistic. The process of recovery is proving to be incredibly instructive. Much of what I thought I knew is needing to be adjusted, changed or added to in ways that push me to the edge of my comfort zone, which in itself is instructive .. there’s nothing more potent than having to challenge one’s own beliefs about what’s ‘right’, what works, how things should be, and especially, where truly reliable information comes from. This post would

I’ve a strong urge to answer the question above with a swift ‘No thank you’ and let that be it, but it seems that opportunity has passed despite my best attempts at denial over the course of several months. In fairness, some of the denial was heavily influenced by a complete lack of some of the symptoms that categorise this rather complex condition, and by many standards, even the glaringly obvious symptoms are relatively mild: at no time have I been confined to my bed with totally debilitating fatigue, and neither have I been crippled with pain or been dangerously close to collapse when out and about in public places. But I am fatigued, chronically, and sleep has been hit and miss with the emphasis on miss, so I’m also frequently tired. And whilst I haven’t fallen apart in public, I’ve certainly come crashing down emotionally at home with angry and tearful anxiety over highly important matters such as which coat to go out in! And whilst I still maintain that I’m one of the lucky on

Several years ago, plagued by around five dismal years of insomnia and anxiety, I finally learnt to meditate. I really hadn’t wanted to go down this route due to a multitude of preconceived ideas about what it was. These prejudices, however, evaporated when, within a few months I was sleeping again, and didn’t appear to have turned into a kaftan-wearing, joss-stick-burning, religious hippie. But recently it all started again; three or four hours’ sleep a night, only this time, I appeared to be ‘getting away with it’. I was barely tired at any point during the day, sometimes walking around 10 miles and still feeling bouncy. Meditation didn’t ‘work’ at least not to get me back to sleep, but the years of learning to be aware of all the activity in my mind was a gift, enabling me to get rest if not sleep. Shortly before Christmas, I stopped getting away with it when the flu virus easily passed my immune defences and thus Christmas ended up being pretty much cancelled. The poor sleep p

It’s an interesting time to be a raw food enthusiast, especially when the raw food is plant-based. All indications point to a quiet but definite plant-based revolution as more people consider the knock-on effects on personal health, animal welfare and environmental matters of our collective and individual food choices. And this may also account for some of the questions about how Graham and I eat, or perhaps more accurately, the perception of what we do and don’t eat. It’s becoming harder to dismiss us as just plain odd as the fringe on which we find ourselves is getting progressively wider whilst our waistlines are not. Similarly we’re bucking the trend in respect of prescription medications; as the list of sometimes lifelong medications extends for some of our age group, ours has gone the other way and currently stands at zero. Maybe it piques the interest to see us walking often several miles a day without getting tired? I’m speculating; there could be any number of reasons why peo

It’s an obvious question considering how we, Graham and I, live and considering in particular the nature of the food we make available via the work we do. The answer, however, is no. If you are vegan, I urge you not to run away at this point, assuming the worst, in fact can I ask you to stay a while longer? There’s something I’d like to say to you. The ‘no’ is because veganism isn’t big enough (this is not to be confused with not good enough; action based on compassion is always good enough). Like so many people, we were driven to make changes to what we eat essentially for selfish reasons, to better our health, and we have done just that. In doing so, our food choices have transformed significantly from what they once were and these changes have brought with them new realisations that extend way beyond our own personal health. What seemed to be borne primarily out of self-interest now looks more like an act of self-love, something the British, at least, are culturally uncomforta

The following is an inteview with York Bike Belles about the challenges and pleasure of becoming 'car-free': Meet Annette, who with her husband, Graham, recently gave up their car and now live happily in York without one. They walk, cycle and take public transport ever ywhere. Why did you want to give up your car? We decided to give the car up for multiple reasons; we were mostly only using it for longer journeys - taking a car into the centre of York is not a good option. We were already walking a lot and starting to cycle more, and feeling fitter as a result and pleased to be contributing less to poor air quality. Additionally, we were keen not to be spending money on something that spent most of any given month parked up and waiting for us to use - an expensive convenience. What helped? We were helped by really needing to cut back on our expenditure, living on a sustainable development (Derwenthorpe) and, particularly in my case, disliking car journeys so muc