0 - 2015 | The Health Sessions

Sink or Swim: What to Do When You're Adrift in the Sea of Illness | The Health Sessions

Sink or Swim: What to Do When You’re Adrift in a Sea of Illness

When you’re chronically ill, you’ll probably experience times when you feel like you’re adrift in a sea of pain, fatigue and debilitating symptoms.

In the distance, you can see people running and playing on the beach. But you’re too far out for them to hear you cry for help.

Confidently you start swimming towards the shoreline. It’s tiring and progress is slow, but you’re getting closer with every stroke.

Then, all of a sudden, an undercurrent gets you off course. You desperately try to fight it, but the pull of the water is just too strong. With every passing minute you’re drifting further out into the ocean.

Suddenly you find yourself in rough water. The waves seem to be getting higher by the minute and you’re struggling to keep your head above water. You’re cold, wet and exhausted from treading water and you start to panic. What’s happening? What should I do? How do I get out of here?

With all your might you try to push the thought of what might be hiding under the surface out of your mind.

Instead, you start pondering on solutions. Do I try to swim against the current and put all my power into peddling back to where I meant to go? Do I save my energy and drift along to wherever the wind and water takes me? Do I make a courageous attempt to dive through the oncoming waves, even though I have no clue how to do that or where I’ll end up?

The truth is, I don’t have the answer. Unlike the real world, there are no safety guidelines for navigating the sea of chronic illness. Here’s what I do know.

How to Effortlessly Make a Healthy Dinner When You’re Tired

“It’s non-negotiable. Just cook.” – Sarah Wilson on Twitter.

If you want to eat healthily, making your own meals (most of the time) is not an option but a necessity. It’s the best way to have a say in the ingredients, add variation to your overall diet and limit your intake of refined sugar, trans fats and artificial flavours.

Now, I love cooking. And I love all the amazing, wholesome recipes on food blogs these days. But honestly, after a long day of running around after a one-year old, squeezing in writing and household chores during naps, it sometimes feels like too much effort to cut up tons of veggies and spend an hour behind the stove.

You’ve probably felt the same way when you’ve had a tiring day, whether that’s because of work, illness or way too active kids.

And while it’s tempting to just shove a pizza in the oven whenever you’re too tired to cook, as a rule it’s better to find a healthy alternative to ordering takeout or heating up microwaved meals. Processed foods often contain too much salt, too little veg and an addictive combo of high sugar/high fat. And frankly, most convenience meals are just plain bland in taste compared to a home cooked dinner.

So let’s have a look how you can still put a nutritious meal on the table when you’re running low on energy.

Getting Back on Track: 11 Expert Strategies on Rebuilding Healthy Habits | The Health Sessions

Getting Back on Track: 11 Expert Strategies for Rebuilding Healthy Habits

Summer is officially over and schools are back in session all over the world. It marks a new beginning, a fresh start to rebuild healthy habits after an indulgent summer break with one too many glasses of wine and lazy days in the sun.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with living life and treating yourself. As Hayley from Full of Life rightfully points out, what’s the point of working hard to feel as healthily as possible, if you aren’t doing anything aside from obsessing about your diet and workout plan?

But when it comes to ‘bad’ habits, there’s often a sliding scale. It starts innocently, with big BBQ’s and ice cream cones on the beach and staying up way too late and skipping yoga class, “because it’s summer, we’re on vacation, let’s live a little” (and you should!).

But then the holidays are over and all of a sudden you find yourself mindlessly eating a bowl of cookie dough ice-cream in front of the TV every night and it becomes harder and harder to break a habit you didn’t mean to have in the first place.

This time of year, with the changing of the seasons and faux back-to-school feel, is a fitting moment to re-examine your health habits, let go off what isn’t working and embrace new things.

So here are 11 expert strategies to get back on track with a healthy lifestyle.

Seeing with New Eyes: How to Find the Good in Every Day

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

– Marcel Proust

There’s something good in every day.

It doesn’t always feel that way and that’s ok. Some days the pain of living is just too much to notice anything else. Other times you’re just too tired to care. It’s hard to pick up the subtle signs of bliss when the noise of everyday life drowns out the quietness within you.

And yet, it’s there, waiting for you to pay attention.

8 Best Health Tips From Around The World | The Health Sessions

The 8 Best Health Tips From Around The World

Going on holiday abroad is the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in a new culture, language and delicacies. During your travels you might also catch a glimpse of what people all over the world do every day to lead healthy and happy lives. From Spanish siestas and the longevity secrets of the Blue Zones to the Japanese forest bathing and Balinese smiling meditation, pearls of wisdom can be found everywhere.

Not to mention the countless medicinal plants and spices, health-boosting dance rituals and healing massage techniques that form the basis of so many cultures around the globe.

So bring home a more lasting souvenir than the touristy stuff in the local gift shop and pick up a few healthy habits from your destination.

And hey, you don’t even have to leave the house, because I’ve got 8 of the world’s best health tips rounded up just for you.