Chapter Twenty Excerpt
Daily Dozen
There are certain things that I do on a regular basis and although I have shared most of them with you throughout the book I wanted to put the things which I think are important in the maintenance of my health in one chapter so you can easily find them. The daily dozen is not the whole picture of how I dealt with the #cancer diagnosis – it is only the 12 things I do now on a regular basis, 23 years later. The order of the daily dozen is not significant for me; I just do them in no particular order of importance, every day or once a week. Here is the first one on the list and i have started with number one; not because it is the normal rules to start at the beginning – my coaches will already know I do not follow rules – I chose this one because it is easy to do and will be a gentle start to your fitness programme.

1. Walking – every day I make sure I have done some form of exercise. During the week I walk about four to five miles a day around the country lanes. I power walk for the most part, excluding the hills where I generally slow down and take my time. When I say power walk, I think that is a bit of an exaggeration to be truthful because for some people a power walk is just below the speed of jogging and it causes breathlessness and sweating. I walk fast but not so fast that I am out of breath or break out in a sweat. I walk to maintain my health, not for any competitive reasons.

Monday to Friday I sit at a desk, sometimes for eight to ten hours, looking at a computer. I do get up every hour or less to grab a drink or visit the toilet to get rid of said drink. I know all this sitting is not good for my body, so come rain (and it does a lot of that in the West Country) or shine I go for my walk.

It is my belief that #cancer will have a harder time growing in a healthy body and part of being #healthy for me is to #exercise. NOT the sweaty #gym type of exercise (which is great for those who like that kind of thing – there is a horror story about gyms in the book, a must read if you are considering joining a gym) but just a gentle regular form of exercise. It needs to be easy to do, easy to maintain and increases health. Simple. If you look for a form of exercise which has these three things you will be able to keep going with your fitness way longer than you ever thought possible.