If I could turn back time by 7 years and give myself a message it would go something like this: “Someday this will change and you’ll be in a better place that is almost unimaginable right now, but first there are some things hard and unconventional things to do.” However, at the time I was sick and couldn’t see beyond my condition, as my kids grew up they started to show symptoms similar to mine. The doctors couldn’t find a reason for the migraines, the anxiety (social and otherwise), behavioural issues, mood swings, diarrhoea, learning difficulties and tics that were our collective list of symptoms. “I was completely oblivious to the impact of food intolerances, and I had never even heard of gluten.” On the recommendation of a friend and being out of all other options, I took home a food intolerance kit. The test results came in the mail on Sunday when I had been out for a big celebration for my husband’s birthday. The list of foods I was supposed to avoid was too long for me to process at the time but the two food items I was asked to run from were “Gluten” and “Dairy”, written in bold font up at the top.

When it comes to matters of the heart, it’s important to know all you can. Take this quiz to find out how good your cardiovascular health is.

At 40 years of age, I was happily married with three kids. I was looking forward to growing older, seeing my children go their own way and enjoying my sunset years. I was preparing my retirement investments and settling into the best years of work. But I got diagnosed with cancer and the earth fell off from underneath me. Within a month I was told I had stage four cancer and if both breasts weren’t removed cancer would spread to the rest of my body. I didn’t even have time to come to terms with the devastation. I was given one week to prepare for surgery and the next morning I woke up without my breasts. I had three operations, seven months of chemotherapy, and five weeks of radiotherapy. “I made my way back all the way from stage four cancer and a double mastectomy.” I am in remission now and it took me a long while to realize that it was okay to cry and grieve for the part of me that I had lost both emotionally and physically. My body will never be the same again but it doesn’t mean that I can’t continue to live the life I lived prior to my diagnosis.

Crossing out days on the calender is passe, we’ve got your planning covered. (function() { var s = document.createElement("script"); s.type = "text/javascript"; s.async = true; s.src="https://cdn.calculatestuff.com/resizer.js"; (document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0]).appendChild(s); })();

Your weight is only a problem if it’s off the BMI range, find out where you stand. (function() { var s = document.createElement("script"); s.type = "text/javascript"; s.async = true; s.src="https://cdn.calculatestuff.com/resizer.js"; (document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0]).appendChild(s); })();