Winter Wellness and Support

I don't have particular concerns about winter, just that, to me, there's not much except you have to prepare yourself to wear layers when you go out to make sure that you are protecting yourself against the elements. And well, we normally would go out by car because of my husband's ill health, you know, so he was medically advised not to use public transport because he had suffered from a number of strokes and was slightly weaker on the left-hand side. Yes, so it's more a question of planning where we're going are going and the route to make life much easier for both of us. And in case I leave him at home to go somewhere, I plan it in a way that it's just a one stop shop. So go, come, does it. And when he's able to, he would come with me in the car and the fact that he will walk from the house to the car that's good enough for him and then he will sit in the car when we arrive at our destination if it were a shopping trip for example for food I will leave him in the car with the windows opened and with a bottle of water or he will be using his phone or doing something like that and then I go to the shops buy the food stuff come back and then we go home and then again he will walk that little distance from the car to the house yeah so that's how we manage yeah very good and what are the sorts of challenges that are extra significant during winter and how do you face those challenges personally do you have a particular goal that you want to achieve during winter Well, I try to avoid overeating because it is very easy to be in the house and eating more than I should. For example, I'm practicing intermittent fasting at the moment and since joining this group I have taken it upon myself to eat between 20 and 30 fruits and veg per week. I'm enjoying doing that, yes. Oh, very good. Are there issues during winter with your health that you need support with? Who do you turn to to help support you through these issues? Well, I normally don't have health issues to worry about during the winter months. It could be because I have been very busy looking after my husband, but by nature the only thing that bothers me is hay fever and I have been tested at St Mary's so I know I'm allergic to tree pollen, grass pollen and domestic animals and things like that so I stay clear of those things but somehow I have to go out and sometimes I start sneezing left right center but that's that's about it and I take antihistamine one tablet a day for that. Okay how's your hay fever going? Oh thank god this time I haven't had anything. I think it depends on when I cook the tea. If I manage to start early, and I'm drinking it, then I'm fine. Okay. I hate it when it's been really bad for the last few weeks for me. No, I haven't had an attack for a while. Okay, that's great. So thank God for that. Alhamdulillah. Okay. If you could give advice to someone struggling with their health or diabetes during the winter, what would it be? Well, my main advice would be sugar because in the winter months we tend to drink a lot of tea but I don't drink tea, I don't like it full stop, okay. Because it gives me palpitation, yes. So my best advice would be to reduce the amount of sugar and if possible to stop taking sugar probably substitute it with honey. Yeah. Okay and what do you what do you want of your healthcare experts to support you or prepare you for in the winter? Well bearing in mind that I don't have any ongoing health issues and I'm not on any repeat medications and things like that. I don't necessarily need any assistance from my health care provider to see me through winter.