Health is the Side Effect
Bonjour from Corsica where we're taking lessons from a kayak and a bikini. Plus: £1,000 a month wellness obsession, Postcards from the Edge, and Outside In
I lost my “chic” bikini (translation: muted, espresso-hued) during the move from northern Corsica where we stayed at Basgi Basgi for a few days. I thought I threw it into the back seat of the car but imagine it was probably left behind on the laundry line on our terrace. While up north, i sunbathed on black pebble beaches, drank many americanos (coffee and cocktail versions alike), swam in warm waters, enjoyed scoops of chestnut ice cream. My friend Pauline who lives in Paris messaged me about her “happy place” - a tiny town nearby up some really quite dodgy roads, that I absolutely loved. There, while waiting for dinner, we ate hand sliced fries with piccalilli sauce, fingers already salty from the sea.
After a few days, we left the north of the island and headed south to the next spot, a villa made of Corsican stone with a private chapel at the bottom of the steps. The villa had an ecclesiastical energy to it - with bountiful bookshelves full of what I could deduce were guides to saints and memoirs on redemption, along with large paintings of severe, fusty-looking men. It was the second morning there, when sleepily getting ready to go kayaking, that I realised my bikini was gone.
So after paddling for a couple of hours we zipped over to the nearest Intersport to procure a cheap and cheerful replacement. I spotted it right away - a bright, quite garish, coral Roxy bikini - almost identical to the one I used to wear at thirteen, falling off a hanger near the snorkels. i grabbed the last one, not even in the right size, and love it. Wearing it makes me feel so free.
Maybe it was the kayaking, maybe it was the bikini, but I started thinking about how we can approach health and nutrition in a way that makes things feel fun - like the brightest, truest version of ourselves. For me, that’s a thirteen year old girl that grew up on an island off Hong Kong in top to tail Roxy, including the platform flip flops with hibiscus printed along the side. Aside from my teenage acne and bouts of adolescent grumpiness, I remember feeling pretty good most of the time. Bopping around, eating when I was hungry and sleeping like a log because I’d exhausted myself from being outside all day.
Health is a serious matter but how we get there doesn’t have to be.
Now kayaking to secluded beaches is obviously not accessible to me back home in north London. I can’t recreate Corsica, and that’s not the point I’m trying to make. But doing upper body and core workouts outside the gym certainly is. And when it comes to living well, Substack is chock full of “chic” recommendations (particularly for how to exist in Europe, which often make me laugh) and I think we could use a bit more garish fun in our mindsets on that too.
Today’s newsletter is a a bit of a free flowing situation as I’m writing this early morning from the hotel we’re currently at before heading off for a snorkel - I hope you enjoy it.
Also, a bit of information for those of you keen to start nutritional therapy in September, at the bottom.
Shall we take the scenic route?
One of the biggest misconceptions about nutritional therapy is that it’s about finding the perfect diet. In reality, it’s often about finding the version of healthy that you want to come back to - or maybe one that’s always been just out of reach but is still very much you.
If you’ve worked with me - you can attest that I spend far more time asking about what you enjoy eating than people may expect. Ingredients yes, but also textures, flavours, colours, ways of eating eg specific dishes, the way you like them served up, whether it’s group meals or solo dining that you prefer.
The night before leaving for Corsica I had a call with a new client where we touched on exactly this. What if the foods you naturally gravitate towards deserve a second look? Looking at ourselves with a bit of love and objectivity, perhaps “picky eating” has actually nudged you towards a way of eating that’s both nourishing and genuinely enjoyable to you. In their case, tart, zingy Thai salads might beat the popular one with grated carrot. Both have their place but one is the meal they can eat happily. It all comes down to enjoyment. Consistency makes it much easier to see where the gaps are, if there are any at all.
Healthy eating has more than one way in. If carrots leave you underwhelmed, start somewhere else. Even if you’ve heard me bang on about them for years:
Let's Dangle Some Carrots
Good morning! Have you hydrated properly yet? It’s seriously hot. I wheel this out every time the temperatures soar, which is more frequent than ever, but I’m going to do it again here:
Nutritional therapy isn’t about forcing yourself into someone else’s habits. I doubt I’ll ever get the high my boyfriend enjoys from his intense (insane?) midday trail runs but I’ll do most any hiking if it ends with a dip in a natural pool. Healthy habits become much easier to repeat when it feels like an expression of who you are and what you love, rather than who you think you ought to be.
We start swimming because we love the sea. We walk because we like the company. We eat more colour because it looks delicious. None of those activities begin with the intention of “being healthy”. Yet they leave us healthier all the same.
Everything has a side effect, good or bad. Health can be one too.
Serving Suggestions
It’s not just food. Everything you take in shapes how you think and feel. Here are a few things that have fed me this week.
Postcards from the Edge (1990) dir. Mike Nichols. How has it taken me this long to watch this movie? It’s based on Carrie Fisher’s semi autobiographical novel (she also wrote the screenplay) and is kooky, funny, and feels so true of mother-daughter relationships albeit on the more extreme side of things.
And the cast! Yes of course, Meryl and Shirley but also a young Dennis Quaid, Oliver Platt, Annette Bening (she’s in it for a brilliant three minutes. Incredible look). Also beloved Rob Reiner. Gene Hackman. And a score by Carly Simon that I just looked up - she deservedly won a BAFTA for it.
Outside In (2017) dir. Lynn Shelton. I can’t find a good picture online from the film so please enjoy the trailer instead. Went into this a bit blind - never heard of it, didn’t read up - and it completely got under my skin. I was crying and nodding my head by the end of it. The Jay Duplass and Edie Falco combo is no joke!
A story about a newly-paroled ex-con and his former high school teacher and their complex, beautiful, messy relationship. Kaitlyn Dever plays Falco’s teenage daughter and is incredible in it. I’m kind of tearing up just replaying the movie in my head right now.
“My £1,000-A-Month Wellness Obsession Was Making Me Sick”. This is a brilliant piece by Katie O’Malley about something I’ve been seeing for a while, both in clinic and among friends, so I was delighted when she got in touch to chat about it.
Basically, we’ve started confusing wellness with the wellness industry. They’re not the same thing. There’s plenty of fun to be had in the latter but I’d hate for anyone to think spending hundreds or thousands of pounds is a prerequisite for looking after themselves.
We need to stop approaching our bodies like shopping lists, always looking for the next thing to buy rather than asking what we actually need.
As I mentioned in the piece, “Buying wellness products is easier than building wellness habits. Only one actually improves your health.” Have a read and let me know what you think.
Want to start nutritional therapy?
I’m welcoming a new group of nutritional therapy clients in September. If you’ve been thinking about working together, the first step is booking a Health Review Call).
I offer these 20min calls so we get a chance to explore what youve been experiencing, what your goals are, and I can answer any Qs about how my programmes work. There’s usually about a 4 week wait between review call and starting together so if you want to get cracking in September, now’s the time to chat.
Or, email me at hello@katchan.co if you’d rather start the conversation there. Okay that’s it, I’m off for a swim.
If you liked Postcards from the Edge, the movie, you'll reaaaaally enjoy Postcards from the Edge, the book! Carrie Fisher has a way with words.
Here for zingy salads ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Have the best time on holiday xx