Julia Bradbury on how her pre-cancer life ‘was like being chased by a tiger all day'

Independent

4 days ago

Julia Bradbury's stress hormones used to be so high that a doctor told her it was like she was being chased by a tiger all day.
And then she got cancer.
Now, four years since she found a lump in her breast and had a mastectomy, the TV presenter, 54, has turned her life around and has finally got the balance right.
'I didn't have a very balanced life before cancer,' she admits. 'Now, I really do feel grateful for every day – balance is very, very important.'
Bradbury, who presented Countryfile and a number of other TV documentaries, many of them about walking, says: 'I've had my cortisol [stress hormone] measured, and historically it's been through the roof. As one doctor described it, I appeared to be being chased by a tiger all day.
'It's something for everybody to be mindful of – we are human beings, not human doings. Even lions and tigers don't hunt all day, they rest a lot, and that's a good metaphor for us – you can't be in hunting mode or being chased all the time.
'You have to find some time to rest and be calm, and find a little bit of security and peace somewhere where you're not being chased.'
So now Bradbury, who's written six books about walking, plus the forthcoming health tips book Hack Yourself Healthy which will be published in September, does breath work and meditation every morning at first light, meditates at night, and exercises regularly.
'I try very much to build peaceful, calm moments into my day, because it's very, very important for me, particularly post a cancer diagnosis,' she explains. 'It's very important to maintain, to keep your stress levels at a minimum, but not always easy when you're running around and trying to meet book deadlines and TV deadlines and all the rest of it.
'So I make sure I carve out those times in the day for me to do my nature walk, to do my breath work, to really calm my cortisol levels. And that for me, I believe, is life-saving.'
She also journals and, perhaps most importantly, spends as much quality time as possible with her three children – Zephyr, 13, and her twin daughters Xanthe and Zena, 10.
'I really revel in being present with them and doing things with them that are nourishing and enriching – not big things, just being with them and spending time together is really, really important.'
And she still values life's smaller wins too, explaining: 'Nurturing those small things is important – that early morning cuppa, if you're lucky enough to have a balcony or open a window or have a garden, and you have that first cup of tea, and it's a peaceful moment for you.
'Those are the big things in my life. Now, I say that the small things are the big things.'
Bradbury, who lives with her property developer husband Gerard Cunningham and their children in London, is also extremely mindful about what she puts in her body through the food she eats, and on her body in terms of creams and cosmetics.
And she's become an ambassador for the organic skincare brand Green People and its new Free to Breathe campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the link between pore-clogging sun creams and the development of heat rash. This comes after research undertaken by Green People found 59% of Brits have experienced heat rash, with 64% of regular sufferers having avoided using sun cream altogether due to fearing they'd trigger a heat rash.
'Green People and I are very aligned in terms of using sunscreens for protection without a lot of nasty ingredients in there,' says Bradbury, who explains that being more careful about things like suncream is all part of trying to become more healthy since she found out she had cancer.
'It was a real shock, of course it was, to get a cancer diagnosis, but it also made me re-evaluate my health entirely,' she says.
'I thought I was quite healthy and, for example, I don't struggle with my weight and that meant in some instances I was the person that could always eat the sugar. But I didn't fully understand what was going on in the inside – I've had issues like endometriosis and other things, and really, cancer made me do a 360 of my health and start to lead a healthier life across the board, from the way I exercise to the way I eat.'
She admits her cancer diagnosis in 2021 was 'completely terrifying,' saying: 'I don't think there'd be anybody who's heard the words 'you've got cancer' who wouldn't immediately be terrified. It's a frightening sentence to be on the receiving end of, but I very quickly became the journalist on myself, and started examining myself as a story, if you like, and examining and researching cancer and treatment.'
Four years after she underwent a mastectomy with immediate breast reconstruction, had some lymph nodes removed, and had chemotherapy, Bradbury says she's 'really well, and taking good care of myself,' and is looking forward to next year which will be five years after her diagnosis.
'The magic number is five, isn't it? If you survive past five years, then statistically, you're a survivor of cancer.'
She says she still has check-ups, and does very robust self-checking, but stresses: 'It really made an enormous impact on my life – but I can't say it was all negative. For me, it's been a bit of a wake-up call.'
She says she doesn't eat junk food any more, pointing out that previously she 'ate enough junk food to last a lifetime.' She also avoids ultra-processed foods and sweets, which she admits is 'really hard in the television industry, because people tend to fuel themselves on bags of [sweets].'
In addition, she says: 'I didn't take care of my sleep, I was drinking too much, in my opinion, and I was eating too much sugar.
'Excess sugar causes all sorts of problems on a cellular level for us, and also damages the liver. And if your liver isn't functioning properly, you're not excreting the toxins you need to. So I really wasn't giving myself the best chance by hammering my liver with loads of sugar, and alcohol as well.
'What about beauty stuff, and make-up? You look at it and you go 'how many toxins is my body dealing with every day, and am I supporting my liver in the best possible way to help it try and eliminate those toxins?'
'And if you're not, because you're not moving, and you're indulging in too many of the other things that are clogging you up, then from my point of view I think your body's going to get into trouble.'