SHARING HER LESSONS ON HEALTHY LIVING JULIA BRADBURY ON HOW HAVING CANCER HAS BROUGHT NEW MEANING TO BEING A MUM

Julia Bradbury isn't always the most popular member of her household. Her three children get "a bit fed up" with her impassioned conversations about healthy eating and resent the fact that they can't eat as many doughnuts as they once did. They're not allowed sugar at home and have nuts, seeds and fruit instead of cereal for breakfast.

- ROSALIND POWELL

Pizzas are considered a treat, too. "I'd say at times there's a bit of friction," says the TV presenter about family mealtimes. But since her diagnosis of breast cancer in 2021, and her recovery from a mastectomy and breast reconstruction, Julia, 53, has done a "deep dive" into what it means to be healthy, in order to "prevent reoccurrence" and "optimise my chances of staying alive".

Her main motivation is her children son Zephyr, 12, and twin girls Xanthe and Zena, eight - with her partner, property developer Gerard Cunningham. "I've always adored being a mother. It's the greatest privilege and I love watching them grow," says Julia as she sits surrounded by the greenery of her London garden.

"It was the saddest moment when I had my first biopsy and I didn't know what was going on. I kept thinking: 'I just want to see my children grow up, I have to see my children grow up.'

EVER MORE GRATEFUL

"Has my relationship with them changed because of the cancer? Probably. I'm much more emotional. I feel more. The fabric of life is right at my fingertips.

"And the impermanence of everything around us. Everything is heightened. It's made every moment with them even more precious, and I'm ever more grateful."

Two years on from her surgery and in "good health" she says the cancer diagnosis has given her "a renewed focus on what's important in my life", as well as the impetus to write a book, Walk Yourself Happy, about how the natural world can enhance physical and mental health for all of us.

The former Countryfile presenter is known for her passion for walking and her book outlines the benefits of embracing it as the "gateway drug" to nature, as she describes it.