Thanks for adding me, I’m Nick a survivor from 2012 who set up Strokeinformation, a registered charity who helps others impacted by stroke!! We have a weekly zoom meeting and WhatsApp group if anyone’s interested

Most of us eat what is easy and available. If something is always in the cupboard or fridge, it can quickly become an everyday habit. That’s why healthier eating isn’t just about willpower. It starts with what we bring home from the supermarket. Foods and drinks worth limiting: 🥤 Sugary drinks Including fizzy drinks, energy drinks and sweetened fruit drinks. 🍰 Cakes, biscuits and other sweet treats These are often high in sugar, calories and saturated fat. 🍔 Fast food and takeaways Many popular choices contain large amounts of salt, saturated fat and calories. 📦 Packaged snacks and ready meals Check the label, as many are high in salt, sugar or saturated fat. 🥓 Processed meats Bacon, sausages, salami and ham are often high in salt and saturated fat. Over time, these everyday food choices can affect blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight, all of which influence stroke risk. Before your next food shop, take a look at your shopping list. If any of these are regular items, consider buying one of them less often.

Good afternoon. Unfortunately, on Monday next week I'm on call for Stroke at Aintree and so can't do the group meeting that we had scheduled for 4pm. As such I have moved it to the Tuesday instead. I hope you can make it then. The purpose of the meeting is to have a space where we can all share how we are getting on, any challenges we have had and to share ideas for how to manage them as well as to how to keep working on reducing our future stroke risk. I look forward to seeing you there.

Firstly, I am sorry if I offend any professionals, they have all been nice dedicated people, but they’re also complicit in the shortcomings of post stroke support This report is a result of a survey in which I participated. It highlights the shortcomings in post stroke support Firstly, the report speaks about the first six months and that this is the best chance for recovery. I spent 4 months in Hospital following the incident and I received little to no therapy. What I did receive was mostly aimed at freeing up my Hospital bed not improving my condition, but meeting certain milestones to discharging me. EG how far can you walk with a stick? Can you sit in a chair for six hours? So much of that six month window was missed. When I was discharged, I received a little therapy but again mostly aimed at a checklist not aiming to improve my disabilities but rather meet certain milestones. EG how fast far can I walk with a stick? Can I prepare my own meal (even though I can’t cook it and I can’t actually lift it to another room to eat it). And that post Hospital support lasted 2-3 months. Then for the following 6 months I have received no NHS physiotherapy and the occupational therapist was basically just a conduit to obtain various aids rather than to obtain any chance of actual recovery so I had to resort to paying for a private physiotherapist. I have two versions of this report a short one for victims and second longer one for professionals. Which the author has asked me to share

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — attributed to Aristotle. We've done so many stroke prevention posts that I've temporarily run out of things to say. So, I'm going to recycle an old post today. But I think it's a really important post on habit formation. There's no point in knowing how to be healthy if we don't act on it and that's where habits come in. Please share your thoughts on how you build healthy habits. *Habit formation Tip 1: Make it Obvious* We usually perform habits after being triggered by a cue. Find the best cues for the habits you want to do and amplify them. If it's eating fruit buy a huge striking fruit bowl and put it in a really obvious place. If it's going for a run first thing, leave your trainers right by the bed so you can't miss them in the morning, even better go to bed in your running clothes too. If it's flossing put a post-it note on your bathroom mirror. Whatever it takes, just make the habit inescapable. We've got billion dollar companies using the exact same tactics to flood us with cues to eat more junk and watch TV, so we need to fight back with our own tailored queues that actually serve our needs.