Wholesome World is a new app (approved by the NHS) that has launched to assist all of your nutritional and home health understanding, alongside pushing the awareness of authorised medicinal research. The app came about after founder, Freyja Hanstein, lost her husband to abdominal Synovial Sarcoma cancer in 2014 and she herself was diagnosed with a brain tumour the following year. In this blog, Freyja shares how the lifestyle app started, and how cold water swimming helped her along the way. 

Growing up in Cornwall infiltrated the ocean into my soul. When landlocked, my mind feels anxious, my body feels restless and things just don't feel quite right. 

As a young girl navigating life, the ocean gave me a circle of safety in the surf community. I knew I would find a friend at the local break. But then, you go to college, university, you get a job and suddenly you're landlocked feeling alone, tired, overworked and under-whelmed with this new headspace. You dream of those carefree days where all you needed was a lift to the beach. This was the moment I got itchy feet, threw in the towel and jumped ship to a life-changing trip in the southern hemisphere. There I met my husband and we surfed our way through Australia and Indonesia, before a tsunami of a chapter in my life hit.

Lars

My husband Lars was diagnosed with abdominal Synovial Sarcoma cancer in 2014. He went through heavy waves of treatment. At one point he had so many drugs in his system it was actually a world record! Not that he would accept it to be official. During this time, we resided in Cornwall to fill our bodies with as much ocean and wholesome goodness that we could get our hands on. Energy was low and surfing was out of the question most days, but a sandy stomp, ocean paddle and light swim would keep our spirits high. 

Creating Wholesome World 

A year after Lars passed, I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. However, the things I’d learnt through supporting Lars and our continuous research through his journey, meant I was better prepared. It’s this information that has since been compiled into a digital app – Wholesome World – to provide others with digital access to medical and healthy living information easily from home. 

With this information I felt strong, supported and not too scared. I also knew that if the worst happened, at least I would find my love again. Brain Surgery on the Temporal lobe went ahead, and then I was put through post-op treatment, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which went on until early 2017. This totally changed my lifestyle and surfing became impossible. However, swimming was manageable. Some days ten minutes, other days a quick jump in and out. I found that even just sitting by the ocean helped my thoughts dissipate.

Re-discovering the ocean 

As I spent more time on my beaches with my beloved Ridgeback, Nalu, I began to notice other swimmers – old, young, capable, disabled, solo, in groups. You name it, every type of person had access to this wonderful environment. I also noticed a connection between them, of kindred spirits, and a bond of something really quite simple. Together, we picked each other up on dark days, froze the oblivion out of hard days and gave each other the energy to fight another day. All we needed was swimwear (if we chose to)  and access to the sea. Now I see that cold water swimming is so much more than exercise. There's so much to be discovered, it's just the getting going that's the hard part. My go-to inspiration for swim spots in the south west is 'A Guide to Wild Swimming in Cornwall'. 

If you would like to find out more about Wholesome World and have a library of recipes, nutritional insight and digital health links, you can download the app with a 14-day trial period.

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