When Life Gives You Lemons

Hari Budha Magar was born in a remote village in Nepal at the foothills of the Himalayas.As a child he walked barefoot to school and learned to write with chalk stone on a wooden plank. At age 19 he joined the British Army's Gurkha regiment, serving for 15 years across five continents.

But In 2010 during a patrol in Afghanistan his life changed forever when he stepped on an improvised explosive device, losing both of his legs above the knee.

That however was not the end of his story. Following a tough mental and physical recovery, Hari rediscovered his purpose.

In 2023, Hari became the first double above-knee amputee in history to summit Mount Everest. And then, on the 6th of January 2026, he completed the Seven Summits challenge and so becoming the first double amputee ever to climb the highest mountain on every continent. Along the way he had to fight not just the mountain, but a Nepalese government ban that tried to stop him from climbing at all.

He is now a disability campaigner, motivational speaker, and living proof that the only real limits are the ones we accept.

Listen wherever you find your podcasts or watch on YouTube.

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear that today's hardest night is followed by a new day.

Learn more about Hari on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hari_budha_magar/ and check out his campaign he is doing with Ottobock here: https://www.ottobock.com/ottobock-dear-ai/ambassador/hari

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Emma Bord is a personal trainer of 18 years, author of Mum Power, and a Six Star Marathon finisher. She completed all six World Marathon Majors in a single year, and the hardest miles she has ever run began long before any start line.

In 2019, Emma's husband suffered a sudden seizure in the shower and was flown to hospital by air ambulance. She describes those hours in detail, how the experience still shapes her as a mum, how that traumatic experience drives her marathon running and why she now fundraises for the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance.

Emma and I also cover:

• Why she wrote Mum Power, and the gap in postnatal fitness advice she saw in her clients
• Swapping "bounce back" for "bounce forward"
• Why pelvic floor and core health get so little attention in UK maternity care, and what needs to change
• How a Tokyo Marathon low point taught her a technique for the hardest moments in a race
• Why self self-care is not selfish, and how to build exercise into a life with no spare hours

If this episode helped you, share it with someone who needs the reminder that hard things make us stronger.

‘Mum Power; Build Strength & Confidence and Feel Like You Again’ by Emma Bord - Available here - https://amzn.to/4rmEx5H

Follow Emma on Instagram @emmabordpt

Podcast available on all platforms or you can watch on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/@lemonlifepod

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This episode from Season 4 remains one of my and your favourite conversations of the podcast so I am re-releasing it today for our new followers).

If you have ever been told to fast, cut your carbs, or stick to light weights then this episode is honestly going to change everything you thought you knew.

Dr Stacy Sims is a world-renowned physiologist, nutrition scientist, and applied researcher who has dedicated her career to the mission of understanding and communicating the profound differences between male and female physiology, and making sure women stop being treated as smaller versions of men.

She is the author of ROAR and Next Level, the host of a TED talk entitled ‘Women Are Not Small Men’ that has now been viewed nearly half a million times, and one of the most important voices in women's health and performance science today.

In this conversation (which is honestly one of my personal favourites!) Stacy dismantles some of the most pervasive myths in the health and wellness world right now. Intermittent fasting for women? The research does not support it. Zone two training? Women are already oxidatively capable. They need intensity, not more long slow work. Light weights? Absolutely not. Women need to lift heavy, especially as they age and oestrogen declines. Carbs? Essential and absolutely not the enemy.

This is the conversation everyone needs to hear.

In this episode:

• Why women's results were being thrown out as anomalies in research labs and why that still happens today
• The critical difference between time restricted eating and intermittent fasting and why only one of them works for women
• Why fasted training causes women to burn muscle not fat and what actually happens in the hypothalamus
• The truth about carbohydrates for women why we need them, when to eat them, and how that changes around menopause
• Why women need 1.6 to 2.3 grammes of protein per kilogramme of bodyweight daily and why the current RDA is based on sedentary old men
• Why lifting heavy is non-negotiable for women especially after 40 and what heavy actually means
• Zone two training and why women should stop spending hours there and go high intensity instead
• Tracking your menstrual cycle - why it matters, which apps actually work, and why most wearables are reading female physiology incorrectly
• Why periods are ergogenic aids and Stacy's vision for a world where women understand and work with their own physiology

🎧 When Life Gives You Lemons - available on all podcast platforms

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Weight loss medications are everywhere right now. On social media, in celebrity culture, in GP surgeries and on unregulated websites. But what is the truth behind them and what are we not being told?

Dr Jack Mosley is a practising GP with a special interest in metabolic health and weight loss management, and the author of Food Noise, a book that cuts through the noise around GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro while offering evidence-based nutritional guidance for lasting weight loss.

Many of you will know his father, the late and much-loved Dr Michael Mosley. He was a broadcaster who popularised intermittent fasting, the 5:2 diet, and reversed his own Type 2 diabetes through diet alone. Jack is very much carrying that torch making complex health science feel genuinely accessible while forging his own compelling path in the world of metabolic health.

In this honest and genuinely eye-opening conversation, we cover everything from the science of food noise to the very real risks of muscle loss, the wild west of online pharmacies, and why the Mediterranean diet remains the most evidence-based dietary pattern we have.

In this episode:

• What GLP-1 medications actually are and how they really work
• The concept of food noise and why some people's is turned up louder than others
• Growing up in the Mosley household - tapeworms, leeches, and kombucha by the dinner table
• Why up to 40% of weight lost on GLP-1s can be lean muscle mass and why that is terrifying
• The wild west of online pharmacies and who is really prescribing these drugs
• Why weight returns up to eight times faster than conventional dieting once you stop
• The link between GLP-1s and reduced alcohol consumption and smoking
• Intermittent fasting and the debate around women and fasting
• Why BMI is a terrible measure of health
• The Mediterranean diet and what it actually is and why it works
• Protein, fibre, and the simple habits that make the biggest difference
• What losing his father has taught Jack about health, time, and what really matters
• 
  

📖 Food Noise by Dr Jack Mosley - available now

🎧 When Life Gives You Lemons - available on all podcast platforms

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Rosie Nixon spent over two decades at the heart of the media world including being the Editor-in-Chief of HELLO!

But then, after hitting a wall, and experiencing a period of ‘burnout’ she did something brave…..she walked away from one of the most coveted roles in British media to reinvent herself entirely. She is now a qualified life coach, author of five books including her new book The Pro Method, and is founder of Rosie's Reinvention Retreats - a series of day retreats for midlife women navigating their next chapter.

In this warm and deeply relatable conversation, we explore burnout, identity, values, and what it really means to rewrite your own story.

In this episode:

·      Two decades at the top of celebrity media - the royal weddings, the exclusives, and the Robbie Williams scoop

·      How burnout crept up slowly and the hotel room moment that changed everything

·      The link between perimenopause and burnout and why so many women miss it

·      Why values are the foundation of everything and how to find yours

·      The PRO Method - Pause, Reflect, Organise and why the pause is the hardest part

·      Letting go of limiting self-beliefs and rewriting the stories that hold us back

·      Rosie's Reinvention Retreats and the gap she spotted in the market

·      The science of kindness and why it is genuinely good for your heart

📖 The Pro Method - available now

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/000865137X/?bestFormat=true&k=the%20pro%20method&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-v2_k0_1_14_de&crid=1RZJMY4ZWOBQR&sprefix=The%20PRO%20Method

🌿 Rosie's Reinvention Retreats

🎧 When Life Gives You Lemons - available on all podcast platforms

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For generations, women have been told that painful, heavy periods are just part of life. That they are normal. That they should get on with it.

Dr Liz Murray is on a mission to change that.

A former NHS doctor, women's health activist, founder of the charity Mortal and Strong, and author of Not Just Painful Periods. In this conversation, Liz brings something rare in that she is both the doctor and the patient. Diagnosed with endometriosis, lupus, and connective tissue disease after years of dismissal, multiple miscarriages, wrongly advised IVF, and ultimately a hysterectomy in her early thirties, Liz knows this system from both sides of the consultation room.

And she is determined to make sure no other woman goes through what she went through.

In this episode, we have an important, honest, and eye-opening conversation about women's health that will leave you fully armed to advocate for yourself next time something just doesn’t feel right.

In this episode:

• What endometriosis actually is and why it takes an average of nine years to diagnose
• Liz's own journey from medical student in a wheelchair to a hysterectomy at 32
• The multiple miscarriages, wrong advice, and £12,000 of IVF that should never have happened
• The miracle pregnancy after clearance surgery and her rainbow baby
• Why painful periods are not normal and what to do about it
• Some truths about the contraceptive pill
• The emerging link between neurodiversity, hypermobility, and endometriosis
• How to advocate for yourself in a healthcare system that doesn't always listen
• The Japanese art of kintsugi and why Liz built a charity around it

📖 Not Just Painful Periods - available now

🌿 Mortal and Strong: mortalandstrong.com

🎧 When Life Gives You Lemons - available on all podcast platforms

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When Max Thorpe attempted to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, the unimaginable happened.

On day nine, leading the pairs race and ahead of world record pace, a 40-foot wave capsized their boat. What followed was a fire in the cabin, a night barricaded in a storage space the size of a suitcase, and a rescue by a 110,000-tonne oil tanker that nearly killed them both. Max was separated from the boat in the middle of the Atlantic at night, in a storm, with nothing to hold onto. He survived by grabbing the last foot of a stepladder in the darkness.

He came home, processed the experience, and then unbelievably decided to go again.

Two years later, Max crossed that same finish line in Antigua - breaking the world record by just 14 minutes after 37 days at sea.

This is one of the most extraordinary stories of resilience, decision-making under pressure and the power of refusing to be defined by your worst moment that you will ever hear.

In this episode:

·      Why a sporty kid with something to prove ended up rowing the Atlantic

·      The nine days of brutal conditions before everything went wrong

·      The capsize, the fire, and the night barricaded in a cabin the size of a suitcase

·      Being separated from the boat in the dark and grabbing a rope with his last strength

·      Coming home and deciding to go again and why

·      The second row - breaking oars, rebuilding them at sea, and a two-hour sprint finish

·      Breaking the world record by 14 minutes

·      How facing his own mortality changed the way he lives

🎧 When Life Gives You Lemons. New episode out now.  Available on all podcast platforms.

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Thomas Hal Robson-Kanu was on the path to becoming a professional footballer when at 15 years old, a tackle ruptured all his knee ligaments. After two gruelling surgeries and two years of rehabilitation, the club doctors handed him a prescription for painkillers and told him to get on with it. But his body rejected the painkillers and he was in agony every morning.

So Thomas and his father did something remarkable. They started researching. They looked at ancient cultures, Ayurvedic practices, herbs and spices used as medicine for centuries. They went on to create a homemade golden elixir from whole raw ingredients; turmeric, ginger, pomegranate, watermelon, that within six weeks left Thomas completely pain free for the first time in years.

What followed was a Premier League football career, an iconic goal at Euro 2016 for Wales and eventually, the founding of The Turmeric Co, one of the most exciting health drinks businesses in the UK.

But this episode is about much more than turmeric. It's about rejection, reinvention, purpose, and what the world could look like if we put prevention before treatment.

In this episode:

• Two ACL ruptures at 15 and the surgeon who told him to find a new career
• How his father's Nigerian grandfather, a herbalist, inspired the remedy that changed everything
• The Premier League career nobody thought he would have and the iconic Euro 2016 goal
• What professional football teaches you about rejection that most people never learn
• Why reinvention isn't luck - it's a decision
• The truth about the juice industry and why fresh doesn't always mean fresh
• What the world would look like if the NHS put prevention before treatment
• Why sugar is the biggest drug in the world
• 
  

🌿 Find out more: @theturmericco on instagram

🎧 When Life Gives You Lemons available on all podcast platforms

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What does it take to be the best in the world and keep coming back every time life knocks you down? Lucy Charles-Barclay is one of the most dominant athletes in the history of long-course triathlon. A 2023 Ironman World Champion, two-time 70.3 World Champion, and the fastest swimmer in the sport, Lucy's journey to the top has been anything but straightforward.

She started as an elite competitive swimmer, trialled for the London 2012 Olympics, and when she didn't make it, walked away from the sport entirely. She then signed up for an Ironman almost on a whim and what followed is one of sport's most remarkable stories of reinvention.

But it's not just the victories that make Lucy's story so compelling. It's everything in between. Stress fractures, a calf tear on mile one of the marathon at the very race she went on to win, a life-threatening DNF in Kona when her husband and coach Reece pulled her from the course. Then, just four weeks later she was back on top of the podium as 70.3 World Champion in Marbella.

And through all of it, she recently received a diagnosis of coeliac disease that explained years of unexplained injuries and finally gave her the answers she'd been searching for.

This is a conversation about resilience, reinvention, the power of a great team, and what it really means to never stop coming back.

In this episode:

• Missing out on the London 2012 Olympics and how it accidentally led to triathlon
• What a peak training week really looks like - 30 hours, 5am starts and very little sleep
• The coeliac disease diagnosis that changed everything and explained years of injuries
• Being pulled from the Kona World Championships by her husband
• Four weeks later winning the 70.3 World Championships in Marbella when the world had written her off
• The mental strategies that get her through the darkest moments in a race
• What still drives her at the very top of the sport
• Her big goal for October 2026 - returning to Kona to go one better

🎧 Follow Lucy on Instagram @LucyCharles93 and on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@LucyCharlesBarclay

🌐 Follow When Life Gives You Lemons — available on all podcast platforms

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How do you rebuild your life when a split second changes everything forever?

Darren Edwards was an experienced climber, adventurer, and thrill-seeker when a rock collapse at a cliff face called World's End sent him falling 350 feet, breaking his back and leaving him paralysed from the chest down.

What followed is one of the most extraordinary stories of resilience, reinvention, and raw human courage you'll ever hear. In this conversation, Darren takes us from that terrifying moment on the cliff face and the best friend who threw himself on top of Darren to stop him falling to his death. Through the heartbreak of rehabilitation, the pursuit of Paralympic glory, and the record-breaking expeditions that followed; including kayaking 1400km from Land's End to John O'Groats and attempting to sit-ski to the South Pole.

Darren is living proof that adversity isn't the end of the story. It can be the beginning of an even greater one.

In this episode:

·      The moment at World's End that changed everything and the friend who saved his life

·      What it truly feels like to be told you will never walk again

·      Hitting rock bottom in rehab and the physio whose words lit the way back

·      Why it took four years to stop wishing the accident had never happened

·      Kayaking 1400km around the British coastline with four friends who had each faced life-changing trauma

·      Seven marathons, seven days, seven continents and why it was the worst week of his life

·      The South Pole expedition and what "failure" really means

Find out more at https://redefiningimpossible.co.uk/

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