“Happy Hillside!” I heard this very specific well-wish ring out a thousand times last weekend. I was attending Hillside, the eclectic, diverse music festival held annually in Guelph, Ontario. The Hillside Festival is three days of good food and drink, good music, and big crowds in the hot sun. As
When I was a kid, I had a persistent case of eczema on both of my hands. Eczema is a common inflammatory skin condition that causes itchiness, a variable rash, and sometimes blistering. I remember slathering hydrocortisone cream on and wrapping both my hands in plastic wrap every night before
I’ve always been a snack person. I find having regular nutrition breaks can help level out my energy on long work days and keep me on track for choosing healthy dinner options. Not everyone requires well-timed snacks to stick to their eating plan. But if you find yourself tempted to
I belong to a great running club at the uptown Waterloo Running Room. We run, we talk about running, we run some more, and then we go home. Over time, friendships form as we learn a little more about each other’s lives outside of the club. This past year I’ve
The definition of “healthy eating” in 2017 is decidedly debatable. Many of our well-established nutritional guidelines appear to be crumbling under recent scrutiny. Did you know that restricting salt consumption may not reduce your risk of hypertension and may actually be harmful? Or that dietary cholesterol (from food sources such
I’ve always been a slim person. I inherited what my cousins call the “Karges metabolism” from my mother’s side of the family. That means I can eat a lot and not gain weight. Truthfully, the foods I eat are healthy and I’m quite physically active but I’ve also never really
Many people in North America identify as being busy. As a naturopath, I often feel torn about what to recommend as the best treatment plan for a patient who is already busy. On the one hand, I want to suggest adding meditation for their stress, more home-cooked meals for their
One of the highlights of my year is a fall wilderness trip with friends to Algonquin Park or somewhere on the Canadian Shield. We paddle through lakes and streams and then portage our belongings as we traverse trails in the woods from lake to lake. The scenery is magnificent –
I recently spent some time reflecting on my father’s childhood. His was a traumatic one, to say the least: physical and emotional abuse, hunger and poverty, running loose in Austrian refugee camps, and the deaths of his parents in the aftermath of World War II. I knew the basic story-line,
Ever reached for the remainder of your chocolate bar and realized you must have already finished it? Or have you ever eaten an entire bag of popcorn without meaning to? If so, you’re not alone. Many of us spend a lot of our day in autopilot – mealtime, driving to