B L O G

Mindfulness is, “ the awareness that arises through intentionally attending to oneself and others in an open, caring, and nonjudgmental way.” Let’s break that down, shall we?

I see the same patterns in my practice over and over again. High stressed individuals with digestive concerns; people who rush from one thing to another without taking a second to stop, breathe properly, or even eat properly. I admit that I am guilty of this too from time to time, but the difference is astonishing when you CARVE OUT the time to live and eat intentionally.

The baby boomer generation accounts for 30% of the population in Canada and are now between 54 and 72 years old. With a population this large and degenerative cognitive disorders on the rise, it begs the question: why is this happening and what can we do about it? 
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Let’s say, for argument’s sake, half the world’s population is female.
And of those females, about half are within an age bracket which have their period. While there is this huge percentage of the population that have their menstrual cycles, there is so little information given to us about what exactly happens during that monthly cycle; that one week that you’re on your period is not the only hormonal change you go through during the month. Lucky for us (eye roll), our hormones are fluctuating daily, preparing our bodies for the next step.

Stress.  We hear that word thrown around daily, but what does stress really mean? For one person it can be trying to hit a deadline, for another person it can be an environmental trigger such as mold, and for another it can be a family member with failing health.  Stress is different for each person and what matters almost as much as the stressor itself, is the perception of stress in your life.  I’ve reviewed some ways to combat stress both from a physiological standpoint but also through perception. 

There are meridians (sort of like energy channels) that run throughout the body that each corresponds to an organ (Liver, Spleen, Heart etc). When there is a disruption of flow of energy in these channels, disease manifests whether that is symptoms or diagnosed medical conditions such as Anxiety, PCOS or Hypothyroidism. 

We all know that feeling; we eat something that doesn’t entirely agree with us, and the gas, bloating, cramping or nausea ensues. These symptoms are usually acute, quite obvious and in a few hours, they subside. What happens when the health of our gut is chronically compromised and leads to symptoms we didn’t even know were related such as mood disorders? Well… if we don’t know they’re related, chances are nothing is done.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and as such I thought I’d take this opportunity to discuss breast health as simply as possible! 1 in 8 women will have the diagnosis of breast cancer in their life, which means you likely know someone who has been affected by it. Let’s take our health into our own hands; there is so much power in knowledge especially when it comes to our own bodies!

Charcoal ice cream, lemonade, and toothpaste, oh my!
So, what works and what doesn’t? This trend seems too good to be true and usually that means it is.  I’ve highlighted how it works and when activated charcoal can be useful and useless.

HOW IT WORKS

Activated charcoal (AC) is created by heating wood or other high-carbon products such as coconut husk and then oxidizing it...

The facial fad is upon us. It seems social media is buzzing on sheet masks, "life-changing" clay masks, those charcoal ones that look entirely painful yet satisfying to peel off (you know the ones) and so on. Maybe they work, maybe they don't but at the end of the day it seems we all want one thing: clear, glowing, youthful skin.