The Art & Practice Blog
Coconut Chia Pudding
I first heard about chia pudding, where else, but among my colleagues, fellow students of naturopathic medicine and self-professed health nuts. Chia seeds are chock full of fibre and omega-3 fatty acids. When placed in water and left for a while their fibre begins to...
Chicken Curry with Cauliflower “Rice”
My family and I have been doing Natasha Turner's Hormone Diet for the past few weeks. The diet mainly consists of eliminating all sources of starch (grains and root vegetables, mostly), sugar, caffeine, alcohol and processed foods, and eating a whole foods diet. While...
DIY Natural Nutritive Lotion
Of all the cosmetics to make, lotions are one of the hardest. The reason is basic grade 6 science: oil and water don't mix. This lotion recipe, however, contains no water, just fats. It goes on smoothly, leaves no greasy after-feel and keeps skin soft for days. The...
Burning Hearts: a naturopathic approach to GERD
One of my favourite anti-health commercials on TV are the heartburn ones. My brother and I share a laugh while a woman is slapped by spicy spaghetti to prevent her from eating it and experiencing heartburn. The tagline asks, "Are your favourite foods fighting you?...
Blueberry Coconut “Buttermilk” Pancakes (Gluten and Dairy-Free)
Pancakes for breakfast can only mean a few things: a lazy Sunday morning, the first morning of a long break (like Christmas) or vacation! All great things, it's no wonder I love pancakes. There really is nothing like lazily flipping over a page of the thick weekend...
DIY Apple-Cider Vinegar and Green Tea Facial Toner
As I've shared before (to the delight of my readers, for sure) I have oily skin. Therefore I love toner. I find that a cleansing regime isn't complete without it. At once it shrinks and cleanses pores, controls oil and evens skin tone and I find my skin looks...
A Happiness Recipe from Epicurus
I've been reading a book I recommend to all of you: The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton. This book is, in one, a Western philosophy refresher course and self-help book, outlining a guide for living as dictated to us by 6 great philosophers. One of my...
DIY Natural Lip Balm
Winter time is a time for chapped lips and that means a time for lip balm. I, for one, have been addicted to the stuff ever since I started buying Bonnebell Lip Smackers (glitter and all) in packs of 10 in a variety of flavours and colours. Now that my glitter days...
Treading Water
After December finals, I had my first naturopathic preceptoring experience. At CCNM, we are required to sit in on a total of 100 patient visits with a practicing naturopathic doctor. From these visits comes the kind of learning that one can only obtain through...
Dark Chocolate and Coconut Gluten-free Birthday Cake
Wednesday was my mom's birthday and, to celebrate, I made her a very chocolate-y gluten-free cake. Since cake and chocolate are not exactly naturopathic (although dark cocoa has been shown to modestly lower blood pressure), it's important that, when eating and...
Whipped Shea Body Butter Recipe
I used to be a drugstore junkie. There was a Shopper's Drugmart, our Canadian drug superstore, at the corner near our house while attending high school and there was one near my house while attending university. I'd slip in a few times a week, sometimes for legitimate...
One Man’s Trash is a Village’s Orchestra
In Paraguay, South America there is a village, called Cateura, whose main industry is collecting and recycling the waste from the rest of the country. Being from a poor village that acts as Paraguay's dumping grounds, the citizens of Cateura subsist mainly on sorting...
Is Being Overweight Unhealthy?
The new year brings with it the onslaught of new year's resolutions, the most common being, of course, to lose weight. While most people think that losing weight can help them better their health and well-being, a new study published in JAMA begs to differ. As it...
DIY Natural Edible Deodorant
It drives me crazy when we find that the things we once thought were so complicated are actually incredibly, insanely simple and that the truth of their simplicity is not common knowledge. This turned out to be the case for deodorant. Most people who seek natural...
2012 Year in Review
Happy New Year, everyone! I took a much needed computer fast for a few days and thus left this blog for a little while, but I'm back now. The world didn't end in 2012, and it was an interesting, productive year. Here are some highlights! January: I started this blog!...
Have a Very Merry Christmas!
And a Happy Kwanzaa, Eid, Yule, Hanukkah, Yalda and Winter Solstice! See you in the New Year! xo Talia ox
10 Cheap and Holistic Gift Ideas for the Naturopathic Medical Student
If we weren't broke before coming to this program, after about 2.5 years you'll bet we are now! There's no time to get a job and no money to be spent on expensive, luxurious gifts. So, what's a naturopathic student to do? In order to partake in the materialism of the...
Congratulations, Class of 2014!
Well, it's been one heck of a semester and an incredible 2.5 years! So far, the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine class of 2014 has written a grand total of: 90 Exams! What a bunch of troopers we are. This calls for a celebration!
Gluten-Free Holiday Fruitcake
Christmas fruitcake. I've always hated that dry, brown loaf with its bitter, plastic-tasting chunks of "fruit". Only my dad would eat it; I guess nothing says Christmas like dipping a piece of dry, tasteless plastic/bread into an espresso cup, and then picking the...
Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Cucumber Canapes
For the last Monday of classes for the 2012 school year we had a cleverly named "Ugly Potluck and Delicious Sweater" party at CCNM. Much fun (and good treats) were had by all and people did wear quite delicious sweaters, including some homemade masterpieces featuring...