The Art & Practice Blog
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...
DIY Natural Dry Shampoo
Since puberty I've had fine, oil-prone hair that used to require daily washing. However, washing hair on a daily basis can be time-consuming and expensive. It's also not recommended that we wash hair often (it's better to cut shampoos down to once or twice a week) to...
How Coco Can Change Your Life
I realized it one day, while spending a particularly delicious Saturday in one of the armchairs of the living room, feeling the sun warm my back as it streamed through the shutters: for the first time in a while, I didn't feel stressed. Coco was draped across my back,...
Cherry Tomato Clafoutis (with Coconut Milk)
Oh man, is it ever easy to make things taste good using bread and cheese. Especially cheese. It seems like all the covers of artfully designed cookbooks feature simple-looking recipes that you just know are absolutely delicious because of the presence of one magical...
Study-Buddy Blueberry Lemon Olive Oil Muffins
Muffins are exactly what I've been needing lately: soft, tender, sweet and loving, these pillow-y treats, with their oatmeal and chia seed content, are full of fibre and lemony-blueberry flavour. These babies are the perfect antidote to the long, dreary days spent in...
Gotta Love the Recognition!
So, I was pleased to find out that I've been featured in the Psychology of Eating's website as one of the top 100 Natural Health Blogs! Among the recognized are some of my favourite CCNM bloggers: Discovering Naturopathy My Journey to Becoming a Naturopathic...
Barefoot Adventures in Tairona
The trail in Tairona National Park, from the entrance of the park to the campsite we stayed at, took 4 hours to hike. Burdened with heavy backpacks and cotton shirts sticking to our backs with humid sweat, we traipsed through the jungle. Straw hats scratching...
Naturopathic Medical Brigade to Guatemala
So, in February of 2013 I will be packing up my medical equipment and heading to Panajachel, Guatemala to embark on my first ever medical brigade with Naturopaths Without Borders (NWB) and Naturopathic Medicine for Global Health (NMGH)! I became hooked on volunteering...
Let Food Be Thy Medicine
Even when it reflects your passions, it's not often you find yourself in a truly inspiring lecture while studying for a post-graduate degree; hey, it's sad, but true. So, imagine my excitement at feeling completely touched by our third year Clinical Nutrition...
A Pizza of Inspiration: Blog Award + Recipe
First of all, let me thank Mark at Endless Love and Light for my 2nd Very Inspiring Blogger Award nomination. That makes 4 blog nominations! While I'm not exactly sure what these nominations really mean, I'm grateful for the recognition from the blogging community and...
Under Acupressure
One of my favourite courses, since I began my studies to become a naturopathic doctor, has been Asian Medicine. I am fascinated by the fact that this holistic form of medicine treated billions of people for the past 3000 years, how it remains a viable form of medicine...
Notes on the Community Healthcare Panel
Last Wednesday, November 14, a group of exceptionally socially-minded classmates and I held a Community Healthcare Panel. Despite the fact that it was held on a Wednesday night, the event proved to be nothing less than engaging and inspiring and, because of its...
Quotes from The Gathering: Chicago 2012
Every year the naturopathic student community holds a philosophical conference at one of the accredited naturopathic medical schools in North America. For three days, naturopathic medical students and "elders" - seasoned professionals in practice for about 20 years or...
The Empowerment Models in Community Healthcare (Wo)Manifesto
As we often hear in our classes, one of the biggest risk factors for a variety of chronic, debilitating diseases, from diabetes to ADHD, is low socioeconomic status. Sadly, even in a country like Canada, in the year 2012, we see that socioeconomic status continues to...
Sometimes we forget that the textbooks are about the people all around us…
I found this thought-provoking blog post from a 4th year North American medical student on the computerization of med school. As naturopathic medical students we like to think that we're the only healthcare professionals that actually "care" about people. However,...