The Art & Practice Blog
Volunteering at the Evergreen Yonge Street Mission
An interview outlining my adventures providing free naturopathic medicine to street youth at the Evergreen Yonge Street Mission health centre, originally featured in Pulse, a publication for members of the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors. What is the...
Preventive Medicine: 9 Root Causes of Disease
I often get emails like this, “Dear Doctor, please tell me your favourite natural cure for anxiety”, to which I often reply: Dear, Anxiety, Imagine you are a gardener, tending to your garden. You are a skilled gardener: you tend lovingly to your plants every day and...
When Your Doctor Says, “You’re Fine!”
I hear this a lot: "I followed X, Y, Z (controversial) diet, and my doctor said my blood is fine!" Firstly, what do we think doctors are testing our blood for? Most standard blood tests look at cholesterol, check for anemia, and to see if our kidneys are failing or...
I Am Not My Thoughts: A Lesson in Meta-Awareness
Mindfulness philosophy tells us that our thoughts and emotions are simply phenomena that arise in our bodies and minds: they are not us. Those of us who suffer from depression and anxiety tend to enter cycles of over-thinking. The mind wanders and engages in...
Feeling Tired? Try These 15 Ways to Beat Fatigue
Like many people I see, Sandra was experiencing debilitating exhaustion. Completing her PhD, she was working all day and collapsing on the couch at 8 pm. She stopped going out in the evening. She ceased spending time with friends, engaging in activities outside of her...
Is Your Multivitamin Making You Sick?
Is your multivitamin or B-complex making you sick? Take a look at the label on your multivitamin or B-complex and see if it contains "folic acid". Folic acid is often used interchangeably with "folate", which is a vitamin needed for DNA synthesis and repair. Every...
13 Ways to Self-Care
Humour me for a moment. Take a moment to imagine your “happy place”—the place you feel most at home. Where are you? What are you doing? Who is there with you? What are the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations that fill the air and tickle your skin? What are...
My Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex Discuss a Centipede Trapped in the Bathtub
Prefrontal Cortex: ...Right, so the deadline for the article is Monday. I can work on it tomorrow morning, but then I also need to schedule time for grocery shopping—what am I going to make for the week to eat? There's a giant load of laundry in the bin too, which I...
The Naturopathic Guide to Snacking: 12 Blood-Sugar Balancing Snack Ideas
When helping someone improve their daily nutrition, it helps to start with one meal at a time. With my patients, I first tackle breakfast, the most important meal of the day for glucose control, which has major implications in mood and hormone regulation for the rest...
The Do’s and Don’ts of Human Nutrition
ÏÏAround the same time that the American Heart Association published a paper warning the public that coconut oil contained saturated fat, supposedly leading to heart disease, Netflix released the vegan documentary What the Health, which declared diabetes to be a...
Can I Support My Mental and Hormonal Health as a Vegan?
"Dear Dr. Talia, I have been a vegan for 6 years. I also suffer from mental health conditions and possible hormonal imbalances. After doing some research on diets for anxiety and depression, I found that most of them include meat and animal products. I'm wondering:...
Estrogen Balance and Mental Health: Depression, Anxiety and Stress
Estrogen levels in the brain and body affect our brain's levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, two neurotransmitters that are implicated in mood disorders like depression, psychosis and anxiety. Our brain has several built-in recycling processes to keep us...
Eat Less, Live Longer: The Therapeutic Benefits of Fasting
In the past I used to suffer from "hanger", feeling hungry and irritable if going more than a few hours without food. Now my body is adapted to fasting, going prolonged periods without food—and I feel all-the better for it. When I was a kid, no one ever had to...
So “What the Health” Do I Eat Now?
A naturopathic doctor offers tips for navigating the often contradictory and confusing world of modern human nutrition. As soon as we start to feel comfortable with our grasp of human nutrition—which foods are healthy, which ones are unhealthy, and how to eat a...
Root Causes of Anxiety, a Functional Medicine Approach
I talk about root causes of anxiety, the most common mental health condition, and what to do about it from a functional medicine perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3wedJyGmT0&t=196s Hi, everybody, Dr. Talia Marcheggiani here. I'm a naturopathic doctor who...
Contrast Showers for Immunity, Inflammation, Mood, Pain and Weight Loss
I talk about contrast showers for boosting immunity, lowering inflammation, mood, pain and weight loss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgSLgeENJGk&t=28s Hello everyone, my name is Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, I'm a naturopathic doctor and today I'm going to talk about hot...
What Supplements Does a Naturopathic Doctor Take?
I talk about the supplements I take on a daily basis and their indications. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFGBiNV6rqg&t=9s Hey, Everybody, my name is Dr. Talia Marcheggiani and I'm recording to you guys from my kitchen in Toronto. And this video is about the...
The Therapeutic Order of Naturopathic Medicine
The Therapeutic Order is a tool that helps guide naturopathic treatment approaches. I explain how naturopathic doctors' healing philosophy might differ from the conventional medical model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faUYM4xhi_E&t=3s Hi, guys, I'm Dr. Talia...
8 Foods for Mental Health
I talk about 8 functional foods that can help calm inflammation, boost neurotransmitter synthesis and restore common nutrient deficiencies that might contribute to low mood and mental health conditions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmBwhnpZItg&t=382s My name is Dr....
5 Tools for Emotional Wellness and Mental Health
I talk about 5 essential tools for caring for your mental and emotional health. These are powerful self-care practices that can help balance your mind and emotions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Em4v2hoic Hello, everybody, my name is Dr. Talia Marcheggiani. I am a...