All About Naturopathic Medicine, An Educational Talk
In this video I give an education talk to a group of seniors at the Bernard Betel Centre about naturopathic medicine. I discuss our philosophy, education, what kinds of conditions we treat and answer some questions along the way....
Stress + Resilience: Building Your Wheel of Balance
I talk about how to manage stress and promote mental health and emotional wellness through assessing balance in the key areas of your life that promote a healthy mind and body. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxBlgwEMCs4&t=2s Hello, everybody, my name is Dr. Talia...
On Healing Regret
Someone, I think it was Eckhart Tolle, once said that when it comes to mental illness, anxiety is about worry for the future, while depression is concerned with regret for the past. While, I'm not entirely (or even nearly) convinced that this is true, there is little...
Where There Is Mental Illness, There Is Poor Digestion
I'm tired of hearing mental health conditions blamed on a "chemical imbalance". Patients everywhere are being told that their mental health conditions are, literally, "all in their heads". With this diagnosis—often distributed insensitively, and without much attention...
The Gut-Brain Connection
The gut-brain connection has gotten the attention of researchers and functional medical practitioners. I discuss, briefly, what research has shown us in regards to the complex realm of the microbiome and how depression may be a result of inflammation in the brain,...
The Stress-Depression Connection
When our minds are stressed, how do our bodies react? We experience something called "adrenal fatigue" that can closely mimic the symptoms of depression. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgl8PtcbAsk Hi, naturopathic doctor, Talia Marcheggiani, here. I'm a mental health...
Should I Go On Anti-Depressant Medication?
"I was born with an imbalance in my brain," my patient explains to me, "The medication corrects it—Since I started taking Cipralex, I wake up feeling like a normal person again." It is estimated that about 10% of adults in North America are taking a medication to help...
Healing the Healers, Activists and Artists
It seems like the world is falling apart. These days more than ever. Race wars, weapons, war, wealth concentrated into the hands of a few, and violence, Facebook is filled with videos that fill our heads and hearts with a complicated mixture of sadness, anger,...
Tired, Fat, Cold and Depressed: Treating Hypothyroidism Naturally
I have some amazing news—my patient is better. Whereas only a few short months ago, he was plagued by inexplicable weight gain, debilitating fatigue, depressed mood—convincing him he must be suffering from clinical depression—a sore throat and an inability to regulate...
A Whole Body Approach to Healing Anxiety
With 18% of the population suffering, anxiety is the most common mental health condition in North America. Through clinical practice, I've quickly come to learn that "anxiety" is a term that means many different things to different people. Its symptoms can range from...
“Fat” is not a Feeling
I'm tucking away at the cake again because the people who've invited me for dinner have dessert. Dessert: the gluten-y, sugar-y, dough-y sweetness of relief from deprivation, the dopamine and serotonin rush when the food smashes against my lips, teeth and tongue and...
An Exercise for Boosting Self-Worth (+ Why Positive Affirmations Only Make You Feel Worse)
We all have a critic inside of our heads. Through talking to people, I've been able to form more complete pictures of what these critics look like. I've found them to be as varied as the heads they inhabit, with personalities and characteristics of their own. Some...
De-Centred Naturopathic Practice
People seek out naturopathic doctors for expert advice. This immediately positions us as experts in the context of the therapeutic relationship, establishing a power imbalance right from the first encounter. If left unchecked, this power imbalance will result in the...
Is Wu Wei the Modern-Day Stress Solution?
When a successful person is asked to share the secrets of his or her success, the unanimous response is that success requires "effort" and "hard work". Other popular euphemisms are that success demands "sweat, blood and tears" or "1% inspiration, 99% perspiration". In...
30 Years, 30 Insights
Today, I'm 30, working on my career as a self-employed health professional and a small business owner and living on my own. I've moved through a lot of states, emotions and life experiences this year, which has been appropriate for closing the chapter on my 20's and...
A Naturopathic Approach to Depression and Mood
According to Statistics Canada, 1 in 4 people suffer from a mental health condition in Canada. Most of these individuals will fall between the cracks of a medical system that is not equipped to deal with the rise of stress and mood disorders, such as depression....
Will That Be Form or Function Today?
I've come to see my migraines as an internal measuring device for wellness, or rather, lack of wellness—kind of like a very painful meat thermometer. From time to time I get bouts of low energy compelling me to spend more time doing low-key activities. However, quick...
The Dangerous Single Story of the Standard Medical Model
A singular narrative is told and retold regarding medicine in the west. The story goes roughly like this: the brightest students are accepted into medical schools where they learn—mainly through memorization—anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnostics, microbiology,...
A Tale of Two Failures
Premature Ovarian Failure no longer bears that name. It's not a failure anymore, but an insufficiency. POF becomes POI: Premature Ovarian Insufficiency, as insufficiency is apparently a softer term than "failure". For me, it's another telling example of how our...
Balancing Hormones for Healthy Weight Loss
This is a common story that can describe any number of patients I see in my private practice: My patient has been doing well–she's been exercising regularly; she's been cutting out sugar and processed foods and watching what she eats. She's been having salads for...