The Art & Practice Blog
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...
Stories of Street Medicine
I was recently told that a benefactor would contact me about the work I've been doing for the Evergreen Yonge Street Mission in Toronto—I provide naturopathic services to street-involved youth twice a month in the drop-in health clinic. There is a natural health...
DIY Rosemary Wine Tincture
As a student of naturopathic medicine, I didn't quite get herbs. They were natural, sure, but why would I prescribe them in lieu of homeopathy, dietary changes or nutritional supplements? I didn't get it. I liked herbs; I understood the idea of synergy—the fact that...
Self-Care Practices for Constipation
I feel sorry for the digestive tracts of this nation, I really do. The owners of these digestive tracts have my sympathy as well—there really is nothing so bad as pooping too much or not pooping enough. Sometimes it's hard to know which one is worse. Having regular...
Let’s Talk Mirena (anxiety and hormone imbalance)!
I've been noticing a trend in my practice, which places an emphasis on women's hormonal health and mental health. Many women are consulting me for treatment of anxiety and panic attacks that have shown up in addition to other hormonal symptoms: painful periods, PMS,...
Naturopathic Narrative Therapy
As a child, I was obsessed with stories. I wrote and digested stories from various genres and mediums. I created characters, illustrating them, giving them clothes and names and friends and lives. I threw them into narratives: long stories, short stories, hypothetical...
Uncertainty, Guaranteed
In most service industries, there are certain guarantees. If you go to a restaurant, your soup is guaranteed. At the GAP, you will get a pair of chinos, guaranteed. In lots of instances, you get what you are paying for and in most cases, you get to see if before you...
Quack Attack! The Naturopathic Docs are BACK! (Well, actually, we never really left…): An unofficial response to a scathing Globe & Mail op-ed)
Sigh... I just finished reading a rather annoying article in the Globe and Mail (don't even bother to click and add more Google street-cred, seriously) that doesn't really warrant a response but... here we go. It's my day off. The article was written by one Carly...
How to Reinvent Your Life in 20 Steps
According to James Altucher, author and entrepreneur, it is possible to reinvent yourself in 5 years. In his book, The Power of No, he tells us how to reinvent our lives by first saying a big, fat No to all the things that don't serve us—toxic friendships and...
A Naturopathic Approach to Healthy Hair
This is likely one of the shallowest posts I’ll ever write—it's about hair. However, what is so shallow about hair? We all know the importance of having a good hair day. It seems from the moment we wake up, look in the mirror and notice that our top bun has left...
Waiting for the Dust to Settle
It seems like the only thing I can focus on right now is negative space. Like the obsession with the space between a model's waif-like thighs, affectionately termed the "thigh gap", I have seemingly been attributing way too much time and attention to the lack of...
The Estrogen Metabolism Diet
Estrogen is the dominant female hormone. It is actually a group of hormones, called the estrogens, that are responsible for the development of female secondary sex characteristics: the development of breast tissue and the proliferation of the uterine lining. Estrogen...
Body Braids and Ecstatic Dancing
When you go through an upsetting breakup with your boyfriend, the thing to do, apparently, is attend an Ecstatic Dancing workshop. The friend who invited me didn't say much about it, except that it was, "a place to dance without being hit on." Apparently the practice...
You Don’t Have to Live With It
Many health complaints are common, but not normal. "I take migraine medicine everyday," boasted L. She then went on to describe her plenitful medicine cabinet that, at the age of 23, she'd stocked quite well. "I get headaches when the weather's bad, when I forget my...
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome: The Good, the Bad and the Hairy
PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, a condition which affects an estimated 10% of women in North America and is the most common endocrinological dysfunction in women. Its symptoms and the people it affects are as diverse as there are people affected; it's one of my...
The Perfect Patient
I wrote this post a few months ago while beginning my private practice. When I first wrote this post, the next week an incredibly good-fit-of-a-patient walked in my door! A month later, another booked in! I have been blessed from the start with a roster of wonderful...