As mentioned before, naturopaths are not necessarily defined by our toolbox of modalities. What, then, does define us as a profession? As we witness a rise in the demand for complementary and alternative medicine, and with it, the rise in something called the “Holistic Medical Doctor”, what sets naturopathic doctors apart?
After being enchanted by Montreal, I was determined to show Joe that Toronto isn’t all concrete and business suits. I may not be an expert on all that Toronto has to offer as a city; I don’t frequent clubs, I’m not that into high fashion and I don’t eat out often. However, I am very familiar with one thing about Toronto: its parks. (more…)
We’ve all heard the Golden Rule before: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, and its many variations. But, how valid is this rule and it’s impact on leading a happy, healthy and morally sound life? I look at lessons in homeopathy and ayurvedic philosophy for insight.
Ayurvedic philosophy states that the reason for abstaining from morally unsound deeds (lying, stealing, killing, etc.) is because, once one begins to engage in these acts, one begins to create a world in which these acts become feasible. In essence, the ayurvedic philosophers claim that we create our own reality: once we begin to steal and lie, we create a reality in which stealing and lying becomes possible and we run the risk of other people beginning to steal and lie to us.
This concept of creating your own reality is inherent in homeopathic theory as well. In homeopathy, in order to understand the case that a patient presents with we must examine every minute detail about the patient. If someone expresses a frustration about something or someone that appears distinct from themself (“people are liars” or “you can’t trust anyone”) they are really expressing a statement about themselves. Our professor Dr. Nadia Bakir tells us that in order to recognize something about our environment we are really recognizing it from a point deep within ourself. If we didn’t already embody this characteristic then we wouldn’t be able to observe it in others – it wouldn’t be a part of our reality. In some ways it makes sense, those who embody the characteristic of cynicism tend to see the negative side of life, ignoring the positive and even managing to manifest negative outcomes in their own life situations.
This means that, in order to live in a world where people are honest, thoughtful and generally concerned about others we must first work to cultivate those characteristics in ourselves. As Gandhi says “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.
It must be said that these concepts can be dangerous if we take them a step further and claim that people who are the victims of unfortunate accidents or deadly diseases “brought it on themselves”. However, there is some evidence that suggests people who think positively about their cancer diagnoses, for example, experience greater quality of life and a better prognosis.
This philosophy is not meant to undermine those who have experienced loss or are going through a difficult time. It only serves as an inspiration for those who wish to cultivate a better world and take some responsibility for their outlook on life. It’s important to understand that we don’t each live in our glass bubble. Our personal views manifest as actions and our actions affect other people, which in turn affect how those people react to us. So, in a sense there is some truth to “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Since beginning classes at CCNM, I’ve entered into a three-way conflict between knowing I shouldn’t eat gluten, knowing I love all things gluten and, well, my Italian grandmother, Nonna.
As most of you know, I live with Nonna and Nonna is not impressed with the evolving disdain the rest of the world is beginning to hold for her pasta, even if it is GMO-modified. In her 84 years of life, I think she’d be hard pressed to think of a day she spent away from gluten. Nonetheless, we’ve been experimenting with some variations of rice pasta and recently I’ve been trying with spaghetti squash pasta.
Although you’ll never fool an Italian with spaghetti squash, it does look surprisingly like spaghetti and produces some of that same, soft, pleasant mouth-feel that pasta gives us. One cup boosts only 42 calories (compared to around 200 for a cup of pasta) and carries with it far more vitamins and minerals than any type of pasta (no matter how delicious) could ever hope to. Nevertheless, I decided to feed Squash Pasta to a true Italian (Nonna) and see if it passed the test.
How to make it:
I bought one whole spaghetti squash from Fiesta Farms, sliced it in half, removed the seeds with a spoon, sprinkled a tiny amount of olive oil on its face and put it face down on a cooking sheet. 
Set the oven to 375 degrees and wait 40 minutes.
Take the squash out and let cool. Then I scraped off all the insides (everything but the rind) into a bowl.
Add your favourite Italian sugo, or pasta sauce (more on that in another post), and serve with Insalata Della Nonna (radicchio, fennel, red pepper and lettuce, topped with extra virgin olive oil and homemade apple cider vinegar) e buono!
The verdict? Nonna decided to make her wheat pasta on the side, just in case. She kept calling the spaghetti squash zucca (her word for zucchini). She said “Chi mangia zucca e beve l’acqua, alza la gamba e la zucca scappa,” (He who eats zucchini and drinks water, lifts their leg and the zucchini escapes) meaning squash is water, not substantial, like, you guessed it, pasta! Ok, Nonna. She did say that she would never go so far as to make it herself, but she liked it. That’s food critic speak for “The most delicious thing I ever ate!” I award this recipe an Italian Pass!