by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Apr 18, 2013 | Diet, Food, Health
We often talk about eating “whole foods” or “real food”. What does that mean? To me it means taking raw ingredients and mixing them together yourself. It means becoming more familiar with what food looks like at every step of its journey to your table: what a coffee plant looks like, what a coffee berry contains, how coffee is freeze-dried, roasted, ground up, filtered and decocted to make a delicious cup of morning Joe. The more steps we do in our own kitchen (grinding, brewing, filtering, drinking) the more contact we have with real food, the less need we have for chemical additives and the more control we have over what goes into our bodies. But, most of all, the closer we are to real food, the better the food tastes and the better the relationship we develop with the molecules that will become incorporated into our bodies. If food becomes our bodies, it goes without saying that, in order to know our bodies better, we need to get to know our food. Here is some Facebook inspiration about what “real food” means. (more…)
by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Apr 4, 2013 | Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Health, Philosophy, Student, Writing
This piece of writing was meant for The Body Parts Anthology, a compilation of naturopathic student writings, bringing the “art” into the art and practice of naturopathic medicine. It would be a way to creatively reflect on our experiences of learning about and living with a specific body part and of belonging to a body. All of us have parts that keep us alive without our input, as if they had their own minds (they actually do!). And yet, we are responsible for the well-being of the machine we’ve inherited, grown inside, expanded into the world with. Sadly, The Body Parts Anthology never came to be (due to the endless onslaught of exams and assignments, we’re besieged with weekly) so I’ve decided to share mine here. Might as well.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Apr 2, 2013 | Diet, Digestion, Elimination Diet, Food, Health, Nutrition, Paleo, Recipes
Health food needs to be grab-able. I believe that, if people are going to make lifelong changes to their diet and health, eating should be made as simple as possible. I think that many of us start the day off right and, because we forget to plan our snacks, we reach for that bag of salty, greasy potato chips to keep our blood sugar up and keep us going through a long, stressful day. That’s why it helps to have a snack list: a list of things that we can easily prepare and eat when we’re hungry and the only thing we’re crunching is time.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 26, 2013 | Cold and Flu Remedies, Health, Home Remedies, Nature Cure, Self-care, Stress, Student
After feeling the rush of adrenaline from the completion of our 3rd Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE), I woke the next day with that sharp tingling in my throat, indicating that I was about to get a cold. It seems my body loves to get sick at inconvenient times… Ok, I realize that that statement is unnaturopathic. As naturopathic medical students, we’re always saying that we need to work with our bodies, never push ourselves to our limits, work with the healing power of nature, take time to rest and regenerate, etc. But, who the heck has time for that? I have 600 assignments due tomorrow, clinic shifts to shadow and practical exams, plus a Dog Therapy Day to plan. There’s just no time to be out of commission.
Luckily, there are ways to help the immune system kill those annoying bugs faster and more efficiently. Torching upper respiratory tract infections is really where naturopathic treatments have a chance to shine. When I get a cold and can’t afford a day or two off, I simply throw everything I can at it. No mercy. Hasta la vista, baby.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 21, 2013 | Balance, Emotions, Fitness, Health, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Motivation, Nature Cure, Naturopathic Philosophy, Naturopathic Principles, Self-care, Treating the Cause, Weight Loss, Women's health
This article was first published in My Yoga Online.
With the growing rates of obesity in our society, combined with the tendency for most people who successfully lose weight to gain it back only a short while later, it’s obvious that something is flawed in our society’s general weight-loss strategy.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 18, 2013 | Colombia, Dessert, Diet, Digestion, Food, Health, Jungle Medicine, Nutrition, South America
While traveling in South America, people sometimes ask me what I do for a living. Unlike some of the reactions I sometimes get in North America, when I tell people from South America that I’m a naturopathic medical student, I usually get warm, excited responses.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 14, 2013 | Dessert, Elimination Diet, Food, Food Sensitivities, Gluten Free, Health, Nutrition, Recipes
Have you ever been invited to a dinner party and charged with the task of bringing dessert to one of those groups of people who always seem to be onto the next dietary fad? If not, you probably don’t have any naturopathic friends. If you have been in this situation,forced to peer at food labels, wondering how many words there are for “dairy”, I have a solution for you. This recipe is vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, raw and dairy-free, so it should satisfy everyone. In fact, the list that these things don’t contain is way longer than what they do, which are: coconut. nuts. dates. Unless you’re date-free, you can eat these. And, let’s face it, if you’re date-free you’re probably looking anyways, right? 😉
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Mar 5, 2013 | Dessert, Diet, Digestion, Elimination Diet, Food, Food Sensitivities, Gluten Free, Health, Nutrition, Recipes
Being on a diet makes it hard to snack, especially when on the road. Any true Canadian will tell you that no road trip is complete without a stop at Tim Horton’s, our favourite roadside coffee hub. And, of course, no Tim Horton’s coffee is truly satisfying without a delicious box of “Timbits”, or assorted doughnut holes, by its side. Every Friday, while teaching English in the summer, I would bring in a box of Timbits for my students to sample some “authentic Canadian cuisine”. They loved them, not surprisingly. Sadly, most people on a naturopathic diet – whichever naturopathic diet you follow – can’t eat Timbits, which are basically little balls of gluten and sugar. But don’t despair, this snack makes a delicious grain-free, whole foods substitute. And the best thing about these coconut-covered balls? They’re good for you!
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Feb 26, 2013 | Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Community, Guatemala, Health, NGOs, Photography, Travel, Travel Stories, Volunteering Abroad
By the time the trucks pulled up to the clinic in Santa Catarina, a Mayan village outside of Panajachel on Lago Atitlán, the line of people waiting stretched all the way down the block. Aged anywhere from 4 months to 93 years, some of the patients had traveled miles to get there and some had been waiting for hours. The sight brought to mind North American youths waiting outside of Best Buy for the new iPhone to come out. It´s so astounding what our priorities have become. Many of the patients who quietly waited on the cobblestone street for the clinic to open had never seen a doctor in their lives, grinning and bearing their way through years of chronic illness and pain.
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by Dr. Talia Marcheggiani, ND | Feb 23, 2013 | Balance, Docere, Education, Family, Finding yourself, Happiness, Health, Holidays, Philosophy
So, although I’m still in Guatemala, thanks to scheduling posts, I can still celebrate my birthday on this blog.
It’s been 27 years since I’ve inherited this body of mine and I know for me, like the rest of us, the lessons began on day 1. I’m grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had, the lessons (I think) I’ve learned thus far and the ones I’m about to receive. It’s become my responsibility through my training in this profession to look after this body that I’m borrowing and help others look after theirs, thus we feel well enough, happy enough and strong enough to work through and learn our many lessons, and to find the answers we’ve been searching for.
On behalf of my birthday, February 23rd, have a great day!
