My first official 5K "race"!

I've been puppy-sitting with my boyfriend this week and it turns out puppies are pretty demanding. Puppies don't understand blogging. They don't understand how to not jump in front of you when you're trying to go for a run. And they also apparently loose bladder control when strangers see them walking and want to pet them. The excitement of getting attention is just too much to handle!

I took a little tumble while trying to run with the puppy (who is now about 6 months old). Granted, I usually have problems walking in a straight line, but this time it was definitely not my clumsiness that caused my fall. And although I scraped up my knee pretty good, my Lululemon running pants remained indestructible! I can only imagine that superheros also use "Brushed Interlock Power Luxtreme" fabric for their costumes.

I'm proud to announce that I finished my very first official 5K run! Our school hosted the annual grad run on Sunday, with funds going to this year's graduating class. It was a chilly morning, but I layered up, had a great playlist ready and was on my way. The run was amazing! I was in such a good mood and so proud of myself for doing it that I stopped off at my usual trail on my way home and did another 4K! - like a victory lap... it was glorious.

This was my first year ever really running and it took some practice to build up my endurance. But now that I'm at that point - running up to 6.5km without needing a break, or running up a hill and not needing to stop to catch my breath - running has become so enjoyable and so much easier.

If there's ever something you've wanted to do but don't think you're fit enough for it, don't let that stop you! Just give it a try. They call it "practice" for a reason. Work at it and don't give up. It's all worth it!

Taking advantage of the outdoors

So it's October - my favourite time of year! Although I'm more partial to hot humid weather, I love the crispness of fall, cool breezes, trees rustling and of course LEAF CRUNCHING!

I'm pretty sure my body is fighting something because my internal temperature has been pretty messed up lately. I'm finding it rather enjoyable to sit outside on deck/balcony in the evenings which is pretty ridiculous for me, so to compensate I've been bundling up with blankets and slippers. It's the greatest thing next to running through the leaves.

We spend so much of our days indoors that it's depressing. The lecture theater in our school has absolutely no windows so we've spent most of our CCNM days in a room that reminds me of a very cold dungeon.

It's important to take advantage of the outdoors as much as possible. I know for my own sanity, I need to escape the "little boxes full of ticky tacky" and enjoy nature while there's still no snow on the ground and the overnight temperatures haven't hit freezing yet.

There's something so magical about the fall. This is why I drive 40 minutes to do my run. I've also been running a trail near my house (which requires no driving at all), but it's paved which makes me a little sad. When I'm running a dirt or grassy trail my whole body gets so bubbly! Every time my foot hits the ground it's like it's kissing the earth. My legs bounce like they're on clouds - such a different experience from running on a paved trail. Yes, my feet have more grip - but where's the fun in that? I want to jump over rocks and tree roots; I want to run through a blanket of yellow, orange and brown leaves. There's something so refreshing about leaving the city and enveloping yourself in nature.

As a bonus, I also encourage dewy grass walking. Yes okay, you could call it a "hippy" thing, but I love it. Just walk through dewy grass in your bare feet. It's liberating and grounding at the same time.

My point today is that our warm weather is limited. Soon the winter will be upon us which means freezing rain, snow storms, and WIND CHILL! Get out while you still can and enjoy the outdoors. Maybe it'll even keep the winter blues at bay just a little bit longer. And don't forget your vitamin D. So many of us are deficient here in North America, so as the days get shorter it's always a good idea to maintain your D levels with 1000IU per day.

So go get your daily dose of fresh air! Get outside! I know many of you might be gym rats, but try a workout outside: whether it's walking, cycling, running, kettle-bells, yoga, or just your dewy grass walking, get out there and breathe in some of nature's oxygen! And don't forget your leaf crunching! I love the sound and the feeling of a good crunchy leaf - just make sure to watch out for snails!

Power snack muffins!

I've had a request to post this recipe for a good "portable" snack that's full of nutrients (vegetables and nuts and healthy fats). It's a great snack for on-the-go as well as a post-workout boost when you've just depleted your energies.

Today was one of those amazing fall days, perfect for running in shorts. The trails that I run on were ridiculously busy today and I usually get super annoyed with people who take up the whole entire path and who ignore my running footsteps, but today I saw it as a pretty awesome obstacle course.

I was zipping past people like my legs just couldn't be stopped. What? There's a mountain up ahead? That's not going to stop me. Watch me run up it while you leisurely stroll along with your entire extended family and your individual walking sticks. Today I was unstoppable. I got to the top of that hill and just kept going. It's days like this that give me the motivation to run as often as my legs will let me.

I think we all need that. That success of working out and feeling amazing afterwards. It doesn't matter what you do to get that feeling. Maybe you get it after an hour of hot yoga when you're laying on your mat at the very end of class; All sweaty and your muscles are buzzing with happy vibes. Find it. Find that happy post-workout bliss and remember it!

Now after you have that amazing blissful feeling, it's time to recharge and give back to those muscles that just worked so hard for you. Here's my post-workout portable snack, full of deliciousness.

Veggie power paleo muffins

Makes 6 muffins (for 12 muffins, double all ingredients, but use 3 extra large eggs instead of 2 large ones)

1 1/4 cup almond flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup grated carrots (peeled)
1 large apple, peeled, cored and grated (OR substitute for 1/2 cup diced strawberries)
2 large eggs
1 tbsp honey
1/4 cup melted coconut oil (or avocado oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional: 1 scoop protein powder - add a splash of almond milk to the mix to make up for the extra powder/dry ingredient

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups.
In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
Add zucchini, carrot, apple/strawberries and combine well.
In a small mixing bowl whisk together the oil, eggs, honey and vanilla.
Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Spoon into muffin cups (right to the top) and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. The tops will be nice and toasted brown.
Remove from pan and let cool.

The muffins can be stored in the fridge (the muffin cups peel off nicer when they're kept in the fridge, but the muffins themselves stay softer and more moist at room temperature).

As pictured, I like cutting them in half or thirds and smearing almond butter on top. Delicious!!

Dealing with Cravings

The hardest part of changing your dietary habits is exactly that: getting used to the change. Our bodies often give us signals of what it wants - sometimes those signals come from an emotional place. Sometimes they're from a "biological need" type of place, and other times it's the bacterial flora in our guts that is speaking to us.

Many of us have grown up as "emotional" eaters. We seek comfort foods to comfort our souls.
This isn't always a terrible thing. The smells from a kitchen remind us of being younger. Maybe your relatives had a secret family recipe that still makes you smile. And I think it's fine to give in to that "comfort" on occasion. More detrimental issues seem to come up when we start using food too often as a crutch for safety or as a shield for our emotions.

So how do we protect ourselves?

1) Treat yourself on a special occasion. Thanksgiving is this weekend in Canada. I tend to move away from paleo and indulge in gluten-free stuffing with my turkey. And I might do a bit more baking than I normally would. The point is that it's okay to give yourself a special occasion in which to enjoy a tradition or a comfort food. Each year on my anniversary with my boyfriend we go out to an amazing restaurant in Toronto and I actually order and eat restaurant dessert. For some reason, when I pair it with digestive enzymes and I keep myself low-stress that day, knowing that I can "cheat" for one day, by body is generally okay with it. The point is not to guilt-trip yourself over one cheat meal.

2) First things first, take care of your basic needs: When did you last eat an actual meal? Like with veggies and protein. Do you need real food first? Do you need to drink some water first? Do you need to put your feet up and rest with eyes closed for 5 minutes before running to the fridge? Take a breath and ask yourself what you actually need in that moment. Sometimes I find I just need comfort, and that could be in the form of a hug or contact with a loved one. Check in with yourself before going to the kitchen.

3) No slippery slopes! Maybe you're craving salty or sweet. If you need to curb that craving, do so in small amounts. When I'm feeling like I need chocolate so badly, I only get dark (dairy-free soy-free, 70-85% cocoa) chocolate and I break off only small squares and fully enjoy one piece at a time. Let it melt in your mouth, or chew slowly. Mindfullness eating will help you to not scarf down massive amounts of sweet or salty. I also find it helps to "cleanse your palate" in between. Drink water or herbal tea between bites. By "rinsing off" the chocolate residue from your tongue, you tend to crave it less and less.

If I crave salt, I go for a healthier alternative: Homemade kale chips or slices of cucumber lightly sprinkled with salt (or with homemade guacamole).

4) Don't make one cheat day into everyday cheat day. So you've had a really rough day. Like a seriously shitty day and you just want to go home and forget about the rest of the world. That's totally cool, but fill your personal space with things that will make you bubbly and not just weigh you down. This is especially true if you're finding that every day seems to be a really shitty day. Try not to form habits of going straight to foods that satisfy those cravings everyday. Otherwise your body may start to expect it and it will make it harder for you to resist!

5) Don't listen to your bad gut bacteria and yeast: As mentioned above, the more sugar you consume, the more you tend to crave it (this also goes for bread... grain carbohydrates get broken down into sugars!). This is when your bacterial flora - if populated by Candida yeast or bad gut bacteria will start to feed on the sugars you consume and they LOVE it! The more you give them, the more signals they'll send you to keep it coming!

We all have cravings, and it's okay to satisfy them occasionally. It's how you do it and what habits form from those cravings. Stay in full control of your body, but also make sure to tune into yourself to find out what you might actually need. And as always, other means of stress reduction always helps! Although it's easier said than done, just keep an open mind to other comforts than food and think about what your cravings might actually be telling you.

What about cravings to food sensitives like gluten and bread??
It helps that if there is a food that you don't react well to (ex. gluten), yet you keep having cravings for it (like bread), remember what it feels like to consume that food. For me, gluten makes me bloated, gassy, heavy; I feel like I have less energy, and it often comes with abnormal bowel movements. Remembering how terrible that all feels makes me not want bread and pasta. Give yourself those reminders if you need them.

The secret to losing weight

I'm so proud of myself for how far I've come. After having gained the "freshman 15" and another 5-10 lbs on top of that in the years that followed, I've put to use the secret of losing weight.

Want to know what it is? You're not going to be super impressed. It's not a cleanse, or a fad diet. I never starved myself or purged with laxatives. I never even stepped on a scale all summer because I was afraid of being obsessed with my progress.

The secret is a lifestyle diet and exercise. I called it a "lifestyle" diet because I HATE the word "diet". When I was a kid, the word diet was used to describe the types of foods that animals ate to live. For human beings, the word diet has become just the opposite: it's all the food you either do or don't eat, that is so far from our naturally required foods.

Let me explain and then I'll tell you how I got myself back to a healthy weight and body composition.

Here's an example:
The diet of the black bear: berries, fruits, insects, plants, fish, and sometimes small rodents
The diet of the gardner snake: small rodents, frog eggs, slugs, worms, amphibians, lizards
The diet of North American humans (what it should be): plants, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fish, birds/poultry, other mammals such as elk, deer, cow, bison.
The diet of humans (what it actually is in North America): maltodextrin, canola and/or corn and/or soybean oil, corn syrup, preservatives, caramel colour, artificial flavour, natural flavour (WTF??)

That last list is what is found in Cheez Whiz and in pretty much anything packaged on the shelves of your grocery store. There isn't even cheese in Cheez Whiz. Just some whey and "milk ingredients". I remember eating that stuff as a kid, putting it on celery and on crackers.

I also remember packing Fruit Gushers for school. Want to know what's in them? Pears from concentrate, sugar, dried corn syrup, corn syrup, modified corn starch, fructose, grape juice from concentrate, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, maltodextrin, cottonseed oil, carrageenan, citric acid, glycerin, monoglycerides, sodium citrate, malic acid, ascorbic acid, natural flavor, potassium citrate, agar-agar, Red 40, xanthan gum.

You can bet that no self-respecting bear would ever eat "Red #40" And yet this is what we feed our growing children.

The reason we're all gaining those pounds is that we're eating something that's not even real food. Processed foods shouldn't even be called food. They're addictive and destructive substances and just like the music industry is exploiting Miley Cyrus, the FDA, government subsidies and companies like Kraft and Betty Crocker are exploiting your taste buds by making you addicted to this garbage.

The police want drugs off the streets?! What about getting processed foods out of our stores! The biggest addiction out there isn't to a street drug, it's to processed foods, and the result of this nationwide addiction has left our health care system crumbling over the costs of obesity and all of it's consequences.

What I did to lose my 25 lbs in a slow and controlled manner (meaning, over several months to a year): I went 80% paleo - sticking to as natural of foods as possible, and giving myself the treat of gluten-free bread occasionally, or using baking soda to make gluten-free/dairy-free zucchini and carrot muffins. I put almond milk in my coffee, which has xantham gum in it, but you won't find canola oil or corn syrup in there.

And most importantly: exercise. I found the secret to making my body strong and building muscle without bulking: throughout the week I alternate yoga, weight aerobics/weight lifting, and my cardio (running). Mixing it up throughout the week allows me to increase my endurance but also my strength.

So the real secret to anyone wanting to lose the extra weight and to get strong again is simple:

1. Stay away from processed foods and eat a more natural diet focusing on vegetables and limiting your grains. Grains help you keep on the weight. And don't forget your healthy fats like coconut, walnut, avocado and fish - they'll support your body's tissues - NOT cause you to gain more fat.
2. Exercise: a good combination of cardio, weights and balance (with flexibility as a bonus!)
3. Give yourself some days to rest and work on your ability to manage and adapt to stress. 

I'm living proof that it works. Don't expect Dumbledore to appear on your doorstep, wave a wand and give you a healthy body by magic. This takes dedication and will-power - the power to overcome the addiction to garbage foods.

Your metabolism doesn't rule you. You rule your metabolism. Eat a protein-rich breakfast every morning and exercise regularly (4-5x/week) and you will begin to gain control over your body. And most importantly, don't starve yourself! If you start calorie-counting and depriving yourself of food, your body will go into starvation mode and you will hang onto every ounce of fat as a protective mechanism.

You gotta work work!

The internets finally decided to work for me and I was flooded by new school information the other day. I was pretty upset to find out that CIBC has decreased their maximum amount for their professional student line of credit for naturopathic students, from $140,000 to $80,000.

Okay, granted 80 grand is still a lot of money, but when you factor in that tuition is $21,000 each year and this is a 4-year program, I'd like to ask How are students expected to pay for living expenses?? Not to mention the fact that you either need a co-sign for the loan OR you need to be working in the first place. The first time I went in to apply, CIBC expected me to have close to a full-time job in order to get this line of credit. I sat there dumbfounded that they expected me to have a full-time job while in a full-time med school program. I'm sorry... did I miss something? Am I not suppose to sleep? Or am I required to clone myself so that I can work and go to school simultaneously?

A fellow new Torontonian stated something interesting to me the other day. She said that making it in Canada isn't as easy as everyone thinks; that you need to have money to make money. Unfortunately, she has it right.

What do you do when you're a student, not living at home, with transportation expenses (newsflash: a monthly TTC pass costs as much as monthly parking), having to buy healthy groceries so that you can "practice what you preach" and stay healthy? Not to mention that as someone who is intolerant to so many foods (dairy, gluten, corn, msg, and soy - just to name the big ones), I have to eat as natural as possible and eating KD and $3 frozen dinners will literally kill my GI tract.

I have been one of those people that has worked the entire time that I've been in school (since the age of 16... through high school, undergrad and now in med school). Most of the time I've had 3 part time jobs going at once. However, in my 3rd year here at CCNM, I finally crashed. I had a breakdown and realized I couldn't do it anymore. My sanity and my coursework were both suffering and I made the hard decision of having to quit all of my jobs.

Only this month have I realized how crucial it is to have money coming in all the time. I can't rely on money from student loans because you go through it so fast. Living in Toronto is ridiculously expensive, but I've also made decisions on how I want to spend whatever money I have. I'm so happy that my old Honda is finally paid off, but what about rent? And hydro? and phone and internet? And groceries cost money.

I know that graduating with $200,000 of debt isn't ideal - it's the reason why CIBC has changed it's funding amount. Actually it makes me want to cry. But at least I can pay my rent each month. And I never have to worry about not having food.

So the bank decided that students should work even harder and make money to pay for their living expenses. Which is all fine and dandy, until someone realizes that's it's just too damn hard and has a breakdown like me.

Just as I'd like to see Rob Ford bike across Toronto to realize how much we're in need of proper bike lanes, I'd like to see the president of CIBC last a semester at CCNM, keep up with the workload, write 10 midterms, 12 finals, pass all practical sessions and do so with only 1 semester's worth of OSAP (provincial loan) funding and still live to tell the tale. Now multiply that by 9 semesters and tell me how can you live with the fact that you're not granting funding to students who will become naturopathic doctors and help to change the world by encouraging preventative healthcare and alleviating the strain on our current healthcare system.

I'm trying to be positive pig here but this is ridiculous. It's not just our profession, but for any student trying to get an education and a career. Without the start-up costs of tuition and living expenses, where do you see Ontario in 10 years time when NO ONE can afford education anymore?

We need more help for students, especially those who don't qualify for OSAP or who don't have money saved up from their parents. Don't cut off students when they're trying to get into grad school, but encourage them to pursue further education.