Tag: health

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Restricting is not a September thing

Happy September!

September can often feel like a mini New Year, especially if you have had the pleasure of taking some extra holidays these past couple months. Taking a step back from the office and the regular routine of daily life is so important, but it can often make it hard to get back into your daily life. September is a time to reset, find a routine and reconnect with what ignites your passion. While September holds lots of promise it can also be a challenging time for many people as they try and get into a routine from summer.

Whether it is true or not summer tends to be seen as a time of indulgence. While this indulgence is fun when we are participating in it, looking back it can sometimes get a negative connotation.  Why is indulgence seen as a negative thing? Indulgence is just another term for living and having fun. Indulgence means living your life. It is not a bad thing.

No matter what you did this summer, the most important thing to remember is that IT IS OKAY. It is okay to take some time off, it is okay to indulge and it is okay to have fun. In fact it can be extremely beneficial for you mental and physical wellbeing to take some time to just relax. This is the great thing about September. This mini New Year gives you the chance to get back into a healthy and sustainable routine that can help your rejuvenated self feel great in their body. The goal is to develop a routine that will help support you mentally and physically for this upcoming year.

The goal is not to restrict yourself now that the freedom of summer is gone. So often we find ourselves in these routines of binge and restrict. We are so rigid all the time that when we get time to actually relax and not worry we end up overindulging and not feeling good about it. When that happens it is OKAY. For starters overindulging is not a negative thing. If overindulging makes you feel off negatively or physically remember that this is only one moment of one day. It is just one feeling and this feeling like all feelings will pass. The important thing is to not restrict yourself to compensate for this feeling. This is how we create a dysfunctional relationship with our bodies and food. The goal moving forward is not to compensate for the overindulgence (because overindulgence is okay!!!!) but to create a sustainable way of eating, moving and fuelling our bodies so that on a regular basis we just feel good.

After years of being told that restricting is the only way to compensate for overindulgence it can be hard to connect with this idea of nourishment as a way to make us feel good.  I am here to support you as you reconnect with yourself and learn how to NOURISH yourself leaving you feeling healthy, rested and happy this September. September is not about restricting after feeling as though the summer was a “binge”. Life is about nourishing yourself with food and joy whatever that looks like. Each day it will look different, but each day is its own day. What happens on Monday should not impact how you nourish yourself on Tuesday or any other day. Just like how you nourished yourself over the summer should not influence how you nourish yourself in September. Naturopathic Medicine is one of the ways to find personal support on your journey to reconnect with your mind and body this new season. Click here to book your free 15 minute consultation.

In the meantime be gentle with yourself. Whatever happened this summer, I hope you had the time of your life, no matter what it looked like. Always remember that health is about happiness and nourishment not restricting and overindulging. Food should not be as taxing as we make it out to be.

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The Wonderful World of TEA

What if there was a simple, cost effective way to nourish your body and soul each and every day? Luckily there is: TEA.

Making a cup of tea has been something that has been used to soothe the mind, body and soul since the beginning of time. You might be familiar with classic black tea such as English Breakfast that is often used instead of coffee in the morning to promote energy. While this tea in itself is nourishing there are many, many different herbs and plants both caffeinated and not that can help support your emotional and physical health.

What many people don’t realize is the many ways that the herbs in tea support our physical bodies as we drink them. For example one of the most common teas used out there is peppermint tea. What people don’t often realize is the therapeutic benefit that peppermint has. It is a carminitive meaning that it supports the digestive system and makes it easier for us to break down food. In addition it is a nervine and an anti-spasmodic healing to relax both the mind and body. Finally it is an energetically cooling herb, which can help to decrease inflammation in the digestive system. Can you believe the ways that just having a cup of peppermint tea benefits your body? Each herb/plant that is used in tea has its own specific impact and benefit for the body. Whether it is black tea, or herbal tea, each time we drink a cup it is impacting our body far beyond just warming it up or calming us down. Learning about the physical impacts of different teas can help us to choose teas that best nourish our bodies.

Have you ever been have a bad day – whether you are exhausted physically, emotionally or sick and someone has made you a cup of tea? In this instance there is the therapeutic impact of the herbs in the tea, but there are other benefits that come with the act of having the tea. One of the most overlooked therapeutic aspects of tea is just sitting down and having a hot beverage. This small act helps to release tension that is stored in the nervous system. It decreases stress and actually makes us take a pause amidst the demands of our lives. This simple way of incorporating relaxation into one’s day can help long term to decrease inflammation and health changes that are associated with high stress. In addition the benefit of having someone make something for you in an act of love is nourishing for the soul. Human connection is something that each of us need in different capacities and enjoying a cup of tea together is one of the simplest ways to foster one form of human connection.

Growing up tea has been my own form of personal therapy. The tea calms me and brings me back to myself. It helps me to sit with whatever is going on physically and emotionally as well as transcend them. This is what makes me want to share it with each and every one of you. Phases Tea Blends is a passion project – a local Toronto based brand that uses nourishing herbs to create loose leaf teas that nourish our bodies and minds. Check us out at www.phasesteablends.com.