It all started with a whirlwind 24 hours in Toronto for the Taylor Swift concert with our oldest son, daughter and her friend. We arrived at the W Hotel shortly after noon and were surprised with a free suite upgrade on the room that I had booked with points! The staff went above and beyond and had a birthday surprise for our daughter complete with balloons, cake, cake pops, chilled Grapefruit Italian Soda and bracelet making kits. All of this was thanks to our 15 year old son who has a real passion for helping other people maximize travel and credit card points (that’s a whole other discussion, but he would be happy to help if you have questions!), and had reached out to the hotel and asked if there was anything special they could do.

Something big is happening tomorrow that I’ve been thinking about for pretty much my whole adult life. You may have seen me share in my social media stories that I’m having a breast reduction. To say that I am nervous is an understatement. Having surgery involves trusting the people who will be taking care of me and that my body is going to know what to do to heal after. As a bit of a type A personality, that’s tough for me.

Negativity is contagious, but so is positivity.  We get to choose what we focus on.  When we unite and focus on our similarities, rather than judging our differences, that's where positive change can happen in our communities and the bigger world.

Have you seen any “A haunted house, but…” posts on social media? I didn’t get them at first, but I think I’ve figured them out now that I’ve seen them pretty much all over Instagram. They play on the idea of a haunted house and replace the usual creepy parts with everyday challenges or annoyances, bringing some humour to them. Here are some I found funny….

I spent last weekend in Kingston celebrating my 25th Queen's University Homecoming Reunion.  I had the best time with my former housemates remembering how fun my four years there were.   Something happened while I was there that sparked a little revelation for me and I wanted to share it with you…

I am thankful for the women I get to work with as a naturopathic doctor and a FASTer Way coach to help them thrive through perimenopause and beyond. I am also grateful for the life that I am creating for myself and my family. Each day feels different. Some days are harder than others, but I’ve never felt more content than I do right now. It’s true that our responsibilities change as we get older, but that doesn’t mean that life needs to be boring! We give our kids lots of experiences so that they can try out new activities and meet new people, and there’s no reason we can’t continue to enjoy feeling that excitement during our adult years.

Do you consider yourself a night owl or an early bird? Until the last couple of years, I described myself as a die-hard night owl. These days I am usually asleep by 10pm and wake up by 5:40am. And I have to admit, I really love it! This change didn’t happen overnight though.

When I started cooking for myself as an adult, I would just go to the grocery store and randomly buy food that looked good. Each day I would try to make something out of the random bits and pieces I had. I ate a lot more packaged food, food went to waste, and I definitely didn’t eat very healthy. Once I had kids, I realized that we needed some sort of plan. As time went on, I learned to cook better and became more creative with what we made. To my surprise, I also found that I really enjoy cooking! It’s now my love language and it makes me feel good physically and mentally to know that I am fuelling me and my family with healthy food.

 For many years, I experienced constipation and gas. I had pretty regular bowel movements, but I definitely wasn’t eliminating the equivalent I was eating as food. I am happy to say that these days my digestive tract is pretty happy, but I’m always game to try something that can make it even better. 

These pictures were taken seconds apart in front of 2 different mirrors that are in my workout area. I know it’s not a huge difference, but I always like the way I look in the one on the right better than the one on the left (which is of course the bigger mirror that I use most often to check my form ).

Now don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t take up a lot of headspace in my brain, but it got me thinking about how many different ways our image can be reflected back to us - mirrors, friends and family, our own mindset, pictures…. I’m sure we can come up with others.

I love my 4 kids dearly and am so grateful to be their mom, but… my abs are definitely not the strongest or flattest since having them. I may not be able to do anything about the varicose veins or stretched out belly button they also gifted me with, but there’s no good reason not to see what I can do to strengthen my core (my youngest will be 7 in a few weeks, so I’ve had lots of time to recover!!). While strength training has been part of my life for several years, and has helped me in many ways, I’m ready to really focus on giving my core a little more love.

I often hear from my patients and FASTer Way clients that they feel overwhelmed and confused about what to do to improve their health and where to start. There is no shortage of information out there about what may be helpful for you and a lot of it is contradictory. Eat this. Don’t eat that. Skip breakfast. Don’t eat breakfast. Take this supplement. This supplement is harmful. How the heck do you make sense of it?

Remember when the teacher would pick 2 people to make up the teams in gym class? Well, I was often the last one chosen (or close to it). It was such a crappy feeling. I never played on any sports teams and I wasn’t naturally fast or able to pick up sports skills quickly. I grew up telling myself that I was smart, not sporty.

Just like the experience I shared, it’s possible to make progress, even while fully enjoying your life. This isn’t a race with a start and finish that you need to do perfectly all the time. This is about establishing a foundation that you can follow consistently. Get started, take the steps you can, and change will start to happen!

Are you experiencing weight gain, constipation, foggy thinking, hair loss, and/or frequently feeling tired or cold?  If so, you may have a thyroid imbalance…even if you have been told that everything is “normal”. If your gut is telling you something is off, then it is important to listen to it, and dig a little deeper.

I remember when every day was a struggle for me. I did the things I needed to do and thought that was just the way it felt to be a working mom. I didn’t even realize how tired I was until I wasn’t, but I’m glad that I found my way through to where I am now. If you are struggling with your energy, I want you to know that you aren’t alone. I hear this all the time from the women I work with. It’s easy to chalk it up to “regular” life or age and think that’s just the way you have to feel. It doesn’t have to be that way though.

“We absolutely have within each of us the power to prevent or significantly decrease our risk for the majority of the top killers and contributors to disability in the world.” Oof, isn’t that a powerful statement? It’s from a podcast I listened to this week with Dr. Austin Perlmutter, MD that got so many wheels spinning in my brain. Read on to see two main points from it that stood out to me.

I love when my own health journey leads to me learning something that also helps me better help my patients. Here's one accidental discovery that has made a big difference in my energy and quality of life, and that I now also often consider for patients.

This week I will discuss Ozempic and the other similar drugs in its class and the part they play in insulin regulation. I will discuss how it works, the pros and cons, and what I believe is essential to do along with it if someone makes an informed choice to take it.

Part 2 in our series on insulin resistance is focused on providing you with natural approaches to help prevent and treat insulin resistance. In this blog, I break down recommendations into 3 parts