Deirdre Walsh – Integrative Health Coach

When we visited Los Angeles over March break I had one of my most favorite meals (well top 25, anyways) at a cafeteria style restaurant called Forage.  The lunch was delicious, no doubt.  But the thing that really caught my attention was their commitment to locally grown produce.  Not just from farms nearby, but from local neighbours. Once a week they’ll buy produce grown by gardeners in the neighbourhood and create their week’s menu around it.  How cool is that? Read the rest of this entry →

Health is one of those things in life where your experience of it comes from thousands and thousands of small decisions – similar in a way to parenting.  If I eat that fast-food burger, but go for a run later, do they cancel each other out?  Red wine is a fantastic anti-oxidant, so more must be better, right?

Defining “success” in health is really difficult so it falls to interpretation, personal style, level of effort, and dare I say, obsessiveness.  Something shifted in the last few decades in these most fortunate of generations – the boomers and the Gen Xers.  Yes, we live in a way-too-much-information world and carry a much higher chemical load, but we also worry too much about our children, what we eat and our health.  Isn’t worrying really bad for your health? Read the rest of this entry →

Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone, bringing a range of experiences and emotions for those in intimate relationships and for those that are not. With the emphasis on mind-reading that the day brings, I admire the brave souls who dive headfirst into the celebration of this thorny day. My son was asking me what females (let’s be honest, girls) really want on V-Day. A little surprised, I was very honoured that he would consider me an expert. We decided was that the best thing for V-Day was a meaningful gesture that reflected the intensity of the relationship that was also fun and a bit out of the ordinary. Read the rest of this entry →

No drug, vitamin, mineral, or herb delivers as many health benefits as exercise. That’s quite a statement, isn’t it? Exercise, combined with rest and sleep, pretty much improves any of your daily activities, your health and helps you age gracefully.

But with the dizzying array of exercises available, which one to choose? How do you stick with your exercise plan through the dire winter days, when you’d rather watch a movie on the couch, when anything sound more interesting that putting on your running shoes? Read the rest of this entry →

The bubbly’s gone, we’re down to the last few chocolate truffles and that incredible French cheese was happily shared with friends and family.  The holidays were a wonderful, hectic time of fantastic meals, shared laughs and a few new sock monkey additions to the family.  For me, the few pounds that arrived were collateral to strengthening our social connections and sharing the familiar holiday traditions.  But if those few pounds (and a few of their friends) are still hanging around in March, as we’re packing for our sunny escape, I’m not going to remember why I was so benign about their arrival.  A plan is in order. Read the rest of this entry →