The Good Mood Podcast

Is your B complex making you sick? It might be if it contains folic acid, the synthetic form of "folate", or vitamin B9 which is involved in mood, energy production, DNA repair and other tasks of "methylation".  Ok, are you lost already?  Methylation is a process in the body that does a bunch of things. Many of us have a genetic variation in an enzymes called MTHFR, yes, I know what it looks like,...

Eating disorders are a difficult thing to identify and treat, not to mention to live with. Unlike other mental health conditions they can be life-threatening, but we also need to eat everyday and therefore our interaction with the substance of choice is something we need to learn to negotiate and to work with as we heal.  Dr. Alexandra Sisam is a fellow naturopathic doctor with a focus in eating d...

For 7 to 9 hours every night we human beings spend our time unconscious. During this time we can't eat, procreate, or defend against predators. We're not building shelters. We're not innovating. We're completely vulnerable. And yet, our bodies and brains evolved to require this unconscious time in order to survive. When we're deprived of sleep we die. And when we're subtly deprived of sleep, an ho...

At the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine we have a teaching clinic, The Robert Schad Naturopathic Clinic where 4th year students spend their 12 months of internship treating patients in the clinic under the supervision of licensed NDs.  As first through third year students we were encouraged to support our bodies and minds, as well as experience naturopathic medicine first-hand by seeing a...

In March Taylor Morozova, a fellow Great Lakes Surfer (who has now moved on to ocean waves) and host of The Weird Waves Podcast and I sat down to talk pandemics, surfing and naturopathic medicine.  This was at the beginning of the global pandemic, a time filled with certainty, misinformation and... for me, at least, some surfing.  Taylor asked to interview me to talk about some hot topics at the t...

When a friend of mine signed up for her period tracker app, it asked her for her partner's email address. Several times a month he would receive an email about the state of my friend's menstrual health. "You partner is in her luteal phase. You may want to tread lightly and carry a big stick".  Well, that's not what the emails said exactly, but it was something to that effect: "During this time in...

We were introduced to the vagus nerve through Dr. Dave Miller, ND, the gut gangsta. In today's episode we learn more about the vagus nerve with Dr. Stephanie Cordes, a naturopathic doctor and mental health advocate. Steph is obsessed with Polyvagal Theory, that discusses how our stress response can throw us into fight or flight, but also into shutdown via the vagus nerve. Through stimulating our v...

40 Trillion.    The latest guesstimate that Dr. Kim Bretz, naturopathic doctor and gut microbiome guru throws out there: the amount of bacterial cells living in our guts and on our skin.    We are outnumbered by them, but as Kim says, "thankfully our human cells are bigger so we look like our super-cute selves, otherwise it would be way more creepy".    Not only do these bacteria take up residence...

In 2019 I was in Costa Rica learning to surf. I met a girl there from Toronto who told me about the Lake Surfistas, a group of people who identify as women who surf the lakes. I found their Facebook group, started going to their events and was hooked. They taught me to surf: to find friendship and comfort in the waters of the Great Lakes. I remember driving home from an impromptu surf get-together...

A narrative conversation is a magical thing. Michael White, the founder of narrative therapy is famous for saying, "The person is not the problem, the problem is the problem". And yet so often we are stigmatized and shamed for who we are.  Attempts to solve our problems often end up destroying our sense of identity, our personal power and our agency.  Shame. It's a big topic that has come up in va...

It takes guts. You know that feeling, the trembling, clenching and nauseous pit-in-your-stomach feeling when your nerves are on edge, or the gut-wrenching sobs when you're sad. You also know the complete and utter intestinal devastation that almost seems to precede a panic attack. Or, you know, just gut feelings. Visceral Reactions.  The gut-brain connection.  Our gut is sometimes termed "The Seco...

Relationships are hard. They're also one of the main stressors, among finances, work, and health. Relationships, when they're smooth and harmonious, can be a reflection of cause of an optimally mentally healthy state. When things are going wrong, it can be hard to think of anything else.  In today's episode I talk to Melissa Johari, fellow Bloorwest Wellness Practitioner, Registered Social Worker...

Dr. Sairupa Krishnamurti is a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and Ayurveda Practitioner. She has a general family practice with clinical interests in Reproductive Health, Fertility, Pregnancy, Post-natal-care, Paediatrics and Mental-Emotional Health. She also teaches Ayurvedic medicine, the ancient Indian healing system, as a faculty member at Jai Wellness, and the Centre for Ayurveda and Indian Systems...

In today's episode I talk to Asante Haughton. Asante and I met in the summer of 2015 at the Narrative Therapy Intensive. Asante is a mental health advocate and motivational speaker. He's a program director, peer development and training manager at Stella's Place, a centre for Young Adult Mental Health, a web series host and interviewer, a poet, front-line worker, group facilitator, community outre...

Aglaée Jacob is a registered dietician who I met at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.  Aglaée's journey, like many of ours, began with trying to fit her body into a certain mould: a particular size and shape under the guise of "health".    She is the author of the book Digestive Health with Real Food, which helps identify underlying causes of gut conditions.    Her journey has led her...

Dr. Emily Bennett is a classmate and fellow naturopathic doctor. Emily focuses her practice on community medicine and advocacy. She has a special interest in addressing oppressive power structures we might encounter in our society, and in our clinics, both the conventional medical clinic, but also the ways we might inadvertently shame patients within the context of an alternative healthcare model....

In this episode I talk to Melissa "Scare" Croden, a professional mixed martial artist and my cousin. Mel's MMA career started a few years ago, in 2015. As an amateur she won 5 for 5 fights before turning pro in Fall of last year. As a pro she has won 2 out of 2 fights. Her pro career has been temporarily interrupted due to Covid-19, however she is scheduled to fight again in Fall.  We talk warrior...

Dr Erin Tewinkel is a fellow naturopathic doctor and Teen Wellness Warrior. She believes that adolescence holds keys to opportunities most parents miss. And that if a young person is given the proper foundations of health, they have access to health the rest of their life. I love seeing teens in my practice. Adolescence is a time where we can really make a big difference as healthcare practitioner...

In today's episode I talk to Dr. Lachlan Crawford, fellow mental health focused naturopathic doctor. Lachlan has a practice in Toronto helping patients find the root of their mental health concerns.   She incorporates mindfulness into her practice and has participated in a few silence meditation retreats a 30-day retreat in Thailand and a 10-day silent Vipassana retreat.    We talk about mindfulne...

In this episode I talk to my friend and colleague Dr. Fernando Janer Sanchez, a naturopathic doctor and fellow graduate of the class of 2014 from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. Fernando lives in Puerto Rico teaching Mind-Body Medicine and Physical Examination at the Puerto Rican naturopathic college, Universidad Ana G. Mendez.  Fernando and I talk about psychoneuroimmunology, the s...

Micro-dosing, taking small doses of psychedelic substances, like LSD or psilocybin-containing “magic” mushrooms, probably entered the public consciousness in early 2015, after James Fadiman, PhD and author of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide, appeared on the Tim Ferris Podcast. Fadiman is the author of the 2011 book “The Psychdelics Explorer’s Guide” where can be credited with presenting the idea...

Dr. Daina Patel is a Chiropractic Doctor with a focus on women’s back pain and plant based nutrition. Daina shares her journey to a plant’s based diet as well as her own personal struggle with inflammation and chronic pain. We talk about the difference between being plant based and vegan, how nutrition is not about adhering to specific “diets” per se but an ongoing process developing a deep relati...

Welcome to episode 10 of the Good Mood Podcast. In this episode I interview my friend Ivo Suvee, a biohacker. Biohacking is the art of optimizing one’s biochemistry and physiology through various practices from basic lifestyle techniques to using more advanced technologies like apps, genetic testing, and employing unique compounds like peptides. Whatever the method the goal of biohacking is to twe...

I talk to my friend Erica L. Robinson, a naturopathic medicine graduate, health coach, holistic nutritionist, kinesiologist and expert on the sacred embodied feminine.  According to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Daoism there is a Yin (feminine) and Yang (masculine) energy present in all things. From the anima and animus of the Jungian psyche, our relationships, the archetypes in Disney's The Li...

I talk to Melissa Ieraci, a fellow Bloor West Wellness practitioner, Holistic Nutritionist and Homeopath. If you are a patient at Bloor West Wellness you may have met Melissa, who womans our front desk and keeps the show going as well as treats her own patients, focusing on making sure families nourish themselves through diet, herbal medicine and lifestyle.  Melissa and I recorded this conversatio...