Lobster Birthday BBQ

I've always loved my birthday. I still remember when I was little, from January 1st, I would mark down the days remaining until my birthday...even though my birthday is at the end of MAY! 150, 149, 148...you get the picture...

Anyhow, I was spoiled this year, as my dear wife hosted a Mexican bash at our house for my birthday. She served amazing Mexican food with organic meat, lots of toppings and healthy sides of guacamole, hummus and salsa. (Thank you, Aileen!).

My friends are very generous with gifts and one of the most unique, amazing and delicious gifts I got this year, was from my good friends, Chris and Lisa. They contacted Aileen ahead of time and surprised me with a dinner of lobster freshly flown in with them from the East Coast (they are pilots and Lisa's home is on the East Coast).

May is Mindful Money Month - Wrap up

Today is the last day of May...and it's been a faaaaaaantastic month!

We've realized the biggest lesson we have learned is how excessive our spending can become...and how easily we can normalize this.  I'm notorious for always having to buy something from the impulse section of any retail store and Makoto can't go into any hardware store without picking up a new gadget for the house....we've cold-turkeyed this behavior.  It's refreshing to not have little piles of gum, magazines and random treats and knick knacks that we've bought during the week.  Our recycling bin is no longer overflowing with the take-out coffee cups from our fave coffee shops.

Weird Health Fads Review #3: Drinking Urine

I had heard of this therapy years ago, as it is not that unusual in Japan - mind you, a lot of strange things are not considered unusual by my peeps in Japan. It also has roots in Ayurvedic medicine, the Aztec civilization, China and Egypt.

Lyoto Machida, a UFC all-star hailing from Brazil was recently interviewed about his participation in this self-imposed treatment. He matter-of-factly discusses this with a very curious reporter in this hilarious interview.

Confessions of a Naturopath

Oh my goodness. As a naturopath, I feel that I should make a few confessions. Warning: the following confessions may be even more shocking than my Juicy Ammonia Burger confession.


Confession #1 - I strongly dislike camping. I seriously thought that 'portaging' was a made up thing that only crazy people would actually volunteer to do.


Confession #2 - I am not a Yogi. Oh....the shame.


Confession #3 - I will not ever wear Birkenstocks. Ever.

May is Mindful Money Month - Halfway Check In

I can't believe it's already the middle of May! So far, Makoto and I have been pretty darn good with cooking at home. The cooler weather has helped since we've been making some seriously awesome soups using organic chickens and veggies. We made everything from good old chicken (rice) noodle to our very own Pho Ga!!


Coffee - eek. This one was harder than we thought. The first week we made it through with a few deelish $2 (including tax!) soy lattes at Jet Fuel Cafe on Parliament Street. God Bless Johnny at Jet Fuel!! This was followed by a busy week at the clinic and we didn't have time to leave for coffee so we reaquainted ourselves with our French Press. Now we're actually loving our cup of black Swiss water decaf coffee. We have it with a piece of dark chocolate.


I've learned that a little planning goes a long way - it's amazing what spending 15min roughly planning our meals will do for our savings! We usually just wander the isles of the grocery store and grab whatever strikes our fancy but now we stick to our list and don't have wasted food at the end of the week. This also helps us from filling up our shelves with random items that we never eat.....seriously, why do we have Disney Princess Alphagettis in the pantry?

Weird Health Fads Review #2: The Cookie Diet

I literally burst out laughing when I first heard about this new diet some of the celebrities are on. Gotta admit, great marketing. Who wouldn't want to subsist on cookies to lose weight?

I realized I shouldn't knock this diet until I investigated further. Obviously it's a great name for a diet, but what did the meal plan consist of? What are these "cookies" all about? Did Cookie Monster come up with this?

C'mon.....just try it!

Add another 10min to your cardio routine and/or another 10lbs to your weights routine.

You've already made it to the gym and are burning calories, boosting circulation and building muscle.....the extra 10min or 10lbs will just be a bonus!