As longer and notably warmer days slowly become more of a mainstay in our lives (buh bye winter weather!), one room in your house is usually begging for a little attention – you’ve got it! We're referring to your faithful food environment; namely your pantry, fridge, and freezer. While spreading the love in the kitchen is always encouraged, the entry of consistent spring weather strikes us as the ideal time to give the nourishing center of your home a solid once over. With a kitchen full of nutritious fresh and frozen foods you’ll be able to make regular nutritionally sound meal choices to foster a foundation for optimal health.

There’s little debate that meal prep can be our saving grace when we’re working to establish health promoting, sustainable eating habits; and maintaining a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be time consuming or difficult! With a little bit of planning and preparation you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

The creative food enthusiasts of today typically rave about spices as a delicious way to enhance a recipe without adding extra salt, sugar, or fats. But spices not only excite our taste buds with a next-to-none calorie impact, they are composed of an impressive list of phytonutrients, essential oils, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins to promote good health. Needless to say, they are well equipped to boost our overall wellness while supporting delicious flavour variety in our diets.

Through mindful macronutrient and calorie adjustments over time, you can maintain your metabolic potential to keep you progressing towards your goal. The key really is in the execution, as an ill-formed approach to weight loss, muscle gain, or metabolism improvement has the potential to wreak havoc on your long term progress and success, not to mention your health and feelings of wellbeing.

In todays pop culture crusted world, "cleansing" and "detoxing" have become fashionable terms associated with leading a glamorous and vibrant life; this practice is generally promoted to improve health by 'cleansing' the bowel and otherwise removing toxins from the body. But despite all the hype, in reality, cleanses can be cumbersome, stressful, and (depending on the regime)  downright dangerous. For many reasons, they don't need a place in your health and wellness routine.

When you think about practicing the principles of 'balance' with food and nutrition what comes to mind? If your first thought is a plate cut into thirds, containing 50% colourful veggies, 25% fibrous starch, and 25% lean protein, you're certainly not alone. But the truth is, there is so much more to balance when we're talking about food. Let's take a closer look.

Consistently dependable immune system functioning really is the cornerstone of good health; because of this truth, and in light of this time of year, this blog is dedicated to exploring the practical steps you can take to boost the body's own defense mechanisms against lack-lustre health.

No matter your end goal, practicing the skills of balance and moderation is much more beneficial (and effective long-term) than following an intake pattern of extremism and restriction. This is why the sustainable balance principle forms the roots of what we coach.

At the end of the day, energy balance is the most important aspect to weight loss or weight gain. It generally doesn’t take long to realize that investing all your energy in the gym simply won’t resolve a lifestyle of over consumption. Excessive amounts of exercise is not the answer to sustainable fat loss; rather, we must address both side of the equation, emphasizing the latter.

Being sick while away from home is never a blast; and traveling is undeniably tough on our immune system. So what is an avid traveller to do? To start, follow these simple and practical suggestions and you will be well on your way to enjoying healthy and happy trips this summer, and all year long.