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Great Eateries & Healthy Stores In The T.Dot

Food should and can be as delicious as it is nutritious. I’m a self-professed foodie and Nutritionist. This means that when I go out to spend money on food, it’s gotta satisfy my taste buds and deliver some love to my body to keep my cells smiling. I’m excited to share with you some great places to eat and buy food in the city of Toronto for foodies and health nuts alike.

The Big Carrot – Greektown

This natural food market on the Danforth is dreamy for all things organically grown, non-GMO and has a huge selection of cruelty-free and environmentally safe products. www.thebigcarrot.com / 348 Danforth Avenue.

Essence of Life – Kensington Market

One of the best health food stores in Toronto for price and variety. Extensive range of natural food products in bulk, packaged vegetarian foods, organic produce, huge variety of nutritional supplements and knowledgeable, friendly staff. As if you needed another reason to stroll through this cool area of the city! 50 Kensington Ave.

Magic Oven

Attention pizza lovers – think pizza can’t be healthy AND delicious? Think again! Magic oven is an award winning restaurant chain that makes the most delicious pizza with fresh, organic and local ingredients. They have gluten-free, lactose-free and vegan options. The organic wings with spicy sauce make my mouth water. It’s always my first choice for take-out. There are several locations across the city. www.magicoven.com

Live Organic Food Bar

I have written about this restaurant on my blog and my friends and I are frequent customers there. Why? It’s a raw food restaurant and if I took you there blindfolded you’d think you were eating gourmet food from some sassy chic upscale downtown restaurant. It’s soooooooooo yummy! Try the Mushroom Miso burger, it’s out of this world good. 64 Dupont st. (North East corner of Dupont and Spadina) www.livefoodbar.com

I will post some great farmer’s markets in a few days. Try out one of these stores or restaurants and let me know what you think!

Happy Day!

Joyous

Attn: Cyclists and Runners – Map Your Route!

Whether you are a road cyclist, trail loving mountain biker or a runner, there are great places to ride and run in the city of Toronto! If you are training for a race or just curious to see how far you can go with your wheels or your runners, these websites are bookmark-worthy tools to keep handy to map your route!

When I was training for my last race, I used the running tool to map out my routes ahead of time and LOVED it.

This is the website for mapping your RIDE http://www.mapmyride.com/

This is the website for mapping your RUN http://www.mapmyrun.com/

Enjoy!

Joy McCarthy

Nutritionist & Health Coach

Fuel your body for Peak Performance!

Training has officially begun – I got my butt on the saddle this weekend!  Yes, it hurts today, but it was worth it. Unfortunately I don’ t have a photo to prove it, so I am going to show off my pretty Bianchi (my sassy Celeste Green, Italian bike) instead.  This bike never ceases to amaze me. She never lets me down – she speeds up when I need her to push a little harder and and slows down when I need some coasting to catch my breath as my heart pounds out of my chest. Ahhhhh the joys of riding my bike!

I am training for the Ride to Conquer Cancer which a is a two-day epic journey from Toronto to Niagara Falls.  As daunting a task as it seems, I am going raise 2,500 buckaroos for cancer research for the Princess Margaret Hospital. This two day ride is really nothing in comparison to the challenge that cancer patients go through on a daily basis. I have been touched by very close family members being affected by cancer. The stats are quite scary and each one of us will be personally impacted by cancer or a loved one throughout our life. We can do something about this! And that’s why I ride… Read more… »

Build and Boost your Immunity – Avoid the Swine Flu!

Good day all!

The fear is mounting in people’s minds about the latest flu virus to hit Canada. However, you need not be scared! Your body has an incredible ability to protect itself if given the right nutrients, stress is managed and sugar is eliminated from your diet.

Here’s my top tips for keeping your immune system strong and germs away:

1. Wash your hands, but NOT with anti-bacterial soap. Did you know that there is no evidence (conclusive studies) that anti-bacterial soaps prevent more infections than good ol’ fashion plain soap? In fact, anti-bacterial soaps have very powerful chemicals that you don’t want to be using on your skin (can cause skin rashes). They kill both the good bacteria and the bad. Your body has TONS of friendly bacteria – in the trillions! Use them to your advantage. Common sense rules – avoid touching your eyes or mouth after being in public places (like the subway) before washing.

2. Supplement with powerful Probiotics. Studies prove this boosts your immune system and this is only one benefit of many!! Be prepared to pay a little more for a better brand because that will ensure you will get a larger dosage of bacteria – look for Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Bifidobacterim lactis/bifidum in the ingredients. In short, good bacteria in your belly, manufactures some very important immune system cells like macrophages and lymphocytes (these are your soldiers that take down those invaders). Check out the Big Carrot Dispensary, Noah’s Health Food store or any health food store in Kensington Market – all great stores with experts on staff!

Read more… »

The Power of Probiotics

We all know that bacteria can be found most anywhere – on door handles, sinks, kitchen cutting boards, toilet bowls (gross) etc. However, what some of us are not so aware of is that bacteria is also found in our digestive tract – in the trillions! GOOD bacteria is VERY important to our health, but the sad news is that most of us have an overgrowth o  the bad. This is due to a variety of reasons: stress, sugar and processed foods, food additives (colourings & preservatives), chlorinated water, antibiotics, oral contraceptives and environmental toxins – which all make it very difficult for good bacteria to thrive. 

Read more… »