Nourishment for the Body, the Mind & the Soul

Food Articles

Your Health is Your Wealth

Your body contains your lifeforce. It is both your home and the vehicle you use to move through the world. The relationship you have with your body is one of the most important relationships you’ll have in your life, if not the most important. Your body is what enables you to accomplish your goals and experience life in all its sensory beauty.

Here at Daily Life, we aim to show you how health is a major component of growth and development in all areas of your life: in your relationships, your career, and in the development of your soul. Here, you’ll find a place to come to learn how to build a strong foundation for your life by creating habits that contribute to becoming your happiest self.

When it comes to health, it’s truly the small choices and changes that can have the largest impact. What you can accomplish and even your creativity are direct responses to the health of your body.

Feed Your Body Friday Articles

New Recipes Weekly on Feed Your Body Friday!

Meet us right here every Friday for a brand new, original recipe by Sophie Viau in our Feed Your Body Friday series! Make a tradition of trying Sophie’s recipe each week; whether you’re meal prepping for the week ahead, feeding your family, or simply looking to experiment more often in the kitchen, we have you covered.

Feed Your Body Friday recipes are exclusive to Daily Life. Sophie packs all of her recipes with nutrients - if you thought healthy food didn’t taste good, think again. The idea that health is about denying yourself delicious food has no place here. Whether your diet is vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, or otherwise, you can count on Sophie’s unique recipes to open your palate to a new dimension of flavour. Feed Your Body Friday recipes are conscious of sugar content and aim to be low in carbs.

As you explore new dishes, spices, and flavours, it is our hope that you’ll nurture a new and healthier relationship with food - one that allows you to enjoy cooking and eating in a way you never have before. Begin your love affair with food all over again, every week!

Food & Mood Articles

How Does Food Affect Your Mood?

The food you put into your body has a direct impact on your mood and your emotional state. According to Healthline, refined sugars and grain-based processed foods create an addiction to foods that do not provide the chemicals you need to feel happy, such as serotonin. Over time, depriving your body of these chemicals can even result in mental illness.

Once you eliminate the chemicals from processed foods that make you sluggish, irritable, and give you sugar cravings, the next step is to make sure you know where to get what you need to get your engine running optimally. The fuel you need is found in a variety of natural foods that are not full of ingredients you cannot pronounce that were created in a lab. Eating nutrient-dense foods frequently without going long periods of time without food can help sustain your positive mood. The Mayo Clinic advises not skipping breakfast because we tend to over-eat during the latter half of the day when our metabolism has slowed down and digestion becomes more difficult.

Making healthy choices will not only boost your mood on a daily basis, but will allow your body to reach and maintain equilibrium over time. The more we eat unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods, the more stable, balanced, and positive we will feel.

How Food & Nutrition Affect Mental Health

A new branch of nutritional psychiatry is gaining popularity as people begin to realize the direct link between nutrition and mental health.“Diet is potentially the most powerful intervention we have,” says Drew Ramsey, MD, who is an assistant professor at Columbia University. The industry of psychiatry has found that a healthy diet improves mental health and lowers the risk of psychiatric disorders.

Studies have found that depression will soon be the leading cause of disability. These same studies found depression to be 80% higher in teens with poor nutrition. Sadly, there are 17 million children with mental health disorders, and those with low-quality diets are especially at risk.

Meanwhile, a Harvard Health study reported that cultures that do not consume processed foods have a 25% to 35% lower risk of depression. Keeping our minds healthy and balanced really can begin in the kitchen, and our long-term mental health can be protected by making healthy choices today.

Health & Food Articles

How Nutrition Affects Fitness & Performance:

Nutrition is a crucial component of enhancing athletic performance. There are proven ways you can keep yourself energized during a workout and increase your resting metabolic rate just by understanding which foods you need and when.

For example, complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, oats, nuts, and beans can be a great source of fuel before high endurance sports and activities. Foodinsight.org recommends eating beets before a workout to increase nitrate levels in your blood to help you have more endurance during your workout. Spicy foods can also help increase your resting metabolic rate so you can burn fat even while at rest. Plus, eating lots of phytonutrients - plants with dark pigments like kale, eggplant, and carrots - will help reduce inflammation in the muscles so you can recover quicker from workouts.

B12 and amino acids (which are proteins converted into energy) will give you an edge in any physical activity because you’ll have the energy and alertness to perform your best. Plants that contain water can help you stay hydrated longer because their water molecules are stored in a jelly-like substance and do not pass through the body as quickly as drinking water. Hydration is also key to joint and muscle health as well as preventing injuries. The things we can learn about optimizing fitness performance through nutrition are endless.

Nutrition and Health

How to Choose the Diet That’s Healthiest for You

We believe eating well doesn’t look the same for any one person and there’s room for differences within a healthy diet. We each have a unique body type and thus different resting metabolic rates. Where some people naturally burn through calories fast, others break down food slowly. That there are many factors that should be taken into consideration when choosing the diet that’s healthiest for you, such as where you live, your age, what you do for work, and what your lifestyle looks like.

Eating a variety of foods like vegetables, fruit, lean meat, and organic dairy can help you wean yourself off processed foods that drain your energy and your potential for living an extraordinary life. What works for one person may be completely wrong for another.

At Daily Life, we want to encourage you to get to know your own body so you can find the balance of healthy fats, proteins, and nutrients that will keep your body and mind functioning optimally. The body changes according to what’s going on in our lives; a one-size-fits-all approach to diet and nutrition simply doesn’t work. We believe in taking a holistic and intuitive approach to your diet and health regimen, one that allowed you to nurture a positive relationship with food and with your body.

Which Diet Burns The Most Fat?

Again, there is no one right answer. Different diets work for different bodies. If you’re looking for ways to lose weight and/or boost your metabolism, not eating isn’t one of them. If you look to lean proteins and lots of greens, you’re on the right track. You can start by making small changes to reduce your grain and dairy intake; replace your carbs with lots of plants, sprouted grains, and healthy fats like avocados, nuts, and seeds.

If you don’t want to give up dairy or meat, limit your consumption and increase foods that stimulate the metabolism like ginger, cayenne, lemon, and fermented foods. Eating frequently throughout the day actually helps your body burn fat while at rest, as well so go longer periods of time with no food. Eating to lose weight will always work better than starving yourself and keep you feeling great.

Vegan & Vegetarian Articles

Are Vegetarian & Vegan Diets Healthier?

You can also rely on the fiber content of plants to keep your digestion regular which removes toxins and flushes your body of unwanted hormones that can be caused by stress. When your diet contains high levels of nutrients, your blood can deliver all of those nutrients to your brain and body to improve skin health, mental cognition, and even hair growth!

Plant-based diets are hard to adopt instantaneously because they require a thorough understanding of which foods contain which nutrients. We recommend making small, incremental adjustments to your diet so you don’t shock your body or get discouraged. Some people find they have better energy on vegetarian or vegan diets, and some people find they have better energy eating lean meats and whole foods.

You will have to determine how you feel based on trial and error. Vegetarianism and veganism are personal choices that can have many wanted and unwanted consequences. If you do want to try one of these diets, be sure to take a folic acid/B-12 supplement, get plenty of protein from seeds, nuts, beans, spinach, peas, and healthy protein powders. You must also be sure you include healthy fats, such as those found in nut butters, avocados, healthy oils, and seeds. You won’t have energy without fat, a fact that is often overlooked.

Food & Superfoods Articles

How Does the Body Turn Food Into Energy?

The food we eat is what allows us to do all of the things we are able to in a day, though we rarely think about it.

Essentially, the carbohydrates and proteins we consume are combined with enzymes and fluids that break down the proteins into amino acids, which become pure energy. The carbohydrates are turned into glucose, which is burned as energy as well. When we consume more food than the body needs, or have no live enzymes from plants to break the protein into amino acids, carbohydrates get stored as fat in the body and proteins can build up in the intestinal wall. When we consume saturated fats (which the body cannot use as easily as unsaturated fats), that fat is stored in arteries surrounding the organs, risking the organ’s health and reducing circulation capacity.

If we aren’t consuming foods that have the necessary enzymes to break down carbs and proteins, we lower the body’s ability to convert food into usable energy. which is why we promote making small changes to your diet over time by adding more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Don’t let food be an afterthought. Make your diet your foundation for a happy and fulfilling life.

Which Diet Burns The Most Fat?

Superfoods offer more sustainable energy that will keep your stomach feeling full while boosting your energy. Plants like avocados, quinoa, kale, bananas, almonds, green apples, and goji berries make great snacks that you can eat frequently throughout the day.

Eating alkalizing foods like greens vegetables and lemons can also reduce inflammation that drains your energy. Plants with lots of phytonutrients can boost your immune system, making it easier for your body to fight viruses and bacteria so you spend less time drained and laid up at home. Being sick is not something that superfood enthusiasts experience often because their bodies work harmoniously. Keep your sugar, alcohol, and processed food intake to an all-time low and watch your energy reach an all-time high!

Take control over what you allow into your mouth and watch as you can read easier, recall information and find new creative ideas with much more ease. The secret to success, curiosity and expansion of the mind is truly at the end of your fork!