Your guide to a springier step, a sharper mind, and a happier outlook right now.
Photo Credit: Diana Scheunemann/Gallery Stock
Before you embark on any soon-to-be-botched New Year’s schemes, read this. We gathered Canada’s up-and-coming health and wellness stars to turn your resolutions into highly effective strategies for killing it in 2014.
A new generation of nutrition and fitness gurus has emerged in Canada, shattering the old stereotype of granola-crunching, Birkenstock-wearing yogis. They’re glamorous, globetrotting lifestyle leaders with slavish followings, and they’re shifting the culture of wellness from self-punishing cleanses and monkish resolve to hyper-efficient workouts for frenetic days and more down-to-earth modes of healthy living that allow for an occasional manhattan. Here, they offer a glimpse into their daily routines, plus suggestions for amping up beauty, brain prowess and energy in the new year. And beyond.
For hybrid yoga that burns in all the right places, Joliat, 35, is your instructor.
Photo credit: Alex Jowett
Fashion Guru, Amber Joliat, balletyogalates instructor at MisfitStudio in Toronto
Amber Joliat’s fitness classes defy categorization. She trained as a dancer, Pilates instructor and yogi before breaking out on her own to develop an idiosyncratic muscle-blasting practice called Fusion that combines all three. There’s an almost cultish clubbiness to her followers, or “misfits,” as Joliat calls them, who work out at her Queen West loft studio, which doubles as an open arts-and-crafts workshop once a week.
Early bird of night owl: Both! I get up by the sun and dance by the moon. Seriously, I only get about six hours of sleep a night.
Morning routine: I do yoga beside my bed, and then I listen to Metro Morning and burn incense. I take my bicycle—“The Captain”—to the studio, then spend the afternoon writing my fusion teacher training program at Dark Horse Espresso Bar.
Virtuous lunch: The Goods. It’s the best delivery lunch in Toronto, an organic, vegan raw-salad-and-smoothie combo that’s dropped at your door every day. BAM!
Before-bed ritual: Does sex count?
Guilty pleasure: Cheese! I’ve been known to blow out a birthday candle in a piece of cheese instead of on a cake.
Amber’s resolution reboot: “Learn pranayama, a series of breathing techniques that help release tension. Start with Nadi Shodhana, alternate-nostril breathing. You repeat taking one breath in and letting one breath out through each nostril. I’ll do it in the morning to set the tone for the day.”
When you can’t face another diet, Ramos, 35, serves up common sense.
Photo credit: Nikki Jumper
Foodie Nutritionist, Melissa Ramos, Toronto health blogger and TV personality
Melissa Ramos left her job as an ad exec in 2006 and launched her health and nutrition blog, Sexy Food Therapy, two years later. Her approach to eating emphasizes what you can have, instead of what you can’t, and how food can make you feel sexy instead of bloated and regretful. Her infectiously positive attitude, backed by serious scientific knowledge, has made her a go-to guest on CBC’s Steven and Chris and health expert on the new CTV talk show The Social.
Morning Buzz: Dandy Blend, a wicked coffee alternative that tastes like real beans but doesn’t zap your iron levels or fry your adrenals.
I roll out of bed and… Cuddle my cockapoo, Bodhi. Then I gulp down half a litre of water with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, which balances the body’s pH levels and kick-starts the digestive system.
Winter comfort foods: In the winter, I love Job’s tears, which is gluten-free Asian pearled barley. I add almond milk, almond butter, stevia, sea salt and cacao nibs for a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast. I also love avocados; my parents are from Brazil, where avocado is eaten for dessert. My mom mashes it up with stevia, lemon and a pinch of salt.
Nightcap: I love a bourbon manhattan with bourbon-soaked cherries.
Melissa’s resolution reboot: “Cut out wheat. It functions as an opiate and contributes to depression, hunger and weight gain. You can eat these grain-free chocolate-blueberry cookies without growing a third butt cheek.”
Chocolate Blueberry Cookies
2 cups almond meal
3⁄4 cup frozen blueberries
1⁄2 cup coconut flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100 g 70-percent dark chocolate, chopped
2 droppers liquid stevia
1⁄4 tsp baking soda
1 pinch sea salt
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients in a bowl; form mixture into12 balls. Place on a cookie sheet and press with a fork. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool for 10 minutes.
Want some energy? Berman and Slater; both 27, say juice is the answer.
Photo credit: Zach Berman
Juice Lifestylers, Ryan Slater and Zach Berman, owners of The Juice Truck in Vancouver
Two-and-a-half years ago, Ryan Slater and Zach Berman refurbished a 1984 Grumman Kurbmaster, parked it on a corner in trendy Gastown and sold nutrient-packed juice to hungover weekend revellers. They’re now the co-owners of a mini empire: They’re opening their first bricks-and-mortar shop, The Juice Company, and YYoga studios sell their blends all over the city.
The duo believes that cold-pressed juice, which preserves the veggies’ natural enzymes, is a gateway drug into a healthy lifestyle. “When I’m continually fuelling myself with lots of vegetables (and some fruit), I only crave other healthy foods,” says Berman.
Coffee or tea: Slater: Tea. Religiously. I’ve never had a cup of coffee. Berman: Chaga mushroom tea with manuka honey.
Virtuous lunch: B: This Vancouver food truck called Culver City Salads does great quinoa, soba noodle and grain-free salads. And sometimes, when we’re lucky, the girls from The Pie Hole drop off blueberry-basil pie.
Guilty pleasure: S: Wine gums and Pretty Little Liars. B: Croissants and Survivor.
Moment of zen B: I cold-press the juice in the back of the truck. It’s very peaceful hanging out with the fruits and veggies.
Juicing secret: B: Add a kicker: ginger, mint, cilantro, parsley or cayenne.
Ryan and Zach’s resolution reboot: “Drink this breakfast-in-a-glass every day.”
The Green Smoothie
2 leaves kale
1 leaf Swiss chard
1 handful spinach
1⁄2 frozen banana
1⁄2 avocado
2 squirts lime juice
1 thumb-size piece fresh peeled ginger
11⁄4 cups coconut water 1 tbsp raw hemp seeds
Mix in a blender.
Like a Deadhead on tour, you can follow Currie, 32, to far-flunch retreats.
Photo credit: Mark Yammine
Travelling Yogi, Meghan Currie, YouTube phenomenon and yoga retreat leader
Meghan Currie is the quintessential gen-Y yogi. She shares sexy selfies on Instagram, she has close to 3,000 Twitter followers, and more than a million people have watched her YouTube videos (the fact that she practises in lingerie may partly account for that number). She’s from Vancouver but spends most of her time hosting sold-out workshops around the globe. With her sweaty, pulsing style of instruction, she’s a rock star of the yoga world.
Superfoods: My bag is always stocked with cacao powder, maca powder, dried seaweed, royal jelly and dark chocolate, along with mineral and vitamin powders. For dinner, I make salads bigger than my head. One of my favourites is arugula with tomatoes and mustard, cayenne and olive oil dressing.
Multitasking strategy: I’m busy, so I divide up my own yoga practice throughout the day: stretches in bed in the morning, handstands in the kitchen while making tea, 10 minutes of plank between answering emails.
On the road: I find natural food shops in every city I visit. My suitcase always ends up being overweight because I’m obsessed with buying health products. I love bathhouses, too. Especially the European kind, where you can hang out naked with strangers of all shapes, sizes and ages.
Beauty regimen: I use honey as a natural cleanser (it makes skin soft) and coconut oil for moisturizer.
Meghan’s resolution reboot: “Sit down and shut up. There are complicated techniques to bring you into meditation, but the best way to learn is to simply start doing it. If you sit still long enough, everything will settle. Even if you try it for only five minutes a day, you’ll feel more focused.”
For a dancer’s body and hockey player power, fire up your own muscles with Esmonde-White.
Photo credit: Allison Flam/Essentrics
Muscle Master, Sahra Esmonde-White, Montreal trainer of Olympians, NHLers and celebs
Twenty years ago, Sahra Esmonde-White’s mother, Miranda Esmonde-White, developed a fitness program that combined stretching, strength training and tai chi. In 2009, Sahra joined the family business and they renamed the technique Essentrics after the “eccentric” phase of an exercise—when a muscle resists the force of its own movement. The resulting regimen produces core strength and a long, lithe body. Sahra’s workout videos and classes have a celebrity following that includes Sarah Gadon, Lily Cole and Orlando Bloom. She also trains the Montreal Canadiens and Olympic figure skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.
Magic number: Eight a.m. I always feel rested by then, no matter what time I’ve gone to bed.
Diet: For breakfast, coconut yogurt with granola and maple syrup. I recently bought a juicer, so I blend beets, ginger and apples together for a snack. I also keep dark chocolate at my desk. My favourite is Dolfin Belgian chocolate with pink peppercorns.
Work perk: Every day, I spend time creating new Essentrics routines, which means repeating exercises until the flow is right—that’s how I get into the best shape.
Before-bed ritual: I never go to bed without a clean face. I like face oils, like coconut and argan, which I apply to rejuvenate my skin.
Guilty pleasure: I love chai lattes, and I’ll travel far to get a good one. In Toronto, Seven Grams. In Montreal, Aux Vivres.
Mid-winter pick-me-up: I try to head to Jamaica or Mexico every winter as a kind of natural medicine to fight off winter fatigue and lethargy. When your body is rested, it responds better to exercise and healthy food.
Sahra’s resolution reboot: “Get all of your muscles moving at once. When you stimulate them all together, they’re like a furnace that burns calories and increases energy. Start with the plié sequence: With your feet just wider than your hips and pointed outwards, bend your knees, making sure they don’t extend beyond your toes. Reach arms up and suck in your abs. Pull your right arm down, touching your right elbow to your right thigh and crunching your side. Bring your arm back up. Do eight reps on each side.”
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