Feel Good Guru

It’s quiet on the streets, and the city has taken on its winter aura of a million shades of grey – beautiful, if seen through the right filters. The loft is cold, but the industrial gas blower kicks in every few minutes and moves hot air around, I’m cozy in flannel, and a giant mug of matcha warms from inside out. Green tea and flannel shirts: two things I could not live without in Canadian winter.

I’m listening to RadioIo Ambient, always just the right vibe for meditation, contemplation and cooking.

While Forest’s perfectly curated grooves bathe my brainwaves, I give thanks for another amazing year on Planet Earth. (more…)

If you’ve been meditating in a cave in the Himalayas and haven’t heard about the new doc “Forks Over Knives” now playing in theatres across North America, it’s safe to come out. The plant-strong message has hit the mainstream, and pretty soon, those friends and family members who call you the Crazy Hippy will be asking for your recipe for those veggie burgers you brought to the family bbq last summer.

Forks Over Knives examines the claim that we can reverse degenerative diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer simply by eating a whole foods plant-based diet — and it makes a powerful case for animal protein being the cause of most cancers and cardiovascular diseases. (more…)

Local. Organic. Vegan. Evolutionary. The L.O.V.E. Cafe hit the Toronto underground dining scene last week with a celebration of fiddleheads and farmers! The first Toronto version of L.O.V.E. Cafe was an invitation-only 10-person gathering featuring guest of honor, Jorge DeAndrade, who regaled diners with stories from the farm over fiddleheads-done-four-ways. Jorge, a passionate advocate for sustainable farming, has been the main supplier of local organic veggies to Feel Good Guru’s Food since its launch in February. I wanted to honor him for his work and introduce some of my best customers to their farmer.

The evening began with a glass of Ontario Biodynamic wine while people arrived and introduced themselves. In the mix were two TV producers, a flight attendant, an actor and author, a health industry professional, a couple of ad execs, a holistic nutritionist, and myself, host and chef – a diverse group of singles and couples bonding over the common interest in healthy eating. (more…)

I was asked last night at the L.O.V.E. cafe, over fiddleheads done four ways, “What are you?” as in “Are you vegan?”

My response is not simple. Many of my friends are ethical vegans and animal activists whom I love and respect for their tireless work to help end the horrible suffering most farmed animals endure.

I can’t officially call myself a vegan though, because every summer when I embark on my solo motorcycle adventures, I don my 20-year-old leathers…very grateful for the protection they provide. (more…)

I don’t know this person. She is a friend of a friend of a friend, Anne Thomas, connected by the human family, shared via email, in Ode Magazine, and also by a member of the American Zen Teachers Association. But I wish I knew her. In the following message from Sendai, Japan to her friends and family back home, she describes how the people in her city are surviving by helping each other.

It’s both the content of the message and the tremendous grace, gratitude, acceptance, compassion and humility with which she describes the beauty she is seeing all around her that make this an astonishing read.

She writes “Somehow, as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide…”  Thank you, Dawn of the Mountains for sharing this with me. I felt compelled to post it again here ~ The world needs this message ~ Would love to know your thoughts ~ (more…)

On February 2, with the new moon and the auspicious new year of the Rabbit, I embarked on a new adventure in my Queen St. West neighbourhood in Toronto. As some of you know, I opened and operated Banff, Alberta’s first vegetarian restaurant in 1994. After six years, I was burned out and bitter and need of a massive breakdown/breakfree in India. After selling, I vowed “No more restaurants!” yet over the years, I’ve threatened more than a few times to do it again. It gets in your blood;)

The thing I miss most about the restaurant is the community that sprung up around it. Loyal local customers who came in every day for lunch, month after month, year after year. We became a close-knit little tribe of healthy mountain people. (more…)

Potent with possibilities, rich with the promise of change, each year-end gives us an opportunity to pause, collect our thoughts, meditate on the year that’s past (and freak at how fast it disappeared), plan for the year to come, and resolve to do it better this time around.

Studies suggest that 20% of New Year’s resolutions are broken in the first week of January! And the other 80% break down over the year… Are we setting our expectations too high? Are we trying to break all our bad habits at once, thereby setting ourselves up for failure? While the pendulum swings wildly from extreme excess of the holidays through to self-imposed monk-like austerity on January 1, consider catching it somewhere in the middle and hanging out, somewhere you can be nicely challenged, maybe even a tad uncomfortable, but not the house of pain and punishment we are all capable of inflicting on ourselves. We need new lifestyles, not new rules. (more…)

And I want peace. Child soldier, Emmanuel Jal wrote this call for peace to spread the word about impending war in Sudan. He lost his mother in Sudan’s last civil war, which claimed over 2 million lives. Now, Sudan is on the brink of war again, over oil and natural resources.

On January 9, 2011, a referendum will be held that will determine the fate of Sudan. Help Emmanuel and friends Alicia Keys, George Clooney, Peter Gabriel, The Elders (Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter, Sir Richard Branson, Fernando H Cardoso) spread the word for peace.

Be peace. (more…)

It’s been two weeks since I moved into the cold, unpainted, dusty construction zone that is the new FGG headquarters in downtown Toronto. A lot has happened in that time! The dust has settled, and the space is now warming up and coming together nicely after some dear friends added their used furniture to the decor.

The videos below will break it down for you, in order, from the beginning.

My favorite addition, by far, is the reclaimed bowling lane kitchen island, and I can’t wait for you to come by for a LOVE cafe in the new year! (more…)

My idea of money well spent is on the best quality farm food available, a beautiful motorcycle, fuel for the road, practical gear to keep one safe and warm, technology to stay connected to the 21st century tribe, and home and kitchen tools that support happiness and well being.

So, this week in moving mode, transferring FGG headquarters from between two coasts into this amazing, beautiful, bright, empty downtown Toronto space, I’m having a long think about furnishings and decor and how to maximize beauty, comfort and efficiency while minimizing costs, both financial and environmental. I need rugs and window dressings and furniture, but I have strict personal and professional LEED standards – and a tight budget. I want to support my local community, but I recognize almost everything sold in my neighborhood stores comes from China… (more…)

Daily, for the last few weeks in Toronto, I’ve been watching the leaves come down. One at a time, at first, twirling in the autumn air, slow-motion flight, flashing brilliant amber and rose light, sugar maple, oak and elm flags calmly signaling the end of a season, and now, in a colder, brisker wind, en masse, a flurry of foliage leaving the branches half naked to the faded sun.

I witnessed the other day, perhaps for the first time, the exact moment a single leaf let go. I admired its courage as it surrendered to the breeze and danced gracefully toward the dirt. In response to this beautiful, tender vision, in my heart I wondered why I struggle so much with the same simple act of letting go, when over and over again, nature and experience show me that to do so is essential for life.  (more…)

Here it is, sweet peeps, your Autumn edition of Feel Good Fast!

The vid below will give you a 2-minute tease. Check it out, then simply invite it to your inbox. Next, wipe off a three-week block on your calendar sometime before Christmas and get your cleaner, greener, leaner lifestyle on!

From some of our Feel Good Fans:

“I am so very appreciative of your help in the changes we had made to our diet this year. From doing our very first cleanse ever with you in January to now being over 2 months drinking green smoothies everyday. It’s been a wild ride on this healthy train! Looking forward to trying out some new recipes. Blessings,” Anita (more…)

Just for a moment, suspend your earthbound beliefs, and consider the possibility you might actually be…an angel… Now, imagine yourself, one infinitely sunny day in paradise, sitting around with your angel buddies contemplating the nature of being an angel. Many interesting observations are tossed about, but none really satisfactory, until one of your wiser angel friends suggests that perhaps you need to experience what it’s like to not be an angel in order to fully grasp what it’s like to be one.

Just then, Maya, Mistress of Illusion, and Director of Heavenly Special Effects, happens by, and agrees to stage an elaborate game of enchantment that would provide a forum for you and your angel buddies to learn on earth, and sets the game in a beautiful setting called “The Magical Theater.” (more…)

According to the Happy Planet Index, Costa Rica is the happiest place on Earth. In this TED talk by Nic Marks, founder of the Centre for Well-being at the New Economics Foundation, some light is shed on what makes a nation happy – contrary to North American and European behaviors, it’s not money.

Mr Marks questions why statisticians are not measuring the things that make life worthwhile – love, health, happiness, social justice, sustainability – and suggests that in order to create a happy society, the media need to put these stats in front of us, to create a collective goal. (more…)

I just watched a Penn & Teller episode of “Bullshit” discussing how old people are stripped of their dignity thanks to ongoing stereotypes like old people can’t drive, old people don’t have sex and old people smell bad. It’s shocking to hear the younger generation perpetuate these myths and heartening to see the older generation attempt to dispel them.

It’s no wonder our life expectancy in North America is 15 years lower than the capacity of the human body as science presently knows it. Who would want to stick around much past 75 when you’re closeted away, made to feel redundant, mocked, and largely ignored? But the fact is, if we want to, we can. Watch the vid below to find out how: (more…)

Tomorrow when you get up, try counting how many products get put into or onto your body before you leave the house. Chances are good it’ll be around 12. Then try counting the chemicals. It’ll be in the hundreds, most of them not even tested for safety. This is the reality of toxins in our cosmetic products.

Annie Leonard, who brought us the brilliant “Story of Stuff” has recently released “The Story of Cosmetics” in which she exposes the grim truth about how our regular everyday household shampoos and lipsticks are loading our bodies with carcinogens, neurotoxins and reproductive toxins. Annie entertains and informs with this 8-minute piece. (more…)

A phonecall, a cupcake, a toonie, a book, a hug, a coffee, a recommendation, an email, a secret ingredient, a bottle of wine, a compliment…this is my tally so far after 11 days of giving and yes, it feels good.

Small things to give, but according to Cami Walker, author of 29 Gifts – How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life, these little things, given consciously every single day as a practice, can be transformational.

Cami was diagnosed with MS just a month after her wedding day. She quickly sank into depression and a dark vortex of too many prescription drugs to numb the physical and emotional pain. (more…)

In a world gone mad, it’s heartening as hell to hear good news. Here at FGG we love love love people, ideas and things that make the world a better place and we live on delight and optimism, mirth and merriment, joy and jubilation. When we heard the story of four Bolivian circus lions who’d lived their lives in a cage on the back of a rusty old truck being set free at PAWS Sanctuary in San Andreas, California, we just had to share it with you!

Pat Derby, founder and director of PAWS, says in the video below “This is a monumental rescue.” Indeed. For the first time in their lion lives, these lucky beauties will get to feel grass under their feet and roam free as lions should. Adore. Cry. Pass it on;) (more…)

By Kelly Sullivan Walden, dream therapist, author & hypnotherapist

We’ve all heard about the law of attraction, affirmations, vision boards, and goal setting…yes? Well… according to the American Hypnosis Association, our conscious mind represents 12% of our mind’s power while our subconscious mind represents 88%.

Our conscious mind is where our logic, reasoning and willpower reside, while our intuition, psychic ability and access to higher guidance and knowing resides in our under-visited subconscious mind.

Don’t get me wrong; our conscious mind is amazing in all that it can accomplish (you’ve seen “The Secret”, yes?) But, wouldn’t it be an interesting “experiment” to see what would happen if you joined your conscious AND subconscious mind in a manifesting experiment? (more…)

“I did not own the land and I was feeling out of luck; all I had to grow my own food was my old gray pickup truck…” From the guys who brought us King Corn comes a homegrown, song-filled YouTube series and documentary, Truck Farm!

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis start out by asking the question, “How do you grow your own food in a city if you ain’t got no land?” Then they set out to learn how, using green roof technology and an old Dodge Ram. They install solar power on the roof of the truck to film every little step, and with song and time lapse photography, they deliver an entertaining lesson in funky truck urban gardening. Dig it! (more…)