Welcome to my health blog! Thanks for being here :) My name is Madelyne and I’m a holistic nutritionist in training living in Toronto.
The journey to this path and newsletter has consisted of many peaks and valleys, but I will keep it brief for now. It all started with a yoga teacher training I took on a gap year between second and third year of my undergraduate degree in art history and women’s studies. I had discovered yoga a year prior and was amazed at the effects it had on my depression, insomnia, and low self-esteem that culminated through my late teens. I had the instinct to take some time away from an academic setting and pursue a more physical practice, which had been lacking in my life. During this time, I also started working at a restaurant and became *pretty* into partying. The juxtaposition was really challenging for me and I ended up abandoning yoga for a while in favor of being out and about. This lifestyle also amplified hormonal imbalances I had been experiencing since my early teens and resulted in PCOS. I always kept an interest in health and well being by reading books, listening to podcasts, practicing on and off and trying different diets (ugh), but I felt that I couldn’t veer from my path as a practicing artist, curator, and arts administrator.
Fast forward to March 2020, I was already feeling burnt out by my museum job after two and half years and unsure if it was the career for me. While being at home, I started to turn to the practices that made me feel supported. I leaned into my love of home cooking, rediscovered my yoga practice, started meditating, and became more serious about healing my PCOS naturally. I was bingeing any and all content I could find from the health practitioners and spiritual leaders I had come to admire, and one day when I was listening to Marie Anne Williamson on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, and I had a spiritual awakening. I’m not kidding…I burst into tears, had the ping of clarity to enroll in nutrition school, and dreamt that night that god forgave me lol. So here we are! I’m about 6 months away from completing my program and am ecstatic to be launching my business with this creative endeavor!
For me, learning how to nourish myself was the entry point for physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual healing. Don’t get me wrong, I am very much still a WIP - I have my vices - and will always strive to find balance, but I think that’s the beautiful thing about health: it’s an ongoing conversation with yourself. I’m excited to share with you the food that I love, the techniques and practices that work for me, and the things I’m thinking about and learning as a way to broaden the discourse. I hope this is a space that makes holistic living appealing as a process, inclusive, fun…and not so black and white ;)
By becoming a paid subscriber, you will receive bi-weekly newsletters inclusive of original recipe drops; meal planning, preparing and shopping tips; my musings on health: how I’m eating, techniques I’m turning to, what I’m exploring; recommendations for books, podcasts, mediations and products; seasonal guidance, resources and more! The funds from this newsletter will be going directly back into my business as I transition out of my day job and into a full time nutrition practice.
We are in a very special period of time according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, called ‘Late Summer’ which falls within the final month of summer (mid august - september 21st). Paul Pitchford writes:
It is the point of transition from yang to yin, between the expansive growth phases of spring and summer and the inward, cooling, more mysterious fall and winter seasons. A pleasant, tranquil, and flourishing season, it is as if time stops here and activity becomes effortless, dreamlike. Unity, harmony, and the middle way are summoned between the extremes.
There is a great episode of the Superfeast podcast that goes deep into the elemental theories and organ systems associated with this time, listen here.
In terms of nourishing ourselves, we should turn to more warming, sweet, and mucus-forming foods that “harmonize and represent the center''. Foods that fall into this category are whole grains, and naturally sweet foods of yellow-orange hue: carrots, summer squash, corn, chickpeas, potatoes, apricots, peaches, plums - you know, september-y things!
Meal Ideas:
Japgokbap - a korean dish containing multigrain rice, whole grains and beans. A blood sugar balancing up level for grain bowls.
Corn chowder - bit of a finicky recipe but extremely worth it and freezes really well! I use coconut milk instead of heavy cream
Sesame Carrot and Lentil Soup - I’ve literally been staring at my watch all summer waiting to make this…
Beetroot curry. Meera Sodha’s East has a great recipe, and so does Sarah Britton. Both dishes include a recipe for Mallung, a Sri Lankan side that consists of vegetables, lime juice and coconut. My hack for this is to give the mallung treatment to the beet greens for a no-food-waste-win! Simply follow the instructions in either recipe but replace the kale or green beans with the beet greens and stems.
In terms of breakfasts, I’ve been turning to the millet porridge recipe below. Millet is a star because it is both a grain and has a yellow hue! It strengthens the kidneys, is beneficial to the stomach, spleen, and pancreas and moistens dryness which can start to catch us on chilly mornings. Millet is also rich in protein, antioxidants, the essential minerals phosphorus and magnesium, and packs in more calcium than any cereal grain; it is also gluten-free. After a spring and summer full of smoothies and fruit plates, it feels good to have something more grounding and stick to your ribs. Toasting the millet in ghee gives a nutty rich flavor, and finishing the porridge with fresh mint adds a nice bright complexity. You can totally riff on this recipe by switching up the fruit topping and adding different nuts and seeds. You could take it in a savoury direction by swapping vanilla for miso or tamari, drizzling sesame oil, and topping with an avocado, nori, or a soft boiled egg. Let’s make millet a thing!
Stone Fruit Millet Porridge
1 tbsp ghee or butter
½ cup millet
1 cup milk (nut, seed, whole, goat - whatever)
1 cup water
Pinch of salt
½ tsp vanilla
1 peach or 2-3 smaller stone fruits of your choosing chopped
1 sprig of mint leaves for topping
Hemp seeds for topping
Maple syrup for drizzling
In a small pot, toast the millet in ghee over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes. Add in the milk, water, pinch of salt, and vanilla and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cover the pot, cooking the porridge for around 25 minutes and stirring every so often to check the consistency. We are aiming for a creamy, porridge consistency. If things are drying up and the grains are still toothy, add more water or milk and continue to simmer until the grain is tender.
Once finished, top with the hemp seeds, stone fruit, mint leaves and drizzle with maple syrup.