Catherine Chea

It’s unlike me to write a wellness blog. Normally, my blogs are about my musings on relationships, life, and my perpetual existential crisis. But I can now see how wellness, spirituality, and self-discovery are interrelated. Because the kinds of food I consume and the amount of exercise I’m getting affect the quality of my thoughts.

In fact, I’m not nearly as gloomy as I had been in the previous winters. It really helps to shorten my commute and live a 15-minute walking distance from work. I also look forward to my morning walks as they give me an extra boost of energy before I begin my 9-5 grind.

On top of this, for some reason, I’ve been eating a lot of avocados and doing a lot more yoga lately. And I attribute this to living in downtown Toronto. Toronto is not only a hub for financial and tech startups, it’s also a hub for health nuts.

I think I’m becoming one.

There are so many wellness food places in Toronto. I don’t even have to cook anymore to eat healthily. From Freshii to Fresh to Kumfert and Kim to B.Good, you can pretty much find healthy takeout restaurants on every block. You could even argue they’re taking over Starbucks.

Even the pho is vegan or organic (e.g, Pho Vistro and Saigon Lotus).

And because there are so many yoga studios in Toronto, I don’t have an excuse not to exercise. But why yoga? I never understood what was so appealing about yoga until I tried a Yin Yoga reduced heat class at Yoga Tree. It was so relaxing and therapeutic! I pretty laid down on a yoga mat and worked on some breathing exercises, while getting nice and toasty from the infrared heating panels.

Since then, I purchased $20 yoga mat from Shoppers Drug Mart and been doing a lot of beginners yoga in my room, with the guidance of an app. There’s even a yoga meetup group that I attended last weekend. It was a lot of fun. We went for brunch afterward.

Yoga is perfect for people who sit at an office all day because it helps you stretch and relax your muscles. As well, it doesn’t take a lot of preparation and time. All you need is 20 minutes and a mat.

As for avocados,  not only are they high in nutrients, potassium and monounsaturated fatty acids (the good kind of fat), it also compliments a lot of dishes. They go well with beans, chicken (you can order avocado on the side at Flock Rotisserie), eggs, sushi—anything really.

Narcity even had a post covering the top spots to find avocado toast in Toronto.

I feel less guilty about my food choices because I know I can never go wrong with avocado—especially since I’m not a full-fledged health nut and rather not dwell on what goes in my food, at least not yet.