The title of this is an obvious fact. I’m sure that 100% of adults are aware of this. So why do we have such a hard time getting more fruits and vegetables into our diet?
There are two main reasons. Convenience and taste.
The first is just a function of our modern lives, filled with busyness that didn’t exist 50 years ago. We want or need, to save time anyway we can, and sometimes that means sacrificing nutrition for convenience.
Taste is the second reason. For most people, if they are hungry and there is a bowl of raw carrots beside a bowl of chips, most would choose the chips because our taste buds have been trained to crave those foods. You’ve been tricked over the years by very crafty manufacturers and now our taste buds are just looking for the ‘overdrive’ option and have a very difficult time ‘tasting’ natural foods.
This is the ‘why’ behind our lack of fruits and veggies. I’m sure you are not surprised.
Recent research underscores the importance of why more fruit and vegetables, and less processed foods and meats, can lead to better health outcomes. An August 2021 paper in the Journal of the American Heart Association identifies a diet rich in plants and with fewer animal products, showing a 52% lower rate of developing cardiovascular diseases. This was a thirty-year study with almost 5000 participants so the data is really good.
Knowing that your tastebuds have been hijacked by manufacturers using salt, sugar and fat, and that time is limited so we search for convenience, we can start to make some small changes…just for a start. Add on the hard facts that Plants = Health, literally, and we have a great foundation to make some change.
This is the action part. If you made it this far in this article, you know what you need to do. Now is the time to take one action (or more) to make a change.
My advice is to make it ridiculously simple. If you typically buy lunch, instead of a sandwich, go for a wrap with lots of veggies in it. Or go for a very tasty and substantial salad. This is a really easy way to introduce way more veggies into your diet.
This is one example of many, but the key is, make it really easy for yourself and over time, you will start to take back control of your tastebuds, and you’ll make more time for eating better. These positive habits build on one another.
The Time to Figure Out Your New Hybrid Lifestyle is Now…..
Written by: Dr. Stacy Irvine Bsc. Kin, M.Sc., D.C., C.S.C.S Co-Owner Totum Life Science
As things begin to slowly open and our lives return to the more interactive ways of the past, you could be wondering……” How can I best take advantage of some of the new technologies that have helped me from a work and lifestyle perspective over these past twenty months?”
The time to start organizing your new, and hopefully improved, work-life balance is now. It seems that a vast number of work opportunities in the future will use a combination of scheduling. Some workdays will be “in-person” and some workdays will be virtual. We should take some time to think about what this “Hybrid” life will look like and then figure out ways to make it work best for our performance, our health and ultimately our happiness.
There are a few questions to ask yourself as you address this process:
What things in your life do you enjoy doing virtually and what do you enjoy doing in person?
What things are not an option for virtual and how much time do you need each week to make sure you can accomplish these things in the best way possible.
How will these scheduling choices impact your health and where can you carve out time for activities and social life.
Like your work environment, you will now also be able to participate in many aspects of your health care virtually, along with many aspects of your regular fitness routines. It is important to develop an efficient strategy to make this new hybrid system work well for you from a health perspective. The most important part of this is understanding what you are comfortable with. Do you enjoy meeting with screens, or is it very stressful? Do your healthcare providers even give you this option now that things are opening up a bit more? What times of the day will work best for you to schedule health-related appointments? Maybe it is easier to schedule personal appointments that are closer to your home because you might have more flexibility on the days you work from home.
Like your work environment, there are parts of health care and fitness that do not work well virtually. For example, you may not benefit as much from a virtual massage, but seeing your doctor for a virtual appointment to renew a prescription could be very efficient and helpful. However, if you take the time to book a virtual appointment, and then find out you need to be seen in person, it can feel like you wasted your time with the initial appointment.
As a healthcare provider, if I was booking an initial assessment with a new patient I would always want to see them in person first. I need to be able to watch closely how they move, what their posture is like, and I also want to be able to assess their overall health unrelated to their injury. However, if someone I have been working with in-person wants to do a quick exercise review, this is a perfect type of appointment to do virtually. I can easily watch them do their exercises and make any corrections needed during a virtual appointment. Also, if you are travelling and you have an incident that causes an acute injury this could be a good time to book a virtual appointment with a trusted provider as opposed to trying to find someone in a location you are unfamiliar with. The initial management of an acute injury can be very influential on the long-term outcome, and I often find that people want to do the wrong thing because they are in pain and are looking for fast relief. If you can jump on a virtual call, you can often find some peace of mind along with a good plan to move forward safely.
I believe that fitness and many types of training can work well in a similar way. If you are starting a new class, with a new instructor I would suggest you begin in person. This way the instructor will get to know you and what your specific needs are. It gives you an opportunity to connect and understand what the goals of the class are and the types of things you will be working on. Once you have a good idea of these things and you feel comfortable performing the movements required on your own, it is a great time to try the option of taking the class virtually. Personal training is no different. Seeing someone in person is more effective, however, virtual is great for “homework” between in-person sessions.
Finally, we all need to understand, that from a health perspective, connecting with people in person has many additional and important benefits. Interacting with people enhances our hormones, our motivation, and our mental wellbeing in very positive ways. If you add to this the fact that, working from home drastically decreases our overall movement for the day, we need to make sure our plan takes these important concepts into account. To maintain, or possibly even improve your health and fitness you will need a good strategy. It could be as simple as meeting a friend for a walk and coffee on the days that you work from home. The planning is up to you, but the important thing is to have a plan that allows you to benefit from our new way of working and living.
Our immune system is composed of a robust front-line defence team. Our white blood cells and proteins called antibodies, all form an alliance to protect our body from foreign invaders. The immune system, after our nervous system, is the most complex organ system in the human body! So it’s important to understand what it takes to keep our immune system supercharged, so you can implement these tips on a routine basis.
“Evolution has arranged that we take pleasure in understanding – those who understand are more likely to survive.” – Carl Sagan
Our body’s defence against infection is composed of two components.
Your First Layer of Defence – Innate Immunity
Skin acts is a defense barrier
Mucus traps invaders
Stomach acid destroys invaders
Enzymes in sweat have antibacterial compounds
First and foremost, we need to stay hydrated. If we can keep our skin healthy, strong and intact, we’ve got a huge advantage in blocking anything from entering our body. Dried-up skin lacking in hydration cracks, and those cracks are direct openings into our body, giving outside bugs a free pass to slip on through.
Hydration is also important in producing mucus, especially in our nose, mouth, and gut. If the mucus is dried up, or too thick, it doesn’t coat our mouth and nose effectively, and bugs have another easy way in. Especially since the skin in our nose and mouth are very thin.
Stomach acid and enzymes also help in the defence system, and remaining hydrated helps both of those mechanisms.
Eight glasses of water are what is typically recommended, but to get more specific, read our article here on how to calculate your water intake. Remember, 20% of our daily water intake comes from our food, so enjoy your favourite fruits and veggies on a daily basis!
Second Line of Defence – Acquired Immunity
White blood cells like neutrophils engulf pathogens (think pacman).
Natural killer cells (another type of white blood cell) help put our cells out of misery if they become cancerous or infected with a virus.
Specialized white blood cells called B cells make proteins called antibodies.
Antibodies bind to invaders and can deactivate them, tag them for our natural killers to easily recognize and destroy, or coat them in a gooey coating, preventing them from invading our cells.
Our mucus membranes line our mouth, entire digestive tract, lungs, reproductive and urinary systems, inside breast glands, and even on our eyeballs. That’s a lot of surface area! In fact, our gut alone covers the size of half a badminton court (40 square meters, vs. skin at 2 square meters). So we’ve got a lot of surface area for infection exposure, and our mucosal layer is only one cell layer thick. Meaning we need to have a very effective defence team.
Luckily, we have our A-Team. Our mucosal membranes contain the antibodies Immunoglobulin A (or IgA). In a study, researchers found that those who ate cooked white button mushrooms every day for one week boosted their IgA production by 53% compared to those who did not have any mushrooms. In week two, this group stopped eating mushrooms yet sustained the benefit, and their IgA production measured at 56% higher than the control group, meaning the benefits were maintained for one week (but by week 3, the mushroom group fell back to baseline).
Boosting your A-Team’s numbers by incorporating mushrooms into your routine diet seems like an effective way to prevent foreign invaders from getting into our bodies. This study used regular button mushrooms, but there are others out there that can be even more helpful. Shiitake, oyster, maitake, and lion’s mane can be found in grocery stores and make delicious meals. Medicinal mushrooms for immune support also include chaga and turkey tail.
Last but not least, know that a healthy mucosal layer rests on top of your gut. This is where keeping our guts healthy can be one of the biggest players in our immune health. A healthy gut is able to produce antibodies and also houses 20% of our immune system fighters.
This is where a warm hearty cup of bone broth comes in handy. Easy to enjoy as is, or incorporate into any soup, stew, or curry dish! Bone broth can help keep your gut lining intact, as it is packed with proteins and collagen which are building blocks for your gut. There are also vitamins and minerals in bones which can help give your body an extra boost, but I often recommend adding vegetables when making your broth. This is an even bigger source of viable vitamins and minerals. Vegetables like garlic and ginger have their own anti-microbial properties (as do many herbs and spices), so don’t be afraid to flavour it up!
A recipe for your own homemade bone broth can be found here. If accessible, try to get your bones from healthy animals (ie. grass-fed beef, antibiotic and hormone-free chicken). Talk with local butchers in your area to understand the quality of the food you are purchasing.
BONUS NOTE:
Lymph helps transport antibodies and our immune cells throughout our body. Our lymph system is like a mirror of our circulatory system, a network of vessels and nodes. Unlike our circulatory system, however, it doesn’t have the heart to move the fluid around. Instead, our lymphatic system lies just under our skin’s surface and next to our muscles. This is one reason movement/muscle contraction can be so helpful in preventing us from getting sick. It helps us circulate our defence team. Another way we can help this process is by dry brushing, or for the brave – hot and cold showers!
Chronic inflammation resulting from sleep deprivation, regular intake of processed foods, fatty liver disease, or in our joints as (arthritis) can divert our immune system’s attention. This means we don’t have the full force to fight off infection and foreign invaders and this is why we can get sick more easily if we have underlying inflammation.
Check out our video on anti-inflammatory foods to find out how to reduce chronic inflammation so your protective force can focus its strength on keeping you from catching any infections!
Here’s to supercharging your immune system this fall!
Beets are a vegetable containing a natural source of dietary nitrates which, as a vasodilator, have a positive effect on blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Try this great smoothie recipe and feel the benefits.
2 servings; 10 min prep time
Notes:
Protein Boost:
Add your favourite protein powder to kick up the muscle-building properties.
Raw vs Cooked Beets:
Depending on the strength of your blender, cooking your beet first (via steaming, which is fastest, or roasting) can make it smoother.
We all hear that we should be drinking 8 glasses of water a day, but this standard advice is actually not supported by any evidence. You may have witnessed that water intake can vary dramatically between individuals.
Here are two ways to help you narrow in on what your individual body needs depending on your size, sex, and activity levels.
Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2
Multiply your result by the number below associated with your age range:
<30 years, multiply by 40
30-55 years, multiply by 35
>55 years, multiply by 30
Divide your result by 28.3 to achieve the amount of water you require each day in ounces (divide this by 33 to get your answer in litres).
Alternately, you can plug in your metrics on this hydration calculator which also factors in activity level, sex, and country. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include Canada yet, but you can put Spain or the UK as that shares our same latitude.
Another simple indicator is to look at the colour of your urine. We’re aiming for pale yellow or straw coloured. Anything darker tells us that we are dehydrated.
What about using thirst to help you determine hydration. The saying goes “if you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated.” This also hasn’t been substantiated by any evidence, but research does show that athletes who report being thirsty perceive higher levels of exertion.
Know that 20% of your water intake comes from food, especially high sources of your unprocessed foods. Your favourite fruits and veggies do the job nicely!
While caffeine is a mild diuretic, the net gain in fluid intake is larger than the loss. This can’t be said for alcohol, however, where there is a net loss.
Most of us are busy throughout the day, and staying hydrated can easily slip our minds. Here are some tips to help you build up the habit.
Visualize a river, a full flowing river in your body helps deliver nutrients that nourish and heal every cell, and organ in your body. If the river is dried up, it doesn’t matter how healthy you eat, none of the nutrients can get to where they need to be, they just sit on dry river bed. A dried river also cannot remove the waste, so toxins start building up in our bodies. This is why we need to keep our rivers flowing full and strong. To deliver nutrients to every inch of us, and to carry away the garbage so it doesn’t pile up and cause chronic inflammation.
Get a water bottle that’s at least 750 mL and have it with you throughout your day.
Set two alarms on your phone, pick a time that makes sense for your schedule. Make sure it’s a sound that is pleasant to you! Ex:
Alarm 1 = 12pm, finish your first bottle
Alarm 2 = 7pm, finish your second bottle
If your bottle is smaller, you may have your goals to finish two bottles by 12pm as an example.
Staying hydrated is the most accessible and extremely effective way to boost your health. It contributes to not just looking younger, but also keeping your immune system strong, supporting mental health, and reducing obesity.
The second most important structure in your body for mental health!
Tamara Kung, ND
Many of us are looking for ways to boost our brains to support mental health as well as to prevent neurodegenerative diseases like dementia.
But did you know that you may have an untapped source of treating the root cause of many mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, and dementia? That source is in your gut!
Science is paving the way in understanding the role of what they call our ‘second brain’, the microbiome. The microbiome consists of trillions of microbes that live within our gut, and studies are showing that it can influence our mental health, and risk for chronic diseases. The latest science is just scratching the surface on how our microbiome can be your heavy hitter in boosting our mood, keeping us calm, motivated and focused.
Scientists have discovered that 90% of our serotonin (happiness neurotransmitters) and 50% of dopamine (motivation/ reward neurotransmitters) are actually produced by our microbiome by 39-100 trillion microbes that live within us! With this new understanding we are starting to appreciate how mental illness like anxiety and depression emerge when our gut is not healthy.
The old thought is that upstairs is your brain, the center in command, and downstairs is your gut responsible for… processing food and making waste. We previously thought of these two as unrelated organs. What we are learning is that the connection between the two is impressive. Both are in constant, rapid, communication, hooked together by five hundred million neurons that form the longest nerve in your body – the vagus nerve. It carries five times more nerves than you’ll find in your spinal cord. This is a superhighway, and our bodies evolved this way for a reason.
Scientists are learning that brain health and gut health are totally intertwined. The magic is in gut microbes, and mainly gut bacteria and their by-products (ie. serotonin, dopamine, and anti-inflammatory molecules) which communicate and protect our brain.
Your Inner Rainforest
So how can we make sure we keep our guts healthy, and our microbiome working to protect us? Think of it this way – your microbiome is like your inner rainforest. It thrives when it maintains its diversity, just like any forest who’s inhabitants all contribute to a healthy and resilient ecosystem. We’ve got trillions of microbes, and their favorite food that helps them grow healthy and strong is… fiber!
Unfortunately the Standard American Diet (SAD) is seriously lacking in fiber. On top of this, nutrition information is heavily skewed to focus on the macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Fiber is too often forgotten because we think that it’s just something that helps us poop. We think it is not digested or absorbed, and that our human cells don’t use it – so we disregard its function. This leads to behaviours that ultimately do us harm. Did you know less than 5% of North Americans reach their minimum daily intake of fiber? Beans and lentils for example are not often regularly consumed in North America, while highly processed grains in which most of the fiber has been stripped away is the majority – especially in breakfasts, and snacks.
So here is your big takeaway – understand that you are composed of more microbes than human cells, at a ratio of 10:1. This means you are actually more microbe than human, and our microbes love to eat fiber. They are the ones using it, digesting, absorbing and making by-products like neurotransmitters and anti-inflammatory compounds.
Just like any ecosystem, the health of the entire organism, our body and mind, depends on the symbiotic relationships that support the health of all parties (human and microbe). Ideally we want a bountiful amount of diverse microbes to generate their helpful by-products which our body uses to thrive. So let’s shift our focus from just human cells, so we can take care of our ecosystem, our inner rainforest, and utilize this astounding, untapped source of health that’s internally generated and sustainable!
Some fiber rich meal examples:
Lentil curries with your favorite greens
Sweet potato noodles with ginger tempeh and kimchi
Seeded crackers, or red pepper boats with avocado and sauerkraut
Farro in salads
Artichoke hearts with your whole grain pasta
Fiber Fueled
The ecosystem within you depends on you. Every bite you take influences who thrives, and who dies. The good bacteria can make serotonin & dopamine for you, and help quench inflammation, but only if we feed them their favorite meal which is fiber. There are also bad bacteria, and they are connected with the production of inflammation, obesity, chronic disease. Not surprisingly, they love processed foods, refined sugars, and alcohol. So when we eat, we want to be considerate, and know that we’re not just eating for one, we’re eating for trillions, 39-100 trillion to be exact.
A strange fruit, in a chilly season can be a gem to share and enjoy!
While the crisp air and silver light of winter creep in, colourful root veggies, squashes, and hearty greens step up in our favorite warming dishes.
In the frosty months to come, we may not be thinking of seasonal, fresh fruits, but they do exist! Persimmons are among the fruits I look forward to during winter and last from September to December. They are wonderfully sweet, but not too sweet, and mildly spicy (maybe it’s the “-simmon” that reminds me of cinnamon) undertones that make this fruit well suited for the warm, spiced feelings of the season.
Persimmons are vivid orange fruits that have been grown in Asia for over 1,000 years, but still remain foreign to North Americans. And while they look very much like a confused tomato, they are actually berries! Here’s a guide on how to pick and enjoy this seasonal delight, and give your day a lovely pop of colour.
They go great in salads, soups and stews, or my go-to, simply sliced with the skin on for my after dinner treat. Most, including my mom and grandfather prefer to peel them, but I er on nerd and go for maximum nutrients every time, the different textures are more fun, don’t you think?
How to pick a persimmon:
Stick with fuyu persimmons if you are brand new to this fruit. They are the smaller, have a flat bottom and resemble tomatoes. These can be enjoyed when they are still firm, giving you a satisfying crunch, or soft.
The other common persimmon out now are the Hachiya. They are heart shaped, larger, and have an elongated, pointed base. These need to be very soft before you can eat them, and soft meaning that then stem peels right off and the whole thing feels more squishy. An unripe Hachiya can send you running for the hills as it is extremely astringent and can leave you wondering how such a sensation can exist in your mouth!
How to enjoy a persimmon:
Sliced in a nice bed of arugula, white radicchio, with warm beets, and walnuts or pistachios. Drizzle a little balsamic or your favorite dressing overtop, toss and enjoy the subtle sweet kicks.
Make a persimmon salsa by dicing it in with tomatoes, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper. Serve over roasted veggies, squash risottos, or with your favorite seed cracker!
Butternut squash and persimmon soup!
However you enjoy this autumn gem, you can take pride in adding just one more delicious, and incredibly healthful food to your repertoire! The more good stuff we fill up on, the less unhealthful foods our bellies will have room for.
During lockdown, popular apps such as Nike free run, Couch to 5k, as well as many others, have been coming up with running workouts to help people start a new fitness journey. Getting people moving is great, but once the program reaches it’s natural end point, what do we do? How do we add more to these programs besides additional running? That’s where resistance training comes in.
We don’t run to get in shape; we need to get in shape in order to run. As we know, running trains our aerobic system and is great for our cardiovascular/ respiratory health. There is also repetitive impact on the body’s joints as we continue to run faster or increase our mileage. We suggest incorporating two days/week of strength training to your program. This will help you to get more out of the running you are working on, and, more importantly, help you minimize your risk of injury.
Each runner will have differences in capability of movement due to their training background, injury history, and experience. Understanding how your body works for the impacts of running will make it a much more enjoyable experience. A little planning goes a long way which it’s wise to assess your body’s functional abilities and your personal running style. This will help to guide the plan of action.
Progressive training has us prepare our bodies for the new work to come. Warm-ups are still important as are mobility and functional movement patterns. A proper plan of progress has a block of training that emphasizes these important areas in order to restore proper function before getting into strength training. Once again, being patient with this process helps to keep the injury bug away and also helps performance.
As we continue to improve our running, we can measure our performance by our economy. This refers to how efficient we are during each of our strides (how far we propel our body forward during each stride length). We leak energy and lose efficiency during our running if we do not have enough stability through joints such as our ankles, knees, and hips. Essentially this means we are more prone to injury during running, as well as missing out on opportunity to move further/ stride and run faster times or for longer distances.
Strength training routines do not need to be the traditional body building workouts or mean throwing around big weights. Strength training for runners should aim to increase functional stability and joint control. Through resistance training, increases in power and strength occur, as well as muscular endurance. That’s how your running economy is improved. An added benefit is this all happens without impact on the body.
Here is a sample program that any runner could benefit from!
We as humans, to a lesser or greater extent, crave routine. If you are like most people, your regular routine has probably been completely disrupted as you have been required to work from home. For most people, a change or absence of routine creates more stress. The majority of the population are still struggling with this and, unwittingly, creating more stress for themselves in an already stressful time.
In order to help you with this important and fairly straight forward stress reliever, here are some top tips.
Have a weekday schedule and a weekend schedule.
Monday – Friday, wake up at the same time, eat your meals at the same time and start and stop work at the same times.
Evenings and Weekends – this is your free time and you should treat it as you normally would.
Each morning (or previous evening) plan to accomplish a minimum of two tasks in the day. Ideally, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. The satisfaction of accomplishing these will provide you with a mental boost. If one of your tasks has a physical element, you have the added benefit of a physical boost as well.
Plan some sort of mental break into your day. Exercise, meditate, read or watch a funny clip on TV or Youtube. These mini ‘escapes’ will help to provide you with mental breaks and some variety in how you use your brain and/or body.
Go to sleep at the same time each night. Being consistent with your bed time (within 30min) will help you to get the next day started the way you like, thereby increasing the success level of your routine.
Try to limit your intake of Alcohol and junk food. Both of these things will deplete your energy and make you feel more lethargic the following day.
Take movement breaks as much as you possibly can. Remember that working from home will decrease your overall steps during the day. Eventually this has a negative impact on your health. Movement breaks can be as simple as going for a walk outside, or even standing up to do a few stretches.
Let’s make things more interesting…
’30 Minute Daily Movement Challenge!’
You are challenged to find a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity a day, over and above what you have been getting. This can be a walk, a run, stairs in your house, biking, or one or both of the virtual classes Totum is providing each day. It can be a 15 min stretch twice a day. Anything!!
So, if this interests you even a little bit, take action right now with these three simple success producing steps!
In the next five minutes, plan out how you will get that 30 minutes of extra movement each day next week. Build it in right now. It should take no more than five minutes.
Put a sticky on your bathroom mirror with what you have decided on so it’s front and center when you look there.
Just as importantly, let someone else know that you are doing it. As you know, the buddy system builds support and accountability.
It’s as simple as that. So, are you up for it? Great! Let’s get moving more this week.
The most important step is the first one. Take five minutes to decide on your Monday-Friday routine and start implementing it right away. You can adjust accordingly as you go forward, but it is important to give your routine a few days to settle in. If you have children, your family as a whole can benefit from the same sort of routine.
We are so excited to let you know that our clinic services will be open for in-person sessions as of Monday, June 1st! This has been a long journey for all of us, but the return of in-person services is an amazing sign that we are on the right track. A big debt of gratitude is owed to all the front line workers who have helped us as a society. To those who have been directly affected by this virus, we send you strength and love. Safety for you and our team is critically important. We have taken many precautions to help keep everyone safe when you come in. Book For Your In-Person Clinic Appointment We feel extremely fortunate that Totum was never built to provide a “mass” model of health care and this should be a significant advantage to our business as we proceed carefully toward the opening. We have many friends in the West that are currently opening their clinics operating in a similar way. We are in regular connection with these experts to find the best and safest path forward for our team and our clients. Tim and Stacy Irvine and the Totum Family
Physical Distancing Protocols
Physical distancing signage and policies in place to keep all of us safe.
Reduced capacity in waiting rooms along with outside waiting areas (one person in waiting area only).
Staggered appointment times to reduce the number of people in common areas.
Plexiglass barriers at reception.
Cleaning Protocols
Totum facilities will undergo a deep clean prior to re-opening.
Hand sanitization provided and required before and after sessions.
Use of hospital grade disinfectant and cleaning products.
Regular and repeated cleaning of high touch surfaces.
‘Fresh Start’ protocol for each treatment room. This includes cleaning and disinfecting of all surfaces within a treatment room.
Disinfectant wipes and sanitizer will be available throughout the facilities.
Our team-oriented approach is to be constantly cleaning in order to make the spaces as safe as possible.
What To Expect At Your Appointment
All clients will be asked to put on a mask when entering the facility. Please come with your own.
The Totum team will be wearing protective equipment such as masks and eye protection.
Please wear loose clothing that is conducive to various treatment styles.
We will have a QR code posted on our doors each day which can be used to check-in through your Totum booking app. This notifies us of your arrival if you need to wait outside.
Our inside waiting areas will be limited as noted below. Outside waiting is available at all locations.
Roxborough – 1 person
King St. – 3 people
Medisys – 2 people
You will be asked to sanitize your hands soon as you enter the space. Hand sanitization will occur again when you are finished your appointment.
Your clinician will come to get you when they are ready for you.
There may be separate entrances and exits depending on the facility you visit.
Contactless booking/payment (no cards or interactions with the front desk team where possible).
Please attend your session alone as no additional visitors will be allowed unless absolutely necessary. Any necessary, additional visitors will need to be screened.
**Please note, we are required to screen for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of booking, the day of your appointment, and at the start of your appointment by your practitioner. The day of appointment screen will arrive in your inbox 2-3 hours before your appointment and must be completed in order for your appointment to go ahead. If you have symptoms please contact us and we will re-book your appointment.
