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Gemma Davis is a Naturopath and yoga teacher who is very passionate about helping people eat well and live healthier cruelty-free lives. Through her blog, The Compassionate Road, she explores why and how to avoid food from factory farms and other (often hidden) sanctioned abuses to animals that also have detrimental effects on the environment. She has a free 21-day guide to help people learn about how to do this in a healthy manner and her cookbook The Compassionate Kitchen is available now.
Exercise
As a mother, I do what I can when I can, depending on my husband's and children’s schedules! But whether it is at 5:30 am or 8:30 am, I find a way to move my body in the morning as it sets me up for my day and clears my mind.
For the last 15 years I have been a dedicated yoga practitioner, with a 5-6 day a week practice. Yet as my body grows older, I have had a few niggles in my lower back and I have changed my routine up a little in the last year to include some weights once a week and pilates once a week. As a naturopath, I am often coaching others to change habits that we feel are what we need, but not always what we want! It was like this for my training – all I wanted to do was yoga, but I needed some different strength exercises. We have to honour what our bodies need at different stages in our lives. And yoga, of course, isn’t only about the asanas. With a softer asana practice has come more pranayama (breath-work) and mediation – which I do either last thing in the day or the middle of the day to get connected.
Then I dance salsa a couple time a week at night for pure joy and relaxation. I am certainly no Latin champion but the time where I get to spin around on the dance floor and not think is as clearing for me as mediation, connects to the feminine in me and the music!
Breakfast
For breakfast, I eat either a big green smoothie or some sprouted toast or a coconut wrap with avocado, tahini, and greens.
Followed by an almond/coconut chai. I always sit with my children to eat breakfast, as a way of connecting with them before the craziness of the getting ready for the school run! On the weekend we always do a more decadent breakfast with mushrooms, spinach, and hash browns etc – the healthy, kinder version of a traditional fry-up breaky!
Lunch
Lunch is a huge salad with herbs, some form of plant-based protein whether it be tempeh, beans or nuts and seeds or a wrap of some sort.
Dinner
Dinner varies greatly, as this is the key to a healthy plant-based diet – VARIETY! From curries, soups, kitchari, salads, noodles, stir-fries, veggie burgers. They always are full of vegetables and void of any artificial flavours and colours – and meat. Oh, and of course we indulge in our weekly pizza at Pompei’s, followed by their vegan sorbets! Because I don’t believe being too strict with health is actually healthy!
Snacks
When I need to snack during the day I reach for rice crackers with nut butter, or some sort of vegetable and a dip like hummus, babaganoush or pesto.
I drink lots of water with lemon or apple cider vinegar throughout the day. While I love coffee and cocktails, I generally only have these once a week, because I want to feel the clearest I can, and these drinks can affect that for me…
Get the book here 👉 https://bit.ly/2BQphcj
Blog: http://thecompassionateroad.com/
Instagram: @thecompassionateroad