Here in Powell River, BC, we've got a vibrant community of vegans. When my husband and I moved here in June 2018, we were pleasantly surprised that a town of only 13,000 had an amazing vegan deli, a VegFest with close to 1000 attendees, a large vegan group that holds monthly potlucks, and of course, kick-ass vegan people - my friend Emma being one of them. Emma Levez Larocque is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and a Certified Plant-Based Chef who offers community education

I spoke with renowned vegan dietician and author Vesanto Melina on the No-Bullsh!t Vegan podcast a while back, and had our conversation transcribed. It's jam-packed with information every vegan should know about: why vitamin B12 is important, the well-known Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position paper on vegetarian and vegan diets (Vesanto was the lead author), mistakes vegans make with their diets, how the vegan movement is taking hold around the world, and more. Karina

My interview on soy with Dr. Melissa Reilly is one of the most downloaded episodes of my podcast so far. I had it transcribed, so you now have all the info in written form! Learn about the research that's been done on soy, and how soy consumption is associated with health benefits, not negative health effects. Download this interview as a PDF file here. (Direct download, no email required.) Karina Inkster: Dr. Melissa Reilly is here to once and for all bust one of the most pe

In this epic post, 17 awesome vegans (plus me!) share our insights into what it's like living in a non-vegan household, how we make it work, and some challenges we face. First, let’s get personal. I’ve been vegan since 2003. In 2006, at the age of 19, I met a super-kind, super-intelligent, super-cute gent named Murray who managed the coffee house I frequented on my lunch breaks at work. He wasn’t vegan – but nobody’s perfect, right? I asked him to dinner, and he was happy to

’Tis the season for my Holiday Survival Guide! It’ll help you to stay fit and sane during a season of parties, temptations, and busyness. You'll get easy-to-use nutrition, fitness, and daily living ideas. Bonus: impress your guests with two delicious vegan holiday drink recipes that pack a flavour punch without all the excess calories. Download your copy now (it’s free, with no e-mail required), and let me know which tactic you’re going to implement first! DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE

Dave Smith (chosen as Canada's Top Fitness Professional in 2013) hosts an excellent podcast all about living healthier, smarter, and happier. I was honoured to appear as his most recent guest. Listen below! We discussed: - How much protein you actually need - How your protein needs change depending upon your activity level - How to reach your protein goal on a plant-based diet - Why I went vegetarian, and then vegan - The short-term and long-term benefits of eating more plant

One of the things health- and fitness-minded vegans struggle with the most is food prep. That’s fitness nut language for preparing food for the days – or even the week – to come, so you’re not making all your food last-minute. Vegan food prep is way easier and faster than non-vegan food prep; you don't even need to cook your protein sources! So if you think your food prep needs to take hours and hours, think again. With the right approach, you can get an entire week's worth o

The MyFitnessPal app provides all the nutritional information my clients need to ensure their diets are supporting (instead of detracting from) their health, fitness, and physique goals. However, the app ain’t perfect. Make sure you’ve read Part 1 (why we should log our food) and Part 2 (how to calculate calories and macros) of this series before continuing with my review below. MyFitnessPal is simple to use, includes a web version as well as a mobile version, and allows me t

Food is fuel. It can support or detract from our fitness and physique goals. I try to get my clients to view food as fuel for their chosen lifestyles and activities. The fuel we choose can support or detract from our goals. One very effective way of finding out whether our nutrition is adequately supporting our goals is, of course, to log our food. In Part 1 of this series we covered the many reasons why food logging can be useful, what we can learn from it, and why I think a

Want to make sure you’re fuelling your workouts with proper nutrition? Want to tweak your diet to gain muscle or lose fat? If your nutrition is something you’d like to work on, the best way to improve it is to log your food. This will give you baseline information to see where you’re currently at, and then you’ll be able to measure whether you’re making your intended improvements. When we log our food, we can get useful information about our total calorie intake and whether i

It’s 7:30am on a Tuesday morning. You’re at the gym: ear buds in, music pumped, and treadmill cranked. You’re trying to focus on reading the closed captioning on the TV screen in front of you, so you don’t have to think about how much longer you need to spend running. Next, to help you get through your weight training circuit, you keep in mind that delicious chai tea you get to have when you’re done your workout. Anything to distract you from the hard work and muscle pain, ri