Dr. Emily Bennett, Naturopathic Doctor

07/24/2025

I took a 6-week meditation course at the Toronto Zen centre in 2011 that focused on mettabhavana or loving-kindness and at the start of every session we recited together the Karaniya Metta Sutta or the Buddha’s word on loving-kindness. I haven’t managed to keep up the practice (probably should get back to that!) but a phrase from the Metta Sutta has stayed in my head ever since I first heard it and I think of it often -

“…Contented and easily satisfied…”

It’s become a state I am always trying to move towards.

When I first dove into the learning about the neuroscience of habit formation, I was struck by how being intentional about what behaviours get to become automatic, i.e. habitual could help move me in that direction.

Here’s the thing: you are operating on autopilot for a lot of your life whether you like it or not. Over 40% of all your time is spent acting out of habit without conscious thought.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a say on where that pilot goes?

HABITS ARE MAGIC is a 5-day free audio training running August 4-8, 2025.

Come find out what’s possible for you >>

05/28/2025

I used to tell patients to ditch their wearables. Now I wear a step-counting watch daily and check it all the time.

Here's the thing: I track my steps because every single additional step I take has the potential to contribute to better health outcomes over the course of my life.

👉 Research shows that just 2,000 extra steps a day can reduce your risk of heart disease by 10% and in people with diabetes, it can lower HbA1C and improve outcomes after surgery.

👉 One study even found that people who walked 7,500 steps/day before surgery were 51% less likely to have post-op complications.

Walking may seem like a simple act, but it’s one of the most evidence-based and sustainable ways to improve your health across the lifespan. Know your step count encourages small, repeatable actions that compound over time and that mindset shift makes all the difference.

Ready to move with intention? Book a free alignment appointment and let’s create a plan that works for you—something sustainable, empowering, and pressure-free >> https://dremilybennett.janeapp.com/

05/13/2025

🧃 Did you know that drinking just 10g of whey protein before dinner can help reduce blood sugar spikes and support long-term insulin function?

It’s one of the many gentle, research-backed tools I use in my clinic to help patients with insulin resistance, without blame, shame, or rigid diets.

💬 Curious about how this works? Read my latest article on insulin resistance here >>>

https://dremilybennett.com/blog/cracking-the-code-on-insulin-resistance

05/07/2025

If you've been told or suspected that you have insulin resistance and felt a little overwhelmed or even judged by either your doctor or a TikTok influencer, you’re not alone. It's something that often gets discussed in overly technical or stigmatizing ways both online and in conventional medical settings.

When I'm supporting someone with their metabolic health I make it a priority to use simple, effective, evidence-based strategies that fit in with their lives. I wrote a blog post all about it this week and I think you check it out. I pulled out some of my most unusual (and effective!) recommendations that you might not expect

▪️ Why when you eat matters (not just what)
▪️ A weirdly simple protein trick before meals
▪️ Why improving your sleep might be the place to start

READ IT HERE:

If you’ve heard the term insulin resistance and felt a little overwhelmed or even judged, you’re not alone. This is a topic that often gets discussed in overly technical or stigmatizing ways, online and in conventional medical settings. But insulin resistance is actually something many people de...

05/07/2025

🚫 Weight ≠ Health

The truth is that metabolic health doesn’t always correlate with body size. People in larger bodies can have excellent insulin sensitivity, and people in smaller bodies can struggle with it. Weight stigma in medicine is pervasive, harmful and it can prevent people from getting the care and information they need because they feel judged or dismissed.

In my practice, I take weight stigma seriously and use a Health at Every Size approach. That means I respect your body as it is today, and we work from a place of curiosity and compassion, not shame or blame.

❤️ You deserve care that honours your body.

11/06/2024

Did a lot of studying, wrote a competency exam and now it’s official: I’m a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner.

As a clinician who has supported hundreds of people navigating the complex health consequences of burnout, expanding my expertise in menopause and midlife health felt essential because there’s a reciprocal relationship between the symptoms of burnout and menopause. The symptoms of menopause can effect our ability to cope with high demands at work, and stress-related burnout and trigger and worsen menopause symptoms.

I’m so grateful to the for selecting me as one of its 2024 Canadian scholarships! It’s already changed how I practice and I’m excited to expand my knowledge even further into this topic.

Also - this is an invitation: if you or your dear ones have questions or concerns about navigating this natural transition, reach out and book an appointment! Let’s get into it.

😘

09/29/2023

🍗 PROTEIN IN PERIMENOPAUSE 🍗

You probably need more than you think to maintain muscle mass and function as your exposure to estrogen becomes more intermittent than your body has been used to through your menstruating years. Estrogen is an anabolic hormone which means it helps to stimulate muscle growth. As you move through the hormonal changes of perimenopause, you start to experience more muscle breakdown and as a result an increased need for protein to maintain the strength and body composition you're used to.

Here are some examples taken from my own diet of how to meet protein needs at this stage in life. You don't need to track your food or eat exactly the way I do, that's for sure. But if it feels safe, there are apps out there that can give you an idea of how you're doing when it comes to protein in your diet and make it easy to strategize how to get more. You might be doing better than you think!

It's your workplace burning you out but it's your habits that will help you recover. Follow along here for tips on how to make it feel easy.

05/30/2023

A week ago I returned from a vacation where I did two things I haven't done in a very long time:
i) left the country and ii) actually took a break from work.

I know from experience that #2 is especially challenging when you're self-employed and not working might mean not being paid. In addition to whatever money doesn't come in while you're not exchanging labour for dollars, often the time away from marketing directly impacts work you have booked for the future. Will there even be work to do when you get back?

What's a little more surprising is how hard many people find it to take a break from work even when paid vacation is a part of the benefits they receive as an employee. How can anyone relax knowing that the weeks following a vacation will be overwhelmingly busy? Maybe that's why Zippia found that 55% of people don't even bother to use up their paid vacation.

An article from HBR details an experiment a company called SimpliFlying took on a couple of years ago where they took on the task of scheduling in 1 week off every 7 weeks for each of their employees. The result? Managers found that employee creativity, happiness, and productivity all significantly increased. Here are some of the ways they made that work for them:

✔ Vacations were staggered so that only one member of a team would be gone at a time

✔ Clients knew to expect that though their point of contact might become unavailable for a week, someone else would take over

✔ Employees were told that if they contacted the office during their week off, they wouldn't get paid for that vacation week (!)

What works when it comes to PTO in your workplace? What would make it better? How can we support our colleagues by ensuring things don't pile up for them while they're away? Let's talk about it.

04/05/2023

I know you already know that a lot of my interest and focus these days is on the intersections between

〰 how we feel,
〰 how work impacts that, and
〰 where/when/why burnout arises.

Yesterday I revisited a blurb from A Better Place to Work by Deborah Connors and out of all the many things I read as I plugged away at my research & writing, this stood it out because I was massively struggling to stay energized and focused as I read about how to remain energized and focused while trying to get stuff done... lol.

The author quotes research from The Draughiem Group that showed that our energy is affected more by the breaks we taken within a work day than by the length of the day itself. By studying different work patterns they found that those who took short breaks regularly were more productive overall. The ideal ratio was found to be 52 minutes of focused work followed by a 17-minute break, which apparently followed naturally ebbs and flows in brain energy. When they had people follow this work pattern they were much less likely to spend time task-switching between work and non-work and it improved the low energy lull many of us experience in the afternoon.

For the days where I'm mostly doing writing & research, I think I'm going to try setting alarms that go off at 52 and 17 minute intervals. Will that be awful? Ha! Who knows, I did feel like I managed to stay on task a little easier when I tried this out earlier today.

How's your energy these days? Does this 52/17 minute schedule seem so bananas it might work? Do you take ANY breaks in your day as it stands right now? What would your employer think? Let talk about it.

02/07/2023

Hey! I've got great news!

Throwing money at the problem will NOT solve the burnout problem in your nonprofit organization.

These days most for-profit organizations have a corporate wellness program but how do they actually fare when it comes to decreasing burnout?

Not super well.

The reality is that most organizations don’t bring any strategy to creating a wellness plan, when there is money that can thrown at something maybe the problem is that taking the time to get clear on the needs of your staff doesn’t feel worth it. Everyone wants lunchtime yoga, right?

The mistake they make is starting with interventions and that's not one you can afford to take in a nonprofit organization. You need a different approach - one that makes the most of available resources and is aligned with what you need to support a staff of purpose-driven individuals. Instead of starting with what we’ll call “random acts of wellness”, you need to be strategic.

What do you wish you were getting from your workplace when it comes to your wellbeing?

12/22/2022

The reality is that work-life balance is mostly unattainable.

Especially if you're in a similar phase to me -
🪄 young children // youngish career
🪄 big dreams // bigger responsibilities.

Instead let's agree to call it the 'work-life juggle'.

Keep those balls in the air, stay focused on where things are landing, choose things to juggle that at least have some similarities in size/weight, and if you're going to drop one you might as well drop the other too and take a nap right there on the floor.

🤣

You might struggle to stay on top of your own self-care amidst it all and feel overwhelmed with the thought of where to begin. If that’s you why not ask for some help? Loop me into your care team, book a free alignment appointment for the new year and we’ll get clear what you need now and how to make it feasible for your life right now.

12/21/2022

This post feels more relevant than ever as I wrap up a year of supporting nonprofits through understanding how their organization is burning people out and what to do about it.

The burnout epidemic is not going to be solved in the doctor’s office.

(And not the naturopathic doctor’s office either)

And every time we emphasize taking personal responsibility for what has been defined as a workplace phenomenon by the WHO, we are doing everyone a disservice -

〰️ You, the burnt out person wondering why you still feel bad even with the ways you are doing a great job of caring for yourself

〰️ Your co-workers, who are destined to a similar experience

〰️ Your family, who bear the brunt of all the ways your work comes home with you

〰️ The people who would benefit by the mission your organization is trying to fulfill

Burnout requires a workplace based solution. It needs be addressed strategically with a vision for the long term. It requires full on culture change - and that’s not as hard as it sounds.

I KNOW you’re curious about how burnout-proof your organization is. Do the quiz and find out! The link is in my profile 🔝