Bois de Boulogne

The best part of my location back in Toronto was that it was only a 10 minute walk to High Park, one of the largest parks in the city. That meant that every day (especially on the warm days) I could venture there and enjoy time in nature, without hearing too much noise residue from the big city.

Paris is a much bigger, more crowded, less green, and more polluted than Toronto…

So I was very pleased when I discovered that we live only a 10 minute walk away from the largest park in Paris, le Bois de Boulogne. It’s twice the size of high park and quite a suitable place to catch up with nature.

It was packed with runners, and the site of all those runners made me stop and think, “Should I pick up running again?” I thought a little longer and came to the conclusion of no.

I will have to find some form of exercise that I actually enjoy, because running and I don’t have the greatest relationship any more after one summer when the daily running threw my cortisol levels out of balance and left me feeling stressed and frazzled.

I didn’t have a great explanation for it at the time until I learned, just a few months later in nutrition school, that indeed this reaction happens often in women, which then throws off other hormone levels in the body.

Maybe it’s just about finding that proper moderation.

Since the running, I had a run in with daily yoga classes and that too ended after I realized that yogis are…yogis. And I have no aspiration to be one.

The healthy food is what sustains me at the moment sans exercise (besides the 1-2 hours roaming around the city daily), and with the food that I eat, I am more than satisfied with my level of health.

Speaking of good, nutritious food – I have found the best quality food here in Paris that I had not found anywhere else in the world, including Toronto.

The store bought almond milk (which I vowed never to buy) only contains water, almonds and silica (a mineral supplement), and tastes like homemade. This is impossible to find outside of Paris. The health food stores are well stocked with my favourite of everything including steal cut oats, raw sheep yogurt, wild forest honey, almond butter, quinoa crackers and more. We found the best quality natural non-fluoridated toothpaste and chemical free shampoos.

Ahhh it’s truly paradise here. Everything I desire is right before my eyes.