WHO: Millie Lytle, 33, naturopathic doctor (ND), certified hypnotherapist, researcher, doula and founder of the popular health blog Millie Says (http://milliesays.wordpress.com).

Originally from Sackville, New Brunswick, “everybody’s favourite small town,” Lytle moved to Toronto in 1995. She studied biology, psychology and sociology at the University of Toronto and was about to begin a master’s degree in film and feminism when she shifted gears and applied to the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (www.ccnm.edu) after a personal experience with natural medicine. “I was absolutely compelled to become a naturopath,” she says.

She has been in practise for six years, currently settled in at the START Clinic for Mood and Anxiety Disorders (790 Bay, ste 900, 416-598-9344, www.startclinic.ca). The innovative centre — which integrates natural and conventional medicine to treat stress, trauma and anxiety — is one of the only clinics of its kind in Canada.

A NATUROPATH SAYS WHAT A natural creative type, Lytle gravitated to her own kind in the city. “Once I moved back downtown I found my crew,” she says, and that crew ended up being made up mostly of artists and musicians — a group that stereotypically lead self-destructive lifestyles. When Lytle started her blog on New Year’s Day of 2007, her first post recommended taking B vitamins to aid your hungover body’s ability to process the alcohol in your system. “It’s possible to party and be healthy,” she asserts.

Her blog has steadily gained popularity since its inception — she gets about 400 readers a day — thanks to a deft blend of playful tone and practical content. “Being around artists helped me develop that creative side,” she says.

Millie’s recently returned from a break over the summer with a post on the dangers of irradiation in the wake of listeria hysteria: “If Health Canada starts radiation-zapping every meat under the Canadian sun, I’m going hunting.”

BE HEARD Lytle agrees that one of the most powerful tools a naturopath has is the ability to take the time to listen. An initial consult ($200) lasts 90 minutes to two hours and covers everything from chief health complaints to family history, while Lytle performs both Western and traditional Chinese physical exams. As a timeline is established, connections between health problems and external events often come to the surface.

“We provide a welcoming platform to say things that haven’t been said and to discover things that haven’t been pieced together,” she says. “People realize, ‘Oh, this started when I had that car accident or when my mother died.’” Looking beyond immediate symptoms often provides a clearer picture and allows Lytle and her patients to identify and plan an appropriate strategy.

DOCTOR FEELGOOD Lytle’s philosophy is that the simplest solution is usually the best. “When people come to me with a list of things to change about themselves, I have them start with the easiest things first,” she says. “Prioritizing and getting the results go hand in hand.”
With this in mind, even though people expect her to tell them to quit caffeine or drop dairy, she works first to build up a patient’s health before taking anything away. She uses various approaches — like herbalism, homeopathy and a powerful combination of hypnotherapy and acupuncture one of her patients coined “hypnopuncture” — but her focus is often nutritional since she feels its such a central part of our daily lifestyle.

“Food is my main modality,” she says, and she’s designed a Food for Mood program at the clinic. But she doesn’t subscribe to a rigid pursuit of perfection.

“I’m not a vegetarian. I eat anything. I drink coffee, I eat chips,” she says. “I make all the foibles everyone else makes. But I take breaks, I detox.”

For Lytle, it’s not a matter of all or nothing. “You always come to a point where you have to make a decision and it should always be the easiest one,” she says. “If it works for you, do it.”