The Cult of Wellness
Toronto Life|September 2024
A growing cohort of Torontonians are swapping the coke-fuelled, booze-soaked club scene for cold plunges, sobriety and superfood smoothies
Olivia Stren
The Cult of Wellness

It's an almost objectionably perfect May afternoon, with magnolia trees in luxuriant bloom and skies as crystalline as the blue eyes gazing back at me. I'm sitting on a crescent-shaped banquette in the Riverdale home of Kate Taylor Martin, founder of the organic superfood café Nutbar. The three-storey semi-detached-which she shares with her husband, Conrad, and their three young children-is set to storybook effect over Withrow Park. The house faces east, ideal for its 39-year-old owner's morning routine: a 5:10 a.m. wake-up with no snooze-button negotiations; a hot shower turned ice cold for its final two minutes; a full-body dry-brushing with sisal bristles to promote lymphatic drainage and circulation; a gua sha facial massage to release tension and smooth skin; yoga-mostly twists and cat cows because, as Joseph Pilates said, "You're only as young as your spine is flexible"-and meditation. Finally, Kate whisks up a ceremonial-grade matcha with Nutbar's own nut milk, doctoring it with magnesium, marine collagen and a reishi mushroom tincture known as the "elixir of immortality," savouring it as she watches the sun rise from her third-floor picture window.

This story is from the September 2024 edition of Toronto Life.

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This story is from the September 2024 edition of Toronto Life.

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