by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Myrite Rotstein

Age: 22

Occupation: Holistic health counsellor.

Bio: This healthy, not-so-wealthy yet wise downtown resident says she was raised in a “health-conscious environment” and first became concerned about our society’s collective health while in high school. “I had so many friends with eating issues. Bulimia and anorexia are really prevalent in high schools, and it bothered me that the root of the issue was being ignored, and still is. In my school, people would be sent off to the hospital to be fattened up, but when they’d get back nobody would talk about it—ask them, like, ‘What’s going on in your life?’ Instead it was more of an, ‘Oh, you’re so vain, you just want to be skinny’ kind of thing, even among the professionals.” To help combat this scourge, for the past two years Myrite has been operating a business called Tasty Life (myrite@gmail.com) with one of her several sisters, counselling and developing individual diets for people looking for inner balance through improved health. “We operate on the assumption there’s no one diet that works for everyone. We feel everyone’s an individual, and with our support, guidance and love, we’ll make gradual changes that will motivate them to discover what foods work for their particular bodies and lifestyles. The aim isn’t really about money right now, it’s more about helping people.”

Are most of her clients looking to lose weight? “No, but they generally do find their natural weight.”

But what if their natural weight isn’t fashionably acceptable? “Hey, your natural weight is cool.”

What Tasty Life will do for you: “We give a free initial health consultation and get to know the client, essentially. Nobody wants to be told what they can’t eat, so instead we add new things to their diet which eventually start crowding out the rest. Once they start feeling great with all these healthy foods they’re consuming they don’t really want to go have a cigarette or a bag of chips anymore because they’re feeling so good—and they’ve made the connection as to why. People often don’t realize that what they eat becomes part of how they feel—their mood, their skin condition, whether they feel depressed, how their reproductive functions work, everything!”

Something, apparently, which isn’t as healthy as it is infinitely amusing: Farting. “Occasionally it’s okay, but many people are gassy every day thinking it’s normal, when obviously there’s something going on there that isn’t sitting right.”

Is eating meat bad for one’s karma? While Myrite is vegetarian, she says for some people “a little animal protein is a good thing. But I’m not in a position to say what it does for your karma. Remember, there are a lot of junk food vegetarians too. Sure, they’re not eating meat, but instead they’re eating Doritos and all these other things with no essential nutrients.”

Last book read: The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.

Musical preferences: Ben Folds, Nick Drake.

Words of wisdom: “The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame—in diet and the cause and prevention of disease.”

Comments? dimwit@hdot.net