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        <h1>Meet Phillippa</h1>
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        <h3 class="about-header">Who I Am</h3>
        <p>
            Welcome to The Wellness Epidemic – my name is Dr. Phillippa Houghton and this is
            where my passions collide.   
        </p>
        <p>
            Long before pursuing medicine I imagined myself as a writer.
            Writing has always been the way my soul speaks its truth, be it poetry, fiction or journalistic –
            my heart is her true self in the written word. So it came as a huge surprise to me that, while
            pursuing my first year courses in creative writing and journalism, my love for words started to
            crumple under assignments, deadlines and exams.
        </p>
        <p>
            The thought of losing my passion for writing terrified me, and after some soul searching
            I realized that my creative process was not meant to be a career – it was meant to be an outlet.
            So I changed courses. I jumped ship and followed my second passion – fitness. I applied to study
            kinesiology (exercise science) and thrived. My love for exercise, fitness and health grew with
            every class until one day I realized I needed to know more. I needed to study medicine.
        </p>
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        <p>
            The Wellness Epidemic is a place where I can use my education, interests and skills to
            inspire others to lead a healthier more balanced life. An epidemic is defined as the rapid spread
            of disease in a given population over a short period of time. Wellness is the state of being in
            good health. Instead of spreading disease, my goal with this blog is to inspire and spread
            wellness.
        </p>
        <p>
            I like to think about wellness in three domains – physical, mental and spiritual.  
        </p>
        <p>
            For me,
            physical wellness includes attention to nutrition and exercise. My relationship with exercise has
            changed as I have grown up. From competitive swimming in school, to running in undergrad to
            body building competitions in medical school – I have tried and tested almost everything.
        </p>
        <p>
            Currently, my goals for training are to achieve balance – strength training is my love, mobility
            training a necessity and light cardio with the dog makes up most of my training regime.
        </p>
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        <img src="{{site.siteurl}}/assets/images/phills_and_chris.jpg" alt="Bio Photo">
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        <p>
            Mental wellness for me means adequate sleep and relaxing days at home with few
            engagements. It means reaching out to experienced colleagues in times of self-doubt or
            anxiety. It means practicing mindfulness, especially when overwhelmed or feeling lost. And
            finally, spiritual wellness – one of the often forgotten areas of total health.
        </p>
        <p>
            We sometimes view
            spirituality and medicine as independent pillars, science and faith in opposition with each other.
            I don’t believe this is true – there is a lot of evidence to suggest that spirituality in any form, be
            it organized or your own personal belief system, plays a huge role in overall health.
        </p>
        <p>
            For me
            spiritual health means self-reflection, connecting with the voice in my heart that makes me who
            I am, and quiet moments of prayer or meditation.
        </p>
        <p>
            The Wellness Epidemic is a blog that will touch on all areas of wellness, it will confront
            trending topics in health with up to date evidence and it will share real life stories (mostly my
            own) of life in medicine.
        </p>
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