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Downtown Toronto Condos, Family Vacations in Toronto, Fitness and Health, Food & Recipes

Travelling with Dietary Restrictions: A Quick Guide

January 4, 2022

Dietary restrictions Photo by Lubo Minar on Unsplash.

How we eat is part of our everyday lives: what we eat, when, and where. But also what we don’t eat. And what we don’t eat shows up in whole new ways when we travel to a new place.

Travelling with dietary needs or restrictions can be difficult: Packing your own snacks, balancing medications, and hours of extra research on where you can enjoy a good meal without getting sick afterward—sometimes in another language. It’s an extra layer of work that can make it much harder to focus on your business travel, enjoy the neighbourhood, or just kick back and relax on that hard-earned vacation.

But whether it’s allergies, diabetes, food intolerances, religious and cultural diets, or just sticking with a lifestyle that makes you feel great, it’s possible to have the trip of a lifetime and still eat the way you need. When you’re visiting Toronto, DelSuites fully furnished short-term rentals is here to make travel with dietary restrictions not just possible, but the trip of your life.

The flexibility of a full condominium kitchen

When hotel rooms were a traveler’s first option, the advice for traveling with dietary needs was to find a room with a mini-fridge, pack lots of snacks, and do a lot of research.

But since flexible vacation rentals have become more common, we’re all exploring new ways to experience a destination, and the standard special diet travel advice has become much simpler: stay somewhere you have the option to cook. Even if new restaurants and nights out are the highlights of your trip, you’ll have cooking as a backup option—and can enjoy your trip without the stress of looking for your next meal.

Here’s where DelSuites fully furnished rentals step up: a chance to choose how you want to travel, eat, and play—without sacrificing comfort, convenience, or luxury.

Situated in residential buildings across Toronto’s diverse neighbourhoods, DelSuites short-term rentals are built for everyday living. That means all our suites have fully equipped—and full-sized—kitchens, putting modern appliances, pots, pans, cooking utensils, and a full set of dishes at your disposal. And if you have dietary needs where cross-contamination matters—celiac, kosher, halal, FODMAP, or a severe allergy—it means a private kitchen where there’s no need to stress about other travelers’ meals or a homeshare host’s preferences. You can bring in your favourites and relax with perfect confidence that you’ll be feeling great after dinner.

Eat the way you want

DelSuites’s convenient and dynamic services let you choose how you want to travel without stress—and let you change your mind once you’re here.

If you’d rather do your own cooking for one or every meal of the day, our booking concierges can help you prearrange a grocery order to be delivered on your arrival—and our buildings’ friendly staff will get it to your door. Toronto’s diverse, multicultural neighbourhoods mean you’ll have endless options to find essentials, whether it’s a favourite international snack, a holiday dish, or ingredients that are certified gluten-, dairy-, or nut-free. It’s a chance to skip border regulations about food and relax, knowing you’ll have a full fridge by suppertime.

If you’re used to carrying snacks, you’ll have the space and equipment to prep and store them for your day out—and stop relying on dry food or non-perishables. Or, with the city’s array of options, you’ll have a chance to discover new favourites.

And if you’re looking forward to trying Toronto’s dizzying array of restaurants—and leaving cooking at home for a while—our full-sized fridges will let you store extra helpings from your new favourite takeout place for those midnight leftovers snacks.

But best of all: If you change your mind and decide you’d rather eat in after all, you’ll have the flexibility to do it without fuss or consequences. And instead of thinking about meal planning, you’ll get to focus on the experience.

Enjoy one of Canada’s top dining cities—without breaking the budget

However you eat, Toronto’s an excellent city for food-lovers. It’s a multicultural, diverse, and curiosity-driven place to eat where you can find classic fine dining from top chefs on the same block as warm, generous Anishinaabe pow wow eats—and an enthusiastic lineup for both.

But everyone who eats a slightly different diet knows finding food that works can comes with a cost—paleo, keto, lactose-free, nut allergies, and celiac-safe foods can come with a serious price markup, and that cost can add up as you pile on restaurant meal after restaurant meal.

DelSuites helps you balance your travel budget by letting you save the costs on premium food and take care of easy meals on your own. With a chance to whip up a quick smoothie or omelette for breakfast, you can really savour your restaurant budget with a few high-end treats—instead of a lot of mid-range meals.

Eat, Play, Love

Most of all, everyone at DelSuites wants to make sure your experience in Toronto is a great one. Contact us at DelSuites by phone at (647) 370-3504 or email info@delsuites.com and we’ll help you set up diet-friendly accommodations—and make sure dinner’s on the table when you arrive.

Business Travel, Fitness and Health, Holiday Events

Safer Holiday Gathering Tips for the Season

December 21, 2021

Safer holiday photo by Maxime on Unsplash

With omicron variant cases rising, safer holiday gathering plans are on everyone’s mind. How can we spend warm, nourishing time with our loved ones—and not pass COVID on as well?

As we head into the holiday season, here are a few tips on how to adjust our plans to stay safe.

Keep it smaller

Canada’s public health officials are asking us to keep our holiday celebrations smaller and more intimate this year.

The recommendations for the most people you should have at an indoor gathering are different in every region. And after two years of COVID waves, it’s not easy to decide we’re not going to see someone this year. But taking a moment to think about what the most sensible number of guests might be—not so small as to leave you missing loved ones, but not so large as to risk them—is definitely worthwhile.

Think about your guests’ real needs

As public health officials have been saying, there’s “no magic number of people that makes a gathering safe.” Instead, think about the real people you’re gathering with this holiday season—and plan around their real needs.

If your friends or loved ones are older, immunocompromised, pregnant, or higher-risk, it’s worth planning your gathering around their safety threshold, rather than yours. Even if there’s a level of safety you’re personally comfortable with—an indoor dinner instead of an outdoor meetup, or mixing vaccinated and unvaccinated guests—it’s just good hosting to talk with the most at-risk person on your list first, and find out what makes them comfortable.

The greatest gift we can give this year is the chance to be with loved ones without fear of COVID exposure—or arguments about it. With a little footwork, everyone will be safer—and happier.

Book your vaccines

Toronto’s shown a great commitment to getting our vaccines. But now that they’ve been approved for kids and higher-risk adults are getting booster shots, it’s important to keep on top of our shots.

The more people who are vaccinated, the less chance we have of getting sick—and making others sick.

Wear a good mask

While omicron may be daunting, the difference between this year’s holidays and last year is our tools. We have much more effective tools against COVID this time around—and one of them is a good-quality, good-fitting medical-grade mask.

High-quality masks have never been easier to get. They’re available from office supply stores, pharmacies, and even vending machines at Toronto Pearson Airport, Union Station, and major Toronto subway stations.

If you’re visiting Toronto for longer, you can plan ahead and have your mask supply waiting. Ontario mask manufacturers Canadian Shield offer express shipping on masks, face shields, respirators, and rapid tests. Order a few days before your travel date, and you can have a Health Canada-certified mask supply waiting for you when you arrive—enough for you and your guests.

Use rapid tests to make sure you’re safe

Rapid tests are a part of the COVID safety puzzle that’s never quite clicked in Ontario—but they can be vital in keeping your holiday gathering safe.

Rapid tests are available from some pharmacies and online suppliers: either over the counter or shipped to your door. They’re easy, convenient COVID tests you can do at home, giving you a result in 15 minutes. Get a negative, and you’re likely safe; get a positive, and it’s time to confirm that with a formal PCR test.

Having your guests each test themselves before your holiday gathering is a great way to make sure nobody’s carrying an asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic case of COVID. And it means you’ll be able to relax into spending time with loved ones, instead of worrying about the air you breathe.

Have a backup plan

Our situation’s changing fast, and it’s smart to have a backup plan, whether big or small.

On the simple end, a holiday backup plan can mean sending invites for a virtual Zoom holiday party in case gathering recommendations change—and your guest list ends up being too large.

If you have to travel across borders, knowing where to get a PCR test so you can make your flight home on time can save you trouble later. In the most serious scenario, it might be worthwhile to line up somewhere to stay in case borders close entirely.

Safer holiday gatherings are the holiday spirit

Either way, be prepared to be flexible as the situation develops: and get your friends and family to help out. Planning a group gathering that keeps everyone safe is much easier when we’re all on board—or when we divide tasks like testing and planning equally to make it easy on the host.

Even though COVID’s affecting our holiday plans, the holiday spirit’s unchanged: that we’ll always do better when we lean on each other, talk with each other, and work together.

Happy holidays!

Business Travel, Fitness and Health, Toronto Condos, Toronto Family Travel

How to Be Motivated and Stay Active While Working from Home

June 23, 2021

These days, we’re not moving around as much. Due to the pandemic, many of us are working from home. So, instead of commuting to our workplaces, walking upstairs, or moving around the office, we’re spending most of our time at our desks, in front of a computer screen.

It’s important to maintain an active lifestyle, especially during a pandemic – when we need to boost our immune system to avoid getting COVID and combat its spread.

But it’s hard enough to be motivated to stay active under normal circumstances. And it’s even harder when we can’t go to a gym or physically attend group workout sessions like we’re used to.

Are you unmotivated to exercise at home? Do you feel tired of always doing the same workouts? Read on to find out how you can make your workout routine more interesting and varied, even while working from home.

Follow an Exercise Class Online

There are more online exercise classes available online than ever, so you can take advantage of this broad selection of online classes. Find the one that’s right for you – whether it’s a more relaxed cardio workout or a more intense weightlifting tutorial.

Many of these classes are available for free on YouTube. So, you can easily access them right from your home. Just put on a video, and you’re in a virtual class.

For example, Yoga with Adriene is trusted by her 9 million-plus subscribers to give a soothing, relaxed approach to yoga that will leave you feeling completely refreshed.

Keep in mind that if you don’t have a lot of experience performing these exercises, you should try to be careful and know your own limitations.

Add New Exercises and Equipment to the Mix

Doing the same exercises day in and day out can cause us to end up in a fitness rut. Do you need to reinvigorate your routine or want to stretch your body’s limits? Add something new to your routine to mix it up.

If you tend to stick to running, try building your strength by incorporating more weightlifting into your routine. Or if you strictly use the same weights, challenge yourself by adding more weight.

On the other hand, you may already be big on weightlifting but not so keen on doing cardio. If so, try spending more time running or biking to train your body in different ways. You could even add a new cardio machine to your home like a rowing machine, a stepmill, or an air bike.

Get Creative With Your At-Home Exercises

In order to motivate yourself to work out, it’s always important to be able to pinpoint the reason you’re not feeling motivated. That way you can know the best way to increase your motivation.

Here are a few interesting and creative solutions to get you motivated to stay active:

Have a virtual workout session with friends: Do you miss being in an environment where you can work out with others? Do you need that motivation you can only get from working out with someone else? Have a video call with a friend while working out and motivate each other to get through each workout.

Play sports with your family: Are you looking for a more fun way to get moving while working from home? Why not encourage your family to get active, too, by playing active games or sports like soccer with them.

Design a circuit workout in your own home: Doing the same workouts in the same room each day can get boring and difficult after a while. Consider coming up with a circuit workout where you do different activities in each room. A few workouts you could do are jumping jacks, burpees, and lunges.

DelSuites: Stay Active on Your Business Trip or Vacation Using Our Exercise Amenities

DelSuites makes it easy for you to stay in shape when staying at one of our locations. All of the buildings include fitness centers. However, keep in mind that they are currently closed due to COVID-19.

If you’re going on a business trip or vacation or just need a place to stay for a while while you’re transitioning from one house to another, you can rent or lease one of our short-term rentals.

Find one of our rentals wherever you need to go – with locations spread out across Downtown Toronto, Etobicoke, Markham, and more. Find the rental that suits your fitness needs today.

Fitness and Health

How You Can Protect Your Mental Health While Working From Home

April 5, 2021

Many of us have recently begun working from home due to COVID-19 while others have been doing it for years. No matter your reasoning or experience, there are many enjoyable benefits of remote work: no commute, comfortable clothes, your pets nearby, and working from your furnished condo.

But like many things, there are challenges as well. Isolation can lead to loneliness, a disrupted and different routine can make the work-life balance even more difficult than usual.

So how do you protect your mental health while working from home?

According to the experts at working from home, the simple answer is to stay on schedule and stay connected. Let’s break this down.

Stay on Schedule

One of the easiest and most important actions for you to take is to create a schedule and stick to it as much as possible. If you have the flexibility, set your schedule around your most productive hours.

Create a Morning Routine

It is good to have a normal routine similar to when you went into the office. Take a shower, if that’s what you usually did, and give yourself time for a healthy breakfast. Sit down with your breakfast and coffee (or drink of choice), giving yourself a moment to fully wake up and mentally prepare for the day.

Get out of Pajamas

Putting on a set of clothes for the day, comfortable but different than your pajamas, will have an impressive impact on your mindset for the workday. Your brain will separate sleep/snuggle time from work time and know that the day has started.

Take Breaks Away From Desk

As part of your daily schedule, you should have a few breaks that are around 15 minutes long. When you do take these breaks, move away from your desk. If possible, try going to a different room. This will help with minimizing screen time and clearing your mind. Doing this will also prevent burnout from hours of focusing on one task or staring at one screen.

End Your Work Day

Your schedule should also have a set time off. This time might change from day to day because of your flexibility or needs but whatever time you decide on, end your workday at that time. Shut the laptop, close the notebook, walk away from the desk. The rest of your day is for you and your home life. This is very necessary to protect the boundary between work life and home life. Working from home and not doing this will make it feel like your workday never ends.

Stay Connected

To resist those feelings of isolation while working from home, staying connected with colleagues, family members, and friends is incredibly important. Luckily, in today’s digitally interconnected world, this is easier than ever.

Conversing with Colleagues

When you work in an office, interactions with your colleagues can play a huge part in your daily activities. From collaborations over a project to gossiping in the break room, many of us have so many conversations within the office. Working from home, you should try keeping these conversations going as much as possible. Most companies will have some form of recommended messaging service so keep a few of these windows open. Keep chatting with your friends, collaborating with your peers, and asking questions when needed.

Use Video Calls

Whenever possible, use video calling with colleagues to actually see their faces. This will more replicate the in-person interactions from the office and can also be a more productive form of communication. Facial expressions play a large role in conversations and are lost with messaging. A video call or meeting will help with each person’s focus and involvement in the conversation at hand.

Don’t Forget Friends and Family

Outside of work, video calls with friends and family will be very helpful. If you had a group of friends going to happy hour on a particular day of the week, keep this going digitally! Having a few group chats and individual chats going throughout the day will keep you connected to your loved ones, no matter their location or the current restrictions.

Mental Health Support

For some, the struggles of working from home might be deeper and more difficult than the recommendations above can help with. If you are feeling depressed or isolated and need to talk to someone, Crisis Services Canada provides local resources and support, no matter where you live.

If you:

Are not feeling yourself
Are experiencing a crisis
Have emotional pain
Have thoughts of suicide
Know someone who needs help

Visit Crisis Services Canada for the distress centres and crisis organizations nearest you. You can access many of these services virtually from your furnished condo.

Looking for a Change of Scenery? DelSuites Can Help

Sometimes a change of scenery can make all the difference in your work routine. Here at DelSuites, we have fully furnished condos available throughout Toronto and the GTA.

Get in touch with our team today to explore our wide selection of short-term rentals.

Fitness and Health, Lifestyle talk, Vacation Travel

Tips for Staying in Shape While Traveling

October 18, 2019

It’s not always easy to stay in shape while traveling. The temptations of convenience food on the road and the disruption of your normal routine can make it a challenge to stay fit.

Do you find that you abandon your healthy habits when you are traveling and take a step backward on your health? It doesn’t have to be this way, it’s possible to travel and stay in shape.

Consistency Is Key

One of the main reasons why it can be challenging to stay in shape while traveling is because it’s difficult to maintain a routine while you are on the road. You might be in the habit of going to the gym every day after work, but when you’re traveling that pattern is not there.

In order to stay fit while traveling, you have to make the effort to build a healthy routine into your travel days. Even if every day of your trip is different from the next, you can still try to add in a consistent habit you follow through with every day. Your workout becomes the one thing that is always in your day, no matter where you are.

For example, try to wake up at the same time every morning and head to the gym for a workout before you have breakfast. (At your DelSuites condominium you’ll have access to a fully equipped fitness centre, which makes this very easy!)

Explore Your Destination in Active Ways

Another way to build more exercise into your daily routine is to look for active ways to enjoy your destination. This could include taking a long walk through the city, checking out a local hiking trail or going for a run in a nearby park.

One of the great things about Toronto is that it offers an extensive trail system and many lovely, peaceful parks that are ideal for walking, running and cycling. You’ll get to see some of the most beautiful areas of the city, while also keeping yourself fit and healthy.

Look for Healthy Local Eats

One of the joys of traveling is tasting all the delicious local food, right? There’s no need to give up on this pleasure, but think about how you can seek out healthy local treats so you can try something new while treating your body right.

Toronto has a superb collection of restaurants serving up healthy, nutritious food that is actually yummy – including the organic restaurant Rawlicious, the superb smoothies at Belmonte Raw and the tasty meals at Camros Organic Eatery. Check out this guide to healthy restaurants in Toronto for more ideas.

Don’t Eat Every Meal in Restaurants

When you stay in a hotel room while traveling, you don’t have an option to prepare your own meals. This means you end up eating every meal in restaurants, which can really have a negative impact on your health.

This is because most restaurant meals are often served in large portions. Plus, in order to make the dish taste delicious they often use much more fat, sugar and salt than you would if you were cooking the dish yourself. It’s nice for a treat, but when you eat restaurant meals all the time the calories really add up.

Staying in a furnished apartment means that you will have your own kitchen, so you can prepare simple, healthy meals with fresh ingredients you pick up from the local supermarket.

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