Deadlifts can be intimidating because they require good form and technique to get the benefits and prevent injury, which make them a great part of functional fitness. They engage your entire posterior chain (all the muscles that run along your back side from below your neck to your ankles) and when performed correctly you can pick up dead weight from the floor without hurting your back. I apply the same form of a deadlift to my daily activities like picking up my daughter or packages on the front porch.

Square up to whatever your going to pick up, slightly bend your knees, stick your butt out like you are about to sit on a chair, roll your shoulders back, grab your item and then push your hips forward to stand up.

It’s a simple action but can feel a little awkward at first because in our culture we tend to have pronated shoulders and rely on our back to pick things up. Practicing having a flat back and letting our legs do the work can keep our bodies injury free. I love working on exercises that translate into functional fitness.

CARB, EPOC and HIIT! I’m fairly confident that fad diets will never go away, at least until the current political structures that subsidize unhealthy lifestyles, like the farm bill and oil wars, are dismantled. Carbohydrates fuel our bodies. But too many carbohydrates can make us sick. And our current system likes to feed us a lot of carbohydrates.

Eat at Least 60 Grams of Carbs a Day

I have food sensitivities so I avoid most breads and baked goods.  I don’t deny myself the carbohydrate rich foods I can eat, like tortilla chips. In general I don’t count calories but will sometimes count grams, to make sure I’m getting enough of them.

If you are going to eat carbs try to make sure they’re worth eating. That means whatever is about to go in your mouth should be packed with nutrients and fiber, like whole grains or sweet potatoes. Fiber helps slow down the release of glucose into our bloodstream so our bodies can release an appropriate amount of insulin to transport the glucose. Too much unused insulin can lead to insulin insensitivity or diabetes. Our bodies have evolved over millennia to store carbohydrates as glucose to use fuel our daily lives.

Carbs Fuel Our Main Energy Systems

Our muscles have 3 energy systems that come into play at various stages in our workout. They all essentially run on adenosine triphosphate, ATP. A small amount of ATP is stored within our muscles for short burst of energy like catching a falling baby or throwing a spear at a predator. After a few seconds your glycolytic system kicks in and starts cobbling together ATP from stored glucose. This system is also short lived while a build up of hydrogen ions, a byproduct of glycolis, starts to inhibit muscle contraction.

Finally the oxidative system comes into play. Our aerobic system is constantly humming in the background of our daily life, fueling our muscles for basic functioning, like walking and digesting. When we put extra stress on our muscles, especially during exercise, our oxidative system goes into overdrive. After just over a minute of intense movement or lifting, our aerobic system redirects its efforts to focus on delivering oxygen to our muscles and will continue working well after a workout. This is known as the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, EPOC. Basically our muscles are still “burning” calories for hours after we’ve completed a workout because they are repairing themselves.

This EPOC effect has contributed the success of high intensity integral training, HIIT. Doing intense activities for short periods of times (20-90 seconds) with short recovery times (10-60 seconds) repeatedly helps our bodies utilize all our metabolic energy systems and keeps us metabolically flexible.

Our bodies most easily use glucose from carbohydrates to fuel our muscles so don’t feel bad about eating carbs, feel good about putting them to use!

From an early age I suffered from chronic stomach aches. As a young teen I discovered I had food allergies and sensitivities. That set me on my path to learning about wellness and nutrition.

After I graduated from UC Berkeley, I moved to the mountains and started a goat and sheep farm. I spent the next several years deeply immersed in the agricultural world. I explored, read, visited and listenined to anyone who had something to say about food or farming. I became an activist for share-holder dairies and contributed to local and statewide legislation.

When California legalized the sales of raw milk from family farms, I felt that my time on the farm was over. I packed up and headed back to city life and started a digestion-centric meal subscription business. But with a new baby, getting into the kitchen was a challenge, so I hung up my apron.

I have always lived an active life. When I finally looked in the mirror after 3 years of devoting my time to someone else, I noticed cellulite forming on my thighs. While I pondered my next professional move,  I focused on my self care. I’ve never been a “gym person” but I knew I had to get moving. I signed up for the nearest and cheapest gym possible, and started attending classes. I tried Yoga, bootcamp and Zumba but I often left feeling unsatisfied, something was missing

With a newfound appreciation for the breath and energy work  of Yoga, I tapped into my love of dance. I combined the high intensity rhythmic movements that energize me with the grounding aspects of Yoga to create a movement practice that strengthens and fuels joy.

When I reflect on the business’s I’ve started and projects I’ve worked on, I see a culmination of this moment. I am here to help others on their journeys to being their best selves through diet, spiritual guidance and exercise. I hope you will let me be a part of your journey to wellness and get in touch.