I get asked this question all the time. “You are so slim, you don’t really work out so little” and “So if I do your workouts will I look like you?” It honestly saddens me that society has been so indoctrinated by media and social media that they have lost touch with how health works. Health is a component of what we eat, how we eat it, why we eat it, what time of day we ate it, what did we combine the food with, how we combined the foods together …and whether we got up and moved today. Did I mention that food is a Massive aspect of health? It matters what we put into our bodies just as much as how we move our bodies.

I exercise because of all the massive health benefits of movement and of raising the heart rate and of gaining muscle strength. I also exercise to maintain muscle mass which increasingly decreases with age. Other major benefits are how exercise stimulates the immune system, Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor for rebuilding brain and nervous system cells, for how it balances moods and blood sugar and benefits the hormonal cascade in the body. Exercise is phenomenal for health. I always say that movement is life. if we aren’t moving we are dying. I also work hard to stay strong so that I can stay as active as my teenage boys and go mountain biking and deep sea fishing rather than sitting out watching.

Exercise is phenomenal when done correctly but unfortunately it is often used as an punishment to “correct” the sins of our diets. let me say this very clearly… You can NOT out-exercise a poor diet!! What?? What am I saying? I am saying. that health does not happen from eating a bunch of junk and then hopping on an exercise machine to torture yourself to “burn calories”. I don’t EVER count calories. I have no clue how much sugar I eat. I generally don’t eat any carbohydrates because they don’t work for my brain or blood sugar, and they probably don’t work for your either, but I don’t count or restrict or use some mathematical equation to be healthy.

I eat what I know my body can eat to maintain blood sugar and avoid inflammation as well as digestive issues and I do a moderate 10-15 minute workout 6 days a week. Sometimes I will walk/ jog one mile staying in my target heart rate and sometimes I just lift weights or do my H.I.I.T workouts. That is truly the secret sauce. None of us are getting any younger any time soon and if you are still pretty young you will never get another body so don’t wreck and abuse the one you have. Trust me I lived PLENTY in college and am still recovering today. I don’t recommend that path. Treat your body as the temple you are given for this lifetime and you will reap the benefits of actually being able to live your purpose on this earth rather than wasting time trying to recover the health you were meant to have if you had listened to your body in the first place.

Prior to having lots of babies and moving to a farm house that was full of health destroying mold, I was always physically active and exercise was a part of my every day life. When I was in Graduate school for Exercise Physiology I remember saying to one of the professors, ” Can I just say exercise helps every single aspect of health and not have to take all of these classes?” Ha… young arrogance but it is true exercise helps with Everything!! Unless you overdo it and stress  your adrenals which has a whole cascade of effects down your hormonal and metabolic pathways. That is why I love Interval training because it is based on science and how to stimulate the right systems without overworking the wrong ones.

Having health challenges that don’t seem to make sense to you or anyone else can be absolutely devastating and downright depressing. When I was struggling and at my lowest point my practitioner recommended that I start doing High Intensity Interval Training. At the time I was so completely scrawny and out of shape. I had no strength at all and only wanted to lay in bed all day as I struggled to raise young children. I decided to give it a shot and, although I struggled at first, the results were quick. Just getting my heart rate up and muscles firing again helped me feel better about life instantly. As I continued I started to notice muscles that were not previously showing themselves and continued to feel better. Although my health journey required lots of supplements, IVs, and dietary changes as well as blood sugar motoring, the Interval training was by far the most helpful and life/health changing for me.</p>

I wrote my book to help educate people about how High Intensity Interval Training stimulates Brain Derived Neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which is the substance that helps to repair brain cells that have been injured. It is also one of the best ways to exercise without stressing out the adrenals and overworking the muscles.