Blog - The Curious Mover
Your Gut Microbiome PART 2
Researchers are finding disturbances of the microbiome create disease, including obesity, diabetes, mental health, autism spectrum disorder, and immunity.
Your Gut Microbiome PART 1
I have done my best to scrape and dig at the surface to bring you an introduction to this new, exciting field of science. Microbes are everywhere, and have been here since the beginning of time. Numerous and diverse, microbes are yeasts, parasites, protozoan, fungi, viruses and bacteria and they live all over your body. That image sounds frightening, but if they are part of a healthy host, they will do their job: creating a healthy metabolism, functioning immune system, inflammation regulation, and even impact our mental health. That’s a tall order! Most of these microbes live in the gut, but it’s the bacteria of all the critters that collaborate with your physiology and good health.
Best Gluten Free Pizza Crust
Conquering your baking challenges feels like a huge feather in your baker’s cap. Gluten free pizza dough tasting like the real deal was a goal. My husband misses pizza, and gluten free crust pizzas can be twice the price in restaurants. If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, then pizza is the bullet train.
Side Plank, Side Bend, Star
I was surprised by how much these simple exercises worked. Why the surprise? I think of strengthening the lateral body by standing upright and lunging to the side as more functional, relating ground force to gravity. But these were on a mat sitting sideways and what do “rising clams” have to do with functionality?
Acts of Awareness
An act of awareness is a gentle reminder to relax tension and find organization in your bones from a repetitive habit. We all have these habits! Your focus in the world is outwards as you get cues and information from the environment. We study and analyze the external environment that we integrate in and react accordingly. For a brief moment in that navigation, try to take a turn inwards and do a quick scan of the body for tension and postural deviations. Meaning, where are you holding tension, and how your body is aligned. During exercise, there is focus on form. For the many other hours a week when we're not exercising, our form in our environment is just as important. It should be pulled forward from the back burner asking questions such as how am I sitting, standing, holding, relaxing, being? Any repetition can become a habit. So imagine sinking into one hip all day long. Turn that into weeks, months, years. And when there is hip pain, no one can help you out of it because although the habit runs deep, it may be undetectable in front of the searching eyes of a practitioner or doctor.
My Accountability Partner
Next week, I have an anniversary! It is the 4 year first-date-a-versary that fateful, auspicious night at the Culver Hotel, where I met my now husband. I am a loyal wife, BUT I have another anniversary I am celebrating: 6 months with my fitness watch. We’ve been inseparable ever since. And my husband seems to be ok with it!
Dermatomes and Myotomes
Dermatomes are areas of skin (derma) that a single nerve from the spinal column is associated with. Nerves come out from the spinal column and innervate our arms and legs. They connect to our muscles like brain powered extension cords. Why should you know about them? They act like a map, and can help determine the source of a spinal issue. Ever have a shooting pain somewhere in your body? A pinched nerve? Most of the time, those pains may be signals stemming from an issue within the spine, whether it is stenosis, bone spur, disk herniation, or bulge. It’s not a perfect science: sometimes the muscles that nerves run through can also be the source of a nerve pinch.
The Feet, Part 2
With the bow and arrow action of the foot and all the movements it takes to achieve that spring, shoes can inhibit the complex movement of the foot. As a child with a family history of bunions, my mom put me in orthotics, which I hated, perhaps instinctively! Genetics do play a major role in how we are put together! While some feet are more inclined towards orthotics for structural support, I think some doctors would rather make the $500 or so dollars in their pockets versus showing one how to effectively strengthen and mobilize the foot.
The Feet, Part 1
Your feet are your foundation. So look at it this way: If you had a crack in the foundation of your home, you would probably do something right quick and in a hurry to fix it. Your home is your investment. But your body is just as valuable as your home. Issues starting at the foot can be responsible for all kinds of aches and pains in the body. The most common, plantar fasciitis, is explored later. Here is the breakdown of what goes on in your foot and you walk...
Body Books for Every BODY
I am delighted to recommend some books to delve into the depths of the body. We like that here at The Curious Mover! There is always so much to learn, with different philosophies and outlooks. These three books I have read offer just that. A scientific approach, a spiritual outlook, and a radical idea. All books pointing to loving the body you have, its miracles, its companionship, perfections, and imperfections.
Holiday “Healthier” Dessert for Passover and Easter
It seems a contradiction to have a blog about health and movement, and then slip some dessert recipes in there. But we all need a vice, and mine is baking, and it’s only kind to share this type of vice with you! Plus the holiday dessert editions were very popular, so you demand and I supply. At least these desserts have modified sugar or use healthier fats and no gluten. I have two recipes for Passover and two for Easter, although with a little bit of paleo flour magic, all these recipes work for Passover as well! And even though our Seders are finished, we still have a good amount of time in Passover to still make treats.
Hips Don’t Lie #3
For the final installment of hip mobility and strength, we work primarily in the transverse plane. This first video took you mostly through the sagittal plane. The second video took you into the frontal plane. This video is the rotational plane in which we need movement as well. More on that later.
Hips Don’t Lie #2
This version we are working the hip in parallel and external rotation in the frontal plane. It will also challenge balance, whole body connection, and foot flexibility and stability. I also think we need to move our pelvis around our hips more, thus the sexy, yet important second exercise. There is an over emphasis on pelvic stabilization exercises these days, and not enough mobility. I say “Free the Pelvis!”
Hips Don’t Lie
Gluts. The booty. Everyone wants to do exercises for them. But in my over 2 decade career and practice in this field, I am finding essentially the gluts need to train in “load” phase. What is load?
Panflection - It’s Been (quite) a year
Here we are, a couple weeks, give and take, when the safer at home started for us in 2020. Our jaws dropped in disbelief that moment we realized the reality of the looming collective and growing global situation. This very contagious flu virus was unlike any other was the only information we got, and the scramble for toilet paper began.
I’ll Sleep when I’m…READY
You’ve heard the saying “I will sleep when I am dead” but I love the state of sleep. When I am about to morph into a pumpkin, I welcome sleep in all its glory. I tend to get sleepy between 10-11PM. That’s because the darkness of night signals the body to produce melatonin, a natural hormone that helps bring sleep on. This hormone secretes at different times in all of us, depending on the circadian rhythms of our bodies. My husband's melatonin production starts around midnight or later. He is the night owl to my early bird. I have 5 recommendations for better sleep!
February Flow in 2,1
You get a new challenge, both physically and mentally, which we want from our exercise “unroutines”. Routines are important, but to “unroutine” is to give your body something it is not expecting, which is why I find exploring different movement patterns crucial as well. This series explores rolling with some twists and turns.
Abs for Every Body
One of my teachers, Pilates Elder Jay Grimes, mentioned how Pilates is based on one mat exercise. Can you guess which one?
Thirst Trap - Are you Hydrating?
Purifying or reverse osmosis systems can clean out the good and the bad. The best source of water is from a clean mountain spring that might trickle through our backyards. Except the fact that we all live in a city and don’t have that, there are many ways to find mineralized water that can truly hydrate you. And yes, not all water is equal.
Listening - Ear to Body
Going inward to listen is an art form in itself.
Push to your edges but respect the boundaries.