I sit here with a sore back from sitting, writing, reading, watching, learning, and computing I know we sit too much. Our work and society has us chained to the act of sitting. Movement is wrong or something you do when you get punished, like when the teachers gives my son “laps” for fighting. Sitting however, is the real punishment, especially for kids!
I have just returned from a two-thousand four hundred and two-four mile road trip to my homeland of Montana and back.
Truth be told, I don’t like the term superfood but after doing a deep dive on the nutrients naturally occurring in milk, I felt the term was well-deserved. I did this deep dive on behalf of my client, Clover Sonoma Dairy. Trust me when I say that if the facts did not support milk as a source of naturally occurring nutrients with only three ingredients, I would not be writing this article. Dairy has been getting a bad wrap with the increasing popularity of plant-based alternatives, but dairy (more specifically milk) is a highly overlooked superfood that is not easily substituted. This distinction, superfood, is often reserved exclusively for brightly colored fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are certainly deserving, but after my in-depth analysis of the nutrients in milk, I believe dairy to be extremely underrated. I am actually embarrassed to have not given milk more credit, although I have long been a supporter of milk as an optimally-formulated-by-nature recovery drink due to its beautifully proportioned carbohydrate and protein profile. In an airport with …
Back in May, I started ramping up the running miles. The snow had (mostly) melted and it was time to get base miles in for summer running adventures. By the end of May a starting feeling run down, worn out, and just wasn’t recovering from even short runs. My first instinct was “panic”. “What is wrong with me? Chronic fatigue? Adrenal Insufficiency? Imbalanced hormones?” I had already spent the winter not running and focusing on replenishment of nutrients, muscles, and rest. As I struggled through a twelve-mile Memorial Day run with my new running group, The Donner Party Mountain Runners, I felt like I had no energy and picking up my legs was more work than it should be. “Should I be on the gluten-free diet after all? Am I pre-menstrual, low on vitamin D? There is no way I am bonking! I eat plenty of carbohydrates daily and during my runs.” Or do I? I am a fueling expert. I know what I need and how often. At least that is what I have …
Ten miles west of Truckee, away from the crowds, and nestled in the small town of Soda Springs is a charming condo. Staying here is like playing “choose your own adventure.” Whether you want to stay for a weekend or a week, there are so many activities within a stones-throw of this cozy little place. Details:
“But then they danced down the street like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars…” Jack Kerouac
Welcome to Tara Dell Tells, my site where I explore the challenges of prioritizing well-being in today’s nine-to-five-sedentary society. I am Tara, the CEO of Summit Nutrition Strategy, a mother, runner, adventureprenur, dietitian nutritionist (RDN), and advocate for healthy eating as the wingman in living an active lifestyle outdoors.
Aaaah, mealtime. That sacred time each day where we stop what we are doing (maybe even enjoying)to pull out food, make a mess, prepare food that at least one person complains about only to eat it in two seconds, and have to clean up the mess. That is what mealtime is to me anyway. I try to keep in clean but, more than anything (and my youngest child would agree) I would rather just eat something around the activities I want to do instead of the other way around. Turns out I am a product of our modern-day where the anchors of o days have shifted from mealtime to our activities! You can read about this shift at Hartman Research Group The past two spring breaks we have loaded up the family (including the dog) for a camping road trip down 395 East. We bypassed the turn-off for the Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest the first year because we were making haste to Disneyland ( a true family adventure). The second-year we made the turn …
After eighteen years of overseeing the nutrition integrity and efficacy of the Clif Bar and Company sports performance foods made to keep runners and other athletes moving, Brendan Leonard’s account of his careful consideration of an apple fritter as fuel during his marathon intrigued me. First of all, I believe good donuts to be one of the most fun foods on the planet. I kind of consider myself a careful connoisseur of good donuts. I am not one to get excited about meals and food in general. It is all sort of just nourishment to keep me doing what I love at this point. Donuts, however, get me excited. Not just any donut though. Grocery-store, air-puffed, raised, and glazed are not worth the dough. Donuts made at a bakery with some intention on tasting good are a whole other story. Despite the legacy of “donut killer” I left behind at CLIF, it was never my intention to remove donuts from the breakfast menus for the weekly (formerly known as “Bagels and Donuts” meetings). I SAID …
I love the simple nutrition framework of eating before, during, and after activity is one tool in the toolbox for optimizing the body for more fun in whatever athletic adventure awaits! Whether hiking, climbing, running, sking or anything in between considering what to eat before, during, and after can mean more energy to do the “thing” and better recovery to do the thing again! Looking at the table you will see that there are ranges. These ranges help people to adapt what to eat based on moving time. Going out for a sixty-minute bike ride won’t require much eating during the activity because the body has enough stored on board. It does, however, require consideration of eating a meal about three to four hours before to ensure energy storage is topped off and recovery is primed. When returning from an hour of activity, a small snack will suffice. Planning on being out there for more than one hour requires some carbohydrates during a ride to stay fueled and prime the pump for utilizing fat as …