About

Sweets for Squats was born out of a love for food, fuel, and the reminder that life should be vibrant, rather than driven by expectation.

I’m Dani:  A wife, physical therapist, powerlifter, daughter, fitness writer, and hopeful mother at some point.  I had significant issues with gastroparesis in my early 20’s, and since, cherish being able to eat and enjoy food, where it fuels my powerlifting training.  I started Sweets for Squats as a place to breathe.  Like so many others, I find myself trying meet expectations in about 6 billion ways, usually self-imposed.   Seeing patients (and usually giving more of myself than necessary), being a wife, expected clinical growth and ongoing education, mounds of articles to keep up with reading, training, writing in an overly saturated industry… I love it all, but I needed a place to breathe, and where I felt like no one is trying to speak my identity to me or tell me what I “should” do or is fighting to be “most relevant.”  A place I can create, rather than keep up.  Especially in the fitness industry, there’s a notion that women should wake up ready to manhandle their Mondays.  I am working hard (ha) at learning to not “just keep up” but to actually live vibrantly and abundantly.  In the chaos, my mixing bowl is that for me: no expectation, just creation, and usually something that nourishes someone in some capacity.  That is especially meaningful to me given both my need for training nutrition, and my medical history struggling for nourishment.

Needless to say, food is something I enjoy and, in a way, cherish.  When I need to produce my best “work,” whether it clinical or personal, I create.  I’ve just a little more clarity with my mixing bowl or chopping block in front of me, and the rest of life seems a little clearer.   This is my breathing space: my pause button when I need to regroup.  I have not gone to culinary school, or studied formally, but have consistently found myself infatuated with the science of food.  I hope you enjoy!

Vibrantly,

Dani