Bismillah (With The Name of G-d). I am still processing the life altering events that have occurred over the weekend. Grateful, humbled, and a heart full of joy seem like small words to describe the arrival of our third child and first son! 💙💚💛 󾬔󾬓󾬕He was born after sunset June 26, 2016/ Ramadan 21, 1437 healthy and peacefully at home, caught by his father, and surrounded an international, interfaith team that only G-d could have assembled for us, Alhamdulillah! I'm on c

It takes a village to raise a child. . .and a woman/mother. . .and a man/father! Today I want to express gratitude to our village! When I think of our village, the first people that come to mind are my family, especially my parents, who our daughters affectionately call “Jeddah” and “Pop Pop”. They come through EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I mentioned previously that our daughters are in GA right now. Let me tell you how they got there. The conversation with me and my mom went someth

In the *modified* famous words of Beyoncé, “I see it (vision), I want it (goal), I grind hard (action), I own it (success)!” I believe mental preparation is a HUGE part of achieving any goal! In runners terms, I would liken my pregnancy and labor to running two marathons: Marathon #1 is remaining healthy through the entire pregnancy. I have to take extra precaution to keep my blood pressure in the normal range during pregnancy. Marathon #2 is the labor and delivery itself. S

Imam Maajid Faheem ‘Ali July 18, 1953 - February 27, 2016 Inna lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Raji’un “ ‘Tis better to have love and lost, than to have never loved at all” -- Alfred Lloyd Tennyson I used to think this was a beautiful quote of a romantic love. In light of my daddy’s passing earlier this year, I recognize that it is applicable to our father-daughter relationship as well. THIS^^ is my absolute favorite picture of me and daddy. At our wedding, it was our daddy-daughter d

My journey to a home birth, and in my case, a home birth after two cesarean sections (HBA2C) is not one that I made on a whim, or without thorough research and investigation. I made the decision after consulting with several groups of certified nurse midwives, birth workers, and with the FULL support of my husband and family (biological and extended- thank you village!). Since before the birth of our first child, I knew that I wanted to deliver in a natural, peaceful environm

I can’t remember exactly when I fell in LOVE with steel cut oats, but since the first time I had them, I’ve been hooked. I want to share the steel cut love with my fitfam 😊! First things first, what are steel cut oats? How are they different from rolled oats? All oat cereals start out as groats. Groats are hulled, toasted oat grains. Steel cut oats are the least processed type of oats. The groats are simply chopped (steel cut) into chunks Stone-ground oats are similar to ste

I AM A RUNNER. I love running. I’ve been running as long as I can remember. Growing up, it was a family tradition to travel to a lake near our house and exercise on Saturday mornings. Daddy is a walker, mama would run or walk, and us children would run, or ride bikes. I continued this habit into running long distance track and cross country in high school, and running recreationally throughout college and my doctoral program. Given my life-long history with running, I only st

Ramadan Mubarak! Does Ramadan "sneak up" on you every year? Are you tired of having elusive Ramadan Goals? NOT THIS YEAR!! I have teamed up with Nazaahah Amin to develop Ramadan Ready!. Ramadan Ready is an eBook is full of information designed to physically and mentally prepare you for the long days and short nights of Ramadan. It contains nutrition tips and supplements for sahoor and iftar, quick and simple healthy, energy sustaining recipes, hydration tips and prayer and Qu

This question is probably one of the hardest to answer for me. I mean I KNOW who I am, but how do I put into words who I am without boring YOU to tears. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Along the way, I’ll highlight some of the impactful life events that led me to becoming Dr. ‘Ali, The Fitness Doc ;) I was born and raised in Savannah, GA, one of three daughters of a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom and religious leader (Imam)/counselor dad. I graduated from the Biologi