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Thank you so much for listening!
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Welcome to the Wealthy Generation Podcast. I am your host, naomi Jerez, your Bronx race, dominicana wife, mother of two new BFF and food and holistic health coach. I went from living a surface level healthy life to learning firsthand how to live my best life, rooted in wellness, and get my status back. Whether you're a wellness enthusiast, a food lover or simply curious about creating a healthier, more vibrant life, this podcast is your guide. We're going to dive deep into topics that will inspire you to make positive changes and elevate not only your well-being but those of generations before and after you. Stay tuned for exciting conversations, expert interviews and a whole lot of inspiration that will lead to action. Welcome to the Wealthy, wellthy Generation Podcast with me, your host, naomi Jerez. Hello friends, welcome back to the Wealthy Generation Podcast that's W-E-L-L-T-H-Y.
Naihomy:Today is a very, very special episode because it is the episode with my very, very first guest. Not only is she a great friend, is she part of my mastermind, she is my buddha party amiga. She has also been my client for a full year and that's why I have invited her here, because I think that her testimony and her experience in what her health journey has been can be it can be a space where you really feel seen and hopefully a space or a story that can bring you hope right. So let's have her introduce herself. It is Soledad Rita Paoli.
Naihomy:I'll let you say your full name, hi everyone.
Soledad:I'm Rita Soledad Fernandez Palino. You can call me Soledad when I am not busy being the founder of WELLTHY PARA TODOS and a spouse and a parent of two children. I am somebody who's been working on trying to get my wealthiness together, my wellness together, really, and thanks to Naomi, I really feel like I'm living my best life. Rudino Juarez.
Naihomy:Oh, let's go. Tagline. That is always my hope. So I just want to jump right in because I want to get the listeners to get to know your story and how you have ended up here living your best life, Rudino Juarez. So can you please share with us how you were feeling and where your health was before we started working together?
Soledad:So I think everyone here needs to know that I, at the age of 16, I woke up with inflammation throughout my body that enabled me from being able to walk. I couldn't move. I was in a wheelchair for a year and a half and my mom was taking me to different doctors and they weren't really sure what happened, what was causing it. I was taken to specialists or like it's the fibromyalgia that was something that they had brought up. I was doing physical therapy but I was in so much pain trying to walk, and every two years I pretty much experienced the same thing. I would just wake up one morning unable to move from inflammation throughout my body and it's just something that I kind of knew was part of my life and I wasn't ever really sure why or what was going on. And you know, as I got older, I started visiting more specialists and each specialist would just kind of give me a different autoimmune disorder. So I was told that I had Hashimoto's. I was told I had fibromyalgia. I was told that I had like a rheumatoid autoimmune disorder. And every time I went somewhere I was just like, uh, doctors don't know, shut, everyone gives me something else, like I don't know what to believe, and that was pretty much my life. Every two years I just got sick. The last time I got sick was in 2019, where the inflammation went to my lungs. I had to get steroid shots in order to breathe, and that's when I started like my whole financial journey, because I would say that was probably like the bottom of the bottom. I had to. I had two kids. At the time, I was living in LA, I was put on medical leave, my husband had lost his job and I had to start collecting disability checks and at that point, watching my children see me be sick, hearing my eldest child say to friends like oh yeah, I don't know if I can go because I don't have a mom's healthy Like it started to like hit me, like down. This isn't just my life anymore. It's really impacting my partner's life and also my children's life, and I remember even my kid, when they started school, saying to me like I don't know if I want to tell you what happened at school because I don't know if it's going to cause you to get sick. Like we didn't know what caused me to get sick, and so it was one of those things I mean now, since you know, even before I started working with Naomi, I started going to therapy and I was diagnosed with PTSD and I've learned a lot in terms of, like how PTSD can impact your gut health and it could impact, you know, stress in your body, and your body as, like a protective mechanism, will, like you know, have inflammation, and so, like I started to kind of learn a little bit about that.
Soledad:I've started to become a little bit more proactive about visiting doctors and like using like doctors that I felt like a lot of confiancy in right, I was dealing with like period issues, like my period was so heavy that I had to go to the hospital multiple times because I was bleeding so much and I passed out. Like it was just like reoccurring health issues, and it was something that I was just like accepted as normal, like this is just my life, it is what it is. I get like this guy that I think, when I don't know when it's going to happen, yup, I'll be in the hospital for you know, for a few days, and then I'll come home and then I'm going to be on bed rest for a few months and this is just what happens and that was my normal. And so in 2022, I had gone already a whole year of not getting sick and I had started my business and in the past, kind of like I would always kind of get sick during like stressful times in my life, and so the fact that I have started a business and I didn't get sick was like whoa, this is new, this is different, like what's helping me. And I realized that, you know, having more freedom in my schedule, having more control of my calendar, being able to go to therapy, being able to see a healer Like I had gotten used to, starting to invest a little bit more in my wellness I had this.
Soledad:I had started to believe that maybe I had a little bit more agency or control or impact on my wellness that for so many years I felt like I could not control. Like this, my health issues happened to me and there's nothing that I could do to change anything. And so I started to kind of have that belief and you know, we were in the mastermind together and I would just remember this day where you said on a call, like I'm never gonna sacrifice my wellness for my business, and you just said it's so, like it's a lie, like it is what it is, like that's my truth, and I got wow, like how did she even know, though? Like how is that even possible? And that was already like in my head.
Soledad:And I even remember, like we had done an IG live even a few months before, and you were talking about wellness, like with such confianza that I was like that's so interesting that she has these beliefs about wellness being possible for everybody. Like, oh, that's so interesting, you know. And so even that that started to peak me. But it was that day in the mastermind that I kind of thought, like you know what, let's just fucking try it, let's just fucking see, like, let's see, you know you work with there, like what's the worst that could fucking happen. That's really what I thought.
Soledad:And I remember telling my husband about it and he out so nervous. I was so nervous to tell my husband about it because at that time I had my business and, yes, I'd been making money, but I wasn't really paying myself enough besides, like what contributions I was making to my 401k, and so I didn't really have enough money to be like, oh, this is, I'm gonna just spend you know $4,000 on a wellness coach. And so, you know, I wanted to have this conversation with him and I didn't know how to explain it to him as a way of like this is worth this investment right, I didn't know, I didn't know how to convince him and I just wrote on like a little piece of paper Like I wanna work with a wellness coach.
Soledad:And it was like a yes or no box and I was like, do you want me to live like a healthy life? Yes or no, Checking off. And then he was like yes, yes, what is this about? And I think he thought of this as like you're gonna pay $4,000 so that you can lose weight. Like why don't you just go to the gym? Why don't you get meals ordered to the house? And I was like I don't know, I don't really know what's gonna happen with this coaching. Like I've never tried this before.
Soledad:In the past I had done like well, I really had no faith in doctors. Like I'd kind of like only go to them when it was so, so bad. I didn't, I wasn't proactive with my health. And then the only other thing is like weight loss, which was something I had used weight watchers for. So when I had gained a lot of weight in college, I used weight watchers to lose the weight. When I had my children, I used weight loss to lose the weight. So I think in my mind in some ways I just thought like, well, I'm a sick person, I have health issues. That was like a big part of how I identified, which is like so crazy for me to even say that right now, Cause I'm like, oh, that's so not true, but that's really how I identified. I identified as someone who was sick, who was unhealthy, and that knew so much about food because I had done weight watchers and I even remember, on our call, I was like I already know what foods I'm supposed to eat and not supposed to eat.
Naihomy:Like I did weight watchers.
Soledad:Like I know already about fiber and protein, I know how many points foods are. You know, like that was the whole idea I had. So I just I had this little I don't know. I get like this little feeling of like you got to do this and I'm just so glad I listened to myself again.
Naihomy:What was that breaking point for you? Like that, like you have gone through so much with your health and to break through an identity takes so much work because the belief is so ingrained and I feel like it comes through in generations. Right Like you maybe here and I'm not saying like this is the case in your family, but generally speaking I hear things like oh yeah, diabetes runs in our family or this other immune condition runs in our family, so it's kind of expected to. If this happens to you, it's kind of normalized already from a very young age and it had already been part of your identity since your teenage years. So what was the thought or what was the the like tired of being tired moment where you had this discussion with yourself or you had this discussion with your partner to try something that you didn't know what was gonna be the result? And the assumption is that is just weight loss.
Soledad:Yeah, I definitely came from a family that, like cancer is prominent and diabetes is prominent, there's definitely a lot of health issues.
Soledad:I mean, I grew up with one of my abuelas can always sick and in pain and a lot of discomfort, and so I think feeling unwell and dealing with health issues just seemed very like everybody's like that. That's what it's like to be alive. Everyone has health issues. And I also come from a family that, even if you have health issues, you show up and you go to work and you just push through. And so I think you know, starting my own business and hitting certain goals, like reaching certain goals there, and I had, like, had had this identity of like I'm never going to be an entrepreneur, like I'm not an entrepreneur, I had such strong belief that I wasn't an entrepreneur that I could never be a CEO, and so going a whole year and seeing that shift started to make me think, well, maybe this whole like thick identity can also shift. I don't think there was much of a like a breaking point, of like hitting bottom. I think it was more of a belief and a possibility that happened.
Naihomy:Okay.
Soledad:It was hope that, like a little, a little little flame of hope, a little idea of like something else could maybe possibly, who knows, can change. Yeah, and just that little spark of hope. It was like let's fucking go.
Naihomy:Yeah, and I remember that conversation. I think it might be tied a little bit back to our IG live where we came up with the concept of wealthy and wealthy wealthy. You know, financially wealthy and wealthy, as in WELTHY, where you have your health, and we love that conversation for each other because if you're not, well then how are you going to spend your money? You know, and go ahead.
Soledad:Yeah, what I wanted to add was that I just also remembered thinking like there's something in the financial space called a high deductible spending plan and HSA, and it's a way that you could invest money into to pay for your medical expenses.
Soledad:But in order to do that, you have to have a high deductible plan, and this is like a great account because it's tax-debted on so many ways. And I remember like learning about this and be like Dan I wish I could have that one day, but I could never have that one day, because I'm never going to be able to have a health plan, a high deductible health plan Like my health expenses, my medical expenses are so high. In 2019, I had spent over $10,000 in co-payments. You know, that was just like I was, just it was normal for me to pay so much in co-payments, and so for me at the time, I remember thinking like I really wish I could have this kind of account, but I can't because I'm sick. And so I even started to think like there's limits to how much wealth and financial security I get to have because of my health issues.
Naihomy:Wow, that's huge and, if you want, we focus a lot on building our wealth and building our careers and we don't think that we need to be well in order to enjoy those things that we work so hard for. So can you share a little bit about because you really came in hot with? I know what to do, I know what to eat with Weight Watchers. This is what works for me and this is what did it and this is what I would do. How was this process different for you?
Soledad:Very like I'm like laughing because I just think about like how resistant I was to so much. I like paid the money. I was committed to do this, but I had so much resistance, like even something else. I was like I remember when you said to me, like self care is eating solid, that like you don't, you're not eating enough. And I was like why is she saying that to me? Like why is she using my own words against me, you know? And then I was like, okay, so self care is eating. Like what do you think I should like? How often do you think I should be eating? And you're in.
Soledad:When we first started working together, I would wake up early and I wouldn't. I'd be like awake at five and I wouldn't eat until like nine, but go like four hours and then around afternoon I would feel so tired and I was always having to take like a little nap and then I was not cooking at all. I wasn't preparing any of my meals, mostly out of pettiness. That was something that you know, we undiscovered in our coaching. Pettiness and kitchen hurt both of them. But so I wasn't cooking. I would wait on my partner to make me food or I would go out and buy food from, from the milk I ate, and then maybe, you know, I'd kind of wait when husband would make dinner and so, like my, my food schedule was like relying on someone else, and I would be the type of person that I'd be like I think I'm hungry, I don't even know if I'm hungry, like I had lost a sense of the almost mind, like hunger cues were, and but all of a sudden I'd be like I'm going to faint, I'm going to faint, I'm going to pass out, I'm going to pass out. And then I'd be like ravaging, like through the refrigerator, Like what can I eat? What can I eat? And so it was like my blood sugar was like a hot ass mass.
Soledad:And I remember when you said, you know, we're going to start by having like a protein shake within one hour waking up, and I was just like that's impossible, there's no way, there's no. How am I going to make a protein shake? Oh no, I'm not even going to like the flavor of this. Oh no, this sounds nasty, oh, this sounds gross. This is going to wake up my kids. Like I just like I feel like anything that you told me I had to do. I was like it's, it's not possible, like that's like the craziest, craziest part, because we have to like tell everybody like now, like good, good. But like when I started I just had so much resistance to everything and I was just like this ain't going to work, and I think pretty soon, like within four weeks of working together, I was like this shit is going to take a fucking year. Like.
Soledad:I have to renew already because with this attitude that I'm having, like I'm going to need time and but I gave myself that time.
Naihomy:Yeah, yeah, you cut yourself so much grace. You wanted it so bad. You had some resistance but you knew. I mean you had a lot of resistance but you knew you wanted this so bad and it was kind of working for you and then you gave yourself the space and the grace to process every single emotion that came up when you had to take some sort of action.
Soledad:I know and it's like wow, because there's so many things that now are just a habit. They're just so natural for me. I have, you know, I have my protein, my protein smoothie that I have every day. I have my salt water salt water and lemon water that as soon as I wake up I'm drinking and making sure I stay hydrated. I like to eat a salad a day, or at least you know, just to make sure that I have vegetables, right. So that's like a thing that I say to myself. I stretch, I go on walks, my stress management tools have expanded so much and I also started doing strength training, but all of those, oh, and I cook Like that's like the biggest fucking deal ever, because I went from scratch.
Soledad:Yeah, I went eight years without cooking and now I like, Thanksgiving just happened and I told my family what should we bring? And, like, usually my family would like the drinks, bring the water bottles, you know, bring the beverages, because they knew and and they're like, and this time I said I'm bringing veggies and we brought carrots and string beans and cauliflower. And I found the recipes and I bought the, you know, went to Costco and bought the stuff and I looked at the recipe and I mean I ended up just doing the prep work and husband ended up doing the cooking. But it was still like such a thing that we came with three platters of veggies and I told him I was like, damn, if we wouldn't have brought veggies, there would have not been any veggies here. Like, from now on we're always going to be the veggie people.
Soledad:Everybody ate the veggies. My, I told my family I was going to bring shots, because that's like a thing that my family always does, and I brought immunity shots, like turmeric and probiotic shots, and so after everyone said Grace, I was like who has this shot? And I just passed him out and I bought like 30 of these and it was so cool.
Naihomy:That is so funny. I would have loved to be there. What a great idea. Shots for everybody, but it's immunity.
Soledad:That's what everybody drank them, but it was still like it was still a different vibe. You know that I was bringing to the family.
Naihomy:I just want to highlight how I always mentioned that the journey that my clients go through is kind of a family. It is a family affair because my clients, including myself, we're always the vegetators, we're always the one who are bringing the vegetables, because the entire family knows all the carbohydrates, all of the proteins that we're going to have and there is no vegetables. So I do that. Every client that I coach does that. And then it becomes this trickling effect. Because what was it that you said? Everybody had the vegetables, but if they would not have been there, nobody would have had the vegetables. They're really not a big deal if they're just in front of people, but as soon as you tell somebody they need to make a vegetable, it's a big deal. So it doesn't become. It's not a big deal for us anymore. And then we have such generational impacts of just reminding people that they do enjoy these kinds of things and maybe sparking the idea that it's something that they want to include back into their life.
Naihomy:And the shots I love that idea. I was thinking to myself I'm like what did Sol make? Does she make jello shots? What is it? That was cool. So how's your health now? Tell me all about living your best life rooted in wellness.
Soledad:Yeah, it's so good because I'm 37 years old and I definitely 100% feel healthier than when I was 16. I have more energy now. I have. I'm just really healthy. You know like I don't get sick. I used to have my kids used to get sick and I would automatically get sick too. There's been like this whole year. I think there was one time that I got sick and it was really more stress management Like now. I know like, oh, you know what. There's a lot of stress going on. You know this can weaken my immune system. What are things that I can do to support myself? How am I going to make sure that I get more sleep? How am I going to, you know, really stick to myself care routines? This past month I've navigated like my car getting stolen, two of my abuelas being sick in the hospital. It's been very like you know, stressful times and I'm just so in tune with my body that I'm aware of like, oh, you know what I got to. I got to take a nap, or no, I want to drink water. I noticed when I'm craving sugar, it's because I'm really tired, or, you know, like I'm stressed, so like I just have so many tools now to just make really healthy decisions and choices, and I and I know what it feels like.
Soledad:In our time together, I went gluten free and that has been such a huge, huge, huge thing, like pretty much like I had. The last doctor had seen him say like, hey, I think you have celiac disease and I'll be like, oh, here we go. Other autoimmune disorder is like, based on all these symptoms, based on your medical history, like it looks like you know, just give up gluten. And I was like never, ever, ever, ever, will I stop eating bread? Like never, ever, ever. That is impossible. I'm not going back to that doctor. Like that's like kind of pretty much the attitude I had.
Soledad:And even in our time together, when we started working together and I was sharing, you know, like my photos of food, you're like, hey, we got to replace this bread that you're eating every morning. And like you said, like I'll try, and it was like Dave's killer bread and I was like this bread is healthy. Like oh, my goodness, why is she like taking this away from me? And like you know, we went, we read through like the nutrition label and I was just like, oh, but this bread only has like two points, like no, I was like so against it. But then you introduced me to Zika bread and I was like never, ever will I eat a bread that requires being in a freezer. That is not going to happen. And then you're like okay, what about this, what about this? And Naomi was so good of just always meeting me where I was at and giving me so many choices, and it was Naomi who introduced me to the Siete product. Naomi who introduced me to the Siete product line that I am like obsessed about, like game changer.
Soledad:Game changer in terms of my my Wallace journey, because now I'll just have like a Siete tortilla and now I've also started to eat different gluten free breads. But it was really like you've really been there by my side as I kind of like would experiment with something and I'd be like, nope, I don't like it. And I'm like, okay, here's, here's so many other options. And it was so nice to have somebody with so much experience, so much wisdom, so much like I don't know if I'm like how does she know all this stuff? How does she always have a resource for everything? I'm telling you, I was going to Mexico and I was like I don't know how am I going to go on vacation and drink water? I don't know how I'm going to do it. And I was like because I can.
Soledad:Only I could only drink water from a straw. And how am I supposed to be walking all over Mexico City with a water bottle, with a straw? Like the water is going to get everywhere. It's not going to work. Like this is the kind of shit that I come to Naomi with and I know I always send me a leak and she found me a fucking water bottle with a straw. That is like leak proof.
Naihomy:Yes, and it keeps your water colds.
Soledad:Yes, and I was just like she really has shown me like, hey, you know, there's a challenge or an obstacle that you're facing in terms of your wellness journey. Well, let's research and let's find all the different possibilities, like things are solvable and they don't have to continue to like interfere. And it's just been like repeatedly so many things like that, that now, after you're working with you, I feel like there's a part of me that I know like, oh, what would Naomi do? Like I already know what Naomi would do?
Naihomy:Yes, what would?
Soledad:Naomi do, like I have it in my hand. It's like oh, you know how does Naomi read a menu, how does Naomi read through? You know the ingredient list and I love that my kids have even developed these skills. Yes, kids.
Soledad:And my kids will be quick to be like this has rat 11 and the ingredients. This has, you know, high fructose syrup, and you know I love that. They're already aware and they're may associate it with me, which is like a beautiful thing and just like me, always I'm like, let's just see, you know, cleaner, let's just be cleaner and fresher and just to, like you know, protect the health. Oh, another keeping that like was life changing for me when I was like, like, I'm going to eat bread no matter what. I'm going to eat bread no matter what.
Soledad:And I remember when you said to me well, look, so the thing is like, you like to keep a clean house. Imagine you get a dirty rag and you're cleaning your counter with a dirty rag. Every time you eat gluten. That's what you're doing. You're like. You're like, oh, I'm cleaning and you're doing all these things to try to heal your gut in terms of, like, the collagen and you know, your, your water, but then you're putting gluten in your body again. Eat the acid on you and it did. And that was like that. You know the way you would speak to me through coaching, like you just always knew how to get through to me and I just felt very complete. I'm telling y'all I came with every thought I would just share. I would just share every single thought with her and we, just, you know, broke down these beliefs that I had that were really interfering with me living a life rooted in wellness.
Naihomy:Yeah, for sure I have to agree, and not only just the food part. But I quickly want to touch on the kitchen hurt, because there are so many clients that come to me and they're just like I hate cooking, I don't enjoy it, and there's always some deep rooted belief as to why. And I remember you were like, oh no, I can't cut an apple and I'm like why not Like that? To me that's the simplest thing, but I understood. For you it was just so challenging, so so went from telling me every single excuse in the book. I mean, it was impressive, the amount.
Soledad:Like they have to know the details Go ahead. Like there was a point out. You know we were trying to regulate them like sugar. We're trying to like, come up with how, like what I can do to make sure that I don't have this crashing feeling of I'm going to pass out Taking five naps a day. And so Naomi was like, okay, if your you know husband's in a meeting and you can't cook you food, maybe you could have some apple and peanut butter. And I was like, oh well, I don't have a cutting board.
Naihomy:Or a knife.
Soledad:No, that was like the second week. That's how bad it was. You send me the link to the cutting board.
Soledad:And then I was like, oh, and I hadn't bought the cutting board. And it was interesting to see like my ex-guys were like, oh, I just don't have time, I just don't have time to go get a cutting board, whereas, like, if my kids had like Spirit Week at school and they needed to wear, you know, a cowboy flannel shirt for Spirit Week, I would drive a media leaf to target and get a flannel shirt. And when it came to myself and getting a cutting board, I was like, oh, I don't know, I don't have time, I don't have time to go shop for one. And you were like, I sent you links on Amazon and and I got them on Amazon and then I have the cutting board. And I was like, well, the thing is that, like we only have one knife yeah, she is not kidding.
Naihomy:Yeah, she is not kidding. Wait, we lost your sound for a second. Go ahead, repeat what you said, because we lost your sound.
Soledad:I said it's a week for me to just be able to cut myself like an apple with peanut butter. It was a big step. And now I mean now August we're like oh you know, I'm going to be out on these streets, let me have all my snacks ready for me. That's how I cut my apples and my peanut butter, get my string cheese. I know all the little snacks that I could have. Like I don't have. My blood sugar doesn't drop any, it just doesn't.
Soledad:And actually, during this really stressful time, I started to notice that like my morning routine was being impacted by me visiting my grandmothers and taking care of them and eating at the regular intervals that I have, and I like ran out of these meal bars that I have like as a backup, and I was just so clean. You know what? I have to pause. I have to stop. I'm not going to go over to visit my abuelas until I have like meal set up so that I know that I can eat at my regular intervals, because I do not like. My wellness is essential to the collective.
Naihomy:Like I cannot.
Soledad:I cannot be giving if I start the music, if I get sick, like that does not help anyone. Yeah, and I put a pause on being, you know, a part of the support system because I was like I really need to think, like, what are the ways that I'm going to feed myself while I'm on the go? And because of our work together, I was like, oh you know what Carb old eggs I will get the tomatoes. I can go back to that little mix that I had. I could, you know, prepare myself. I got like a gluten free bread and I'll get myself a sandwich on the go.
Soledad:I'm going to have to do some meal prepping, like, if I'm going to continue to be out and about and away from my house, then I have to be intentional about the snacks I'm going to have around me, because I'm not, like I'm not going to allow myself how my sugar get dropped. And then I'm stressed and then I'm like dehydrated, and then, you know the next thing, I'm just eating like whatever and God forbid, I, you know, accidentally eat some gluten and then I get, you know, really sick and I deal with the inflammation and then, and then all this stress I mean, you know my kids come home and I'm sick with a cold or a flu Like I was. Just like no, like I.
Naihomy:I already know what the pattern is. Yeah, that's more stressful than just taking a pause and analyzing what you need. And I remember because you would leave your house that way and then you would grab Starbucks and there was gluten and then you were sick for the next three days and you couldn't do anything Right. And I just want to point out that soul didn't go from like not having a cutting board and not being able to cut an apple to do all of this for herself, like it really was baby steps and just introducing things little by little so that she can grow her confidence in the kitchen and she can become more comfortable.
Naihomy:Like we did the meal services for a while. Like we picked a meal service that was really aligned with what her health goals were and she would follow recipes and everything would come pre-chopped and pre-prepped so she can start to build that up. And one day she came to me and she's like I don't think I need this anymore. Like Solita, she was like I don't think I need this anymore. Grocery shopping wasn't an issue anymore. Putting meals together from scratch wasn't a problem anymore, to like now just looking at recipes on her own and bringing it to her family.
Soledad:Yeah, I fucking meal plan people, I fucking meal plan and I just think it's like the craziest, wildest thing ever. Like on Sundays, husband and I sit down and we talk about like what are we going to eat for the week, and then I make a list, make a list of the ingredients needed to make such meals. And then I go grocery shopping and sometimes I go by myself Like am I also so petty out? Like this is the thing I want everyone to know is that I really have to let go of a lot of beliefs and hold space for a lot of hurt. Like I cried so much during different times in our sessions.
Soledad:Like I remember like not wanting to be in the kitchen because it reminded me of like my abuela's critiqued me and you know I'm a queer Mexican American group in a very Catholic family with strict gender roles, and so for them it was like women had to be in the kitchen cooking and I did not want to be and I got a lot of shit for that.
Soledad:Like I got a lot of like little comments about it, and so for me, being in the kitchen was like like a let down because I had my abuela who used to say Rita Salazar is going to make so much money she's going to be able to. People are going to cook for her. People are going to cook for her. And so I took so much pride in being somebody who would eat out at restaurants all the time and that I even had a partner who would make meals right. And so this idea, like I had this, I had this belief, I had this identity that had served me for so long. But in order to evolve to this next version of myself, I had to let go of that belief. I had to let go of that identity, and I was a little bit of grieving and I was a little sadness and and I was nervous and like I remember there was this one time. I was like my husband has a drive, he's a New Yorker, and I remember telling Naomi if I start cooking, then that means I do everything.
Soledad:I do everything in this house, which is like crazy because, like, I have a partner who you know he contributes financially to the house, he helps the kids, he, you know, he cooks, like he's not like a machista, he's not somebody who like needs to be waited on at all. But in my head I was like if I start cooking, then I do everything, I do everything. And it was such a limiting belief and I think, like, as I talked to you about it, I just felt like I really came to you with like here are all the reasons I can't do something, and you would just unpack it and unpack it and pack it. And once I stopped this attachment to the beliefs, then I could start engaging in different actions and over time I just learned, like what is that? What am I only going to ask you?
Soledad:What am I only going to say and I was like you know, like I could you know, I developed your voice in my ear and that has helped me. You know, like no, no, I can do so much on my own.
Naihomy:Thank you for sharing a little bit about your experience with your partner, because I know that's a lot.
Naihomy:It can really impact our health journey, as something you said in the beginning of the podcast is how your health journey has an impact on your family, and it does, especially when you live with other people, whether it's your children or a partner or whoever.
Naihomy:When you start to change your habits, everybody's used to you acting in a certain way, doing certain things, and when you start to change, that is not just a shift for you, it is also a shift for your partner. It has been for me as well, and I'm going to record a separate podcast on that because I think it is very relevant. And there are a lot of you know little I don't even know what the word might be but there are just little changes that start to happen, that start to impact the relationships that it's difficult to explain to them because you don't even know yourself. So I mean, I've been through it for so long and it has impacted the way that I've had to communicate as well. So that's part of the coaching, where it's like you get support in helping to understand what's happening and help communicating that to those who you love and those who are around you consistently as to what's going on.
Soledad:Yeah, I mean, I definitely went through this phase of my family where I remember this one day where my husband was like you know, the kids told me that you're acting different. No way, yeah. And I was like really, and I'm like, yeah, they're like, oh, mama, I'm buying any of the food that she used to buy from.
Naihomy:Oh, yes, yes, that's a big change.
Soledad:And they were like. They were like complaining. They were complaining to my husband about it and instead of my husband having my fucking back, he was like over here being Mr HR for these little kids. And I remember I was just like, yeah, I'm not buying those foods anymore.
Naihomy:I'm not Because it was a family bonding activity for you guys and that's where it gets really sticky right, because it was a form of love, a form of community, and I remember you used to buy desserts and bulk and I'm like, so if you guys want dessert, like go out and get dessert, but you don't need 24 of them for a four person, and you're like they were just there and I had some, and they were usually gluten filled desserts, so then you would be so sick. But I want to highlight a few other ones of your wins. Like you got off your medication.
Soledad:Oh my God, I forgot that I was even on medication. Yeah, oh my God, I forgot that one of my diagnosis was also IBS.
Naihomy:Yeah, you got off your medication and one day you came to me and you were like I've lost so much weight and I don't even understand how I don't know what I'm doing for this to happen, because you were trying on clothing from a past photo shoot that you did for wealth. But at all those and you're like look at, look at what's happening. And you hopped on the call and you're like I don't know what I'm doing because it feels so effortless and it is. It should be that way. You were just consistent. Yeah, you learned. You just remain consistent.
Soledad:Yeah, I've lost like 20 pounds. Wow, yeah, it's crazy.
Naihomy:It's crazy.
Soledad:I didn't even know. I know, I know, and it's not even like something that I think about anymore because I mean, I remember at one point, like I was really, I thought my wellness was associated to a weight on the scale. I thought about times.
Naihomy:How everybody about that?
Soledad:Yeah, I thought about times where I felt healthy, right. So, like I'm someone who, I dealt with different autoimmune issues throughout my life, and so I thought about times that I was healthy and I kind of thought in my head like, oh, you know, I can't get more than 140 pounds, because every time I get more than 140 pounds, that's when I end up dealing with this inflammation. Well, in 2019, I was 135 pounds and I still done with the inflammation. So I was like, oh shit, doesn't have to do with the number on the scale anymore.
Soledad:But, I was still like what happened? What happened, you know, like I it was something I was trying to figure out. I didn't understand, you know, like how what I was eating was poisoning me. But um and so for a long time I kind of thought like I needed to be a certain weight to be healthy. And now I'm, I just feel really healthy. Everybody, like I'm just really happy. You know like I have energy, I sleep well at night and that was another big body.
Soledad:And that's like feel, like another thing that I want to talk to everybody about, because, as somebody who has PTSD um, ptsd due to to sexual assault, right it was really hard for me to be in my body. And I remember, even in the beginning of our journey, like I was dealing with some of my flashbacks and I was struggling with that and I was like, well, notice how certain foods make you feel, and I couldn't even think about like pausing enough to notice what types, like how food made me feel, because certain physical sensations would cause my flashback.
Naihomy:Yeah.
Soledad:And I it was hard, it was just really hard and I, like my, my, my, it was so rapidly and you gave me a lot of resources in order to help with that. And then you know the ideas and I was dealing with constipation and diarrhea and my gut health was just so, so messed up. And then there's also like connections between your gut health and also your mental health.
Soledad:I feel, like all my gut health stuff was also triggering my PTSD, and my PTSD stuff would make my gut stuff even worse. And I think one of the best things that well, there's so many there's so many things that I'm taking away from our work together because we really, really have changed my fucking life, but something that I thought was so impossible was being able to be in my body.
Naihomy:Yeah.
Soledad:And you helped me do that so many times. And I remember even I had a resistance to strength training because I was like no, because if I'm sore in certain places that's going to, that's going to trigger my PTSD. And one of the things that we worked on together was just like continue to be in your body, learn to comfort yourself, you know. Learn to ground yourself in other ways. It's not about like avoiding certain things, you know. You can't like spend your life trying to avoid your triggers. Instead, it's like okay, you get triggered, and how are you going to self suit in a way that doesn't cause more problems for you later?
Naihomy:Yeah, because self soothing was fun to say. So I mailed you a bundle of pillow so you can find gluten free.
Soledad:Which, when I went to Mexico City, I had.
Naihomy:Yes so happy.
Soledad:I was so happy about that, yeah.
Naihomy:Yeah, thank you so much, soul, for sharing so much of your story, your testimony, where you started. I think that I appreciate you being vulnerable, because I speak to a lot of women who are women, who have similar challenges, and they think that they're the only one. They think that there's no hope for them, like it just has to be that way, or they think that is extremely difficult. I mean, we're not going to say that is super easy and that it doesn't have its own challenges, but you can accomplish change much faster than you think is going to take. So I appreciate you being like seeing so many other humans out here who might be feeling similar to you or how you were feeling Anything else you want to share. You want to say to somebody who might be considering investing in themselves, in food and health coaching, or that might be thinking that this is not possible for them.
Soledad:First of all, you have to work with Naomi and always telling everybody, everybody like you want, you want my wellness coaches number, oh you have a wellness issue.
Soledad:Oh, you have a health issue? Oh, let me. I want wellness coaches. You know info like strongly, strongly recommend working with my only. She's just really, really, really good at what she does. She's a really compassionate coach, an excellent problem solver. She's going to meet you where you're adding, you're going to, you're going to have progress. It's just beautiful. But I just want anyone listening to this, like I Sit, listen to this entire podcast, maybe listen to it a few times and just tap into any moments where you started to have a little hope and decide to nurture that hope and play with the idea of a different possibility, because I think if you can imagine a version of you that is sleeping well, a version of you that doesn't feel so moody because your blood sugar is all a mess, you probably don't even know.
Soledad:You probably like me, you probably don't even know that your blood sugar is all a ruckety-buckety.
Naihomy:I didn't know.
Soledad:Imagine a version of you that can walk all over Disneyland and your feet don't hurt at the end of the day. Imagine a version of you that can play with your kids. Imagine a version of you that has energy to have sex every day because you've learned ways to manage your stress and you're just happier. Imagine just a different possibility and play with it. Keep playing with it. Just keep thinking about that. I think, as you do, as you start to imagine that difference, healthy wellness is possible for you. You're going to start taking actions that are more aligned with that version of the life you deserve.
Naihomy:Thank you, sol. In the spirit of the wealthy and wealthy team, please let everybody know what you have to offer our community. How can they find you and how can you support them building their generational money, wealth.
Soledad:Yeah, Okay. So if you want to focus on healing your money wounds, if you want to develop your financial literacy so that you could one day be making your money is making your money. If you are interested in learning how to engage in diverse self-care so that you could become more optional, I invite you to go to wwwwelfarepuloscom or Instagram. You can also find me on LinkedIn. Subscribe to my email list. Every Tuesday, I send out an email with different resources to make sure that you put yourself on a track so that you're working because you want to, not because you have to Thank you.
Naihomy:So, side note, soledad is my money coach and she has helped me break through so much of my own thoughts on money and I have cried on her coaching calls because the same, the same. She is just so she'll meet you where you are so graceful, so compassionate, and just takes her time. Because this kind of work whether it's your health, whether it's money can be filled with a lot of pain and there's so much healing that needs to take place first before you start taking action, and she has been that person for me. So thank you, soledad, for that.
Soledad:Yeah, let's continue to heal everybody. Team healing yes ma'am Team.
Naihomy:Wealthy, wealthy, yes, all right, team healing. Thank you, soledad, so much for your time. I hope you guys enjoyed this podcast and we'll see you next time. Bye, thank you so much for tuning into another episode of Wealthy Generation Podcast. Your time and attention mean the world to me and I'm truly grateful for your support. Come and join my community over on social media by following me on Instagram at NaomiHiddis, where you'll have access to real time healthy inspo and see what I'm up to in my own wellness journey on the daily.
Naihomy:I invite you to keep elevating and evolving your holistic health journey by subscribing to my newsletter at NaomiHiddiscom. You'll receive exclusive content, valuable resources and juicy stories straight to your inbox. But here's the best part you have the power to spread the WELL wealth. Share this episode with a human who could benefit from this topic. Together, we can create wealthy generations. I will be back with another exciting episode next week, so make sure to subscribe to Wealthy, wellthy Generation Podcast on your favorite platform so you always make time for your wellness. By the way, remember I am a certified integrative nutrition health coach. I am not a medical professional. This content should be listened to for informational and educational purposes only. None of it should be considered medical advice. Always reach out to a medical professional for your health care needs. Peace out.