15. A Plea for Our Children's Health with Pediatrician Divina Lopez

Unlock the keys to a healthier generation as pediatrician and holistic health advocate Divina Lopez joins me to discuss the urgent shifts in children's health we're witnessing. Together, we navigate the complex waters of childhood obesity and type two diabetes, emphasizing the power of family involvement and the essential building blocks of diet, exercise, and mental well-being. This isn't just a conversation; it's a call to action for parents and guardians to become beacons of health for our young ones, armed with insight and determination to set transformative habits early in life.

I'm committed to tackling the real challenges families face in adopting healthier lifestyles. Divina and I share personal stories and the courageous steps we've taken despite societal and cultural opposition to protect our children's health. From addressing the judgment that comes with lifestyle changes to advocating for natural remedies over quick-fix solutions, we're shedding light on the importance of nurturing our children's future with care and wisdom instead of succumbing to harmful shortcuts.

Prepare to be moved by remarkable real-life success stories demonstrating the profound impact of nutrition on a child's development and behavior. As we dissect the addictive nature of sugar and processed foods, we arm you with strategies to combat manipulative marketing and establish enduring, healthy habits. Remember, subscribing to WELLTHY Generation Podcast means joining a community dedicated to creating a legacy of health that our children can carry forward. Let's embrace this journey together, fostering a balance that ensures our little ones grow to lead vibrant, health-conscious lives.

ABOUT DR. DIVINA LOPEZ

Dr. Divina Lopez is not your ordinary pediatrician! Her medical journey has taken her
from private practice to school doctor and even to urgent care and the courtroom.

During the height of the pandemic, she shared tips on Telemundo and Univision on how
to treat respiratory conditions in children and advice on using telemedicine as an
alternative to in-person doctor’s visits. Her mission is to educate new or expecting
parents and give empowering advice to help them raise happy and healthy babies. 

When she saw a need in her community for a space to discuss breaking generational
trauma, she created it. Now she leads monthly meetings and provides resources both in
English and Spanish for Latinx parents. The two e-books she shares are The New
Mama Guide, What They Didn’t Tell You at the Hospital and The Ultimate Dad’s Guide
to the Delivery Room. Through her own motherhood journey and raising a wonderful
child living with autism, she’s learned the importance of advocating for herself and
others. It reminds her that she is serving a purpose in her current field of public health.
 
You may have seen her work as a Forbes Health contributor, The EveryMom, She
Knows, Latin Connection or as part of The Power to Protect New Jersey Campaign for
the flu vaccine. She was nominated as one of NJ Favorite Kids’ Docs from New Jersey
Family Magazine. Dr. Divina’s website is catered to new parents where she features her
podcast called “Dancing into Parenthood” and accompanying digital program for new
parents.

You can find her dancing salsa while educating the masses on Instagram, Pinterest,
TikTok, and her website at

Thank you so much for listening!
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Transcript

Naihomy: 0:09

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.

Naihomy: 0:59

Welcome to the Wealthy, wellthy Generation Podcast with me, your host, naomi Jerez. Hi friends, welcome back to Wealthy Generation Podcast. That is WELLTHY. Today is an exciting day. We have our very first medical professional on the podcast. I am like over the moon to have this wonderful, beautiful being here with us today. Her name is Divina and she is a pediatrician who also believes strongly in holistic health and care. So, divina, can you please introduce yourself to everybody?

Divina: 1:48

Sure, so I'm Divina Lopez and I am a traditionally trained medical professional. I am a board certified pediatrician for many, many years. Now I'm not even going to go into that. Who is a mom? And I'm a single mom to a little boy with autism and ADHD, and I think you know I love medicine, I love being healthy, I love wellness. That's why it got me into the whole track of going into medical school and practicing and private practice for so many years.

Divina: 2:22

But I think, after having a little boy with autism and ADHD, as a mom, I was working for more natural things because, unfortunately, you know, the medical system and big pharma and everything you know play a big role into treating some of the signs and symptoms that you see, and that was just not okay with me. And so you know I teach parents how to raise happy and healthy kids right, and that's part of like what I do, because I do parent coaching as well. And I think you know, living a holistic lifestyle is very much aligned with me being a pediatrician, because it's all about preventative medicine, right, and so we want to build really healthy foundations so that we can live a long, happy, good quality life.

Naihomy: 3:14

Yeah, thank you so much for that and we're going to just jump right into it. So, as a pediatrician, what are the things that you are seeing most often in your practice with children, like what is the condition of their health?

Divina: 3:35

Okay. So I want to say, like post pandemic things have gotten worse with kids because they there's a huge rise actually in obesity. There is also a very big rise in like developmental delays, and I constantly see things like diabetes and asthma because I am a school physician. So I'm a school physician in the South Bronx and these are the conditions that we like constantly see. But I want to say that post pandemic things like obesity have risen so much it's really scary. It's really really scary. And I know it's because, like during the pandemic, we got very much accustomed to being at home and living these very sedentary lifestyles. Kids are very attached to their iPads and all of the you know devices and so they're sitting down a lot. They're not out and about playing. Unfortunately, a lot of schools also have lost their like programs for some athletics and also, you know, the recess sometimes is a problem, but I see a whole bunch of things going on.

Divina: 4:47

I also see a lot of like type two diabetics and really young kids, which is extremely concerning because we know that type two diabetes is actually preventable, right? So type one diabetes is the type that you usually see in young kids and you know that's the one where they're genetically like born with a virus and so it happens to them. But type two diabetes is the one where you can actually you bring this upon yourself by your diet, right, by like exercise and stuff like that, and I think it's extremely scary for me. Just you know, even not being a doctor would be extremely scary, right, like why are so many kids now being diagnosed with type two diabetes? It's, I know why it's happening, but we have to do something about it, right?

Naihomy: 5:39

Yeah, what, what can we do about it? And something before we get there, because we will get there to give you actionable tips that you can actually use. One thing that I always say and think about is how the kids are kind of getting the wrath of the effect of what the parents know, what the parents know, what the parents are able to do, how the parents take care of themselves, because the kids are not really buying their groceries or in charge of what they're eating all the time or cooking meals for themselves. And I know I just bear with me as I'm generalizing because everybody has different situations, right, but what do you see in the family unit when you're treating these kids? Because they're coming in with a caretaker of some sort?

Divina: 6:31

Right, yeah, so everything begins with the family, and I say this all the time. Right, like, everything begins at home. It's not like you send your kid out to school and then they're going to be taught everything. It's like they learn whatever they learned initially. They learn it at the home. Right? So whoever the caretakers are are really the people who have to basically, like, have these little building blocks. Right, so you have to think about things like diet and exercise and just like wellbeing in general, as like what are the steps that I wanna take in order to make sure that we stay healthy, that we have good immune systems, that we can be mobile, that we can live in, like I said before, a good quality lifestyle? Right, so everything that a child learns, they learn from an adult, and it's usually the person that they spend the most time with, whether that is their mom, their dad, grandma, grandpa, whatever. It is right, we have to be cognizant about what we're teaching our children, because they're watching us all the time. Right, so it's really important what it is that you decide to choose when you go to the supermarket or the grocery store. Right, where are you choosing to eat? Because if you're constantly just buying food outside? Where are the places that you're going to? If you're going to a fast food place, then that's a problem, right, because then you're teaching them that this is the food that we eat, this is the way we eat every day, and those little things that you're doing is establishing a routine for them in a way, right, and so it's really hard to break out of those things as you become an adult, and I think that that happens a lot in our community. We were.

Divina: 8:17

I was having a conversation last night with my friend where she's like you know, my mother cooks everything still in Missola oil and I'm like, yeah, that's the Puerto Rican way, right, like that's, and I get it because it's cheaper, right, so that's why her mother continues to use it. It's like, yes, because it's cheaper, she's using that instead of like olive oil or avocado oil or whatever you know. And I think that people don't realize that those little tiny changes are like huge. They are huge and you have to really educate yourself and you can't just like say, oh well, you know, that's what my mom did and that's what, you know, my Tia has taught me and whatever. You have to really stop using these excuses and take accountability, because you're the caretaker. Now, right, you are responsible, and it's not only about your child, it's also about yourself, right, like? How long do you want to be around for your child, right? So like-.

Naihomy: 9:15

In good health.

Divina: 9:16

Right, in good health. Living good quality lifestyle, like living a good quality lifestyle means that you are in good health for like the rest of your life. I could tell you that my grandfather in Puerto Rico, he is 85 years old and he has a farm and he's still like he's out there, he's doing it, he's not in pain, he doesn't have all these complaints that a lot of the viejitos that I see over here have.

Divina: 9:44

It's not. You know he's out there every single day picking his organic stuff and that's what he uses, right, and he can squat and he can get up Like better than a person in their 40s or 50s that I've seen.

Naihomy: 9:55

You know some of these Absolutely absolutely.

Divina: 9:59

So you know, if you, it's totally possible. Like I hate that everybody loves to talk about like getting older, like if it's this, you know, it's like a death sentence.

Naihomy: 10:08

The end of your life Right and I'm like At 30.

Divina: 10:11

It doesn't have to be right, it doesn't have to be, and it doesn't even matter if you are, like currently, in your 50s or 60s. You still can reverse things, you know.

Divina: 10:22

I think, people also don't realize that that you really have the key right To your life. So you design it the way that you want. And if you want to live a good quality lifestyle and you want your children to live that way and your grandchildren to live that way, then take a vulnerability now and start making those little tiny changes, because you know, if you continue with the habits that are causing these issues, you have no idea how bad the consequences are. Like you can go blind, you can lose limbs. Like you will be on dialysis it's dialysis for me is a death sentence. You know Like you literally look like you're dead lying in a bed getting all your blood filtered out into a machine and back into your body. And you know like sometimes when I educate the kids about this stuff, they get really scared when they think about something like that. Right, because nobody told them that part before.

Naihomy: 11:21

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Divina: 11:23

So you know, it's not just enough for me to tell the kids, it's the parents that really establish the building blocks. So you know, take a capability as a parent and I think like this is the best time to do it. It's the beginning of a new year, right? Like you usually feel that motivation because you see everybody else doing it and small changes, small changes lead to big results.

Naihomy: 11:50

Yeah, absolutely. I've seen it over and over again and I too have a family member in the Dominican Republic who's in his eighties and we got there and he went to go get the luggage out of the car and I was like, oh no, no, no, like I got it. I got it Because I'm used to viejitos here in the US being broken and not being able to move anything and before I knew it he had a maleta in each hand, walking like it was no problem. And he's like I got it. And I was like, oh my God, like I have not seen this. And it's the same thing. This man is out here working, moving things, and you would never think that he's in his eighties by the way that he's moving. So leaving out, what do you think is missing? Like what is this gap that we have between the parents or caretakers I don't wanna say parents all the time like the caretakers and the children, even for themselves, like why is this so difficult to make these small changes?

Divina: 12:57

Because they were not trained to do it right. So again, like if you wanna make life better for your child, do it while they're young right. Because if it wasn't done for you and you have this like practice of cooking the way that you do or choosing the whatever foods that you may choose, you can't stay stuck in that. I think that's a problem in the world. I think that's a problem in life. We can't stay stuck and have all of these excuses of like that's the way they did it and that's the way I was taught and we love to talk about trauma and our families and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, you could talk and complain about it all you want, but you also have the ability to make the changes.

Naihomy: 13:49

And they're hard.

Divina: 13:49

They are so hard because we are just so used to it and we are creatures of habit and because we're creatures of habit, we know something and it's easy and making a small little shift feels like a lot initially right.

Naihomy: 14:06

Yeah.

Divina: 14:08

But once you start feeling so much better and you see the value in it and how worthy you are of it too, because I think that's another thing that we just don't value ourselves in a certain way, or there is this issue with our worth, with our self-esteem. We think that this is just the way we're supposed to be, and it's a big mindset thing. It's a huge mindset thing when you see people who are overachievers. You think that they got some special gift and that's the reason why they are that way. And no, it's not true. We all have to work hard for those things and we have to just accept it in a way Like, yeah, maybe I wasn't given life with, I didn't start off life with a silver spoon, but it doesn't mean that it has to stay like that forever, regardless of what your circumstances are Like, even if you do buy your food with food stamps or whatever programs you may be on, whatever it doesn't matter. You still have choices that you can meet right. I understand that maybe they're not the best choices, but there are still some things that you can change. You can speak with your doctor If you're confused about those things. You can.

Divina: 15:39

Youtube is great for getting information as well. People love to share information. Social workers are available too, and I think you need to tap into those resources. Sometimes we just take the things and keep going because we're so used to doing that, but you have to start asking good questions and taking that accountability is just so important. Like, you have the or you know what I'm gonna say it like this have the audacity to care that much about yourself and your family, right. Like, have the audacity to be the squeaky wheel when you're there. Have the audacity to be the one asking a million questions, whether people like it or not, because I think that's another thing that we think. Oh, you know what are they gonna think if I start asking this?

Divina: 16:31

Or you know, they may think that I'm like the, the one causing the problems here, or whatever. Go ahead and do it. It's you know, it's your family, it's your kids, it's your health.

Naihomy: 16:41

So, yeah, so I'm glad you went in that direction, because what I wanted to bring up is, when you do start making those changes, the peer pressure and the commentary and the side-eye that you start to get from family members or from people who know you, because you are doing things different and I know that's something that I've had to deal with and like almost fight, not physically, but just like really put my foot down and be really stern, and like you're saying, like have the audacity to do it, because there's this thought that I'm ruining my kids' life.

Naihomy: 17:18

I have two boys for those of you who don't know, they're nine and seven and I've gotten so much commentary like I'm so strict, I'm ruining their fun, I'm not letting them be kids, and I'm like, no, you just don't understand. Like I'll allow them to have treats and all of that in a more controlled way, in better quality ways, yeah, but they just don't understand the effects, the long-term effects, of consistently having these kinds of food has on their health, let alone. They're all not doing well in their health and I'm like you just don't see this pattern like I see it. Yeah, so you have to be so stern.

Divina: 18:00

Yeah, I think people, especially like our family members, they'll, they'll, I think. Well, who do you think you are Right, Like who do?

Divina: 18:13

you think you are, you're doing all of this. Oh, you know I've been criticized on that. Or like, oh, you know, you're so American, you know you like to do whatever these white people do. I mean, I've gotten criticized about that all my life, just even because of my appearance. So I think it doesn't matter right To me. I don't care what anybody has to say. If I know that I'm doing the right thing, it doesn't matter right? People could criticize all they want. And then sometimes I'm going to tell you what happens.

Divina: 18:49

There's the flip side to it. Like you start doing it, they see all the benefits that you're reaping from it, right, and then they start, like, little by little, wanting to know what is it that you do? So they could start doing it. That takes years. That does take years. But when it comes to your children, I really don't give a crap. Like I don't give a crap what anybody has to say.

Divina: 19:11

If I know that I'm doing the right thing for my child, right, if I know that I'm doing the right thing for me something that's going to sustain us, right, so that we're not on a million medications and yeah, I could call it out.

Divina: 19:24

I could call it out on anybody who wants to come up to me and tell me something like that. You know, like, bring me how many minutes in bottles are you on? So let's just check it out, like why are you taking this and what happened for you to actually end up on this medication? And I think that that's another thing that people have gone very comfortable that there are so many medicines available and they want to just say like, oh, it just makes my life easier. I could take this pill for my sugar and I could take that injection to lose weight and I could take these blood pressure medicines and everybody's on it at my age. I don't care what everybody else is on, like why there is no need for you to actually be on those medications if something for high blood pressure or cholesterol, all of those things can be controlled right.

Naihomy: 20:15

Absolutely.

Divina: 20:16

So why would you want to take these medications? And they come with so many side effects, Like you think? That it's totally like oh, it's benign, it's not benign. Like, if you only knew, when you see those commercials and da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da da da da da and where it says who was getting men cold. Why would you want those side effects Like, why would you want that right?

Divina: 20:40

And the other thing is that people I mean your pain, cold pays You're constantly seeing the doctors. This takes a lot of time, energy. Do you not notice that if you would just put that time and effort instead into learning how to change things in your diet to make things better, then you wouldn't be wasting all that money on cold pays or having to go to the pharmacy or having to make all of these appointments or having to have a surgery or a procedure or whatever Like? Why would you want to subject yourself to that?

Naihomy: 21:13

Yeah, absolutely. I think that we need to make that clear In my work with my clients. I work with women of color. We've reversed diabetes or pre-diabetes. We've reversed high blood pressure, autoimmune conditions, pain, pcos, like there's just so much. And it's really just food, exercise, lifestyle, because that's obviously what I'm qualified to do. It's just literally lifestyle changes that we work on together.

Naihomy: 21:43

And those who are mothers are passing this information along to their kids and they come to me and they're like oh, my kid is in the supermarket looking at food labels. Oh, my kid is telling their cousin why eating Rice Krispie Street is not the best and it starts to trickle down. So it really is multi-generational. And with the older generations, my clients are usually like oh, now they start to see, like now the veil has come off and they start to see what the older generations are doing that are causing them to be this sick and they're like what can I do? And I'm like look, you just live in your power, you just do you. They're going to exactly like you said. They're going to start to see how good you're feeling, how your skin is changing, how your hair is changing, and they will get curious. You don't want to push anybody and force them into something that they're not ready to do. But I want to ask you, ok?

Divina: 22:41

go ahead. Sorry, you were going to say something. I want to say one thing, because I think this is another thing. That happens is that there is this myth it's this myth that you're going to be deprived of something If you actually need this right. Oh, you're going to be deprived of the cake. You're going to be deprived of the cookies or whatever.

Divina: 23:01

You're not deprived, actually, because there are so many great alternatives that you can use, and there's just a better way. As a matter of fact, like now, when I oh my goodness, because I used to love my grandfather always used to give us those little Debbie cakes oh my gosh, I used to love those things right. If I were to even try one right now. It's so disgusting.

Naihomy: 23:26

It is disgusting.

Divina: 23:28

It feels like lard in my mouth. I'm like what the heck? We're like? What was I eating? Right, like all the sugar. It makes you feel sick. Like when you put it just in your mouth you feel the difference. You're like it's so old, it's so fake, it's been sitting on a shelf for forever.

Naihomy: 23:50

Yeah.

Divina: 23:51

And it's just, it's gross. You're not depriving yourself and I think that that's something that I hear from the older generation, like, oh, you're depriving yourself, you're depriving your kid, and I'm not depriving us of what?

Divina: 24:04

Yeah, I'm not depriving myself, I'm actually enriching our lives Because I really believe that you just have to make the smallest changes and when you see the change in your energy level and you're just in your vibe altogether because you're putting very low vibrational food into your body, right, that's why everybody's depressed, that's why everybody is feeling like they have no energy to do anything. They're sitting in front of a device. You're sitting in front of the TV. You're not going out for the simple things that keep us healthy, like sunshine and fresh air.

Divina: 24:47

Don't take those things for granted.

Naihomy: 24:50

Yes, yes, oh my gosh, we can sit here and talk for like three hours.

Divina: 24:55

But that's because we have the same philosophy. Yes, you know, I think we were lucky that we were able to develop our relationship because we worked on a project together.

Naihomy: 25:07

I feel like it's like, yeah, we worked on a project and it's like I don't think people understand how much of a veil like blind, blind they are made by society, by peer pressure, by commercials, by marketing All of these things are pushed on you and you truly don't even understand how bad you're feeling because you've been in this state for so long. Like, give yourself a chance, right? I want to ask you this question and then I want to get into how important this is for children. Even more like equally important it is for children of special needs. But recently, in the past year or two, there has been conversations about weight loss surgery for children and weight loss injections for children. What is your opinion on that?

Divina: 26:15

I mean, I think it's totally absurd. It's totally absurd. It's absurd to think about these things, right, like, ok, so I'm going to look at it from both lenses. Right, I'm going to look at it after lens first and then we're going to go to the other side. Ok, as a physician, if I see a child who is obese and needs help and I've tried and tried and tried with this family so much, but the parents are not making the changes. Right, it has to be a family effort If it's not a family effort.

Divina: 26:52

you cannot point this finger at this one kid and be like you need to change, you need to do whatever.

Divina: 26:59

They are not the ones that buy their food, right, Like, yes, you know what that child and me have gotten to the point that they're at because of the overeating or whatever, but you also chose to have that in your cabinets, right? So you taught them some bad habits and now you're not willing to help that child reverse it, right? And you're expecting this kid to make all these huge changes in their life without being coached how to do it.

Naihomy: 27:30

Yes.

Divina: 27:31

Which is insane. And as a doctor, yes, I would send this kid to a nutritionist. I would offer all of these different things like programs where they could work out so they could find community at least. But again, if in the home you're not doing it, it's not going to happen, right? So let's say this is a child who has tried all of these efforts. It's not really working. They're still gaining weight, and I could see the reason why a doctor would say maybe let's try this or let's try this, because they are getting to that point where their body mass is getting so big that we need to do something to stop this. Right, I would never want to do that to anybody, though. Even as a doctor, I'm like the least aggressive doctor. Like, don't come to me thinking of antibiotics and all of this stuff, because it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen.

Divina: 28:28

Like I grew up with an abuela who made a tea for everything or a something for something, and I truly believe that and that's why I love to work with our community, because I know that you know about those things and then it's like, yeah, I know it's on the shelf in the pharmacy, but let's try this and then let's do this and let's see if that works, and if we have to do the other stuff, then we will.

Divina: 28:52

So that's the way I look at treating patients, right? I mean, if there is just no other choice for this child and they are getting to that point, I don't like that option. I don't like having that option, right, I think it's crazy, because you are a human being who's still in that growing phase and you're doing all sorts of things that you should never even another. I Don't even think adults should be doing these things. So why should a child be doing this? Right? When I look at it from the other side, where I'm just looking as a mom, I'm looking as, as a person who really cares about health and wellness, and I think about you know, what are the side effects of these sort of things? Right? First?

Divina: 29:39

of all these injections and everything. Everybody loves them because they think it's a quick fix. And you know what? Anything that's a quick fix is usually a bad idea.

Naihomy: 29:48

Yeah, like what's the price you're gonna pay?

Divina: 29:51

Why you always gonna pay a price for these things, right? Like, are the studies out that show, like ten years down the road, what's actually gonna happen and how you're altering somebody's metabolism, what is actually like going on in that human body, right, that's. What are the consequences later on? You don't know, right? Oh, the majority of the people that I've seen that have these weight loss surgeries. They go right back to who, where they were, and sometimes plus, plus, plus.

Divina: 30:20

And the reason why is because you're not working on the Mindset again, right, you're not working on the self-esteem, you're not working on the educational part, and so you're still stuck, you know, with that same mentality and all of that in a new body very Temporarily, and then you go right back into the bad habits and it just continues and gets worse, because now you're even more depressed, because you know, I'm gonna be doing this, right, you have to recover from a surgery, right?

Divina: 30:54

Um, or you have to deal with all of these like terrible, like consequences of infections and then having to see a million other doctors and you really have to think about the things that they do there. There are no quick fixes in life.

Divina: 31:10

Like yeah you want something to happen, you want good things to happen in your life, you have to work hard for them, and I know people don't like that word of working hard, but there's there's a sense of like pride that comes along with it too. Like it's a good feeling. Set small goals. I know it feels like a lot when you're thinking about I'm here and I have this much to go, but don't think about up here yet.

Divina: 31:38

Just think about the first little step. Um, I'm gonna share. Like I was telling you, Naomi, like I haven't worked out, I don't know. I've been really stressed out and it's not normal for me to not be working out right. Like I guess I am a dancer so I always go out dancing and that's the thing that I probably never really stop is my dancing right. But last night I went to the gym. I was like you know what?

Naihomy: 32:00

Yeah.

Divina: 32:01

I was like Levanta, there, you're gonna go and you and I went and I felt so freaking good and I don't know why we fight the things that we know are gonna make us feel better, right. Yeah, then once all the endorphins and everything kicks in, you're like oh, I feel amazing, I'm so good.

Divina: 32:21

You are never wasting that time right. Any time that you invest in yourself is not wasted time. People say that like, oh, I was wasting my time, like looking at this Something and educating myself is that's not wasting your time, it's an investment, and just like an investment in the stock market Any little like investments that you make it takes time for it to grow.

Naihomy: 32:45

Yeah.

Divina: 32:45

So you have to understand that everything starts with a little step. Stop looking at those quick fixes, because it's just like if you went for, you know, bitcoin or whatever, like you know, you, you.

Naihomy: 32:59

There's no quickies, there's just yeah, I always tell my clients and I compare the wellness journey to a, a savings account and having a high yield savings account versus, like, a very low Interest savings account, and I'm like, do you want your money in Chase where you get point zero, one percent, like this is what you're doing, or do you want your money somewhere like ally or markets and get 4.5 or something like that? Like that, this is how you're gonna compound your health, because those little bits of Money or, let's say, habits that you're adding up, they will snowball bigger and bigger and bigger and have bigger results for you where you're feeling good. So thank you for that. What I want to quickly jump into why is this so important for children of special needs?

Divina: 33:57

So there's there's many reasons why this is go for kids with special needs and then why it's go for their parents.

Divina: 34:04

Um so that's like kids with special needs usually have Digestive issues. They may not be as mobile, so then that makes things even like slower with their digestion. They are usually very picky eaters, you know they. They go for like the really bland, carb-y kind of things and I I Know that we call them the preferred foods, right, the preferred foods that they love the chicken nuggets, the french fries. You know the easy things, right and yes, like when we can offer those things and make little changes along the way.

Divina: 34:43

But the reason why it's really so important is because the sugar, the Carbs, you know all these guys in the food they all not only affect the GI system, but the GI system is also linked up with the nervous system, and then what ends up happening is that you don't really see the Gains that they can make in their development and everything right.

Divina: 35:09

So these are children that are usually deficient in some sort of like vitamins or minerals or even like protein. It's not very, you know, it's hard for them to get a good amount in right, glue in dairy, like they're like toxic for a lot of these kids, right, yeah, so I think that a lot of parents are not being told all of this also Right by their doctors, by the people that maybe they trust, and I think that has a lot to do with doctors Not having the time to like really sit and talk with the patients anymore, which is why, like yeah, they refuse to do private practice anymore because everything is so rushed, you can't practice the art of medicine in the way that it should be to give quality health care to the people that you serve.

Divina: 36:00

Right, and you know, when you think about behavioral issues, emotional stuff, all of that is linked to their diet, all of it Absolutely so when we have all of these hyperactivity and you know, all the meltdowns and stuff like that, I would love for parents to have a little journal and say, like what did they eat 30 minutes or an hour prior to that?

Divina: 36:24

Right like so way as a matter of fact, I created it, I created the journal for the parents to do this, because I want them to start keeping track. Okay, so, and so a Whatever, like you were saying, a rice crispy treat. And now they're on the floor over here, they're bouncing off the walls and yeah. Happening right.

Naihomy: 36:45

Yeah.

Divina: 36:45

Yeah, you know, like the same thing at school, like I wish the schools will also do this, like keep track, because there's always these problematic kids and I'm like there is no such thing as a problematic kid. Sorry, I don't take that as an answer. There's no such thing as a bad kid. There's no such thing as a problematic kid. You have to identify, identify what is the cause. It's not the kid that you can grow up like this. Right, they're there. Nobody was created to be like this. Okay, what ends up happening is that they are not getting fed the right things the stuff that they hear from people, the way they're being treated by people and the stuff that they ingest into their body. Right, a combination of all of that stuff can really like take you off your rocker, like it happens to adults. We're so disregulated.

Divina: 37:32

Yeah, yeah Right because of all of that, like everything that we consume, and I'm like, be really careful about the stuff that you're listening to, be Really careful about the people that you surround yourself with, be really careful about the stuff Do you put into your body, because all of that is what causes people to be Disregulated, and I don't think people realize this. Like it's not because all of this trauma I mean, yes, that's there, but if you don't start changing your environment and Changing the stuff that you consume, then you're going to end up extremely Disregulated.

Divina: 38:11

So I can give my son for you as an example, right Like I've made many, many changes in his diet just to see like you know, jenny McCarthy came out with that whole thing about her how her son went from like autism to now not being autistic and so I think, as a parent of special needs, you're always looking for a solution.

Divina: 38:32

You're always looking for some sort of anything to help your child out. Right, like we get desperate, we get to that point of like desperation and and I there are so many people that I know when they've made the changes and I actually I saw it like when I was a younger doctor, I had two patients they were like two and three when I met them, two little boys very much on the spectrum like severe Kids, not mild, severe. Right, they were nonverbal, they were very, very much developmentally delayed. I mean no eye contact, there was just no real interaction with these kids. Right? Both of these moms, one of the moms I really like, I just I wish I could give her gold medal because she was so young. It was a single mom and she was really, really young and I remember her Just taking the initiative of like you know what I'm gonna make all of these changes. She didn't tell me, she just went ahead and did it, right?

Divina: 39:43

Mm-hmm and I remember Seeing him like two or three years later and he was totally like asymptomatic.

Naihomy: 39:52

Wow.

Divina: 39:53

Nothing, I was talking with him, I was like he was making chills right now. Why it gives you chills, because when I was like, could this be the same kid, could this be the same kid? And I was like, what did you do? What you know? Did you go see somebody like who was it? Because I always want to know the information so I could share it with other people.

Divina: 40:11

Yeah, and she's like I just made the changes. I stopped giving him things with dyes and I stopped the sugars and I stopped the gluten and I stopped the dairy. And I swear to you the kid was totally typical and I couldn't believe it and I was just like this is a miracle, right? Yeah, and I had another kid. Same story is it's like these Huge changes can happen when you make these changes to the diet and.

Divina: 40:41

I mean, imagine a little growing body, always exposed to toxins and chemicals and stuff. It's going to really alter your, your nervous system. Like everybody talks about their immune system, I'm like, talk about the nervous system, right, because your nervous system is like your computer wires. If you, if your computer wires are all mixed up, then you're not going to be able to, like reach your developmental milestones on time. You're gonna be Right. It doesn't matter like what your parents do or which therapies they put you in. If you don't have the right building blocks for it, your body can't function the way it was.

Naihomy: 41:20

It cannot work on growing effectively if, every single time you eat and this goes for adults and children your body's trying to put out a fire. Because that's what happens. You can never relax, you can never grow Effectively, your body will not go into its normal functions that it needs to do, because every single time you eat, it has to put out a fire. Right, and I just want to give an example With my kids, because I've been pretty diligent in the way that they eat and I feed them.

Naihomy: 41:53

And another time we were the Dominican Republic and we went to my grandfather's house and we don't really see him that much and he went to the store and bought them Like a wrapped chocolate cake and a Coca-Cola, one for each. And I was like, oh my god, like I, he did it with so much love and I felt terrible telling my kids that they cannot have it. So I was like you know what? It's? Just one time in like five years Maybe, like they're gonna be fine. Yeah, I let them each have this cake and coke. And, oh my god, they were like Sonic the hedgehog, like you could not stop them. They were trying to run up the walls, they were like wild animals and I was like wow, this is what you're feeding your kids these things consistently. And then you're screaming at them.

Naihomy: 42:45

That's okay, though why are you moving so much? Why do you like that? Yes, like well. They don't control over that, because their body is just reacting they can't control it.

Divina: 42:56

they cannot control it and you know, like you just gave him like three coffees, what do you think is gonna happen? And a bunch of sugar. Like like a bunch of sugar. You know, it, it's, it's the worst thing and we think it's so like, like, if it's nothing, you know they're, they're constantly at birthday parties, they're eating all of this stuff and I'm just like.

Naihomy: 43:17

I hate, watching it at drop off.

Naihomy: 43:21

At drop off I have to go with a sober mind and for and talking about school drop off, because I've seen kids with Coca-Cola the first thing they're having having donuts, sunny the light potato chips, these wrapped up cakes and I don't want to say it as judging, but you just don't even understand the damage you're doing to their little bodies. And then they get used to having no, they're used to having these things and then, as an adult, to try and undo all of this because I work with women between 30 and 50 to undo all of these things and just relearn period, educate them and just learning the difference that it makes in your body, it's a lot. So if we just start now like that's what I want to save my kids from, I'm like I just want them to know that it's super normal to eat vegetables and to move your body and you see mom and dad doing it and we're making time for it and it's not a big deal and we're ordering a certain way at restaurants and you know those kind of things.

Divina: 44:33

Yeah, yeah, you know, give them the power. Give them the power to make good choices, because kids love to make good choices. You just have to give them the power to do it. You know like my son will tell people like oh no, I already had like something else today. So I can't accept that. Like you know, my mom and stuff would love to also. You know it's a lot of times it's the grandparents they want to go to sugar.

Divina: 44:57

Oh my god, the grand parents, yeah, and my son has learned to just like, say no. Like you know, maybe maybe tomorrow I'll have a piece of that, or like that's the other thing, right, we don't have to have the whole thing right now. Yes, maybe we can have half of it, maybe we can have a quarter of it, we could save it for the next two days, or something like that, right, so that they don't feel deprived of something again that were deprived, but, um, because I think that you know that's what happens. It's like the culture, the society, the, you know. I also remember that this, these are businesses.

Naihomy: 45:34

These are businesses that want to make money and they need to adhere to this stuff. It's an addiction?

Divina: 45:39

Yes, and that's why it feels, hard to stop it Because you're addicted to sugar, because you're addicted to carbs, because it's a real addiction. It's not even.

Naihomy: 45:53

These companies have food scientists that study the brain and the palate and they make things addictive. Not only that, their marketing is exceptional. Not only that, you're used to it from childhood. Like it's just, it's just layers upon layers, and I really want people to see past the BS that all these companies put in front of us to convince us. And the marketing to children is out of control, with putting their favorite cartoon characters on boxes and making things pretty and fun. Colors Like that is not cute. That is not the way food is supposed to look like. Um, so yeah, it's, it's.

Naihomy: 46:32

I really I'm confused because I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not going to talk about it. I really I'm glad we're having this conversation and I really emphasize it often, because it just breaks my heart when I see all these things happening. And you just know, like I could see, I could tell and predict by the way a person is living their life, but how they're eating, like how they're gonna feel later on, and then it comes like such a surprise and I'm not even surprised. I'm like why are you surprised? Like this is what you've been building up to all these years.

Divina: 47:06

Yeah, yeah, you can either set yourself up for success or failure. Like you, you choose right. It's your choice, um. But you know Again, one one thing that I just want to add is, you know, for the special needs parents, you need to be around, and in a healthy way, for a really long time, because, yes, you don't know if your child can provide for themselves later on and you don't want to um Handle over that responsibility to somebody who's not going to do the right thing for your children, right?

Divina: 47:37

So I think it's even more so, that much more important for us, because we know that we have to really stick around um and be healthy for them. Like, even if you're not going to choose yourself, choose your child and you, you know they need you. It's, it's the best choice that you can make in order to help them. Like, help yourself so you can help them.

Naihomy: 48:03

Yeah, so in I think we've gone into the flow of what can we do. We've spoken at length of what happens. Why is this a problem? What are you seeing? So if there's Someone out there a caregiver or a parent, a person who doesn't even have kids, and they just want to start Changing things, what can they do?

Divina: 48:35

It's always us small little steps. It's like step by step, you make little changes and you got to get used to it, right? So if you wanted to do something as easy as just changing a snack, it's. It's like you know that's, that's the one thing that you're going to try for a while, because you have to Give yourself and your child a chance to Learn how to appreciate it and then to start feeling the effects of it and Then, when you're feeling comfortable with that, you can make another small change. But, um, you know we want to do all these changes at once and then it feels really Out of our control because we, we just did too much. Like you put everything on your plate and then it doesn't feel achievable, you feel defeated and then you go right back to the old things that you were doing. So If you want to have success In life in general, you make small little changes and then you build from there. It can't be anything like, and you also can expect to see these like huge results, you know thank you.

Naihomy: 49:51

Yes, I was gonna ask you.

Divina: 49:54

We want to see the huge results like right away. I mean, I want to see it too, but it doesn't work like that, it doesn't work yeah you have to give everything time and when you do things um, slowly, right, especially with your health start to you sustain it right, Like when you do all of these really drastic things and you see people like 10 pounds lighter in a week and stuff that's not sustainable and it's not healthy and it's not healthy, it comes back with a vengeance, Like it comes back with a vengeance Right it's not healthy.

Naihomy: 50:28

It's not healthy. Yeah, absolutely. So you mentioned at least changing a snack and giving it time. I think that there's this big misconception that if you try something for a month or two months and you don't see anything happening, that is not working. And I find that number one. Many people don't even know what to look for, because the one thing that people are taught is oh, the number on the scale needs to go down. And that's a very yeah, yeah that's I didn't realize.

Divina: 51:08

That doesn't really mean too much.

Naihomy: 51:10

Exactly.

Divina: 51:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that. That's just. It's a tool that we've been trained to use so often as a measure of our goals and stuff like that, and I would just not even worry about a scale at all. I don't care really much about the scale, right, I care more about your body composition. I care more about your energy level, about the way your brain is able to function right, Because you could think too much now, and I think what happens is that people don't notice when it's happening right, exactly.

Divina: 51:45

And then they're like oh, yeah, I used to have those. When you bring it up, right, it's like, yeah, I do have a little more. They don't realize the little tiny changes that are happening over time Because that's not being measured, right. So if you wanna, like, take data in right to prove to yourself what's actually happening, then you need to journal every day and you really actually have to put the way you feel. Those are the real benefits at the end of the day. Right, because you want to start feeling better so that you can function better, so that you can make other changes on top of that.

Divina: 52:24

But, yeah, you could do like a little small experiment and actually take real data, just like a scientist does, yeah, and then you have a real journal where you can put which foods really made you crappy because, like, made you feel crappy. Because if you're doing pretty good about something and then you introduce something that you had from long ago that you thought was okay with you and you try to have it all like right now, in the middle of you doing this whole health journey, you're gonna realize how much of a really bad effect it has on you. And that's another way you can experiment with it. It's like, yeah, go ahead and have that donut today and let's see what happens to you.

Naihomy: 53:04

Yeah, absolutely. I was telling a friend because she said something like oh, my body is growing the capacity for these bad foods. Whatever she was having that was not necessarily healthy. And I said your body's not growing the capacity for those foods. I say you're growing the capacity to feel like shit all the time.

Divina: 53:25

That's what you're growing. Yeah, you become like complacent with that feeling.

Naihomy: 53:31

Yeah, it becomes normal.

Divina: 53:33

Yeah, and then people think they have like mental health issues and I'm like it's not really even a mental health, it's the food that you're putting in your body that's making you feel like that. It has a big effect on your emotions. I'm telling you, it's like high vibrational food versus low vibrational food and I mean that's real. That's really real. So you have to make the choices.

Naihomy: 53:58

Yeah, divina, thank you so much for your time, your expertise, your opinions. I value them so much. I hope that our community gets so much from out of this, from this episode. Listen to it over and over again so we can sink in, because there was so much good information shared here today. How can people find you, connect with you? How can we support you?

Divina: 54:27

You can find me on my website on Instagram. Mostly I am on YouTube, also on LinkedIn, but everything goes by. My name is Dr, so DRdivinalopescom is my website. My handle for everything is Dr Divina Lopez as well, and go listen to my podcast as well, if you're a parent, please. I have a lot of information.

Naihomy: 54:49

What's your podcast?

Divina: 54:50

My podcast is Dancing Into Parenthood. You can find it everywhere. You can find it on Apple, on Spotify, on YouTube, everywhere. But these are things that I really love to talk about and I love to just teach parents how to parent wholeheartedly. We wanna have really healthy, happy kids, and I love teaching parents how to do that. But thank you so much, naomi, I love you so much and I love all the work that you do, and I'm always ready to support you, and I think this is a really special journey and people have to be gentle with themselves also, right, because I think we're really hard and critical on ourselves, so we need to just step back and be gentle and take it, like I said, step by step.

Divina: 55:50

But it's totally achievable, right, it's nothing out of this world, and when you have support and coaching from someone like you, it makes it a lot easier for them because you're not doing it by yourself. Right, like we need community.

Naihomy: 56:03

That's actually something I was gonna bring up. Community and people who are on your side and understanding that are not gonna be judging you by what you're doing right. And I find that a lot of times it can be so difficult because, like we were saying, there's a lot of judgment, there's a lot of processing, there's a lot of new things happening that people might not understand, you might not even understand, so it becomes really hard. And, yes, through coaching, the anxiety levels and the stress levels just diminish a little bit, because once, for example, if you're coaching with me or you're coaching with Divina and you're told oh, this is normal, this is part of the process, why don't you try this or that to make it a little bit smoother and a little bit easier? Then the journey is just so much more peaceful and freeing Cause.

Naihomy: 56:54

I didn't mind by myself for two years and I had to go through all of that alone.

Divina: 56:59

So yeah, we need support and people don't realize that Like it really is important to have the right. I'm telling you, it's about all you consume having the right community around you, and no man is an island. So we need the help of other people and we need to be surrounded by like-minded people in order to achieve goals. It makes it a lot easier and I think people always think about oh, it's this investment.

Naihomy: 57:27

Just like that. Divina falls for a second, but I believe she was gonna say that it makes it a lot easier. So I appreciate you all. Thank you for listening. If you have found this helpful, please go out. You share with your friends so that this podcast grows and more people can get their hands on this information, because every human, every human should know about this. Okay, it's not specific people. We should all know about this. So, thank you, divina, I appreciate you and I hope you're welcome. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thank you, bye, see you next week.

Naihomy: 58:13

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 NaomiHiddes, 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. I invite you to keep elevating and evolving your holistic health journey. By subscribing to my newsletter at NaomiHiddescom, 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.

Naihomy: 59:07

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 omnis ["Metrogynous"]. 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 healthcare needs. Peace out.