WELLTHY Generation Podcast!

58. Holiday Social Experiment: Exploring Family Health Patterns and Cultural Influences

• Naihomy Jerez • Episode 58

Share episode

Send Naihomy encouraging words!💕

On the WELLthy Generation Podcast, we're treating holiday gatherings as a social experiment, encouraging you to observe, without judgment, how these events impact bring out unintentional conversations around health amongst loved ones. This episode is an invitation to rethink how your currently lifestyle will impact your future health. In addition to the the all-too-common habit of abandoning healthy habits for a January reboot, instead promoting a balanced lifestyle throughout the year.

I take a look into the often-unspoken influence of family and cultural norms on our health, particularly with chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. By observing family health discussions with curiosity, you can identify genetic predispositions and make informed lifestyle choices that pave the way for generational change. Recognize the patterns that may have shaped your family's health and seize the opportunity to break free. As a special offer, I'm providing a complimentary consultation call to help you explore personalized health strategies. Let's continue the conversation and empower each other to embrace healthier, happier holidays.

Thank you so much for listening!


Speaker 1:

Hello friends, welcome back to Wealthy Generation Podcast W-E-L-L-T-H-Y. I literally want to do this podcast like I'm sending a voice note to my BFF, and if you're real friends with me in real life, you know that I love to send you voice notes and they're probably three to five minutes long, so I want to keep this one nice and short. I know it is dropping Thanksgiving day, right? If you celebrate happy Thanksgiving, if you're getting together with your family to just be grateful and be in community, I love that for you. So I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I do think it's super important for you to listen to this as you're getting ready for the evening festivities. So let's just get right into it, like I'm leaving you a voice note on your phone and we are best friends which we are because we hang out every single week together and yeah, we're in community and I love that. And yeah, we're in community and I love that. So here's what I ask of you or for you, what I would like, what I suggest right, you do today, on Thanksgiving and throughout this holiday season because I'm sure you're doing things like Friendsgiving with your friends You're having more than usual outings I mean outings or gatherings right, there's the business, holiday parties and all the rest of the holidays that are coming up. Whatever you celebrate, the point is that you're with probably a group of people and there is most likely food and drinks involved.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so, if you're just starting out on a health and wellness journey and you want to get more grounded as to understanding what it is that you're really working for, the one thing I'm going to ask you to do is be curious, not judgmental. That's not what I'm saying. Do not judge people. I want you to be curious of this. I want you to be curious and observe not just yourself, right? Not just yourself, but also your loved ones, whoever you're hanging out with, and what they're talking about, how they're eating, how they're drinking and, in turn, how they are feeling afterwards and, in turn, how they are feeling afterwards. And I want you to do this for yourself, too, because I think that what happens is during this time, and what we've been taught culturally and all these things right, like in society, is that we is a time to overeat, is a time when you just starve yourself and you just wait for the big dinner to happen. Is a time where you drink more than usual, but usually throughout this time, you are also getting an insight as to how people are actually feeling and maybe some health conditions that they might be suffering from or not feeling well from. Again, I want to be clear this is not to be judging. All right, this is not to be judging. I just want you to treat it like a social experiment, right? Like may pretend you're writing a paper for class and and and treating this as a social experiment. You're not here to judge, you're just here to collect data.

Speaker 1:

And usually what happens is that during this time, people are like I wanted to use the Dominican word desacatao, and I don't even know how to translate that Like they're off their rocker. I think it's like I don't know an American or English way to say it pero se desacata, right, where you're just eating excessively, drinking excessively and doing things you don't normally do, and that does not come unaccompanied by feeling a certain type of way in your body. You always feel a certain type of way and I want you to start kind of like gathering the data points and then really actually getting curious as to what's happening, because I'll tell you what people being like this whole thing of the food hangover is not so cute as it might seem, although it's very common. It's not as cute as it might seem. Although it's very common, it's not as cute as it might seem. What usually is going on is that your body is so overloaded and your body is kind of like has to shut down to digest so much food and your body is struggling with blood sugar regulation because there has been so much put into it, especially.

Speaker 1:

You know what the parties like now is not like the parties like before, because the parties before, like everybody, would eat as much food as they wanted to and then they would go dance, right, you know, like they would go dance and what I'm mentioning is like merengue titles from probably the nineties and things like that. Then you will go dance, and what I'm mentioning is like merengue titles from probably the nineties and things like that. Then you will go dance. Now, nobody freaking dances, right, and everybody just sits down. There's no movement after dinner either.

Speaker 1:

So everybody just feels overstuffed. They're unbuckling their belts, they're unbuckling their pants, they're talking about how full they are or how exhausted they are now and they're dozing off on the couch and I want you to dig deeper as to why they're feeling like that. Who's feeling like that? Are they normalizing it? Are you feeling like that? Because I know this is like a one-off, not a one-off, but the holidays are a very specific time, but usually people keep these habits throughout the year that start to affect their health. And I'll tell you what feeling so depleted and so bloated and so tired after eating, although it is very normalized. It is not okay for it to be happening over and over and over again. You're overtaxing your body. Your blood sugar is trying is best to rewire itself right Again and it kind of has to slow you down for it to take care of that for you, because you just gave it too much right.

Speaker 1:

So there are the comments of I yo like, yo voy a romper la dieta, like everybody's talking about how they're not on a diet right now and they're just gonna enjoy and then in January they're gonna get their act together again. These conversations again that perpetuate diet culture, that perpetuate not enjoying your food and it gives you kind of this permission to overeat or eat things that you normally would not, which is okay, by the way, because we all know the pernil and the ensalada de papa and the arroz de guandule and all the other foods that take so much labor and love are usually not made throughout the year like that, right? So, yes, we shouldn't indulge and we should love, but I, again, I just want you to be curious. I just want you to take some data down Now, aside from the food part of it, how people talk about it, the conversations around it, the conversations that and the comments they make about their own bodies, the comments they're making about children's bodies. Please step into that, step in right.

Speaker 1:

Like it's so unfair because you grow up believing these things, calling people la gordita or el gordo or this or that, or shaming people because of how or what they're eating. Again, that's not the point here. The point is just to observe what's happening right, in order for us to create change in our families, create generational change right, make an impact. If these things really bother you, you have to be aware of what's actually happening right In a way that, again, is not judgmental. You're able to have constructive conversations.

Speaker 1:

Probably this is not the time to have it. You're just gathering information, especially to dictate what you want to do, because this is about you, not about them. How do you want to change, what you want to do, and what is it that you want for your life? This voice note is getting long. I know WhatsApp cuts you off at 15 minutes. This voice note is getting long. I know WhatsApp cuts you off at 15 minutes.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, the next thing I want you to pay attention to is how your family is talking about chronic health conditions. Not only will probably they mention things about themselves, but they will definitely, in el chisme, right In that gossip, be mentioning what's happening with your tia, with your tio, with the abuela, with the people back at home, like this is going to who was in the hospital, who had operations, who was getting dialysis, who was getting chemo. These conversations are going to come up, trust me. Okay, pay attention to how many people are talking about their diabetes, about their high blood pressure I can't be eating that, my high blood pressure, right? Like, oh my gosh, so much cholesterol. My cholesterol is high. Start paying attention to these things, right?

Speaker 1:

How prevalent are these chronic conditions with the people that you surround yourself with, with the people you share genetic code with and might have predispositions with, and where are they? And, most likely, how young they are? Probably in their 50s, in their 60s, and they're saying that's still young, boo, that's still young and they are dealing with so much chronic illness, right, and they're talking about the operations and the dialysis and the chemos and all these things happening, right? Or, better yet, how their knees hurt and their back hurt and they can't move and, oh my gosh, I'm so tired. Todo me duele. Everything hurts, right, pay attention. You're doing a social experiment, right? Be curious, be curious, okay, I want you to pay attention to all these things. Why, right? Why, because you get to make a choice and a decision as to how you want to feel in your body. Treat this, literally.

Speaker 1:

If these are people you share genetic code with DNA, with blood with, you can be predisposed to these things. But the thing is that if you follow the patterns, the same lifestyle patterns that your loved ones have followed for many, many, many years and have done, maybe they haven't done anything because they choose to. Maybe they haven't done anything because they don't know that they can. Right, because it's really hard to undo conditioning. Let's cut these people some grace, right? Maybe they've been misinformed. Maybe they don't have belief in themselves.

Speaker 1:

A lot of things can be happening here, right, but you are here listening to this episode right now, which means you have access to information that your loved ones probably have not had yet right, have not had, from somebody they feel seen from in a way that they can understand it and is relevant to them. Right? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I know that they probably been to the doctor and and some white registered dietitian is telling them about they can't eat rice and pasteles and and and tamales and arepas and pupusas and all these things that you're like. Well, wait a second, my family has eaten this. My ancestors, my ancestors, have eaten this forever. What am I supposed to eat? They'd probably be like guacamole como un conejo. Like I'm going to eat like a rabbit now, right, just green stuff.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, I want you to pay attention to this and see almost like a mirror not like a mirror or like what your life has, the potential or possibility, because we don't know we're not God we don't know what's going to happen an hour from now. Hopefully, everything is good, thankfully, right, like, hopefully, everything is fine. Right, like, hopefully everything is fine. But it is a good chance, probability that this is what it would be for you as well, especially if you sell. You share genetic material with this person.

Speaker 1:

So if you continue on the same trajectory of moving the same way, treating your body the same way, eating the same way and I'm not necessarily talking about today, thanksgiving and during the holidays, right, like there's there's you just have to enjoy yourself, right? But this is a good opportunity to realize what's happening outside of these times that are very far between right, unless you have birthdays every single week and you're gathering, and this is to avoid, right? If this is something that you want to try your best not to end up with such a poor quality of life where you have a gallon-sized Ziploc bag full of all of your medications and you need to stop doing things you love and all you talk about now is complaining about how much pain you're in and talking about how everybody's just sick and in the doctors and getting surgeries and and, and you know procedures at the doctors. Think about what you want for you as you grow older. Do not take for granted what your body is able to do for you right now and you are able to do. Your body is not an unlimited resource. It will start to slowly, slowly, slowly, not work the same. It will, and there are things that you can do about it at every single level. It can be really simple if this is something that you really want, right? So just know that you can use this opportunity for that and decide for you.

Speaker 1:

How is it that you want to be when you are your you know, the older one in the family? First of all, I can't even believe I'm in the middle generation, because I remember being the young one with no kids and all that. But now I'm in that middle generation, right? And how is it that you want to live for the next five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years? What do you want that to look like? What do you want the little babies that are in the room right now the little ones, right? What do you want them to see when they are your age and you are the older generation, in your fifties, forties, sixties, whatever, like? What do you want them to see? What do you want them to say? What example do you want to share with them?

Speaker 1:

What kind of conversations do you want to be having with your peers? Is it about diabetes and high blood pressure, or is it about how you're traveling and your next hiking trip? And what do you want to do next and how you are going to your gym class, right, how you can get up and dance Maybe dancing's back by then, who knows without being out of breath. Right, without getting hurt, because you never move your body or do anything about it. And now you want to dance or go up the stairs, or somebody invited you somewhere where you have to walk more than usual and you have to move your body in different ways, and you can't because you'll be here pulling your muscles or throwing out your back or doing something like that because you're not taking care of yourself on a regular basis. All right, so you know, I hope I would love, if you participate in this social experiment, I would love to hear back what you find. Go ahead and DM me or email me or leave me a text that you can find in the show notes, because this is so important.

Speaker 1:

It can determine what conversations you want to have. It can determine how you yourself communicate with yourself and with your children. It can really be the turning point for a lot of what's going on in your family. Because let me tell you something else A lot of the people I've worked with, a lot of my clients and a lot of people in my family. Now, because of the lifestyle that I have chosen, rooted in wellness, and because I am so unapologetic about it and I show up as myself wherever I am and I try and influence in a way that is not condescending or pushy or shameful or anything like that. I just bring part of my lifestyle to to these places.

Speaker 1:

Things have changed, like during the holidays or situations like that. Like the generation to two or three ahead of us, let's say the grandparents or something like that. Everyone is freaking, working out Okay, all of them. They're in their sixties and these peeps are in the gym Okay, they are walking, they're doing their thing. They've also modified a lot of their ingredients that they cook with. They make sure they're getting some sort of vegetables in, like they, they, they be taking their supplements Okay. So don't think that change is not possible in a real respectful way, where you're just not not where you're just not turning people's lives upside down. All right, it is possible, and I have introduced new vegetables or just brought them and they eat them, because if it's there, they'll eat them.

Speaker 1:

We've had other conversations around this and again the with the little ones. They just need to see people taking action. Right, they really pay attention more to what you're doing than what you're saying. So if they see grandma, grandpa, right, mom, dad, whoever, tia, tia, whoever it is in their family people they love and they respect and they're putting vegetables on their plate or they're getting up and moving their body after they eat, doing things like this, you don't even really need to explain it so much to them. They're just participating in this new lifestyle form.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's stop normalizing that disease is inevitable or that is inevitable in so young. Okay, one time I was in a Dominican supermarket and a Latino supermarket over in one of the Latino neighborhoods over here in Manhattan and it broke my heart because there was a grandma where her grandson the grandson must have been around eight to 10 years old and the grandson was like mama, um, what's diabetes and cause we be talking about these things in the streets all the time. And the grandma told the grandson oh, it's just something that happens to old people when you get old. Let's stop doing that, please do not. Let's not share with our children that it's just something that happens with age. No, it's something that happens with lifestyle. Ok, it's something that happens with lifestyle, and we have so much more agency and power over this than you might think. So let's cut this voice note. Let's cut this voice note.

Speaker 1:

I want to invite you to join this social experiment. Just be curious, see what you notice, see what you hear, see what the trends are, so that you can start making decisions as to where you want to go with your life, when you are seeing people who you love in front of your face going through these situations that you probably want to avoid. And you have a fighting chance to do that right now. Okay, um, and with that said, if you're really interested in trying to like figuring this out, and you have no one to lean on because this has not been modeled to you, everybody in your family is just talking about these new diet trends and how getting sick is inevitable and you really want to commit to adjusting and changing your lifestyle into one that's rooted in wellness, where you can understand how food works in your body, where you can understand how it's making you feel, where you start to learn how switching up your lifestyle that it doesn't have to be miserable, let me tell you and it doesn't have to like you can still have so much fun, you can still enjoy all your cultural foods. It's not all or nothing. All right If you want to learn how to do that in a culturally relevant way.

Speaker 1:

If you are already not feeling well in your body and you yearn for those days and you look back at the photos and you're like, oh my gosh, I used to feel so good. I wish I had that energy, I wish I had that glow, I wish I did not like blow or have skin conditions when I was that age. Right, you can start to do that now. I promise you. You can make a difference in your life. You can feel better and you can learn how to live your life in a way that at least will delay disease and feeling unwell for way longer than what we're seeing now.

Speaker 1:

And if that's something you're interested in, I invite you to book a consultation call with me. That is exactly what I support my clients with. We work one-on-one for six months, 24 calls, where we start to dig deep into what's going on in your life. Why are you not feeling well? What have you been struggling with? What have you tried this whole time that's not working for you? What have you tried before that you're trying now and it doesn't seem to be working.

Speaker 1:

We can talk about all these things. Have a little bit of faith, a little bit of hope, then you can change your life around. And it's not going to be that hard, especially when you are well supported and you can talk through these things with someone who understands and that can support you and that can help educate you and help and support you connect back to yourself instead of giving out all of your power to outside sources or just to the wind. Okay, so I invite you to book a consultation. Call is absolutely free. We can talk about all these things together.

Speaker 1:

Talk about what your goals are and make a plan that is personalized to you, that will benefit your health in the long run and immediately actually right away and for the long term, and how you can start to really influence generational health in the family. Right? You probably teaching your family about finances and about careers and about all these other things. You live in your body, your entire life. You live in your body, your entire life. Let's be well in there. Let's take good care of it so that we can actually go and enjoy every single other journey that we want for ourselves.

Speaker 1:

All right, do not put this in the back burner. If this is the time that you get motivated by it, that you get a little sad by it and that you're like what else can I do? I'm tapped out of ideas. This is an idea I am 100% sure you have not considered and you have not tried, and if you give yourself a chance, I will meet you there, okay, so I cannot wait to see you on a complimentary consultation call. The link is in my bio to book that call. Or you can reach out to me via DM, on Instagram or email, and I am happy, happy, happy to connect with you. And do not forget to reach out to me about your social experiment and how it went today and the other days that you meet up with your family during the holiday season. Thank you for joining me today. I will see you next week. Peace out, bye.