Healing Latina Health: Gut-Brain Connection, Cultural Food & Hormone Balance

Hello there fearfully and wonderfully made human. Welcome back to the Holistic Counselor Podcast where I hope faith, science, and whole person healing meet. I'm your host Diana S. Rice, licensed mental health counselor and certified integrative mental health professional. And this space exists to bridge biology, psychology, and theology so you can live with more clarity, peace, and purpose.

If you've been listening for a while, you've probably noticed the theme. We keep circling back to the powerful connection between food, mood, and mental health. In episode 22, Dr. Bernstein helped us understand how the gut and brain are constantly talking to each other.

In episode 36, Kate Zapata expanded on that by showing how gut health impacts mental wellness from the inside out. Episode 63, episode 72, episode 81. These are all interconnected and every one of those conversation leads right here to today's episode with Naomi JZ because it's all connected. what we eat, how we feel, and how we show up in the world.

I first met Naomi during the Rise Latina Summit back in October of 2025. If you missed it, go check it out. I'll put it the the link in the show notes. And then we create we created an episode and it's called the special edition Rise Aina Summit and Body Renovation.

That's where I first heard her speak and I knew immediately this was a conversation we needed to continue because here's the truth. So many of us in the Latin community grew up hearing I food was love. Food was comfort. But the food we eat today isn't the same food for food our awaits grew up with. the rice, the beans, the oils, even the soil.

It's all changed. And not only And not only are our bodies showing it, but so are our moods, our hormones, and our emotional resilience. That's why I'm so excited for today's guest. Naomi Jerez is a Bronx raised Dominicana, a certified integrative nutrition health coach, and the host of Let's Be Healthy Latinas: Holistic Wellness with Saon E Cultura.

She helps women of color prevent and reverse disease through holistic health habits without restriction, shame, or losing cultural flavor. Her story is powerful. As a mom of two, she looked in the mirror one day and didn't recognize herself. But instead of chasing diets, she learned how to nourish her body with love, creating healthier versions of her favorite Dominican dishes.

And in the process, she reversed pre-diabetes, lost 50 lbs, and reclaimed her energy and confidence. But this episode isn't about weight. It's about liberation, about understanding why so many of us are facing chronic conditions our our aitas never had, about reclaiming cultural foods as medicine instead of the enemy.

And about realizing that true healing doesn't have to be complicated or disconnected from who we are. And before we start, if this podcast has encouraged or inspired you, please take a second to leave a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. It helps more people find these free informed conversations about healing.

And that's what this space is all about. So grab your cafe, your matcha, or your chlorophyll water, whatever season of healing you're in, and let's welcome Naomi JZ to the show. Tonight, gracias.

Thank you, Diana, for having me. That was such a powerful introduction. Thank you.

Okay, I'm I'm I'm honest. I'm pretty raw, right? Yeah. So, this is what I do now. So, I go into Chat GPT and I press the record thing and I'm like, "Okay, this is my feelings. This is what I want to express. This is how I want to express it.

Here's the bio. Here's this. I want people to understand." And boom, it comes out. And I'm like so grateful.

I agree. It is grateful to use in that way for sure. Like just to organize our thoughts in in a comprehensive way. It takes so much work out of it. But with our true emotions, feelings exactly like you said, words. So yeah,

thank you Diana and Chachi.

Right. I know some people are like, wait, what? Well, listen, I never claimed to be a writer at all. I mean, maybe a poet. Yeah, but that's easy to rhyme or share my emotions and feelings and stuff. But but anyway, um you know, let's get back to to your story because, you know, I really want the audience to understand from growing up in the Bronx as a Dominican to becoming a certified integrative nutritional health coach, you know, like tell me about that.

Yeah, I to be honest, it's something I didn't even know existed. I found out about this career or how to help and support people in this way throughout my own journey in, you know, my mid30s almost. Uh, and I grew up pretty much like everybody else in the Bronx.

You know, my mom worked in the house. I did have home-cooked meals because she she was at home, so I was lucky that way. But I went to high school in the South Bronx. I grew the Bronx now is starting to expand with different cuisines and different kinds of restaurants, but when I grew up it was just like Kennedy Fried Chicken and the chinos and you know the pizzeras and things like that.

So I I didn't there was this dichotomy about food, right? It was like the food I had at home and super Dominican food all the time. And that was one part of my life. And then it was the other part which was the outside food.

And I would hear from my mom all the time like, "Oh, that food is not good for you. You know, that food can make you sick." And I would feel it sometimes, but I didn't know why. And she didn't really have the tools to explain why either.

She just knew. And I think that knowing she passed down to me and I just was curious and I didn't pay much mind to it. I was similar to everybody else where it was like I want to lose weight. I don't eat rice.

I don't eat bread noas you know like you cut and and you know what you need to eat in salada and you have to your vegetables but it was there was such a negative connotation to it. It was like boring not good like torture almost.

And you know I wasn't a fan of that. And and like you mentioned, after I had my two boys, I did not recognize myself physically. I felt really uncomfortable in my body. I couldn't wear things I wanted to wear anymore. And in true cultural fashion, what was given to me was a faja.

And they were like,

"Okay, let's explain to the to the Americanos or anybody else around the world because actually people from around the world are listening." So like listen, I'm just going to share like I saw that in my family, but I had I had the app.

Nobody's going to feel sorry for me because people would make fun of me. Where's your rice and bean booty? People told me that all the time growing up as a teenager. You can imagine how the boys were back in the in the 70s and 80s, right?

In the 1900s.

My kids say that all the time. They're like, "Were you born in the 1900s?"

Yeah.

You know what I mean? So, it is a culture like, "Okay, Akita, this is just what we do because listen, I know the women in our culture, they have these beautiful bodies." And sometimes what happens, the westernized culture kinds of shames that.

Yeah. Either way, exactly like you're saying, either you're too skinny or you're too big. There's no happy medium. Everybody has something to say about something that's happening with you physically, right? Nobody ever asks you how you're actually doing in your mind, in your spirit.

You know what I mean? Everything is like, "What happened to your hair and what happened to your body and what about those chichos or why did you lose your butt or you know, every single thing is picking apart most of the time."

Yeah. Yeah. Girl, you're so spot on. And we know why. Like I know once you educated yourself and I and I've been educated too and I hate to say it's just you know I know it's our culture too. We have machismo in our culture and it just like just the way it is.

It is it just you know I come without saying too much from a lineage that like

someone in my family was the side chick not my mom but you know like it's just the culture and so with our looks that that to me you know I was called flaka e gorda

I was so confused

I was so confused growing up I love my culture I I do I miss I miss being around everybody because I'm here all by myself most of the time But it is like flakita gordita and I'm like well which one is it?

Mhm. Exactly. It's so confusing and these messages come to us at such an early age

and there's no grace for what's happening. Like I just had a baby and they're like why are you so big? I'm like I just had a baby. I'm like nine months pregnant. They're like you look so big. I'm like I'm nine months pregnant.

You know what I mean? It's just consistent and there's a type of like

strength that you have to develop and and like knowing and confidence to understand where those comments are coming from and what you want to do with them.

Yes. And I've, you know, there's been my own transition with that with me along the way of really being curious as to what people are telling me and what they're saying and do I think that's true for myself. I always love to empower my clients.

I'm like, you get to define yourself how you want to and we need to understand where those kinds of comments are coming from and are we going to give them truth or is it just them not knowing not knowing any better it being part of the culture?

You know, one time I asked my mom, I was like, why why does skin color always come up? Like why does hair texture always come up? And it was just plain curiosity of like, why are these things always spoken about body shape? And she was so honest and she was like, you know what, I don't actually know.

She's like, I just grew up hearing these things and you just kind of follow suit, right? Like you do as other people do and those were the topics of conversation. And then, you know, I was having a conversation with her and I was like, you know, that that's kind of like not nice.

That's kind of rude. like we can find other things to talk about. Um, I understand that's what you heard, but you know, this is kind of how it makes people feel and is it really that important? And it kind of like had her become more aware and she rarely does these things anymore, you know, and it's just this education piece because I think a lot of times it's like, "Oh, you're being so mean.

That's so rude. Like, how can you say that?" And it is really challenging those conversations when people are saying things that are so inappropriate. Whether it's it goes as deep as why don't you have kids or why don't you have more kids or why do you have so many kids?

Like again there's never

it's like that that did you watch Barbie?

Yes.

Do you know the part where America Ferrer says that that speech?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

We're not this. We're not that. I mean, listen, the movie wasn't whatever and people, you know, the thing is you have controversy everywhere, right? That's we we live in this culture where it's just like so much I don't know. I I have to be like, no, like stop

being so involved in all that. But that part hit home for me as a woman, as a woman, not a woman of color, just a woman, because it is so true what you just said. It's like,

you know, why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you that? So, how do you shut that off? Because I know how I shut off and and help my clients to try to because this is why I start my episodes. Hello there, fearfully and wonderfully made human.

Cuz to me it is we we're we're all raised by a village.

Right.

And this village has taught us who we are. And to me though, I'm a woman of faith. So I want to help people train their brain to understand who they are in who's they are and who they are in Christ because to me when you really know that then you know what's truth and what are the lies being told to you by your village.

Mhm. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. So I want to know how like that shift for you happened because that's hard because remember many of us in our culture either are you know we might be second, third, fourth generation but a lot of us I know like for me I was second.

Mhm.

Right. You were born in in Dominican Republic.

I was but I came to New York when I was like one and a half. So

Okay.

New Yorker.

Yeah. So you're Yeah. So you're an you're you're American, but you know, but but the point being is that we come to to get the American dream here that that they fought so hard to come because, you know, this is the best country in the whole wide world.

I hope. I don't know. I I don't watch the news anymore, so I I try to stay away. But but you know what I mean? So we come with the intergenerational stuff you were talking about

and education. I want to go back to the educational piece because many people live with their hypervigilance or with the their cert their nervous system on edge constantly. So that's why they pop off number one because they haven't been taught things on how to calm their nervous system, but it's also what they're putting in their system.

Yeah.

So how do you how do you how do you help your clients out with that?

Yeah. I think there were a few questions here is like the how do we kind of shut that down or shift that mentality from our family and just to circle back real quick. FAHA is a shape.

Oh yeah.

It's like a shape just in case people are like what is that? It's like a is a body shaper or a girdle like that kind of brings everything together.

Girdle. That's what I remember. Girdle you sausage yourself in. This is what I would say. Like I'm like oh my gosh. You got to sausage yourself into these things cuz

it's back in the day where where you'd see some of these old shows where they're sitting there roping the people and tying them up and putting and shoving them into this.

Yes. And then pushing up their boobs.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, nothing wrong with shape wear or it can definitely tuck things in. But what I knew for myself and and I'll tie it back to like shifting mentality. This is the part of it like we need to start to divide up what do we actually want.

I don't think we know how to listen to our own voice because we've been told about ourselves our entire lives by our family, by society, by men. And we don't actually know who we are, what we're thinking, what we actually want, how we actually feel, what we actually think about how we look.

Everything is outside influence. So that's that's kind of the start of it. And I knew back in the day that I didn't want that to be my solution, you know, just to be in a girdle all the time. My kids were born in June.

I started to think like, how do you wear a faja with a bathing suit? How do you wear a faja with shorts? Like how do you

And I really wanted to take care of myself. I've never been a fan of crash diets or torturing myself or anything like that. And I would also notice that a lot of the white women I had a corporate job, right, when they came back from maternity leave.

They look completely different than what our Latinas look like more or less, right? This is also generalization of course, but I was like, what are they doing that we're not doing? What are the resources they have that we don't have? And I started to just again very neutral just be curious to see what they were talking about, how they were eating, how they were living their lives and things like that.

And I said maybe I can implement some of those things. And they were either going to the gym, coming from the gym during the workday. They had their like leggings on or they were eating in a certain way. And and I started to get curious about that.

So, I said, "Okay, well, I'm going to just start by working out." And that meant once a week because that's all I had time for with two babies,

right?

Um, and I started to change the way I ate. But it wasn't until I started working with a nutritionist that I actually started to learn about food and the power of food. Uh, and that was what really changed my life. And I I was like, I knew about food.

What is she gonna tell me? Like salada, have more salad and cut out the bread and don't have fried food and that's it. It should be it. But it was so much more than that.

Really changed my life. I worked with her for two full years. She must have thought I was the most annoying person in the world because I had all the questions. I wanted all the answers and I was so invested in this education piece that I didn't know.

And that's how I ended up losing 50 pounds. That was totally unintentional, by the way. And when I first lost it, I was like, "Oh, that's great. Everybody lose weight and then everybody gains all the way back and then I'm back where I started and then I have to figure it out again."

But after 2 years, that's when I realized where everything was exactly the same. I was raising two little boys, you know, I have my family, I was commuting long hours, I didn't have a nanny, like all these extra resources. And the difference between me and anybody else was just the education piece.

That the education piece and learning how to apply it in my lifestyle so that I'm able to stay consistent in it.

Okay,

those were the two things. That is it. I am a girl from the Bronx, immigrant family, limited resources to some extent, right?

I was not that much different. That was the only difference. And then that's when I was like, "Oh my gosh, I need to pass this information down to my community.

I need to like if they just knew these basic things about food, if they just knew how to implement it into their busy life and not have it be extra work, then they can get these results, too. and they can stop torturing themselves, stop being so mean to themselves.

At the time, I didn't even know I had reversed pre-diabetes in myself. It wasn't even a goal.

People don't even know that that

the doctor didn't even prevent it.

No, they don't. And I've seen that too where it's like, wait, what? I have this you there's but I'm thinking a lot of the things a lot of the labels that are dropped in our lap we can actually God made our body so beautiful and and the resources and the resources for it.

So to me what I'm hearing is okay education

right and the ability to and it isn't willpower because so many people try to do the willpower thing you know and and and accountability because you had that nutritionist

yes I had support in the gym and with the nutritionist so absolutely creating that village of where you want to go and

a healthier village you get to choose you get to pick and and it doesn't have to expensive because this is a thing I hear a lot too because you know I work more with the mental health aspects of things as a as a clinician

but I when I ask them you know

Naomi I bet you ask them too when someone starts working with you right how what's like the first thing you do with them do you have like a questionnaire that they have to fill out right I do too right and so to me they're like you're the first therapist that ever asked me how I'm pooping Yeah, that's so important.

And that is on my questionnaire.

Good. Well, it's important because I'm like, yeah, well, if you're not feeling right, that's where anger could come out more. It's not only everyone having trauma. It's, you know, to me, it's like you these are symptoms, right? The the the itchy skin or the anxiety or the depression.

These are symptoms. Now, the the question is, do you want to get to the root cause or you just want to manage symptoms? Yeah. I don't know if people knew the difference. I didn't.

No, I mean I didn't either. Like this is why I'm the I'm I'm holistic and certified integrative because of my own personal experience, too. So, back to to yours, Naomi. Like,

okay. Education. You said you said something else. It was education. And one more thing. I'm sorry.

No, it's okay. It was sustainability. Like, how can we apply it to their life where they can keep up

and it's not such an extra task, you know? Well, and that's the thing because there's people that are all or nothing thinking like those cognitive distortions that I try to teach my clients like, okay, where are you getting the evidence of that? Why don't we do an atomic habit or a micro habit, right?

Why don't we just start with putting a little lemon in your water or two hours without looking at social media or whatever like whatever comes up in the So tell me about how it is with you like when you're working with them and then you're you have that full like questionnaire right so you gather information what what do you see a lot of

I see a lot of not eating enough. Um, a lot of women not eating enough. Um, really giving themselves harsh definitions like I'm not a breakfast person or like defining themselves in some way. I don't like to exercise. I don't do this or don't do that.

Um but essentially they are doing these things in one way or another or like I I don't know what my symptoms are, how these this feels, but in fact they are describing those things and they do know what those things are. It's just maybe the piecing it together piece.

Um there's so much misinformation or abundance of information that doesn't that they don't know how to apply when it comes to food. a lot of misconceptions that we need to walk through because they're so strong. Uh especially from messaging in wellness culture. There's so much messaging about doing one thing or the other or this one thing is going to fix it or this one thing is going to solve it.

And again, maybe those things can help you, but they don't know how to use it. They don't know why they're using it. They're, you know,

Can you give me an example of of something you're talking about?

Um yes. Let me give you some examples. So recently I was supporting my client with dinner. And she goes, "I am so confused about dinner. I don't know when to eat it. I don't know how to eat it. My partner and I have different schedules."

And I'll not eat even if I'm super hungry if it's past 8:00 because they say they as the wellness that you shouldn't eat past 8:00. Mhm. Or they

But then how do you explain Spain and France when they're eating at 11:00? You know what I mean? So this is Do you do you challenge those thoughts like that?

Oh, 100%. Not necessarily like with other cultures.

Yeah. Yeah.

But with what their body is communicating to them,

right?

Like are you actually hungry? What was your activity level today? What did you eat throughout the day? Because a lot of times women tend not to eat the whole day and then they are so hungry at night because they don't have any energy anymore and they're snacking and they can't stop eating and then they feel bloated and then they feel guilty and all this.

So it's more of

seeing what's actually happening. Exactly like you said, God built our bodies in a very perfect way, like in a way that it's trying its best to serve us and it's trying its best to keep us alive and to work with us and we don't know really how to communicate with it.

So a lot of times a lot of what it's asking of us is because it's trying to meet its needs that we're not giving to it, right?

So and then but we don't know that. So then we blame ourselves and it's like I don't have willpower. I don't have self-control. I don't know why I'm always craving things. I'm never going to get to where I want to be because I always drop the ball three months in or whatever months in or every time something happens in the family, I let everything go.

So, it's back to that all or nothing as well where again it's just a lot of misinformation, educating ourselves and getting to know ourselves and what works for our routine, our body's needs, things like that,

right? To be healthy because it starts from the inside out. It's not, you know, because I think being raised in c in a culture where we're programmed television programming, right? It's just constantly programming of and because it it's the wellness, the makeup, all that stuff.

It's a multi-billion dollar business. Big pharma is a multi-billion dollar f. You know, sometimes they create the problem and then they create the solution so they could keep making money. And honestly, you got to think like think about our ancestors. Like we're we're healing parts that our ancestors gave us, but we're also learning and educa being educated by the wisdom of back in the day when it was just sunshine,

healthy foods from the earth,

right? Community fireside chats, the red light, you know, just with walking. People think that you have to pay thousands of dollars to be healthy and and and feel good, right? Because to me,

our our health is the new wealth.

Yeah, I agree.

Right.

So, so let's talk a little bit about like, you know, in in the US and Australia, big farmer commercials dominate.

They dominate while other countries don't even allow them in those commercial. People don't know that. When I first learned that, I was like, "What? How?" But then I realized, hello, it's all about El, you know,

and I don't want to badmouth any anybody that's taking a medication cuz sometimes that's survival. Sometimes something has happened and you're grieving and you need that anti-anxiety or you're diabetic and you have to have your insulin. I get that.

But we also have power in in food.

Yeah.

Right. food and mood. And so, like, how do we help women move past the quick fix mentality and just return to natural culturally rooted remedies? Naomi, how do we do that? Especially, listen, I know I grew up in in New York in the Queen in in the Queens in Queens until I was 12.

So, I came with that Northeast like people know, right? Are you from New York? Even though I don't have an accent anymore, I'm like, why do you say because you have that energy. We we're known to have an energy as New Yorkers and we're talking about the five burrows in a way and each burrow has its own energy.

So it's kind of like South Florida with the different counties. You know, Broward County has a vibe, Palm Beach has a vibe and and Dade Miami Dade has a vibe, right? But the southeast part of Florida is kind of how the five burrows in New York City because then you have upstate New York.

So, and then we have our culture. So like h what what do we do to help these women with these quick fix mentality or the I can't do it or the you know like I got no time or money for this. What do you do with that Naomi?

Those are a lot of different obstacles that can be very real. You know they they can be very real. Um which one was the first one? I know it was money, time, and the first one escaped me

that you said.

I swear we got good brains. We promise.

I know. Well,

it's early. It's early.

Well, let's start with the food and time. Oh, quick fixes. I'm like, wait, I want to remember because it was so good.

Yeah.

Um, the quick fix portion of it. I think that the first step to that is deciding you don't want that anymore. And a lot of times my clients come to me because they've tried all the quick fixes. They've tried all that one thing.

And it's really nice to have a quick fix for something. And it does work for a temporary amount of time, but it gets exhausting. It gets exhausting to always try to find

something else to help you achieve the same exact result that you're looking for. And that becomes expensive because you actually need to probably buy a supplement or buy a program that is very shortlived like a challenge or something like that where it's 30 days, 60 days.

Um, and I think that that's what happened to me. like I decided that I was going to take my time and however long it took for me to get the results because I didn't want to restrict myself. I didn't want to torture myself because when you do the quick fixes too, you're giving up a lot and because it feels so temporary, people are okay with it.

It's like, oh, it's just for 30 days. It's just for six weeks and

then I could go back to my old self. But the thing is, we're meant to be evolving.

Exactly. Well, that or it's like if you logically think about it, if you go back to doing what you were doing before, it doesn't make sense that you keep the results that you worked for.

It just it doesn't work that way

with with whatever it is. You need to keep working towards whatever that is. And that's one of the main things that the mindset shifts that I help my clients on. It's you need to come to terms with the fact that this is a lifestyle and it's forever

lifestyle change. That's what helped me when I came even though I was skinny fat. I know people and look it up. It's a thing where

it is a thing.

You know, I have my little uh cortisol belly. I had a lot of autoimmune. I still I still wrestle with that. But I actually had to know, listen, the blood work, and it's not the typical blood work that conventional doctors like all of a sudden, boom, boom, here it is, your CBC panel.

I had to go into the hormones. I had to go into the emotions of why these things are happening too,

right? It lifestyle change. This is where Dr. Bernstein that he was the first one to teach me about probiotics and the gut. And I'm like, wait, what? He's like, yeah, you have this Epstein bar virus. I mean, these viruses and stuff that comes along with a lot of stress, uh, CPTtsd, maybe I lived in a an apartment that had mold.

I mean, it's all interconnected.

Mhm.

But Naomi, right, you teach the person to do the one thing until they master it where their neurons in their brain connect and they realize, I don't ever want to feel that way again.

Yes. And that's where we do a lot of evidence collection.

Okay. because e eventually they'll start doing whatever we're working on whether it's the morning routine or something like that and this is what helps solidify me and my lifestyle uh because I would go back to what I was doing before because the brain I always say you are the manager of your brain your body and like how you feel

because everybody has an opinion everybody's really loud and you need to ground yourself to understand what direction you want to move in. So, I would be doing the things that, you know, were helping me get the results and all of a sudden I would end up in a restaurant I used to like or the drinks or these kinds of foods or whatever.

And I was like, or let's bring this in, family peer pressure or friends pressure. This is

Oh, you think you're better than us?

Why are you not eating ice? Why are you not having a drink? Oh, you think you're so good? Oh, you still going to the gym? I just got that one last this past weekend. I saw a family member. I haven't seen her in so long.

And we had a conversation about the gym about seven years ago. And when I told her, she's like, "You're still going." And I'm like,

"Yeah,

yes. I never stopped. You don't stop." You know?

Oh, no. It becomes part of who you are in order to function well in in our society. like you have a this is what I tell my clients. You know, you're going to pay either way. You're either going to pay for

illness because you're going to have to pay for all those doctor visits or you're going to pay for wellness,

right? But you're going to pay either way. And so,

back to what you were saying about the lifestyle that that word is important. I like please don't call it a diet. Let's not call it about diet.

It's not a diet. And I call people out all the time because there'll be like everybody loves to be so nosy and look at your plate and what you're doing

and Yeah. And then you know you hear somebody in the back and they're like oh why why you're you're just eating that or you're not having any rice with your juka and your platanos like you know what I mean? And I don't even get a chance to answer because someone else in the room would be like and I'm like I am not on a diet.

They're like no. And I'm like

I just eat this way and my plate can be full but it makes them so uncomfortable that there's more salad than rice or however I want to build my plate at that time.

Right. Right.

People always have comments. So, you end up doing something to please somebody else.

Oo, say that again.

Comfortable. Oh my gosh, Mia is so uncomfortable. I'm not having the rice. Mio is always used to me having

I'm offending aa I'm offending mama. Well, sorry, mama's in heaven, but you know, I'm offending somebody. And that's our collective culture, which that Okay, listen. That's what we really want to talk about because it's really easy for the independent non-collective culture of of America, right?

There it's very independent. I'm not putting it down. It's a it's a thing. All cultures have good and bad. Okay? But we have a collective culture where we are taught ma you go kiss whoever in the cheek and you eat whatever they put in the plate no matter how full you are.

Okay. You got to tell me how to deal with that. Naomi, what do you do?

Yeah. you start bypassing all of and and this is why we are so disconnected from ourselves because everything is about pleasing the other person. Oh, you can't be disrespectful. You have to finish. You can't waste food. Like all these different things that we're told.

But what I what I started noticing for myself and I help my clients start to understand is I want you to see how you actually feel in those situations. How are you feeling? Are you feeling uncomfortable? Are you feeling full?

uh how do you not only feel that day in that moment but three to five days out because that's what I started to notice where I would eat things that either I remembered I used to like or it was part of an event or something and I would feel so unwell.

I would have a stomach ache. I would be bloated. It would take me and I would tell this to my nutritionist. I'm like why am I day three still feeling like crap? And she was like, "Yeah, it takes that long for your body to re-eregulate or, you know, refine its way and digest everything out and clean everything up."

So, I started to decide. I'm like, I don't want to feel like I don't know if I could.

It's all good, girl. It's all good. like I feel like crap, you know, because everybody else is moving on with their life and then I'm over here having to be so uncomfortable and dealing with these things along the way. I love once you understand how good it is to feel in your body or like how good your body feels.

You don't have the bloating. You don't have the migraines. You're not exhausted. You're not

You're pooping one or two times a day.

Yes.

Like you're supposed to. you feel a lot more calm and regulated and all that. It's like, no, I want to feel that way. So, that's when I started and I was like, screw them. I don't care what they want for me. I need to do what I want to do for myself.

Because eating and how you feel in your body, no one else is going to know that.

But people want to put their perception of what they want or their beliefs or whatever it is or their style onto you. And that's not fair because they don't know what medical conditions you have. They don't know what you're working towards, you know.

So, so what do you teach them? How to respond? Because that's the thing, too, because a lot of my clients will come in and and I don't just deal with this. It's just family stuff, right? You know, it's not just about the eating.

It's just like, well, you know, I can't, you know, I'm like, well, we have to first become a curious observer of yourself, right? That's what you're doing. You're being a curious observer. And then you start noticing things and sometimes grief will come up when you're noticing things

100%.

And so then we figure out something to say like we practice in session of like okay you're the one with your own body 24 hours a day seven days a week who knows you the best and now what is it that what's the one thing you can say or what's the one shift because a lot is fear.

False evidence appearing real.

Fear fear of letting someone down.

Yeah. Right. Oh no. You're going to love this one. False evidence appearing real. And what we're teaching is face everything and rise.

Oh my gosh, these are great. I'm going to put these on a little thing and quote you.

Oh. Uh, let's see. Where did I get these from? I don't know. It might have been chat. I'm so sorry.

It's okay.

Oh, no. It's old. But anyway, but but for for the clients that you work with, you're right. It's like we're trying to build their their confidence and their understanding of them with the education with the science because you said, you know, like there has to be evidence-based.

Do you teach them about like, okay, nowadays like you got to understand the rice and beans. Let's go there for a second because you're teaching them to still eat culturally.

Yeah, 100%. How do you do that when when I know like seed oils and I know like the rice and the chemicals and what happened in 1995 with Monsanado and that's why the bread like back in the day you can eat bread a whole and you wouldn't gain that much weight or you wouldn't hurt because people are hurting their bodies are physically hurting I know if I eat gluten

my body and my joints hurt I'm in my 50s like I have to be careful ful hormonally and stuff and menopause coming

but I figured out a way to eat bread or something different like you know what I mean how do you do this to keep the culture because I still make soapita they my family knows my aita soapita congi and and you know what I mean like and and sometime bata and all that stuff that I learned but I do it in healthy ways I literally pulled out all my new thing like this look

uhhuh oh nice oh they have organic now bandida Good job.

Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, how do you like what is it that you teach or like because you talk about recipes and stuff like how do how do we keep our culture of our good taste food? I swear that's why my husband married me.

He thought I was going to cook like my mom and then 31 years later he goes, "What happened?" So tell me

like how do you keep it? So, I think that there's a lot of misconceptions about our food being bad, right? And I think that there's I it's part of society and what it's taught uh nutrition and you know the registered dietitian society and a lot of that a lot of what the concepts are is these kinds of food bad and these kinds of food good or you know there there's just this whole language around it.

But when we really start to break it down, it's just in the macros, like what's a fat, what's a protein, what's a carbohydrate. We have all of those components in our actual foods. We have the components of healthy foods, of different kinds of vegetables.

It might not look like kale and quinoa and all these things, but it looks like you know kido and uh what what's another one like in to a certain extent like there is

okay no no let's do this what is

well in Dominican Republic they have this salad where it's they call it boiled salad and it's certain kinds of vegetables sometimes Sometimes it is, you know, carbier vegetables like potatoes and carrots, but they do have other ones like tayota and they put pickles, onions on top or it's just a green salad or a cordido is basically almost like a fermented cabbage um citrusy mixture that they use I think in Ecuador or in Venezuela.

I don't know. I'm probably butchering this so I am sorry. All I know is that I have clients from different cultural backgrounds, whether it's Mexico, um, African-American, Indian, and Colombian, and in in each of their cultures, they have what they actually need. Now, where I think it starts to disintegrate a little bit is in portions and in quality of ingredients.

I think those two things matter

a lot.

So, or in fruit preparation, like do we really need that much oil? Do we really need to fry the salami in oil when it's full of oil and you just put it in the pot and it'll fry itself?

And where's the salami coming from?

Yeah, I don't eat salami, but it's just an example of

No, no, but you know what I mean. Like, okay, fine. You want to eat salami, but where is it coming from? Is it the cheap cheap kind? That That's what I'm saying. going to pay for wellness or illness. So, is it something that's quality?

I I get you. I get you. Like to me, when I do my rice, instead of doing uh my my mom always use wesson oil, and that's canola oil, and I'm like, "Oo." So, I use ghee. Look, I did bring my stuff out.

I use ghee to make rice.

Yeah.

And it tastes so good.

I also use ghee to make rice or I'll use avocado oil. I don't use Yeah. avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee, um actual real butter are all really good. And to know that or an extra virgin olive oil, these different kinds of oils have also different heat points where they can also be rancid.

So even though extra virgin olive oil is extremely good for our health, you don't want to be cooking high heat in that oil because they will turn it rancid. Ghee is a oil, a type of oil that can handle really high temperatures and so is avocado oil.

So, if I want to make those donuts because it's my favorite, I won't fry them in canola oil or vegetable oil. I'll fry them in a little bit of avocado oil.

But if I want to dress a salad or maybe

fry a little bit of eggs or something like that, then

you know, extra virgin olive oil might be it because you don't need such high temperatures for that or you can eat it raw. So, it's knowing these differences, right?

Exactly.

Yeah. And also the portion of the plate where we're used to seeing a mountain of rice and there's no kind of and and then maybe some beans cuz a lot of people just take encalito or just a little they are not actually eating the beans

and a little bit of meat and maybe zero to no kind of

vegetable in terms of salad or something else. So even just adjusting the portion can adjust how your body receives it. Because what's also happening in our culture is not just the food. It's the lifestyle of being so sedentary. When people at home ate these foods and they ate a pile of rice, they were also physically working.

Yeah. Outside in the hot in the sun, getting sunshine in. They're cleaning. They didn't have dishwashers. They were actually they were washing the clothes by hand. If we're talking about, you know, female centered activities, which back in the day they were, right? Or the men were out in the field.

The women were picking up and dropping off children. They were carrying buckets of water. So, it's very different. activity level and food go kind of hand in hand because food provides you with energy. And if you're not using up all the energy, it has to go somewhere and it's going to get stored.

And this is a lot of what I teach my clients too of how the body actually works and how much energy does your body actually need. So, if you're eating a pile of rice now and you're gonna go sit down at your computer for five hours and then your couch for five hours and then your bed

Yeah.

you don't eat it, right?

You You're not using it. You're not putting it to work. So, those things matter.

Yeah. No, for sure. Totally. Okay. So, let's talk about some other food swaps like that. We talked about we we named a little bit like with the ghee and stuff and and the picture I forget that you know people are listening on Spotify.

I was showing her what I use as my allpurpose seasoning cuz I grew up with Sasson or or Badia but this one has no chemicals. So see that's the thing. It cost maybe a dollar more but to me it's just all natural organic garlics, organic or salt, organic sugar, organic lime juice.

Like understanding your ingredients. That's something I had to teach a lot of my clients because I'm like, well,

you know, MSG could cause headaches. Your headaches is causing you not to sleep. You're not sleeping. So, guess what? Now you're depressed. It It's all

And you're more insulin insensitive. Like, your blood sugar goes up. This is why you're craving a lot during the day. Your body needs energy because it didn't recover while sleeping.

Right. Exactly. And so it's like understanding how you sleep, how you move during the day because some people don't go to the gym or have that time. So guess what I'm like, do you have 10 minutes? Like you teach you don't need to.

I mean, it's movement. Dance for 30 minutes in your freaking bedroom or something. I don't know. Do something.

Consistent movement throughout the day is better than a chunk of movement at one point in the day and being sedentary for the rest of the day. Absolutely. It burns more. So, let's say you do work in an office or you are sitting for long periods of time as is the culture right now.

I always tell my clients,

you fill up your water bottle, you're eventually going to have to pee or you set timers. If you're if you need it or some sort I said every time you go to the bathroom, you do 10 squats. Every time you go to the bathroom, if you have stairs in the house, you go to the upstairs bathroom or you go to downstairs bathroom or you do wall push-ups or if you have like certain weights at home.

It doesn't need to be weights. It could be your laundry detergent. It could be sack of rice. It could be cans of beans. Like

use the environment around you. I always like to encourage and I'm the first one doing squats in a bathroom stall, you know, or taking the long way at a parking lot. Yeah. 10 10 jumping jacks. 10 jumping jacks. Something in between. Yeah. Exactly.

If you're Yeah. Something to move your heart, right? Because that that's it. Like we have these organs and trillions of cells in our system and all they want to do is love you and and we just True.

We got to love them back. Naomi. So, Lisa, is there any um like any books or anything that because some people are like, "Well, I don't know if I could afford working with Diana." Not that I do nutrition. I don't do that. I I just do my thing.

But like for you, Naomi, like any books because I know there's a couple of books that helped me and I wanted to name them because to me then my show notes will have it. Calm your mind with food by Uma Naidu, MD. Dr.

Dr. Uma, do you know? Have you heard of that book?

I think I've heard I think I've heard of Dr. Uma for sure.

Oh, I know Dr. Uma. Yes. But I haven't read that book. Yeah.

Yeah. And so to me, like I love giving information because it is about education, choosing to learn where you are, who you are, why you are, your legacy, what is it that you want, healing these parts of you, understanding that you have power and you have choice.

Because so many people feel so stuck. Naomi, right?

Here's the other book. Have you heard of Dr. Lee?

No.

Oh, man. He's got some great stuff, too. Like these these doctors and and the reason I say that because there's not only Naomi and I, right? She's got her podcast. I have my podcast. But think about it. If you listen to this and then you listen to Naomi and then you go and listen to Dr.

Naidu or Dr. Lee and have an understanding of the of different sciences and the why, that encourages you. This is what encourages. I know how I learn and stay focused. You know, I learn new things.

Absolutely.

Constantly.

I'm shifting around because I have all my books in this corner.

Oh, cool. All right. So, let teach me teach us like what is it that you like and and what helped you on your journey?

Yeah. So, quick quick insert when it comes to seasonings. I love that Bandida has organic also small business, womenowned. Um, Maida has a business called Healthy Rican and she has sass, she has adobo, she has um dry sofrito which is amazing

and her products are so clean, womenowned, small business. She's from New York

and I also have a discount code if you guys are interested for her stuff, but she's an option. And also there's another brand called Louisa who they are in Whole Foods and other supermarkets I believe also super clean. They also have adobo. I like that they have other seasonings like garlic powder, turmeric, oregano, those kinds of things.

So I order them both in tandem for the stuff that like the seasonings I need to cook and that is a first step.

Absolutely. And then you know minding your portions and everything else. So

and read the ingredients. I'm always telling people, please read the ingredients. If you see something and it's more than three or four, put it down and find something else.

I would say, you know, know what they mean because sometimes there is a longer list, but it's maybe vitamins or, you know, it just depends. You you want to be able to understand it at some capacity, but also sometimes there are ingredients in there that are in like in a scientific name or something like that.

So, that's something I do teach my clients a lot, which is

reading the ingredients, what they actually mean, reading a food label, what does that

what is that telling you?

Yes. Oh my goodness. Yes. And and what is it doing to you? Because

I I also ask clients because I do work with nutritionists. I work with psychiatrists because we all need like or with an acupuncture. Just think about it. I rather have a village

that has my best interest. I know I'm gonna have to pay them, but at the same time, they're teaching me on how first of all accountability and different parts of me,

right? Like for me, I if I I can only do so much and it's usually what my lane is, cognitive behavioral therapy, right? Internal family systems to get down to the emotional, but for all the ingredient stuff, I'm like, "No, go to Naomi."

I think you bring up a great point because we're not used to as a community and culturally used to investing in ourselves in that way.

Um it seemed like a waste or frivolous or sometimes, you know, like not worth it. But, and again, this is generally speaking, we're we're so okay with going on a shopping spree at Marshalls or TJ Maxx and it's like, "Oh, this is just $5 and this is just $10 and is a bunch of physical stuff that's probably you can talk best of this fulfilling some sort of need or dopamine hit, but actually is not going to help you feel better in the long term, right?

So considering that, like what about if we saved up the $5, the $10, the $15 and learned how to invest in ourselves in a different way because it it goes much deeper than just like a new shampoo or mascara or something like that.

Right. Right. I mean, the quick fixes we that's the thing we're trying to to get people to understand they're worth a longer period of time of healing and understanding. And it's okay to say yes to yourself because we are as Latina women really trained to care about everybody else.

Care about that man. Care about the children. And and it's not about not caring for them. But if you really really want to care for them, you need to put the oxygen mask on yourself first.

Yes.

Right. So tell me tell me the books. I'm all like hyped up.

So I have the books here. I I have to be honest. One of my favorite ways to get information is through podcasts. So, I would search. I just have more time for listening than just sitting and reading. I do have some books here and then you can go follow them.

There's a ton of podcast episodes with these

Oh, cool.

um these doctors. So, one of my favorite I do a lot of focus on women's specific nutrition and exercise ladies. Um, a lot of information out here is for men, but I do a lot on women specific through the menstrual cycle, per menopause, menopause because we're different.

So, one of my favorites um is Dr. Stacy Sims. She has two books. She's a PhD.

She has one book called Roar: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong Lean Body for Life. So, a lot of great information here for active women. Um, the next one is Stacy Sims with Selene Joerger or I feel like both of them are the authors of the next book of the other book to war.

It's called Next Level: Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Your Goals Through Menopause and Beyond.

Oh my, I need to read that.

Continuation of this one.

Yeah.

Lots of great information. Another um kind of longevity doctor is Peter Atia outlet.

Yes, his stuff is amazing.

Longevity.

Yes,

lots of good information there. And again, bringing it back to women, the new menopause by Marie Cla Haver.

Um there's there's a lot of doctors, female doctors now who are empowering women. Um, and there's other doctors that I'm not remembering off the top of my head that I I really follow their science and their teachings, but these are just a few of the ones I have.

I love that. And what podcast would you recommend that you love that really

besides yours? Name yours again.

Yes, I would encourage you to listen to Let's Let's Be Healthy Latinas. That's my podcast.

Um, I do a lot I have a lot of episodes on there on education, on hormones, on food, and I also do a lot of episodes on our culture specifically and the challenges that we face as first generation Latinas or Latinas in general in in our like the culture exactly what we're talking about like what are people saying, how to handle certain situations, how to handle, you know, conversations because there's this mass massive education that needs to happen.

Um, and my I'm I'm going to be posting an episode where I do I do it in Spanish and English is the first time I'm talking about it in both languages, but I had this conversation with a loved one um among a lot of misconceptions that she was sharing with me and I was explaining it to her in Spanish and I'm like, damn, if I explain it to her in Spanish, I can just show up for

our community and do it for them as well. because she had so many m misconceptions about losing weight, about diabetes, about how to handle all these things.

Um, so yeah, it's it's going to be in both languages. It's not out yet, but it'll be out soon. And in terms of um these other podcasts,

um, I would say something I like to do is just search for, let's say, Stacy Sims, and then all the episodes that she's been on

come up. Um, but one of someone who I enjoy or two people who I enjoy how they interview is uh Diary of a CEO with

Yeah.

And the School of Greatness with Louis House.

Um,

do you know uh the Model Health show?

No.

Oh my goodness. His story is really good because he talks about how he was diagnosed with these things. It's uh with Sean Stevenson his name is

Okay. And he and what I love is that he grew up in the inner city and he came out of that and now he teaches people. So it's called the Model Health Show. That's something that I like back in 2020. I was just eating that that podcast up and it's really good.

So yeah, all these things I'm going to put in the show notes. So you know with especially So if somebody wanted to work with you, how can they find you? Do you work with people from all over the world?

Yeah, I work with people from everywhere. A lot of my clients, I'm in New York. A lot of my clients have been California, Arizona, Texas, like and and a good chunk here on the East Coast. But you can find me on Instagram at Naomi Derez, or on my website, Naomi.com.

You can go ahead and DM me or send me an email, share a note on my podcast, and we can start the conversation there. Usually people book a consultation call or we can just chat, you know, um to see what you're looking for, what your goals are.

But that's how to find me and how to work with me. I usually work with my clients one on one um to really get into the root of what you're looking for and really create that lifestyle shift that um it is what I help people with um through food movements and yeah, the lifestyle shifts.

And you can listen to my podcast as well, Let's Be Healthy Latinas.

Yeah, I love that. All right. Is there anything you'd like to say to the audience before we say goodbye, Naomi?

Anything I would like to say? I I think in in the theme of our episode is navigate out of the quick fix. Like really see why you're doing what you're doing, what your goals are, how that's going to help you, and whatever you're choosing.

I would encourage you to think like is this going to be sustainable or is this going to be add more stress to your life? You know, it shouldn't be stressful then that kind of defeats the purpose. Yeah.

So, I always say in in my little spiel like while living your best life, can you do what you're doing to help yourself while living your best life? You don't want it to feel like torture.

No.

Um so,

Exactly.

Yeah. It shouldn't it shouldn't feel I mean honestly like in the very beginning you know no what is it called no pain no gain because you're shifting and changing and you're challenging and you're grow think of yourself as a beautiful butterfly right it's like you you're like in this caterpillar state and then it's like oh struggling to come out and then you become this beautiful butterfly and it's not about perfection because that's something right

and it's not about honestly it's about the the beauty from within, not on the out. Because we have all these lies and stories being told on what a perfect Latina looks like or perfect woman at that. And it's no, no, no, no, no.

That's why to, you know, hire Naomi and and she'll challenge you in a gentle, loving New York Dominican way. I love it. you can hire me too, but I'm more of the, you know, I I'll get down to the nitty-gritty of the grief and shame, like

the guilt and shame of why you're thinking that way, right? So, honestly, you can hire both of us.

Yeah, it's always I I think my clients get the best results when they are working in tandem with other health professionals. Do have therapists

um with their doctors as well. So, it really is a care team. Again, it's not just one person. Yeah. And if you can't afford any person, just start with sitting alone with with creator, with with God, and just journal and and just start with one thing, one one resource that Naomi said or that I said, you know, one I even have a PDF on my re on my and I'll leave it in the show notes, too, like of just how to start because

the reason Naomi and I are are doing these things, I know, is because we care about our people and our community and we want a healthy community and to grow and to learn and to teach and because you have kids, I have kids, I have grandkids.

I don't want it's what we're leaving to them, right? We want you to be good and healthy. So, on that note, listener, please remember to trust in the Lord, guard your heart, and renew your mind. Bye. And now for the disclaimer to make sure you understand that you are responsible for you.

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