“Keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive!” Wellness Wednesday | October 7, 2026 |
The Debbie Nigro Show
(Full Show)
Hey there guys …I’m on a 30-day challenge to get myself moving more, eating better, and holding myself accountable. Apparently, telling myself I’ll start tomorrow while eating more bread wasn’t working.
I’ve failed multiple times already but pressing on, and forgiving myself regularly, making a little progress and forcing myself to try new things.
I even tried a BARRE class. You know, the one with the ballet bar? I used to be a ballerina, (albeit a chubby little one) so I figured, how hard could it be?
Let’s just say I BARRE-LY made it down the stairs afterward.
But hey, I’m trying! And that’s what Keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive! is all about.
This week’s show had some terrific food for thought, fascinating research, a wonderful guest, and a few things that just made me smile.
Meet Dr. Katie: Helping Kids Feel Comfortable Being Themselves
My special guest, Dr. Katie Prince Ferreira, is an educator, special education expert, mom of two autistic children, and creator of Regulated and Ready Learning and the adorable Zippy children’s book series.
Her mission? Helping children with autism and sensory challenges understand their feelings, regulate their bodies, communicate their needs, and feel proud of who they are.
One of the most important things she said really stayed with me.
The goal isn’t necessarily to make children blend in. It’s to help them feel comfortable in their own skin and become the best versions of themselves.
I love that.
We talked about recognizing early signs of autism, sensory overload, social challenges, and simple tools that can help children feel safe and understood.
And the story of how her daughter inspired the little character Zippy is just wonderful.
Her books and resources are available in English and Spanish, and I think parents, grandparents, teachers, and therapists will find this conversation especially valuable.
Dr. Katie’s resources:
Regulated and Ready Learning on Linktr.ee. It includes her children’s books, educational resources, and social-media pages. More of her resources for teachers on teacherspayteachers.com under ‘Special Education Resources’.
Could New Research Offer Hope for Severe Autism?
I also shared a fascinating report about an experimental treatment being studied by Yamo Pharmaceuticals, including one father’s account of dramatic improvements in his son’s severe autism symptoms.
It’s an intriguing area of research, although early reports aren’t proof of a miracle treatment. More clinical evidence is needed.
The New Longevity Goal? Capability!
Here’s a word I really like: Capability.
More people are focusing on staying strong, mobile, balanced, and independent rather than simply adding more birthdays.
I’m right there with them!
My 30-day challenge includes aiming for 8,000 steps a day and taking more exercise classes. Eight thousand steps is a stretch for me, but I’m giving it a shot.
And here’s more motivation: Researchers studying breast cancer survivors found that exercise may help slow certain biological markers of aging.
As a grateful breast cancer survivor myself, I found that especially encouraging.
The takeaway? Move your body. Walk. Dance. Stretch. Do something!
What Really Happens When You Fast for Seven Days?
Scientists studying prolonged fasting discovered that significant changes occur throughout the body, with some of the most interesting effects emerging after approximately three days without food.
Interesting science! Not a recommendation to stop eating for a week, though. Prolonged fasting can carry risks and isn’t something to try without medical guidance.
Personally, I love food too much. And bread and I are currently negotiating our relationship.
Smell Chocolate. Exercise Better? WHAT?
Now THIS study got my attention.
Apparently, food aromas may influence motivation and physical performance.
They only studied men.
Maybe they figured the women would eat the chocolate before they had a chance to smell it. LOL.
Glow-in-the-Dark Adventures Are Trending!
One especially fun trend? Bioluminescent beaches!
Imagine walking along a shoreline where the water glows at night.
In fact, searches for bioluminescent beaches have reportedly jumped 400% over the past year!
Add mineral springs, restorative nature retreats, wellness hotels, and glamping, and you’ve got a whole new way to vacation.
I’m all for anything that gets people out experiencing something magical.
Move Over, Wine Tourism. Here Comes Tea!
Another trend I discovered is travel tea.
Apparently, serious tea lovers are bringing their own favorite teas, portable infusers, and little brewing kits wherever they go.
People are actually planning trips to tea-growing regions to visit plantations, learn how tea is made, enjoy tastings, and experience traditional tea ceremonies.
Japan, China, India, Sri Lanka, and other tea-growing destinations are part of this growing interest.
Who knew tea could become an adventure?
One More Thought: The Voices We Love
I also shared a little brainstorm about something close to my heart: the power of a familiar voice.
I was touched by a story about a man who wanted to preserve his late wife’s voicemail greeting so he could continue hearing her voice.
It made me think about how precious the voices of people we love really are.
More on that idea another day!
My Daily Toast
“Maybe keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive isn’t about how many birthdays you have. It’s about making sure you’re strong enough, curious enough, and adventurous enough to enjoy them.”
— Debbie Nigro
That’s my mission, and I’m sticking to it!
Here’s to staying curious, moving more, learning something new, and making the most of this wonderfully ridiculous thing called life.
Catch “Keeping the ‘Live’ in Alive!” every Wellness Wednesday on The Debbie Nigro Show, NY/CT WGCH 1490 AM / or hit Listen Live from anywhere at WGCH.com – find more conversations, podcasts, and Debservations™ at DebbieNigro.com
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
100726-0
English (US) · 0:43:18
00:06
Announcer
It’s time for the Debbie Nigro show with Debbie Nigro, who says she’s still a babe, or at least she thinks she still is. That’s right, attitude is everything, and Debbie’s delusionally young. No one sees the glass of Cabernet half full like Debbie. She’s fresh air with a magnetic flare. Some day has arrived, and as far as she’s concerned, it’s time to roll. When I wake up in the morning, love, and the sunlight hurts my eyes, and something without warning, love bears heavy on my mind. Then I look at you, and the world’s all right with me.
01:17
Singer
Just one look at you, and I know it’s gonna be a lovely day. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
01:46
Singer
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Someone else instead of me ♪ always seems to know the way. Then I look at you, and the world’s all right with me. Just one look at you, and I know it’s gonna be a lovely day.
02:46
Singer
Doubted it, doubted always seems to know the way. I just want to look at you, and I know it’s gonna be a lovely day. ♪ La la la ♪ It is a lovely day. Hi, everybody. I
I’m Debbie Nigro. I love when Bobby, my engineer, starts a show with a song that makes me smile. It’s those throwback songs, Bobby. Throwback songs. So, hey, it’s Wellness Wednesday. I hope you’re feeling well. It’s the theme called Keeping the Live In Alive. And I’ll tell you about my 30 day challenge that I just started like two days ago. Let’s just put it this way. I had to try something to be accountable to myself because I kept BSing myself. You know, when you do that, oh, yeah, tomorrow I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that. And the next day is like, okay, I’ll try again tomorrow and I eat more bread. I got a bread problem and a lying to myself problem. So I have a 30 day challenge. I started off by taking a class called BAR, B A R R E. Anyone know what that is? Isn’t that something about dance? It’s done in a room with a ballet bar.
05:05
Debbie Nigro
Yeah. And I thought, oh, I used to be a ballerina. How hard could this be? I barely made it up the steps. I’ll tell you more about that later on. I got a great guest coming up this hour, and I met her at the place where they give that class for B A R R E. It’s called Lifetime. And I started going there because my daughter and family were going there, and I got this caregiver thing, and I go along, and I mostly was not doing anything for me. And then with this 30 day challenge, I’m like, okay, so I met this woman who’s going to be a guest on the show today through my daughter. They’ve been friendly and her name is Katie Prince Ferreira, Dr. Katie. Okay. Now why I’m glad she’s coming. She’s a special educator parent and she’s the creator of regulated and ready learning. She, you know, has this dual master’s like one of these really smart people special education doctorate from Teachers College She’s got a whole slew of books. She’s known to a lot of kids as Dr. Katie and she creates Neurodiversity affirming books and visuals and practical resources that help kids feel safe, understood, and empowered.
06:20
Debbie Nigro
And her work is inspired by both her professional experience and her experiences as a parent. So there you go. It’s got a zippy series, Regulated and Ready Learning. And a lot of kids out there are having challenges. They’re categorized in all these different ways they just. And all these, you know, different ways they discuss children who have challenges, but she’s got it and she figured it out. And I really want you to know her, and I’m going to learn from her too, okay? Okay. Good. Yeah. You know, the word autism keeps coming up, and honestly, I wasn’t exactly sure how to define the word autism. It’s okay. The definition keeps changing. Yeah. It’s just learning more and more. Yeah, I thought maybe she could speak to that. You know, it’s a disorder like everything else, and it’s called, you know, we all have some kind of disorder.
07:12
Debbie Nigro
I honestly think we all have some kind of disorder. It’s just, you know, what’s your flavor of crazy, right? But some people are just born with challenges that they don’t realize until somebody else helps them realize. I should have known I had a little challenge with talking too much when I got asked for them. My first doll was the chatty Kathy doll, and I just kept talking to my doll all day long. Bobby that was my training for a talk show I thought I do with Shetty Kathy was that she spoke to you she did and I kept talking to her okay my mother be like a really these two anyway autism spectrum disorder ASD is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person communicates interacts with others and experiences the world.
07:54
Debbie Nigro
So you know some people have trouble with social especially kids social You know back and forth conversation that comes naturally to others reading like nonverbal cues like eye contact or building relationships and sometimes it’s repetitive behaviors that show up in kids. You know repetitive movements, hand flapping, rocking, it’s often called stimming. And typically these folks have a, and children, have a strong preference for fixed routines and difficult, it’s difficult for them to handle like unexpected changes. You know me, I have an unexpected change every two seconds. That’s another disorder. And then sensory sensitivities, heightened or reduced reactions to sounds, lights, textures, tastes, or smells.
08:42
Debbie Nigro
You know what I noticed? I don’t like a lot of sound during the day when I’m working. I can’t think, ’cause my brain’s too busy and then the sound just makes it, it’s like too much. I feel kind of the same way, but here at the radio station, people are talking and I have to listen to what they’re saying. You do? And that’s where it bothers me. I should disengage so that I can get my work done. But it’s very hard when they’re talking and I want to hear what they have to say. You’re not talking about like while you’re engineering this show.
09:10
Bobby
No, no. You don’t have a problem listening. I’m talking like when I’m producing stuff that’s going to run later. Yeah, run later. So I had a really big brainstorm this morning in the shower. God knows I have all my brainstorming. I do all my best thinking in the shower. Okay. But then I come out and dry off and forget. But I did write it down today. And it has to do with something maybe you want to help me with. Okay. It’s about leaving your voice behind. Oh. You know, I’m all about voice and audio and listening and many years talking on the radio. And it was just recently people were saying, I hope you didn’t erase. Oh, I read a story about a guy who kept his wife’s voice on the voicemail many, many years after she died? And he needed to change his voicemail, and he would only hire a company who could keep his wife’s voice so he could keep hearing it, you know? And I think there’s something to that. You know, people don’t want to forget how people sounded, who they loved. So we’ll discuss that another time. But this is Debbie Nigro.
10:07
Debbie Nigro
This is the Keeping and Living Alive show. Welcome to Wellness Wednesday. My guest I just told you about is coming up next. I hope you guys are doing good. I’ve got a great show lined up for you today. So don’t go away, okay? Well, welcome back to my show. Hi, everybody. Debbie Nigro and here’s that gal I told you I met at the pool at the gym through my daughter lovely gal my daughter loves her and then I learned how smart she wasn’t that wow this woman could really help I learned how smart she was and thought, wow, this woman could really help some people.
10:58
Debbie Nigro
Dr. Katie, welcome to my show. Thank you for having me. Dr. Katie, that’s not your real name. That’s not your whole name. It’s Dr. Prady. It’s my whole name. Yeah. Would you go by Dr. Katie? People know you, right? I do, yes. My students all call me Dr. Katie, and so do all the teachers. Tell me and tell everybody what your specialty is, Dr. Katie, and why I’m having you on the show, and I think you’re unique. I know you’re an amazingly brilliant woman. I know you have two children that you have sort of, I guess, led you in the direction for your regulated and ready series of books.
11:34
Debbie Nigro
So, explain who you are and what you do. Sure. I’ve been an educator for more than 20 years, and I’ve worked as a special education teacher and as an EL teacher. I’m currently an EL teacher and coordinator at a public school in the Bronx, and I have a doctorate in special education with a focus on autism and intellectual disabilities. So, Naturally, I thought I Understood a lot about autism. So, yes, I just actually spent a little time in the beginning of the show, you know, talking about autism because I myself have always been very confused about exactly what it is. I know there’s different versions of it. They call it the spectrum, correct? Yes, they do. Okay. So with all the description of it, I mean, obviously there are this, there’s severe autism and then there’s, you know, are you sure your child or person has autism? Because who knows, based on some of the explanations, you have two children that are both autistic, correct? Yes, they’re both autistic, level one. Okay. How did you know, like, what were the signs as a mother for other mothers listening or grandparents? How did you know that was the story with your children.
12:44
Dr. Katie
That’s an excellent question. So, when my daughter was born, she appeared just like every other child. And as she started growing, I saw that she didn’t always make eye contact and she wasn’t speaking. So, the not speaking was the big one. And she also had a lot of sensory issues. She didn’t like long sleeves, she couldn’t tolerate certain textures, but it was the not speaking. And she was very bright. So, I started teaching her sign language. And I realized that it wasn’t a communication issue, it was a verbal language issue. And so we started getting speech therapy and started getting other support services. And when she entered school as a two year old, we started seeing even more differences. She would become dysregulated in the classroom when there were too many children, when it was too noisy, and things just seemed different. And so that’s when we had her evaluated. Does she talk now? She does. She talks a mile a minute. You can’t get her to stop. Oh, that’s interesting. And I have met her. She is adorable. Adorable. So, what was the so going forward now, now that she’s talking, what are the challenges having started off as a young child with those challenges?
13:55
Debbie Nigro
What is what is the now challenge with her? Yeah, so that’s a great question. So, social communication and sensory regulation are the two big focal points for both of my children. My daughter’s four, my son is two, and specifically for my Daughter, she loves interacting with peers. She loves playing with peers and having friends. But the social nuances that we call pragmatics, she just doesn’t inherently get. Other children would automatically sort of understand how to join a group, whose plan we’re playing, what are the unwritten rules, how do I tell someone they’re too close, they’re too loud, how do I leave a play if I don’t want to play anymore, and all of those things are overwhelming and anxiety producing for her, so we explicitly teach into them.
14:39
Dr. Katie
Wow. So this whole series of books, Zippy, I love it. Hidden numbers and even in Spanish. And wow, you were really thought through this through. But who’s Zippy to you? And how did you come up with Zippy, a character that kids with autism would relate to? I love this story. So my daughter, the word Zippy in our house refers to when you have so much energy that you really just can’t stop. You can’t stop moving you’re running in circles, and even if you want to stop, you can’t stop your body from moving. And so one day we were reading a book about emotions, and my daughter says, Mommy, Zippy’s not in the book. And we decided to draw a page and tape it into the book about the feeling of being Zippy, and we just made this crude little green, little fuzzy little monster, and Zippy was born.
15:30
Dr. Katie
And I made a few social stories and then realized that it could be a really fun children’s book. Oh, it’s great. So one of the signs, of autism or You know, unregulation is kids who have to move and can’t stop moving with too much energy? How do you differentiate that from like ADHD or hyperactive disorder? So, good question. A lot of children who have autism also have ADHD and sensory regulation really boils down to if you feel good in your own body. So, if you’re dysregulated My children lose access to Their cognitive and communication skills.
16:09
Dr. Katie
They shut down. And so one of the main things you want to do with sensory regulation is to really make sure that you’re building in those pieces throughout the day. So it could be something like heavy work where you’re pushing a laundry basket. It could be something where you’re jumping on a trampoline, you’re climbing up a ladder. There’s lots of different forms of sensory regulation and the trick is to figure out what your specific child needs in order to keep their body calm. And that changes for each child. So it’s about keeping the body calm and when the body is calm the mind is calm? Yeah so the idea is if your body is regulated then you’re able to access the other parts of you. So for example we’ve all sat in an office meeting where we were tapping our foot over and over again or tapping our pen we were starting to become dysregulated in a very small way.
17:01
Dr. Katie
If you see a child who climbs furniture and can’t stop climbing furniture or who’s constantly butting their head into you or stepping on your toes those are signs that they’re becoming disregular head into you or stepping on your toes, those are signs that they’re becoming dysregulated in their own way. Well this is I think very educational for a lot of parents, grandparents, and friends of you know friends with kids. Sometimes a friend can see something about your kid that you can’t even see yourself, you’re too close to it. So I’m so happy you took the time. Now you’re teaching today and you stepped out of the classroom, is that what’s going on? Yeah, so I took last year, no I took last year and this year off. I’m on leave in order to help my kiddos really come into their own and benefit from all of the services that they’re getting, and so that I can be there for drop off and pick up, and be there for the therapy appointments, and most importantly, be here when they come home from school.
17:50
Dr. Katie
Children who are autistic have a tendency to mask all day long, which means they hold it together to try to fit in and be like other kids. And so I find it’s really important for me to be here with them when school finally finishes, therapy, sports, so that when they’re home in their safe place with me and they need to fall apart, I’m here to help them with that and to regulate and get back on track. Boy, you’ve been doing a lot of work there and it’s benefiting a lot of people, not just you and your kids, Katie, Dr. Katie. So this is just really regulated and ready learning. Very nice, very self explaining topic there. And how many books do you have out there now? Right now there are 13. Wow. Each book that I make in English I try to make in Spanish. You know that bilingual component is really important. And then I have my hidden number books which are for fun because my kids are obsessed with finding hidden numbers. Oh I like hidden numbers too. People listening, who are these books for specifically? Are they for parents to read to kids, grandparents to read to for the kids themselves to start reading, who are they directed toward?
19:03
Dr. Katie
Yeah, so the “Meet Zippy” series and then there’s “Kayla Zippy Night” and “Sometimes when My Words Get Stuck.” These are picture books designed for parents, therapists, teachers, other family members to read with their children so that the children can start seeing themselves in books and can start realizing that it’s okay, they don’t need to be ashamed, they don’t need to be embarrassed, and that we love you exactly the way you are and we are here to help you figure out how to move forward. His life goes on with Kids who start off with these challenges, is it something that follows them throughout their life or through proper regulation, can they fit in and blend in better to society without anybody knowing they have an issue? It’s a great question and it’s really child specific. The goal isn’t necessarily to blend in and fit in, the goal is to feel comfortable in your own skin and to become the best version of yourself that you can.
20:03
Debbie Nigro
Yeah. I’m not a blend. Of yourself that you can. Yeah. I’m not a blender inner myself, so I kind of get that. You know, I actually wrestle between blending in and standing out. That’s been my whole lifelong issue as a media personality. You know, it’s like I want to do, I’m like, oh, I can do this, you know, really, really good, but I don’t want to deal with everybody knowing what I’m doing. So I think. What I’m really looking for is the goal of all of this. Yes. Is to help children identify what they’re feeling and what they need, and then to use the tools.
20:30
Dr. Katie
And the materials that they have available to them in order to be the best versions of themselves. So if the room is too noisy, they get their headphones. If someone is too close to them, they feel confident to use their brave voice and say, “I need space.” If they are climbing the walls and they can’t stop being zippy, to ask an adult to come give them deep squeezes so that they learn what they need, they go get what they need, and then if that doesn’t work, they ask for help. All while feeling confident in Help all while feeling confident and proud of themselves.
21:03
Debbie Nigro
You know what I’m thinking as we’re talking that this, like every teacher who teaches young kids, should read your book so they can identify in case someone hasn’t already, someone in the class who may be struggling that hasn’t been diagnosed. Is that something that you think would be helpful? I do actually, and I’m waiting for my newest book, which will arrive on Monday which is specifically about what you do when you’re in the classroom and you’re struggling, and that you don’t have to hide who you are, that you can be yourself. And I rushed to get it ready so that I could have it read in my daughter’s class by her teachers, so that everyone, her peers, her teachers, and herself can realize it’s okay to be who you are. I think every teacher should read your series of books. I think this is just amazing what you’ve done. But, you know, sometimes when you see something that nobody’s addressed, that’s when the energy comes to fill the void. So you’ve obviously filled the void. And I just want to congratulate you. I’m so happy we took the time to talk. I mean, this is really important work that you’re doing.
22:00
Debbie Nigro
And somehow, yeah, somehow your background in education and giving birth to these two children is not only helping your kid, but helping so many other children on the planet. So really, thank you so much. Are you on Amazon? I think you’re on Amazon with your books. Am I? Yep, the books are on Amazon. And then all of the teacher materials are on my Teachers Pay Teachers site. Which is regulated in many learnings. So if teachers or therapists or parents need materials from how to stop biting to How to make friends or whatever it is. We we’ve got it up there in English and Spanish. That is really great. Okay, so I’m going to do when this is all over, Dr. Katie. I make this into a podcast of our conversation, thanks to my trusty engineer Bob, and then I put a blog and I’ll put it up and we can share it out to as many people as we possibly can reach to help you help them.
22:48
Debbie Nigro
And I feel like that’s why I love doing this show because I get to meet you know people like you. And educate myself and everybody who’s listening. So you have a great rest of your day. What what do you do to chill out, by the way, with all this going on in your life? Ah, it’s a great question. I like to do dance parties with my kids, and I like to read sitting in my hammock. Oh, those are two very different sports. I’ll come to the next dance party, okay? Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. You too, Dr. Katie. Bye bye. Lovely, lovely having you on the show. Yeah, wow. You know, it just, there’s more kids than you know who need her books, and more parents than you know who need her books, and more grandparents than you know who need her books. And, you know, it’s funny because when I babysit for my grandkids and they’re nonstop zooming around, I’m like, Is this normal? You know, I don’t know. Do all kids run around and climb the walls? I don’t know. Yes, no, maybe so, but at least we know that there’s education and these wonderful books for anybody who needs them.
23:47
Debbie Nigro
Okay, terrific, Bobby. So, what else are we talking about? Oh, I want to say one more thing about autism. I saved an article from the New York Post from last week, and I asked her if she knew about this. She did not, and I didn’t get the company in time to be on the show. But the headline said, Dad says autism miracle drug drastically and immediately improved his son’s severe symptoms. So, I thought, well, what is that? Up until four months ago, I was reading in the story this child was self harming till he was like black and blue, unable to make eye contact, keeping himself in a corner all day. I mean, how heartbreaking is this for a parent, right? And he was apparently inching dangerously close to being confined by a punishing helmet and sedated and getting antipsychotic meds. He has severe autism that left him incapable of functioning by himself.
24:39
Debbie Nigro
And the outlook was not good. But. Then, after his parents chased every possible solution, intervention, you know, to no avail, there was research they found out that was led by Yamo Pharmaceuticals. And when you come back, I’m going to tell you about what they got that was amazing. And, well, this may be of great interest to people listening. So, more to come on the Debbie Nigro Show. Yeah, fun too. I have fun lined up as well. Don’t worry. All right, keeping the living alive coming up. Oh gosh, I got a long list of stuff we got to discuss.
25:36
Debbie Nigro
Yes, I do. It’s Wellness Wednesday. I’m Debbie Nagro. How about this? Adventure travel. How about this? Adventure trend. This is an adventure trend. I love trends. People are searching for places, Bob, that glow in the dark. Yeah, bioluminescent beaches. People are looking for bioluminescent beaches and mineral springs and wellness hotels and all kinds of nature based restorative travel. Yeah, it’s risingtrends.com. I was reading about this. Yeah, you know, there’s a trend that goes on in Las Vegas. That is what. The theme of what people go to Las Vegas for. And that changes by years, decades, et cetera, right? So I was following somebody who lives in Las Vegas, and they were talking about, you know, the big stars was one trend. Then it was family vacation for a while when they couldn’t figure the next thing out. Then it was, you know, whatever, influencer. Now it’s wellness travel and wellness trips to Vegas. They’re trying to include that, which seems a little. But, you know, we all have choices which seems a little off but you know we all have two sides to us but you know you can go there be well and then rock out and be bad.
26:55
Debbie Nigro
Alright so searches for bioluminescent beaches have jumped 400% this year. Okay people are looking for travel rewards, they’re looking for travel lounges because if they’re gonna go they want to have the best experience right. They’re looking for travel tea and that’s what’s Trending? My goodness, did you know this? Glamping is big too. What’s travel tea is an actual I guess tea. Oh okay. Tea that you need to travel with. I don’t know enough about it just know it’s trending. How about them apples? I’ll have to figure that out. Yeah that’s what’s going on. Glow-in-the-dark is a big fun thing for most people. I just bought my granddaughter some glow-in-the-dark Fun thing for most people. I just bought my granddaughter some glow in the dark stickers for her window in her room and she couldn’t wait to get home and put them all up, you know, with tape so she wouldn’t ruin the walls on the windows instead. But glow in the dark. Yeah. The kids love it. Parents love it. I saw something for sale for Christmas that I said, Am I really going to buy this? Because, you know, on Instagram, people try and sell you things.
28:00
Debbie Nigro
And if the video is good enough, you want everything. Like, you definitely want to get it, right? And so it was, I thought, a shining light on the, it said Christmas, like, not enthusiast, but I guess. They were saying Christmas, like nutjobs. You would like to have this for your house. And I figured, oh, maybe it makes the whole house look decorated inside, like they had the one for the outside of the house. So you don’t have to do anything really, like heavy lifting. You just put this light on and all of a sudden it’s Christmas in your house. But instead it was over the top. It was like reindeer coming out of your ceiling and the sled and the thing. I was like, whoa, I don’t know if I could even be in a house with this on it. But you know, it got my attention. It was sort of lit up and glowy, right? I have glow in the dark lights outside my house. That one is going dead on me because the sun is changing direction and they’re solar lights and they were– It’s like a big, I don’t know where I got them, could have been on a shelf at Marshall’s for all I know.
28:55
Debbie Nigro
And it was months and months ago and I bought them like, “Alright, I’ll try these.” And they’re my favorite thing. And it’s like this big fan of lights that goes in my planters at night and I just look at them like, “Aww.” And last night Bob, one blew a flat. So I don’t know if it’s the direction of the solar capturing the light, the sun’s moved, or if they’re so cheap that they’re dead. So I’ll let you know. But that makes me happy. Things that make people happy. We’re trying to have more fun while we’re here, which is why I do these kind of stories. Alright, move on. I want to tell you another wellness story. This one has to do about a new longevity goal, which really isn’t immortality. It’s capability. That’s a new word that’s out there. Capability. Meaning that there’s new research out that people are increasingly caring about Strength and mobility and independence rather than merely just adding years to their life, right? I am a prime example. I signed up for a class today that I’ve never taken because I’m trying to take like a class like three times a week now.
29:53
Debbie Nigro
This is part of my 30 day challenge to myself. And the class that was available, I said, all right, it was called Strength and Mobility or whatever the heck it’s called. Okay. And I thought, Well, why not, right? Because now I’ve noticed that since I Why not, right? Because now I’ve noticed that since I’m walking more and staying more in shape, I can balance on my one leg longer, which is the definitive, can you stand on one leg for 10 seconds to tell you how you’re doing. Do you know that, right? I’ve seen that, yeah. And when you can’t stand on your leg for 10 seconds, one leg, you’re thinking, oh gosh, what does this mean? Am I gonna die? It’s important. So strength and mobility, capability is the word, right? Capability. And that’s like, you know, the mission statement here. So I just wanted to point that out. That this is what people are doing. However, you do it, right? However, you do it. I kind of move on. I’m off the capability and on to the exercise for a second. You know, I like to talk about this because we all need to be motivated to be reminded that this is important.
30:54
Debbie Nigro
And they actually found that exercise may slow your biological aging, which is not the age on your license or your birth certificate, but the age that if someone looked inside, they’d say, oh, wow, I know she’s. 70, but she’s looking 50. So there’s a new study out. It was a randomized trial involving breast cancer survivors. And by the way, if you notice, I’m wearing my pink today. I have pink sneakers and pink zip up because I’m a big fan of early detection, breast cancer. I’m a grateful survivor, right? So yeah, they did a randomized trial involving breast cancer survivors and they found exercise was associated for sure with slowing measures of biological aging and that is a very powerful story. So you gotta do something. I don’t care what it is you do, all right? You have to do something. Walking is something that if you start doing that, you start getting in the mood to try other things. If you can just get that going, some kind of consistency, even if it’s five minutes a day, I don’t care. But this new 30 day challenge I was put to the test, it said on the sheet 8,000 steps a day.
32:07
Debbie Nigro
Now that’s a little above my pay grade. I’m usually getting in about five on an average day, 5,000, 6,000. That’s pretty good. I push it. Eight’s like a double push. Eight’s like I’ve already tried and now I have to walk Costco just to get more steps in or something inside at night. Is that realistic? I don’t think so, but I’m trying. And to walk 8,000 steps a day, at least you have to do it maybe in spurts. And you always have to have. Something tracking your steps either a watch or I put my phone in a fanny pack now just to see how I’m doing. It’s a little obsessive. How long is your stride? I have no idea. Oh, so you’re not worried about how far you’ve walked, no, just number of steps. Yeah, so I just want to encourage people that they’re doing more and more research because this is where everybody’s putting their money, right?
32:56
Debbie Nigro
And all the anti aging and longevity information and research. So you might as well follow what they’re finding. It’s never too late, Okay, what happens if you go seven days without food? A little transition here, Bobby. Seven days without food. Doesn’t sound like a good idea. How long can you go without food? I used to know this. I don’t remember offhand. Besides, the first thing that happens is are you drinking water? I don’t know. Or is it you just avoiding food? Well, the Science Daily people did a story about this, okay? All right. The longest I’ve ever gone without food is probably three days, but I was on a liquid diet from some gastro problem. And I thought that was like, whoa, how do you do this? But once you know you can’t have food, you sort of get into it and you drink enough fluid and you figure it out. Somehow you figure it out. But seven days, I mean, you’ve got to be in the Desert, like nobody finding you, like why else would you do this for seven days? Like, okay. My other half– – You’re trying to get your body to start using the fats that you’re trying to lose to power your body instead of the sugars that you shouldn’t be eating.
34:02
Bobby
I know. So this is why people– – I know, it works, but if you can just do it. So Science Daily does a story about this, and they reveal what seven days of fasting does to the human body. They did find out that prolonged fasting triggers major changes through your body, but many of the most interesting effects only appeared after about three days without food. And the results suggested to them that fasting may influence health in ways that go way beyond weight loss and could eventually inspire treatments that mimic its effect. You know, right now, the GLP drugs are curbing appetite if they think this is even more important maybe that will kill your appetite altogether. That would be really bizarre, right? But realistic. Yeah. Nature Metabolism was the publication they published the findings in. And it was a very detailed look about how your body responds during an extended fast, okay? Who are the scientists? Queen Mary University of London is where this took place. It’s a whole long story. Is where this took place. There’s a, it’s a whole long story. The Queen Mary University of London’s Precision Healthcare University Research Institute.
35:20
Debbie Nigro
It’s like having a long last name in first grade and having to sign, you know. And then the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, they both conducted the work. And what they did this for, so it was to, you know, obviously look at the cells and what’s going on and look for, you know, they want to understand for the future how to reproduce some of the effects of fasting, right? I just, you know, the body is amazing to me. Human body, we don’t think enough about it enough. We just don’t think about how amazing it is to be human. It’s incredible that we have this thing called a body that does all these things that repairs itself mostly. I mean, every time I get cut, I think it just knows it’s going to fix itself. I mean, think about that. It’s crazy that you wake up in the morning, you have eyes that see, and a brain that thinks, and a heart that beats, and all the other body parts.
36:16
Debbie Nigro
To be honest with you, if I was on a game show, I might lose. I’m not exactly sure where the spleen is. How about you? Not exactly. Oh, I don’t feel bad. You’d think by now, after all these years of owning this body, I would know where everything is in it, but I don’t. Okay. And my favorite game, one of my favorite games growing up, was Operation. Well, there was spleen in that, I think. Yeah, that’s when I knew I should never, ever go into the medical field. There was a lot of buzzing, Bob. You know, but in the old day versions, they had, I mean, a buzzer. Was it battery operated? Is that what it did? Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Battery operated, right? Okay, everything’s battery operated. Sidebar. Why do the battery people who put batteries in toys and things and, you know, mostly many, many things put a screw so tiny? That you could never, ever find the right screwdriver to open up and replace the batteries. What is that problem? I don’t know. So, the other day, again, I’m still talking about this other sidebar thing. I’ll go back to the fasting.
37:25
Debbie Nigro
My grandson buys this, he finds this sword that had the batteries, was dead. And I said, No worries, I got this. So, I had a little, tiny screwdriver and I had a few batteries. In 10 seconds, after the 20 minutes trying to undo the screw, we had a lit up sword, you know, Minecraft sword or something. But it’s like most things, it’s like You don’t even know where to begin to replace the batteries. I’m very annoyed with those people. All right, anyway. I don’t know what I want to say about this now, except this story is food for thought fasting and the human body. After three days, things start to really change. If you can do it for a day or at least get into intermittent fasting, we’ll talk about that separately. It’s amazing. Personally, I have trouble because I love to eat. So until somebody tells me that they’ve changed that game and food is bad for you and you should never eat, I’m going to continue to eat. But for some of you who might want to know this, I reported Science Daily’s latest research. All right, more to come on the Debbie Nigro Show.
38:24
Debbie Nigro
What’s my next story I want to tell you about? Oh, smelling chocolate helped men perform what? When you come back on the Debbie Nigro Show. (Upbeat music) Welcome back to this edition of the Debbie and I Girl Show. Wellness Wednesday. Keeping the living alive is the theme, and I’m glad to have you guys with me. All right, here’s what I left you with. All right, I said researchers recently reported that smelling chocolate helped men prefer. More exercise repetitions without feeling more tired. Science Daily also reported that I was scooping around while I was doing the other story about, you know, starvation there and fasting. Yeah, smelling chocolate, simply smelling chocolate. So you don’t have to eat it. Just Smell it. Simply smelling chocolate helps men complete more leg extension repetitions without making the workout feel harder. That’s very interesting. And the question would be what kind of chocolate should you smell? Does it matter? Yeah. Dark chocolate produced the strongest effect if you’re smelling dark chocolate. And so the researchers think familiar food aromas might influence appetite and motivation. That’s what they figured out over at Science. Daily. I thought that was very interesting. I would have trouble not eating it, but then again, there you go.
40:06
Debbie Nigro
All right, so, and of course, they only looked at men. They didn’t decide. They probably figured they never had a chance with women because the women already ate the chocolate. They couldn’t even take the time to smell it. That was a problem. All right, last thing I want to tell you I did some homework on the tea, the travel tea trend, and I didn’t want to speak to something and not know what the heck I was talking about. But travel tea was one of the trending things, and I’m like what does that mean? People who drink tea aren’t just settling for the tea bags in the room when they travel at the hotels.
40:36
Debbie Nigro
They’re bringing their own tea, portable infusers, small brewing bottles, even compact tea sets to travel with them when they’re at the airport or hotels or trains or road trips. And they’re not settling. Okay. The other thing, the second trend, which overlaps this, very interesting, is tea tourism. People are building travel experiences around tea and they’re going to tea growing regions like they would go to a wine growing region and they’re walking through tea plantations and they’re learning how tea is harvested and processed, and doing tastings and participating in tea ceremonies. So that’s going on. It’s obviously more prevalent in places like Japan and China and India and Sri Lanka and Korea and Kenya. But hey, there you go, move over wine tourism. Tea is becoming a travel experience. There you go. All right. Do you ever use the tea in your hotel room when you travel? You go nowhere, so you wouldn’t know that. Exactly right. I don’t know anything. No, you know nothing. When I travel, I like to have a coffee thing in the room just to get me going to have enough coffee to go downstairs and get coffee that they have down there.
41:39
Debbie Nigro
I don’t think I’ve ever, maybe once, had tea in the room. I like green tea or something. Or maybe you’re going to sleep, maybe they have some chamomile. They don’t bring your own tea. Okay, that’s it. All right, let’s wrap it up, ma’am. Attention, everyone. It’s the Daily Toast on the Debbie Nigro Show. Everybody knows this is my inspirational send off. It’s called the Daily Toast. And I think today I want to say, you know, maybe keeping the living alive isn’t about how many birthdays you have. It’s about making sure you’re strong enough, curious enough, and adventurous enough to enjoy them. That’s why I like to join you each week and share some stuff that I learned that might help you. So thanks again for your time today. Live here on WGCH with Keeping the Living Alive, I’m Debbie Nigro. You can check out my website, debbienigro.com, for everything that you may have missed on the show.
42:23
Debbie Nigro
I’m writing a lot of blogs lately. Yeah, I don’t know, I’m kind of like, I’m spewing, I’m spewing. I’m over on Facebook, The Debbie Nigro Show, Instagram, @therealdebbienigro, LinkedIn, it’s me, Debbie Nigro. To be continued next week, you guys stay well, okay? See you next time. That matters Time passes much too quickly when we’re together like that I wish I could sing it to you, oh no I wish I could sing it to you The preceding show has paid WGCH a broadcasting fee.
