Hey friends! On Wellness Wednesday on The Debbie Nigro Show, as always, we covered a LOT—from climbing steps like an Italian grandma climbs hills in the mountains to the latest in fancy sneakers, and even Coca-Cola’s new “healthy” soda (who knew?!). Buckle up, because here’s your full recap of this week’s shenanigans, wisdom, and wellness tips.
Step It Up—Like an Italian Grandmother!
I kicked off the show kinda moaning (I hate moaners) about my aching leg muscles. Was feeling every single step in my legs after just visiting my daughter’s house (which, by the way, is basically a Stairmaster disguised as a home). But then I thought—wait! The Italian women of the Blue Zones live to be 100+ because they’re always climbing hills to pick fresh food. And they don’t moan. Maybe these aching legs are a good thing? Check out this Italian Grandma from a community in Sardinia with a record number of residents who live not only to 100, but many to 110 in this You Tube video “Italian town’s secret to centenarians the subject of new research” from CBC News: The National. Moral of the story: Keep moving, folks! Even if it feels like torture now, your future self will thank you.
Garlic: The Secret to Longevity?
Speaking of healthy living, did you know some of the longest-living people in the world eat raw garlic—like, a LOT of it? I, on the other hand, prefer my garlic caramelized in olive oil, courtesy of my chef boy toy (life partner) Dave. If you want a great hack for having garlic oil ready to go at all times, I shared an easy one—just slow-low-cook a whole bunch of garlic cloves in olive oil for like an hour and keep it in your fridge. You’re welcome.
Ice Lawns, Black Ice & The Amazon Package Slide
Winter has been extra icy this year, hasn’t it? Kids are stuck inside instead of playing out in the snow because of ice lawns! Seriously, lawns are covered in a sheet of ice like the one in this photo I took driving by. Amazon delivery guys are now launching packages across driveways like Olympic curlers, and black ice is lurking at every gas station. I stopped at on the way to the show. I’d have totally wiped out if I didn’t notice the black ice when I opened my car door at the pump about to step out. Drove over to a different pump. Told the gas station guy I just saved him a lawsuit. Small wins, people!
The Sneaker Business Just Got a Kardashian Twist
Sneaker lovers, listen up! Nike just partnered with Kim Kardashian to create Nike Skims, and I gotta admit—I didn’t see that one coming. Nike has always focused on sports, but now they’re blending “innovation and science” with “shapewear for the female foot.” If it makes sneakers comfier and more stylish, I’m in. Here’s the story version from Rolling Stone Magazine called “America Runs On Skims: Kim Kardashian Teams Up With Nike To Launch New Activewear Brand NikeSkims.” By the way, the ‘very’ expensive sneaker market is starting to decline—though many pairs are still going for between $400 and $800+. I know this because an 18-year-old neighbor showed me her very expensive pair.
Coca-Cola’s New Health Kick: Prebiotic Soda
Coke is jumping on the health train with Simply Pop, their new prebiotic soda. Apparently, they’re trying to compete with brands like Poppy and Ollipop, which have been taking over the fizzy drink game. Less sugar, more gut health—sounds great, but let’s see if it actually tastes good. Anyone else tried these yet?
Collagen in My Coffee? Yep, It’s Happening.
I finally gave in to the collagen craze! After a friend raved about how it helped her joints, skin, and even bones, I decided to do a story on her. I had spotted her in an ad online for Native Path Collagen and she posted the story of my story about her online, and the grateful company sent me some to try. Love it! Now dumping a scoop of collagen into my coffee is a part of my morning coffee routine. Will it make me look younger? Not sure but it’s worth a shot! LOL Meanwhile if you missed my episode on collagen check it out . It’s called “Scrolling on Instagram I Spotted an Ol’ Pal In a Collagen Ad! Had To Know. Does It Really Work?”
Meet the “Go-Go Grannies”—The Most Heartwarming Story Ever
This one gave me ALL the feels. There’s a program called Meet the Grannies where grandmothers in places like South Africa, Colombia, and Ghana are paired with orphaned babies to give them love and human connection. Can you imagine how much that means to a baby who has no one? These amazing women are literally changing lives, and I had to give them a shoutout.
Skijording- The Winter Sport You Didn’t Know You Needed
Ever heard of skijoring? Me neither. But it turns out, it’s a Scandinavian winter sport where you strap yourself to your dog and let them pull you on skis. Sounds equal parts fun and terrifying. If you’re a dog owner and need a new winter activity, maybe give it a try? Just don’t forget the harness! ( and honestly I’d just check your medical insurance policy to see if you’re covered for a Skijoring injurie. lol ) Check out the sport in action sport in action here on You Tube from CBS News.
Glimmers: The Opposite of Triggers
We all know about triggers—those little things that set us off. But what about glimmers? They’re tiny moments of joy, warmth, or calm that can instantly shift your mood. Like taking a quiet bath, catching a beautiful sunset, or laughing with someone you love. Turns out, focusing on these small moments rewire your brain for happiness. Loved reading this story from The NY Post called ‘Glimmers’ are the opposite of ‘triggers’ – how they can keep you happy and regulate your mood. So let’s all start collecting glimmers, shall we.
Final Thought: Give Away a Smile!
I wrapped up the show with a little wisdom from Dolly Parton:
“If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.”
Because let’s be honest—this world needs more smiles.
That’s a wrap on Wellness Wednesday!
Enjoy the podcast of this full live radio show. If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
Until next time—let’s all try to keep the live in alive!
Oh …Don’t forget to tune in live weekdays from 11 to 12 noon EST on WGCH or on WGCH.com from anywhere in the world.
And follow me on social media for more fun, info, and glimmers.
Instagram @therealdebbienigro
Facebook: TheDebbieNigroShow
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
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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 flair. Some day has arrived, and as far as she’s concerned, it’s time to roll.
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And a very, very good morning to you on my wellness Wednesday day of the week here on the Debbie Nigro show. How are we doing today, guys? I’ve got a funny start to the show today. I was just thinking to myself as I was walking up the steps to the radio station, that’s correct, steps, how much my legs hurt from walking all the steps in my daughter’s house.
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I just came from my daughter’s and spent some time with my grandkids and my beautiful daughter, but her house has very, very vertical steps, you know, from downstairs to the main floor, then from the main floor to the upstairs, and I find myself going up and down those steps like a stairmaster when I’m up there, and it’s a lot of effort, but then I thought to myself, my God, it’s kind of like those Italian women who were all through history climbing the mountains to get the dandelions and the other, and they live very, very long, so I cannot complain.
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I’m being forced to walk like the Italian women in the hills back in Italy Who used to walk out and get their vegetables that’s why people live long in the blue zones You know there’s a whole story about the blue zones. It’s been Documented and there are books written about it Dan Buechner actually is the author of a great book called blue zones it’s been on television about certain pockets of Geography in the world where people live the longest where there are a lot of centenarians.
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One of course is in Italy, but there are other places too. The reason is these people are living a much different life than us. That’s why they’re living longer. They don’t have Doritos. There’s no Doritos in the hills in Italy. They have natural food.
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They walk great distances. Hills. Desert right there. And they eat everything from the dirt and the ground. It’s much more organic. Terrar.
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Yeah, terrar. And that’s why, you know, even in the province of China that I always refer to that I’ve read about where nobody had one incidence of cancer, those people were eating like 12 cloves of garlic a day. They don’t have a lot of friends, but they live a long time. Raw garlic, by the way.
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I can’t do raw garlic. I really can’t do raw garlic. I can fry it. I can saute it all day long. I can eat a vat of sauteed garlic, and I do sometimes. I got a little trick for you guys, since it’s Wellness Wednesday, a little cooking tip that
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I learned from my chef boy toy, Dave. It’s funny I call him a boy toy. He’s like 6,000 years old. But anyway, we take cloves of garlic, a bunch, and I always take off that little end that looks like it’s dried out, right? Just snip it off.
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And we get a small saucepan, and you fill it with olive oil, because that’s good for you, right? Olive oil, not a saucepan full. And then you put all the cloves of garlic in there and keep it on super low for about an hour. You will have caramelized garlic and garlic oil.
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Then you put it in a little container and keep it in your refrigerator. And every time you want to cook, you have already done the garlic oil and you just add it to everything. You can add it to salad oil. It’s so good. Anyway, you’re welcome. That’s my first tip on my Wellness Wednesday show. Bobby, let’s do a little transition. Okay.
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I want to talk about the ice lawn phenomenon and black ice in general just for a quick reminder you guys. Yeah, lawn ice, ice lawns. I have rarely seen this in my time on this planet where it snowed and then the snow not only stayed but it got covered with a glaze of ice and on everybody’s lawn there is a glaze of ice reflecting in the Sun today which looks real pretty but is really unfortunate because kids can’t play. They’re off from school this week.
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They cannot go sleigh riding. What a bummer that is, right? And people who deliver packages like from Amazon, they can’t walk across your lawn to get it. They’re actually flinging packages. They don’t care.
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They’re like sliding them over to your front door. And yeah, it’s dangerous. I just went to get gas this morning at a place I don’t usually go to. And I pulled up and opened the door and I was about to step out and it was all black ice and I closed my door because I’m mature and I went to another pump but I went and told the guy I said guy hi guy you’re gonna get a lawsuit
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because I’m gonna fall on that ice so maybe put a little salt over there’s like I know we’re waiting for the supply so there is a shortage and a lack of salt being delivered because of how much we’ve needed in the Northeast. There’s a big storm coming, but I don’t know what we’re going to get. It’s a big storm for most of the United States today, and it’s just not going to probably go north.
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I think people are going to get a foot or two in Washington.
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Yeah, for some reason, it’s gone south of us a lot this season.
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Yeah, and they don’t know what’s going on, because they don’t even have snowplows. They’re like, all right, what? Anyway, we’re going to move toward warmer weather soon, but I do think that everybody’s had it with the extreme polar cold and I want to say that it has not been this polar cold for this period of time
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But I can remember as a kid when it was down in single digits in the winter time
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Yeah, yeah. We haven’t seen that in decades. No, we haven’t seen that but we’re seeing it now so it’s not like things haven’t happened before, it just hasn’t happened in a really long time Okay, I want to talk about something else. Okay. This is interesting. Where are my sneaker heads out there?
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There are people who live in sneakers for comfort, for functionality, and for fashion. A whole generation has grown up on just sneakers for fashion and won’t wear anything else. And the sneaker business has gotten very robust with certain pairs going for $600 a pair. I don’t know if you know that. I had to get
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enlightened by my neighbors. They have two twin cutie pie college girls who were into everything fashion-wise. So they tipped me off about the expensive sneaker thing going on. And we had a conversation on New Year’s Eve about what shoes she should wear. She was going downtown with the girls to celebrate. She said, should I wear my flats or should I I mean, I wouldn’t be afraid to wear them.
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And it’s a fashion thing. It’s not even about them being high-tech sneakers at all. Correct.
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So, it brings me to my sneaker story on this Wednesday. We all know the brand Nike.
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Hi Nike. Nike is now partnering with Kim Kardashian. Didn’t see that one coming. Didn’t see that coming. They were, Nike was having a little bit of a struggle there. They were losing market share. You think you know the swoosh
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You know just do it. Well people were doing it with other people and Now they are partnering with Kardashians shapewear brand and they’re gonna launch Nike skims This spring rare partnership because mostly in history Nike has of course originally started with male sports icons to represent their sneakers, right? Thank goodness the world is opening up to support and also highlight female athletes, which I’m very happy to say I’m proud of.
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And I’ll tell you a side story about that, but let me finish this. Yeah, they’re trying to bring together Nike’s expertise in innovation and sport science, which of course they’ve dedicated their entire business model to, with the Skim Brands obsession for the female form. Now think about what they’re saying here. They’re trying to now get sneakers that are functional,
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that have science behind them, that are innovative, but that appeal to the form of a female foot. Yeah. Different, different. Yeah, this is gonna be really interesting. And the reason they really got excited about this partnership, which I’m sure Kim Kardashian
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did not see this coming, and for anybody who does not have great love for the Kardashians because they don’t like reality TV, you have to respect Kim Kardashian’s business acumen because she built the Skims brand into like, I don’t know, $4 billion in revenue, $4 billion valuation. That’s crazy. Crazy. Okay, so good for her. And Nike, who was losing market share and other things, did like eight and a half
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billion dollars in revenue from female apparel last year, compared to 21 billion from male apparel. Everybody’s talking billions like, you know, like it’s normal. But anyway, 40% of Nike’s customers are women. So they decided to bump up the sneaker thing with Kim Kardashian. Interesting! All right, when I come back, more to come here on the Wellness Wednesday version of the Debbie Nigro Show.
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What I just wanted to tell you is that driving in the car yesterday with my granddaughter, I was explaining to her how I have, along with my fellow females over the last decades, cleared the way for her to be anything she wants in the world and play any sport she wants and that women now have great opportunities and that they didn’t have before. And I said to her, now you getting all this?
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And she goes, no. But a 10 mile ride when I explained, you know about female empowerment, she’s like, you got anything else? Anyway, she’s great. She does understand.
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Alright, I hope everybody’s doing okay today. You know, I do this wellness show one day a week here on my weekday show because I am desperately trying to stay alive and many of you are as well. I also am very passionate that people keep the live in alive, meaning that they have their best life while they’re still here. And because I’m an information nut job, I’m always researching.
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So what am I going to do with all this information? Keep it to myself? No. And I figure if I put it all out there into the universe, maybe somebody listening will come away with a nugget of something that helps them in some way. So let me see what I want to tell you next.
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Oh, did you hear about the Coca-Cola prebiotic soda they’re launching?
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Pre-what?
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Shut up. I know. It’s called Simply Pop and they’re about to do this because they are trying to compete with other brands that are starting to trend. Now, I really should have this cute little girl neighbor join me on the show once in a while because she… If I want to stay relevant, like, there’s nothing like an 18-year-old to keep you relevant, right?
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So I’m over at the house, same night, but the expensive sneakers I was telling you before, and she was telling me about this soda called poppy. I’m like, what do you mean poppy? And there was a trend going on with her generation of taking a magnesium thing at night where they would put the poppy soda and the magnesium and it helped them relax and go to sleep. I’m like, I don’t know anything about this.
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So all of a sudden, I start seeing poppy soda everywhere, poppy, poppy, poppy. And poppy supposedly is the soda that now you can feel good about drinking, okay, because it has very little sugar and it’s got all these beautiful colors. I saw poppy in the supermarket. I saw poppy online at Marshalls. I was like poppy is everywhere, okay.
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So now Coca-Cola is taking on poppy and another brand called Ollipop because they’re all trying to figure out how to get people to drink more soda people don’t drink as much soda As they used to I don’t drink any soda. Do you drink soda? Diet coke or diet Pepsi okay once in a blue moon. I have a diet Something I kind of like no sugar ginger ale. That’s that’s one of the little ones I kind of find fun
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But I’m not a soda drinker a lot of seltzer is going on out there the people are buying cases of seltzer flavored seltzer as a alternative so Cocoa’s like we got to figure this out. So they are launching this prebiotic brand. Theirs is called Simply Pop. They’re going to start late February, and they’re going to start on the West Coast and
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the Southeast, and they’re going to be able to try it first out there because that’s where trendy stuff is going to get tried first. And yeah, they’ve got to hurry up because now this Ollipop recently raised 50 million dollars. They’re like, okay, we’re going straight at them. So many companies are starting to go after the big companies you never thought they’d have a chance of going after.
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Brings me to Mike’s Mayonnaise, you know, on the Super Bowl. Like who did Mike think he was to go up against Hellman’s, but he’s got that going on. I even bought Mike’s Mayonnaise. You know about Mike’s Mayonnaise? No, I don’t. Oh, yeah, we’ll talk about that another time.
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But anyway, digestive health soft drinks have grown from $197 million category back a couple years ago to like $440 million. That’s a lot of digestive soft drinks, right? And still it’s a fraction of the overall soda market. There’s a company that monitors this. Good luck to you there.
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Euro Monitor International, they have data. Everything is about data. You want to buy my data Yeah, nobody cares about dating they just care about data Unless you were data and some of that data is your information
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which I just told my daughter this morning we’re having a little talk before I left and
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She was gonna sign up for something a news source And she says do they want access to all my devices and I go no no no no before you sign up for access to All your devices with anything you know be sure you know what you’re signing up for because they basically want your information from everywhere if they probably don’t have it already.
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And then also be sure what you know is on your devices.
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Yeah, right, who knows what’s on your devices. I will download an app or pay for something temporarily and never be able to find out where I bought it from or where it is anymore and I’ll be charged the rest of my life. That’s how it goes. Anyway, let’s finish up with the Coca-Cola new version of the prebiotic drinks called Simply Pop. The flavors are pineapple, mango, lime, strawberry, fruit punch, and citrus punch. They’re leaning fruity. They’re leaning
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over there fruity because they said they really listened to the consumers. They went and listened. People want stuff that tastes good. They’re going to just try this at the simply pop has no added sugar which I don’t know if it starts with any sugar but no added sugar and contains 25 to 30 percent of real fruit juice and vitamin C and sugar from yeah vitamin C and zinc which can boost your immune system
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6 grams of prebiotic fiber which is different than probiotic we have to do a story about that I’m not clear on exactly how good or what it is.
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Fiber in with your soda?
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Yeah, prebiotic fiber, which is three times the amount that poppy has in the soda, but less than Ollipop’s, which has nine grams. They’re very busy over there trying to get their prebiotics in line. Interesting. Anyway, people want to buy these kind of things, so they’re putting it out there. And after 100 years of dominating the soda category,
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Coca-Cola’s like, we ain’t going down anytime soon, so get out of the way. All right, new story. New story. Speaking of putting stuff in your liquids, I’m now dumping collagen into my coffee every morning. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. I got a routine going, Bobby. Now, how hard it is to start a new habit, right? We discussed that. And we also discussed often on the show, if you want to start a new habit, try and basically stack it against an old habit.
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It was not my idea. It was very smart people who came up with this idea of habit stacking, and it works because it’s very hard to do anything new more than one time. But if you do something every day, we all have something we do that’s a habit every day, good or bad, and you just quickly add this new habit right behind that habit, usually it sticks.
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So I have coffee every morning. People tried in the past to get me to put collagen in my coffee. I was resistant. I was like, I don’t know. I don’t know.
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Does it affect the taste?
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I don’t know. The taste, what does it do to me? I don’t know. Does it BS? So my best friend has been trying to get me to do this.
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She even bought me collagen in a frother. I’m like, thanks so much. Never used it. My daughter has been trying to get me to use different things. I’m like, oh, thanks so much. You go ahead and keep using that.
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I’ve read about it, thought about it. It wasn’t until I had that segment on this show a couple weeks ago, a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, that I featured a gal pal of mine who I saw in a collagen ad.
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Oh, yes.
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That I said, you know what? Let me ask her, because she’s in there like saying her knees don’t hurt, this is good, everything’s good. Let me get her on the show. Let’s have a straight talk. I Wasn’t gonna promote any company. I didn’t believe in but she was representing a company called native path collagen and She was very happy with the product and was waiting
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To share with us her next bone scan to see if after nine months of using the product it actually affected that too But she said her hair is better skins, but like things are better, knees, joints are better. So I talked about this, did a feature, put it up. What do you think happened? The company got wind of my promotion and they were very grateful. So they contacted me by email and said, we thank you so much for talking about our company
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and our happy customer, Native Path Collagen. We’d like to send you some samples and an appreciation. I said, all right. I’m thinking, all right, let’s try this now, because if it worked for her, maybe it worked for me. So they sent this giant box of collagen and electrolyte powders and the collagen, they even have the collagen to go, which is
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how I have it in my coffee today. So I started doing it, figured, all right, I got to try it. And I did a lot of reading about this and a lot of reading about the company, a lot of reading. I’m missing the boat if I don’t take this collagen. Everybody’s like, of course you have to take collagen. Of course, you’re not taking collagen? Why aren’t you taking collagen? You must have lost your collagen. I’m like, oh my god, I must have no collagen.
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What the heck? So now I’m putting it in my coffee every day. I drink black coffee, but now I put it in. Don’t taste it. Don’t taste it, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to drink the coffee, right? So here we are. I’ll let you know what happens.
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Well, what if you don’t have coffee to put in it? Do they have a flavored version that you would add to water? Or does it have to be added to something that you already got a flavor?
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No, it has to be added to any liquid that you like. It could be in a soda. It could be in water. It could be in anything. It doesn’t have a real flavor.
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It doesn’t have a flavor.
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That’s an interesting approach. But apparently we need this stuff. And even their CEO contacted me on LinkedIn. He’s like, thank you very much. We heard you talking about our company. I’m like, he’s like, I’d love to send you some products.
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I’m like, how do they hear all this stuff? People in business are monitoring social media in a big way. And I guess she did say there was a very proactive Facebook group of people who were very helpful. So yeah, I’m giving it a whirly. I’m giving it a whirly bird. All right.
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I’ll report back.
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Okay.
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Just for the record. Oh, yeah, I did a whole. I want to do another story on collagen. I don’t do any more collagen right now. I want to talk about something else. There’s an international program that is doing something so warm-hearted and meaningful in terms of human connection and human relationships.
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As you know, if you’re going to talk about wellness on this planet, you need to talk about humans and how they interact with one another. It has been determined and it has been proven that people who don’t have good interactions or have none are very lonely and That loneliness breeds many terrible things disease and and and mental illness. It’s just terrible right so imagine a baby being born and abandoned And not having any love from the minute they open their eyes to this world how horrible a star is that, right?
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So there’s an international program I wanted to give a shout out to. I was reading it in an article from nextavenue.com. It’s called Meet the Grannies. The international program pairs volunteers with children in orphanages for one-on-one daily connections. Oh, my gosh. This is so thoughtful.
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This is a terrible number. There are, according to authorities, 3.7 million orphaned children in South Africa. That is a staggering number. And for every abandoned child found alive, two are found dead. I just can’t even breathe this.
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Very heartbreaking. I won’t even tell you how they’re found. Those who have survived end up in orphanages, and they’re referred to as children’s homes, which generally, and again, this is new knowledge for me. Care for as many as 150 children,
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and which get funding from the local government and child welfare organizations. Because there are so many babies who need love and not enough caregivers to meet the need. These homes can be very sad, very lonely places. So babies need stimulation and physical contact
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and consistent nurturing, human interaction. So these kids are at risk for all kinds of developmental delays and what they call attachment disorders. There’s a New York City-based social service agency called Spence-Chapin who are providing a lot of services to kids and families, both here in the U.S. and internationally, and they work with these homes.
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And according to what I was reading in Next Avenue, their chief communications officer for Spence-Chapin, whose name is Christine Paul, said, studies have shown that the initial relationship again between a child and a loving and consistent caregiver helps brain development and fosters healthy attachment. Anyway having one special person who thinks you’re wonderful whose face lights up when she sees you or is attuned to your whimpers and cries can make all the difference in the world.
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0:22:44
So you want to they want you to meet the go-go grannies. Go-go because go-go is the word for grandmother in Zulu. And there’s a granny program that was created in 1998 by this company, Spence Chapin, which is headquartered in New York, that gives and provides individualized attention, cuddling and affection and playtime to these very vulnerable children. And they are now assisting 565 children in a total of 11 orphanages in South Africa, Colombia and Ghana.
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And the program pairs 293 grannies from the surrounding communities with youngsters at risk. I mean, these are amazing stories, you know, and this is a movie I think, a film now called I Am a Granny, showing how this works and somebody was an official with a children’s home in Columbia, but wow. I would do this except I would have the problem of leaving this child after bonding with it.
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0:23:37
I couldn’t just go hold and then leave. I can’t hold and leave. I’m not a holder and leaver. But I will tell you the program is working because more than 90% of the children show incredible improvement as they develop within six months of being paired with a granny. Amazing, right? Amazing. Okay, I just wanted to share that.
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0:23:55
Moving on, moving on. Have you ever tried skidjoring? Story about skidjoring.
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0:24:00
What the heck is skidooing?
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0:24:02
Skidooing? Well, it’s like, you can do it during the dog days of winter. I’m not a dog owner. I know plenty of dog owners and lovers, and they will love this story. Dogs love snow, winter, and apparently skidooing, according to the same publication, Next Avenue, which I enjoyed reading this weekend. The simplest Scandinavian winter sport where you cross-country ski with your dog towing you along is really something people are getting a kick out of. Ski-jogging, which we could do if you want to ski on ice here.
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0:24:33
You don’t have to go to Norway to do it. A lot of opportunities here in the United States in the wintry woods from coast to coast. And it’s a very cool sport, I read. People in Minnesota know about it. I would imagine. They do. Gliding through snowy trails with your dog leading the way. And they say it’s a very fun way to connect with them and the outdoors. And there’s one place that’s recommended.
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0:24:58
I’ll put the article up. Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove, Minnesota. But there you go. You just need a proper harness, a bungee line to absorb the pull, a belt for yourself, and you need a dog. And you need a shoulder, come over.
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0:25:16
It’s all good, baby, cry all night. Mr. Bosman’s on your back. You left your laptop in the taxi cabin.
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0:25:19
The funny thing about shoulders, none ever look like those guys who play in the NBA, the average person. What is, what, those NBA arms? I don’t know how to get them, but I could really appreciate having them. I never get tired of looking at the muscle structure of the shoulders and the arms and the biceps of the NBA players, because I want them so I can go sleeveless, even if they
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0:25:50
are a little, you know, more macho. Hi, everybody. I’m Debbie Nygra. Wellness Wednesday. Oh, my gosh. We all aspire, right, to things to…
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0:25:59
We’re going to do better. We’d like to have our body look a certain way. We only would just listen to ourselves our biggest problem Everybody’s biggest problem is listening to yourself like you know what you want to do, and you know usually how to do it It’s just convincing yourself to listen to yourself. Which is a fight that goes on for a lifetime There’s a conflict going on there forever Yeah, I should never eat that stuff, but boy does it taste good. Yeah, if you just get past yourself all right, so, um, there’s those things that go on.
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0:26:29
You know, I’m always trying to encourage people to understand how the brain works, because I’m trying to understand my own brain, and mine is very, very active, like, hello, it looks like an amusement park, in there, the rides. I always joke that, you know, Disney probably got the idea for the rides by looking inside my head, like, what is going on in there? And along the way on this show, I’ve often asked people,
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0:26:51
how does your head work inside? Which takes them completely like off guard, and they’re like, oh. And then they start to explain, which is fascinating, because it’s the one thing we cannot see in somebody else when you’re looking at them,
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0:27:06
and it’s the one thing that nobody ever really talks about, which is what’s going on all day long. I’ll refer back to Chaz Pommentary, who was once on this show, and I asked him that question and I said, so Chaz, what goes on in your head all day long? And he goes, I’m always writing screenplays, screenplays, screenplays, screenplays, screenplays
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0:27:23
all day long. His head is constantly a screenplay. There are music people I’ve interviewed that have said, oh, I hear music all day long. I’m seeing music all day long. There are people who hear music in color. You know that, right?
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0:27:36
Synesthesia? Yeah, they’re the ones that see numbers in color.
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0:27:38
Yeah. Isn’t that called synesthesia?
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0:27:40
I don’t know what they call it
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0:27:40
I think it’s called that it’s not I’m making up that it is right now, but I’m pretty cool I’m pretty sure it’s called synesthesia and It’s a weird thing that people are born with that they don’t talk about so you don’t know people see numbers and things in color Well, they think everybody sees it. They think every trouble. No it is synesthesia. Okay, and they do See like I’ll say one two three four five and you and I hear 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And people who have synesthesia see it like 1 in blue, 2 in pink, 3 in orange, 4 in red.
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0:28:09
Right? How weird. So if you want to describe it, synesthesia is when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense at the same time. You know who has synesthesia?
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0:28:24
Billy Joel. Okay.
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0:28:26
I remember reading that.
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0:28:27
Why not? Yeah. I guess people who don’t know what it is, how do you tell if you have it? If you experience like these cross-sensory perceptions, if you see colors when you hear music, that’s an example. You know, more than one time.
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0:28:41
It has to happen more than one time. They say you might see the letter A as red or the note C sharp as purple and these people that have a more colorful experience but everybody who has this has their own unique version of it just for the record
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0:28:59
okay but I’m just the musical thing yeah we always used to talk about having perfect pitch right and how that is an interesting thing where a person has a sense of the frequency that the average person doesn’t have. Yeah, but the average person could tell you with better awareness what’s a higher
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0:29:23
note what’s a lower note. People with perfect pitch struggle with that.
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0:29:27
Really? They only know what they know. Yeah, very strange. Yeah, I don’t know about that story. Okay, I got another story moving on. So, we all have things that snap, crackle, pop us, right? I remember when my daughter was young, there was a fellow mother, Dawn, she once said something and I just could never stop laughing, she goes, yeah, she goes, I have the snap, pop, snap, crackle, pop, snap, crackle, pop, they put me over the edge.
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0:29:59
And that’s when, you know, I guess kids start screaming too loud. That’s what triggers me, loud screaming. I love my grandkids, but the excessive loud screaming, I feel myself start to snap a little
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0:30:08
bit. Well, you’re a very audio-aware person.
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0:30:10
Oh, yeah, that’s why.
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0:30:11
I think, yeah.
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0:30:12
Oh, maybe I need earmuffs in the house. Okay. Anyway, those are triggers, right? The opposite of a trigger. What triggers leave you agitated, right? Angry, anxious, we all have triggers.
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0:30:24
Traffic triggers, you know, like another trigger for me, and I don’t have very minute. I’m pretty nice like okay I’d rather go slow you go by somebody who gets Anxious when the light turns green and doesn’t give me a chance to take my foot off the gas to break to put on the gas And beeps that triggers me triggers me. I fantasize by screaming and yelling at these people in person you got any triggers
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0:30:44
Well, you know a lot of respect to other drivers like me. But you know, everybody’s a little different. If we don’t have an accident, everything’s okay.
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0:30:59
It’s okay. So I’m going to give you the opposite of a trigger. It’s called a glimmer. Say goodbye to triggers. And we’re going to go for glimmers now. Sounds like a lesser thing. Whatever it is. It’s the opposite thing. Glimmers are things that swing you into the other direction. Oh, I see. I’m really joy happiness little glimmers glimmers. So I was reading about this gal named Deb Dana She’s an author and a licensed clinical social worker reading about her in the post New York Post
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0:31:24
But she works in complex trauma So she she created the term glimmers in a book that she wrote a couple years ago called the polyvagal theory and therapy Oh, it’s a much better word than that. Glimmer. And she did it to describe, and she needed a word to describe how small experiences can shift your nervous system response from defensive mode to like calm mode.
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0:31:51
Okay, calm. We like calm. So she was talking to the post and she was telling everybody how to recognize these glimmers and what do you do when you find a glimmer. What is a glimmer? Tiny moment of okayness, joy, excitement, ease, calm. Any of those flavors that give you the feeling you’re safe enough in the world to feel okay for a minute. Okay? How do you know if you
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0:32:15
bumped into a glimmer? Well, you might feel something happen in your body. A warmth, an openness, a breath change. Your eyes might focus on something. It might something might bring a slight smile. If that’s happening, this is what’s called a glimmer, and the brain starts to follow, recognizing that something’s beautiful or fun or that it likes it. It’s a brain-body experience, and they work together like, okay, I like the glimmer, like the glimmer. So what do you do when you notice a glimmer? Like me
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0:32:42
in the bath last night, I took a bath at my daughter’s house. She has a giant bathtub. She says, Ma, you want to take a bath before you go to bed? I go, yeah. Women say this to each other. Guys never say this to each other. They don’t care. They don’t care about this I go. Yes, if a guy’s enjoy baths anyway anyway. I miss my deep she brought a bath pillow She put it just know I and so you know your daughter mother you can do this sort of thing You can you can you can hang out you can take a bath at your daughter’s house
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0:33:05
But it’s kind of awkward to take a bath at other people’s houses, but the daughter house is okay, right? So I’m in the bath just quiet no phone. No thing for a long time. I’m thinking, God, this is amazing. I feel so happy and relaxed.
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0:33:20
And then the water starts to get a little too cool.
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0:33:22
And then I got mad. Yeah, then I had the other thing. I got triggered. No, but I had a glimmer, right? I was consciously thinking about it. Yeah, so basically, once you know that you’re having a glimmer and you feel something coming,
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0:33:35
you stop in that moment and you appreciate it. And appreciation is a 10 to 20 second experience. So once you give it 10 or 20 seconds, your brain gets like, okay, it starts to register it. Okay, it’s in there. Okay. And it helps, helps you, teaches your brain to feel better. So it doesn’t always just react to triggers. It’s also getting nice, calm feelings in the same respect. Okay. Tiny moments, looking for glimmer conditions that your mind and body can experience the similar moments once you feel it once it happened Then you start looking for more so becomes easy practice and you start becoming a happier calmer person
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0:34:12
I love that good luck everybody new topic got to move on all right. Let’s see Bird flu you know that bird flu thing so bizarre It’s you know the eggs are less available. They’re more expensive, eggs everywhere. Chickens have had to be put down en masse.
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0:34:34
Cows have been…
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0:34:35
Huge numbers. Yeah, huge numbers, like millions of chickens and fowl and ducks and everybody, they have to kill everything and cows, terrible. So they’re thinking that it might have been the wind that made it so bad. Now, we have had excessive winds like I haven’t seen in many years or remember that it really recessive winds
1
0:34:54
Like I haven’t seen in many years or remember that it really makes a cold day like unbearable the cold we can you know We’ve used to the wind can be blamed for a lot of stuff like the fires out in California winds man the winds so this Bird flu Outbreak, I mean yeah a lot obviously you know transmitted, but they’re thinking that the wind may have taken the whole thing and driven it to a higher proportion.
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0:35:17
Just wanted to put it out there. I don’t know. It doesn’t make it a bigger threat to people just because it’s moving through the air, but it is moving, I guess, farm to farm.
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0:35:28
Yes.
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0:35:29
Right? Yeah.
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0:35:31
Well, you have to have direct contact with an animal that has it for it to affect you.
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0:35:34
Yeah, but it’s blowing over planes, blowing over people’s yards. All right. I don’t want to talk about that anymore. It’s making me sick.
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0:35:42
I don’t like the bird flu.
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0:35:43
I don’t like that bird flu. I don’t like the whole recall thing, although I made a list yesterday, just for myself, for fun.
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0:35:48
Debbie Downer.
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0:35:49
Yeah, after Debbie Downer. I saw Debbie Downer on Saturday Night Live and I thought, oh gosh, I hate her, but I must have a piece of her. So I did try to just put in perspective how many recalls there have been in the last couple months, they seem excessive. They’re recalling everything.
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0:36:04
A lot of food.
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0:36:05
Yeah. Weird things. They’re recalling baby things that chew. Like, oh, this chewable baby thing to help your baby get new teeth. We found out it’s a choking hazard. We could have found that out before you released it.
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0:36:15
Yeah. I mean, ridiculous, right? So, yeah, but I don’t want to talk about that right now. Oh, okay. Because you’re right, Debbie Downer, I do not want to be her. I have to have a good laugh, though, to share with you this morning.
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0:36:26
You know, I talk in real time every day here. You can’t do a show live every day and not talk in real time. It’s real life. It’s authentic. You all know that I’m…
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0:36:35
And this makes the best type of radio, by the way.
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0:36:37
It does? Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. Well, one thing I am is authentic because, you know, it is what it is. I can’t remember what it wasn’t or what it was. So my daughter and son-in-law always make fun of me because I text them weather
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0:36:49
reports mostly dangerous ones and I gave my name the nickname Debbie Doppler and So now I’m Debbie Doppler sending a urgent update breaking news got the story watch the thing get the salt It’s nice. We don’t go out cancel your plans. Yeah, I mean they like Actually can’t take me but I never see sometimes they laugh sometimes they ignore me. Today, I didn’t text anything.
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0:37:18
I know there’s a potential storm coming our way. Yes, there is, but it may be south and it may not be getting any snow, so I didn’t think it was really necessary for me to text it. So I’m driving here and my daughter texts me and she says, mom, when did you say that storm was coming?
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0:37:33
So she doesn’t go to the radio or the TV or something to see what the weather.
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0:37:38
No, why would you if you had me as a mother? I never fail. But I thought, you know what, let me let up on these kids today. I saw Debbie Downer, I’m starting to feel like her, let me not send anything. Instead, she says, so mom, when was that storm coming? I just laughed the whole way here to the radio station.
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0:37:53
I finally sent her when I parked, I said, go, go, go, go kill me that you asked me for a weather report. You missed, I can’t take it. What are the chances? So she got a good laugh. Anyway, life is like that. I was telling you you’ll miss me when I’m dead. Ah, that dead thing.
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0:38:10
You know, life is an interesting game show. You get here, and you’re hopefully given a chance to live a long, happy life. And then you’ve got to figure out how to keep the game going as long as humanly possible. It’s a little like Russian Roulette, but you can control it by some of your actions which is why I do this show called Wellness Wednesday to give you some information some ideas and some knowledge to share about how to live it better live it longer and keep
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0:38:37
the live in life. Alright so one more story coming up here on the Debbie Nigro show on a Wellness Wednesday and then I got the inspirational send-off called the Daily Toast coming up next.
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0:38:48
I only asked you to show me a real good time. I never asked for the rainfall. At least I showed up, you showed me the thing. And I don’t need it. It’s coming down on me. Down on me.
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0:39:08
Water like misery. Water like misery. It’s coming down on me.
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0:39:14
It’s coming down on me Yeah, she always had some good comments about, you know, sharing a smile. Love Dolly. She’s got some history of bringing joy on this planet, doesn’t she? She’s just a ball of fun. Just a ball of fun.
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0:39:30
All right, my last story has to do with tightening your core. Who doesn’t want to tighten their core? You know, getting down on the floor doing sit-ups never appealed to me, okay? It just doesn’t appeal to anybody. Plus, they scientifically show you that that’s not a good thing for your back. No, that’s why they swapped out the plank into the military.
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0:39:49
They got rid of the sit-up, put in the plank. Which, you know, if you can try and do that for a minute every day, you’re off to a good start. But the trainers are now recommending standing core workouts for building strong abs.
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0:39:59
And I started doing this at the gym where I also started going.
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0:40:03
I don’t know who I think I am. But, yeah, before I get on the treadmill I do 20 squats Because I read that the squat is the one exercise as time goes on you better be able to do Because if you can’t squat you can’t get up and trouble there Yeah, and then I started doing the standing core workouts because I know they are just as effective so I do about like 20 I just you you know you bring your knee up to your you click for a crunch while you’re standing you bring your
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0:40:45
Elbows to your knees one at a time not two at a time which they take you out of there in an ambulance. But yeah, apparently this is recommended now. Standing abs, tone your muscles while standing out works your abs a whole lot more. Because you actually use your lats and your glutes too. It helps your posture. Oh, I tell you.
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0:41:08
All right, just try and do a few things that you haven’t done before. Don’t hurt yourself I’m just passing on the information Into the information my goodness well we had a kind of robust show today didn’t we Bobby I loved it I loved it too. We loved the show I always Feel happy or when I do the show from in the studio. You know I do it from home sometimes response timing is just right
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0:41:31
Well because I feel more alive here, and I’m about putting more living alive I can’t bring you a dead show about being alive that’s so wrong dead energy so I’m bringing positive energy and we never send you off without what I call the daily toast attention everyone it’s the daily toast on the Debbie Nigro show I might as well quote Dolly Parton since I brought her up today in this show and you know what she said I leave you with her thought if you see somebody without a smile give them one of yours.
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0:42:04
Alright, have a great rest of your day, stay well everybody. I’m here weekdays, 11 to 12 noon on WGCH. That’s WGCH.com. You can listen from anywhere in the world, from any device. Kind of cool. Your phone becomes a transistor radio of the olden days.
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0:42:18
What’s a transistor radio, Debbie? So I’m over on LinkedIn. The Debbie Nygrow Show is on Facebook, Instagram, at the real Debbie Nigro. My website is DebbieNigro.com. I have a wonderful newsletter, I say so, because I work hard on it every week and people go I love this. I just try and put it all the information I learned all week and
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0:42:36
share it with you in one creative way. Always a little fun stuff in there too. So you can pop over to my website DebbieNigro.com. It’s free. Stick in your email. Alright, that’s it. I’m done. Have a great rest of your day. See you tomorrow.
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0:42:49
me
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0:42:57
It’s all you I need you, baby
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0:43:01
I don’t love my family
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0:43:03
From the land of the living From the land of the living
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0:43:05
But you bring me back to my home
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