July 22, 2025 • 37 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Heatwaves and high stress linked to poor eating habits and digestive strain. How do you eat in the heat for optimal health? Dr. Julie Gatza - Nutrition Expert, Chiropractic Physician and Founder of Florida's Wellness Institute discussed with Dan.
The “Gen Z stare”! What is it? Have you come across the stare yet? It’s that blank look Gen Zers are starting to give elders- well everywhere! From the workplace to the restaurant, the trend has gone viral on TikTok. Steve Roop - AI and digital director at Littlefield Agency stopped by.
One Third of Dual Income Couples Without Kids Are Going into debt for their pets! Rachel Barber – USA Today Personal Finance Reporter explained.
The exercise paradox and how studies have been done that show despite popular belief in the fitness world, burning more calories than you consume does not exactly help you lose weight! Erin Nystrom – Substack Writer and Fitness Enthusiast checked in.
Heatwaves and high stress linked to poor eating habits and digestive strain. How do you eat in the heat for optimal health? Dr. Julie Gatza - Nutrition Expert, Chiropractic Physician and Founder of Florida's Wellness Institute discussed with Dan.
The “Gen Z stare”! What is it? Have you come across the stare yet? It’s that blank look Gen Zers are starting to give elders- well everywhere! From the workplace to the restaurant, the trend has gone viral on TikTok. Steve Roop - AI and digital director at Littlefield Agency stopped by.
One Third of Dual Income Couples Without Kids Are Going into debt for their pets! Rachel Barber – USA Today Personal Finance Reporter explained.
The exercise paradox and how studies have been done that show despite popular belief in the fitness world, burning more calories than you consume does not exactly help you lose weight! Erin Nystrom – Substack Writer and Fitness Enthusiast checked in.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice, Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm doing you easy Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Okay, having a little bit of technical problems here, but
nothing that we won't be able to overcome. My name
is Dan Ray and I am the host of Night's Side.
I want to thank Madison Rogers for her fine introduction
and hope like all of you, that Madison is enjoying
a fine summer. And we certainly had a beautiful day
(00:26):
in New England today and we will hopefully have more
of those days in the days and weeks ahead. Rob
Brooks is back at the control room as always, and
I am all set to go. Tonight. We will have
a very interesting program for you for guests during this
hour on four different topics. We will also talk about
(00:47):
that death of that five year old little boy in
Hyde Park. We still don't know what happened. It's an
amazing fact to me that there are that little information available.
We're going to talk about and what's with all the rats.
You know, the rats are now migrating into South Boston
and we're talking about the real rats. So we'll get
(01:10):
to all of that. But first, our first guest tonight
is doctor Julie Gatza and she's going to talk us
to us about pretty timely topic, and that is heat waves,
heat waves that are going to be coming all up
and down the East coast of America in the next
few days, and talking about heat waves and high stress
and how they're link to poor eating habits and digestive strain. Hi, Julie,
(01:33):
how are you tonight? Welcome or doctor Julie, I should say,
how are you this evening?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm good?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Thanks?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So what is it about heat waves that cause high
stress that lead to poor eating habits and digestive strain.
It sounds like whenever it's going to be over ninety degrees,
I'm just gonna curl up in my room and try
to go to sleep.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Well.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
One of the things I mean, digestion is one of
the most important functions of the body because that's where
you're going to get all your nutrition. But what happens
when you have some stress on the system like high
heat or emotional or physical stress, is digestion is that
these worrisome area for the body, so it will go
to all sorts of other areas. So when you're eating
(02:17):
foods that are more difficult to break down, they don't
get broken down. So now they're sitting in the gut,
they're fermenting, they're causing gas, floating, indigestion, constipation, acid reflex,
whatever it may be. It's because you can't break down
the food when you're under that type of heat stress
in particular.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Does this affect everyone in a similar fashion or is
it are the people who are more likely to be
adversely impacted? You or medical condition or whatever.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
For certain everyone's affected at some level, but it does
depend on you know, are you compromised in other areas?
So it's going to affect somebody who is, you know,
under the weather, not feeling well sickly. However, you know,
if you take a real consensus, you're going to find
that most people are suffering somewhat from digestive stress. And so,
(03:14):
you know, keeping smart when it's heat and when you're
under stress of whatever sort is prudent.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So, so give us some tips. I think all of
us know you, if you happen to be lucky enough
to have air conditioning, you know, use it. If if
you're in somewhere that there is a natural breeze, that's good,
you want to hydrate. Tell me what some of the
things that maybe have forgotten here. Those are the things
(03:43):
that I.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
Think of, and those are important. You know, hydration is
super important, and people will hydrate with other things than water,
which I think is a mistake because it's not necessarily
what the cells need. So, you know, pure plain water,
if you want to flavor it yourself with you know,
some type of fruit or mint or strawberries or whatever. Fine,
But to drink a whole bunch of electrolytes. When people
(04:05):
drink too many electrolytes, it actually starts taking it from
their body, so they become more mentally deficient. You know,
Eating lighter fair fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables. I believe cooked
is easier on the digestive system rather than asking your
digestion to break down. You know, a huge salad not
(04:25):
the worst thing, but if you're already not rate digestively,
it's asking you to break down something that's quite complicated.
So you want to eat you know, lighter foods so
that you can actually break them down and sell walls.
Are you know, starting to become broken down when you
actually cook your vegetables as slightly.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I also assume that exercise, even for those of
us who exercise almost daily, probably is not a good
idea on those really hot days.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
You know, not in the heat, it's just it's you know,
putting a lot of stress on the system. You know,
when you're sweating like that, you're just utilizing all aspects
of the body and you know find if you're you know,
have a purpose for it. But if you're just trying
to get through your day and you know, go out
in the middle of the afternoon, it's probably not the
best idea for just body health.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And the signs that you have somehow are in are
in trouble. I'm sure there are some signs that people
can pick up early before they collapse in the heat.
Obviously you don't want to be working outside, I assume
if you can help it.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
Yeah, it's true. And you know the signs would be,
you know, overheated, hot, malaise, fatigue, headaches, weak, can't think straight,
brain fog. Those are all coming right before you you know,
have hit the maxon you know, being overheated and you know,
needing any type of emergency situation. So you know, if
(05:55):
that does occur, you know, get yourself into the air condition.
You know, drink nice cool water. You don't want it
icy to you know, stress the system at this point
lay down, you know, if you do get hungry, you
want to eat, you know, something like fruit, maybe a
smoothie not too high in sugar, and you know, just
chill the body out. Taking some salt and potassium is
(06:18):
also important and just you know, try to mitigate what's happening.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
All good advice, that is for sure. Is there anything
that I have forgotten that you feel people should be
thinking about again? I guess the heat is supposed to
hit here Friday or late Thursday early Friday, so here
in New England where you know, the heat waves are
fairly rare, at least they have been in recent years.
(06:44):
Anything that you want to add in conclusion.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
Yeah, I put so much importance on digestive health because
that's the key to basically having the rest of your
life feeling good. So if you have any sort of
digestive symptoms gas floating intoingestion and heartburnk constipatient diarrhea, acid
reflex those are just signs that whatever you're eating you
can't break down. The whole purpose for eating, other than
the taste, is to get the nutrients from that food
(07:10):
into the bloodstream and generally in this country, we do
not make enough digestive enzymes to break down our food.
Our food has been altered the growth of it, all
the seeds, so we don't have quite as nutritious food,
and we do need these enzymes to break down our food,
whether you're healthy or unhealthy. So I've pushed hard with
(07:33):
my patients for thirty four years to take high quality
digestive enzymes with their meals because that way you get
more bang for your buck, and it's like ringing all
the nutrients out of your food. When you can take
an enzyme, it breaks down your proteins and your carbohydrates.
And the one that I use is called absorbed. It
helps also breaking down the dairy products and the fats
(07:55):
in your diet. So when you have that aid to
your it allows you to digest the food get the
most that you can. I mean, we're buying the food,
we're preparing the food. We're hoping our family likes it,
so let's get the most from it. And you know, I,
you know, can't recommend enough taking high quality digestiins.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I'd like the absorbed and that's all over the counter stuff,
I assume.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
Yeah, it's all natural, it's vegan. It's all from you know,
the different plants and fruits and things that will aid
in breaking down your meal. So you know you can't
really overdo it. I mean, you know, within reason. Kids
can take it, elderly can take it. A lot of
my patients give it to their dogs so they get
warm nutrition from their meal. And when you do that,
you find that, you know, you feel better, you have
(08:42):
less inflammation when people take them, even on an empty stomach.
It helps to handle inflammation, bacteria, viruses, anything that's happening
in the system that needs to be broken down. So
people actually have better joints when they take it on
an empty stomach, and they have better nutrition with their
meal when they're taking it with any one of their meals.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
All right, well, doctor Julie GOTSA. Thank you so much again.
We will be thinking about you when the temperatures warm
up here in Massachusetts and New England late this weekend
into the weekend. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
Thank you, and if anyone's interested, they can go to
the website which is naturessources dot com and you can
get some free samples there or twenty percent off your
first order. It's a wonderful company, and you know, give
it a try.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Okay, thank you very much, appreciate it very much. Thanks,
thank you doctor.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
All Right, we get back. We're going to talk about
we tend to talk a lot about gen zers, and
we're going to talk about what is called the gen
z Stare with an interesting guest coming up. He's an
AI and digital director of a group called the Littlefield Agency.
I had never heard it, but I guess the gen
(09:55):
z Stare is something that is actually out there that
gen zers are doing. So we'll be back on nightside.
By the way, if you haven't had an opportunity to
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(10:19):
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(10:39):
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all there's another option to be in touch with us
back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
If you're on night Side, put Dan Ray on Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, all of us probably know a little bit more
about gen Z and gen Z I finally figured out
are people that started to arrive in about the mid
nineteen nineties, and they now can be anywhere from Pallas
as young as almost just teenagers, or or they could
(11:27):
be as old as somewhere in their late twenties. And
with us is Steve Roupe. Steve is as an artificial
intelligence and digital director for a company called the Little
Field Agency, which is a marketing agency. What are your
market staved with your agency?
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Oh, Dan, why do we not market enough that? Thanks
of that question, we specialized. We specialize in B to
B manufacturing primarily, but we hit any industry that we
can help.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Okay, explain to my audience and to me, what does
B to B manufacturing?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Me?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah? Yeah, so B two C would be business to customer.
That's the stuff that you probably buy off the shelves
at targets and walmarts and places like that. B to
B is business to business and that's when businesses are,
you know, trading goods and services between each other.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Okay, so let's talk about gen Z. I think gen
Z is getting being beat up on a lot, to
be honest with you, And I've never heard of the
gen Z stare, but I guess it's a real thing,
So tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, I don't think you hear it. You see that
thing coming right at you. Yeah, the gen Z stare.
I have to admit, I've been working with and around
gen Z and I have three kids that are gen
Z edge myself and didn't know that's what this was
called and tier until recently. I just you know, looked
at him and thought, well, they're concentrating or the formula
(13:00):
anyk A response or whatever. But yeah, that gen Z
stares when you're looking at someone from this generation, uh
gen Z and they're just kind of staring blankly at you,
is at least that's what's going to appear to be
to the to the uninitiated.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Mm hm. And how does a generation of kids develop
you know, this, uh, this universal stare.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, there's a loss. It is kind of strange, and
I think, you know, at first first glance, you know,
your millennials and your gen X which I'm a part of,
and baby Bloomers and above may look at it as
a sign of disrespect, but that's not how it's intended.
And they've kind of come by it somewhat naturally. This
is a generation that grew up with the Internet already
(13:46):
in existence, and cell phones in many cases in smartphones
as we know now already in existence, and they're pretty
used to staring at the screen where the rest of
us kind of, you know, most of the day didn't
do that and came home to watch a little TV
and that was it. So they've they've kind of grown
up in the world where they do stare at screens
a lot, or they're good chuck in the day is
(14:08):
interacting with something on a smartphone or a computer screen
or something like this, video games, things like that. So
that's kind of just when I think it's come from.
It's not it's not like they all got together and
had a meeting and decided to do this to us.
But that's where I think it's coming from.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay, So, so is this them being thoughtful and contemplative
and you ask them a question? I guess sometimes it
it appears or materializes in restaurants when people are being
asked to order food. Give us an example when someone
might be presented with the gen Z stare. And if
(14:45):
there's some gen Z listeners out there, We're not trying
to insult your folks, We're just trying to understand what's
going on.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Absolutely, yeah, so you might. You know, I encourage I
encounter the gen Z stare occasionally here at work. I
have a couple of folks that are in that generation
that work underneath me, and it's not unusual for me
to see that stare during the course of the day.
Definitely not unusual to see it from my kids. But
that's the whole other thing. But yeah, if you've been
into a restaurant or a store, or in some ways
(15:14):
interacted with some young gen Zer it felt like they
were not paying attention to you, that may not be true.
They might actually be concentrating, they might be planning what
they say next. Because the other thing about this generation
is the way they've grown up and socialized. It's a
little different than the rest of us. A lot of
it's happened remotely through the internet, right. They make friends
and social media. They can send text and discuss, you know,
(15:37):
talk to people wherever they want. That means that they're
like social and interpersonal communications and actions are not quite
as I don't want to say developed, because that's rude,
but they're just not quite as heightened as maybe some
of us who didn't grow up that way. So a
lot of times I think what they're planning is maybe
they might have a little anxiety even is what I've
read that this is how they're time dealing with it.
(15:59):
They're staring off, they're kind of planning the next, next move,
the next words, and that's it. They're really just kind
of in their own head thinking. So that's not to
say that some of them are not completely ignoring you.
That is also possible.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Okay, So I assume that the computer is not going away.
It's here to stay. Yeah, subsequent generations are going to
spend more time on the computer, and that the next generation,
whether it's Generation Alpha, I think that's the next I
don't know, it gets confusing as a baby boom. Do
(16:34):
you get to the point we're finally going to have
people who won't even be able to make eye contact
a generation to people who will just look off you.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, you know, I think it's to be determined. As
the next generations come up and we see their unusual
ticks and things that have influenced them in their upbringing,
in their experiences, they may bring all new things to
the table. It's not too hard to imagine, you know,
how that might be based on someone who you know,
listened to the pandemic during their high school or college
(17:04):
years right where we're doing a lot of social interactions
and kind of flexing those muscles for adulthood in that area.
If you've been isolated during that phase, you didn't get
to do that, so maybe you developed a little bit
later than someone who didn't go through that. But yeah,
I think that we're probably going to see continue to
see ticks and changes and things that may seem odd
to the rest of us. But I mean that's kind
(17:25):
of important part is remembering, you know, just because it's
not intentionally to us doesn't mean it's a flight it's
not always how it's intended.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Oh, Steve, thank you very much. If folks want to
get in touch with you and with the Little Field Agency,
how do they do.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
That Littlefield Agency dot Com?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Pretty good? That's are That's good. And I love it
when people don't give me the old www dot just
the Little Field Agency dot com. Yeah, the www thing
is totally unnecessary these days, but some people still are
doing it. Steve Roup, thank you so much. Appreciate that
you explaining to us what the gen z stare is
fair enough, Thank you, sir, you bet, thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Dan.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
All right, we have the eight thirty News coming at
you the bottom of the hour. We'll get right to that,
and then we'll be back on the other side, and
we are going to talk about the fact that dual
income couples without kids, I guess they're called dinks dual
income no kids d n ks. A third of them,
(18:30):
dual income couples without kids are going into debt for
what they're pets. That would be me who We'll be
back at night Side right after the news at the
bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio, where this this is Rachel Barber.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
She's the USA Today personal finance reporter. My favorite newspaper
when I'm on the road, Rachel, And I'm not on
the road as much as I used to be, but
as a TV reporter many many, many years, I hit
a lot of cities and a lot of towns across America,
and you could always have USA Today. So thank you
(19:10):
for the USA Today, thank you for what you do.
And you're going to explain to us what a dink is.
When I was growing up, if someone called you a dink,
those were fighting words. It was sort of was not
something you wanted to be called. But a double income
no kids couples yet yet they're running into debt. One
(19:36):
third of them. They're dual income couples without kids, and
they're gone. They're falling into debt for a very obvious
reason and un understandable reason. Their pets tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, that's right. Well, first, thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate you having me on, and thanks for the
kind words about USA Today. Yeah, so a little bit
about this story. I mean, most people loved it, pets,
that's not breaking news. This article asked the question how
far would you really go for yours? Would you go
into debt for them? And as you've just explained, some
people are. And so a new survey found that it's
(20:13):
particularly true for these dink couples. Yes, d I n
k A kaual income couples who don't have children. A
third of them say that they have taken out credit
card or loan debt to care for their animals. And
some have gone beyond that, you know, working extra hours,
stopping contributing to savings, refusing or delaying their own medical
(20:34):
care so that they can care for their animals.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah. Look, animals are expensive, and if you really love
your pet, you're going to make sure that not only
do they have the proper you know, veterinary care, their
their their teeth are looked after, everything about them is
looked after. Then you also want to get them plenty
of toys to play with, and you want to get
them the best food. That's the normal. But it's seems
(21:00):
to me that if you're a double incomparent, I think
they would save the average amount of money that a
family spends on a pet is around nineteen hundred dollars.
Was that the number that I saw in.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Your article annually, that's correct, and six.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Okay, to be pre serious. I like that you're you're precise.
So so that works out when you think about it,
that's about six dollars a day, three hundred maybe five
dollars a day six yeah, above five bucks a day,
which you know, that's a healthy sum. That adds up.
That's thirty five bucks a week. That's one hundred and
(21:35):
forty hundred and fifty bucks a month. People living that
close to the line, I mean, if they must be
you know, if they're two income parents these days, I mean,
I'm assuming you might be getting close to eighty ninety
thousand dollars, right.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
I mean, you know, obviously it depends what stuation situation.
I mean around the country. I think you know, I
don't have it in front of me that I mean,
we could look up the average salary. But I think
the more important point here is that it might be
because they're, you know, based off of this one thousand,
ninety six dollars amount, that they're charging their cat litter
(22:16):
or their dry dog food to their credit card. But
it also might be that a splurged on an enrichment
toy or a Halloween outfit that wasn't in the budget,
or there was a vet for a vet visit that
was an emergency that they didn't account for. And so
I think, you know, my point is is that this
is this one hundred number is the average. But you know,
(22:41):
if something happens or you splurge because you see something
cute at the pet store, then it can quickly throw
a wrench into these couples budgets.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well. Then the other thing, though, is if a can average.
Obviously some people spend more, some people spend less. You know,
some people who are in a big city probably have
to spend more because things are more expensive, but they're
probably making a better salary. I mean, if you have
someone who's a firefighter or a police officer, they should
(23:13):
be making the sixty seventy thousand dollars a year. I
mean unless they're in some really small town in I
don't know, I don't of nowhere. And if the other
spouse is working, yeah, I don't know. As a teacher,
you're talking in fifty sixty, then I don't know. I
guess my question is this, here's the question if as
(23:35):
two double income parents can't make it and then they
go into debt because of a pet spending a couple
of grand a year, what are they going to do
when they have kids or will they have kids.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That's a very good question, and I guess before I
completely answer that, I want to say that it is
a significant amount, but it is only a third, So
two thirds of the people are managing their finance as
well if they're not going into debt. But to answer
your question about kids, I also thought that was very interesting,
and so I interviewed a couple who are twenty nine
(24:11):
year olds married in Texas, and they have who they
call basically a fur baby, who's their dog, and they
treat her as family. They in fact said that there
was no amount of money that they wouldn't spend on
their dog, that they would just finance it and pay
it off over several years if they had to, if
they got an emergency bet bill that was astronomical. But
(24:34):
I asked them if they were curious or if they're
interested in having children in the near future, and they
said just not right now. It's not a priority for them.
And for right now, Hazel, who's their miniature schnauzer myths,
feels like a child to them. And it's interesting. I mean,
I think ninety four percent of those who were surveyed
(24:54):
said that they view their pet as a family member,
and another percentage the majority said that they specifically view
them as a child, but that doesn't prevent all of
them from wanting kids. Thirty nine percent of those surveyed
said that they do plan on having children some day,
but interestingly, seventeen percent said that raising chistren is too
(25:17):
expensive to ever have them, which it kind of goes
in line with what you're saying. I mean, if you're
going into debt over a pet, I don't know that
you necessarily, at least right now, have means to financially
raise a child. Last year, it costs twenty three thousand
dollars on average to raise a child in the United States,
So in comparison, that's a lot more than that nineteen
(25:39):
hundred dollars number.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
So you know it's I.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Must say this. I'm a pet lover. I'm co hosting
the show tonight, although he hasn't said much so far
with my granddog, Muster, the CORGI must have the wonder dog,
and he's sleeping over there and he's he's at some
point I'll interview later on tonight, I'm sure, but yeah,
pets are members of the family. I don't think you
(26:03):
should have a pen if you don't consider them a
member of the family. To be really honest with you,
if you consider them anything less than a member of
your family, I think you should, you know, give them
up for adoption. But I'm kind of I'm kind of
hardcore on that. If you want to know the truth,
and probably some people would say, you know, you should,
you should kind of look at them as not a child,
(26:28):
but as I don't know, a distant cousin. But no,
I don't you know. Look, you do great work. How
often are you are you in USA today?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
If I could ask, Yeah, I am employed full time
at Yesterday today, so I am writing doing video TikTok
for them soon.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Well, I was just I was wondering because I think
it's always interesting when people listen, you know, tonight Tonight's side,
and they hear Rachel Barbara. I didn't know if you
had a financial column that was in you every Thursday
or every Tuesday or something like that. I'd love to
direct some of my listeners to you to your work.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Not quite yet, but I do have a something to
plug if you'll let me which is related We actually,
you say today just launched a new initiative which are
called USA Today Pets. So we found from people searching
our website from Google searches. There's millions of these searches
of people looking for pet related content, questions about pets.
So we just launched this new sort of subsite infection
(27:31):
on our website that had like people who are essentially
pet experts who can give you advice about your pets.
We have to interview to celebrities about their pets, basically
one stop shop for all things pets.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
And I would want to interview me about most of
my granddaughter. I'm so proud of Mustard and.
Speaker 7 (27:50):
Well maybe so.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
I mean I think we would all love to hear
about him right now.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Probably.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I mean I could tell you this, he's almost as
as I am. So you get two for the price
of want. Okay, just joking with you, but yeah, no, Rachel,
I so enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Love to
have you back. You're a good sport. Uh and and
and and pets are just incredibly important. I mean they
really are. People need to be more aware of shelter
(28:14):
animals and uh and that they can find wonderful pets
and adoption centers. This uh, this particular dog, Mustard the
CORKI was adopted my daughter her got your Day with
the dog. His Got Your Day was two years ago.
So we love pets uh in the house. And if
I can ever be if any helps you, you let
me know.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
Okay, thanks so much, definitely, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
He's a good looking dog, trust me on that. I'm
sure he's the best in the family. That's put it like. Okay,
thank you so.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Much, Thanks Rachel, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Night All right, when we get back on and talk about
the exercise paradox, I don't know if I want to
really listen to this, but we will be talking with
Aaron Einstrom.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
No relation to the nice from that played for the Island,
I'm sure many years ago. But that's okay. The exercise
paradox will explain right after this break on Night.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Side Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
We are about to talk with Aaron Nystrom. No relation
to the Nystroom of the New York Islanders, right of
many years ago. No, okay, no great player, Great bout Nystrom,
great player, you're a substack writer. Well it's not a
common name, Eron, give me.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
I mean to be fair, it's not mine, it's my husband's.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Okay, well you want to ask your husband about that.
Substack writer and fitness enthusiast. I'm a fitness enthusiast. I'm
in the gym six days a week for the most part. Okay,
So you have written a piece for Substack, which I love.
By the way, exercise paradox and how studies have been
(29:59):
done the show despite popular belief in the fitness world,
burning more calories than you consume does not exactly help
you lose weight. I eat more calories that I exercise,
and yet I'm able to keep my weight off because
I'm on a great diet called awake in. But before
we go there, explain to me the thesis that it
(30:25):
looks like a thesis. It looks at like a doctoral
thesis when I read it. The exercise paragraph and studies
have been done the show. Despite popular belief in the
fitness world, burning more calories than you consume does not
exactly help you lose weight. Eron received her doctorate in
exercise physiology. I'm just having fun with you, Aaron. It
(30:46):
sounds like a great piece. Tell us about it.
Speaker 7 (30:49):
Yeah, so it's not exactly that. How you know, exercise
does burn calories, but my main thesis here is that
it does so much more than that. In our culture,
we've been so conditioned to believe that we just exercise
to burn solid calories, to burn fat. But it's actually
(31:09):
pretty inefficient at doing that, but it's really great at
doing so many other things. And really my essential point
was that, yes, like, continue to exercise. I'm not saying
don't exercise, but let's rethink how we approach it and
why we do it.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
I agree with you totally. I think it's an essential
part of my day. It's essential. I do take a
day off here, in a day off there, because I
think as you get older you have to recoup. But
I think it keeps your mind alert when I do.
(31:50):
When I exercise, I'm an elliptical guy. I became up
running you know many years ago, used to run a lot.
But you can take the pounding on your joints. So
the Olympical for people my age are on the wrong
side of fifty. I'm being generous to do that.
Speaker 7 (32:09):
It's the right side.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
It works. It works that lightweights seemed to do it
for me. But it keeps me alert, it keeps my
mind active. I think it keeps the blood flow. I
think this many benefits from it. I really do.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
Yeah, And it's you know it. People argue a lot
about what the best type of exercise is, and again
a lot of times we're talking about this like calorie
burning fat burning paradigm, But it's really the best type
of exercise is one.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
The type that you're going to do, and two of the.
Speaker 7 (32:47):
Type that makes you feel the best, and I'll add
a third the type of supports whatever lifestyle you want
to live. So, if you are somebody who loves to
go along bike rides or play pickleball or climb mountains,
when you are choosing exercise, we want to think about
what's going to be the most supportive thing to keep
(33:09):
me doing these things pain free, injury free.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
And let's say you're.
Speaker 7 (33:13):
You don't want to do any of these things, but
you're somebody who works at a desk all day and
you've caught you know, your I call it like the
desk shrimp. We're kind of all hunched.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
Over and and you know, fines, You know what kind
of exercise can I do to kind of get the
chair out of my body, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Sure enow what type of exercise do you find? Are
you a regular person who exercises? I hope.
Speaker 7 (33:38):
Oh yeah, So I actually used to be an elite athlete.
I was started my career over a decade ago with
a personal trainers have a lot of experience and all
of this. But right now, I mean, like I have
so many hobbies the hike and paddle board and rock
climb and.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
So yeah, all out do I think you keep yourself
in shape? And yeah, what is the what is when
I when you when I think about exercise, I'm thinking
about the gym. You maybe don't do the gym because
you get enough exercise out of time. Do you spend
gym time or no?
Speaker 7 (34:16):
I do do the gym. So I am in the
gym maybe three days a week. And this is my
support is movement. So this is the things I do.
I do a lot of like mobility work, a lot
of heavy lifting, strength training, things that get my muscles
and joints and feeling really nice and good and buttery
and keep my body really resilient. And then on my
(34:37):
other days, I rock climb a lot I'm going hiking,
maybe running a little bit, But the gym is what
I use to keep me being able to do whatever
it is I want to do without having to train
or get ready or you know, I'm getting sore or whatever.
It's like, this is what I'm using to maintain.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
You know, the best part of that exercise for me
is that part of the day when it's over, you know,
because I don't care how much you love it, and
I do love it, You're still got to get there.
You've got to get there, and you've got to put
aside the things that maybe you think that you might
(35:19):
have to do ahead of it. And so I use
my time just thinking about how do I want to
organize my day. I get, you know, twenty five thirty
minutes on the ollipical, that's all I need. If I
get to do some weights, great. But you can use
your exercise time proactively too, meaning you know you can
you can pull your day together. For me, it's much
(35:39):
better earlier than later in the day.
Speaker 7 (35:41):
Yeah, I'm the same way.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Yeah, I'm the same way.
Speaker 7 (35:43):
I have so much more energy throughout the rest of
the day. And I think that's, you know, definitely something
I try to get across the articles like this is
for so much more than just like the physical body.
Well there's obviously tons and tons and tons of physical benefits,
they're mental as well, like we are are meant to
move as human being and we've kind of engineered all
(36:06):
of the natural movement out of our lives and if
we could put it back in that would be great.
But for a lot of us, if we're working at
a desk like that's just not that's just not going
to happen. So the gym is where we get to
put that movement back in.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
How can folks get in touch with you? We've talked
and we've enjoyed each other's company and had some fun here,
but we've run out of time. How can focus?
Speaker 7 (36:29):
Yeah, no problem. Yeah, So you can find me on
substack Aaron my sub sects human being and I'm also
on Instagram, although less active, but I'm on there at
Aaron from Underscore.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Well, thank you very much. A nice dream is anyone
who's of hockey n y s. Thanks Eron, Thanks Dan,
talk to you again here cotings the nine o'clock news.
Right after we're going to talk about the death of
that five year old boy in Hyde Park three months ago.
Three months ago and we still don't know any charges.
(37:03):
And today lawyers filed the lawsuit and also a couple
of our former guests market Basket chiefs have been summarily
dismissed by the new Market Basket. We'll talk about maybe
both of those tonight, coming back on Nightside.
It's nice, Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm doing you easy Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Okay, having a little bit of technical problems here, but
nothing that we won't be able to overcome. My name
is Dan Ray and I am the host of Night's Side.
I want to thank Madison Rogers for her fine introduction
and hope like all of you, that Madison is enjoying
a fine summer. And we certainly had a beautiful day
(00:26):
in New England today and we will hopefully have more
of those days in the days and weeks ahead. Rob
Brooks is back at the control room as always, and
I am all set to go. Tonight. We will have
a very interesting program for you for guests during this
hour on four different topics. We will also talk about
(00:47):
that death of that five year old little boy in
Hyde Park. We still don't know what happened. It's an
amazing fact to me that there are that little information available.
We're going to talk about and what's with all the rats.
You know, the rats are now migrating into South Boston
and we're talking about the real rats. So we'll get
(01:10):
to all of that. But first, our first guest tonight
is doctor Julie Gatza and she's going to talk us
to us about pretty timely topic, and that is heat waves,
heat waves that are going to be coming all up
and down the East coast of America in the next
few days, and talking about heat waves and high stress
and how they're link to poor eating habits and digestive strain. Hi, Julie,
(01:33):
how are you tonight? Welcome or doctor Julie, I should say,
how are you this evening?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm good?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Thanks?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So what is it about heat waves that cause high
stress that lead to poor eating habits and digestive strain.
It sounds like whenever it's going to be over ninety degrees,
I'm just gonna curl up in my room and try
to go to sleep.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Well.
Speaker 6 (01:55):
One of the things I mean, digestion is one of
the most important functions of the body because that's where
you're going to get all your nutrition. But what happens
when you have some stress on the system like high
heat or emotional or physical stress, is digestion is that
these worrisome area for the body, so it will go
to all sorts of other areas. So when you're eating
(02:17):
foods that are more difficult to break down, they don't
get broken down. So now they're sitting in the gut,
they're fermenting, they're causing gas, floating, indigestion, constipation, acid reflex,
whatever it may be. It's because you can't break down
the food when you're under that type of heat stress
in particular.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Does this affect everyone in a similar fashion or is
it are the people who are more likely to be
adversely impacted? You or medical condition or whatever.
Speaker 6 (02:52):
For certain everyone's affected at some level, but it does
depend on you know, are you compromised in other areas?
So it's going to affect somebody who is, you know,
under the weather, not feeling well sickly. However, you know,
if you take a real consensus, you're going to find
that most people are suffering somewhat from digestive stress. And so,
(03:14):
you know, keeping smart when it's heat and when you're
under stress of whatever sort is prudent.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
So, so give us some tips. I think all of
us know you, if you happen to be lucky enough
to have air conditioning, you know, use it. If if
you're in somewhere that there is a natural breeze, that's good,
you want to hydrate. Tell me what some of the
things that maybe have forgotten here. Those are the things
(03:43):
that I.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
Think of, and those are important. You know, hydration is
super important, and people will hydrate with other things than water,
which I think is a mistake because it's not necessarily
what the cells need. So, you know, pure plain water,
if you want to flavor it yourself with you know,
some type of fruit or mint or strawberries or whatever. Fine,
But to drink a whole bunch of electrolytes. When people
(04:05):
drink too many electrolytes, it actually starts taking it from
their body, so they become more mentally deficient. You know,
Eating lighter fair fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables. I believe cooked
is easier on the digestive system rather than asking your
digestion to break down. You know, a huge salad not
(04:25):
the worst thing, but if you're already not rate digestively,
it's asking you to break down something that's quite complicated.
So you want to eat you know, lighter foods so
that you can actually break them down and sell walls.
Are you know, starting to become broken down when you
actually cook your vegetables as slightly.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And I also assume that exercise, even for those of
us who exercise almost daily, probably is not a good
idea on those really hot days.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
You know, not in the heat, it's just it's you know,
putting a lot of stress on the system. You know,
when you're sweating like that, you're just utilizing all aspects
of the body and you know find if you're you know,
have a purpose for it. But if you're just trying
to get through your day and you know, go out
in the middle of the afternoon, it's probably not the
best idea for just body health.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
And the signs that you have somehow are in are
in trouble. I'm sure there are some signs that people
can pick up early before they collapse in the heat.
Obviously you don't want to be working outside, I assume
if you can help it.
Speaker 6 (05:34):
Yeah, it's true. And you know the signs would be,
you know, overheated, hot, malaise, fatigue, headaches, weak, can't think straight,
brain fog. Those are all coming right before you you know,
have hit the maxon you know, being overheated and you know,
needing any type of emergency situation. So you know, if
(05:55):
that does occur, you know, get yourself into the air condition.
You know, drink nice cool water. You don't want it
icy to you know, stress the system at this point
lay down, you know, if you do get hungry, you
want to eat, you know, something like fruit, maybe a
smoothie not too high in sugar, and you know, just
chill the body out. Taking some salt and potassium is
(06:18):
also important and just you know, try to mitigate what's happening.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
All good advice, that is for sure. Is there anything
that I have forgotten that you feel people should be
thinking about again? I guess the heat is supposed to
hit here Friday or late Thursday early Friday, so here
in New England where you know, the heat waves are
fairly rare, at least they have been in recent years.
(06:44):
Anything that you want to add in conclusion.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
Yeah, I put so much importance on digestive health because
that's the key to basically having the rest of your
life feeling good. So if you have any sort of
digestive symptoms gas floating intoingestion and heartburnk constipatient diarrhea, acid
reflex those are just signs that whatever you're eating you
can't break down. The whole purpose for eating, other than
the taste, is to get the nutrients from that food
(07:10):
into the bloodstream and generally in this country, we do
not make enough digestive enzymes to break down our food.
Our food has been altered the growth of it, all
the seeds, so we don't have quite as nutritious food,
and we do need these enzymes to break down our food,
whether you're healthy or unhealthy. So I've pushed hard with
(07:33):
my patients for thirty four years to take high quality
digestive enzymes with their meals because that way you get
more bang for your buck, and it's like ringing all
the nutrients out of your food. When you can take
an enzyme, it breaks down your proteins and your carbohydrates.
And the one that I use is called absorbed. It
helps also breaking down the dairy products and the fats
(07:55):
in your diet. So when you have that aid to
your it allows you to digest the food get the
most that you can. I mean, we're buying the food,
we're preparing the food. We're hoping our family likes it,
so let's get the most from it. And you know, I,
you know, can't recommend enough taking high quality digestiins.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
I'd like the absorbed and that's all over the counter stuff,
I assume.
Speaker 6 (08:19):
Yeah, it's all natural, it's vegan. It's all from you know,
the different plants and fruits and things that will aid
in breaking down your meal. So you know you can't
really overdo it. I mean, you know, within reason. Kids
can take it, elderly can take it. A lot of
my patients give it to their dogs so they get
warm nutrition from their meal. And when you do that,
you find that, you know, you feel better, you have
(08:42):
less inflammation when people take them, even on an empty stomach.
It helps to handle inflammation, bacteria, viruses, anything that's happening
in the system that needs to be broken down. So
people actually have better joints when they take it on
an empty stomach, and they have better nutrition with their
meal when they're taking it with any one of their meals.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
All right, well, doctor Julie GOTSA. Thank you so much again.
We will be thinking about you when the temperatures warm
up here in Massachusetts and New England late this weekend
into the weekend. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 6 (09:15):
Thank you, and if anyone's interested, they can go to
the website which is naturessources dot com and you can
get some free samples there or twenty percent off your
first order. It's a wonderful company, and you know, give
it a try.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Okay, thank you very much, appreciate it very much. Thanks,
thank you doctor.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
All Right, we get back. We're going to talk about
we tend to talk a lot about gen zers, and
we're going to talk about what is called the gen
z Stare with an interesting guest coming up. He's an
AI and digital director of a group called the Littlefield Agency.
I had never heard it, but I guess the gen
(09:55):
z Stare is something that is actually out there that
gen zers are doing. So we'll be back on nightside.
By the way, if you haven't had an opportunity to
pull down the iHeart app, to do and improved iHeart app,
all you have to do is go to your app store,
pull it down, put it on your laptop, put it
on your desktop, put it on your tablet, put it
on your watch, put it anywhere. Of course, make WBZ
(10:19):
your first preset, and you will always be in touch
with us. You'll only be a fingertip away wherever you
are anywhere in this wide, wide world, and you'll be
able to also send us a message. You can. Actually
there's a button there, a little red button with a
white microphone you can press that you got thirty seconds
to say whatever you want, keep it clean, and you'll
(10:39):
go directly to Rob and Rob will listen to it
and we may play it on the air that night.
Again obviously one during the telephone portion of the program,
we want you to call the show, but you can
all there's another option to be in touch with us
back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
If you're on night Side, put Dan Ray on Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Well, all of us probably know a little bit more
about gen Z and gen Z I finally figured out
are people that started to arrive in about the mid
nineteen nineties, and they now can be anywhere from Pallas
as young as almost just teenagers, or or they could
(11:27):
be as old as somewhere in their late twenties. And
with us is Steve Roupe. Steve is as an artificial
intelligence and digital director for a company called the Little
Field Agency, which is a marketing agency. What are your
market staved with your agency?
Speaker 4 (11:46):
Oh, Dan, why do we not market enough that? Thanks
of that question, we specialized. We specialize in B to
B manufacturing primarily, but we hit any industry that we
can help.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Okay, explain to my audience and to me, what does
B to B manufacturing?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Me?
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah? Yeah, so B two C would be business to customer.
That's the stuff that you probably buy off the shelves
at targets and walmarts and places like that. B to
B is business to business and that's when businesses are,
you know, trading goods and services between each other.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Okay, so let's talk about gen Z. I think gen
Z is getting being beat up on a lot, to
be honest with you, And I've never heard of the
gen Z stare, but I guess it's a real thing,
So tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, I don't think you hear it. You see that
thing coming right at you. Yeah, the gen Z stare.
I have to admit, I've been working with and around
gen Z and I have three kids that are gen
Z edge myself and didn't know that's what this was
called and tier until recently. I just you know, looked
at him and thought, well, they're concentrating or the formula
(13:00):
anyk A response or whatever. But yeah, that gen Z
stares when you're looking at someone from this generation, uh
gen Z and they're just kind of staring blankly at you,
is at least that's what's going to appear to be
to the to the uninitiated.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Mm hm. And how does a generation of kids develop
you know, this, uh, this universal stare.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, there's a loss. It is kind of strange, and
I think, you know, at first first glance, you know,
your millennials and your gen X which I'm a part of,
and baby Bloomers and above may look at it as
a sign of disrespect, but that's not how it's intended.
And they've kind of come by it somewhat naturally. This
is a generation that grew up with the Internet already
(13:46):
in existence, and cell phones in many cases in smartphones
as we know now already in existence, and they're pretty
used to staring at the screen where the rest of
us kind of, you know, most of the day didn't
do that and came home to watch a little TV
and that was it. So they've they've kind of grown
up in the world where they do stare at screens
a lot, or they're good chuck in the day is
(14:08):
interacting with something on a smartphone or a computer screen
or something like this, video games, things like that. So
that's kind of just when I think it's come from.
It's not it's not like they all got together and
had a meeting and decided to do this to us.
But that's where I think it's coming from.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay, So, so is this them being thoughtful and contemplative
and you ask them a question? I guess sometimes it
it appears or materializes in restaurants when people are being
asked to order food. Give us an example when someone
might be presented with the gen Z stare. And if
(14:45):
there's some gen Z listeners out there, We're not trying
to insult your folks, We're just trying to understand what's
going on.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Absolutely, yeah, so you might. You know, I encourage I
encounter the gen Z stare occasionally here at work. I
have a couple of folks that are in that generation
that work underneath me, and it's not unusual for me
to see that stare during the course of the day.
Definitely not unusual to see it from my kids. But
that's the whole other thing. But yeah, if you've been
into a restaurant or a store, or in some ways
(15:14):
interacted with some young gen Zer it felt like they
were not paying attention to you, that may not be true.
They might actually be concentrating, they might be planning what
they say next. Because the other thing about this generation
is the way they've grown up and socialized. It's a
little different than the rest of us. A lot of
it's happened remotely through the internet, right. They make friends
and social media. They can send text and discuss, you know,
(15:37):
talk to people wherever they want. That means that they're
like social and interpersonal communications and actions are not quite
as I don't want to say developed, because that's rude,
but they're just not quite as heightened as maybe some
of us who didn't grow up that way. So a
lot of times I think what they're planning is maybe
they might have a little anxiety even is what I've
read that this is how they're time dealing with it.
(15:59):
They're staring off, they're kind of planning the next, next move,
the next words, and that's it. They're really just kind
of in their own head thinking. So that's not to
say that some of them are not completely ignoring you.
That is also possible.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Okay, So I assume that the computer is not going away.
It's here to stay. Yeah, subsequent generations are going to
spend more time on the computer, and that the next generation,
whether it's Generation Alpha, I think that's the next I
don't know, it gets confusing as a baby boom. Do
(16:34):
you get to the point we're finally going to have
people who won't even be able to make eye contact
a generation to people who will just look off you.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, you know, I think it's to be determined. As
the next generations come up and we see their unusual
ticks and things that have influenced them in their upbringing,
in their experiences, they may bring all new things to
the table. It's not too hard to imagine, you know,
how that might be based on someone who you know,
listened to the pandemic during their high school or college
(17:04):
years right where we're doing a lot of social interactions
and kind of flexing those muscles for adulthood in that area.
If you've been isolated during that phase, you didn't get
to do that, so maybe you developed a little bit
later than someone who didn't go through that. But yeah,
I think that we're probably going to see continue to
see ticks and changes and things that may seem odd
to the rest of us. But I mean that's kind
(17:25):
of important part is remembering, you know, just because it's
not intentionally to us doesn't mean it's a flight it's
not always how it's intended.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Oh, Steve, thank you very much. If folks want to
get in touch with you and with the Little Field Agency,
how do they do.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
That Littlefield Agency dot Com?
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Pretty good? That's are That's good. And I love it
when people don't give me the old www dot just
the Little Field Agency dot com. Yeah, the www thing
is totally unnecessary these days, but some people still are
doing it. Steve Roup, thank you so much. Appreciate that
you explaining to us what the gen z stare is
fair enough, Thank you, sir, you bet, thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Dan.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
All right, we have the eight thirty News coming at
you the bottom of the hour. We'll get right to that,
and then we'll be back on the other side, and
we are going to talk about the fact that dual
income couples without kids, I guess they're called dinks dual
income no kids d n ks. A third of them,
(18:30):
dual income couples without kids are going into debt for
what they're pets. That would be me who We'll be
back at night Side right after the news at the
bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's
news radio, where this this is Rachel Barber.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
She's the USA Today personal finance reporter. My favorite newspaper
when I'm on the road, Rachel, And I'm not on
the road as much as I used to be, but
as a TV reporter many many, many years, I hit
a lot of cities and a lot of towns across America,
and you could always have USA Today. So thank you
(19:10):
for the USA Today, thank you for what you do.
And you're going to explain to us what a dink is.
When I was growing up, if someone called you a dink,
those were fighting words. It was sort of was not
something you wanted to be called. But a double income
no kids couples yet yet they're running into debt. One
(19:36):
third of them. They're dual income couples without kids, and
they're gone. They're falling into debt for a very obvious
reason and un understandable reason. Their pets tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, that's right. Well, first, thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate you having me on, and thanks for the
kind words about USA Today. Yeah, so a little bit
about this story. I mean, most people loved it, pets,
that's not breaking news. This article asked the question how
far would you really go for yours? Would you go
into debt for them? And as you've just explained, some
people are. And so a new survey found that it's
(20:13):
particularly true for these dink couples. Yes, d I n
k A kaual income couples who don't have children. A
third of them say that they have taken out credit
card or loan debt to care for their animals. And
some have gone beyond that, you know, working extra hours,
stopping contributing to savings, refusing or delaying their own medical
(20:34):
care so that they can care for their animals.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah. Look, animals are expensive, and if you really love
your pet, you're going to make sure that not only
do they have the proper you know, veterinary care, their
their their teeth are looked after, everything about them is
looked after. Then you also want to get them plenty
of toys to play with, and you want to get
them the best food. That's the normal. But it's seems
(21:00):
to me that if you're a double incomparent, I think
they would save the average amount of money that a
family spends on a pet is around nineteen hundred dollars.
Was that the number that I saw in.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Your article annually, that's correct, and six.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Okay, to be pre serious. I like that you're you're precise.
So so that works out when you think about it,
that's about six dollars a day, three hundred maybe five
dollars a day six yeah, above five bucks a day,
which you know, that's a healthy sum. That adds up.
That's thirty five bucks a week. That's one hundred and
(21:35):
forty hundred and fifty bucks a month. People living that
close to the line, I mean, if they must be
you know, if they're two income parents these days, I mean,
I'm assuming you might be getting close to eighty ninety
thousand dollars, right.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
I mean, you know, obviously it depends what stuation situation.
I mean around the country. I think you know, I
don't have it in front of me that I mean,
we could look up the average salary. But I think
the more important point here is that it might be
because they're, you know, based off of this one thousand,
ninety six dollars amount, that they're charging their cat litter
(22:16):
or their dry dog food to their credit card. But
it also might be that a splurged on an enrichment
toy or a Halloween outfit that wasn't in the budget,
or there was a vet for a vet visit that
was an emergency that they didn't account for. And so
I think, you know, my point is is that this
is this one hundred number is the average. But you know,
(22:41):
if something happens or you splurge because you see something
cute at the pet store, then it can quickly throw
a wrench into these couples budgets.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well. Then the other thing, though, is if a can average.
Obviously some people spend more, some people spend less. You know,
some people who are in a big city probably have
to spend more because things are more expensive, but they're
probably making a better salary. I mean, if you have
someone who's a firefighter or a police officer, they should
(23:13):
be making the sixty seventy thousand dollars a year. I
mean unless they're in some really small town in I
don't know, I don't of nowhere. And if the other
spouse is working, yeah, I don't know. As a teacher,
you're talking in fifty sixty, then I don't know. I
guess my question is this, here's the question if as
(23:35):
two double income parents can't make it and then they
go into debt because of a pet spending a couple
of grand a year, what are they going to do
when they have kids or will they have kids.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
That's a very good question, and I guess before I
completely answer that, I want to say that it is
a significant amount, but it is only a third, So
two thirds of the people are managing their finance as
well if they're not going into debt. But to answer
your question about kids, I also thought that was very interesting,
and so I interviewed a couple who are twenty nine
(24:11):
year olds married in Texas, and they have who they
call basically a fur baby, who's their dog, and they
treat her as family. They in fact said that there
was no amount of money that they wouldn't spend on
their dog, that they would just finance it and pay
it off over several years if they had to, if
they got an emergency bet bill that was astronomical. But
(24:34):
I asked them if they were curious or if they're
interested in having children in the near future, and they
said just not right now. It's not a priority for them.
And for right now, Hazel, who's their miniature schnauzer myths,
feels like a child to them. And it's interesting. I mean,
I think ninety four percent of those who were surveyed
(24:54):
said that they view their pet as a family member,
and another percentage the majority said that they specifically view
them as a child, but that doesn't prevent all of
them from wanting kids. Thirty nine percent of those surveyed
said that they do plan on having children some day,
but interestingly, seventeen percent said that raising chistren is too
(25:17):
expensive to ever have them, which it kind of goes
in line with what you're saying. I mean, if you're
going into debt over a pet, I don't know that
you necessarily, at least right now, have means to financially
raise a child. Last year, it costs twenty three thousand
dollars on average to raise a child in the United States,
So in comparison, that's a lot more than that nineteen
(25:39):
hundred dollars number.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
So you know it's I.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Must say this. I'm a pet lover. I'm co hosting
the show tonight, although he hasn't said much so far
with my granddog, Muster, the CORGI must have the wonder dog,
and he's sleeping over there and he's he's at some
point I'll interview later on tonight, I'm sure, but yeah,
pets are members of the family. I don't think you
(26:03):
should have a pen if you don't consider them a
member of the family. To be really honest with you,
if you consider them anything less than a member of
your family, I think you should, you know, give them
up for adoption. But I'm kind of I'm kind of
hardcore on that. If you want to know the truth,
and probably some people would say, you know, you should,
you should kind of look at them as not a child,
(26:28):
but as I don't know, a distant cousin. But no,
I don't you know. Look, you do great work. How
often are you are you in USA today?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
If I could ask, Yeah, I am employed full time
at Yesterday today, so I am writing doing video TikTok
for them soon.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Well, I was just I was wondering because I think
it's always interesting when people listen, you know, tonight Tonight's side,
and they hear Rachel Barbara. I didn't know if you
had a financial column that was in you every Thursday
or every Tuesday or something like that. I'd love to
direct some of my listeners to you to your work.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Not quite yet, but I do have a something to
plug if you'll let me which is related We actually,
you say today just launched a new initiative which are
called USA Today Pets. So we found from people searching
our website from Google searches. There's millions of these searches
of people looking for pet related content, questions about pets.
So we just launched this new sort of subsite infection
(27:31):
on our website that had like people who are essentially
pet experts who can give you advice about your pets.
We have to interview to celebrities about their pets, basically
one stop shop for all things pets.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
And I would want to interview me about most of
my granddaughter. I'm so proud of Mustard and.
Speaker 7 (27:50):
Well maybe so.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
I mean I think we would all love to hear
about him right now.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Probably.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
I mean I could tell you this, he's almost as
as I am. So you get two for the price
of want. Okay, just joking with you, but yeah, no, Rachel,
I so enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Love to
have you back. You're a good sport. Uh and and
and and pets are just incredibly important. I mean they
really are. People need to be more aware of shelter
(28:14):
animals and uh and that they can find wonderful pets
and adoption centers. This uh, this particular dog, Mustard the
CORKI was adopted my daughter her got your Day with
the dog. His Got Your Day was two years ago.
So we love pets uh in the house. And if
I can ever be if any helps you, you let
me know.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
Okay, thanks so much, definitely, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
He's a good looking dog, trust me on that. I'm
sure he's the best in the family. That's put it like. Okay,
thank you so.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Much, Thanks Rachel, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Night All right, when we get back on and talk about
the exercise paradox, I don't know if I want to
really listen to this, but we will be talking with
Aaron Einstrom.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
No relation to the nice from that played for the Island,
I'm sure many years ago. But that's okay. The exercise
paradox will explain right after this break on Night.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
Side Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
We are about to talk with Aaron Nystrom. No relation
to the Nystroom of the New York Islanders, right of
many years ago. No, okay, no great player, Great bout Nystrom,
great player, you're a substack writer. Well it's not a
common name, Eron, give me.
Speaker 7 (29:35):
I mean to be fair, it's not mine, it's my husband's.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Okay, well you want to ask your husband about that.
Substack writer and fitness enthusiast. I'm a fitness enthusiast. I'm
in the gym six days a week for the most part. Okay,
So you have written a piece for Substack, which I love.
By the way, exercise paradox and how studies have been
(29:59):
done the show despite popular belief in the fitness world,
burning more calories than you consume does not exactly help
you lose weight. I eat more calories that I exercise,
and yet I'm able to keep my weight off because
I'm on a great diet called awake in. But before
we go there, explain to me the thesis that it
(30:25):
looks like a thesis. It looks at like a doctoral
thesis when I read it. The exercise paragraph and studies
have been done the show. Despite popular belief in the
fitness world, burning more calories than you consume does not
exactly help you lose weight. Eron received her doctorate in
exercise physiology. I'm just having fun with you, Aaron. It
(30:46):
sounds like a great piece. Tell us about it.
Speaker 7 (30:49):
Yeah, so it's not exactly that. How you know, exercise
does burn calories, but my main thesis here is that
it does so much more than that. In our culture,
we've been so conditioned to believe that we just exercise
to burn solid calories, to burn fat. But it's actually
(31:09):
pretty inefficient at doing that, but it's really great at
doing so many other things. And really my essential point
was that, yes, like, continue to exercise. I'm not saying
don't exercise, but let's rethink how we approach it and
why we do it.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
I agree with you totally. I think it's an essential
part of my day. It's essential. I do take a
day off here, in a day off there, because I
think as you get older you have to recoup. But
I think it keeps your mind alert when I do.
(31:50):
When I exercise, I'm an elliptical guy. I became up
running you know many years ago, used to run a lot.
But you can take the pounding on your joints. So
the Olympical for people my age are on the wrong
side of fifty. I'm being generous to do that.
Speaker 7 (32:09):
It's the right side.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
It works. It works that lightweights seemed to do it
for me. But it keeps me alert, it keeps my
mind active. I think it keeps the blood flow. I
think this many benefits from it. I really do.
Speaker 7 (32:28):
Yeah, And it's you know it. People argue a lot
about what the best type of exercise is, and again
a lot of times we're talking about this like calorie
burning fat burning paradigm, But it's really the best type
of exercise is one.
Speaker 5 (32:44):
The type that you're going to do, and two of the.
Speaker 7 (32:47):
Type that makes you feel the best, and I'll add
a third the type of supports whatever lifestyle you want
to live. So, if you are somebody who loves to
go along bike rides or play pickleball or climb mountains,
when you are choosing exercise, we want to think about
what's going to be the most supportive thing to keep
(33:09):
me doing these things pain free, injury free.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
And let's say you're.
Speaker 7 (33:13):
You don't want to do any of these things, but
you're somebody who works at a desk all day and
you've caught you know, your I call it like the
desk shrimp. We're kind of all hunched.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
Over and and you know, fines, You know what kind
of exercise can I do to kind of get the
chair out of my body, so to speak.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Sure enow what type of exercise do you find? Are
you a regular person who exercises? I hope.
Speaker 7 (33:38):
Oh yeah, So I actually used to be an elite athlete.
I was started my career over a decade ago with
a personal trainers have a lot of experience and all
of this. But right now, I mean, like I have
so many hobbies the hike and paddle board and rock
climb and.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
So yeah, all out do I think you keep yourself
in shape? And yeah, what is the what is when
I when you when I think about exercise, I'm thinking
about the gym. You maybe don't do the gym because
you get enough exercise out of time. Do you spend
gym time or no?
Speaker 7 (34:16):
I do do the gym. So I am in the
gym maybe three days a week. And this is my
support is movement. So this is the things I do.
I do a lot of like mobility work, a lot
of heavy lifting, strength training, things that get my muscles
and joints and feeling really nice and good and buttery
and keep my body really resilient. And then on my
(34:37):
other days, I rock climb a lot I'm going hiking,
maybe running a little bit, But the gym is what
I use to keep me being able to do whatever
it is I want to do without having to train
or get ready or you know, I'm getting sore or whatever.
It's like, this is what I'm using to maintain.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
You know, the best part of that exercise for me
is that part of the day when it's over, you know,
because I don't care how much you love it, and
I do love it, You're still got to get there.
You've got to get there, and you've got to put
aside the things that maybe you think that you might
(35:19):
have to do ahead of it. And so I use
my time just thinking about how do I want to
organize my day. I get, you know, twenty five thirty
minutes on the ollipical, that's all I need. If I
get to do some weights, great. But you can use
your exercise time proactively too, meaning you know you can
you can pull your day together. For me, it's much
(35:39):
better earlier than later in the day.
Speaker 7 (35:41):
Yeah, I'm the same way.
Speaker 4 (35:42):
Yeah, I'm the same way.
Speaker 7 (35:43):
I have so much more energy throughout the rest of
the day. And I think that's, you know, definitely something
I try to get across the articles like this is
for so much more than just like the physical body.
Well there's obviously tons and tons and tons of physical benefits,
they're mental as well, like we are are meant to
move as human being and we've kind of engineered all
(36:06):
of the natural movement out of our lives and if
we could put it back in that would be great.
But for a lot of us, if we're working at
a desk like that's just not that's just not going
to happen. So the gym is where we get to
put that movement back in.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
How can folks get in touch with you? We've talked
and we've enjoyed each other's company and had some fun here,
but we've run out of time. How can focus?
Speaker 7 (36:29):
Yeah, no problem. Yeah, So you can find me on
substack Aaron my sub sects human being and I'm also
on Instagram, although less active, but I'm on there at
Aaron from Underscore.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
Well, thank you very much. A nice dream is anyone
who's of hockey n y s. Thanks Eron, Thanks Dan,
talk to you again here cotings the nine o'clock news.
Right after we're going to talk about the death of
that five year old boy in Hyde Park three months ago.
Three months ago and we still don't know any charges.
(37:03):
And today lawyers filed the lawsuit and also a couple
of our former guests market Basket chiefs have been summarily
dismissed by the new Market Basket. We'll talk about maybe
both of those tonight, coming back on Nightside.
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