November 17, 2020 • 53 mins
Food and family go hand-in-hand, and often have deep ties to our culture and heritage. Food is love in many families, but complicated patterns come to light when guilt, shame, and pressure to eat enter into the mix. Alex Aiono is joined by his cousin, actor Bubba Aiono, as well as University of Otago researcher Mauterangimarie Clark to explore the relationship of food to culture, and why our access to food (or lack thereof) can have a ripple effect on how (and why) we eat what we do.
Bubba and Alex share about their struggles with binge eating disorder and crash diets. They dig deep into the ways in which generational trauma around food is passed down; when one generation doesn't know where their next meal is coming from, a scarcity mindset can be passed down - even when poverty has turned to privilege. Expert Mauterangimarie Clark uncovers why we make the choices we do around food, and how we can change the conversation and break unhealthy patterns.
Executive Producers Jack O'Brien + Miles Gray
Produced by Catherine Law + Joelle Smith
Edited + Engineered by Catherine Law
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Alex, and I consistently struggle with overeating.
No all right, no, al right, will be alright forever, no,
al right, be alright forever, alright. So I feel like
(00:25):
we've touched on this a little bit before in the
in the Body Image episode that we already had on
my podcast, but I wanted to highlight this one specifically
because we kind of used the Body Image episode in
this general sense of loving yourself in the visual sense,
and now I wanted to have a little bit more
of a highlight on something that I definitely struggle with,
(00:45):
and I know that a lot of people in the
world struggle with, especially in America where obesity rates are
just rampant and uh. And so I wanted to have
an episode about binge eating because I think it's more
than just food, you know, I think it's very very cultural.
Growing up, my ad had of this saying that he
would always say, and it was it's all about having
good food, good music, and good company and uh. And
(01:08):
you know, the last two are obviously healthy always, but
sometimes that good food part can get a little bit
out of hand. And as you'll learn in the rest
of this episode, it's not even just me and my
parents and my sisters that have that saying. And it's
not even just my family that has that saying, but
I think that there's a big cultural aspect to it.
Growing up, there was never really like a limit for food,
(01:31):
you know. It was always especially when you come up
in an immigrant based family, there is no limit. You know.
My father always wanted us to have everything we ever wanted,
and my parents were such good parents that when we
would go to McDonald's and I'm in fifth grade and
I'm ordering to breakfast meals, you know, I'm having my
egg McMuffin with my hash brown and an orange juice,
and then I'm having an egg mcgrittle because those things
(01:52):
are popping, but they don't really suffice as like a
full breakfast, so it's kind of like a side order.
But I get the whole meal so I can have
the second hash brown. That was just like a thing like.
It was never really an issue in terms of the amount,
And even as I was getting up into my teenage
years and I wanted to start dieting, it was never
about moderation. It was never about the amount in which
(02:12):
you're eating. It was always the food that you eat
is bad, like, so I would cut sugar, or I
would cut candy, or I would cut you know, carbs,
or I would cut fats or whatever it was that
I was. You know that whatever the fat diet was
at the time, it wasn't really until kind of last year,
the year before, when I would talk to my other
friends who are studying nutrition, who are like, you just
(02:33):
have to eat less, And I was like, what do
you mean like I because I was eighteen years old
and I had no money, and I would always dream about, Man,
when I get enough money, I'm gonna eat whatever I want.
I'm gonna have at it. You know. Once I started
making a little bit more money and being able to
pay for things, like I would buy two meals everywhere
I'd go because I wanted to. I don't know if
it was about the eating or if it was about
(02:54):
the status situation of having two meals. And my friends
would make fun of me. They'd be like, dog, why
do you get to things? And uh. And I remember
having this conversation with Dylan talking about how I wanted
to lose weight and how I was going to start
another one of those crazy diets, and and he was
the one who said to me, dude, you just need
to eat less. And I was like, yeah, what do
you mean to eat less? Like, uh, no, I have
to eat more. And he's like, no, you don't. Like,
(03:15):
look at the calories that you're consuming in terms of
how much food you are actually putting into your body,
and look at the average. And I was looking at mine,
and I was hitting four thousand, five thousand, sometimes into
the six and seven thousands for calories each day. And
I saw the problem. I realized that that's not even
just an issue with me. It's an issue that I
(03:36):
think runs rampant in the United States with the world
that is fast food and everything quick and you can
get more for less. I think it's a big thing
in my culture in which every kind of gathering is
surrounded around food, whether it's in the deep cultural rooted
aspect or just in my own family's aspect of we
(03:56):
got to get together, have you know, my uncle's cocoa
ice and my and my it's fried bread, and and
we got to have you know, a big hongy and
and or a big feast of food and uh. And
it got me thinking, what does culture have to do
with how we eat? What is of everybody. It's alex Iono. Here,
this is my podcast. Let's get into it where we
(04:18):
talk about damn near everything. And I think with the
topics that we've done and the topics were doing next,
we're literally hitting the everything. Mark Um, I'm so happy
to have this episode. I have some amazing guests. Were
talking about binge eating and over eating and it's connection
to food culture and family culture. Uh. And I thought
that there would be no better guests to have than
(04:39):
guests who share the same culture as I do. One,
I have somebody who shares literally almost the exact same
DNA as I do. My cousin Bubba. His real name
is Stranton, but ever since I've known him, I didn't
even know his name was Stranton until I was ten
years old because we called him Bubba from the day
I was born. Um. He is my father's brother's son,
(04:59):
so he's my first cousin. UM and shares that that
sweet beautiful iona blood. Baba. How are you, Bro, I'm
doing great. I'm so happy that you hear. Bro. Also
with us, we have somebody who shares our Maudi culture.
He is a researcher for multi experiences of eating disorders
at the University of Otongo in New Zealand. He goes
(05:20):
by Mao, but because I share the multi culture, I
gotta say his full name. His name is Clark. I
don't know where. The last name really kind of just
throws everybody off because you give him this beautiful, just
just beautiful thick Clark. So that being said, MoU, how
are you, bro, I'm really really well. Thank you very much,
(05:41):
Alex And and just on my sur name prior to colonization,
my surname is actually being my parents changed the sur
name to Clark is did my uncles and aunties so
that it was Europeanized. Thanks Britain, we really appreciate that. Um.
I also want to give a big, big shout out
(06:01):
to you your at seven am where you are. You
are back in christ Church, New Zealand, and it's seven am,
so you are an absolute just hero for waking up
early being here with us. I'm so excited to talk
through this because growing up, like I had mentioned in
my story, it was always something I thought was just me,
and then I realized that it's not just me, but
(06:23):
it's like us. And now that you're here, we're gonna
find out that it's way bigger than even any of
us single or any one culture. It is actually a
deeper thing. So we have three topics we're gonna talk about. First,
Bubba and I are going to go one on one
about our relationships with food and fitness and how it's
kind of interlaced with our families, culture and dynamic. Uh.
Then we're gonna take a break, and then Mow, you
(06:45):
and I are going to talk about food, family, and
culture in more of the educational space and with some
real facts and statistics. And then lastly, we're gonna talk
about some tips for maintaining that real um consistent, moderated
diet and ultimately trying to find something that really works
for all of us. But before we get into all
of those things, I have a question I asked each
of my guests, and that question is what have you
(07:06):
been doing this week to improve your life? We've had
answers all across the board, from fitness answers to mental
health answers to when I started a garden. Recently it's
just been me searching for a house. Um. But my
latest thing I'm going to give am this is a
kind of a shout out to another episode of let's
get into it I and this is gonna be a
(07:26):
weird thing. What I've done to improve my life this
week is I've cut my budget for the house I'm
looking for down. Um My, all of my all of
my friends who tell me what my budget should slash
shouldn't be um We're giving me ranges and they were
like it's this to this, and I kept going with
the max range like I was just like, Okay, well,
if I can spend that much, I'm gonna go for it.
(07:47):
And then this week, I I was talking to another
one of my friends. I was talking to my friend
ron Star, who was a guest on Let's Get into
It on the Finance episode and uh, and he was
the one who was like, you know, you don't have
to you don't have to spend that much. And I
was like what does that mean? And he's like, well,
if you don't spend that much, then you can spend
money somewhere else and you can have more experiences and
you can do this. And I was like, that's a
(08:08):
good idea. So That's what I'm doing this week to
better my life. But again, we've had answers all across
the board. Bubba you got something for me. I just
started doing the celery juice thing. Celery juice. I've been
juicing all week the right way. But yeah, my wife
and I have been been drinking that every morning and
and reaping the benefits. Oh my gosh. I have to
(08:28):
share this, this story though, because so obviously I followed
my cousin on Instagram and I also follow his wife, Rachel,
and Rachel, please don't hate me after I'd say, tell
this story. It was so funny. So Rachel posts a
story of like one of those like super Instagram, like
just a picture of the juice, and it was like
celery juice. Bubba then does the most savage husband thing
ever and films her secretly like sipping the celery juice
(08:51):
hating it, just like just hardly liking any sip, full
blown hating it, and just called her out for posting
about how she loves her celery juice but she's like
sipping it and still can't fully finish it. Rachel, if
you're listening to this, we love you, but but I
had to I had to call you over that because
that was too funny. Um, all right, male, you've got
(09:11):
something for us? Yeah, I guess this week is stipping
out of my comfort zone. Hey, so appearing on your
show as well out of my comfort zone. That's metas
a challenge for me. We're super meta right now. We
got like being here in itself, is it? I just
watched Tenants this week and uh and and that's how
(09:32):
I feel. I feel like it's like an inception brain
of like this is the thing I'm doing, and I'm like,
what how could it be? Um? That's awesome, though, Bro,
thank you so much. It means a lot that you're here. Um.
We could have had any nutritionists, we could have had
any you know, health expert or somebody anybody who's studying
the same thing. But the fact that we get to
uh celebrate our culture, especially this year where I think
(09:53):
it's so important to to be who you are and
and celebrate who you are and support everybody in being
themselves to the full, in support uh and and and
really cherish the strength of culture. I'm so happy that
you're here. But also thank you. I just want to
thank you, especially on part of our participants, for giving
a platform for male voices. Um. And they've been under
represented for eating disorders. So so thank you. So much. Man.
(10:16):
I think I appreciate that, And of course I think
celebrating culture and highlighting it in general is a big thing.
And I think also um as much as I want
to highlight our culture and and our people and and
how we experience food. Um, even in my talks with Catherine,
our producer, and my other friends, as I was anticipating
this this topic, it's not just our culture. And we're
(10:39):
gonna find out a little bit more about that, but
for for now, maw, you feel free to take a break. Bubba.
You and I are going one on one and we're
going to talk about our relationship with food and fitness.
All right, Bubba, I've known you for twenty four years now,
I've known you a long time. Are our fathers are brothers,
and they are two out of ten, and out of
(11:00):
the ten siblings, they all moved here. Uh my dad
was younger than yours. And for my dad's stories, The
biggest thing with being an immigrant, especially at that time,
and I think that it's a big thing that goes
um underappreciated or just really nobody really talks about it,
is that when you move to America, you almost like
(11:21):
you're you're you're thrown into this pot of like dog
eat dog, like you have to. It's a it's a
world of more, and if you don't have, then you
are like less than other people. And I think that
that really fueled, honestly, how our family views things that
we want and that we need in terms of like, well,
you always want more and you want the nicer things.
(11:43):
And especially because our family, our our dads grew up
so poor. I mean, like my dad, we're talking about
rice for dinner, and then they would put sugar on
the rice for dessert, like literally, like that was. And
there's ten siblings and you're an immigrant family and it's
hard to find work back in the day, so uh
it was. It was super tough for them. But I
want you to talk now a little bit about just
(12:04):
your personal experience growing up with family, um with food.
When you realize that you were you were wanting to
make changes in your life with your weight or with
your you know, your lifestyle in general. I mean as
far as the family goes. I always link up any
of our get togethers, whether it be reunion or anything celebratory,
(12:25):
it's always what are we eating? It's always what are
we eating? Who who like who's bringing what. It's funny
you bring up the about immigrants and and our our
fathers coming over and making sure that we had enough.
I always had the thought of am i am I
going to be able to get enough? Whether it be
for dinner at my own like with my own family,
(12:45):
or more at family get together. It's always like is
there gonna be enough for everyone? So I think the
thought of indulging or grabbing as much as you can
always came in here. It's like maximizing the opportunity. Like
now that you say that, I'm thinking about my dad
and like growing up, he would never ever let us
like not finish our food. And if we didn't finish
the food, if we got a restaurant, it was always
too we would take it to go because you wouldn't
(13:07):
want to lose. Like you said, you don't want to
lose your opportunity to eat. You know. My dad also
said it doesn't matter how much money you have, never
pass a free meal. You know. It's like things like
that where I want you to continue on. But as
you're saying that, I was like, oh man, absolutely well,
the food left on a plate is that's beyond me
now Even now as I've made adjustments, I still like
(13:28):
I'm gonna eat what's on my plate, but it's gonna
be the right portions as we were talking about. But
but yeah, growing up, I think my eyes were always
bigger than my stomach. But I made my stomach work,
yeah right, got it to fit. So yeah, I think
family get togethers being raised on on sweets being such
a celebratory thing or a fun thing to enjoy with others.
(13:52):
It's like, I want to get together, even between you
and I when we get together with with our significant
others and friends and everything, it's like, oh, who's going
to get it's doing a snack. I mean, we we
have game nights once a week with my with my
sister and her husband, you and your wife, and me
my girlfriend, and we have game nights where it literally
is one person chooses the game, one person chooses the dinner,
(14:13):
and the one person chooses the dessert. And it's like
it's a part of it. Uh, it's also a part
I think the issue also, and I think it's in
a lot of cultures, but in our culture specifically, I
feel like our food isn't the healthiest, you know what
I mean, Like we're talking about And if you don't know,
I'll explain what these dishes are. Uncle Omni makes cocoa
rice and fried bread, which is literally hot rice pudding maybe,
or like if you put hot chocolate and then you
(14:35):
just like thickened it a little bit more and added
rice into it, and then take dough and you just
fry it. And what do you put when that's not enough?
What do you put on it? You put more cream,
You put more evaporated milk, You put butter and syrup
on your fry bread, or you dip it in jelly
or whatever. Like it's it's and that's just one dish,
and that's breakfast too. You also are having you know,
(14:57):
loads and loads of rice and you're having um, you know,
everything under the sun, from fried chicken to it. It's
just it's just because, like you said, all of our
families and when my dad has nine our dads have
nine siblings, each person is going to bring a dish
that they want to bring, and everybody wants to make sure,
like you said, that we have enough and not even
enough of is everybody going to get to eat food?
(15:20):
But is everybody going to get to have as much
as they want of every single dish that they make,
there's always leftovers. I think about our Thanksgivings and Mariette
at Antierana's house, and it's literally like the biggest spread
you'll find that could feed the whole neighborhood, and it's
just our family. And that's definitely the time that like
my my mind checks out in portion control and it's
(15:41):
just indulge, indulged, indulged, because it's like, I'm not gonna
buy the chips, the brownies, the cookies that are there
or whatever we're eating. But while I'm there, my mind
always went to, well, it's here now, so let's get
as much. Let's because we might not get it again. Exactly.
I want to read in the clock. So I had
mentioned my story a little bit earlier, but growing up,
(16:04):
obviously I lived in Arizona. You lived here in Marietta,
and you're were you born were Okay, so you're seven
years older than me. I just remember always like you
and Sage, where like the football players, you're always you know,
you're working out, working out, working out, So when you're young,
you don't really feel it, you know, because you're burning
thousands on thousands of calories wearing pads and you're you're
(16:24):
playing football and you're going hard in and out, in
and out. So tell me about your high school experience
and then going off, Um, you served a church mission. Uh,
and then you came home. And that kind of started
from my perspective, your want to change your lifestyle up
or more so, like you need to change your lifestyle
up because you no longer were playing football every day,
you were no longer had the metabolism of a teenage
(16:47):
boy anymore. Yeah, we go back to high school. Um,
talking about rice in our in our family, there's not
a meal that went by in my household. And I
love my mom, and I love that you made it
every every mother, but there is not a meal that
we wouldn't go without white rice, whether it be in
the rice cooker or in a pot on the stove.
(17:07):
So if we had chicken, it was chicken rice. It
was hamburger helper. Then it was hamburger helper. And for breakfast,
of his breakfast metally, and you're putting in everything growing
some rice. I didn't even know, like people eat hamburger
helper without rice. And I didn't know that's the thing.
I thought that was just a topper. So, um, yeah,
in high school, I would inhale food at that point.
You almost have to when you're playing football, you know.
(17:28):
I don't think people really recognize how many calories you're
burning because you're a student and you're going to school
and you're doing your thing with your friends, and then
you're spending an hour, two hours, three hours exercising every
single day to to to play a sport. I think
about now my output in comparison to what it was
then as far as exercising and um, all the agility
(17:48):
workouts that I was doing, and then what my intake
was at the time. And I remember thinking in high school, like, man,
all these other guys have like I was in. I
was in good shape, I mean, starting with football and everything.
But um, at the same time, I was like, well,
I'm not, am I getting cut like the other guys.
What's what's going on here? Well, it was probably because
the mounds and mounds of rice that I was eating. Luckily,
my metabolism at that time was still at the rate
(18:09):
that it was. But yeah, I definitely wasn't. I wasn't
losing sleepover at that at that point. Um, as you
said afterwards, I went on a two year mission to
El Salvador, where a lot of food is cooked in
a lot of oil, um, whether it be rice or
their chicken or their fish. Great food there by the
(18:29):
beans and create the more. Oh and the plantains so good.
But it's fried. But you're saying fried plantains. It's you know,
super oily cheese that and and it's all super greasy delicious.
But it has Yeah, it has its costs. But then again,
just like how I was in high school playing football,
doing all these sports for two years, I was walking.
(18:52):
We didn't have cars and Al Salvador wouldn't do bikes
like you see a lot of these missionaries at the
state side. It was walking up and down hills. So
that was that was a blessing in the skies because
I have to gain a bunch of weight and then
getting sick every every so often. With with some of
the dirty water that we had, it was helped with
some weight loss um. But yeah, when when I when
(19:12):
I came back, I think I continued and we talked
about celebration. You're back, and now you have like all
the candies down there, the candies completely they love menthal
candies that the halls as candies or just pure sugar
chunks that are dyed different colors. And it wasn't my
favorite thing. But when I got back and we had
all the candies here, um, all the different types of
(19:35):
food fast food at the just in reach of you,
I indulged so much with friends with family, and I
quickly learned that my metabolism wasn't where it was at
and my output as far as exercising wasn't nearly where
it was um. And with that comes the lovely depression
(19:56):
that we all run through as well, love it, love
it depression, anxiety, all of it um, which just caused
more comfort eating um and overeating and binge eating. Uh.
And I found myself. I mean, I've had a couple
goes back and forth with fitness, but I will say
my heaviest that I got was about three and thirty
(20:19):
pounds UM. Today as of right now, I'm right around
to twenty. And that's that's with with that lovely quarantine weight.
We are, I mean that we are when you first
moved out here, um, just so you, I didn't even
get to give more of information about Bubba usually have
a whole spread, but because he's my cousin. I was
just like my cousin Bubba Bubba as an actor. Um,
(20:40):
he's been out here now for over a year, just
over about a year, just about a year, and he's
also because he's gotten a grip on his health, both
mentally and physically more so. Um. You can go to
his page Strand and Iono and you'll see that we
have that level of hard work, we have that level
of of athleticism that you want to put in. But
(21:00):
at the end of the day, you can never outwork
overeating in a diet. So through the last what would
you say, say, how long would you go on a
mission six years ago? I've been home for ten years now.
Oh wow, So we'll say in the last ten years
you fluctuate how many times would you say you fluctuated
in full from from getting to like feeling real good
and going and then that kind of that kind of
(21:22):
fluctuating back the over eating, the binge eating. There's that
guy that that went uh fit to fat to fit?
Oh yeah, yeah, I think yeah, he does that show right,
gain weight for a contestant and then they lose it together. Yeah,
so I'm pretty sure I went fit too fat to
fit too fat to fit fat. I think back and
forth three times. A lot of it was unplanning because
(21:45):
I ended up getting um assist inside my my throat,
so it decommissioned me for about a year and the
lovely depression kicked in during that time. Game but I can't.
I mean that, and that plays into the whole thing,
and we'll talk about that all later. But I want
to use that information to highlight how rampant because even
(22:05):
in my life, though I didn't fluctuate the same way
that you did, I would fluctuate thirty pounds twice a
year after I got my quarantine fit. Then I was like,
I'm still We're still quarantine. There's no point in being fit.
No one's going to see me except for my family,
my girlfriend, my homies, so I don't need to impress anybody.
So then you start getting a little bit more weight,
and then I start catching myself, like, dude, I just
ate four cliff bars, like that's that's literally a thousand
(22:28):
calories right there, and I just ate it because I
was watching Naruto or the basketball game and it's like
messed up. And so the reason why I was so
happy to have you here as a guest is because
you're my family in between all of us, me, you, Tanner, Sage,
Jared Seth, you know, all of our cousins. We've all
had our moments where you know, we're up or we're
down or this were that, But it's such a through
(22:50):
line for our family. And I'm like, as we're talking
about it, I'm thinking about, like literally I'm having nightmares
in my head about Anti Erna saying and I love you, Antia,
this is not a mean thing, but Anti rn of
making a massive pot right when we're about to leave
for a road trip and she's like, we gotta finish
this pot of of of breakfast metally with rice because
once you leave, like nobody's gonna be here. And it's
(23:10):
always that like have some more, nephew, have some more,
Like I have some more nephew will probably be on
my tombstone, and then you also have like I think
we have our aunts, and I think we both know
which one I'm talking about who will make those comments
that are just like you're looking heavy, nephew, and you're
just like, hey, and it's just a thing, you know,
like it's just it's it is. It is our culture
and it is our family. And I think we'll we'll
(23:34):
continue finding out in my conversation with Moo that that
it's even our culture, that it is a culture of celebration,
like you said, every time when you come home from
a church mission, when it's your birthday, when it's not
your birthday, when it's somebody else's birthday, when it's a holiday,
when we're making up holidays. It's all food based. And
I think, as we'll learn, food is just a big
(23:56):
piece of our culture. And I think what I'm excited
to talk about in the last segment is how we
you and I and I think a lot. You know,
my sisters and your siblings and even our even our
parents have gotten better at figuring out how to not
eat so much because I think, um, one of the
biggest things that we've done. I think I don't want
to close with this in our diets is changing it
(24:19):
from being you can't eat this, you can't eat that,
you can't eat this, It is you can eat what
you want, but you have to maintain a certain amount.
And I think that's you know, through macro counting or
calorie counting or whatever it is, you change your perspective
on eating because I don't think it's healthy to have
a negative perspective on any one food unless it's mushrooms.
(24:39):
I don't think it's healthy to have any one perspective
on food, uh, if it's good or if something's bad,
because at the end of the day, you should enjoy it.
And I think that I love like I love Uncle
umanized coco rice, I love Uncle umonized fried bread and
my mom's colchorize and fried bread, and I love all
of the I love meat pies, and I love I
don't like kenna, but I love everything else. And I've
(25:00):
it's good to celebrate that and have that um and uh.
And we're going to figure out what that means in
the more of a cultural aspect right now, because we're
about to take a break. But bro, you know I
love you and and thank you for coming on. You're
gonna take a quick break. When we come back, I'll
talk with MO and then we'll have our big convo
at the end. Don't go anywhere, alright, ch'all, we are back.
(25:20):
This is let's get into it. I'm alex Iono, and
I just had a great conversation with my cousin Bubba
about just our own family experience with eating and over
eating at that. Um and now we're here and I
got my buddy mouth A Clark and uh and he's here,
Maw tell us before I even try and explain it.
(25:40):
I mentioned it a little bit earlier. But tell us
what you're doing over there in christ Church at at
the University of Otangi. Okay, So, Um, I'm part of
a team. It's looking into Maudi experiences of eating disorders. Basically,
studies show that the prevalence of eating disorders and maudi
equal todate of nonmudi, which is really surprised as inferences
(26:00):
and your findings, it's not common common knowledge. Yeah, and
so we're out here trying to figure that out. What
do Mali attribute to the causes of their eating disorders?
What are your experiences of treatment like um and more importantly,
what helps them to recover? And what made you like
what made you get into that? Like how did you
find yourself wanting to study that? It was kind of
(26:22):
like I guess the project that was given to me
when I arrived into the Mody Indigenous Health Institute. I
guess I can relate to some of the experiences that
Mali participants are telling me in terms of the relationship
with food. UM, in some exposure to childhood adversity, UM,
it's led to I guess some of this disordered eating behavior.
(26:44):
And the thing is is, in so many cultures, food
and family are just absolutely linked their absolutely one. You know,
you have Italians with with their beautiful you know, pasta
based dishes and and and sitting down and having dinner.
You have Jewish families with a past overset er in
their high Holy days. Southerners in America, which I'm pretty
sure at this point biscuits and gravy is just like
(27:06):
a religion, and we just can we we are allowed
to just follow that. There's so many links to every
other culture. And I think it's just for this episode
I challenge you, by the way, listener to figure out
your own links with your own culture to this. But
for this episode, I want to discuss specifically because you're
studying this exact thing. Our culture, our multiculture are Polynesian culture.
(27:29):
With that, you've mentioned that you've been hearing about other
people's experiences. What are the most common experiences in the
in the multiculture that you hear about with eating disorders
and binge eating. There's so much to unpack here. Um.
I have to remember that there are so many different
ways to experience what it means to be maldi. So
there are many different lived realities. But some of the
(27:51):
stories that are coming through in terms of binge eating
around health, literacy, and food and security. So we're talking
about poverty as well in what food are available to them,
when food is available, issues around food and security. Oh man,
And that's I mean, that's I think it's a big
thing here in America as well, in that same culture.
You know, when you have families that are so large.
(28:12):
I think about if my my father and his family
have ten siblings were living in today's world with with
the same level of poverty that they were, it wouldn't
be fast food. Every single meal, and every single meal
would be a maximized how much can we get right
now because we don't know when we're going to get
it again exactly. And I'm thinking of one story in particular,
(28:33):
when lady taught me, you know, when we would we
would eat everything that was on the table because we
don't know when nixt meal is coming from. Absolutely, So
how linked is family and food within our culture, within
the multiculture. Well, it's intrinsically linked. It's used in the
ritualization ceremonial processes um So Maldi. Relationship with food is
(28:56):
intrinsically linked to the culture, especially two concepts such as
men kitana uma is looking after someone a loose translation
in one way to do it for Maddy was through food.
Mm hmmm, yeah, absolutely. I mean I think back to
the trip I took in two fifteen when I went
back to New Zealand for the first time and we
(29:16):
stayed on our family's modi um in Tallaga Bay, and
you know, and by the way, it's it's kind of
like a small village and there's one building that is
for everybody to sleep in and you don't wear your
shoes inside, and like it's literally like you're sleeping person
by person by person on matts. And then there's a
whole another building that is the like the food hall
in the kitchen and our famili's kitchen. You'll see them
(29:36):
of all different varieties. You'll see sometimes some of them
have like full tech and everything, like TVs in the
in the sleeping rooms and everything, and then you'll see
some that are that are absolutely basic. Ours in the
sleeping set absolutely basic. Our kitchen is so nice because
we make so much. I mean, I think about that,
you know, and and uh, you think about the massive
(29:57):
hungy is the big, the big kind of feast that
we have. And there was probably thirty or forty of
us and we're having like fifteen rotisserie chickens, you know
what I mean. You're having pots on pots on pots
of rice and we're going and we're making, um, we're
eating buckets of crayfish, and we're having loads of food,
meat pies on meat pies and and everything and this
(30:19):
massive amount. And so even me personally, though I haven't
spent as much time as I'd like to in New Zealand. Uh,
in the actual pure culture of the multiculture in my
own experiences was it was only food. It was literally
food after food after food. And like we had mentioned,
as bub and I mentioned, you almost plan around the
food more than you plan anything else. You plan Okay, well, okay, Auntie,
(30:41):
you're gonna make this tonight. Uncle, you're gonna make that tomorrow. Um,
we'll make this on on Wednesday. You'll make that. Like
it was planned more around that than it is around
the rest of the experience of spending time with each other.
What we found with some participants on mine is that
they've disengaged with Tilmati and for those reasons, so they're
not connecting with their culture because they know at certain
(31:03):
times was certain situations is going to be food around,
and so they're disengaging from Talmai and that's and the
thing that's sad is that it is and it isn't
super cultural, you know what I mean, Like we've we've
kind of shaped it to be what it is. You know,
like you look back in the past ages, you go
back to ancestors and what ideal bodies were back in
the day, and back in the day, being heavier, having
(31:26):
fat on your body meant that you had wealth, meant
that you had meant that you had um abundance. It
meant that you can eat whatever you want and as
much as you want. And it was you almost wanted it,
you know. And then kind of towards I would say,
like the late eighties into the nineties, especially in the
Western culture, you have people talking about, oh, thin is
(31:48):
the new thing, and curves are better. You know, you
have to have a slimmer waist and then a wider
bottom half and then you want to look like an
hourglass and all these things, and it kind of changed.
And I think even though it started in the western
um part of the Hemisphere, it also kind of creeped
in everywhere else. You know. It creeped over into even
(32:08):
into New Zealand, creeped over into Europe, it creeped over
into Asia and and and and really all around the world. Yeah,
there is literature that supports it as well, the impact
of a culturation on indigenous and ethnic minority populations. Yeah,
how in your experience in your studies, has the expectations
through that time? You know, when heavier bodies and bigger
(32:31):
bodies meant you're you're more well off. How has that
changed for the multiculture specifically from then till now? In
terms of eating disorders, I can say that for us,
a portion of our cohort and the eating disordered behavior
is a tribute to to body image ideals and so
you know, the thin ideal, wistern ideals. But for most
(32:54):
it's actually childhood adversity. M wow, yes, yes, so we're
talking food and security sixual abuse or the modeling appearance behavior.
This is so much happening. I didn't you. I didn't
even think about that, honestly, Like you know, you think
about there there are some things that just go deeper
than eating too much food. Yeah, yeah, that's you know,
(33:18):
eating the sort of arisymptom of something. So yeah, yeah,
for a lot. Actually sexual abuse was heavy. I want
to switch I want to switch gears just a little
bit in terms and talk more about the cultural aspect
of it. UM. How how big of a roll do
you think colonization played into how the culture of eating
in New Zealand specifically, but even more specifically in the
(33:40):
in the multiculture UM. Once New Zealand was colonized by
the British, how did that change? I guess I'm thinking
of food production and so you know, the acceleration the
availability of food UM, and our our body is not
really being used to the kind of food that would
be introduced. M. How do you see the differences as
(34:04):
you're experiencing other cultures, when you're traveling to other countries
and seeing, you know, the way that they view you know,
I remember when I went to Italy for the first
time and we're having dinner at like nine pm, and
I'm like, guys, it's time for bed like. You know,
there's different cultures and everybody views food differently. Um, What's
is there anything that surprised you in your travels? Um
(34:24):
in how other cultures experienced food, No, I UM University
and straight South America. I find that they have the
exact same passion for food is Mali, and so it's
one way that we show love. It's one way that
we welcome you, you know. And that's the thing that's
interesting to me is the link of every culture. You know.
I know that you study specifically the multi culture, but
(34:47):
I think it is just something historically we have We've
changed and we talked about this in my episode for
body positivity, but what ideal bodies are has changed over time.
And I think though the body image ideals have changed
over time, the eating ideals never changed. Nobody really ever
touched on well we also aren't supposed to be eating
(35:09):
this much of this thing or hey like, since the
body and has changed, let's change the way that we
view food. It's never really changed, if anything has continued
on at a stronger rate. You know, is there anything
in your studies that surprised you about your study of
your own culture and identifying those things I guess picking
(35:30):
up on what you've just said. There are some stories
where people are changing the narrative around what food means.
So a lady in her fifties is now raising her
grandchildren to talk openly about food, and it's because, you know,
when she was growing up, she was forced to eat
what was on your plate, and now she wants to
open the discussion. If you're hungry, you can eat. If
(35:52):
you're not hungry, you don't need to eat. And I
think that that that second part is almost as big
as the first part. You know, if you're hungry, you
need to eat. I think it's it's pretty clear cut.
But if you're not hungry, you don't need to eat.
As as a as a culture that is so based
in family and so based in everybody doing something as one,
whether you're all going to the ice cream shopper, you're
(36:13):
all going to the beach, you're all going to the mall.
It has always been a everybody's going everybody's in it together.
And if you're not hungry, you still gotta eat, You
still gotta do that. You wouldn't really think you have
to find out or something. It's not. It doesn't feel
like a conversation you have to have. But I think
that that's something that really sets us as as a
multiculture apart um. And and that's why I love your
(36:34):
studies of what you're doing and studying our culture specifically.
Is there anything else about our culture specifically that UM
that you found in your studies that that you thought
is interesting and you'd like to share At the moment,
it's really just getting therapy, it's being persistent with your GPS.
It's actually just getting excess to services. That's what the
(36:55):
problem is. And it's because Maudi Maudi present differently when
it comes to eating too. Is. We're gonna take a
break right now, UM, but when we get back, we're
gonna be talking about what's next and also the mental
effect that overeating and eating disorders can have on you.
We'll be right back. All right, we are back. This
is let's get into it, and we're talking about binge eating,
(37:17):
over eating specifically, but also just eating disorders in general.
And I've had my cousin Bubba here and we've talked
about our own personal experiences, and then we've had mounted
on Matier Clark, who is studying the multiculture in UH
and specifically studying um Binge eating and eating disorders within
that culture as well. We've had some great conversations and
and now we kind of want to talk about some
(37:39):
next steps. But before we get into those next steps,
um you had mentioned the effect that eating and overeating
can can have on your mental health. I didn't realize it,
you know, I didn't realize that. It's kind of what's that,
you know, the awesome powers character the old Scottish memories
like I eat because I'm unhappy. I'm unhappy because I eat,
And it's really just like that cycle. And if you
(38:01):
can fall into that cycle, which I think I easily
fall into it. You've mentioned that you've you fall into
that cycle of well, I'm sad now that I'm gaining weight,
how am I going to feel? Not as sad? I'm
gonna eat some more food and then you then you
can then it just continues on in a in a
bad cycle. Now, can you talk about the mental effects
that that overeating and bidginging can have. Yeah, you know,
(38:24):
it stops people from socializing, and it stops people from
engaging with culture, and impacts financially because you're unable to work.
You know, the the mental health impact of an eating
disorder really leaves one statement. Absolutely, And Bubba, what in
terms of what moj just said, can you speak to that?
(38:46):
I know that for me, especially like going out to
like when I know that I'm not in my best shape,
I don't want to go to a pool party, I
don't want to go. I don't want to go to
the beach with my friends. I don't wanna when my
friends like, let's all go to the gym. I know
that I'm not in shape, and I don't want to
go to the gym and be the guy in our
in the friend group that's like embarrassed that they can't,
you know, work out as long or as hard as
(39:07):
their friends can. Yeah. Absolutely, Now, everything that you just listed,
it was like hit after hit, every it just was
linked to every experience. But yeah, specifically, um, not wanting
to go out out to things because maybe I gained
a little weight and that shirt doesn't fit as well
as it did, and just having the mental toll of
(39:28):
you know, you'll you'll ever think something a thousand times
when others around you won't even think to look at
you the way that you're looking at yourself. You're always
your hardest critic, as everyone always says. But that's always
something that would come up is whenever I got I
felt like I was getting getting heavier, was oh, that's
going to be the first topic. In my experience. They
would never say like, oh, you're you're looking a little heavier.
(39:49):
I would always hear, hey, you look like you're have
you been lifting weights? Always reverted back to saying it's like, oh,
you must because you played football. I mean, are you
I'm like, no, I'm eating food. I'm eating lots of
lifting my pork at a rapid rate. And that's about it.
And then I know that, uh, that would take a
toll on me. And then on top of that, whenever
I would mention like, man, I really i'd really like
(40:12):
to lose some weight, all right, I really want to
get back into this, i'd hear and now maybe you've
heard this too, it's always like, well, you're Polynesian, you're
supposed to be you know, you guys are big guys,
so you don't you know, you don't need to worry
about that kind of stuff. And I would always be like,
I'm not. You know, it's a big I mean, it's
a big expectation, you know, people are like, oh you are, Like,
are all your uncles just like big football players? Like,
(40:33):
let's unpack that for a sec. You know, like just
the expectations that other cultures have when they see us,
you know, they see football players, they see massive humans,
they see you know, fat, they see all of those,
all of those things. And I look at the three
of us here on this zoom call, and uh, and
I don't think we fit that stereotype as much as
(40:55):
even in the way that we like to, even in
the muscle sense, you know, I have I have I
have six ft five on ales who are twelve percent
body fat and are just the scariest human beings on earth. Um.
And then I have my uncles who do fit the mold.
I have the uncles who, yeah, they're exactly a Polynesian.
They got gout, they got diabetes, They've had at least
one heart attack. And there, you know, I look at
(41:17):
my own father, who who's a diabetic and has had
a heart attack, and he's only fifty two years old.
You know, our own grandmother passed away from a stroke.
In our own grandfather had three heart attacks before he
eventually passed. It's it's something that culturally, we have not
yet nailed We haven't gotten it yet, and I think
that also feeds into those expectations that others have, UM,
(41:37):
and that's why I think it's so cool that you're
studying them. Mo Is. Is there anything that you have
to add to that in terms of the outside expectations
of the outside views on our own culture. Oh, I'm
just reminded of the term diverse realities. Really as you
see it. You know, we don't fit the stereotypical image
of what it means to be a Polynesian and Miley
male yeah, yeah, h Well, the good news is we've
(42:01):
all three of us. I can't speak for you because
we've just met today, but we've definitely had our share
of of binge eating and we've come up with some
good ways to kind of combat that. And so I
want to spend the rest of this UM. If you're
a listener, I do want to take a quick moment
if you're struggling with any of these things, and uh,
and I want you to know that you can always
get that help. That being said, let's brighten it up.
(42:22):
Let's get some good tips going in. I'll start off
with the ways that I've actually been able to suppress
my portions in which I used to eat, you know,
massive amounts. And I think the biggest one is, um
uh is there's this like this saying that my buddy
told me, which is like eat until you're not hungry,
don't eat until you're full, just eat until you're not
(42:42):
hungry anymore. And that was never really something that registered
with me because I was like, well, if I'm not hungry,
i'm full. But there is this like middle ground where
you eat until you are satiated, until you're like okay, cool, Yeah,
I feel energized. If I was tired before, or if
I was like hang, I get really bad hanger, you
would know this. I might be the hangriest man on earth.
(43:02):
But as soon as I eat, I know, like there's
a certain amount that it's like, okay, I just ate
enough and now I'm happy again, So that should be
enough instead of the usual or my old normal, which
was eat until either there's no more food left or
until I literally hate myself for eating another bite, you know,
And that was the biggest thing for me. Um The
other tip that I've done a lot of was stopped
(43:24):
I stopped eating out of the package if I have
a bowl of cereal, I don't pour the bowl of
cereal and then keep the milk and the cereal right
next to the bowl to continue adding on. Or if
I have a bag of chips, if it's not this
kind of small fun bag, like if it's a big
bag of chips, pouring out the chips into a bowl,
dealing with that in that portion control and uh and
really just kind of there's so many websites you can
(43:46):
go to that will tell you for your age and
your weight and what you want to what you want
to weigh. It can tell you your healthy amount of
not only your calories, but how much fat, how much protein,
how much carbs. And so I think my biggest tip
that I would say is like, really learn more about yourself.
And that's why I love about having you as as
a guest mom, is that you are explaining that not
(44:08):
everybody is the same. Uh. And so my tip is
to like learn more about you, learn what works for you.
I know that when I eat everything, but I eat
it all in a small moderation, I'm so much less
likely to diverge off of my own path of health
and my own path of happiness. Um that being said
by by you are also like, I think you might
(44:28):
be the king of losing weight because you have lost
so much weight in terms of your like you can
lose weight like nobody else I know. So I actually
want your tips, bro, What do you got? I I
always live by the outer sight, out of mind. Growing up,
I remember telling my mom whenever I wanted to try
to get those apps or try to get cut I'd
always be like, Mom, we need to start buying like
(44:48):
just boneless skinless chicken and just rice and this and that,
and she'd be like, Oh, are you going to buy it?
But now that I'm I'm an adult, it's like, Oh,
I make the shopping list, I'll buy and I won't
buy the things that you know all over indulge in.
Now that that's helped me, I've been told and I
know that I'm very disciplined during the times that I
(45:09):
have my goal set and I know what I want,
and as long as I'm seeing results, I have no
problem eating the same thing over and over. But I
think a lot is said that later on in my
journey and more recently, I've learned, you know, I can
have those things in my house. I just have to
have the right mindset around them and kind of to
piggyback off what you said, I know who I am
(45:31):
and how I am and what my experiences are, I
would say, apart from all the all the advice I
would give about specifically about what you'd buy or what
you'd eat or what to stay away from. This past
week in therapy, I brought up some of the insecurities
that I've had, was obviously with body image, being an actor,
doing modeling and going through this this crazy time of
(45:52):
comfort eating during quarantine and everything. That's that's something that
that I brought up, and my therapist brought up a
good point. I was feeling pretty anxious one day and
instead of going to I told him that I was.
I was feeling anxious. I recognized that I was feeling anxious,
so I connected with a friend. I went on face
time and started communicating with them, and he's like, well,
(46:14):
you found a new route. Instead of um, going to
the cupboard for food or to get that comfort, UM,
you found connectivity with another person and that filled that
void that you were looking for. So half the time
I'm not hungry, I'm not I'm not looking for food.
I'm looking for something that's gonna you know, pass the time.
(46:35):
When you say eat until you're not hungry anymore. That
hit home so hard because there's so many times as
as the spoon is going up to my mouth, I'm like,
am I even hungry? I just eating because here? But
knowing ones self is huge and I think that is
so broad. But at the same time, I would say,
in your mental with your mental health, know what you're
(46:55):
doing and why you're doing it, and uh, if that's
the road you want to go down, absolutely I love that, Mow.
You're actually the one that's researching, so you have the
real you got the real factors. Give us, give us
some love. What you guys did was perfect in terms
of knowing yourself, you know, and what it looks like
for me is addressing the emotional psychological narrative that informs
(47:17):
their eating behavior, and whether that's writing it in a diary,
sitting down with your cousin or your brother Fano, or
even with friends and just talking about that, a safe
space to explore what's happening for you and while you're
while you've been jetting, m is there anything that you've
in your studies found that other people have done. I
(47:39):
know you had mentioned the lady who's changing the dialogue
with her own family. H family does play such a
big part of it. I mean, I'm thinking back to
even when we do our game nights and one of
us is on a diet, there's zero there's an absolutely
guarantee that that person is not They're going to not
be on their diet by the end of the night, like,
and it's just one of those things. Um. Is there
anything outside of you know, changing the dialogue like you
(48:01):
had mentioned in the family space, Well, like it's something
that we can do as family members being more understanding
or or being a little bit more patient, or letting
others kind of have their own moments. You hit the
mail on the hat with that one. So family just
be family, be the to support in late I guess
the clinicians work on the therapy side. Um, so your
(48:24):
job is just to be family into show ada you
know some that can support them through the process. Absolutely,
Anti Erana. You hear that no more okay Edsie, no more,
no more breakfast Medley as I'm walking out the door.
Okay no means no, absolutely man, Um. I mean, I
(48:45):
would say one of my biggest takeaways from today was
was you almost feel less alone or like less isolated,
especially talking you know, talking with Bubba and having Bubba,
we've always kind of been there for each other and
and through our lives we've always been there for each other,
not even just in the in the in the food
aspect um. But I think my biggest takeaway was even
(49:05):
expanding that net that overeating and binge eating can cover,
and you making it about our whole culture or or
bringing it in about our whole culture. Maw Uh, it
meant a lot to me. And so I wanted to
thank you so much for um, for sharing your information
uh and sharing your studies and even having the mind
(49:25):
to go and want to study more of that because
I know that it's a big thing. That being said,
Can you send me so they make those fijo lollies? Um,
they're they're like they're they're chewy. Uh, if you could
send me some of those, send me a couple of
crunchy bars, um, pineapple lumps. Let's see what else do
we got. I'm gonna need some coconut slabs, everything nuts slabs.
(49:47):
I'm gonna need some black Forest chocolates and feedo Frenzy,
the juice, you know the juice that they make, the
Figo Frenzy juice. Some of these things was the last
time I was here. I was there last year. Those
are no dated. Come on now, I'm not done yet.
I'm gonna need some tips Tim TAM's. I'm gonna eat
some tiptop orange chocolate chip ice cream and uh. And
(50:08):
then you can just throw in a couple of meat
pies as well. I like the steak and cheese. No mushrooms, please.
I really appreciate you, but I really appreciate you for
coming on. This is my favorite moment of the whole
show because I just get to sit back and let
you guys just hype up your own work, your own studies,
your own social media. Um. It is called the Not
So Shameless Promo. UM. Neither of you have been guests before,
(50:31):
so I'm gonna have to I'll start, I guess because
I will help you. I just dropped my album The
Gospel at twenty three. I got a brand new movie
with Netflix coming out. It's called Finding Oh Hannah. I
My all my social media's are at alex Iona. It's
the best part about having a weird last name. Uh a,
I O n oh, and that's my not so shameless promo.
That being said, Bubba, why don't you give us some
(50:52):
not so shameless promo? Actually has it this morning. I
am going to be having a short film shot next week.
What you didn't tell me that? Congratulations Row hopefully one
that follows that. It's kind of the prequel to it,
which will be a feature. But yeah, my social media
is at Stranton. I know. Best part about having a
weird last name, I think we have. I think it's
(51:13):
Stranton underscore io no specific, but you'll you'll find it
all right. Male, now that you've got you got two examples,
you have no excuses. I want a perfect not so
shameless self promo. Give it to me, no worries. I'll
be speaking at the body Peace conference online this year
of it's in November. Check out body Piece and I'll
be presenting the data analysis from the Mudey experiences with
(51:37):
eating disort of study. So by then I should have
all the information and ready to go. So we're definitely
gonna have to use that as like we're gonna have
to highlight that because I loved your study so far
and I'm excited to see more of that. Where can
we find you on social media on Instagram? So good
luck spelling that. And uh, we'll just if you want
(51:57):
to not you know, be a part of the National
spelling You can just find the spelling of mounted Amatier's
name in the description for this show. Usually I do
my self promo, but it's already done now, so I
want a self promo the show. Make sure you go
and you rate our podcast. You subscribe, that is how
we grow. Make sure you leave a review if you can.
And uh, and and I'm so grateful that you guys
(52:18):
came to listen, and hopefully you learned something to this.
I learned a laugh from this. So honestly, even if
you didn't learn from something, you can rest easily knowing
that I did that. Being said, I love you guys
so much. We will see you next time. Until then,
we really want you to get the help you need,
So if you need help, please seek independent advice from
a competent healthcare or mental health professional. The views and
(52:40):
opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do
not represent the opinions of I Heart Media. Or its employees.
This podcast should not be used as medical advice, mental
health advice, counseling, or therapy. Listening to the podcast does
not established dr patient relationship with hosts or guests of ALEXIONO,
Let's Get Into It, or I Heart Media. No guarantee
is given regard the accuracy of any statements or opinions
(53:02):
made on this podcast, Wolf That's a Doozy
My name is Alex, and I consistently struggle with overeating.
No all right, no, al right, will be alright forever, no,
al right, be alright forever, alright. So I feel like
(00:25):
we've touched on this a little bit before in the
in the Body Image episode that we already had on
my podcast, but I wanted to highlight this one specifically
because we kind of used the Body Image episode in
this general sense of loving yourself in the visual sense,
and now I wanted to have a little bit more
of a highlight on something that I definitely struggle with,
(00:45):
and I know that a lot of people in the
world struggle with, especially in America where obesity rates are
just rampant and uh. And so I wanted to have
an episode about binge eating because I think it's more
than just food, you know, I think it's very very cultural.
Growing up, my ad had of this saying that he
would always say, and it was it's all about having
good food, good music, and good company and uh. And
(01:08):
you know, the last two are obviously healthy always, but
sometimes that good food part can get a little bit
out of hand. And as you'll learn in the rest
of this episode, it's not even just me and my
parents and my sisters that have that saying. And it's
not even just my family that has that saying, but
I think that there's a big cultural aspect to it.
Growing up, there was never really like a limit for food,
(01:31):
you know. It was always especially when you come up
in an immigrant based family, there is no limit. You know.
My father always wanted us to have everything we ever wanted,
and my parents were such good parents that when we
would go to McDonald's and I'm in fifth grade and
I'm ordering to breakfast meals, you know, I'm having my
egg McMuffin with my hash brown and an orange juice,
and then I'm having an egg mcgrittle because those things
(01:52):
are popping, but they don't really suffice as like a
full breakfast, so it's kind of like a side order.
But I get the whole meal so I can have
the second hash brown. That was just like a thing like.
It was never really an issue in terms of the amount,
And even as I was getting up into my teenage
years and I wanted to start dieting, it was never
about moderation. It was never about the amount in which
(02:12):
you're eating. It was always the food that you eat
is bad, like, so I would cut sugar, or I
would cut candy, or I would cut you know, carbs,
or I would cut fats or whatever it was that
I was. You know that whatever the fat diet was
at the time, it wasn't really until kind of last year,
the year before, when I would talk to my other
friends who are studying nutrition, who are like, you just
(02:33):
have to eat less, And I was like, what do
you mean like I because I was eighteen years old
and I had no money, and I would always dream about, Man,
when I get enough money, I'm gonna eat whatever I want.
I'm gonna have at it. You know. Once I started
making a little bit more money and being able to
pay for things, like I would buy two meals everywhere
I'd go because I wanted to. I don't know if
it was about the eating or if it was about
(02:54):
the status situation of having two meals. And my friends
would make fun of me. They'd be like, dog, why
do you get to things? And uh. And I remember
having this conversation with Dylan talking about how I wanted
to lose weight and how I was going to start
another one of those crazy diets, and and he was
the one who said to me, dude, you just need
to eat less. And I was like, yeah, what do
you mean to eat less? Like, uh, no, I have
to eat more. And he's like, no, you don't. Like,
(03:15):
look at the calories that you're consuming in terms of
how much food you are actually putting into your body,
and look at the average. And I was looking at mine,
and I was hitting four thousand, five thousand, sometimes into
the six and seven thousands for calories each day. And
I saw the problem. I realized that that's not even
just an issue with me. It's an issue that I
(03:36):
think runs rampant in the United States with the world
that is fast food and everything quick and you can
get more for less. I think it's a big thing
in my culture in which every kind of gathering is
surrounded around food, whether it's in the deep cultural rooted
aspect or just in my own family's aspect of we
(03:56):
got to get together, have you know, my uncle's cocoa
ice and my and my it's fried bread, and and
we got to have you know, a big hongy and
and or a big feast of food and uh. And
it got me thinking, what does culture have to do
with how we eat? What is of everybody. It's alex Iono. Here,
this is my podcast. Let's get into it where we
(04:18):
talk about damn near everything. And I think with the
topics that we've done and the topics were doing next,
we're literally hitting the everything. Mark Um, I'm so happy
to have this episode. I have some amazing guests. Were
talking about binge eating and over eating and it's connection
to food culture and family culture. Uh. And I thought
that there would be no better guests to have than
(04:39):
guests who share the same culture as I do. One,
I have somebody who shares literally almost the exact same
DNA as I do. My cousin Bubba. His real name
is Stranton, but ever since I've known him, I didn't
even know his name was Stranton until I was ten
years old because we called him Bubba from the day
I was born. Um. He is my father's brother's son,
(04:59):
so he's my first cousin. UM and shares that that
sweet beautiful iona blood. Baba. How are you, Bro, I'm
doing great. I'm so happy that you hear. Bro. Also
with us, we have somebody who shares our Maudi culture.
He is a researcher for multi experiences of eating disorders
at the University of Otongo in New Zealand. He goes
(05:20):
by Mao, but because I share the multi culture, I
gotta say his full name. His name is Clark. I
don't know where. The last name really kind of just
throws everybody off because you give him this beautiful, just
just beautiful thick Clark. So that being said, MoU, how
are you, bro, I'm really really well. Thank you very much,
(05:41):
Alex And and just on my sur name prior to colonization,
my surname is actually being my parents changed the sur
name to Clark is did my uncles and aunties so
that it was Europeanized. Thanks Britain, we really appreciate that. Um.
I also want to give a big, big shout out
(06:01):
to you your at seven am where you are. You
are back in christ Church, New Zealand, and it's seven am,
so you are an absolute just hero for waking up
early being here with us. I'm so excited to talk
through this because growing up, like I had mentioned in
my story, it was always something I thought was just me,
and then I realized that it's not just me, but
(06:23):
it's like us. And now that you're here, we're gonna
find out that it's way bigger than even any of
us single or any one culture. It is actually a
deeper thing. So we have three topics we're gonna talk about. First,
Bubba and I are going to go one on one
about our relationships with food and fitness and how it's
kind of interlaced with our families, culture and dynamic. Uh.
Then we're gonna take a break, and then Mow, you
(06:45):
and I are going to talk about food, family, and
culture in more of the educational space and with some
real facts and statistics. And then lastly, we're gonna talk
about some tips for maintaining that real um consistent, moderated
diet and ultimately trying to find something that really works
for all of us. But before we get into all
of those things, I have a question I asked each
of my guests, and that question is what have you
(07:06):
been doing this week to improve your life? We've had
answers all across the board, from fitness answers to mental
health answers to when I started a garden. Recently it's
just been me searching for a house. Um. But my
latest thing I'm going to give am this is a
kind of a shout out to another episode of let's
get into it I and this is gonna be a
(07:26):
weird thing. What I've done to improve my life this
week is I've cut my budget for the house I'm
looking for down. Um My, all of my all of
my friends who tell me what my budget should slash
shouldn't be um We're giving me ranges and they were
like it's this to this, and I kept going with
the max range like I was just like, Okay, well,
if I can spend that much, I'm gonna go for it.
(07:47):
And then this week, I I was talking to another
one of my friends. I was talking to my friend
ron Star, who was a guest on Let's Get into
It on the Finance episode and uh, and he was
the one who was like, you know, you don't have
to you don't have to spend that much. And I
was like what does that mean? And he's like, well,
if you don't spend that much, then you can spend
money somewhere else and you can have more experiences and
you can do this. And I was like, that's a
(08:08):
good idea. So That's what I'm doing this week to
better my life. But again, we've had answers all across
the board. Bubba you got something for me. I just
started doing the celery juice thing. Celery juice. I've been
juicing all week the right way. But yeah, my wife
and I have been been drinking that every morning and
and reaping the benefits. Oh my gosh. I have to
(08:28):
share this, this story though, because so obviously I followed
my cousin on Instagram and I also follow his wife, Rachel,
and Rachel, please don't hate me after I'd say, tell
this story. It was so funny. So Rachel posts a
story of like one of those like super Instagram, like
just a picture of the juice, and it was like
celery juice. Bubba then does the most savage husband thing
ever and films her secretly like sipping the celery juice
(08:51):
hating it, just like just hardly liking any sip, full
blown hating it, and just called her out for posting
about how she loves her celery juice but she's like
sipping it and still can't fully finish it. Rachel, if
you're listening to this, we love you, but but I
had to I had to call you over that because
that was too funny. Um, all right, male, you've got
(09:11):
something for us? Yeah, I guess this week is stipping
out of my comfort zone. Hey, so appearing on your
show as well out of my comfort zone. That's metas
a challenge for me. We're super meta right now. We
got like being here in itself, is it? I just
watched Tenants this week and uh and and that's how
(09:32):
I feel. I feel like it's like an inception brain
of like this is the thing I'm doing, and I'm like,
what how could it be? Um? That's awesome, though, Bro,
thank you so much. It means a lot that you're here. Um.
We could have had any nutritionists, we could have had
any you know, health expert or somebody anybody who's studying
the same thing. But the fact that we get to
uh celebrate our culture, especially this year where I think
(09:53):
it's so important to to be who you are and
and celebrate who you are and support everybody in being
themselves to the full, in support uh and and and
really cherish the strength of culture. I'm so happy that
you're here. But also thank you. I just want to
thank you, especially on part of our participants, for giving
a platform for male voices. Um. And they've been under
represented for eating disorders. So so thank you. So much. Man.
(10:16):
I think I appreciate that, And of course I think
celebrating culture and highlighting it in general is a big thing.
And I think also um as much as I want
to highlight our culture and and our people and and
how we experience food. Um, even in my talks with Catherine,
our producer, and my other friends, as I was anticipating
this this topic, it's not just our culture. And we're
(10:39):
gonna find out a little bit more about that, but
for for now, maw, you feel free to take a break. Bubba.
You and I are going one on one and we're
going to talk about our relationship with food and fitness.
All right, Bubba, I've known you for twenty four years now,
I've known you a long time. Are our fathers are brothers,
and they are two out of ten, and out of
(11:00):
the ten siblings, they all moved here. Uh my dad
was younger than yours. And for my dad's stories, The
biggest thing with being an immigrant, especially at that time,
and I think that it's a big thing that goes
um underappreciated or just really nobody really talks about it,
is that when you move to America, you almost like
(11:21):
you're you're you're thrown into this pot of like dog
eat dog, like you have to. It's a it's a
world of more, and if you don't have, then you
are like less than other people. And I think that
that really fueled, honestly, how our family views things that
we want and that we need in terms of like, well,
you always want more and you want the nicer things.
(11:43):
And especially because our family, our our dads grew up
so poor. I mean, like my dad, we're talking about
rice for dinner, and then they would put sugar on
the rice for dessert, like literally, like that was. And
there's ten siblings and you're an immigrant family and it's
hard to find work back in the day, so uh
it was. It was super tough for them. But I
want you to talk now a little bit about just
(12:04):
your personal experience growing up with family, um with food.
When you realize that you were you were wanting to
make changes in your life with your weight or with
your you know, your lifestyle in general. I mean as
far as the family goes. I always link up any
of our get togethers, whether it be reunion or anything celebratory,
(12:25):
it's always what are we eating? It's always what are
we eating? Who who like who's bringing what. It's funny
you bring up the about immigrants and and our our
fathers coming over and making sure that we had enough.
I always had the thought of am i am I
going to be able to get enough? Whether it be
for dinner at my own like with my own family,
(12:45):
or more at family get together. It's always like is
there gonna be enough for everyone? So I think the
thought of indulging or grabbing as much as you can
always came in here. It's like maximizing the opportunity. Like
now that you say that, I'm thinking about my dad
and like growing up, he would never ever let us
like not finish our food. And if we didn't finish
the food, if we got a restaurant, it was always
too we would take it to go because you wouldn't
(13:07):
want to lose. Like you said, you don't want to
lose your opportunity to eat. You know. My dad also
said it doesn't matter how much money you have, never
pass a free meal. You know. It's like things like
that where I want you to continue on. But as
you're saying that, I was like, oh man, absolutely well,
the food left on a plate is that's beyond me
now Even now as I've made adjustments, I still like
(13:28):
I'm gonna eat what's on my plate, but it's gonna
be the right portions as we were talking about. But
but yeah, growing up, I think my eyes were always
bigger than my stomach. But I made my stomach work,
yeah right, got it to fit. So yeah, I think
family get togethers being raised on on sweets being such
a celebratory thing or a fun thing to enjoy with others.
(13:52):
It's like, I want to get together, even between you
and I when we get together with with our significant
others and friends and everything, it's like, oh, who's going
to get it's doing a snack. I mean, we we
have game nights once a week with my with my
sister and her husband, you and your wife, and me
my girlfriend, and we have game nights where it literally
is one person chooses the game, one person chooses the dinner,
(14:13):
and the one person chooses the dessert. And it's like
it's a part of it. Uh, it's also a part
I think the issue also, and I think it's in
a lot of cultures, but in our culture specifically, I
feel like our food isn't the healthiest, you know what
I mean, Like we're talking about And if you don't know,
I'll explain what these dishes are. Uncle Omni makes cocoa
rice and fried bread, which is literally hot rice pudding maybe,
or like if you put hot chocolate and then you
(14:35):
just like thickened it a little bit more and added
rice into it, and then take dough and you just
fry it. And what do you put when that's not enough?
What do you put on it? You put more cream,
You put more evaporated milk, You put butter and syrup
on your fry bread, or you dip it in jelly
or whatever. Like it's it's and that's just one dish,
and that's breakfast too. You also are having you know,
(14:57):
loads and loads of rice and you're having um, you know,
everything under the sun, from fried chicken to it. It's
just it's just because, like you said, all of our
families and when my dad has nine our dads have
nine siblings, each person is going to bring a dish
that they want to bring, and everybody wants to make sure,
like you said, that we have enough and not even
enough of is everybody going to get to eat food?
(15:20):
But is everybody going to get to have as much
as they want of every single dish that they make,
there's always leftovers. I think about our Thanksgivings and Mariette
at Antierana's house, and it's literally like the biggest spread
you'll find that could feed the whole neighborhood, and it's
just our family. And that's definitely the time that like
my my mind checks out in portion control and it's
(15:41):
just indulge, indulged, indulged, because it's like, I'm not gonna
buy the chips, the brownies, the cookies that are there
or whatever we're eating. But while I'm there, my mind
always went to, well, it's here now, so let's get
as much. Let's because we might not get it again. Exactly.
I want to read in the clock. So I had
mentioned my story a little bit earlier, but growing up,
(16:04):
obviously I lived in Arizona. You lived here in Marietta,
and you're were you born were Okay, so you're seven
years older than me. I just remember always like you
and Sage, where like the football players, you're always you know,
you're working out, working out, working out, So when you're young,
you don't really feel it, you know, because you're burning
thousands on thousands of calories wearing pads and you're you're
(16:24):
playing football and you're going hard in and out, in
and out. So tell me about your high school experience
and then going off, Um, you served a church mission. Uh,
and then you came home. And that kind of started
from my perspective, your want to change your lifestyle up
or more so, like you need to change your lifestyle
up because you no longer were playing football every day,
you were no longer had the metabolism of a teenage
(16:47):
boy anymore. Yeah, we go back to high school. Um,
talking about rice in our in our family, there's not
a meal that went by in my household. And I
love my mom, and I love that you made it
every every mother, but there is not a meal that
we wouldn't go without white rice, whether it be in
the rice cooker or in a pot on the stove.
(17:07):
So if we had chicken, it was chicken rice. It
was hamburger helper. Then it was hamburger helper. And for breakfast,
of his breakfast metally, and you're putting in everything growing
some rice. I didn't even know, like people eat hamburger
helper without rice. And I didn't know that's the thing.
I thought that was just a topper. So, um, yeah,
in high school, I would inhale food at that point.
You almost have to when you're playing football, you know.
(17:28):
I don't think people really recognize how many calories you're
burning because you're a student and you're going to school
and you're doing your thing with your friends, and then
you're spending an hour, two hours, three hours exercising every
single day to to to play a sport. I think
about now my output in comparison to what it was
then as far as exercising and um, all the agility
(17:48):
workouts that I was doing, and then what my intake
was at the time. And I remember thinking in high school, like, man,
all these other guys have like I was in. I
was in good shape, I mean, starting with football and everything.
But um, at the same time, I was like, well,
I'm not, am I getting cut like the other guys.
What's what's going on here? Well, it was probably because
the mounds and mounds of rice that I was eating. Luckily,
my metabolism at that time was still at the rate
(18:09):
that it was. But yeah, I definitely wasn't. I wasn't
losing sleepover at that at that point. Um, as you
said afterwards, I went on a two year mission to
El Salvador, where a lot of food is cooked in
a lot of oil, um, whether it be rice or
their chicken or their fish. Great food there by the
(18:29):
beans and create the more. Oh and the plantains so good.
But it's fried. But you're saying fried plantains. It's you know,
super oily cheese that and and it's all super greasy delicious.
But it has Yeah, it has its costs. But then again,
just like how I was in high school playing football,
doing all these sports for two years, I was walking.
(18:52):
We didn't have cars and Al Salvador wouldn't do bikes
like you see a lot of these missionaries at the
state side. It was walking up and down hills. So
that was that was a blessing in the skies because
I have to gain a bunch of weight and then
getting sick every every so often. With with some of
the dirty water that we had, it was helped with
some weight loss um. But yeah, when when I when
(19:12):
I came back, I think I continued and we talked
about celebration. You're back, and now you have like all
the candies down there, the candies completely they love menthal
candies that the halls as candies or just pure sugar
chunks that are dyed different colors. And it wasn't my
favorite thing. But when I got back and we had
all the candies here, um, all the different types of
(19:35):
food fast food at the just in reach of you,
I indulged so much with friends with family, and I
quickly learned that my metabolism wasn't where it was at
and my output as far as exercising wasn't nearly where
it was um. And with that comes the lovely depression
(19:56):
that we all run through as well, love it, love
it depression, anxiety, all of it um, which just caused
more comfort eating um and overeating and binge eating. Uh.
And I found myself. I mean, I've had a couple
goes back and forth with fitness, but I will say
my heaviest that I got was about three and thirty
(20:19):
pounds UM. Today as of right now, I'm right around
to twenty. And that's that's with with that lovely quarantine weight.
We are, I mean that we are when you first
moved out here, um, just so you, I didn't even
get to give more of information about Bubba usually have
a whole spread, but because he's my cousin. I was
just like my cousin Bubba Bubba as an actor. Um,
(20:40):
he's been out here now for over a year, just
over about a year, just about a year, and he's
also because he's gotten a grip on his health, both
mentally and physically more so. Um. You can go to
his page Strand and Iono and you'll see that we
have that level of hard work, we have that level
of of athleticism that you want to put in. But
(21:00):
at the end of the day, you can never outwork
overeating in a diet. So through the last what would
you say, say, how long would you go on a
mission six years ago? I've been home for ten years now.
Oh wow, So we'll say in the last ten years
you fluctuate how many times would you say you fluctuated
in full from from getting to like feeling real good
and going and then that kind of that kind of
(21:22):
fluctuating back the over eating, the binge eating. There's that
guy that that went uh fit to fat to fit?
Oh yeah, yeah, I think yeah, he does that show right,
gain weight for a contestant and then they lose it together. Yeah,
so I'm pretty sure I went fit too fat to
fit too fat to fit fat. I think back and
forth three times. A lot of it was unplanning because
(21:45):
I ended up getting um assist inside my my throat,
so it decommissioned me for about a year and the
lovely depression kicked in during that time. Game but I can't.
I mean that, and that plays into the whole thing,
and we'll talk about that all later. But I want
to use that information to highlight how rampant because even
(22:05):
in my life, though I didn't fluctuate the same way
that you did, I would fluctuate thirty pounds twice a
year after I got my quarantine fit. Then I was like,
I'm still We're still quarantine. There's no point in being fit.
No one's going to see me except for my family,
my girlfriend, my homies, so I don't need to impress anybody.
So then you start getting a little bit more weight,
and then I start catching myself, like, dude, I just
ate four cliff bars, like that's that's literally a thousand
(22:28):
calories right there, and I just ate it because I
was watching Naruto or the basketball game and it's like
messed up. And so the reason why I was so
happy to have you here as a guest is because
you're my family in between all of us, me, you, Tanner, Sage,
Jared Seth, you know, all of our cousins. We've all
had our moments where you know, we're up or we're
down or this were that, But it's such a through
(22:50):
line for our family. And I'm like, as we're talking
about it, I'm thinking about, like literally I'm having nightmares
in my head about Anti Erna saying and I love you, Antia,
this is not a mean thing, but Anti rn of
making a massive pot right when we're about to leave
for a road trip and she's like, we gotta finish
this pot of of of breakfast metally with rice because
once you leave, like nobody's gonna be here. And it's
(23:10):
always that like have some more, nephew, have some more,
Like I have some more nephew will probably be on
my tombstone, and then you also have like I think
we have our aunts, and I think we both know
which one I'm talking about who will make those comments
that are just like you're looking heavy, nephew, and you're
just like, hey, and it's just a thing, you know,
like it's just it's it is. It is our culture
and it is our family. And I think we'll we'll
(23:34):
continue finding out in my conversation with Moo that that
it's even our culture, that it is a culture of celebration,
like you said, every time when you come home from
a church mission, when it's your birthday, when it's not
your birthday, when it's somebody else's birthday, when it's a holiday,
when we're making up holidays. It's all food based. And
I think, as we'll learn, food is just a big
(23:56):
piece of our culture. And I think what I'm excited
to talk about in the last segment is how we
you and I and I think a lot. You know,
my sisters and your siblings and even our even our
parents have gotten better at figuring out how to not
eat so much because I think, um, one of the
biggest things that we've done. I think I don't want
to close with this in our diets is changing it
(24:19):
from being you can't eat this, you can't eat that,
you can't eat this, It is you can eat what
you want, but you have to maintain a certain amount.
And I think that's you know, through macro counting or
calorie counting or whatever it is, you change your perspective
on eating because I don't think it's healthy to have
a negative perspective on any one food unless it's mushrooms.
(24:39):
I don't think it's healthy to have any one perspective
on food, uh, if it's good or if something's bad,
because at the end of the day, you should enjoy it.
And I think that I love like I love Uncle
umanized coco rice, I love Uncle umonized fried bread and
my mom's colchorize and fried bread, and I love all
of the I love meat pies, and I love I
don't like kenna, but I love everything else. And I've
(25:00):
it's good to celebrate that and have that um and uh.
And we're going to figure out what that means in
the more of a cultural aspect right now, because we're
about to take a break. But bro, you know I
love you and and thank you for coming on. You're
gonna take a quick break. When we come back, I'll
talk with MO and then we'll have our big convo
at the end. Don't go anywhere, alright, ch'all, we are back.
(25:20):
This is let's get into it. I'm alex Iono, and
I just had a great conversation with my cousin Bubba
about just our own family experience with eating and over
eating at that. Um and now we're here and I
got my buddy mouth A Clark and uh and he's here,
Maw tell us before I even try and explain it.
(25:40):
I mentioned it a little bit earlier. But tell us
what you're doing over there in christ Church at at
the University of Otangi. Okay, So, Um, I'm part of
a team. It's looking into Maudi experiences of eating disorders. Basically,
studies show that the prevalence of eating disorders and maudi
equal todate of nonmudi, which is really surprised as inferences
(26:00):
and your findings, it's not common common knowledge. Yeah, and
so we're out here trying to figure that out. What
do Mali attribute to the causes of their eating disorders?
What are your experiences of treatment like um and more importantly,
what helps them to recover? And what made you like
what made you get into that? Like how did you
find yourself wanting to study that? It was kind of
(26:22):
like I guess the project that was given to me
when I arrived into the Mody Indigenous Health Institute. I
guess I can relate to some of the experiences that
Mali participants are telling me in terms of the relationship
with food. UM, in some exposure to childhood adversity, UM,
it's led to I guess some of this disordered eating behavior.
(26:44):
And the thing is is, in so many cultures, food
and family are just absolutely linked their absolutely one. You know,
you have Italians with with their beautiful you know, pasta
based dishes and and and sitting down and having dinner.
You have Jewish families with a past overset er in
their high Holy days. Southerners in America, which I'm pretty
sure at this point biscuits and gravy is just like
(27:06):
a religion, and we just can we we are allowed
to just follow that. There's so many links to every
other culture. And I think it's just for this episode
I challenge you, by the way, listener to figure out
your own links with your own culture to this. But
for this episode, I want to discuss specifically because you're
studying this exact thing. Our culture, our multiculture are Polynesian culture.
(27:29):
With that, you've mentioned that you've been hearing about other
people's experiences. What are the most common experiences in the
in the multiculture that you hear about with eating disorders
and binge eating. There's so much to unpack here. Um.
I have to remember that there are so many different
ways to experience what it means to be maldi. So
there are many different lived realities. But some of the
(27:51):
stories that are coming through in terms of binge eating
around health, literacy, and food and security. So we're talking
about poverty as well in what food are available to them,
when food is available, issues around food and security. Oh man,
And that's I mean, that's I think it's a big
thing here in America as well, in that same culture.
You know, when you have families that are so large.
(28:12):
I think about if my my father and his family
have ten siblings were living in today's world with with
the same level of poverty that they were, it wouldn't
be fast food. Every single meal, and every single meal
would be a maximized how much can we get right
now because we don't know when we're going to get
it again exactly. And I'm thinking of one story in particular,
(28:33):
when lady taught me, you know, when we would we
would eat everything that was on the table because we
don't know when nixt meal is coming from. Absolutely, So
how linked is family and food within our culture, within
the multiculture. Well, it's intrinsically linked. It's used in the
ritualization ceremonial processes um So Maldi. Relationship with food is
(28:56):
intrinsically linked to the culture, especially two concepts such as
men kitana uma is looking after someone a loose translation
in one way to do it for Maddy was through food.
Mm hmmm, yeah, absolutely. I mean I think back to
the trip I took in two fifteen when I went
back to New Zealand for the first time and we
(29:16):
stayed on our family's modi um in Tallaga Bay, and
you know, and by the way, it's it's kind of
like a small village and there's one building that is
for everybody to sleep in and you don't wear your
shoes inside, and like it's literally like you're sleeping person
by person by person on matts. And then there's a
whole another building that is the like the food hall
in the kitchen and our famili's kitchen. You'll see them
(29:36):
of all different varieties. You'll see sometimes some of them
have like full tech and everything, like TVs in the
in the sleeping rooms and everything, and then you'll see
some that are that are absolutely basic. Ours in the
sleeping set absolutely basic. Our kitchen is so nice because
we make so much. I mean, I think about that,
you know, and and uh, you think about the massive
(29:57):
hungy is the big, the big kind of feast that
we have. And there was probably thirty or forty of
us and we're having like fifteen rotisserie chickens, you know
what I mean. You're having pots on pots on pots
of rice and we're going and we're making, um, we're
eating buckets of crayfish, and we're having loads of food,
meat pies on meat pies and and everything and this
(30:19):
massive amount. And so even me personally, though I haven't
spent as much time as I'd like to in New Zealand. Uh,
in the actual pure culture of the multiculture in my
own experiences was it was only food. It was literally
food after food after food. And like we had mentioned,
as bub and I mentioned, you almost plan around the
food more than you plan anything else. You plan Okay, well, okay, Auntie,
(30:41):
you're gonna make this tonight. Uncle, you're gonna make that tomorrow. Um,
we'll make this on on Wednesday. You'll make that. Like
it was planned more around that than it is around
the rest of the experience of spending time with each other.
What we found with some participants on mine is that
they've disengaged with Tilmati and for those reasons, so they're
not connecting with their culture because they know at certain
(31:03):
times was certain situations is going to be food around,
and so they're disengaging from Talmai and that's and the
thing that's sad is that it is and it isn't
super cultural, you know what I mean, Like we've we've
kind of shaped it to be what it is. You know,
like you look back in the past ages, you go
back to ancestors and what ideal bodies were back in
the day, and back in the day, being heavier, having
(31:26):
fat on your body meant that you had wealth, meant
that you had meant that you had um abundance. It
meant that you can eat whatever you want and as
much as you want. And it was you almost wanted it,
you know. And then kind of towards I would say,
like the late eighties into the nineties, especially in the
Western culture, you have people talking about, oh, thin is
(31:48):
the new thing, and curves are better. You know, you
have to have a slimmer waist and then a wider
bottom half and then you want to look like an
hourglass and all these things, and it kind of changed.
And I think even though it started in the western
um part of the Hemisphere, it also kind of creeped
in everywhere else. You know. It creeped over into even
(32:08):
into New Zealand, creeped over into Europe, it creeped over
into Asia and and and and really all around the world. Yeah,
there is literature that supports it as well, the impact
of a culturation on indigenous and ethnic minority populations. Yeah,
how in your experience in your studies, has the expectations
through that time? You know, when heavier bodies and bigger
(32:31):
bodies meant you're you're more well off. How has that
changed for the multiculture specifically from then till now? In
terms of eating disorders, I can say that for us,
a portion of our cohort and the eating disordered behavior
is a tribute to to body image ideals and so
you know, the thin ideal, wistern ideals. But for most
(32:54):
it's actually childhood adversity. M wow, yes, yes, so we're
talking food and security sixual abuse or the modeling appearance behavior.
This is so much happening. I didn't you. I didn't
even think about that, honestly, Like you know, you think
about there there are some things that just go deeper
than eating too much food. Yeah, yeah, that's you know,
(33:18):
eating the sort of arisymptom of something. So yeah, yeah,
for a lot. Actually sexual abuse was heavy. I want
to switch I want to switch gears just a little
bit in terms and talk more about the cultural aspect
of it. UM. How how big of a roll do
you think colonization played into how the culture of eating
in New Zealand specifically, but even more specifically in the
(33:40):
in the multiculture UM. Once New Zealand was colonized by
the British, how did that change? I guess I'm thinking
of food production and so you know, the acceleration the
availability of food UM, and our our body is not
really being used to the kind of food that would
be introduced. M. How do you see the differences as
(34:04):
you're experiencing other cultures, when you're traveling to other countries
and seeing, you know, the way that they view you know,
I remember when I went to Italy for the first
time and we're having dinner at like nine pm, and
I'm like, guys, it's time for bed like. You know,
there's different cultures and everybody views food differently. Um, What's
is there anything that surprised you in your travels? Um
(34:24):
in how other cultures experienced food, No, I UM University
and straight South America. I find that they have the
exact same passion for food is Mali, and so it's
one way that we show love. It's one way that
we welcome you, you know. And that's the thing that's
interesting to me is the link of every culture. You know.
I know that you study specifically the multi culture, but
(34:47):
I think it is just something historically we have We've
changed and we talked about this in my episode for
body positivity, but what ideal bodies are has changed over time.
And I think though the body image ideals have changed
over time, the eating ideals never changed. Nobody really ever
touched on well we also aren't supposed to be eating
(35:09):
this much of this thing or hey like, since the
body and has changed, let's change the way that we
view food. It's never really changed, if anything has continued
on at a stronger rate. You know, is there anything
in your studies that surprised you about your study of
your own culture and identifying those things I guess picking
(35:30):
up on what you've just said. There are some stories
where people are changing the narrative around what food means.
So a lady in her fifties is now raising her
grandchildren to talk openly about food, and it's because, you know,
when she was growing up, she was forced to eat
what was on your plate, and now she wants to
open the discussion. If you're hungry, you can eat. If
(35:52):
you're not hungry, you don't need to eat. And I
think that that that second part is almost as big
as the first part. You know, if you're hungry, you
need to eat. I think it's it's pretty clear cut.
But if you're not hungry, you don't need to eat.
As as a as a culture that is so based
in family and so based in everybody doing something as one,
whether you're all going to the ice cream shopper, you're
(36:13):
all going to the beach, you're all going to the mall.
It has always been a everybody's going everybody's in it together.
And if you're not hungry, you still gotta eat, You
still gotta do that. You wouldn't really think you have
to find out or something. It's not. It doesn't feel
like a conversation you have to have. But I think
that that's something that really sets us as as a
multiculture apart um. And and that's why I love your
(36:34):
studies of what you're doing and studying our culture specifically.
Is there anything else about our culture specifically that UM
that you found in your studies that that you thought
is interesting and you'd like to share At the moment,
it's really just getting therapy, it's being persistent with your GPS.
It's actually just getting excess to services. That's what the
(36:55):
problem is. And it's because Maudi Maudi present differently when
it comes to eating too. Is. We're gonna take a
break right now, UM, but when we get back, we're
gonna be talking about what's next and also the mental
effect that overeating and eating disorders can have on you.
We'll be right back. All right, we are back. This
is let's get into it, and we're talking about binge eating,
(37:17):
over eating specifically, but also just eating disorders in general.
And I've had my cousin Bubba here and we've talked
about our own personal experiences, and then we've had mounted
on Matier Clark, who is studying the multiculture in UH
and specifically studying um Binge eating and eating disorders within
that culture as well. We've had some great conversations and
and now we kind of want to talk about some
(37:39):
next steps. But before we get into those next steps,
um you had mentioned the effect that eating and overeating
can can have on your mental health. I didn't realize it,
you know, I didn't realize that. It's kind of what's that,
you know, the awesome powers character the old Scottish memories
like I eat because I'm unhappy. I'm unhappy because I eat,
And it's really just like that cycle. And if you
(38:01):
can fall into that cycle, which I think I easily
fall into it. You've mentioned that you've you fall into
that cycle of well, I'm sad now that I'm gaining weight,
how am I going to feel? Not as sad? I'm
gonna eat some more food and then you then you
can then it just continues on in a in a
bad cycle. Now, can you talk about the mental effects
that that overeating and bidginging can have. Yeah, you know,
(38:24):
it stops people from socializing, and it stops people from
engaging with culture, and impacts financially because you're unable to work.
You know, the the mental health impact of an eating
disorder really leaves one statement. Absolutely, And Bubba, what in
terms of what moj just said, can you speak to that?
(38:46):
I know that for me, especially like going out to
like when I know that I'm not in my best shape,
I don't want to go to a pool party, I
don't want to go. I don't want to go to
the beach with my friends. I don't wanna when my
friends like, let's all go to the gym. I know
that I'm not in shape, and I don't want to
go to the gym and be the guy in our
in the friend group that's like embarrassed that they can't,
you know, work out as long or as hard as
(39:07):
their friends can. Yeah. Absolutely, Now, everything that you just listed,
it was like hit after hit, every it just was
linked to every experience. But yeah, specifically, um, not wanting
to go out out to things because maybe I gained
a little weight and that shirt doesn't fit as well
as it did, and just having the mental toll of
(39:28):
you know, you'll you'll ever think something a thousand times
when others around you won't even think to look at
you the way that you're looking at yourself. You're always
your hardest critic, as everyone always says. But that's always
something that would come up is whenever I got I
felt like I was getting getting heavier, was oh, that's
going to be the first topic. In my experience. They
would never say like, oh, you're you're looking a little heavier.
(39:49):
I would always hear, hey, you look like you're have
you been lifting weights? Always reverted back to saying it's like, oh,
you must because you played football. I mean, are you
I'm like, no, I'm eating food. I'm eating lots of
lifting my pork at a rapid rate. And that's about it.
And then I know that, uh, that would take a
toll on me. And then on top of that, whenever
I would mention like, man, I really i'd really like
(40:12):
to lose some weight, all right, I really want to
get back into this, i'd hear and now maybe you've
heard this too, it's always like, well, you're Polynesian, you're
supposed to be you know, you guys are big guys,
so you don't you know, you don't need to worry
about that kind of stuff. And I would always be like,
I'm not. You know, it's a big I mean, it's
a big expectation, you know, people are like, oh you are, Like,
are all your uncles just like big football players? Like,
(40:33):
let's unpack that for a sec. You know, like just
the expectations that other cultures have when they see us,
you know, they see football players, they see massive humans,
they see you know, fat, they see all of those,
all of those things. And I look at the three
of us here on this zoom call, and uh, and
I don't think we fit that stereotype as much as
(40:55):
even in the way that we like to, even in
the muscle sense, you know, I have I have I
have six ft five on ales who are twelve percent
body fat and are just the scariest human beings on earth. Um.
And then I have my uncles who do fit the mold.
I have the uncles who, yeah, they're exactly a Polynesian.
They got gout, they got diabetes, They've had at least
one heart attack. And there, you know, I look at
(41:17):
my own father, who who's a diabetic and has had
a heart attack, and he's only fifty two years old.
You know, our own grandmother passed away from a stroke.
In our own grandfather had three heart attacks before he
eventually passed. It's it's something that culturally, we have not
yet nailed We haven't gotten it yet, and I think
that also feeds into those expectations that others have, UM,
(41:37):
and that's why I think it's so cool that you're
studying them. Mo Is. Is there anything that you have
to add to that in terms of the outside expectations
of the outside views on our own culture. Oh, I'm
just reminded of the term diverse realities. Really as you
see it. You know, we don't fit the stereotypical image
of what it means to be a Polynesian and Miley
male yeah, yeah, h Well, the good news is we've
(42:01):
all three of us. I can't speak for you because
we've just met today, but we've definitely had our share
of of binge eating and we've come up with some
good ways to kind of combat that. And so I
want to spend the rest of this UM. If you're
a listener, I do want to take a quick moment
if you're struggling with any of these things, and uh,
and I want you to know that you can always
get that help. That being said, let's brighten it up.
(42:22):
Let's get some good tips going in. I'll start off
with the ways that I've actually been able to suppress
my portions in which I used to eat, you know,
massive amounts. And I think the biggest one is, um
uh is there's this like this saying that my buddy
told me, which is like eat until you're not hungry,
don't eat until you're full, just eat until you're not
(42:42):
hungry anymore. And that was never really something that registered
with me because I was like, well, if I'm not hungry,
i'm full. But there is this like middle ground where
you eat until you are satiated, until you're like okay, cool, Yeah,
I feel energized. If I was tired before, or if
I was like hang, I get really bad hanger, you
would know this. I might be the hangriest man on earth.
(43:02):
But as soon as I eat, I know, like there's
a certain amount that it's like, okay, I just ate
enough and now I'm happy again, So that should be
enough instead of the usual or my old normal, which
was eat until either there's no more food left or
until I literally hate myself for eating another bite, you know,
And that was the biggest thing for me. Um The
other tip that I've done a lot of was stopped
(43:24):
I stopped eating out of the package if I have
a bowl of cereal, I don't pour the bowl of
cereal and then keep the milk and the cereal right
next to the bowl to continue adding on. Or if
I have a bag of chips, if it's not this
kind of small fun bag, like if it's a big
bag of chips, pouring out the chips into a bowl,
dealing with that in that portion control and uh and
really just kind of there's so many websites you can
(43:46):
go to that will tell you for your age and
your weight and what you want to what you want
to weigh. It can tell you your healthy amount of
not only your calories, but how much fat, how much protein,
how much carbs. And so I think my biggest tip
that I would say is like, really learn more about yourself.
And that's why I love about having you as as
a guest mom, is that you are explaining that not
(44:08):
everybody is the same. Uh. And so my tip is
to like learn more about you, learn what works for you.
I know that when I eat everything, but I eat
it all in a small moderation, I'm so much less
likely to diverge off of my own path of health
and my own path of happiness. Um that being said
by by you are also like, I think you might
(44:28):
be the king of losing weight because you have lost
so much weight in terms of your like you can
lose weight like nobody else I know. So I actually
want your tips, bro, What do you got? I I
always live by the outer sight, out of mind. Growing up,
I remember telling my mom whenever I wanted to try
to get those apps or try to get cut I'd
always be like, Mom, we need to start buying like
(44:48):
just boneless skinless chicken and just rice and this and that,
and she'd be like, Oh, are you going to buy it?
But now that I'm I'm an adult, it's like, Oh,
I make the shopping list, I'll buy and I won't
buy the things that you know all over indulge in.
Now that that's helped me, I've been told and I
know that I'm very disciplined during the times that I
(45:09):
have my goal set and I know what I want,
and as long as I'm seeing results, I have no
problem eating the same thing over and over. But I
think a lot is said that later on in my
journey and more recently, I've learned, you know, I can
have those things in my house. I just have to
have the right mindset around them and kind of to
piggyback off what you said, I know who I am
(45:31):
and how I am and what my experiences are, I
would say, apart from all the all the advice I
would give about specifically about what you'd buy or what
you'd eat or what to stay away from. This past
week in therapy, I brought up some of the insecurities
that I've had, was obviously with body image, being an actor,
doing modeling and going through this this crazy time of
(45:52):
comfort eating during quarantine and everything. That's that's something that
that I brought up, and my therapist brought up a
good point. I was feeling pretty anxious one day and
instead of going to I told him that I was.
I was feeling anxious. I recognized that I was feeling anxious,
so I connected with a friend. I went on face
time and started communicating with them, and he's like, well,
(46:14):
you found a new route. Instead of um, going to
the cupboard for food or to get that comfort, UM,
you found connectivity with another person and that filled that
void that you were looking for. So half the time
I'm not hungry, I'm not I'm not looking for food.
I'm looking for something that's gonna you know, pass the time.
(46:35):
When you say eat until you're not hungry anymore. That
hit home so hard because there's so many times as
as the spoon is going up to my mouth, I'm like,
am I even hungry? I just eating because here? But
knowing ones self is huge and I think that is
so broad. But at the same time, I would say,
in your mental with your mental health, know what you're
(46:55):
doing and why you're doing it, and uh, if that's
the road you want to go down, absolutely I love that, Mow.
You're actually the one that's researching, so you have the
real you got the real factors. Give us, give us
some love. What you guys did was perfect in terms
of knowing yourself, you know, and what it looks like
for me is addressing the emotional psychological narrative that informs
(47:17):
their eating behavior, and whether that's writing it in a diary,
sitting down with your cousin or your brother Fano, or
even with friends and just talking about that, a safe
space to explore what's happening for you and while you're
while you've been jetting, m is there anything that you've
in your studies found that other people have done. I
(47:39):
know you had mentioned the lady who's changing the dialogue
with her own family. H family does play such a
big part of it. I mean, I'm thinking back to
even when we do our game nights and one of
us is on a diet, there's zero there's an absolutely
guarantee that that person is not They're going to not
be on their diet by the end of the night, like,
and it's just one of those things. Um. Is there
anything outside of you know, changing the dialogue like you
(48:01):
had mentioned in the family space, Well, like it's something
that we can do as family members being more understanding
or or being a little bit more patient, or letting
others kind of have their own moments. You hit the
mail on the hat with that one. So family just
be family, be the to support in late I guess
the clinicians work on the therapy side. Um, so your
(48:24):
job is just to be family into show ada you
know some that can support them through the process. Absolutely,
Anti Erana. You hear that no more okay Edsie, no more,
no more breakfast Medley as I'm walking out the door.
Okay no means no, absolutely man, Um. I mean, I
(48:45):
would say one of my biggest takeaways from today was
was you almost feel less alone or like less isolated,
especially talking you know, talking with Bubba and having Bubba,
we've always kind of been there for each other and
and through our lives we've always been there for each other,
not even just in the in the in the food
aspect um. But I think my biggest takeaway was even
(49:05):
expanding that net that overeating and binge eating can cover,
and you making it about our whole culture or or
bringing it in about our whole culture. Maw Uh, it
meant a lot to me. And so I wanted to
thank you so much for um, for sharing your information
uh and sharing your studies and even having the mind
(49:25):
to go and want to study more of that because
I know that it's a big thing. That being said,
Can you send me so they make those fijo lollies? Um,
they're they're like they're they're chewy. Uh, if you could
send me some of those, send me a couple of
crunchy bars, um, pineapple lumps. Let's see what else do
we got. I'm gonna need some coconut slabs, everything nuts slabs.
(49:47):
I'm gonna need some black Forest chocolates and feedo Frenzy,
the juice, you know the juice that they make, the
Figo Frenzy juice. Some of these things was the last
time I was here. I was there last year. Those
are no dated. Come on now, I'm not done yet.
I'm gonna need some tips Tim TAM's. I'm gonna eat
some tiptop orange chocolate chip ice cream and uh. And
(50:08):
then you can just throw in a couple of meat
pies as well. I like the steak and cheese. No mushrooms, please.
I really appreciate you, but I really appreciate you for
coming on. This is my favorite moment of the whole
show because I just get to sit back and let
you guys just hype up your own work, your own studies,
your own social media. Um. It is called the Not
So Shameless Promo. UM. Neither of you have been guests before,
(50:31):
so I'm gonna have to I'll start, I guess because
I will help you. I just dropped my album The
Gospel at twenty three. I got a brand new movie
with Netflix coming out. It's called Finding Oh Hannah. I
My all my social media's are at alex Iona. It's
the best part about having a weird last name. Uh a,
I O n oh, and that's my not so shameless promo.
That being said, Bubba, why don't you give us some
(50:52):
not so shameless promo? Actually has it this morning. I
am going to be having a short film shot next week.
What you didn't tell me that? Congratulations Row hopefully one
that follows that. It's kind of the prequel to it,
which will be a feature. But yeah, my social media
is at Stranton. I know. Best part about having a
weird last name, I think we have. I think it's
(51:13):
Stranton underscore io no specific, but you'll you'll find it
all right. Male, now that you've got you got two examples,
you have no excuses. I want a perfect not so
shameless self promo. Give it to me, no worries. I'll
be speaking at the body Peace conference online this year
of it's in November. Check out body Piece and I'll
be presenting the data analysis from the Mudey experiences with
(51:37):
eating disort of study. So by then I should have
all the information and ready to go. So we're definitely
gonna have to use that as like we're gonna have
to highlight that because I loved your study so far
and I'm excited to see more of that. Where can
we find you on social media on Instagram? So good
luck spelling that. And uh, we'll just if you want
(51:57):
to not you know, be a part of the National
spelling You can just find the spelling of mounted Amatier's
name in the description for this show. Usually I do
my self promo, but it's already done now, so I
want a self promo the show. Make sure you go
and you rate our podcast. You subscribe, that is how
we grow. Make sure you leave a review if you can.
And uh, and and I'm so grateful that you guys
(52:18):
came to listen, and hopefully you learned something to this.
I learned a laugh from this. So honestly, even if
you didn't learn from something, you can rest easily knowing
that I did that. Being said, I love you guys
so much. We will see you next time. Until then,
we really want you to get the help you need,
So if you need help, please seek independent advice from
a competent healthcare or mental health professional. The views and
(52:40):
opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
podcast author or individuals participating in the podcast, and do
not represent the opinions of I Heart Media. Or its employees.
This podcast should not be used as medical advice, mental
health advice, counseling, or therapy. Listening to the podcast does
not established dr patient relationship with hosts or guests of ALEXIONO,
Let's Get Into It, or I Heart Media. No guarantee
is given regard the accuracy of any statements or opinions
(53:02):
made on this podcast, Wolf That's a Doozy
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