Welcome And Meet Aria

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Carry On Friends, the Caribbean American Experience. And my guest for this episode is Aria, a former fellow podcaster. And I mean, we have to catch up on all the things. Aria, welcome to the podcast. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Thanks for having me. I am doing so well. A lot has changed since we met six years ago. So I'm just excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

All right, we're gonna get into that six years ago. But why don't you tell the people them which Caribbean country you represent and the work you do?

SPEAKER_02 0:41

I'm from Grenada, born and raised. I moved from Grenada when I was about 13, 14, so high school. So I'm just a blend of all cultures, but I like to say Grenadians are some of the most patriotic people you will meet. So I am very patriotic about my country. And that's just where I'm from.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Wonderful. It's all we come America same time. I mean, different years.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Different years, but like we have the same, like the teenager experience. And I heard that in one of your episodes about like your brother, who um he came when he was two, and my brother came when he was three, and like his experience and my experience, and how we defined it is I was just like, Oh yeah, we're living like the same life, just different generations, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

Yes, and that's why I created the model because a lot of us have this experience, like within one family, all of us have that relationship with the home country and culture differently. But that is why I'm so proud that you know we get here, but exactly we're gonna back up and tell the people them.

Why She Stopped Podcasting

SPEAKER_00 1:50

So I met Aria at Podfest 2020. Before that, I I still the Caribbean Podcast Directory is still up, even if shows have expired. For me, it's important to tell people that we've been here and we're still here, right? And we featured you um on one of the profiles, it's still up on the website. And then what next? What happened? Tell me, fill me.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Yes, oh my gosh, what has happened? Okay, so I'm I would say my podcast is Colored Lens Podcast, and it is still available, it's still up. There's still some good episodes. You're always more than welcome to like listen and enjoy it. But personally, for me, I pod faded. I podfaded because I think what had happened was that when I started Colored Lens, it was very like the the reason why I started Colored Lens is because I wanted to have a platform to really amplify my voice. And that time in my career, I wasn't really in a creative career, I was more in an administrative role. So I really just needed a creative outlet. So it was that form, it was that format of release for me to say the least. And then as like as time went on and life started lifeing a little bit, I did get a position that gave me that creative outlet. Like I'm in marketing now, and I feel like that's something that fuels my creativity every single day. So, like that was one of the reasons I felt like I got a creative outlet at work, and then just the time and resources. I was a one-band team, and which is why I'm always shouting out the podcasters like you, Carrie Ann, who's still going and still going strong, because as a one-band team to produce a successful podcast that's keep going for seasons and years and all of that, I just realized the juice wasn't worth the squeeze anymore. And I found my passion in I found my passion in a new space, to say the least. So it's still available, you can still listen. But and the industry changed on me. I will say the industry changed, the way people consume podcasts changed. And you know what it really was, Kariana? You know what it really, really, really was? I want to say it was the pandemic because I was someone who consumed podcasts a lot personally when I was commuting to work. Like the commute is when I consumed that form of media, and because we didn't have that commute anymore, and I wasn't even an avid podcast listener myself, I felt like I just assumed or just felt like the industry was changing, it started trending. Bigger celebrities have podcasts on YouTube. I just felt like I was the smallest fish in a big pond. So I was like, all right, the juice is just not worth it for me at this period of my life. So I faded.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

You know, I love this. This was not the intent, but I love it. And I think it it goes into something else that we'd want to talk about. So for anyone who's listening who doesn't know what pod fade is, pod fade is when you just stop podcasts, you take way yourself, as we say, you know, and you know you ghosted the, you know, you're just like, you know, and she just stopped recording. And what Aria um described is not unique to her. Um, pod fading was something that happened before the pandemic, and it accelerated after during and after the pandemic because you had a lot of people who started podcasts during the pandemic, and then they fell off after because there's a sexiness and there's an appeal to podcasting. But as our Aria pointed out, it's a lot of work. A lot of work, y'all. A lot to produce and execute a podcast. And yes, the industry was changing. I mean, at the beginning of 2019, particularly when a particular streaming platform, which I shall not name, was giving out celebrities one bag of money to the podcast. I think that ushered in a large group of celebrity podcasts. And so, you know, tried and true, true independent podcasters, you know, grassroots podcasters like you and I, you know, we kind of felt um the pressure, you know. And um, you know, like you said, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. You know, there were moments where I was like, yeah, the juice and I worth the squeeze, but I know that this is my outlet. So for you, you found another outlet. It is still my outlet for things I want to talk about with culture and my creativity, it's my learning space. And I had to pivot a couple of times because I've said it on the podcast, I was ready to quit. And I had to shift and you know, reframe expectations for myself and goals of myself in light of the new landscape I'm operating in. So I'm I'm glad you share that.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yeah, but Share, I love that you said that it's your cultural outlet because here's the thing when I created Colored Lens, I felt like it was my industry outlet because background, more background. I had studied television radio. I had really wanted to get more into like the media production space of things. So it was like a podcast designed to talk about the media industry. But I felt like the passion that I'm doing now is my culture outlet because it's like I just have to be so ingrained with literally who I am that like I found my cultural creative outlet with what I'm doing now, and that felt too much like work.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

And it's like, well, I'm already getting paid to do my work, so I don't need ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

That's what it is.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

That is what it has always been for me. So when everyone was like, oh, you know, um, they want the side house, I'm like, there's a compartmentalization with this podcast that's very important to me. My job is, I don't want my job to to give me this. I want me and you and the people who come on here to give me this, right? Because no job will ever give me the variety and the diversity of guests that will come on the show. And so that's has always been important for me. And like you said, I didn't want to find a job that made what I'm doing at the podcast feel like I'm leaving work to come to work, right? I wanted it to feel very different because they're two different domains. So you you you buzz that bell. That's exactly what it is. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

So it's like I podfaded y'all, but it was like, you know, you grow, you learn, you it, you, you just learned.

Work Outlets And Industry Shifts

SPEAKER_01 8:50

You just I just learned. That's it. Wonderful, wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Exactly. So where are you now? I mean, but tell the people then, where are you now and where you're focusing on in terms of your cultural creative outlet?

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Oh, where am I now in terms of my cultural creative outlet? Well, you said where am I now? And I felt like I wanted to disclose my location, but I feel like I should because I, you know, I said born and raised in Grenada, went to high school in Brooklyn, New York, went to college upstate New York, came back, moved to New York, but now I'm in Charlotte, North Carolina. So I'm down south. So a lot has changed, and even in terms of like my location and how that affects my like everyday living, because we all know city living and southern living, two different experiences. But my cultural creative outlet now is that I say that to say once I had moved to North Carolina, I felt like I was able to get a more slower pace in a sense that it reminded me of home in a slightly. And even when my dad came to visit, he would say, Oh, it's just a modernized Caribbean. Like the the more greenery that it has, the quieter pace, the the you know, not hustle and bustle, like it, it gives it gave me, it could never, I could never compare it to an island, really, but it gave me like a little little piece of what it was like to like live at home. And I say that once I moved here, I was able to like really take a step back, reflect, and focus on my health and my wellness. And I noticed that like even living down south, like I don't have access to the Jamaican spot. I don't have access to going and get a roti. I can't go and get doubles, like I can't go get those things unless I make it myself. So, like what had happened for me is I found a way to blend a lot of the foods that I was raised on and I just simply just want and embedded in a way that it still felt healthy, it still felt good for me, and it helps me shed a few pounds. Like I've been really on a uh a fitness journey, a health journey, a wellness journey, and like looking back at 2023 to now 2026, it's like amazing how far I've gone. So that's that's where I've been.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

You know, what's so interesting? We started off the podcast talking about you listening to me talking about me moving as a teenager and your brother, and that was lens one of CDEM, Caribbean Um Diaspora Experience Model. What you explained is lens two, um, where your geography and your motivation determines your your drive to connect to culture because I lived in the Midwest, right? And so when you're not in a major city center like the New York tri-state area, or maybe you know, you have Jersey, Connecticut, Boston, wherever, when you move to these other places, if you are motivated, you draw closer to culture because you don't have it as readily accessible. Because that's what you just said.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

I don't I have to go search for it. I have to drive so far for it, but like you mix it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Exactly. And so what I found because of my own experience, you know, when you don't live to places like New York or other places, you are more intentional about maintaining your connection to culture because you don't have uh you don't have it around readily. So you make you sure you're you're connecting with the right people or you're more focused on like what you're doing, you know, to stay connected. And that's what I found. And I found that people who live in like places that don't have like the luxury of New York or Florida.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Just get anything you need.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Exactly. I feel like in some ways they're more connected to culture because they it's not ambient, you know, like when you're in New York, you step out, you know, it's everywhere. You don't have to think about it. You don't have to think about it, but when you're not around it, it's what I mean, you're after mecha effort and you make the effort, and it's so intentional. So this is why you're talking, and I was like, thank you, Lord.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

That's exactly what it is, but you're right. And I feel like because we because I had to be more intentional, it naturally I became more intentional with what I was eating and like how I could still create the same flavor palette, but my resources are slightly different. And it's like, okay, but wait, now that now that my resources are different, but like I'm really craving, let's say I'm really craving Rastapasta or something like that, or I'm really craving jerk chicken, and I might not have the exact same things that I need, but I found a way to still give me that essence or that feelings of home with the resources that I had.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

So yeah, that is lovely. I mean, I love when it comes together because you know, the people I'm experiencing is real, and because I've lived in Brooklyn, New York, and also in the Midwest, I find that when I find these connective stories where other people are experiencing or re-experiencing their culture a different way, I get very excited because we just open up a whole new world of storytelling and all these other things.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

So we've all lived such similar lives and we don't even realize it. Like especially for

Moving South And Chasing Culture

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Caribbean people living in America, like we've, and this is exactly why your podcast exists, because we all have such similar experiences in a way that it's it's it's like it's like a psychological aspect or something. Like there's something there. It's like, yeah, I've been there, I've been there, I've been there, and that's why community is so important.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

I mean, we are community driven, you know. Um it's just how we we I don't have a better term, but we really move in packs, and when we move away, you know, from a pact or a a group, it's and I mean, as humans naturally too, you know, you have to find that way to connect, and it's it's just so important. So let's go back to, you know, you move and you you decide that okay, you feel for some food, you can't get the food, and now you are um making the food. But you said something before you you stepped back and you were reflecting. Was it part of this whole introspective life that most people were experiencing post-COVID that they're now reflecting on, you know, what is life? Because I think a lot of us became very aware that life, I mean, we know a life shot, but life really can be shot. Yup, yup, yup, yup, yup, yep. So talk to me about how this came about.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

How that reflection came about. I mean, hmm, I'm pausing because pausing means I'm thinking. Let's see. I huh, what was it? The quiet allowed me to really do some inner inner work with myself and really like not hide anymore. Like, I feel like living in New York, a lot of the things, everything when you go out with friends, I felt like was always like surrounded with like food or parties or yeah, going to a party or going to a restaurant. Like, there's not really much to do in New York. As a Caribbean woman living in New York, like that was the lifestyle. You go to a party, or you're about to go to a restaurant. So I say that to say, like, I felt like because I was more in a slower pace and I was really able to like literally look at myself in the mirror. It wasn't that I didn't like myself. I wouldn't say that I've never really felt like I was like, oh my gosh, I don't, I don't like myself. But I will say, like, the pandemic weight had hit. And I know I'm not the only person that that gained weight in the pandemic. A lot of people did, but I felt like the pandemic weight had hit me and it really stuck on me in a way where I was like, I want to change this. I want to change this. Like, I I've always been someone who who've gone to the gym, but it wasn't working. So I stayed consistent, I stayed consistent, I stayed consistent until one day. Like, and I feel like we always hear these things like, oh yeah, like it's it's the kitchen, it's the kitchen, it's the kitchen. The kitchen is where you make abs. But it wasn't until one day I was like, look, I grew up making, I'm not about you, but I grew up on a Sunday making, you know, like do you do Sunday food? Like you cook your Sunday, your Sunday meal.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah, so I again, Aria, you you'd go, you'd you're the go to my Caribbean diaspora experience models, food. And I talked about cultural anchor, food being a cultural anchor and behaviors, right? So on Saturday, on Saturdays in Jamaica, we cook soup for dinner, and then Sunday morning we have nice big breakfast, dumpling, yum, you know, and our boiled banana before we go to church, and then in the rice and peas and whatever else. So all the things. So yes. Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

So I say that to say, like, I felt like I was that same Sunday that I grew up constantly, you know, making your Sunday food. I was like, what if I use that same time to try this idea of meal prep? Like, take that same time that I was baking to make this Sunday meal that might last me until Tuesday, maybe. Sometimes you might be pushing it if you say Wednesday, because in our culture, we're like, we can't eat food for too long, like that, so I was like, what if I took that same time and effort and put it into meal prep? And I kid you not, it wasn't until the gym was still, I felt like I was in the gym the same way. I was not that didn't change, but it wasn't until I started spending more time with myself in the kitchen and having a blast with it, like I'm having fun, is when I felt like I woke up one day and was like, whoa. And it's and it didn't happen over it didn't happen overnight, but it felt that way because of the consistency. So I say to the same that's what changed again.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Audience, I promise you, she's telling our story, and I'm like, ding, you know, lens this, lens that, right? Um, but I I know what you mean because of my schedule, work, kids, all of this, the gym is not an option for me. And so I've always said it's always gonna be food and and mindfulness when it comes to food, right? Planning, because manual when we're not planning a peer rise with a eat because it's easy. Right, and so planning and um being more mindful, right? And really addressing this behavior that we learned, particular in the Caribbean, that you have to clean off your plates when you eat.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

You don't get up from round the table until the trauma with that one. I had to literally, I didn't mean to cut off your train of thought, but I had to literally teach myself look, your body is not a trash can. You do not need to force yourself to finish your plate. If you are full, you are full. You can put it away and come back to it, or you can throw it out. Your body's not a trash can. And that in itself, that's that's a big thing because we think it's the food, yeah. But like, I'd be lying to you if I told you like I eat food that's not healthy, but it's about it's the quantity,

Meal Prep As A Turning Point

SPEAKER_02 20:40

it's about listening to your body. If I have my nice big chicken roti, I marry a Trinidadian. So I love me, my roti, and my doubles. I'm sorry, but I love my oil long too. But I say that to say if I have my roti and my bus up shot, I'ma still enjoy it. You just have to know when to stop. If you're full, just just stop. If it lasts me lunch and dinner, that's okay, but just stop. And that in itself is a huge thing that we don't know because our parents tell us, yeah, you have to finish your plates. There's people in Africa.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

We got the same line. We got the same line. There's people in Africa or people that starve down the road this way that don't have it.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

That's rich.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

You know, they used to tell you, you know, much starving children out there, and so you you just, you know, just this is clean, make sure there's not one grain of rice that leaves.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

No, because that's that's such, and it's like you have to, I think, and which is why prep and ting was born, because I felt like I needed to re I personally had to rewire my brain and learn things like eating habits, learn things like understanding the nutrition labels, understanding what type of oils might be bad versus good for you. And we don't know that because if you Google, like right now, if I'm like, all right, I want to lose 10 pounds, and you Google diets, to me, like everything's bland, everything. Born, it doesn't tie back to the type of foods that we would actually want to eat and want to see. So I was like, look, let me start like literally writing down. I always got a pen and paper, start writing down everything I'm eating and everything I'm learning and place it back so that that way, like the decade that I felt like I was chasing, because I felt like I was chasing this gym fitness journey since college days. So that has to be more than a decade. So I'm like, let me just give y'all everything that I've learned. Because I've kept doing, I did the keto, I did the put VIX on your stomach, I did the army diet, I did any, anything that was a diet to lose weight. Your girl did it. Your girl, girl did it. And I was like, you know what? It is it there's this trauma level to it too, where it's like you're you're taught that you have to finish your plate. I was also raised with a mom who was always like in a diet culture as well. So I felt like that wasn't healthy for me. Like I would always, always hear about her being on a diet, or she's always on a diet, or she'll be on a diet for two weeks, or one minute. She's only eating chicken and vegetables, and so I really had to do a lot of self-work. And I feel like there's a lot of people we've learned that in our community, we've all heard the same lines and the same stories. So I'm like, let me share what I've had to relearn for myself.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

You know, it's very interesting because um a couple years ago I had um her name is escaping me. Is is that is that decade I'm in life now. I think it's Althea. She had um paleo and she's um Guyanese American. And she basically talked about how the food that we grew up with was um healthy for us. It's just that when we come to, you know, we're in an American culture, you know, when you think of yam or these other things, it's normally thought of like that's too much stuff or too much this or too much that. And so, you know, I'm wondering if in your journey did you discover traditional Caribbean meals that in a traditional American diet culture, you wouldn't want to touch this, but your discovery might have found like actually, no, wait, this is good for me. As long as we're not clean off the plate, this is good for me.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Exactly. So, no, I I hear what she was saying, and I feel like I don't, I might agree to disagree or slightly disagree in a sense that like we we're growing up in the island, we don't realize how much good, healthy food that we are around. Like, we have such grapefruits, fruits that I cannot even get here. I when last I had a sugar apple, I cannot tell you. We have such good fruits, we have great provisions, and like those things are actually good for you. The the problem is what I really want to say. The the huge problem is sometimes is how we prepare those meals. Like, I could enjoy breadfruit, but if I decided to take the breadfruit and fry it deep in canola oil or what's the other one? Vegetable oil, I just took away, I took away the breadfruit nutrients. The the nutrients that a lovely piece of provision have, I just stripped it all away because I just covered it in this seed oil that's gonna take forever, if ever, to leave my body and break down because those things are highly processed. So I say that to say we have good food, but we we all could use some education on how to prepare them. So, like, I still eat what I want to eat, but it's really the ingredients that you have to put into it that could help make sure that it's still good for your body. So, yeah, I love like for us Grenadians, our biggest thing is sawfish sauce, which is basically just sawfish and provisions. I love saltfish sauce, I love it. I still eat it. It ain't nothing wrong with it. Provisions is not too much starch, it's not gonna provisions is not too much starch, provisions is not gonna make you gain weight. You just listen to your body and be mindful of how you're preparing it. Let's not let's not deep fry it in canola oil because then we just lost its whole nutritional value, but it's still good for you.

Portions Hunger Cues And Mindfulness

SPEAKER_00 26:31

What do you think we're not saying out loud about when it comes to Caribbean food and cuisine and control? But we're not saying out loud, yeah. Healthy eating, you know, what are we not saying?

SPEAKER_02 26:56

I want to say uh kind of the same thing I just said, we're preparing it bad, like and and don't get me wrong, like we're prepared, like there's sometimes when you prepare something, we have incredible seasonings and spices that and that's another thing. The Caribbean has amazing seasoning and spices, but we're ruining some really good dishes by killing it in the process element. So, like, once again, it's the oils, or maybe we're putting too much heavy cream, maybe we're putting too much dairy, like we're killing some of the things that is actually so good for us in the preparation stage. That's what I really want to say. That's it, or overkilling it with salt, like too much salt, like salt should be the last thing we put, not the first thing we put, because there's so much other ways to get flavor and spice outside of salt.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

I mean, I hear you, but that's also easier said than done because those habits are also cultural. You know, they are cultural, and maybe this could be a stretch, but I have a feeling it may not. You know, I remember somebody gave a joke and said, Why you did this this way? Them no no, it's because somebody else before them prepared it this way. It's cultural. So it's so it's not only just cultural, but it's preserving how grandma, who's no longer here, did it. And it's that connection with that person. So sometimes I think it's easier, it's it's it's easier said than can actually be done on some of those things. And two, um, one of my challenges, you know, when it comes to helping people to eat healthier, is we're not in at the best economy. So why may I go buy this is over that the aisle, and you know, you know, you buy what you can't afford in your budget.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

That's a good point. You're yeah, yep, yep, yep. You're bringing up all great points. Okay, so uh let me touch on the economy one because I feel like that is very important, and I feel like that's a reason why I'll speak for myself, but like sometimes you know, you might, you know, you might grab more canned foods or you grab things that you feel like you could preserve longer. Maybe it's not even necessarily canned, but it's food that you could preserve longer, and that is totally understandable. And I think the reason we do that is because once again, we haven't even educated ourselves that there is ways to preserve your fruits and vegetables way longer than it is in the grocery store. Like the way it's packaged in the grocery store is actually packaged for it to rot and spoil because they want to get you to go back shopping. So once again, it's a huge like learning, which is why I've built the community because it's like a huge learning that has to come with it. So I could have I could have green onions, carrots, anything like that can last me weeks. My salad can last me weeks, my cucumbers, zucchini, those things can last, my romaine lettuce. It lasts me weeks because I've learned how to actually preserve it. Like there's there's techniques to that that is not taught because they want to get us back in that grocery store or they want us thing that we really can't afford it. So that's the one thing I will say. And then I want to go back to like your point of like, you know, you want to keep your tradition. Like, if this is the way your grandmother made something, or that's the way you was learned to make a specific dish, of course, like as a part of your culture. I totally get that. But I'm saying but because sometimes you have to, you have to choose your battle or you have to know life is a balance. Like, look, Thanksgiving, when I'm making my Thanksgiving spread, I prep and ting all those recipes, that's out the window. Like for me, tradition, flavor, Christmas, anything healthy prep and ting, that's out the window because flavor and tradition is the priority to me then. But life is a life is a balance. Like if you if fitness is a priority for you, or weight management or weight loss is a priority for you, then you have to realize that it's a balance between your culture and your health. So you sometimes you gotta choose what's what you know is slightly better for you, yeah, slightly better.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

But I like what you said, like you know, when it's Thanksgiving and stuff, you're not gonna necessarily prioritize the healthy food, not that you throw it out the window, and I think that's important, right? I remember um through work we had access to a nutritionist, right? Nice, and so um we're not that the app that got that the program they're gone, but you know, we did it's long story. It was through the insurance company, blah, blah, blah. And I remember I remember having the conversation, and you know, I was really good with um my eating habits, you know, like she she she said that what I ate was healthy. My challenge was she said, I'm a grazer because when you're at work, I just great like I'm munching on little things, I'm not necessarily sitting and eating a full meal. So when you're a grazer, you're actually eating more because it's a little bit here, a little bit here. And so, but she's like, you know, just do like set times, and that was that was very helpful and very insightful because I didn't think of myself as a grazer, you know?

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

And then she I would say to her, like, I've been eating good, but you know, I just feel like I recognized in that moment because of going through that program that whenever I was about to have my period, I would want to eat the unhealthiest food. And she said to me something that I did not expect the nutritionist to say. She said, Eat it. You know, that's true. You have to live in your body. She said, eat it. She's like, it's it's what your body is craving, and it's and if the more you resist it, the it's like the worst it's going to be. So just eat it, just eat a small portion of it. And you know, once that satisfies your craving, you will find that okay, now you go back and eat your healthy stuff. But when you are denying that craving, it it amplifies even more. And she said you might overeat. And that was the most insightful thing. So it reminded me of what you just said when it's Thanksgiving, would they eat or would they eat?

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Exactly. No, and that's a good point for women too. And that's why, like, for me, I always say, like, just be consistency does not mean you're showing up a hundred percent every single day. No, absolutely not. I would be lying. I literally had well, we have bojangles down down south, which is like what, like Popeyes, KFC. Like, I had Bojangles this week because I had

Healthier Caribbean Cooking Choices

SPEAKER_02 33:45

a craving for it. Like, I really, really, really wanted it. If I really want something, it's always better to like silence the craving or satisfy the craving than like ignore it, and then you just create an even worse battle down the line. So, like you start binging, like I, I, I exactly exactly. Life is a balance, but if you choose good habits majority of the time, you'll see, you'll see the results because there's like you'll see if you be intentional majority of the time, it'll make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

It will, but like it does because I've observed it. I've observed it, like you know, there are moments where it doesn't eliminate the craving, you just realize that it's it it varies in intensity, yeah. You know, so you're like, wait, we never have a really bad craving, you know? And so, you know, it it varies, you know, maybe month to month or whatever. But I it was being more intentional about what am I eating, what am I using to, you know, to satisfy to eat and fill myself. So that that's that's I think that was important to say that we're not expected to be a hundred percent good on whatever you are doing.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

Don't let it be. I don't know, you follow your favorite holistic person, your favorite wellness person, your favorite fitness person, whatever, and they make it seem like every single day, 365 days, like I'm always pumped and I'm always this, and what I eat in a day, oh please, that's that's just one good day that they recorded and showed y'all. Like life is a balance, but if you make if you try your best to make good choices, majority of the time, it'll work out. So I feel like intentional eating, like you hit the nail on the head. Intentional eating is really the key to success. You can have a meal that's not healthy, or like not even quotes, it's just simply not healthy, but but you listen to your body, you're mindful of your portion because you you there's a and the thing is America that's a good segue. I feel like America portion is so big. I personally feel like, and I I say that to say, like, when I moved here, the portion of food that I was consuming was so different than the portion of food I was raised with. And even when I go back home to this day, like I have a friend when we go for a carnival, she would always tease and say, Aria, always hungry, because like the the servants of what they would sell, like their servants of like chicken and chips, like that's a big thing for us during carnival season versus the servants that I would get in America. I'm like, that's it, that's the fish and chips, that's it. That's it. Like the servings is so different living in America that I feel like portion is a big thing that sometimes we're not mindful. And that's the reason why so many of us come from the Caribbean and blow up. I I blew up because our portions significantly changed. Like, go go order food at Applebee's or anything, one of the and you'll see a big plate of meal, like weed. I they don't serve that, not that big. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

You said the same thing, Kamira's like, whoa, it's a lot of food.

SPEAKER_02 37:19

Yeah, it's like whoa, but then you get used to it because you got used to the portions, yeah, it's like they and I get it, and it's like you sometimes you want your big portion because I mean you spend your heart on money, you're glad to see this nice big portion of food. But like I said, it doesn't mean ain't nothing wrong with a to-go box, ain't nothing wrong with your little goodie bag, ain't nothing wrong. It's your food, and you don't have to throw it out. You could go back to it, go back to it. There's a different there's lunch, there's dinner, go back to it for breakfast if you want, but just listen to your body when you're full, you're full. And I think sometimes we don't we don't listen. And the reason we don't listen to is most times we're eating while we're watching TV. Who I'm guilty, you gotta wait for that. I have to get that Netflix episode ready before I can start to eat, or you're eating and you're scrolling, so you're not even in tune with what your body is saying, you're so in munch, munch, munch, munch mode. I also had another person once told me, like, why are we shoveling our food? Like we don't even realize it, but before the next, before you can even finish swallow, you already have the next bite ready. It's like you don't need to shovel your food. You can be intentional. You take your bite, you take it, enjoy it, digest, then you scoop your next piece and you enjoy it. And that way you realize, like, whoa, I'm actually full. Like, we don't we don't listen. We don't listen because we're we're caught up, or like, you know, you have things going on, like you you gotta eat quick because you gotta go back to work, or like the kids doing this is that, like, you're so like go, go, go, go, go, that we're not realizing that everything we need is right back within us, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:03

All right, so as we wrap up, I want to go back to the beginning, right? So you you left the city, you slowed down because that's what the geography called for. Yep, yep, yep. You reconnected to your culture, particularly food. What have you discovered in rekindling this relationship with food and culture that um you either missed or didn't remember because it you moved here so long ago, or it's newly discovered?

SPEAKER_02 39:40

Oh, what have I rediscovered that I missed or newly rediscovered? Hmm. That I I would say that access to our food is a privilege. I would really say that access to authentic Caribbean food is a privilege depending on your geographical location. Like we we've had that conversation, like the cities where where there's more of us, like it might have an easier access, but for me, like it has made me appreciate traveling on vacations or going to Caribbean Islands. Like last year alone, I've been I went back home, I've been to Trinidad, and then like I went carousel. So like it gives you this like extra appreciation for every country's local food or staple food and dishes. Like, I have a blast, I treat it as a food tour because it's it's a privilege. Or like I I used to tease at my dad who would come back with a suitcase full of fish, and he that's life. Exactly. Exactly. And I was like, a suitcase full of fish. Now I'm like, me, yeah, me, I'm doing the same thing because it's you don't have certain foods of easily available to you, and it's like it's so we have such good food that we don't even appreciate until we no longer have access to it.

Consistency Cravings And Daily Movement

SPEAKER_00 41:10

Absolutely, absolutely. Listen, from from the year was not, and I've been going back to Jamaica, I have a bag, and that bag only carries food, like you know, like that that's the food bag, period.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Exactly. And for me, so like when I go back, when I go grenade, I'm definitely in my I'm picking up, I'm taking fish. We do, I'm bringing breadfruit, I'm bringing lobster, and bringing all of our spices, like certain spices, you you're just not gonna get that. I get ground turmeric, I get my ground cinnamon, I get my nutmeg, I bring all those things up. When I go Trinidad, I feel like I bring a lot of more like green seasonings, like they're like their shadow Benny, their pimento seeds. So, like I love, like I felt like it's so slept on to think about the different flavor palettes each island brings, and how like I've just appreciated it more. I'm like, yep, everywhere I go, I gotta bring, I gotta bring a little bit of something to bring it back into my kitchen because I don't have full access to that. So I just appreciate it more.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Yeah, we have great food. We have great food. We sure do. I listen when when we reach Jamaica or we touchdown at the airport, yeah, man. We'll go for the cook.

SPEAKER_02 42:25

I need Jamaica's on my list this year. I have to, I have to reach. I have to have to have to have to reach.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

We'll go to cook shop, like cook shop reach food. That's it. Every time, every time in my the neighborhood I grew up, every time. Because for me, going home is about food. It's the food and beach. That's it. Yep, food and beach, yep. Food and beach. That's what it is for me.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

I absolutely agree. It's food beach, and then for me, carnival, because I like to go carnival season. I like my carnival, I do, but food and beach, yeah, especially, especially when I go to Trinidad. I feel like I'm on a I literally because for me, Trinidad is like, I'm the tourist, I'm not home. Grenada, I'm home. Trinidad, I feel like I'm a tourist. I'm like, I'm on a food tour. Give me everything. Like every day I'm eating something new, every day I'm trying something new. Well, not new anymore, because I've had it, and it's like, this is just like you just you don't realize that we have we have great food. I don't think Caribbean food is not unhealthy. I'm not saying Caribbean food is unhealthy. I just think we're not mindful of our portions. We're not we're not listening to when our bodies are full, and perhaps our bodies could use a little bit more movement. Like, yes, you might not be able to go to the gym every day, but no, I get my walking in, like exactly. You get your movement in, like movement. You move in a way that you can genuinely enjoy. Because at the end of the day, not everybody's even gonna enjoy the gym. But you might realize you enjoy, you know, working out at home, you enjoy going on your walks, you enjoy. You joined a hiking club. You you joined something. Like just get just get your body moving because it's so easy for us to get caught up with the mundane of life. Work, taking care of loved ones, sleep, repeat. Or chores. Work, taking care of loved ones, chores, sleep, repeat all over again. That we don't realize, like, look, you're the greatest gift. Like, you have to take care of you. You come first. Today or tomorrow, if you fall dung, that job is gonna replace you in 2.5 seconds. They're gonna replace you like a heartbeat. Oh, oh, it was so good. Yeah, she was so great. Rest in peace. Next, okay. You come first. Like, yes, okay, you have to go to work for nine. You have to drop the kids by eight. Make 30 minutes for yourself. You come first today or tomorrow. If you drop dung, you cannot be replaced. So that's that's really my biggest thing. It's like taking care of you.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

And it and you know, it's little things. For instance, you know, there is the building that I work, there's a subway that's like a few a subway entrance like a few feet from there. I don't even take that train, I take another train that leave me two, three blocks the other way, movement, and then walk to the you know, the other reason why I'm gonna do it, the other station, pure homeless people in there. So I avoid it. So I walk that makes sense, you know. But it helps me get the activity, the steps in, and then when I come home, you know, I live in a two-fair zone, so instead of wait on a bus to go home, me just walk the miles, go home because from like you said, we we live a sedentary life, you know, um lifestyle, so we have to find every which way to get movement.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Exactly, and the little things, those little things, and I think that's what we don't realize because sometimes we get so caught up in like trying to see results overnight or like trying to chase a specific goal. I don't know, you have oh, I need to lose 20 pounds in four weeks, or this or that, and it's like it don't work like that for life, it's a lifestyle, like just develop your daily movement habit, daily movement habits plus mindful eating, you're gonna see a difference. That's it. That that really is that really is the secret, and it's like all those other things, it's like people just trying to sell you stuff or like the get quick, the get quick fix remedies, they do not work. As somebody who tried them, they might work, it might work for a little bit for a period of time, they'll work for a little bit, but they'll work for a little bit, but then you get it, you gain it right. Yeah, and that's even how I feel like I mean, I'm not, I can't speak for like all of the different what the OZEM fix and the G1Ps and all of that of the world. Like, I'm sure they're great and they're gonna work. I've just heard conversations of people who are on those things, and it's like it curbs their appetite. And for me, I'm like, hmm, but what happens when you get off of it?

SPEAKER_00 47:03

If you're I can't get off of it. Oh, see? I I mean, I you know what, let me not speak coming on. Nobody said me that yeah, no medical advice.

SPEAKER_02 47:12

I can't speak to it, but yeah. I feel like I'm the speaker the birth of prepenting, is that I feel like the food uh that was created on the ground that God created for us, the food that we have, like that can help you reach your weight loss and weight management goals versus this product in a in a shot or a pill or whatever, because we don't know what the long-term effects is, we don't know what happens when you come off of it. But look, if you eat a damn carrot and some cucumbers and pretty and you stay consistent with your carrot and you cook your cucumbers, I'm sure that will have a better result than this this other man-made thing that they're creating. Like God created some very there is food for us, let's consume that, okay? That's all I'll say. But that's my personal opinion. If it were, and there's different reasons why I'm not a medical professional, there's other reasons why it exists, like I think what diabetes or whatever the case may be. I can't speak to that, but I will say for weight loss and weight management, we could be we could consider the food that already exists because it's there, but it's sometimes it's hard because you don't know where to start.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Yeah, I think there's just a lot of there's overwhelm and there's just a lot of different things that people are just trying because, like you said, we want it fast. And if if we come to that place where you know you honor your body, okay, I'll put on a little weight, okay. I'm gonna try to fix that, but try to fix that forget result tomorrow or next week.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

Exactly, and that's the thing, and a lot of things. I mean, and that's as a marketing girly and an advertising girly too. Like, yeah, like of course they're gonna market it for you that way because they want you to they want you to buy the product, like, but it's it's like you know, it's nothing happens overnight, even right now. This is a different topic, but I'm on like a hair growth journey, and I'm like, I know it's not gonna happen overnight. Like, I have to stick with it. Everything that you want to do in life when you want to see results, you have to stick with it. Just remember that consistency doesn't mean you have to show up 100% every single day, but just keep keep keep just keep trying, keep trying. And sometimes it's about the routine over the motivation. If you might not feel like doing it, but future you is gonna be so thankful that you did it. So don't, yeah, I don't feel like working out, I don't feel like going on a walk, I don't feel like cooking today, but tomorrow you're gonna be glad you cooked that meal.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

Let me tell you, you see, we just said that was that's why Carrie Ann still is podcasting today. Mistake consistent, even if 100% I don't always want to do this episode. I don't feel like recording the episode, not because of the guests, but remember at the beginning when we started, I was centering myself because it was a weird day. Yeah, I had like a weird day at work, and I was like, you know what? Um, yeah, right. So it is the consistency and realizing that I don't have to be 100% every time, I have to be enough to say, you know what, I gotta do this, and guess what? Tomorrow, me, next month, me gonna be like, you know what, that was a good interview. I'm

Prep And Ting Recipes And Planning

SPEAKER_00 50:40

looking for you never want to do it.

SPEAKER_02 50:41

Exactly. Even like today, for example, like I'm not even feeling so well right now. Should I pull postpone? No, show up, show up. And look, we're having we're having such a good time. Well, Carrie Ann, I know you have a copy of Prep and Ting. What have you what have you read? What have you tried? What have you nibbled on? I'm putting you on the spot.

SPEAKER_00 51:03

I did the um I did try the cauliflower rice recipe because it turned out um it turned out good. Um I'm trying to think how I would have made it different. I think it was the brand itself that made you didn't make the cauliflower rice from scratch, you got it packed. No, no, no. I I bought the yeah, yeah, and I think it was the brand where I was just like, the potential is there, but it was just like but I'm glad because I'm now adding it to my rotation of recipes because I think I think what's important, as you said, and you know, with prep hunting is like when we're in a hurry, we make the same things, the things that you can easy grab and go. And I there's so many things that I know to make, and I I want it to be in a place where I can now have different options and very, you know, very you know, variations and all these things, and I think that was very helpful to see that oh, okay, I'm gonna try this way. So, you know, this season is it's uh as it wasn't planned, but I'm attracting a lot of food conversations.

SPEAKER_01 52:28

Oh, look at that!

SPEAKER_02 52:31

Look at that because I mean, food is so food is important for any human being, but food is so is such a huge part of our culture. Like, look, tomorrow, well, this won't be live when we're recording, but we're recording on the sixth, and tomorrow's Grenada's independent, so it's like oil down will be the topic of it all. Like, food is our culture, food, music, food and music, and making it.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

I mean, it's it's it's the key cultural anchors that we have. So I really did enjoy you know how you laid it out and the different recipes because that is what's important, the variety, because there are moments I felt like you're my time food, and I realized you're fed up, you're fed up, you don't know what to make.

SPEAKER_02 53:14

That's what it is, yeah. And I agree, like, even for me, up to this day, I still go back, and that's why it's I have it as an ebook format. So I just go back in my phone, I search it, and I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? Because if you're like it's just one less thing for you to have to take on, like, what am I cooking today? What am I gonna prep? It's just the way it's curated, it's designed in a way that you can rotate it, rotate it, rotate, and of course, like make it your own. Like you might like, like, you know, and I feel like that's a big thing I have in it too. Like, when it comes to Caribbean culture, we don't really do measurements, and I don't think that's a bad thing. Like, we cook with our spirit and we cook with love, and we cook in a way that you can you just keep tasting as you go. So, I my biggest takeaway is like learning certain things to completely remove. And I'll say this out loud: I really want us to all avoid vegetable and canola oil and seed oils, like avoid it as much as we can. I feel like those three are really the killer, but other than that, like play with your palate, play with your seasonings, like season as you go, taste it. Maybe salt could go last if you're someone who's have you know have high blood pressure, you're mindful of that. But other than that, I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm glad to hear it. Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_00 54:32

I think the other takeaway which I started to do was um where I have recipes, I've always had them, like they're books. Like my brother-in-law, not my brother-in-law, my brother was asking me for something, and I think what has happened slowly but not realizing is that my recipes or my not so much recipes, my meal ideas weren't readily accessible, right? Meaning that um you have to go find a book, you're upstairs, and you have to go find a book downstairs or wherever, versus I need to catalog it in a way so I can look at this, you know, something on my phone and be like, okay, so next time my husband's a baby, but we're cooking for dinner. I'm like, no, no, blah, blah, blah. We did have that last week, so scroll, scroll, scroll. Maybe we should can try this. And I realized that was the issue. So I started to make a list of all the things that we've eaten, things that we haven't eaten in a while, and then from there it's planning, and and it's it's also planning again. Everything is planning what we're buying at the grocery store, buying exactly what you need, and so preparing. So I think that was the the takeaway for me particularly.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

I agree. It definitely, it definitely is a plug and play, and it's like that extra time. I know everybody like I'm too busy. No, that extra time that you put to decide what you're going to eat for the next few days is going to save you so much more time in the long run. And then for me, even dishes, even when I meal prep, I'm like, because I hate cooking every single day. Anyone that loves cooking every single day. I don't, I don't I hate having to cook every single day. So, like to meal prep for a couple days is just such a relief because then I'm like, wait, I'm done for the day and I have food, I can do something else. So, like that thing that you've been dying to do, whoever's listening, you've been dying to start some other creative outlet, whatever it is. I kid you not, meal prep, it's gonna give you one less thing off your to-do list so that you have time to do the other things in life. Like that cooking every day, thinking, even if you're not cooking, thinking of what you need to eat every single day is just a waste of energy.

SPEAKER_00 57:00

Yeah, yes, trust me, we've made changes in our home that I guess non-traditional people might be more traditional people might be what you talk about, Willis. What is it? But we've discovered that cooking on Saturday makes us a better Sunday because we come home from church and we're like, all right, we're chill. Sunday really feels like it's restful because we're now like, okay, we have to cook everything. Saturday already you're in that zone. You go group, you run up and down, you're doing the errands with your suit and stuff. I like that. We just we just stay in that flow and cook. So sometimes people are like, Well, you're going out and cook, we cook yesterday. So it's an easy one.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

No, we get to relax exactly. And you said a big thing too is like letting go of traditions, like, yes, like, and we talked about that too. Like, some people might not want to let go of a certain recipe because it reminds them of this, it reminds them of that. But it's like it's okay to let go of traditions when appropriate. Now, there might be times where you're gonna go back and cook on a Sunday because you have to do it. Yeah, we like we did last week because we couldn't do that. Exactly. Or you have to exactly, but like life is life's a balance, yeah. It's just a balance. Nobody's telling you that you need to go change your life and do this every single day.

SPEAKER_01 58:15

Like, it don't work like that, it don't work like that.

SPEAKER_00 58:18

We we we couldn't do it on the Saturday, so we did it on a Sunday, and it reminded us, like, yeah, we'll go back to we sat there thing because by the time we were done, I'm like, Sunday was done, and by the time we sit on, it didn't feel the level of real relaxation on you know, for the the day to get ready for the week, and so it was a reminder that yeah, we need to make sure when we can make sure that Sunday is the day that we're all resting and we are not you know hustling and bustling around the kitchen cooking and you know, doing all the things. So it has been one of the things that I'm like, oh wow, I really, I really enjoyed it. I never thought, you know, because it was just like all right, Sunday dinner.

SPEAKER_02 59:02

On a Sunday, I agree. You cook our Sunday food on a Sunday and eat your macaroni pie, your baked chicken, your rice, your Kalaloo, your this, your that. And I said, No, you don't, you know, you could, you don't, you don't need it every Sunday. You can enjoy it if you can, but maybe you don't need it every Sunday, maybe yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

You know, it's again to your point, it's flexible based on what you have going on. But we've discovered that Saturday and setting up ourselves on Saturday to have a relaxing Sunday had a much better experience for us. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 59:35

And so I I I really, you know, enjoy that new tradition for our key word you said there for us too, because like I feel like we're talking as you know, maybe traditional Monday to Friday people who have Saturday and Sunday off. Granted, everybody's not like that, but find like still utilizing whatever out of the days off that you have, choosing a day off to prep and then choosing a day off to rest. If you have to squeeze it in one day because you only have one day off a week, I understand that some people lives, but if you get those two days off, maybe it's not Saturday, Sunday, but you still get that two days off. One is to prep and one is to rest. Yeah, prep and rest prep and rest.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:14

Exactly.

Where To Find Aria And Closing

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

Prep and rest. All right, so why don't you tell the people and where they can find you and all the good things?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:22

All the good things. Okay, so you can find me on Instagram at prep and ting. So that's P-R-E-P- Prep and A-N-D and Ting, like Ting T-I-N-G. If you want to find my personal page, you're more than welcome to as well. My I'm aria, aria.x.cm. It's a little bit more conf, it's a little bit wordy, but if you search up aria, aria collins, I'll pop up. Um, I'm also on LinkedIn if you're curious about my more marketing side that I mentioned earlier on this call. You can find me at ariacollins. But for the most part, prepenting on Instagram will be your go-to. You could also check out my website, www.prepenting.com, if you kind of wanted to get a sense of like you just want to see the cookbook or you want to see what I was talking about, and I also have my story on there. So, like, if you want to check it out, go on the website, check out my Instagram, and you'll find me.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:21

Wonderful. Wonderful. This was so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:25

This was fun. This was fun. I can't believe it. Feels like I'm like, yeah, okay. Yeah, I guess I did pod fade, but I felt like I met you yesterday, but I was like, no, it was six years ago.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:36

Six years ago. Six years ago. Well, as I love to tell everybody on the show, what good? Don't fade though. Come back for the next episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:47

Yeah, yes, don't fade as a listener because Carrie Ann has been doing her thing, and you are definitely. We need this as a Caribbean community. We need we need you to keep doing your thing. So don't fade on us. Don't fade on us.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:02

Thank you. All right, look at us.