In this episode of We CU Stories Unbound, host and current CU student Ruth Perez introduces her community-focused CU project: a podcast dedicated to raising awareness about health & Wellness in the Latina community and promoting sustainable, culturally aligned lifestyle changes. Inspired by her own shift to clean eating and lasting wellness, Ruth shares how guidance from her mentor, Dr. Francisco Gutierrez, helped her see the potential to help others facing similar struggles. The conversation blends Ruth’s personal journey with expert insights from Dr. Gutierrez, a bilingual, board-certified internal medicine physician. Together, they discuss the cultural significance of food in Latino households, the barriers many Latina women face in achieving health goals, and the importance of bridging tradition with transformation. This episode lays the groundwork for a resource built on storytelling, practical tips, and scientific knowledge to empower women to reclaim their health while staying true to their roots.
In this episode of We CU Stories Unbound, host and current CU student Ruth Perez introduces her community-focused CU project: a podcast dedicated to raising awareness about health & Wellness in the Latina community and promoting sustainable, culturally aligned lifestyle changes. Inspired by her own shift to clean eating and lasting wellness, Ruth shares how guidance from her mentor, Dr. Francisco Gutierrez, helped her see the potential to help others facing similar struggles.
The conversation blends Ruth’s personal journey with expert insights from Dr. Gutierrez, a bilingual, board-certified internal medicine physician. Together, they discuss the cultural significance of food in Latino households, the barriers many Latina women face in achieving health goals, and the importance of bridging tradition with transformation. This episode lays the groundwork for a resource built on storytelling, practical tips, and scientific knowledge to empower women to reclaim their health while staying true to their roots.
Honoring our Latina Community & bringing awareness to health and wellness
Episode 6: WE CU Stories Unbound
With College Unbound Student Ruth Perez &
Dr. Francisco Gutierrez
Intro DeVonte Parson
Welcome to We CU Unbound Stories, the College Unbound Podcast where we dive deep into the transformative work of our community, transforming self communities, justice and education. We're here to break down barriers and build up new possibilities. This is a platform for learning, a platform for healing, a platform for belonging and connection. So tune in and join us on this journey of empowerment.
Ruth Perez
00:55
Welcome back to the College Unbound podcast. We CU stories unbound. My name is Ruth Perez, and I'll be your host for this episode, episode number six. And let's get started. Point or purpose of this podcast was to talk about the weight loss journey, overcoming the obesity in the Latina community. The project proposed is the develop of a community focused podcast aimed at raising awareness of obesity among the Latina women in encouraging sustainable lifestyle changes. Drawing from my own personal health journey, I aim to motivate others by sharing practical strategies, cultural insights, and expert perspectives through storytelling, interviews, and evidence-based content. The podcast will serve as a resource to inspire women in the Latina community to reclaim their health while honoring their culture. Cultural identity, understanding the cultural significance of food and the Latino household. I created the slogan, adjusting our Eating Habits, while remaining True to our culture.
Ruth Perez
01:57
The inspiration for this podcast and project began a year ago when my mentor provided me with a structured nutritional outline, and he continued encouraging me to start the podcast. Despite years I failed diets and frustration of rapid weight gain and loss, I was ready to embrace a new sustainable lifestyle, not a temporary diet. By removing the pressure for fast results and focusing on the cleaner eating, I started to see real lasting changes. I noticed a reduction in inflammation, improved energy, and growing a sense of empowerment. The journey opened my eyes to a potential of helping others who might feel hopeless or overwhelmed. I realized many Latina women may be facing the same struggles, balancing cultural identity with health goals, dealing with limited resources, or lacking access to reliable medical guidance. Encouraged by my mentor Dr. Gutierrez, I just decided to channel my experiences into the podcast and could serve both to support the system and an education platform.
Ruth Perez
03:06
This podcast will feature personal stories, scientific insight, practical tips and recipes to help bridge the gap between tradition and transformation. Today we're gonna talk about the importance of understand what and why obesity is important in the Latino community. And I wanna just dive right in. I wanna introduce with me Dr. Francisco Gutierrez, board certified internal medicine physician here in Rhode Island. He's also fluent in Spanish, and he is licensed both in Massachusetts and in Rhode Island. He is the owner and operator at Solymar Primary Care, located here in Rhode Island. He did his internal medicine residency at St. Island University Hospital at Staten Island, New York, and where he served as chief resident from 1999 to 2000. While in residency, he published many papers and was a recipe of the Humanitarian Physician Award in 2000. Dr. Gutierrez, welcome.
Dr. Gutierrez
04:04
I'm happy to be here. Thank you. I'm very happy to support you.
Ruth Perez
04:07
Thank you. Thank you so much. So Doctor, I wanna just start kind of talking about why is obesity becoming so prevalent in the Latina community?
Dr. Gutierrez
04:16
Well, it's becoming prevalent, not only in the Latina community. It's prevalent pretty much in every community. But we the Latina community in the United States, particularly our at, at increased risk because our biology was designed to be in a different latitude. So most of us come from a latitude inside the tropics. And over here in the, in particularly here in Rhode Island, we are in the 44th North latitude. So how we metabolize what we eat is totally different here than it would be in the country where we countries where we come from.
Ruth Perez
04:58
Wow. Is this something that you think could get better over time? What do you think that we should do?
Dr. Gutierrez
05:04
I think it starts with the awareness that that's, that's happening. Okay. and then we just have to be more careful on, on the things that we do here. We can't, eating a tortilla here is not the same as eating a tortilla in El Salvador, where I'm from. That's kind of like the, bottom line of what, of what this really means.
Ruth Perez
05:27
And I know that a lot of people who have obesity sometimes lead to like, bigger concerns, health concerns, heart disease, things like that.
Dr. Gutierrez
05:36
Sure. obesity, you know, there, there's a lot of controversy. Actually. Obesity is, is considered a disease. I, I don't consider obesity a disease. I consider obesity a sign of, something more fundamental, and that something more fundamental is a a metabolism that is not working optimally. Okay. So in that regard if your metabolism is not working optimally, you're not only prone to be obese, you're also prone to develop other problems like hypertension, high blood pressure, or high triglycerides or, you know, eventually could evolve into heart attack strokes. Things that we deal, that I deal with day in, day out. So the, when somebody is getting obese, gaining fat then that's a sign that something more fundamental is going on. And that's what I do in my office is try to figure, not try to figure out, but actually demonstrate what's going on so we can reverse it at the root.
Ruth Perez
06:46
And do you think that some things that we should do is to learn about, like, what cells are in our body? Does that impact how we're gonna make a decision going forward as if we should be eating or not?
Dr. Gutierrez
06:57
Right. So I think that knowledge is power, right? So, so I think that the more information you have about what's going on in your body the better decisions you can make, informed decisions we're living in a, in a world that is you know inundated with all kinds of experts, quote unquote, and this diet here, this, that, and the other thing, I think it really starts with understanding where you're at and then figuring out lifestyle, lifestyle habits that can actually reverse the issue that got you there in the first place. Does that make sense?
Ruth Perez
07:41
Yeah, that makes total sense. What do you, do you have some suggestions? What do you think could be a starting point?
Dr. Gutierrez
07:47
Well, I mean, first so I'll explain what I do in the office mm-hmm
Dr. Gutierrez
08:54
When there's a blockage to that signal, it's called insulin resistance. And the pancreas respond to what making more and more and more insulin. And ultimately that extra insulin is what, it's the signal that makes you gain fat and fat in the wrong places. And it's also a growth signal. So it also, it's a major contributor to high blood pressure. So it's also a major contributor for things like gallstones, kidney stones and eventually those things are very pro-inflammatory. And then that can result in heart attack, strokes diabetes, et cetera. So there was a, a study published, I think in 2019 that demonstrated that 93% of adult Americans have a level of insulin resistance with high insulin. That's all comers, not, we're not talking about just Hispanics or the Latina community. My guess is that in the Latino community, that's even higher. So this is actually a very important epidemic that we shouldn't be chasing the symptom, we should be going to the root of the problem and trying to figure out what got us there in the first place. Mm-Hmm
Ruth Perez
10:09
Dr. Gutierrez
10:27
It is because of the environment? Not only the food environment but also the overall environment? So, you know, we, we I tell people that we are designed to get our nourishment from the sun, the earth and water. That's why I called my company Solymar, because that's the tripod sunlight, water, and magnetism. So we get nourished either directly by that or by the plant or fruit that grew from that, or by the animal that ate it. So if you think about it, what has happened, we have, modern life has taken us outside of our, our out of our native environment and put us inside this cocoon underneath artificial lighting. So we're not only, we're not only not getting the nourishment that we're supposed to be getting, but we're also getting the wrong type of signals. And one of the things that, that gets ruined, it's our circadian rhythm, our body clock. And that's the master of the symphony, that, that's metabolism. So when people get frustrated because they do quote unquote the right things, eat the right foods, exercise, et cetera, and nothing is changing, you gotta look at what is your relationship with nature and what is your relationship with light vis-a-vis the circadian rhythm and body clock. Because that's where it all starts.
Ruth Perez
11:52
And so when you say circadian rhythm, are you talking about like, making sure we're saving eight hours? Is it different from men or women, or
Dr. Gutierrez
12:00
No, Yeah. that's a very good question. Our, our body clock, we all, we have a body clock, like an engine has a, a timing belt. Okay. this is kind of a poor analogy, but it, it will, it, it, it's good for this conversation. So an engine has to be running with precise timing. Otherwise, it doesn't matter the fuel that you, that you put in or how much you run it, if it's not timing, if the timing is not appropriate, it's gonna break. Mm. Okay. So that is what I'm trying to convey here is we also have our timing bill to score. It's called the body clock. That was a no Nobel prize for physiology and medicine in 2017. So this is no Nobel Prize type thing, you know? Mm-Hmm
Dr. Gutierrez
13:03
Okay. So how do you, how do you recover the timing? So the three pillars are sunlight in the morning, particularly a sunrise and darkness in the evening. Too much artificial light ruins it. That's number one. Number two is how, how to connect back with the earth, meaning putting your skin, your feet on grass and water, et cetera. Because we're meant to get information and energy from the magnetic flux of the earth. And number three is the timing of the food, because we're, we're, we're meant to eat at a certain time and repair at a different time. So when you think about what I just said, that's, that's our design, that's our owner's manual. Mm-Hmm
Ruth Perez
14:22
Yeah, I definitely agree. I know that when I started doing the light therapy, I felt like I changed my entire outlook and my approach of the day. So it helped me to think about as like a reset and kind of get started that way. And then after a couple weeks, I started to feel better. I felt positive throughout the day. It made me kind of like look towards something to do and kind of help me, like, organize my day so that I knew that I was, you know, taking care of myself.
Dr. Gutierrez
14:46
That's right. I, I, I tell people our bodies are pretty boring.
Ruth Perez
15:17
I know that sometimes, you know, this isn't really spoken about in the Latin culture. It's more, you know, I know in the past it was like, eat well for the day, you know, make sure you have enough nutrients and make sure you're full. But now there's like this wave where people are interested as far as like, what can I do to feel better? I'm not feeling better with, you know, the medications I'm taking. How can I, what should, what could some Latin people like kind of step back and say, okay, I gotta take time out for me, because they're working long hours or take care of the kids. And sometimes I feel like we kind of need to stop and think,
Dr. Gutierrez
15:51
Right? We just outlined it. So just to give you a little, you know, you know, 'cause you're, you're our patient. But we developed this program. I created this program and my wife helped me implement it with patients. And our foundation is our, the circadian clock. 'cause We, if we don't have that foundation it doesn't matter, you know, how good you eat or how much you exercise is not gonna get you the results that you want to get. So that's our foundation on top of that is a type of food. Because again, food is important. Because it needs to be programmed by the sun, the earth and the water, or the animal that ate it. That means that a bag of potato chips, that's not really food. That doesn't have any, that, so at one point it did have, it had the, the, the programming from the sun, but now it doesn't.
Dr. Gutierrez
16:42
So that distinction that that it, it seems so simple, but it's profoundly important. And then on top of that it's exercise, exercise we consider important. But it's not foundational. So if, if you, if you only have time to exercise, to go to the gym, let's say at four o'clock in the morning, I would prefer you wake up at 6:00 AM with the sunrise and don't exercise, then go in a blue lit gym and exercise. 'cause That if you don't have the foundation exercise can actually be harm harmful. And you know how I, excuse me? Do you know how I know that? How, because the reason why I think this way, and I have this perspective mm-hmm
Dr. Gutierrez
17:35
So that was, you know, 18 years ago. And I, at the time, I was a, champion in squash here in Rhode Island. Squash is a very demanding sport. I don't know if the audience knows what squash is, but it's, it was, it's one of the most physically demanding sports. So, and so I, I asked myself the question, well, either I didn't pay attention in class or
Ruth Perez
18:32
Yeah. We have to kind of adjust our way of thinking and kinda seeing what we can do to really implement these things so we could see long lasting results. Correct. And I think that some people, sometimes it could be a little stressful when you wanna get healthy, you wanna be there long term for your family, and you're like, okay, what can I do? And then it's nice to see when people start implementing that these suggestions that you give them, that they kind of start heading in the right direction. Not just like for a moment, but so they can continue to do this, you know, all all the time and enjoy their family. Right.
Dr. Gutierrez
19:08
It's a, it's a basically it's a, it's a, a life lifestyle change. Mm-Hmm
Ruth Perez
20:31
Yeah. That's great. And I feel like
Dr. Gutierrez
21:19
Absolutely. So this is not meant to be torture
Ruth Perez
22:22
Dr. Gutierrez
23:01
Yeah, exactly. Your palate just, you know, adapts.
Ruth Perez
23:06
Yeah. Something that I want to talk about too is you mentioned a lot about like a, the mitochondria and how does, how does that go into play? Because I've been hearing it a lot floating around. People are talking about it, but what do you, what do you think about that?
Dr. Gutierrez
23:24
The mitochondria is what makes us have this conversation? The difference between people that, you know, difference between the cadaver and us is energy. So the mitochondria are the ones responsible for, for not creating energy, but transforming the energy from outside light water and magnetism to biological energy that makes us do the things that we do. Talk, you know, work, run
Ruth Perez
24:39
Besides making people aware or educating people about this topic, like, do you think that that could lead to the obesity rate over time to lessen? Or is this something that, do you think it's more people are looking at more as a fad versus something they can actually apply?
Dr. Gutierrez
24:58
I mean, you tell me
Dr. Gutierrez
25:47
Why? Because, you know, you're not only not respecting the circadian clock, which we've been talking about mm-hmm
Ruth Perez
27:18
Yeah. I love my grounding shoes. I definitely wear 'em all the time when I'm walking my dog and kind of like enjoying the weather. But sometimes too, like in the winter when it's not feeling so great and the weather's kind of lousy. Yeah. You know, you're trying to keep your routine and it's like so hard. So then sometimes, you know, going up and down the stairs or like just kind of walking around the home, or some people get a treadmill in the winter and kind of use that as like momentum, but mm-hmm
Dr. Gutierrez
27:54
Just like,
Ruth Perez
27:55
I'm gonna get through the day. Or unless you're listening to some cool music, and then after a while it's like, okay, hey, wait, this is now something like I need to do. Right. You
Dr. Gutierrez
28:04
Know, that's a, that's a an amazing point. So studies have shown that grounding what we were talking about, putting your feet to the grass or, or the sand or, or water in the beach, it shifts your nervous system from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic. So we are meant, our design is meant to be always on the parasympathetic and the sympathetic me, you know, the, it's a fight or flight. It's only meant to be turned on if a tiger's gonna come in each
Ruth Perez
29:12
Yeah. There's been really hot topics about cortisol levels and everyone's talking about that, but it is good to know that, you know, there's a way that we can start kind of thinking positively how that actually has an impact on stuff.
Dr. Gutierrez
29:25
Yeah. You know, I, I think one of the big aha moments that I had with respect to the topic of this conversation, which is the obesity epidemic, is this idea of the calorie and the calories in and calories out. And so that is unfortunately a very incomplete way of looking at this. The, the way I I explain it to patients is when you have, you know, a, a gallon of gasoline has the same amount of calories at 10 pounds of coal. Okay. But you wouldn't dare put 10 pounds of coal in your, into a Ferrari engine. And then you can say, well, why not Dr. G? You know, it's cheaper, same amount, amount of calories. Yeah. But your engine doesn't run on coal. Then why do, why do you put a bag of potato chips in into your Ferrari engine? Just because they have some calories? It doesn't mean that that's the fuel that you need to nourish you mm-hmm
Ruth Perez
30:29
Yeah, definitely. And I think too, like when you start eating cleaner or a little bit better you feel good about yourself, your, you don't, your headings aren't there as much and you're like, okay, I feel full. 'cause Sometimes when eating this junk food, I know it's happened to me, oh my God, I want eat this. You know? And then when I've eaten it, I feel absolutely sick after, you know what I mean? So then transitioning to eating cleaner, it's like, oh, wait, I'm full. I feel good. I don't feel like I have to just, you know, keep eating junk. Now I have a nutrient that I'm putting in my body. That's
Dr. Gutierrez
31:00
Right. Yeah. You got it,
Ruth Perez
31:04
Thank you. What do you see as far as, or how do you feel about like there's walking is what I've heard about is kind of one of the best exercise you could possibly do besides like hitting the gym and having routine. But what are the benefits of walking? Is that really like the best form of working out?
Dr. Gutierrez
31:25
It's one way of working out, excuse me. And it's a very efficient way. I don't want to get too deep in the weed s Yeah. Of the exercise physiology. But I'll say this, the, we, we recommend everybody in, in the office to go out and walk at least 20 to 30 minutes, three, four times a a week. But it has to be done outside. Okay. So outside, let the sun, the sunlight hit your eyes and the skin. And because that especially, you know, the, the sun has many different life frequencies. We are meant to receive and nourish and get nourishment from the visible spectrum with UV and infrared on, on either side. So why the morning sun is so important is because it's very rich and red and infrared along with blue. So blue is what tells your brain it's time to go to work, tells the hormones, time to go to work.
Dr. Gutierrez
32:34
And red is what tells the mitochondria, oh, it's sun sunrise time to burn fat. So if you never see the sunrise and you get too much blue indoors, you're gonna get fat just by doing that
Ruth Perez
33:57
Dr. Gutierrez
34:47
You said it, that's how was born. It was at the dinner table
Ruth Perez
35:13
I think that once we start hearing about these things, that we can definitely start making these changes. And I think that it's gonna be, not only are we gonna feel good, we're we are gonna start like reflecting it in our ways, you know, with better decision making. You know, and I've heard that some people start, when they start have a healthier lifestyle. They start implementing like the things that they do, like adjusting their work. Sometimes they'll change their jobs or they'll do something like, it's just not benefiting me. And there's this big talk about like, mental health right now, which is great, but it's also like, I think people are starting to wake up. And I think that sometimes we don't always have these conversations in the Latin community. There's no time for, we kind of have to work and put the food on the table and, you know, we don't have money to hit the gym. And so I feel like these are good ways of kind of like tackling those obstacles that some people may find.
Dr. Gutierrez
36:06
Right. I mean, that's the beauty of it, right? Because how much does it cost you to get up at sunrise and, and put your feet on, on the, on the grass?
Ruth Perez
37:05
You can have a Dorito
Dr. Gutierrez
37:07
Yeah. Right.
Ruth Perez
37:08
Do you think though, like women and, and men, I know I'm focusing more on women, but also I feel like they say women are meant to hold this weight and men can just hit the gym in three months and they lose it. Do you, how do you feel about that? Do you think like that's always the case, or
Dr. Gutierrez
37:23
No, it's not always the case, but yes. Women are because of fertility, they're designed to carry more fat, more fat because leptin is a very important hormone that actually controls fertility. But it has to be the good fat, not the bad fat. So so going back to the question, yes, it is true that probably women for the most part are not going to lose the same amount of fat that men would given the same, the same routines, let's say for that reason. Now, there are some women that are, you know, that can burn fat very easily. Yeah. And there are a lot of men that can't
Ruth Perez
38:15
Yeah. I think it's a process. I think it's a mental change. First of all, I think you have to be mentally committed. I know when I first started, I had made a decision when I got the list of like things that I should eat or shouldn't be eating. That same night I went home and it kind of like divulged everything I had in my cabinets. And my family was looking, I'm like, what in the world are you, you doing? I said, no, no, I am, I have a thought, I have an idea. I'm gonna change everything. And you know, I was blessed to have obviously enough, you know, food in the home and be able to change everything. But obviously that's not the case for everybody. But I know that little by little it started to be something that now it's like, I need to now eat cleaner. I can feel the difference when I'm not eating well. And I'm just like, okay, I gotta get back on it whenever I feel off, I know I have to get back to the, back to the thing and reset.
Dr. Gutierrez
39:04
Yeah. It becomes a way of life, you know? It does.
Ruth Perez
39:07
I think that I'd like to kind of speak about this, you know, long term in Spanish as well, kind of bring it out to the Spanish community mm-hmm
Dr. Gutierrez
39:38
Yes, absolutely. I, I'm all for that. We've been talking about this for a year,
Ruth Perez
39:42
Dr. Gutierrez
39:48
Me too.
Ruth Perez
39:49
Thank you, doctor.
Dr. Gutierrez
39:50
Oh, thank you very much.
Ruth Perez
39:52
Before I let you go, I wanted to just share some information with whoever is listening. The, again, this is part of the CU project here at College Unbound. I hope to obviously create my own podcast coming out of this. And I wanna do some sessions in Spanish, but I also want to maybe invite some people if there's any questions, they can definitely send me an email at ruthPerez@colinunbound.edu and then maybe we can kind of adjust it and tailor some questions. And the next episode. And then also I have Dr. Gutierrez is, is also with me, I know that he's locally in Rhode Island, and if there's any more questions they have for him, they can, if we reach him at his office or shoot him an email at info@slymarmdirecthealth.com. So I hope to hear from you guys soon, and have a wonderful day.