🌿 Wellness Wednesday: When Love Means Having the Hard Conversations

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Life isn’t just macros, workouts, and steps… sometimes wellness shows up in family moments too.

My mom has been dealing with chronic UTIs for many years. She’s seen specialists, done the tests, and honestly… no clear cause has ever been found. At this point, the doctors believe her nutrition is a major trigger, especially high sugar and high sodium foods.

Now here’s the funny part of our family dynamic…

My mom and my older sister are absolute pastry queens 👑🍰. They love sweets and tend to go all in — moderation is not really their strong suit.

Meanwhile… I’m the one over here with the “health choices” trying to nudge them in a better direction. And let’s just say… Mom doesn’t always listen to me.

Yesterday she called me and said:

“Can you take me to the doctor? I think I have another UTI.”

The doctor ordered a urine test and prescribed antibiotics again. Luckily I live close enough to help my parents when they need it. I never complain about being there for them… but I’ll be honest — it can feel frustrating when the same triggers keep happening and the advice isn’t followed.

So we had a heart-to-heart talk.

I told her gently but honestly:

“Mom, your UTIs won’t improve if the sweets keep coming back. Both your doctor and I have told you that sugar is one of your triggers. I can remind you, but preventing it is ultimately up to you.”

That’s when something surprising happened.

She said she wants to start following my lead with nutrition. Her latest labs came back showing high cholesterol, and her doctor recommended medication. My mom asked the doctor for some time first to see if improving her eating habits could bring her numbers down before starting meds.

I also reminded her to get back to walking on her walking pad consistently. Have my dad and herself to cook more chicken and fish. My parents love pork and that is a major issue. We have our April vacation coming up, and we’ll be doing a lot of walking. I want her to build up her stamina now so she can enjoy the trip without getting exhausted.

Then she looked at me and said:

“You look like you’ve lost more weight. You look more athletic. And the way you talk now… you’re calmer. Your mindset has matured.”

And then — because she’s still my mom — she followed it with:

“You look tired though… like you didn’t sleep.” 😂

I told her, “It’s because I’ve been sleeping too much lately. My body is recalibrating.”

And as if the universe wanted to remind me that life keeps life-ing…

This morning my mini-me woke up with her right eye swollen and hurting. So mama duty kicks in again — I’ll be taking her to see her PCP later today to figure out what’s going on with that swollen eye.

Just another reminder that sometimes wellness also means caring for the people around us.

Just sharing a real life moment today.

Sometimes wellness isn’t just about ourselves — it’s about the people we love and trying to guide them the best we can.

All we can do is lead by example. 💙

And maybe… just maybe… the ripple effect starts working.

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