Prodigy: A Stroke of Insight

barrettune Day, Welcome back. It is hard to deny that family la familia is the most important aspect of an Italian's life. We've seen the movies, read the books, sat around the table family style, and we've witnessed the bond of this highly passionate community. The Italian family life can be characterized by loyalty and closeness, and Lowell Berlante's family it's no different. Loll is the host of the popular

podcast Prodigy, a show that investigates human psychology. For this special episode, Lowell sets out to connect with his family after taking the twenty three and Me test, and they lightheartedly share stories of their pasts challenge each other on who's more likely to start balding earlier. This family connection, sparking all kinds of conversations, memories new and old, is exactly why so many families like Lowell's are drawn to

taking the twenty three me test together. It's only when Lowell receives an unexpected call from his brother that he's forced to look beyond ancestry and the more playful traits and take a closer look at his own health history. It's a wake up call, he explains, one that will lead him to make smarter choices. He doesn't want to wait until he has an incident to start being healthier.

Let's listen in as Lowell goes on a journey of personal health discovery, connecting with other family members to talk about what it means to understand your health and what your genetic makeup can say about you. You're listening to Prodigy. My name is Lowell brillianty Sorry, my name is Lowell real lante, real yante. I'm really not sure how you're supposed to say it, but it's one of the three Italian words I know. The others are bunjurn no and manga.

I never gave it much thought until people started asking me, is that really your name? Yeah, it's not a pen name means brilliant in Italian. Because I come from a long line of geniuses or narcissists, we don't really look it in my opinion, but I'm told we're Italian. My dad can speak it fluently. He learned it from his parents while growing up in Brooklyn, New York, which I imagine was like the beginning of a source case film.

He would tell me stories about his mom's loving hospitality, her wonderful cooking, and how quickly she could remove her shoe and fire it at you if you got out of line. It was less civilized time compared to today's standards. The shoe throwing was one of many stories my father would tell me. The passing of those stories felt like school. They were mandated not by his school board, but by the human need to pass things. One. Being Italian is

a point of pride to my parents. Every Christmas Eve, I had the Dinner of the Seven Fishes and boogie at the Italian American Club's Christmas party. To this day, every time we go to an Italian restaurant, my dad will find a reason to chat with the owner while emphatically gesturing with his hands. On those occasions, he'll bust out the absolute fanciest pronunciation, but it's the earlier to me. But to be honest, I never really cared that much. I don't feel all that Italian. I was born in

the South. I don't own a single gold chain, and my hair looks terrible when I slick it back. But I can't cook. I'm not sure if cooking was a genetic hand me down, but if it was, I got it from my dad. He can whip up a pasta dish to go with your second espresso in no time at all. Stereotypes aside. I think I was born just one too many generations removed. My grandparents all passed away before I was old enough to remember them. They didn't

exactly leave behind many selfies. I have some old photographs of stiffly posed people I don't recognize in my father's stories. Honestly, I don't even recall how they died, but I know they are relatively young. I'm over here door dash and dunkin Donuts without any regard to what could be lurking in my genetic code. This episode was sponsored by twenty three and me, and to be completely honest, I don't really want to see the health or I never get sick.

I'm not obese, I'm not charming, but some women do appreciate my arms. Mentally, I feel pretty decent about my health. Why mess with that? What if there's something in there I can't control? It's the fear of finding out the FOFO. It's fun to say. So for this episode, maybe I'll just focus on the ancestry part. I can connect with a third cousin that I'm not sure if it's okay to be attracted to, and learn how to make mozzarella. Oh, I'm sorry, learn how to make mozzarella. My name is

Lowell and this is prodigy. Alright. The reports are in time to find out if I'm actually Italian or just short. Okay. It's broken down into three main categories with several subcategories. I'm going around decimals here. In the first category, I'm European and that is Italian, mostly from Sicily, so my parents weren't lying. And oh look at this point Jewish. That gives me a few extra holidays. Next category is

Western Asian and North African. The subcategories are a bit of a mishmash, but the main ones I see are Coptic, Egyptian, and Cypriot. I'm not sure to say that I couldn't point those out on a map, but luckily it shows you one. The final category is point seven percent sub

Saharan African, specifically Ghanaian, Liberian, and Sierra Leonian. That makes me curious how many generations you have to go back to find that ancestor probably not many, since each generation you go up by multiples of two, two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, sixteen great great grandparents. If I go up ten generations, there's one thousand, twenty four people contributing to my DNA. But anyway, I'm mostly Italian. I should I call my dad and hear one of those childhood

stories I used to ignore. We had a little bodies market which was was was a chicken market. You're going on your pointed chicken. It would be awive and then you guy, I would take it, this is where you want, let's float and they put in a machine that would boil your real hot machines, take all the feathers off like a rotating machine, and you they were your chicken packages up there Oh my god, that's how fresh. Yeah,

that's that's good. That do you think you would pick the chicken he hated the most, or like our which one looked the most delicious? Well, when you went to the rooties, I don't know. My father always I know chicken, chicken. One guy was like, oh wait, wait, let me pick, and you're like, all right, watch out for that guy. How did your parents punish you? My mother was the one. My father never hit us at all. He would threatened, but you know that my mother would hit me with

a shoe and she'd come after me. She grabbed man, you ran from her. She on the head where she had the shoes like a slipper, and it was wood inside of it, like hitting someone with a bat on the head. That's a harder. Still, when she could throw it, she was really really good at throwing it. You could be like fifteen peter away and she hit you in the head. She beat me with it. I mean she was pretty, she was really neat, but we loved it.

She was someone that we absolutely loved. Even though she has loved every one of us, five of us, and everyone that knew her would love her. Anybody was invited to our house. The guy would be the mailman she'd invited to dinner. Anybody. Why. She just liked to do nice things for people. She was just very generous. That she was tough, but she was very very generous. What she did and how she treated people, everybody seek to like her, even in neighbors. He just went to the

decent person. You're six, You brought you things you know she would take care of. Well, that clears things up a bit. Turns out I'm a descendant of a kind and generous woman that weaponized her footwear to beat her children better. I wonder if three and me will hear this, or if they're spending all their time on many Drivers episode. Oh, getting a phone call from my sister hang on, okay, yeah, Hi, So my cousin Josie is visiting and she did twenty

three and me too. She wants to compare reports, So I'm gonna hit record and open up the website on my new custom built PC. Well you gotta get the hap alright, fine, but better not send me fifty entifications like door dash. That's how I just set your request or an invitation. I don't know what it's called. An invitation to share. Once you accept Lowell, we can do a side by side. It is really amazing that it

knows like your second called one once removed. Ye okay, you're like, you're pretty Asian and me I guess Western Asian and North Africa. That's like a lot more than Josie is. So he is a lot more Arab, Egyptian and Levingine than I am. And one and a half and he's six and a half. Yeah, and then all this other stuff that I have zero he's Northwestern? Where where are They're in West Asian. They're pretty excited, and I'm kind of realizing why this is such a big

deal for families. I just got a Google math. So this is so interesting. Jespine, you're like a super Neanderthal. I am, are you? What's that? From? Where? Said? You're it? Just as you're like five pirsont war that we are pretty sure it's that makes sense? Well, it explains a lot. Rachel really neanderthal? You think, I am? Check Rachel out.

So the Neanderthal percentages are pretty funny because of how the word is commonly used, but it doesn't actually mean anything about Josie's intelligence, stature, or ability to make fire. I could look at this, Oh day long, it's so fun. Josie, how come there's no trait for you on your back hair or your bald spox. I'm not saying that food, Lowell. We're both predisposed to weigh more than average. I don't like that one. Oh man, that's a great laugh. But

she's wrong. Yours says predisposed to weigh more than average. Mind says predisposed to weigh about average. Oh you're right, low Oh my god, early hair loss. No you don't have a hair law, Yeah no I do. I do. It was no early hair. Well, I don't know what early is, but like around colleges started to like get thinner, but I still have like hair on my head, you know. Yeah, well it's not lucky. And then your family, God would

be so terrible to be bald. So Josie wants me to connect with other family members that have done it too. Call Phil and tell him to accept. Send Phil an invitation. I've never called Phil before or text him. I've never texted him. I don't even know if it is he in the app. I'm not. I don't know his number like in the message group, you know how I messaged, you just now the other number on there, so he's done it. So I sent philow request to connect and sign off. The next night, I get a phone call,

but it's not Phil, it's my brother and sister. One side of my dad's face was drooping, so my mom took him to the hospital. I've been dreading a call like this. Losing a dog last year tore me apart with grief. I don't know how the process losing my father. Thankfully, it seems like he's doing okay, but they're keeping him in the hospital so they can run some more scans. My mom goes home for the night and my dad

doesn't have a charger, so we can't reach him. He's probably resting, but I can't shake the thought that he's alone. The next day, my dad gets his charger and I have a brief chat with him. His speech is a bit slurred, but he's in good spirits. He gets excited telling me about a Netflix show he's watching, and I can hear a speech clear a bit. He's gonna be all right. We'll keep him another day for scans and then he can go home. Josie's mom had a stroke too.

Is that my fate. Is it inevitable and I should just say screw it and continue to live care free? Where can I prevent or delay it? Well, it's probably time I look at my health report. My last physical showed high L d L cholesterol, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see an increased likelihood for that and coronary artery disease, which is what led to my father's stroke. I can't do anything for my dad at the moment, so I decided to call Phil. His mom

is my dad's sister, aunt, Josephine. How you been. I've been, well, how about you? But before we started, how is your father? Oh? He's good, But yeah, I guess he had like a mild stroke or whatnot because of you know, like a blockage in the heart, and they're considering right now whether they have it cleared out surgically. April thinks he should do it. Your mother and father are still considering it.

That's my information. Do you have any more? No, that was that's the same information that I have, because I guess the question is like, well, my dad actually changes diet and exercise and stuff, or from what he tells me, he has such a great diet vegan or vegetarian vegan. Yeah, well he does, but then he'll also you know, it goes off. Yeah, you know what, I do the same thing. My fear that it's the same age as Aunt Angela

having a stroke. Yeah, I did the like the any three and meat plus one and it has an increased likelihood for coronary artery disease. And that I mean, I guess you know, we can lead to stroke. And what do you what do you look at to avoid that? I mean, do you look at your cholesterol? I don't know that's a good question. I mean, what do you think so you have a chance of getting coronary like

chance higher than the average population. I think, so what do you do between now and seventy to prevent that? I'm on web MD actually for how to prevent um this end stroke And it says, you know, eat a balanced diet, cut back on sodium, sugar, and saturated fat. And I think sugar was a top one for my dad. Yeah, it just says like exercise healthy weight. Um, you know he's not super overweight now, but he was always overweight like his entire life. You know, you've always been thin,

right end? And how you how you're judging me compared to who for this family? Yet in this family I would be considered thin. I have quite a bit of Neanderthal Wait, more than you. Jessie has a lot, so it's gonna make fun of her. But oh what does she really Josie? Yeah, you get that from Uncle Bill. Yeah, you have eleven percent more than everybody else? Are we? So in randers All? I mean I feel it feels like an insult. Why well, you know the the connotation

of the word, you know, because you're a caveman. Yeah, right, like you're like the guy go commercial? Yeah, pretty much. Do you guys have anyone with like a d h D decide you and me? Do you? Because like do you and me? Right? Yeah, I guess have you been diagnosed? Pay attention? These are the jokes. I don't do anything. I can't say for sure. That's somebody in our family has been like I feel like that. Yeah. My father, Oh yeah, you know I'm always looking down too younger

than me. Your your father has it. Yeah, he hasn't touch them, and he he does like to touch everything, and he doesn't He bounces around quite a bit a touch of it. He likes to touch everything, touches everything. One time I was traveling with your father, I just had We went to the keys together in like. It was a fairly brand new truck of mine, and we stopped at a rest stop, and your father thought it would be a good idea to take that you know, that dirty window cleaner by the side of the game,

and washed the clean the window. But but on the inside of the truck. No, I can't believe that. Yeah, I tread to God, I'm pumping against Mexican and it's dripping on my dash. You know, all that chemicals and the bug parts. What are you doing the inside? The inside? Did Rachel like connecting with people? Like why did she buy a you a test? She brought me a test? Because I asked her buy me a test. I said, you know, that would be a good Christmas gift for me.

So I wanted to do it, and I didn't want to spend the money so that would be I thought it was a good idea. And what got me interested in it was the fact that she told me that she was fifty Italian. So I said, well, for you to be fifty percent time, I need to be a hundred percent Italian. I'm not sure exactly how the science works, but I was close to but not fully. Yeah, I guess it's it's like some kind of recommindation. I think um or maybe her mom had, like you know, some

Italian Yeah, like just anymore. My dad told me he stayed at Phil's house once and there was no food in the fridge. That story made me think that Phil couldn't control his late night ice cream cravings, but turns out he does intermitute fasting. I sleep better when I fast. Then when i'm when I want to eat a lot and I get in the bed and then my body I'm like hot. You want to see something amazing. You fast and go to bed. You need to blankets. You eat all day. You can't have the sheet on you

when I break that thirty six hours. This is I had to find this out the hard way is that if you go forty eight hours and then eat, you better be. You better be by a bathroom. Yeah, it seems like you've really focused on being thin, and how did you get into it? Oh, I think it looks better right, Vanity. That is a motivator though, Yeah, that's the same with me. I just wanted to rip so I could get lots of girls. You ain't a rock star that you ain't rich got going for you. I

appreciate it. Thanks having a good one, philm Bye bye bye. Remember Josie. Her brother is my cousin Arnold. He's this crazy talented video guy. His mom was my dad's sister, Aunt Angela, and also suffered from strokes. So I rang them up. Actually this isn't a phone call because Arnold is one of those lovely guests that knows their audio. Whoa and to relax, be a goog girl. Ah Uh, your your mom had a stroke too, right, she had a lot. Yeah, well she had one massive stroke. Um.

She was driving when she lived in the villages. She lived near Uncle Jerry and at lou and she was I don't know if she was going to the grocery store or something in the middle of the day and she had a stroke and ran through a red light

and t boned another car. So she got into a really bad accident, and she called Uncle Jerry, and Uncle Jerry came and picked her up, and he thought she was just, you know, shaken up from the accident, so he brought her back to his house and she kind of stayed there and at dinner, this is a couple hours later, she was talking to him and she just kind of fell out of her chair onto the floor. That was when Uncle Jerry said, up, we're going to the hospital. So at the hospital they were like, no,

you've had a quite a massive stroke. Actually, um, which isn't you know? It's if they had known that she had had a stroke and taken her to the hospital, there would have been less damage done. I guess right, um, from what I've read about strokes as you have like you know, a couple hours to you know, do some massive oxygen intervention and there's some other drug that they can give you two burst up blood clots and whatnot,

you know. So I mean, really, if you know that you've had a stroke or even suspect, getting to the hospitals like the best thing that you can do. It's a horrible thing that, you know, when something happens to your parents and you know, here, there, here, and then they go down to here and they never quite make it back up to here. So this is the new baseline, and then the new baseline, and then the new baseline did ever make you think about like your own health?

And uh, like trying to avoid something similar happening to you. Yes, yeah, absolutely so. My mom was not a fan of her medication whatever that you know, beside effects probably were not fun. I'm guessing I don't think it was that bad. I don't. I remember just at one point her telling me like, oh, no,

I've decided I'm gonna cure myself with eating plants. Like, oh, yeah, that's great, Mom, don't don't you know why would you listen to medicine where they can make sure that, you know, because you know, she had um type two diabetes I think it was, and she was supposed to take whatever that medicine was, and she just decided one day she

was going to stop doing it. And so I make you know, I'll tell you that, after seeing how my mom went downhill, I'm pretty serious about making sure I get to the doctor at least once a year for physical you know, get the blood work, what you know. But I'm only fifty, and you know, nothing really major has happened to me health wise. I'd imagine that that first health scare will probably more for me than it

maybe did for my mom. I don't know. Growing up, Um of the five siblings, Uncle Jerry, uncle, Anthony, aunt Josephine, and my mom all lived within four hours of each other. Your dad moved away to North Carolina, so we would only see him like once or twice a year, and it was always like, you know, Fourth of July or Christmas. All of the children of Jerry, Josephine, Anthony, and Angela would see each other almost like a monthly basis. So I would constantly see tons of people that I was

related to and have that familial bond. And I would get to see you know, you, April and Frederick once or twice a year, and that was about it. Our cousin Tom. I saw Tom every other weekend until I was fifteen years old, so you know, he and I had a tight bond. We were we're you know, six months apart, and I saw him all the time. He lives right down the street from me. Now, actually, oh that's great. I hope you get to see him a lot. Yeah, yeah,

like twice a year. Tom's dad is my uncle, Jerry. Wow, Okay, I literally just made that connection Tom and Jerry. God, I bet they hate that his parents are older than mine, but neither of them has had a stroke. They lived ten hours away in Florida, and Tom was older, so I saw maybe three times while growing up. A few years ago, I bought a house in the same area of Atlanta as him, Decatur. It's not uncommon for me to meet someone and get asked, are you related to Dr? Tom?

He's so nice, he's their eye doctor, and they probably see him about as much as I do. Since I need something from him, I figured it was a good time to reconnect. Asked him to bring over his lovely partner Denise to fact check him. And because she gives me compliments. Here she is telling me about an open DNA database and then I can take your code and your code and plug it in and they'll cross reference everything and I'll say, either we have matches in common

or we don't have any matches. So like that should be built into dating apps, right, absolutely, right, I didn't think of that. Everybody's probably distantly related. That everybody that creeps health is a perpetual concern of my parents because they are very healthy, and they you know, now my brother has gotten much healthier, but I am still very overweight. So they've tried various ways to incentivize me and Denise to you know, lose weight. The latest was like, you know,

we'll give you some money for a personal trainer. I would love that, but I feel like, first I need to you know, lose weight before I start exercising. But you don't think that that's really the most important thing when it comes to like long term health, right, Yeah, So I guess that My feeling is that something's going to catch up to every one of us eventually, sooner or later. So I had, you know, a pendicitis you know, all things considered, that really was not something that was

to life threatening. So I feel like, if that's the worst that happens to me, well, you know that won't be the worst. But like I guess the idea is that over time, all the little things add up. I think he's under selling it by saying it wasn't life threatening, because if you saw the thought up that we had to do and the medicine that we had to give you, what not say that? Well, your side of the family is like always in such like positive spirits. You're not

thinking it that good. I'm just thinking maybe you do if you think that that's part of it too. Yeah, I think, um, you know, seeing a therapist on a regular basis. I think that's contributed a huge amount friendships as well as your you know, your partner family is like super important. And you think my mom nagged my dad into this trip. Okay, I'm sorry now, I'm just gonna say that. I think that's something that like I

took for granted when I was younger. Now I take that, take it a little bit more seriously, and probably still not the best of keeping up relationships, but better hopefully. You know, it's my personally held belief that we should not hang around on this earth too long that you know, seventy five and out is I'm big believer in that. Um So he says that, he's like, so, maybe not be euthanized, but like, yeah, enjoy the amount of time you have here on this earth and then call it

a day. My dad's him from the hospital and he's feeling better, so let's check in on him. Hey, Hey, how's it going. Okay, how are you doing? Good? Uh you hear me? Okay, good? Perfectly. Does it make you like I want to change here? Yeah, of course I would have gone totally planted more than I look at plant based eating more. I think that's a solution not to do. But I've always backed out. Well, I mean you put it all on plant based, but like, I mean,

what about like you know, losing weight and stuff. Yeah, well that's that basically the same idea, right, well is it? Well if your plant based, great because it's like putting on this idea of plant based as opposed to be like I need a you know, blues weight and need less high stuff high and cholesterol. You know that too, Yeah, you don't want any cholesterol. A little cholesterol is possible, So Newer's cholesterol comes from animal products if you don't know,

probably in cholesterol. And the worst thing I had surgery you call bladder that was he was laposcopic, was really really it's great. She said, pee pete. If you pick up pete, she said, go home. I went home. I couldn't pea anymore, so he sent me to the hospital. And what happens is when you get older, sometimes you're bladder goes to sleep with the anesthesia and doesn't work up, so you can't pee, and it's going in and get a freaking Catherine. That's disgusting. That was really painful. Are

you in the bathroom right now? Yeah, because I'm recording this conversation. Oh are you what stuff would you have done or do you think would have been good? Like to do differently, like in a preventative way to avoid this. Yeah, but to watch what they eat. Watched a whole lot more what I ate, whether words, he just can't fried foods and cracked hamburgs, and I'd be careful what I ate. I mean, this just catches up with you over years. Especially if I knew that I was more subjective to this,

then I would have came more careful. And I wasn't. I was just eating everything. Sometimes I get good and i'd be careful, and then sometimes I just eat a kind of shift. Yeah. So you think the knowledge, like knowing beforehand, would have made a difference. Sure would have, of course it would have. Well, I'm glad you're doing okay, and let me know what they say. All right, okay, thanks, So my dad's doing better. He's not dead or a different person, but he has to take his health deadly

serious now. There is zero room for error, or that stroke will be the first of many. It happened to his sister, and according to my last physical and my DNA test report, I have the same dilemma, So it's pretty obvious what I need to do. Right, Let's go back to what my cousin said. Phil probably needs his own podcast. He's hilarious. He focuses on staying thin and intermitte fasting works best for him. Arnold isn't going to cut out the good stuff, but visits his doctor regularly

to keep tabs on things. Tom's conclusion is that sooner or later, something catches up to you no matter what, so focus on a rich social and family life. My dad places it mostly on diet. He evangelizes the benefits of a plant based diet, which I'm pretty sure is a fancy way of basically saying to just eat vegetables. I know a buttload of vegetables would make me thinner and healthier, but is it something I can actually commit to.

I honestly don't know, but I'm gonna try tonight. I'm having my first dinner of vegetables with a side of vegetables. I like tomatoes, cucumbers, and beats, so that's what I'm having. Then I'm gonna take my dog for a walk. I don't want to wait until I have an incident to start being healthier. I'm gonna start today, big shout out

to the twenty three and me folks. I gave them a hard time, but they were actually really accommodating, and I really do recommend it, not just because they're sponsoring the episode, although I do wonder if they'd let me make an episode trashing them doesn't matter. It's a really fun gift, So grab a kit and spit and if no one's thought of that yet. M t M Prodigy was created and produced by me Lowell Berlante. The executive chef was Caroline Special thanks to Ben jer and Yvonne Sheehan.

I'm signing off now, but it's been a beautiful ride, and that's it. On another dope show. Did this episode inspire you to take a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup. Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past while also holding the keys to certain health insights that may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by these stories, and I hope you do

as well. Catch you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast