From Bedridden to Active: Barb's Inspiring Transformation Journey

Retired and reinvigorated, Barb Herrera shares her astonishing transformation journey from being bedridden at 405 pounds to embracing an active lifestyle, walking five miles every morning. Through the life-changing support of GLP-1 medications like Trinicity and Mount Jaro, Barb's story is a beacon of hope for those seeking inspiration and empowerment. Together with Tanya, we dive into exclusive subscriber content that examines themes of addiction and imposter syndrome, offering listeners a fresh perspective on these challenging topics.

Barb Herrera

• Email: healthatanycost@gmail.com
• Website: https://healthatanycost.com/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HealthAtAnyCost

Our discussion takes a serious turn as we confront the ethical complexities of the death penalty. Tanya lends her criminal justice expertise to unpack the legal intricacies, while Barb shares a deeply personal family tragedy that fuels her conflicted stance on capital punishment. The episode also satisfies true crime enthusiasts with an update on the trial of Brian Kohberger, accused of the 2022 University of Idaho student murders. With the trial set for August 2025, we ponder the profound implications of a potential death penalty sentence. Join our conversation for a mix of personal stories, ethical debates, and the gripping allure of true crime.

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Chapters

• 0:03 Journey Into Wild Stories and Stories
• 5:29 Perspectives on the Death Penalty

Transcript

Voiceover: 0:03

Tales from the wild, stories from the heart. A journey into the mind and soul of fired up business professionals, where they share their vision for the future and hear from a different non-profit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion as we join our host, Shireen Botha, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.

Shireen Botha: 0:36

Awesome, awesome. Welcome back, Shireen. Here I'm your virtual boutique bookkeeper and QuickBooks advisor. Benefits of having a bookkeeping firm as well as a CPA firm Higher level of service, of course. If you run a service-based business, then you know customers do business with you for your expertise. Similarly, choose financial advisors who know their role. CPAs stay on top of changing laws and regulations and bookkeepers remain aware of efficiencies and best practices to save your business money and save you time. A firm that does both is a master of neither. Call Shireen's Bookkeeping Services today If you want to know more. Please go check us out at www. shireensbookkeeping. com and allow me to keep your books clean so you don't have to Welcome back. You are listening to Friends from Wild Places with myself, Shireen, and my co-host, Tanya. Tanya. Would you mind telling our listeners a little more about our extra content we are making just for our subscribers?

Tanya Scotece: 1:52

Yes, well, good morning everyone listeners out there. So we have a special edition of bonus content which is unfiltered, unedited, a little bit diving deeper into subjects that we don't put mainstream. It is behind a paywall. For as little as $5 a month, you, too, can listen to content, and you can also drop us a line. We'd be happy to pick a topic that you'd like to hear more about. So some of the issues that we've talked about are struggling with addictions, not feeling good about ourselves, core beliefs, imposter syndrome, all the things that kind of affect everybody, all walks of life and all genders. So here we are, back together again at Friends from Wild Places.

Shireen Botha: 2:39

Thank you so much, Tanya. That was lovely puts. Tanya, that was lovely puts. And because this is the festive season and that's the time that this podcast and the three episodes will be released, so we have a very special edition and we'd love to introduce our guest for today's episode, and her name is Bob Herrera, a retired wife who has struggled with her weight since she was seven years old. Two and a half years ago she weighed 405 pounds and today she weighs 145 pounds, all with using the GLP-1s, trinicity and now Mount Jaro, which she'll tell us more about if you don't know what that means or what that is. Her life has been transformed and she is on a mission to show those of any size that there is hope. From bedridden for a decade to her morning walks of five miles, she has been able to do this with medication and a lot of hard work. She is in a life she never knew was possible. Welcome, barb. It's so good to have you on our show today, thank you.

Barb Herrera: 3:52

Thank you, Good morning, Shireen and Miss Tanya.

Tanya Scotece: 3:56

Good morning Barb. Super excited to hear about your journey and just to kind of guide our listeners and ourselves through who you are and what your mission has become.

Barb Herrera: 4:10

Thank you, I'm excited too, yes thank you, Barb.

Shireen Botha: 4:14

So, as a little icebreaker myself and Tanya we are true crime enthusiasts we love to chat a little bit about the latest trials that are going on as we speak, and so one of them, which we've been following for quite a long time, as it's been dragged out for quite a long time, is the case with Brian Koberger. It is currently the trial of Koberger, who was charged for killing four University Idaho students in 2022 has now been set, so the trial will begin on the 11th of August 2025 and continue through to November 7, 2025,. According to a scheduling order issued by the state of Idaho, it has been scheduled to start in June 2025. Other hearing dates will be held before the start of the trial. So on November 7th 2024, there will be a hearing addressing motions challenging the death penalty as a possible sentence. That's obviously if Coburger is convicted. So the prosecutors have previously said they plan to ask for the death penalty if Coburger is found guilty. So it is very interesting because and I'll tell you why First of all, they are saying that if the option of the lethal injection is not possible because they are struggling to get the chemicals in, for the lethal injection is not possible because they are struggling to get the chemicals in for the lethal injection they would like to do the.

Shireen Botha: 5:53

I just lost it. Firing squad Firing squad. Now, I was taken back by that because I did not know that the firing squad is still a thing. It's still being carried out, and so I was quite shocked at that, and so I thought that would be quite cool, just to discuss the question of whether or not you actually believe in the death penalty if you're against it. So that's the question. That's all we're going to just discuss. Tanya, go ahead.

Tanya Scotece: 6:27

So, as many of our listeners know, my background is in criminal justice and criminal forensics and what's interesting about the judicial system and legal system here for penalties in the United States is it's usually state specific, so meaning that what you commit a crime in one state and whatever punishment is it could vary from state to state. So there are states that have the death penalty, other states do not, and there's so many factors that go in as far as appeals even if it is quote unquote said that this person is to be put to death by lethal injection or by some other alternative means A lot of times the attorneys, they will do appeals on top of appeals. So even though somebody is sentenced to death, it may or may not occur in their lifetime. So I think it's such a personal like when we sit back to say, you know, would this, you know, is this what we believe or not believe? However, if you're living in this state of where something is committed, you're going by what the state has. So think about that. Anybody out there that you know wants to commit a crime, that's, you know, maybe subject to the death penalty.

Tanya Scotece: 7:36

So again, I've done many, many debates in my time, you know, in school as far as pro-death penalty or against it.

Tanya Scotece: 7:47

And you know they have us kind of play different roles, which is very interesting because you have to support your decision for it and support your decision of being against it. So at the end of the day, I did follow the case right from its inception. You know tragic case. I mean you have somebody that is, you know, was actually studying I believe he was getting his doctorate in in the judicial criminal justice arena and then to go and commit like a heinous crime with you know many of these, you know college age students like himself, in a home, just some random act and now is facing this. That to me is even more perplexing than the question of the death penalty versus no death penalty. So again, you know, personal it's. I've kind of, you know, been on both sides of the fence as far as you know studies and things of that. So I just I'm going to stand with if you commit a crime in the state of where it is, then that's what it should be.

Shireen Botha: 8:45

Fair enough. Fair enough. That is so interesting. Thank you for sharing, sonia. What about yourself?

Barb Herrera: 8:51

Bob I. This is something that's interesting to me because I had somebody in my family who was murdered and there comes that personal part. So generally I'm not for the death penalty, but there's the part that is some people are innocent in prison and that's hard to reconcile as well.

Shireen Botha: 9:19

But for the person who killed my family member I'd push the button, but generally and I and I know that sounds incredibly contradictory, but yeah- no, no sure, and and let me just wow what we have different perspectives in this room, and that's something that Friends from Wild Places we stand for is. This is a safe space. It's really a place where we can easily just share our hearts and share where we stand, and there's only love right here. So, thank you, it's really interesting to have both of you give your perspectives on it, and no judgment, and I think it's actually as I said, I didn't even realize that the firing squad was an option, but yeah, so, tanya, thank you for sharing that. I thought that what you said was quite interesting. All right enough about that what about you?

Tanya Scotece: 10:20

what about you yeah?

Shireen Botha: 10:22

um, yeah, I I'm actually in between, um, what Bob is saying. I feel like if someone took a loved one from me, I, I would want to, and it's not the best, but, knowing just my character and personality, I would, in the beginning, want to be the one that has the shotgun in my hand in the firing squad to put a bullet in that person's chest it in that person's chest. But I am also the person that absolutely is for forgiveness and healing and I I feel like we're in 2024, going into 2025, um, and we've come a long way as civilization, and so I think it's, you know, it's there for a reason and I will respect what it's there for. If you are going to commit heinous crimes like that, then you need to be judged accordingly and I'm happy to follow whatever that might be.

Shireen Botha: 11:41

I'm honestly, but 100%, I'm human and in the beginning, if it was my loved one, I would be angry, but I know that there's also space for healing and space for forgiveness, and that's not for the other person, that's for me. So, yeah, that's my two cent piece, but yeah, thank you for asking, tanya. So the next part of the podcast is the quote of the day, which is really important to us and Bob has given us the quote of the day and it says I am a woman giving birth to myself. And, funny enough, I did some research on it and I could only find the source coming from the Library of Congress.

Barb Herrera: 12:25

Okay.

Shireen Botha: 12:26

Yeah, so I'm interested, bob. Could you tell us where you've heard this quote from and also what it means to you?

Barb Herrera: 12:35

It is from a play that I but I heard the quote a long time ago. I was probably 17. But I heard the quote a long time ago, I was probably 17. And I also had to research long before there was the internet, and found that it was from a play that I don't know, because I didn't write it down, what play it was from. So it's not mine, but I have adopted it. I actually have a tattoo on my breast that says that.

Tanya Scotece: 13:04

So, wow, barb, barb and I just want to please extend our condolences to you, you know, for your loved one. You know having experienced a murder. I mean that's just, you know, horrific. So I just I want to acknowledge that you know, just publicly, and you know definitely from Shireen and I. You know we appreciate you um sharing your journey with us this morning and also sharing that part of you also. Thank you, thank you 100.

Shireen Botha: 13:30

So, um, with that, you know, being the quote, I am a woman giving birth to myself. Uh, what does that mean to you, bob? Did you know? How did it come about that it meant so much to you?

Barb Herrera: 13:44

At the time I wasn't even a midwife. I ended up being a birth worker and a midwife. I'm a retired midwife and was a birth worker for about 32 years or so, and once I hit the midwifery circuit, then I'm a woman. Giving birth to myself became a whole new experience, and I have transformed so many times in my life that it has become clearly a mantra that is actually etched into my skin. So it's just so interesting to look back I'm 63, to look back now and see all the revolving changes I have made over my life. So and I'm still doing it, which is really interesting my life is still changing and I'm still giving birth to myself.

Tanya Scotece: 14:45

Wow and Barbara, I just want to make mention. So, as you know, like my wheelhouse is the death care industry and now the biggest movement or not biggest, but one of the movements has been in the past several years has been death doulas. So be interesting to have you maybe back on a podcast pick your brain about the death doula side of things.

Barb Herrera: 15:04

Uh, so kind of a circle of life with birth and death so, and I actually was during the, the height of the aids epidemic. The word doula wasn't even invented, but that's what I did I. I sat with many men as they died, so wow, so you are a birth and death doula.

Tanya Scotece: 15:22

Yes, yeah, before birth doula.

Shireen Botha: 15:27

Very very cool. I mean go ahead, Bob. The next question was give us a little bit about your background, and you've already started, so sure.

Barb Herrera: 15:37

So I, as you said, I've been fat my whole entire life. Now I use the word fat. Not everybody likes to use that word, but that's something I'm comfortable with. I was a fat activist in the late 1980s, speaking out about how people could be fat and healthy very similar to the body positivity positive positivity movement at the moment going on. That's been going on for a few years and I always said I was fat and healthy, I had no diabetes, everything was fine.

Barb Herrera: 16:16

And then, as I got older in 95, I was diagnosed with diabetes, and in my family my family is Cuban, so in my family everybody had diabetes. It was so a non-issue in our family. Yes, people went blind from it. Yes, people lost their feet, but I really believe, as I look back, I was so desensitized to the diabetic issues going on, it just seemed regular to me. So as I got sicker and fatter and fatter, most of my life I've spent about 350 pounds right around there, or more. So when people would tell me I was going to die, I'd be like, yeah, whatever, everybody dies, that's no big deal. Oh, the diabetes, blah, blah, blah. I'm on insulin.

Barb Herrera: 17:06

And then I got COVID in 2021 and had issues with my lungs and my heart and ended up in the hospital. And this is when I was 405 pounds. I was in the hospital on April 22nd of 2022. And in my doorway were four cardiologists standing there and one turned and looked at me when I didn't know. None of them were mine, they just happened to be on call at the hospital. And he turned to me and he looked at me lying in that bed with oxygen on my face, so big that I didn't fit in the large hospital gown and he said to me you will either change your life or you will live in a nursing home. I'm going to cry. And that nursing home comment was the switch that hit the mark. And that day I stopped eating Uber Eats. I had been eating Uber Eats at least twice for years because I was bedridden. I couldn't get out of bed except for with a walker to go to the bathroom, which was five feet away. I had cardiac issues, lung issues, I had GERD. I had sleep apnea.

Tanya Scotece: 18:29

Tune in next week for part two from Friends from Wild Places.

Voiceover: 18:35

You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places with Shireen Botha. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast from the links to catch every episode and unleash your passion.