#70: Dia Lupo

"I’m a very simple person. I like going to the mall."

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Oct 12, 2025

#70: Dia Lupo

(@brokebutmoisturized) is a writer and mother with bylines in HuffPost, Betches, and EDM.com. She runs Broke But Moisturized, “a slice-of-life newsletter on beauty and aging, dispatched from American suburbia.” She is bullish on Health Gossip.

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Health Gossip with Dia
Cancer/Gemini/Capricorn
New Jersey, USA

What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?

Embracing the transcendental possibilities of discipline. Peace-and-love-maxxing. Having the humility to cultivate a “boring” life.

How would you describe your current lifestyle?

Intentional, but still Type B enough to keep me on edge. I’m a new mom with a full-time corporate job that requires me to commute into Philadelphia four days a week; a paid newsletter; and a body and relationships to nurture. It forces me to flex that prioritization muscle, which has been good for me, even when some days feel unmanageable. Too much free time and I embody the proverb “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

My natural state is frenetic, a bit impulsive. Luckily I’m risk averse at this stage of my life, so it’s just a matter of expending that energy productively: Lots of movement. Writing in feverish bursts. Tending to my hyperfixation du jour. Spending time with family and friends. If I think too hard about my next move, I go catatonic.

Suburban life suits me, though. I’m a very simple person. I like going to the mall.

How do you start and end your days?

Nursing my baby and drinking 20 oz of water, except at night, it’s Topo Chico. Costco sells cases of the bigger bottles and I drink one or two every day. It allegedly has the highest PFA levels of any carbonated water. Pleasure should feel a little dirty, anyway.

Too much free time and I embody the proverb “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

I’m not sanctimonious about how a mother feeds their child, but breastfeeding has been great for my health. It boosts your immune system to protect the baby. Emotionally, the bond is unmatched. The moment she latches, once the weird electric shock wears off, I feel deeply attuned to a kind of universal caretaking. One time in the shower, I expressed some milk into a spider’s web thinking it might enjoy that. That was psychotic of me. The spider’s still around, though, so who knows.

Can you recall a moment when you became more aware of your health, or your relationship to it changed?

Health is snobbery to the Appalachian white trash mind. I grew up in a dive bar in the smallest county in Pennsylvania. My parents smoked cigs in the house. We ate Hot Pockets and Hamburger Helper. I think I was in high school when I watched my mom do a total 180. She dove headfirst into nutrition and exercise and lost 50 pounds, and gained a new community through group fitness. Her awakening was my awakening. My consciousness has been renewed many times since.

Health is snobbery to the Appalachian white trash mind.

Do you have a spiritual practice?

I’m a devout runner of 15 years. Running is a conduit for all the good in my life. It makes me self-aware. It gets me out in nature. It introduces me to cool people. The marathon is my favorite distance, for which training is a months-long test of spiritual rigor. I’m really drawn to monotony and repetition as spiritual devices; you’ll never find a better use for secular mantra than out on a 20-miler in a severe thunderstorm.

What’s your relationship to self-healing?

My sense of well-being centers on minimizing suffering. Sometimes intervention causes more suffering than waiting it out. This is where the wisdom of experience shines. There was a time in my life when I probably could have been formally diagnosed with hypochondria, when I racked up ER bills out of sheer panic. Conversely, I’ve had strep throat, UTIs, etc. that lasted weeks because I thought they’d resolve on their own. So having seen both ends of that spectrum, I’m more intuitive now.

This has been especially important in managing my mental health. I recently saw a psychiatrist for my first real evaluation after self-diagnosing and procuring medication from primary care providers over the years. What a relief, to admit that I can’t do this on my own. I finally feel like I’m on track. I know there’s cultural cache to the sad e-girl thing, but I’m too old for that sh*t. I think about all the moms who’ve caused their daughters irrevocable pain because they didn’t acknowledge and care for their own pathologies. They often didn’t have the support to do so. My toolkit, however, is robust. And I have every reason under the sun to live.

Do you work with any practitioners, texts, or modalities on a regular basis?

It took years of trial and error to find the right therapist. Three years ago, I stumbled upon this guy on Psychology Today who was not accepting new patients, but whose bio said his approach leaned more on existential philosophy than traditional therapy modalities. I emailed him on a whim, and we’ve been working together ever since. I see him every Monday in person at 8 AM. Morning is good because my mind is fresh. And going in person feels like a time-honored tradition.

I’m fortunate that my husband’s dad is a chiropractor. I was still running pretty hard for the first five months of pregnancy, and sustained a debilitating SI joint injury. I could not walk until I started seeing him twice a week for adjustments.

When do you feel the most nourished?

When I’m fully immersed in delight, most crucially with people I love. My laugh is so big and physical, it EXHAUSTS me. Being a little sun drunk, being a little regular drunk. I think nourishment is having fun to the point of exhaustion, and then getting a really good night’s sleep afterward. We do a Sunday gravy situation at my in-laws’ pretty often. New Jersey Italian hospitality is good for the soul.

How do you reset?

A hard, fast three miles on the treadmill to old Skrillex. Bangarang EP. I am most lucid in the wake of high intensity. The treadmill’s good because you can really let it rip without succumbing to the elements (headwind, terrain, heat, traffic, etc).

Do you have a favorite meal?

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Not that I find the food options so superior, I just find it the most spiritually satisfying. I eat the same breakfast every day: a vanilla Oikos Triple Zero yogurt topped with frozen blueberries and my husband’s homemade granola — which he dutifully replenishes the second the last bowl is scooped — and two cups of black coffee.

I am passionate about eggs, too, but that’s its own conversation, maybe even its own language. Thank God I live in New Jersey where I can throw a rock from any street corner and hit a diner.

My favorite DISH, however, is lamb korma with garlic naan. That’ll do it for me every time.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Free yourself from fear and shame.

To the person reading this?

If you can’t log off, find a better way to log on. Be honest about how your online habits make you feel. We’ll be hearing phone discourse for a long time. Tune out the noise and decide for yourself.

What would you like to see or create more of in the world?

Late night coffee shops. Functional, performance-driven athletic gear in natural fibers, specifically 8-inch biker shorts with pockets. Accessible retreats for normal people who aren’t woo-woo trustafarians.