Gen Z just discovered a revolutionary new lifestyle trend — but something about it should look very familiar to you. Rally breaks down “Nonna Maxxing,” the viral craze where young people are ditching their phones and DoorDash to emulate Italian grandmothers. What’s going on here? Well, it looks like Nonna knows best!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Rally:
Hey there, Beautiful People — welcome back to the Silver Beast Podcast!
I’m Rally Preston. Seventy years old here – yep, me and Disneyland in Anaheim are the same age…and life’s been a log flume kind of ride for me…and I’ve loved every minute of it.
Okay. So I came across something the other day that made me L-O-L.
So here’s this new lifestyle hack trending on the World Wide Web right now. The kids — Gen Z, you know, the ones with the AirPods permanently attached to their ears — they are going crazy over this thing.
So it’s called…Nonna Maxxing.
Say what? Yeah, I’ll explain…you’ll get a kick out of this.
So Nonna, if you don’t know, is what Italian kids call their grandmother. Their Nonna. And the “maxxing” part — well, that’s a Gen Z word for like, going all in on something. Maximizing, get it?
Ok, so Nonna Maxxing is…young people trying to live like Italian grandmas…I kid you not.
Take a second to ponder that. Oh the irony, right? …kids wanting to live la dolce vita like a grandma.
Best I can tell, a post on Instagram a while back started the whole thing. Hundreds of thousands of likes. These twentysomethings are buzzing about this.
And what is this revolutionary new Nonna Maxxing you ask?
Well I’ll sum it up first: Walking everywhere. Cooking real food. Long lunches with friends. Going outside. Staying off your phone. Being connected to your community. And slowing down.
That’s about it. That’s the big trend.
And if you’re thinking…well, wait a minute… that’s just how a lot of us grew up. That’s how our parents, or at least grandparents, that’s about how they did it. Y’know, before the fast food drive-throughs, DoorDash, cell phones, and about 17 streaming services.
The kids discovered the old way. And probably think they invented it.
Well, bless their hearts.
Now look, not knocking them. Believe me, I think it’s great. Young adults today do seem to be pretty stressed out, burned out, or something. And they’re trying to conjure up a life that’s maybe slower, more grounded. And I say g ood for them; you go kids!
So I’m thinking, well, hold on, maybe they’re on to something here. Might be something we should revisit. Because there is some science behind why this slower-paced style of living works. And some of us, me included, have drifted a little away from some of these yesteryear habits. It happens. Life gets busy. Routines change. Kids grow up. You retire. Things shift around.
So let’s borrow the kids’ Nonna Maxxing as our inspiration today – and just see if there’s anything worthwhile there for us who are already grandmas and grandpas…I think there might be…
Alright. First thing on the Nonna Maxxing list — and the one with maybe the most research behind it — is walking.
Italy is an incredibly walkable country. But there, nonnas I don’t think walk for exercise. They do it because that’s just how you get around. To the market. To the café. To the neighbor’s house.
And of course, walking’s good for you. We do know that. And there’s hundreds of studies that confirm it. Walking helps us age slower. And better too.
Now, I get it — a lot of us aren’t living in a Tuscan hillside village where everything’s a 10-minute cobblestone stroll away. But most of us can get outside and walk a little more than we do. Park the car further away. Take the long way around. Do a few laps around the mall –just whatever it takes.
I’m sure Nonnas don’t overthink it – they just walk.
Here’s the next Nonna Maxing thing: Real food. What? Kids cooking? Yeah, I guess so.
You know, Italian grandmas cook from scratch. Pick out seasonal produce. The Olive oil. Vegetables. Fresh ingredients. No, no magic diet. No calorie-counting app. No need to buy a celebrity cooking book.
In fact, researchers at the Università di Roma…that’s my bad Italian, that’s the University of Rome…say that fresh, seasonal food — less processed, more natural — supports healthy aging. Physical function, mental function, reduced chronic disease risk. Good stuff.
Now my grandma cooked like this every single night – and she wasn’t even Italian. But yeah, pork chops and potatoes. Green beans from the garden. Something simmering on the back burner for hours. I grew up around that. Maybe you did too – yeah, we know what real food smells like.
And maybe it’d be good for us to lean into some of Grannie’s old recipes.
Okay, here’s a really good point from Nonna Maxxing: Community.
Now Nonnas stay connected. Comes naturally to them. They stay in touch with their neighbors. Their family. Probably to anyone within shouting distance — your business is kinda their business. But, I think in a good way.
And sort of related to this, Research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that people who volunteered more than a hundred hours a year had lower mortality risk, more optimism, and a stronger sense of purpose than those who didn’t.
And a separate study found that grandparents who stayed active in their grandkids’ lives — like homework help, school pickups, that kind of thing — scored higher on memory and verbal fluency tests than those who didn’t.
Now I think we can embrace this page from the Nonna Maxxing playbook for sure: Staying connected. Showing up at things. Being present in people’s lives. That kind of connection works – it helps you live longer.
So, here I’m gonna steal a little bit from a Self magazine article here. So they interviewed this 96-year-old Italian nonna who said this: “The most important thing for living a long and happy life? Don’t isolate yourself.” And then she said this about boredom: “It’s the one thing that truly makes you old.”
There you go, wisdom from a 96-year-old – I’m writing that one down.
Alright — one more Nonna Maxing tip – it’s a bit philosophical, I guess, but it’s kinda cool…
Nonnas seem to think about aging a little different than most of us, from what I’ve read. They don’t seem to be fighting it. They’re not trying to look thirty-five. They dress up. They take care of themselves. And they’re proud of where they’ve been and who they are.
There’s research on this, too. A recent study found an association between how women view aging and the actual pace at which they age biologically. So this, where your head is at, is pretty interesting. A psychology professor at UC Riverside puts it simply: You can look at aging as deterioration and loss — or, as wisdom, maturity, and richness of life. It’s your choice. And yeah, I’m going with the positive spin…that feels much better.
Okay, Silver Beasties — let’s sum up this whole Nonna Maxxing thing.
So Gen Z is desperately trying to live the life a lot of you have already lived — or could be living right now. They’re romanticizing it a little, yeah, no doubt. They’re calling it a trend because yeah, they’re putting it on Instagram. But the actual habits underneath all of it? Walking. Real food. Community. Slowing down. Embracing where you are in life. Those aren’t trends. Those are just the good things we should all be doing more of.
So okay, here’s your Nonna Homework for this week — just three simple things:
One — take a walk. Every day if you can. Even a short one. No agenda. Just walk.
Two — try cooking one real meal this week. From scratch. Something your mother might’ve made. Or her mother. I’m sure you’ve got a few dog-eared recipe cards somewhere. Pull one out and get to cooking.
And three — reach out to someone. A neighbor. A grandkid. An old friend you’ve been meaning to call. The Nonnas — yeah they don’t wait for people to come to them. They just show up.
You know, you don’t need a trending hashtag to live well. You just need to remember what worked.
The Italian grandmas, the Nonnas, have known this for centuries. And now apparently, so does Gen Z.
Better late than never, kids.
Alright. This is Rally Preston. Go live like a Nonna. I’ll catch you next time right here on the Silver Beast Podcast. Take care!