#1931 Fight Fire With Fire - Part 2
Fight Fire With Fire (Part 2)
Part 2: managing type 1 on a fire scene, a candid detour into what people get wrong about the podcast, and Nick on a GLP — half the insulin, and a firehouse-floor case against the stigma.
Jump to a moment
- On scene, he checks before he masks up. A glance at the CGM on his watch at the truck, glucose tabs or juice from his go bag if he’s trending, and a recheck during rehab. Firefighting mixes anaerobic and aerobic work, so adrenaline and effort often hold him up while the algorithm chases the rest.
- He came on partly to answer the “is Scott a jerk?” question — for himself. Nick found the show through a split-opinion thread and listened to settle it. Part 2 turns into a candid conversation about hosting, reviews from people who heard one episode, and why an unproduced show reads as more honest.
- A GLP changed his numbers. After tightening control led to some weight gain and rising insulin needs, his provider added Zepbound at the lowest dose. Nick reports losing about 20 pounds, cutting his insulin roughly in half, fewer stubborn post-meal highs, and A1cs in the mid-6s.
- He’s blunt about the stigma. Coworkers told him to just hit the gym or eat less. His answer: this is a metabolic issue, not the easy way out — the same way type 1 isn’t a choice. Scott adds the defibrillator analogy: nobody refuses the paddles to avoid “cheating.”
- Being the proof helped a family. On a call for a 13-year-old kept home for high blood sugar, Nick told the mom he has type 1 and does this job — and watched it land. His close: get comfortable with your body, get good control, and most goals are within reach.
- GLP-1 Medications series — Scott's ongoing Juicebox coverage of GLP medications and type 1 - context for Nick's experience, not medical advice.
- T1D Exchange Registry — US residents 18+ with type 1 can complete the survey and help move T1D research forward.
- Juicebox Podcast on Facebook — The private community Nick found the podcast through — 86,000 members and, as Scott puts it, the most un-Facebook-like place on Facebook.
Every word of the conversation
“You found part two”0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the juice box podcast. If you don't love today's episode, you can have your money back. T1dexchange.org/juicebox. Head over there and Allan take the survey. Over 18 US resident, type one diabetes.
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Hello, friends. You found part two. Scott knew you would. He believes in you. Right where he left it backed in your ears.
Let's finish the show. We're glad you're here. Part two. Part two. Scott knew you would.
Part two. Part two. You found it right where he should. Part two. You made it.
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Part two. Part two. Part two. Knew you would. Part two.
Part two. Part two. You found it right where he should.
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Telling the crew, staying safe on scene3:00
Then, you know, potentially have all this insulin on board with absolutely no carbs to back it up and then be in a sticky situation. You know?
Guys or did the your fellow coworkers, they treat you any differently or or they're
not really. No. This is also kind of ties into the whole reason that I'm here because when I really had first gotten the job, I had thought a lot about that and about how I didn't want people to treat me differently or think I wasn't capable of doing the job because I have type one, you know. So most of my coworkers know, all of my officers a 100% know. I've I've sat them down and and told them, hey.
You know, this is what I got. I got an insulin pump. I'm well controlled. And if I come to you and I say that I don't feel good, you know, something's really wrong, but otherwise, you know, check-in with me. Let me do my job.
I'll I'll be okay. But
Yeah.
You know, I think I think for the most part, they don't, you know, the the guys who I'm close with really don't don't treat me any different. I think I think we all have things that we come with, whether it's diabetes or somebody has asthma or somebody has other conditions. I think everybody has that thing that's happening outside of work or in their life that, you know, they just make do and mine might just be a little bit more intense or Yeah. In my face.
Might pop up out of nowhere once or twice. Has it happened? Have you ever had to go to somebody and go, I gotta tap out for a second?
No. Actually, knock knock on some serious wood. I'll go back to work tomorrow after being off. Hasn't, but not
on
a fire scene anyway. I'm I'm really good when I'm going to a fire and I get down at the truck. Like, if I'm starting to trend any certain way, I I try to look at my watch with my CGM on it or my phone really quick before I put my stuff on and just say, okay. This is my sugar. I'm at a good number.
Or, hey. I'm trending this way. I need to, you know, take a couple glucose tabs or drink a little bit of juice that I keep in my go bag on the truck Mhmm. Just just to keep myself safe. And then when I come out and, you know, we do rehab after changing out bottles and stuff, I'll recheck again.
Hey. I'm in a good spot or, no. I'm not.
Yeah.
So I I really try hard to make sure that I'm not an added issue as we're already dealing with this big, you know Right. Flaming inferno of an issue.
Oh, I wouldn't if I mean, if my recollection's correct, you're also it's a balance of anaerobic and aerobic exercise at the same time. Yes. Like, you're hustling, but you're also lifting and carrying and throwing. And and and so you are it's probably helping itself. Like, the adrenaline's probably helping keep you up.
The anaerobic part of what you're doing is probably help keeping you up. The aerobic parts probably help not letting it go too far. The pumps, these algorithms are fantastic. It's trying to stay ahead of it. Like, it's a lot of you got a lot of things on your side.
Yeah. I mean, there's it's definitely a I agree with the the anaerobic versus aerobic. I mean, it's definitely a a balancing act because, yeah, you're you're running, you know, up to it, and then you get up there. And then all of a sudden, you're now pulling ceilings or, you know, using heavy machinery like a saw or something. So, you know, you're then decreasing, you know, that that aerobic and you're starting actually moving those those muscle groups around and
Yeah.
So it it that definitely helps for sure.
Rolled hose, no socks, and the squawk box6:18
Listen. In until you've rolled up a a length of hose and turned it over your shoulder and carried it 50 yards back to a truck, you you you don't know. It's Right. It is a lot, especially after you've caught a fire for five hours. You you know what Like, there's not a different crew that comes in and cleans up when it's over.
Right. Not usually. Yeah. We might have standing here for six hours, and we're looking around, like, you know, where the hell is the backup.
Right? And Oh, we got the fire out. Now clean up. Now take this stuff back and scrub it up, and then lay it out and dry it. And, like, gee, it just doesn't it's a it's a big job.
Yeah. And then, you know, try to take a shower after doing all that. Well, guess what? You got another call. So now you gotta go you know, you're you're you're all gross, soaking wet.
You know, you you smell like smell like house fire, and now you're picking grandma up off the floor. It's like, oh my gosh. You
know? I remember one time literally crawling through a building thinking, I don't have socks on. That's all I could say. Like, we it was late at night, and it was overnight. I I I don't this is a a strange piece of little context, but I lived across the street from the firehouse that I volunteered at.
So I was frequently the first one there. Sure. And and but sometimes you'd get so yanked out of bed. Like, we used to have this thing. God.
What was the company that made this? It was like a squawk box. Right? And it didn't I I I mean, technology is so much different now. People probably can actually don't understand this.
But, like, imagine being asleep in your bed and a thing I'm gonna I'm gonna face away from the microphone for a second. A thing in your bedroom just goes wee. And like that, you're like, what the hell? Like, so you're bold upright at that point, and you can't even you can kind of hear voices. This is RF radio coming from, like, you know, 50 miles away.
Can sorta hear, like, a voice say, like, you know, engine one respond blah blah, like, to a fire and, like, know, like, okay. And one time, like, I got up and I just it's I'm you know, I get yanked out of bed. It's 02:00 in the morning, and I couldn't find socks. And I could hear them talking about what the and I just I don't know what happened. I just ran out of my house.
Yeah. And now, like, I'm now I'm in this goddamn boots, which, by the way, I wanna tell somebody a story. The last time my bunker boots got replaced, they let me keep them. I was 19 years old. I am 54 now.
I still use them to shovel snow. It's maybe one of my greatest personal, like like, possessions. Those things are they're And, like like so I still have my boots. But but you're in those boots. They're not exactly made for comfort.
My feet are just rubbing against the inside of them. We're crawling through a building, and I remember thinking, I wish I had socks on. Yeah. Oh. For sure.
You're good. But but it's just it's a it's a weird thing to do. I only did it for three years. How long have you been at at this now? Diabetes, as you know, comes with a lot of things to remember.
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Four years in, and buying a house11:17
So I got hired with my department in 2022. So I just hit, I just started my full fourth year.
Wow. You think you're gonna keep at it?
Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, you know, truth be told, I've when you ask kids what they wanna be when they grow up and I was, like, five and I said a firefighter, and then, you know, when I was 10, I said the same thing. And I think it's just something that I've always wanted to do. That's awesome.
So it's it's a good job. It's it's rewarding. And, honestly, from a selfish standpoint, I like doing it.
And Yeah. Is it pay okay? Is it provide a decent lifestyle for you?
Yeah. I mean, obviously, I think if you ask majority of firefighters, they're gonna tell you for the work we do and for the things we have to endure. It's not enough pay. Mhmm. But I think it's definitely enough where, you know, I can provide for my family and and be comfortable Nice.
For sure. That's awesome. Do you guys plan on having kids or getting married, the two of you?
Yeah. I mean, we we have these plans. So we actually bought a house together, this past summer.
So Congratulations.
We're doing all of the thank you. We're doing all of the the married things, you know. She's obviously got my son, which is like her stepson, but just trying to find the right time. But I I definitely think, you know, once we once we do get married, I think an another child might be in the the mix for sure.
No. Well, hey. Listen. In 2026, you figured out how to buy a house. You're you're doing pretty well.
It's the the difficult thing to accomplish nowadays.
It it was. I mean, we we were on a house hunting journey for quite a while, and we we probably looked at, like, almost 40 houses
That's crazy.
But bids on half of them and got outbidded every time. And we're we're putting, like, serious serious over asking offers in and
Yeah.
You know?
No. It's not a, it's it's it's not it's not a great time to be young and trying to buy a house. That's for sure. No. For sure.
Okay. So I feel like I okay. Is there anything I haven't asked you about that I should have? Like, this is the part where I I worry I start worrying I haven't done a good job. So anything because I have another question for you, but I wanna make sure based around your work, is there anything left?
His message: anything is possible13:22
Not really work. I just I think the the whole premise though is that, you know, I just want everybody to know who's listening. But especially, like, the younger kids, you know, or or parents who have younger kids with type one that, like, anything is possible. You know? And if if your kids grow up or you even as a person, you know, think, oh, I I can't do that because I have type one.
You know? Try again. You know? Right. Really really hunker down, get yourself under good control, get comfortable with your body, and then I think a lot of a lot of goals are really easily attainable if you, you know, put your mind to it.
So don't be discouraged.
That's a great message. I appreciate that. So I wanna I I wanna kinda not go backwards, but you you talked about meeting your your new practitioner, you know, pulling pulling settings together and everything. But then it sounds like a number of years later, maybe three years later, you found the podcast. So what led you to look for a podcast?
Did it find you, or did you find it?
It's a great question. I honestly think maybe a little bit of both. So, like, I I specifically remember just relaxing. I think I was scrolling social media, whether it be at, like, Reddit or Facebook or something. Mhmm.
And it was like a diabetes group, not your diabetes group, of course, at that point. But it was a diabetes group and somebody was, you know, either talking about something or complaining about something that had happened or whatever. But somebody had mentioned the Juice Box podcast in the comments, and I was like, this is kind of interesting. And there was a couple a little bit of discussion about it. Like, some people were super for it, some people were like, oh, you know, I'm not really sure about that.
And I was like, just kind of interested. I was like, okay. Well, what's the hype or what are they saying?
Is this guy great, or an ass?15:16
So Oh, so you're I kinda so you get in a position where you're like, either this is awesome or this guy's a prick. I'll go find out which it is.
Well right. But it was like it was so stark differences. People were like, oh my god. This is great. And they're like, no.
This guy's complete asshole.
I know. I I'm
like, like, what what's the answer here? So I almost, like, I almost kind of searched it to be like, well, damn. Now I gotta figure this out for myself.
I gotta tell you. I don't I I don't know the answer.
So so I I listened. I don't can't remember the first episode I listened to, but, like, wasn't something that was really, like, personal to me. It really didn't, like, super resonate with me. So I was like, oh, like, I I caught the vibe, you know, and I was like, okay. Like, that's kinda cool.
And then like a week later, was driving to work and I'm like, I don't really wanna listen to music. I'm like, maybe I should try it again. And I listened. Again, I don't remember what episode it was. Sure.
And I was like, wow. That that person talked about points that were, like, practical to me. They said things that I had maybe gone through. I remember having that kind of feeling listening to it.
Okay.
And then it just kinda took off from there. It's something that I listen to all the time in the morning and in the evenings when I'm going to and from work. That's when I normally listen to it. But
Can can I ask, do you find now that you're more into it that conversations that don't feel like they're for you are still valuable, or do you skip some?
For sure. I I usually at least try to listen to all of them. I feel like there's always sometimes those statistical outliers where you're like, yeah. Like, I'm I'm just having a hard time kind of getting in the in the groove with this conversation.
Yeah.
But I do think that understanding everyone's stories, even if they don't align with you, hearing just the diff the the the way that people think differently, the way people operate differently, I think it adds a lot of valuable, you know, other thoughts for yourself. Like, oh, I I never thought of that that way or wow, that's a great way to do that. You know? Yeah. Even having diabetes for thirteen years, not as long as some people have, but, like, listening to someone's story or or somebody saying, hey, this is the way I do it.
And you're like, holy cow. Like, I never thought about that. Right. You know?
I listen. I I am very interested in people. Like, so I it's not hard for me to have a conversation that doesn't jive with what I would do personally. Right. But I do wonder sometimes, like, when you have that feeling like, oh, this one's not quite right for you know, is it me or is it them?
Like, am I not doing a good job of of because, like, there are I mean, there are people I've interviewed that if I'm being honest with you, if I was listening to a podcast, I wouldn't be interested in them. Like, if if I was doing it for entertainment. But as the person making this, I think there's probably something incredibly interesting about them and I wanna hear it. But I wonder if I fall short of being as engaged sometimes. And, like and I don't know if that comes I how that comes across to somebody who's listening.
Right. I get what you're saying, but I think I think there's only like, being the host, I think, puts you in a in a interesting place. Right? Because you obviously are helping guide the conversation. You can definitely make or break it with the direction that you take that person or if you're not catching, you know, the the cues that they're setting for you to kinda take them in the right direction, you know.
But I also think that at the same time on the other side of the coin, like, you're dealt the cards that you have, you know. So if you are interviewing somebody that people for who are listening for enjoyment might not necessarily find intriguing per se, I think that can be hard to you can only shape a person so much before you're just you know, you can't really shape them anymore.
What a host can and can’t control18:55
Yeah. You see something interesting there that I think about a lot, which is, like, I can only an I can only ask the questions that occur to me. And there's times, by the way, that I'm tired or it's later in the day or I'm I'm I'm wasted for some reason or, like, I I know I'm not always at my best. Like, that's neither here nor there. Like like, but I only can think of the questions that I think of.
Right.
And and it it's never lost to me that another person would have asked a different question in that situation, and this would have gone in a completely different direction. And, normally, people are really kind about it. Because I'll ask, like, you know, you'll see. We'll get done. I'll be like, hey.
Was this okay for you and stuff like that? Because, you know, when you're not being recorded, you don't have the pressure to, like, acquiesce to me. Right. Like, then which, by the way, there's no real pressure for that, but there but I know some people feel that way. Like, I'm like, you know, I'm a voice on the other end of a thing.
You might have had a really great experience with. You might have been listening for a long time. It's probably hard to tell me no in some situations. So, like, I like to get you not being recorded and say, like, were you comfortable with all that? Like, know, that kind of stuff at the end.
And I do wonder if sometimes people don't push back because I'm the guy from the thing.
Right.
And and I and I feel badly about that, but I don't know how to I don't know how to effectuate that at all. Like, you know what I mean? Like because there are some people come on here. Like, the woman I interviewed yesterday, her name was Eden. She was awesome.
But before we started, she's like, I am really nervous. Right. And I was like, why? And she was, I I don't she's she pauses and she's like, I don't I don't I'm just really, really nervous. And some people will tell me, well, you're famous.
And I'm like, no. No. I'm not. Like, I'm in a small room in my house making a podcast. Like, you know what I mean?
Like, I'm I'm I'm Right. That's crazy. But to them, it's not. And so when I say when I ask a question, I never know. Like, sometimes I wish people would push back more or you know?
And I think you do. Like, I've said things to you today, you're like, well, actually, that I appreciate because I'm not right. I'm just doing my best to, like I don't know, keep us moving forward.
Sure. Well, I mean, it it should be a conversation. Like, I think I think if you were to not that you would ever do this, but if you were to tell people, oh, I'm not recording, I think you would actually get people who are a lot more candid. Because I do think people hear that that whole, like, recording thing.
Oh, shit, son. You have no idea. The minute I the minute it stops, there's something people's voices change.
Right. Right? And and I could see that. And that's that's what it should be. And I think, like, I was definitely when I signed up, I was like, oh my god.
I'm gonna do this. And I'm like, hold on. This is like months out. You know? I took a breath.
Mhmm. But then I realized, like, coming on the podcast, like, you don't have to do much research. You you know, that this story should usually come pretty easy because it's usually about you or something that you or a loved one has has lived through. You know?
I I tell people, I'm like, I'd be stunned if you didn't know the answers to the questions I ask you. Like, that Right. This is not a thing you're studying for. That's for
sure. Right. And it's not multiple choice, so you don't have, like, a 25% chance of getting it right. Yeah. Like, I
How do you feel?
Pretty good chance you're gonna get it right.
Yeah. Yeah. What's your feeling? Like, you by the way, some people share their feelings, and I bet you they feel differently about them later or might even say, oh, I I would have said something different. But I I periodically get emails.
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I didn't do a good job. That's not happening. Like like like, you're just you're gonna say the same things, and I'm gonna ask the same questions because you and I had a vibe together, and that's what's gonna like and some and and just take from it that someone's gonna get something from your conversation even if it's not the thing you were hoping to impart when you started. Something came from it, and that's good. You you know?
But oh, okay. That that's interesting. I I appreciate that. Does your girlfriend who would do suggested you come on, does she listen, or does she just know what it means to you?
She I don't know. She's obviously gonna listen to this episode. Yeah. When
you say that she's the most kind, beautiful woman you've ever met.
She is. Yeah. A 100%.
There you go. Good job. A 100%. Yeah. Yeah.
But we because when we bought our house, it is a 100 years old, so we've been in the process of doing a lot of remodeling and kinda bringing its charm back to it, you know, that type of thing. Yeah. So there's been plenty of times where, again, we've kinda tapped out on the music. And I said, oh, you know, I'll throw the podcast on. So she's kind of passively listened to a couple episodes.
I mean, there's been episodes where I'll come home and and talk to her about it or, you know, certain things like that. So Yeah.
She said that lady on Reddit was right. He is an asshole.
No. She hasn't said that to me yet. So at least you got you got two two two fans over here.
Well, thank you. Oh, I'll contextualize it for people listening and for you a little bit too. When I I'm not trust me. I'm not wrong. The minute I hit stop, a lot of people, their the pitch in their voice changes, the pace they speak at changes.
They they they do get a little more often. Even people who are very open get a little more open. Like, it's and and I understand that. These are not people who are used to being recorded or doing stuff like Right. It's up to me to be unguarded.
Like like that that like because I'm already grabbing people who are who are just they're not practiced at this. Right? And and I think you one, you get from them a lot of honesty because they're not even they're not media trained to, like, protect themselves. Like, you know, you get somebody on here from a company. They've been media trained for Oh, right.
Dozens of hours about things not to say and don't use this phrasing and things like that. Like, their lawyers will beat that into their heads. I I don't have that. And I could. I don't I mean, could I do it?
I probably could. Would I want to? I don't. But I also think it takes the authenticity out of the conversation. Like, so I am for people who have listened before and thought, like, oh my god.
He's a narcissistic or he's this or he thinks I hear people say, what woman told me yesterday, like, she's like, I have I know somebody whose kid also has diabetes, and she won't listen to you. She says, you think you're a doctor. And I'm like, I don't think I'm a doctor. And she goes, well, she thinks you do. And I'm like, okay.
Well, there so I gave her that impression at some point. Right? Like but I can't be worried about any of that. Like, I have to just talk, and then those people who are gonna enjoy it are the ones who are gonna benefit from it. And the ones who don't I couldn't have reached you one way or the other is is sort of how I think about it.
Reviews, disclaimers, and staying real26:23
Well, I think that's I think that's any platform, though. I mean, you look at even keeping it diabetes related, some of these other type one influencers that are out there, like, there's always the hate side. You know? There's always gonna be the negative. And, also, you know, the disclaimer obviously says it's not medical advice.
I mean You know?
Yeah. Always talk to a physician. Right?
I've been using disclaimers before disclaimers were cool, Nick. Okay? Because Right. Exactly.
Be But I mean but I mean, that's the thing. Like and I think I think the difference though too is, like, people are like, well, this this guy's an ass. Well but is it just this episode? How many have you listened to? Because if you, you know, have a a certain vibe with someone you're talking to, yeah, you might be more sarcastic or you you guys might have a
Yeah.
A more lighthearted conversation versus you're talking with somebody who's really struggling and you're trying to help them get back on their feet or get their settings right for their kid. Like, I think those are two vastly different not different Scotts, but different versions, different conversations that are being had. So
Yeah. You're all like that, by the way. I'm just the only one recording myself every day. So Right. Right.
And I would say I would listen. I I had a review at some point in the last year. This person was like, look. You know? I everybody told me this was good, and it wasn't.
And then you see as you're reading the review that they listen to one episode. I'm like, well Right. How how can that part baffles me. Like, if you don't like me, that's fine. If I turned you off enough that you don't wanna listen again, I mean, even that's fine.
Why would you write a review about it? Like, you you've listened one time to something with eighteen hundred hours of content, And now you heard forty five minutes of it, you're like, I know all about this enough such that I should go tell other people about it. I'm like, you don't know me. By the way, you could listen to all 1,800 of these. You wouldn't know me.
And it it's it's you you'll get close. I don't really I don't I don't think I hide a ton. So, like, I you're gonna get pretty close to knowing me. But but you're not gonna know everything, and it's I don't know. I find that such a weird thing.
I listen to plenty of stuff. I really am a a I listen to a lot. I'm listening to this interview now with this British doctor talking about type two diabetes. I wish he'd come on my podcast, but he's on such a big podcast now. I don't think I could I don't think I can corral him.
He's he probably probably his head's probably as big as the as a as a balloon at this point. He's on a really big show. Yeah. But, like, I'd love for him to come have this the conversation he he seems to have. Like, I would love to have it here.
But, I mean, I don't know how it would go. And maybe I'd say something silly in the middle of it or not. I don't know. Like, it just you just keep talking and something comes of it. But I I again, I don't know.
Like, I listened to him. He was talking about some things, and I thought, oh, that'll that that's gonna make people mad. And this isn't and I but I was real re respectful of the guy because he didn't care. He's like, this is how I they I've been doing this for decades. These are my takeaways.
I'm I'm sharing them here with you. You know? And Yeah. And I thought I think that's sort of what I do a little bit. Like, you're everything's not gonna come out smooth, and everything's not gonna make everybody happy.
But at least it's been said, and you can filter through it now and do what you want with it.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And, I mean, I think that's also the piece that some of those particular people might forget is that, like, if you come into this and just expect this one person who's got all these podcast episodes to just, like, come in and sweep you off your feet and up one episode had all the answers to my problems. Like Yeah. Yeah.
You're you're probably gonna be let down quite a bit. Oh, yeah. But if you use your good personal judgment and you you listen to other people's stories, you you listen to the pro tips, you use these things, and then kind of cater them to how they can fit best into your lifestyle, into your treatment plan, or your kid's treatment plan, whoever, I think that's when you have the success. I think that's when it it actually comes in. I I I don't know if it's just unrealistic expectations or
Right.
What it might be. But
Also, it's not a it's not a movie. I'm not, like, I'm not as handsome as, like, you know, a mid twenties Brad Pitt, and I'm not being shot with giant cameras from 17 angles 43 times, then we pick the best one. Like, you you know, like, I'm I'm I'm that's not happening. Even, like, a lot of these video podcasts you guys are watching, they're really highly produced. Mhmm.
You know? I am not like dude, I sat down here and turned this thing on. I was like, oh, I'm late. Like, I was like, too I felt bad about that. Like, I felt like but but I was late because three minutes before that, I was at my front door talking to a guy who stopped by and wanted to sell me something.
I was like, no thanks. I gotta work. Right. And, like, you know, like and I've been up early today because somebody had to come measure for carpet in the office that I made for myself. Like, I'm not I I don't know.
I was watching this podcast the other day. This guy's he's huge. He must have 2,000,000 followers. And it's really I think it's really well done. I'm a fan of it.
But you realize, like, he's in a studio with a crew. Yeah. You you know? And, like, and lighting and scripts. And he's he's got seven producers who sit down and talk about what they're gonna talk about beforehand.
And I'm like, I'm just getting on here and going, so you're Nick? Right. Right. You know? And there's
That's kinda one of the draws, though. Right? Because it's
I hope
little more raw. I mean, at least to me, like, I've heard people cry on the podcast. I've heard people swear. I've heard people, you know, get upset and and beat their chest, you know, for lack of better words.
Right. Right.
I think that's what that keeps it real because I think there comes a point where you're, like, almost overproduced some of those
I think yeah. This the one I'm talking about is is done I think it's done well. Is it called Diary of the CEO maybe? Maybe it's gotten away from that. He's a British guy.
He's young. I don't know what the hell his name is. I also, that's I it's important for me to remember when I talk like this when I'm like, I can't believe people don't know the name of the pro tip series. Telling you about a thing I watched an hour ago, and I'm like, I don't know that. Maybe his name's Steven.
Like, I don't even know. It's weird for me to think that somebody's thinking of me that way. They're like, I don't know what his name is, but, my a one c went down.
Right. Right.
It is. It's called it's called diary of a CEO. He's like, I I don't know if he's the 30 guy, British guy. And I think he does a I think his show does a good job. Like like and he picks topics, and he talks through it.
And he's talking to this doctor named Unwin, David Unwin, and they're talking about, like, sugar and healthy eating. And I gotta tell you, for half of this conversation, I thought, they're talking about glycemic index and load. I've been trying to get people to think about that for ten years. And these two were having a conversation about it like they like like like, they just discovered it. And I'm like, oh, okay.
But I'm glad somebody's talking about it. It's awesome. Because, you know, I chose I chose when I started doing this, Nick, to to say I can't I don't think I can effectuate how people eat, but I think maybe I could affect how they think about using their insulin. Yeah.
I agree
with that. Right. Right. And then to hear somebody twelve years after I started doing this, like, having a conversation I know these conversations happen all over the Internet, and they were happening before me too, where they're talking about, like, oh, the quality of the food, and there's way more sugar in in things than you think there is. There's way more sugar in carbs than you think there is.
You know? Here's how your body breaks down a carb and turns it into glucose. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. I've been trying to tell people that, but at the same time, I don't want them to shut off and not take care of their diabetes.
Like, I had to pick one.
Right.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, I'd like to have that conversation, but there's part of me that thinks that people will go, oh, well, I thought you told me I could eat whatever I want and just bolus for it. And I I do think you you could could do that. I also think you maybe shouldn't drink a glass of sugar.
Like, so Right. You you know, like, it's but I but I've chosen one side over the other. And then at my peril, because people who eat low carb then call me a carb pusher or an insulin pusher. And I'm like, man, you cannot win in this world.
Like like You're never going to.
Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I hope you all take good care of yourselves and and have great success like Nick does. Look. Nick's crawling around in a smoky building, dragging a trust me, those hoses are heavy as hell when they're charged.
Mhmm. And he's he's out there trying to help people, man. It's really cool. What did we miss though? Anything at all?
Tell me if I missed anything.
The pivot: Nick’s on a GLP34:45
I don't know if we necessarily missed anything. I just had here too since I know it's kind of been a big topic on the podcast. I actually got put on a GLP, this past year
Tell me.
As well. So I
Hey. Take By the way, Nick, you just got yourself a two part episode. Go ahead.
Oh, sweet. That's actually funny you say that not to not to segue too far, but when I was before I was coming out, was talking to my girlfriend. I'm like, what do you think? Am I gonna be interesting enough for a two part episode or are we gonna cut this short?
Nick, I'll No.
You you could do it.
Do do some of them feel like they get cut short?
No. No. No. No. I I was just saying, like, me, like, am I just gonna have nothing to say?
Like, am I just gonna have total brain fart?
You know? I'm glad you say that because there are times when, like, I have to end at an hour. So I've said this before. It's behind base it's a it's a little inside baseball. But, like, you know, there's a gentleman that, you know, has a business and he edits the podcast.
I can't I can't send him a two hour episode every day. Like, a, I can't afford to pay him, and, b, he can't he can't actually get it done. Like so, like, I need some of the episodes to clock in at an hour. And For sure. And and there are times there have been times, I I couldn't tell you which ones at the the where I I wind it down and I think, oh, I'm not done yet.
Right. But No. I get that.
Yeah. But but it it and it it hurts because I am really and I don't know if people would find it interesting. Maybe I'm being saved by my, you know, by my my better angels here and not not knowing it. But I could probably talk for a couple of hours every day to somebody.
100%.
I mean,
I I could too. But, again,
it's kind of Yeah. It's good.
Yeah. It's
good. You're you're actually a great mix, Nick. You're a guy who is you're talking like a guy, but you're effusive enough that it you don't sound shut down. And Right. Well, I appreciate that.
And you're willing to talk and you're and you're somehow a little wise beyond your years. Like, twenty eight's not I don't know what happened
to you. I've I've always been told that, like, my whole life. Yeah. They actually that's the running joke at work. Like, oh, I'm the youngest guy on shift, but yet somehow I'm like the old fart.
Listen. My favorite story from fighting fires is that at, like, you know, at a job, something was going off. It was like 01:00 in the morning and I wasn't supposed to be there because I was too young. But because I live next door and I was good at it, I just used to go and people would ignore it.
Yeah.
And so I ran a lot of calls illegally over the time. I won't tell you where it was, but I was too young to actually be out because I wasn't supposed to be out after midnight. And so they're loading up a truck to go, and I'm up front. And I'm basically, like, back then, I I I people find it hard just to believe, but the the the there was a book. It was a book with pages in it.
That was the map. That's how we gridded our way around the town.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And so I'm getting ready to run the book and the radio and get us there and get us to the hydrant that we need to like, I'm getting ready to do all that. And a a guy twenty years older than me comes up to the door, opens the door, looks at me, and I think they called us Probeys maybe or something like that. I forget what we were. And he's like and he said that, and he's like, out.
And he was right. Like, I I was filling the spot, and I should have left when somebody else came. And the driver reached across me, grabbed the door, pulled it closed, and goes, I'd way rather have him than you, and he drove away. Wow. And that was tough because then people did not like me as much after that.
For sure. But I But, again, that's that's that politicking thing, you know, a little bit.
You know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, that guy, the driver didn't care about the politics. He cared about the truck running right.
Right. Well, absolutely. Right. Absolutely.
But I was I've always been sort of like a like I think I code older than my age sometimes, especially when I was younger. And I actually got an opportunity to meet that guy again in the last two years. It was at a funeral, which was sad, but he was in his seventies. And I reminded him from that. And I said, I have to tell you, like, even though we don't know each other anymore, I was like, you are a huge part of my self confidence growing up.
Yeah. Like like because I was like I wasn't, like, in great I was probably chunky, like, a little short. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I I didn't fit the bill, but that guy was like, listen. You can think, and that's important.
So you come you come with me. And, anyway, I'm sorry. The the web.
That's okay.
Once I said two parter, like, my brain just reopens again.
Zepbound, and half the insulin39:09
Right. Right.
Right. On a GLP. How did that happen?
Yeah. So when I had kinda restarted getting myself better under control in, you know, handful years ago, I think that I definitely had some weight gain. Well, I don't think. I know for a fact. I had had some weight gain.
But but I had also just kinda noticed, like, I think my metabolism changed because I'm starting to get a a little bit older to that point now. And I think that since I had really gotten a lot more, not to use your phrase, but a little more bold with insulin, you know, and and really start to get things under control. I think that just kind of affected my my body more than I was actually anticipating it would.
Yeah. That's when you learn you might be taking in more calories than you think you are. You know?
Right. Yeah. And, like, you know but then I was also I feel like too with that, you also have that, like, when you're trying to hone in your settings and then you
Get lower.
Or right. Finding yourself getting low, and now you're, like, constantly, like, trying to snack, and then all of a sudden you're fighting these highs, and it's like, hang on a second, like, you know. So between that and just not being training every day, so coming out of the academy, getting really tight sugar control, trying to to navigate, you know, the highs versus the lows, trying to stay somewhere in the middle, I feel like that's kinda where things went a little little cuckoo. So
Okay.
I had talked to my provider, and she was like, well she's like, you're using more insulin because, you know, whatever reasons. You might be a little resistant at this point. And she said, you know, why don't we try a GLP? It'll help you lose a little weight. It'll keep, you know, help your cardiac function and, you know, help give you all the added benefits of having the GLP with your your heart and your kidneys and stuff.
And and she's like, I think it'll also help your a little little bit of insulin resistance. So I said, okay. So I've been on the, Zepbound, the two point five, the the lowest dose, and, I lost, like, 20 pounds, and I've cut my insulin needs in half. And it's been super big. So, like, my last a one c, a little bit higher than I wanted it to be, was a six point eight.
My one before before that was a six point five. Good hear. Mean, I've
That's awesome.
I've been super happy with that. Yeah.
Good for you. Do are you continuing to lose weight, or do you has your body kind of found a stasis?
I think my body's kind of hit a stasis. I haven't okay. So my last appointment, was supposed to go see her and I had something else come up so I had to reschedule knowing the endos and how hard they are to get into. I don't have my rescheduled appointment until September, but, I think my body's kind of hit a stasis. You know, there's obviously a lot higher of doses that I can go.
I I don't know how my provider feels about it, but I think it's definitely I mean, she's always up for discussion. She definitely is very open to things that I bring to the table. So increasing to the next dose of five might be beneficial to me.
Yeah. Do you feel like you have weight to lose?
I mean, I'm sure we all feel like we have weight to lose.
I listen. I don't know if you saw my Instagram this weekend, but, like, I had a moment this weekend where I'm down, like I I think I've lost, like, 65 pounds. I probably lost 70 and put, like, five back on or something like that. Wow. But I was I I don't wanna I probably said this somewhere else, but I was so I don't wanna go all the way into it.
But I was meeting a friend in a public place, and as I walked in, I felt like, oh god. I picked the wrong shirt. I look fat. And so much so that I went into the bathroom to look, And then as soon as I saw myself in the mirror, I was like, yep. There it is.
Look at you. Like, look look at this disaster. And then I stopped myself, and and I was like, this is crazy. Like, I don't I I this doesn't look bad at all. And, like, but why do I feel that way?
Like, why is the shirt grabbing me? Like, why do I feel like the shirt's grabbing me? Why do I like, all this stuff. And I just took a picture of myself so that I could look at it, and I'm like, I look fine. Like, I don't know what, like, what my brain's trying to tell me right now.
But, like and then I thought, bet you other people are feeling like this because a lot of us are using GLPs and not just people with diabetes, but everyone else too. And and I so I made a post about it. I I think it's been one of the more popular Instagram posts I've put up in a really long time because there's so many people like, oh my god. I feel like that too. And Right.
So yeah. So I don't know what what I'm supposed to feel like or look like. I, you know but I'm I'm asking you. Yeah.
Oh, I get what you're saying. But I also think that when you are somebody, not that I know from personal experience, but I guess relating it to my experience, like, when I was growing up, like, I was always pretty pretty thin. Like, I had a really high metabolism. And I think when that changed for me, was kinda like, wait a minute. Like, who is that in the mirror a little bit?
You you know? And you just had to kinda learn to see your body in a different light. I think when you are somebody who might have, you know, be be a little overweight or somebody who is used to seeing themselves a little heavier, even when you do lose all this weight and you make all this progress, you almost look at yourself and in an inverse way, you're like, wait a minute. Who is that?
Yeah.
Or you're always sort of guarded because now there's sort of part of you that's always like, oh my god. What would happen if I went back to that? Or Oh, no. No. People think you know what
I mean? Yeah. No. I don't wanna I definitely don't wanna go backwards. That's for sure.
For sure. Nobody does, but I think you almost kind of have trained your your brain to be guarded in that way a little bit or so I would suspect. I can't speak for you, but do you know what I mean? Like, I I think there's there's changes that happen physically, but sometimes I feel like our brains and eyes and bodies don't necessarily work together when those correlations you know, like, when those when those things happen.
Yeah. No. No. I I mean, there's there's a you know, I think it's pretty reasonable to call it, like, body dysmorphia of some point. Like, I don't see myself well.
Like, listen. I I can you promise not to tell anybody when you get done here, I think I can say this because it'll be far enough out in the future. But, like, I I filmed a a a commercial for for Omnipod recently.
And Okay. Was it the one I saw something of?
No. You saw me do a video where I explained, like, some settings and stuff like that.
I actually Okay.
I actually made a commercial with them and a lot of other people, by the way. But Cool. But yeah. You would think. But, you know, the feeling of, like, oh god.
Like, they're gonna point that camera at me, and I'm not stood on the stage. I'm not, like, go rigged up and, you know, standing perfectly the way they want me to. I'm gonna be moving around doing it. I was, like, I was pretty mortified. Like, I was like, this is gonna be terrible.
I'm gonna look horrible. I'm gonna do a bad job. Like, I was pretty sure. And I got done, and the first thing I did was, you know, I texted the person who, you know, you know, asked me to do this thing. And I said, guys, I'm so if I get you fired, I'm so sorry.
You you know, like like and and she goes, I don't I don't know what you're talking about. I'm like, I I think I did a really bad job. Like, I don't even imagine you're gonna be able to use that. And that's all that, like I don't know where all that comes from because I got done and she says, Scott, listen. We we've seen the the rough cut already.
She's like, you're fantastic in this. Like, she's like, you are so personable and, like, like, at ease and, like and she and she's like, I I genuinely don't know why you feel that way. And and she's like, I just, you know, let me be comforting and tell you that's not the case. But I I don't know that about myself. Like, I Yeah.
Like, I if you made me sit here and intellectualize about it, I could remove myself from myself and tell you the things about me that are positive. But while I'm living, I don't feel that way. Oh, right. Yeah. You know?
And so, like, it it's it was really, like, I was worried about how I was gonna look. I was worried about and I I don't wanna give away too much, but it's a kind of a a comical thing, and that part I was fine with. But, like, I I mean, like, am I gonna look old? Am I gonna look fat? Am I gonna look like like, is this gonna be embarrassing?
Like, you know, I'm sure it's going to be. And then she sent me a couple of stills, and I'm like, this is fine. Like, I wonder what I was worried about even.
Right.
I mean, it's You know?
It's easy to get in your own head, though.
Man. 100%. Two two seconds in, and it didn't stop me. I still did the thing. But I was so unsure of it that as I walked away from it, I thought, oh god.
I botched that. And then and then you hear back from them, they're like, oh, it's so natural and good and blah blah blah. I'm like, wait. Really? Like, how is that?
I so, anyway, it and I don't know if that's ever gonna go away. I should just stop doing stuff like this, and I wouldn't have to think about it, honestly. But it it it is a good growth thing to go do something you're uncomfortable with. Yeah. But, anyway, I I you know, going back to this weekend, I I left that bathroom.
I put that post up, and I thought, I hope this helps somebody. I'm not I'm actively not gonna think about this again. I'm gonna walk around and enjoy myself. And and I did, and I didn't think about it again. I did actually, when I got to my car later, I real I found myself going like, oh, I put that post up.
I wonder if anybody interacted with it. And so it was a few hours later, and I went back and looked at it. And I think it had, like, 400 likes already, and it had been viewed, like, 16,000 times, like, because I figured and I was like, oh, wow. People are, like, looking at it. I'm and they're mostly saying the same thing I'm saying right now, which is I don't know.
Would he stay on it?48:25
Anyway, do you think you'll use a GLP, like, now that you see the impacts of it on your blood sugar? Do you think you'll just you think you'll continue to use it at a low level?
I think so. I mean, even if even if I stay at this level, like, I think I've really found a good kinda happy place because it's even wait. Like I said, wait aside. I mean, just decreasing my insulin needs, it helps a lot of those post meal spikes. You know?
I've just you don't get those such stubborn highs, you know, for as long or as often on it. I mean, it's it's done a lot of good things for my body and my my type one too.
I'm a huge fan of what I'm seeing it do for people.
Like Yeah. I mean, honestly and and I'm I don't know if she wants me to share this or not, but but my girlfriend's was on a GLP. She came off because her insurance stopped covering it. She just went back on again, but, like, she saw and she's been on it longer than I have, but she saw a huge thing too. She also has, PCOS, and she noticed a huge reduction in her symptoms with it.
And then she came off of it and started having those symptoms again and then went back on it and
Oh, sure.
Getting it better. You know? So just with with all the inflammation and, obviously, her having an illness that already causes inflammation, her HAE. You know what I mean? Like, taking away all the other other inflammation and and helping all those things in her body is, like, super huge for her too.
I'm I I believe that a million percent. I I I always go back right to the, like, brightest GLPs were becoming mainstream, like, but not no. These things have been around for so long, and then people act like it just happened. But but right when it got in in the I always I always think of it as the time when people are like, is that Mindy Kaling from The Office looks awfully thin? I think that's about the time everybody started paying attention to it.
Right?
Right. Right.
And there was this this just great little, like, you know, colloquial story of, like, this group of women in a PCOS Facebook group. And they all, like these are people who are, you know, by their own account or, you know, have been having unprotected sex and not getting pregnant for a long time. Yeah. And then went on GLPs and, like, boom, babies started coming. Right.
And I don't mean, like, after they lost 50 pounds all the time. Like, I mean, like, GLP hit them and, boom, they're having babies. Like, that's that's cool stuff. Yeah. Know?
It's crazy.
Yeah. I I can't wait to see what else they learn about all of it. Yeah. One of the big one of the big pharma companies is running, like like, an AI now just looking for, like, different ways to use drugs and looking for Mhmm. Different compounds that might be helpful and everything.
And I don't know if it'll I'm I'm excited by that idea. Like, I I hope they figure something out. You you know what I mean? Like, any for p it doesn't have to be around diabetes. For anybody out there struggling, how cool would it be if a computer just, like, sat up one day and went, oh, hey.
You know what? Look what we got here.
Right.
This this and this equals you feel better. Get out of here.
Right.
You know? Awesome. But but, yeah, GLPs have been I don't know. Like, I I I I I I'd say life changing for a lot of people, but I I wanted to say something more thoughtful than that. But I just think that's what I'm saying is for the people who are there helping, they're really, really helping.
They're yeah. They are. And I it sucks because, like, there's still unfortunately, at least I've seen, there's still a little bit of that stigma about them.
The stigma, from the firehouse floor51:57
Oh, a lot.
Which because not that I, I guess, should be worried about people's stigma towards me because I'm literally on a podcast talking about all my medical problems. But the you know, even even at work, people there's been other people that are maybe not diabetic. I know of another coworker that is on it and, you know, some of the guys have been kinda like, oh, like, just get in the gym more, just eat less. I'm like, no. You don't you don't understand.
Yeah. Like, it's it it doesn't have to do with just the easy way out. It's not because people aren't making good choices. Like, people are predisposed to, like
I have a metabolic issue.
Right. A metabolic issue. I I mean, type one diabetes. People have these things that trust me. I didn't choose this.
Believe it or not. Yeah. I'd love to I'd love to go to the gym and have it work for you the way it works for you.
Or, like, hey. I just don't eat that one piece of pizza when I'm, you know, 14 years old and suddenly I just don't get type one. Yeah. That's not how that works. Right.
You know? So I that's the the the kind of shitty thing is that I think it helps a lot of people. There's a lot of good, but there's still this, like, oh, well, that whole, like, get rich quick quote unquote type thing. Oh, you wanna get thin, you wanna just take the easy way out, and it's not
just that You're mixing you're mixing two different things.
A 100%.
Yeah. They don't have much to do with each other. Listen. I was, like, somewhere recently again, I and I feel terrible saying this, but I was with a person who desperately needs a GLP medication. And I will be at this person's funeral and way and way sooner than I should.
And now that person has got to see me over the last three years and the just, you know, the transformation that's happened for me. And they I'm not doing that. I'm not cheating like you did. And I'm like, oh, okay. Okay.
Yeah. I'm like, cheating what? Cheating who? Like, who who do you think you're cheating against? Like, what's the
Right. What what's the race?
Like, like, what's the measurement we're using right now? Like, what do you it's it's not the Olympics. Like, you're you're trying to stay alive. No? You know?
And I I wonder if they even see it that way. Like, do they do they think of it as their size? And did they even see their size as their health? And what and and by the way, if if if cheating was the only way to stay alive, well, then sign me up if that's the case. Like like, what's the there's no other alternative.
Like, you don't reset and come back. Like, you know what I mean? Like, is
take Yeah.
Yeah. You don't just hit reset on your controller and give it another whirl. You're gone now. And and so even if it is cheating like, let's just take that argument away. Let's say it's cheating.
Who cares? Like, what? Like, you're trying to you're not stealing from anybody. You're not hurting anybody. It's only helping you.
And and and I mean, and even if you have a psychological go see a therapist. Sure. Yeah.
Yeah. That I mean, that's almost similar to saying, like, well, you're on an insulin pump that has an algorithm, so that's cheating. That's why you have such good numbers, and I don't be like like, that's not cheating.
Well, imagine imagine you got a guy in the rig who's in cardiac arrest. You pull the paddles out, and he goes, no. No. No. No.
I don't wanna cheat. Right. I'll live or die the way Jesus intended. You can't hit me with those paddles. I'll tell you what, Prince tried that, and now I haven't heard Purple Rang sing Rang sung live in quite some time.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, sometimes you need help. You know?
And that's I think that's also depending on who it is. Again, I don't know this person, but I think that can also be, like, an ego thing a
little bit. It definitely is.
You know?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So I think that has a lot to do with it. And especially guys, I mean, you know, trust me, there's we got a firehouse full of people Those guys? Too, but full full of guys, and it's you know, you can definitely tell the ones who got a little bit of an ego trip versus the ones that don't. I mean, we're all human. We all have our our things.
But Mhmm. You know, ego can play a lot more into things than I think people realize sometimes.
Ego, heart attacks, and staying alive55:58
He's gone now, and I imagine he'd be okay with this story helping another person. My father-in-law had a heart attack when he was 50 years old. Wow. Which is now 20 would have been twenty six years ago maybe. Has a heart attack and has numbness in his hand, so rubs Neosporin in his hand.
Mhmm. And while he's standing around his house for hours with his heart muscle dying. Mhmm. And people are trying to get him to no. No.
No. And finally, he acquiesces. He says, I'll go to the hospital, but I gotta get a shower first. Like, what are you trying to do? Beat the heart attack?
Like like Right. Of all the and I've said this to his face when he was live. So he he's I was nicer about it than I'm being now. But, like but the but but, you know, we've we've talked about it. And I again, I feel like he'd be comfortable with this helping another person.
But, like, he stood there wasting his heart muscle, and I think it's for the reason you just said. Like, ego. Like, I can beat this. You cannot beat a heart attack. You can't beat metabolic issues that are adding, you know, adipose fat to your body constantly or giving you fatty liver or the Right.
Or the, I don't know, the, you know, the the addiction you might have to process foods. Like, you're not beating that. That's not how this works. You you you know? So some things are stronger than you.
But what if you had a little friend called Gilp and you just like, would it be better if they gave it another name? Why don't we give it another name? See if that helps people. Right. I shot mine last night.
I was sitting here working, and I I my pen was on my desk, and it was my intention to make a little a episode around it and I just didn't have the time. And I thought, well, I could wait till tomorrow and shoot this and then do the recording. And I thought, no. I'm not doing that to myself. I need it today.
And Yeah. Like, today's my day and I and I stuck it in. I do think I would love for people with type one who are finding value in it to also figure out how to how to microdose it in ways that, like, help them with their blood sugar or help them with any of the metabolic issues they might be having, but don't cause them to lose a weight if they don't need to. And Right. You know, there is another side of it.
Like, it's hard to be hungry on it, and and that is it can be hard to eat for some people. So, you know, Arden's a good example She doesn't need the whole 2.5. Right. But she's got an issue where she's not comfortable, and so she has to use the auto injector. So then she spends time not eating as much or it's harder for her to eat, and I don't want that for her either.
Like, you know, I less of it would be better for her.
Right. Yeah. I remember you had said in previous episodes that she's not a huge fan of the needles.
She got she's got a real issue with needles, and, you know, it's it's a real thing.
I mean, that's that's legit. I totally understand that. But, yeah, I mean, even like you said, just if you do end up doing that kind of off brand because it's off brand now, but shooting that auto injector into a vial and then measuring out a certain percentage of it into regular syringes and injecting it to microdose it. I mean,
you know Not a doctor, not advice. Ask somebody about it, though. That's right. Do some looking.
But but but I could see that I could hope or at least when I say I could see that, I I would hope to be able to see that into the future that it's not like a a two and a half or five, you know, instead of just these offices, what we saw that worked in the trials, like, opening up. We're gonna give GLP and similar to how we do settings, we're gonna experiment where your sweet spot is. Okay. You're you're not having good outcomes. We're gonna increase it.
Okay. We did too much. Back it down. Yep.
You know what I mean? Should it should be just like insulin. It should be individualized. It should be for your need. And Right.
This is my assumption. Keeping in mind the guy who barely got through high school didn't go to one day of college. This is my assumptions and what I think. But I I I don't know that every seven days is necessary for everybody. I don't know that the full dose is necessary for everybody, but there is a sweet spot in there that would help people.
Mhmm.
And Right. And when and once we get and it is all by the way, it's all money and insurance. That's why those doses are done that way. Always. But once we get past that and they stick it into a vial and your doctor can be thoughtful about it, boom.
Like, you're gonna see like, this what you're seeing now ain't gonna be nothing. Like, it's Right. Really gonna help people. Like, imagine, listen, you know, what do they say? Like, when you're putting belly fat on, especially that's probably insulin resistance.
Right? That's how that belly fat comes. Imagine imagine that it's creeping on you slowly and it's gonna take fifteen years, and then you're gonna be a prediabetic at some point. Like, what if someone just hit you with a needle every ten days with the tiniest little bit of liquid in it, even such that that you might not even, like, feel it. Like, you it might not really change things for you except for slightly about how your digestion works and how much insulin that produces for you.
And that keeps that from happening for you. My god. Right. Like, sign me up.
But but that's also a lot of preventative. Right? So, like, I know that not to say it's necessarily political because I know it's a big no no. But, like, we talk about health care being preventative, like reactive versus proactive, and I think that that approach is a very good proactive approach. We're preventing long term complications.
We're preventing people from being full blown type two diabetic or having full blown insulin resistance later in life.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Like, it it's
a Listen. If you're waiting for a doctor to do that for you, you you'd probably be dead first. So you're you're gonna need to look into it for yourself. And I that's no shade for doctors. That's just not how this works.
And it's not how people think.
And I and I I agree with that too, you know, but but I I definitely would love to see those things happen instead of waiting for something to happen to to start being more proactive and
and to treat I've hearing people say that for twenty years. That's not coming anytime. It's not coming anytime soon. Like, you're you're you're it's too much. Like, you're asking too much of people.
They're in jobs. They have rules. They've been trained. Right. They're gonna do the thing they're gonna do.
So it's up to people like you having conversations with other people and and hopefully someone listens. And I would say that, you know, most people aren't going to.
No. They don't.
But some will. And those are the people you'll help and it's best you can do.
Right. I that's a great point too. I you know, talking about coming on and being able to do anything with with type one, I had had a you know, I'd I'd taken care of a a patient once, which I I can't say too much, but this patient had type one and it it was a child. And I was talking with mom and and he had been home because he you know, his sugars were so high and she's like, why just keep him home from school? I'm like, your son's 13.
I'm like, how are you keeping him home from school? Well, he has diabetes. I'm like, well, guess what? So do I. She stopped and she's like, you have diabetes?
And I'm like, like, yeah. I do. She's like, and and you do this job? And I'm like, yes. I do.
Yeah. And I'm like, this is this is proof that we should be able to help your son out tonight and proof that we can get him back into school and, like, he he can live a normal life. Like Yeah. And I and it was really nice because I think it obviously resonated with her. I don't know where they were in their journey, but and, you know, to be able to see him obviously see that, but, like, that's an example of of helping.
Mhmm. You know? But, like, you either have those those epiphany moments where you're like, holy cow. Somebody did this and we're gonna make things better or for you're just, nope. Don't do it.
Not gonna listen. And that's completely dependent on the person and the ego, again, of course.
Yeah. Human side's tough. Like Mhmm. All of it is. I mean, in every level of life, I could I've been I could stop this podcast right now and and do 1,800 episodes on just the confusing decisions we all make all the time.
Yeah. You know? So but yeah. I mean, over the the the assumptions we jump to and then you start basing an entire reality around something that's not true. And then before you know it, you've alienated yourself and someone else.
I've always said if you if you tell yourself a lie enough times, it becomes your own personal truth.
Yeah. No. It's really it it's a
You know?
Being alive is interesting. But, anyway, like, to oversimplify it, like, if you had to cheat to stay alive, then, I mean, I I don't this seems like a good idea to me. Right. Right.
Sign me up.
Yeah. Yeah. Sign me up to stay alive is is the way I would like for you to think about it. Gonna be a a really important thing for you not to die. And so and once you do, by the way, then I don't know what are you worried about after that.
Like, it's all gone. Right. So For sure. You know? And if you think and by the way, I I guess, in fairness to people who believe otherwise, you know, that's how I feel.
I don't think I don't think I'm coming back and getting another whirl at this. So Right. If you that's a hell of a risk to take, by the way, because, you know, you shut your eyes and don't open them back up again. You're gonna be like, oh, shit. Took that JLP.
Gotcha. You know, if you get if you get I that's my biggest fear that there's nothing after this except for thirty seconds where I get to know there's nothing after it. And I go, oh, jeez. Oh, I should've done a couple of other things. I didn't know it was gonna end like this.
Right.
But, anyway, you terrific, actually, Nick. I I do really appreciate you doing this with me. And please thank your girlfriend for foisting you on me like this. It's fantastic.
I will. Yeah. I mean, she definitely didn't force me, but I I was like, you know what? I should do it. So I I have to give a lot of credit to her too.
She's a she's a real saint.
So Oh, man. Tell her if she has any other people she thinks should come on the podcast to let me know because she's good at this. Okay. That's really awesome. Alright, man.
I do appreciate it. Thank you so much. Hold on one second for me. Okay?
Okay.
To learn more and see if you might be able to get Twist from the pharmacy and try it for free, head to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox. Or give them a call at 18774. That's +1 (877) 489-4478 and tell them Scott sent you. TWIST requires a prescription and is indicated for people with type one diabetes six and older.
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#1929 Fight Fire With Fire - Part 1
Fight Fire With Fire (Part 1)
Nick is 28, a professional firefighter, and has had type 1 for thirteen years. Part 1: diagnosis at almost-15, the teenage years he calls a rebellion, and how he turned it around in 2022.
Jump to a moment
- Diagnosed just before 15, with the family history to spot it. Three weeks of relentless thirst — an entire pitcher of water at dinner and still parched — until his mom saw how much weight he’d lost at a water park. An uncle with type 1 helped connect the dots fast.
- The teenage years were a stalemate. Nick describes clinic visits as being berated for numbers without being handed tools to change them — so effort and no-effort earned the same lecture, and he checked out. He’s candid that some of it was teenage pushback, too.
- 2022 was the turn. A new job he wanted, a rekindled relationship with the girlfriend he was dating when he was first diagnosed, a seven-year-old son to be present for, and an A1c he saw hit 9.4 — together they moved him from “better high than low” to actually dialing it in.
- Settings, a new pump, and a new attitude. A fresh nurse practitioner at the same practice gave him a clean slate. Scott reframes the base of it as timing, settings, and understanding food’s impact — with mindset as the thing that makes the rest possible.
- Type 1 doesn’t bar you from the firehouse. New York’s fifteen-week academy and annual physicals want stable glucose, an A1c under eight, and no severe lows — held to the same physical standards as anyone else. On shift, Nick often runs exercise mode all day and pre-boluses only a fraction, so a call never catches him with too much insulin on board.
- Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) — US HAEA — Background on the rare genetic condition Nick’s girlfriend manages, for listeners who want to understand it.
- T1D Exchange Registry — US residents 18+ with type 1 can complete the survey and help move T1D research forward.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — The management foundation — settings, timing, and food — that underpins the changes Nick describes making.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the juice box podcast. If you don't love today's episode, you can have your money back. Friends, we're back for another episode of the Juice Box podcast. This is a two parter. This is part one.
I don't forget to find part two. I think this one goes up on a Friday, so part two will be on Monday. What else I want you to know? T1dexchange.org/juicebox. Head over there now and take the survey.
Over eighteen US resident type one diabetes. I think that's what you need to be. Taking the survey does not take very long, but it does do a lot to help type one diabetes research. T1dexchange.org/juicebox. Check it out.
While I'm here, let me remind you that nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. Today, we've got a great podcast, and it's sponsored by great advertisers. US Med, the Eversense three sixty five, and Twist. You know about Twist?
It's an insulin pump. I'll tell you all about it a second. I'm having an on body vibe alert. This episode of the juice box podcast is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five, the only one year wear CGM. That is one insertion and one CGM a year.
One CGM, one year, not every ten or fourteen days. Ever since cgm.com/juicebox. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Twist AID system powered by Tidepool that features the Twist loop algorithm, which you can target to a glucose level as low as 87. Wanna learn more? Go to visit .twist.com/juicebox.
That's visit.twist.com/juicebox, and twist has two i's. Understand? Twiist.com. Visit .twist.com/juicebox. Hey.
US Med is a longtime sponsor of the podcast. It's where we get our diabetes supplies from. You could as well. Usmed.com/juicebox, or you can call (888) 721-1514. US Med, that's where my daughter gets your supplies.
Use the link or the number. Get your free benefits check today and get started with US Med. But Yeah. It's your life. So, test, test, test.
Say testing?
Testing.
You're good. Okay. I'm not gonna speak again. The next time somebody says something, it's gonna be you introducing yourself. So however long it takes you, and then just go ahead and start.
Meet Nick — firefighter, 13 years in2:47
Hi. My name is Nick. I'm 28 years old. I've had type one diabetes for thirteen years, and I am a professional firefighter.
Oh, cool. Nick, when you were 15, were diagnosed?
Actually, it was just before my fifteenth birthday.
Right there.
Not even a month before I had turned 15.
Oh, brothers or sisters?
I have two younger sisters. So I am the oldest of three.
Two younger sisters. Okay. Does anyone else have autoimmune issues in the family?
Yeah. So my mom has Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Mhmm. And her brother, my uncle, also has type one diabetes. And then we have some odd unrelated autoimmune in the family.
Like, my stepmom has MS. My step uncle actually had type one diabetes. But those are the my mom and my uncle are the big big two contending factors in the family.
Nothing on your father's son?
Not that I'm aware of. I think he has some minor psoriasis, but nothing else that really comes to mind. Okay.
Alright. Well, so let's talk about it. What made you wanna come on the podcast that I'm I usually don't start with that with people, but I get far fewer men. So I'm interested in what made you reach out.
Sure. So I actually only started listening about a year ago, I would say. And, when I started getting into it, I actually talked to my girlfriend about it and she
Nick? Nick? Hello? Nicholas? Nick.
Nick. Nick. Nick. Yep. Hey.
You started talking to your girlfriend about it, then you went blank. Sorry
about that. I must have hit something.
That's okay.
No. So I started talking to my girlfriend about listening to it and all about it. And then my birthday in March just rolled around, and she's like, so I didn't wanna do it, you know, without you asking you, of course. But she's like, I think it'd be really cool if you went on and shared your experience with how you've managed it and, you know, your job, and it's kind of a cool perspective. So
What did you think of that when she said that to you?
I was I don't wanna say really taken back. I was kind of surprised that she had thought of it that way, but at the same time, kind of not because she's actually really supportive of of me and my work and, you know, my diabetes. And she's honestly been somebody who's been in my corner with my care and making sure that, you know, I'm good about taking care of myself. And And she also lives with a chronic illness, so I think we both kind of understand the importance of being able to have space like, safe spaces to talk about these things and, you know, kind of feeling empowered to be able to function in normal society and still, you know, kinda kick butt while also dealing with all of her medical concerns.
Are you comfortable sharing her her illness?
I am. Yeah. It's funny. I actually talked to her about it before this all happened, and I'm comfortable with it. Yeah.
What what what is she dealing with?
His girlfriend’s HAE, and why he came on6:04
So she has it's a genetic illness. It's sort of rare. It's called hereditary angioedema or HAE for short. And, essentially, what that is is in most people with HAE, you have proteins in your blood. Your c one inhibitor is is the specific protein, And that essentially people with HAE have a deficiency in that protein, and it essentially causes extra fluid to leak into your tissues and it causes swelling.
Oh, yeah. Okay. And it can be anywhere. A lot of times people have it like airway swelling where it can almost mimic anaphylaxis, but it's not like an allergy based thing.
You know? You
can have it there. I mean, you can have it in your face. You can have it in your abdomen. You can honestly honestly have have it it anywhere. Anywhere.
Anywhere. Anywhere. And it's usually caused by either trauma or, like, stress or infections or things like that. So it can be sort of random sometimes, or I should say a lot of the time kind of out of their control when it happens. So it's kind of a a rarity.
Not many people have it. But
Does it impact her the same way every time? Like, you know, her abdomen, her face, or something, or is it different?
So she the way that she kind of explains it to me is that once you have a swell in a certain part of your body, you're more likely to have continuous or recurring or repeat swelling in that same area.
I see.
So she had has like, one of her tell signs is when she has a headache and she starts getting a little bit of, like, a droopy eye on her one side. And I'm like, hey. I think you might be starting to have a swell. You know? And she'll be like, okay.
And then she'll have to obviously watch it. And if it progresses, treat it.
I was gonna say what's what's what do you do for it? Is there anything? Here's what makes Twist different. It measures the volume of insulin delivered with every dose using Soundwave technology. That gives it the ability to recognize a blockage quickly, allowing you to step in and deal with it before things potentially get out of range.
It is also the only automated insulin delivery system that can be controlled from an Apple Watch so you can discreetly check-in, enter carbs, or deliver insulin right from your wrist. You can also set your glucose target anywhere from 87 to 180 and adjust it for different times of day. So if mornings, workouts, school work, or bedtime all need a little different approach, Twist can flex with that. And here's a real life example. You enter carbs then something changes and you do not actually eat what you planned.
With Twist, you can go back and correct or remove the carb entry, and the system adjusts based on the new information because diabetes doesn't always follow the plan, and your tech probably should not expect you to either. If you'd like to learn more, go to visit.twist.com/juicebox. That's visit.twist.com/juicebox. Don't forget, twist has two i's.
Yeah. So, there are prophylactic measures that she obviously takes. So depending on the patient and their severity, but she takes an injection, a subcutaneous injection once a month. It's a prophylactic, but when she does have breakthrough swells, she has different medications that are actually c one that that protein, they're like replacements.
Mhmm.
So almost think of, like, glucagon for us diabetics. Right? She can take a subcutaneous injection of that c one replacement. They also have an IV versions too that you have to go to the hospital for, but, but she can take those every so often, and that helps curb the swelling. It replaces the deficient protein, and then, you know, after some time, that swelling down.
As far as impact on her life goes, how does she describe it?
So, I mean, day to day, she does a great job. She, you know, has a busy job. She's busy, you know, helping take care of things at home. I I don't think day to day it has too much impact, but I think, obviously, when she has a swell, the day to day tasks can be, you know, very demanding because it takes a lot out of her Mhmm. Both physically and mentally.
Okay. So you think that somewhat based on her ex her health experience and she sees you interacting with the podcast and she thinks that it would be good for you to to come on and share? Do you think she thought that your story was just something other people would wanna hear? Like, do you do you see what I'm saying? Like, is she trying to help you by sending you here, or is she trying to help others by sending you here?
Honestly, I think a little bit of both, because there's been a lot of times that we've talked and, you know, she's like, you have a physical stressful job. A lot of people may or may not be comfortable managing, you know, a chronic health issue Mhmm. Working that type of job, or they might be selling themselves short because they don't necessarily feel that they could do it or might not even know that they're able to do it if they wanted to. You know? And I think kind of that whole overcoming adversity type thing for both, hey.
You know, you should be proud of yourself. You did this. But also sharing for other people, hey. If he can do this, you can do this.
Awesome. Know? Well, let's do that then. Also, I you will, at some point, undoubtedly hear me give you the tiniest bit of context that I have for the three years of volunteer firefighting I did between 16 and 19 years old. So I'm sure I'm I have my thumb on the pulse of firefighting.
I bet you. I'll know a couple of words, I guess, is what I'm saying. Okay. And and I'll I'll I'll I'll have had a few experiences.
Sure.
But okay. So let's go back to, you know, to right before your fifteenth birthday. Do you recall Mhmm. The diagnosis? And I'd like to know maybe not so much about the beginning, but what the next three or four years look like.
The three weeks before diagnosis12:17
Sure. Yeah. So, I just remember having this weird kind of new onset, you know, being 14, not really knowing too much, but, that I was, like, always thirsty and always having to, you know, pee or go to the bathroom a lot, especially at school. When I was in high school at the time, I felt like every period, I was going to the bathroom to fill my water bottle and to use the bathroom, like, once or twice in, you know, every forty five minute period. And I was just like, oh, I'm sure it's just, you know, me being dehydrated or something.
I kind of wrote it off. I really didn't think too much of it. So then at that point, it just kept kinda getting worse and worse and worse. And I remember as a family, we had gone out for dinner, and I was just beyond thirsty, you know, drinking so much water to the point where, like, everybody else was sharing pictures of, you know, drinks and water at the table. And I had my very own pitcher of water, and I drank the entire thing and was still thirsty, you know, just couldn't quench that thirst.
How long do you imagine this went on for?
Honestly, I think it had went on probably about three weeks Okay. Ballpark, if I can remember. The the tipping point to the to that story, though, is, it was February break during school, and we had went to a water park as a family because I was 14 and, you know, of course, no 14 year old wants to be around their parents all that much at that time. It was the first time that my mom had seen me, like, without a shirt on.
Mhmm.
And she had said to me, she's like, oh my god, Nick. Like, you look like you've lost so much weight. And I think once she had seen that and then started putting the other pieces together, she kinda remembered, I think, my uncle being you know, having those symptoms.
Okay.
So when we came home from the water park, we went to the pediatrician. They tested my urine and my my blood sugar, and, obviously, we were told right from there to go to the children's hospital, and I was admitted and
How is it? That. Yeah. Well, I thought you were gonna say you're at the water park and you're so thirsty you drank that terrible water.
But Oh, no. I I was thirsty, but I was that thirsty.
No one's that thirsty, Nick. Shocking. Do you remember what your reaction was to the news?
I think subconsciously, after the three weeks, I kind of knew something was up because the symptoms weren't getting better. Mhmm. I don't know if shocked was necessarily the word I would have used. I guess I was kind of surprised that it was that. Like, it wasn't necessarily on my radar.
Mhmm. But I don't remember feeling some big emotion about it. I think I was a lot more calm than people were actually thinking I was going to be, you know. I don't remember feeling, like, terribly sad or mad or upset about it. But
Did did the emotion ever come?
Maybe a little bit. You know, I I think it was more so later after the fact that it kind of came, that it kind of set in like this is a reality. Honestly, the first time I had had a true emotion after I had my hospital stay and I had come out after, you know, my my two or three days there, I remember my eyes were still adjusting from my sugar being so high. And I was so mad because I woke up in the morning, and I'm like, okay. I gotta count my carbs.
I'm learning how to do all that stuff. And I could not read the cereal box. My eyes were blurry, and I got so upset that I couldn't read the cereal box. And I remember I actually had to wear cheaters for a while until my eyes finally adjusted back to normal blood sugar levels. But that was, I think, the first time I'd actually had, like, a true heartfelt upset emotion about it.
And that's about your body not doing something you expected it to do?
Well, yeah. You know? And it was like it was almost like a like a crash out, you know, like, okay. I just got diabetes. I just got out the hospital.
Like, now my eyes don't work. Like, what the hell? You know? Again, being 14, 15 at the time, there was there was a lot of change.
Couldn’t read the cereal box16:53
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You know?
Yeah. Yeah. No kidding. So moving forward into high school, did you go to college afterwards? Did you go?
The vocational track into EMS19:16
So I did not. So I actually during high school, I didn't really love school, but I kind of knew kind of where I wanted to be, which is actually where I'm at now, which is cool. I actually went in my junior and senior year. Our high school does, like, a vocational program
Yeah.
Where half of the school day, you actually go to the vocational school and you learn the trade in which you picked. Mhmm. And then the other half of the day is, you know, standard typical high school.
We did we did two weeks on, two weeks off. It was fantastic.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's sort of cool.
Yeah.
Because for us, it was your junior year, you went to vocational in the afternoon, and then in your senior year, you did vocational in the morning Okay. Half of your school day. So that's kinda how we split it up. So, when I was doing that, though, I was in the EMT program. We had an emergency medical technician class at our vocational school
Mhmm.
That I was interested in. So I took that, and then right out of high school between or just after my summer job of my senior year, I had, gotten employed full time, and I worked for an ambulance company a private ambulance company full time. So
Wow. That's awesome. But so going through high school, any trouble with your friends, your parents, your adjustments, your health, or was it smooth sailing, or how would you describe that time?
It was pretty smooth sailing. I actually had another sort of friend that before all this came about, we all were, like, volunteer firefighters together too. He actually had type one, so I was able to kind of see, like, oh, this is this is doable. You know? But there was a lot of other kids that knew I had it, but didn't necessarily really think anything of it.
Mhmm. And, obviously, it being around my family, like, hanging out with my cousins and stuff wasn't really a big issue. You know? But I don't think it necessarily affected too many of my friendships. I think it was more of a pain just trying to learn how to count carbs and, you know, having to take shots all the time because I was MDI back then.
Caused any issues for your I'm sorry. Did it cause any issues for your sisters? Did they feel, like, left out? Did they feel like you were getting more attention? Or did you Yeah.
That that's that's an interesting question. I remember my sisters, because they were younger, when I had gone into the hospital, I remember my mom telling me how upset they were because they thought something, like, terrible, tragic had happened. They really didn't understand. But I don't necessarily think that it affected them in that way. I think my parents actually did a pretty good job kind of keeping everybody in their own thing.
You know? Okay. Nick Nick has this, and we take care of this. But I feel like or at least I've never heard them say that they had ever felt left out because of it, you know, or or all the attention was was turned towards me.
Did you did you feel awkward because for that you had this thing and they didn't?
Not really. I mean, I also was a little bit older, so kinda being, you know, 15 years old, a teenager now, like, my parents were involved, but they definitely had a a more hands off approach, especially because I think they were well versed in it with the family history. And I don't know. I think I think it actually didn't cause as much issues because they did obviously help, especially in the beginning, but I feel like I kinda took on my own care a lot earlier than most people
in design, or do do you think you took it over yourself, or were your parents setting it up to to go that direction?
I think a little bit of both. I think my mom had knew that, you know, the only way that both her and myself were gonna overcome this, I think, was if if I kind of started leading in my own direction. I mean, don't get me wrong, 15 years old, I was not making choices that I'd be making now as an adult Mhmm. In terms of my diabetes, but, I think it was a little bit of both. I think she needed to be able to forcibly relinquish some of that to me Yeah.
So that she would have peace of mind that, hey. He's doing this. He can do it. He's gonna be okay. You know?
Berated at the clinic, no tools23:47
When when you say now that you're an adult, at what age do you think that that transformation began to happen? Do you have any idea what started it?
Yeah. So, I mean, I've always been on trying to to take care of myself, but I think I, like, truly kicked in to, like, high high gear only a handful of years ago, probably in 2022, which is when I got my current job and which is when I started dating my current girlfriend. So I think those are kind of the really big contributing factors. I mean, I've had kind of varying levels of success and varying levels of trying to keep things in line, but I think the the actual toughest, tightest that I've you know, Ben had started in '22.
Yeah. Do you have any context for what your outcomes were like fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty? Like, do you know what your a one c's were, what your goals were, or how, you know, would how could you characterize or how would you characterize management?
Yeah. For sure. I I wish I remembered what my a one c's were, and I tried to look and I couldn't find them. My mom didn't remember either. Of course, she would take me to my appointments, but, I was MDI for a while, and I had always remembered just getting the normal talking to at the to children's clinic because we had gone to the clinic attached to the hospital for my endocrinology appointments.
And it was always, you know, you're not doing enough and, you know, your numbers look like this and like that. And admittedly, I do think that looking back, I could have done better. Mhmm. But I also think the environment wasn't really one of, like, education. They were kind of just you go in there, you know you're gonna get kind of berated for a half hour, and then it's over type thing.
You know? I didn't really particularly care for the endocrinologist that I used to see at the children's clinic either, but, so I don't think my outcomes were obviously as good as as I would like to have been or should have been. But, I mean, it definitely, you know, gets better with time and with age and, you know, practice and things like that too.
But your recollection is your recollection is going to the doctor, being berated. That's how you felt about it?
I mean, I think it was again, looking back.
Oh, Nick, you hit the button again.
Everyone's always yelling at you. Like, you know, it's always adults
first. Versus Nick, I'm stopping you because you hit the button again. You said looking you said that's okay. You said looking back, and then I didn't hear you again. So do that, though.
Like, you you should don't be sorry. Use your perspective now and tell me what you think was going on back then.
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely think it was just being a teenager, you know, it's there's always that that push against the authority. I definitely had some of that as a teenager. So I I think they were obviously trying to get me to have better control or control that they saw was better
Mhmm.
Than what I was doing. And I admit that even looking back, I remember feeling like, yeah, I know I can do better. But there was a part of it that, you know, was just kind of in that little bit of a rebellious state. You know, I knew I had to take care of it.
But So some some pushback against authority, do you think there was some shame? Like, the feeling of, like, I know I should be doing something. I'm not doing it, and then it just compounds on itself when someone points it out to you?
Yeah. For sure. I mean, especially sitting there in that office. Yeah. You know?
For sure that that feeling. You know? And there was also a lot of like, I look back though too and even even in terms of, like, adjustments, like, I don't feel like a lot of adjustments were made to my numbers. So then even when I was trying harder and I still wasn't having outcomes, they're like, well, obviously, you're not trying. And I was like, okay.
Well, I am. Mhmm. You know, I I am I'm trying, but I I feel like because they were always worried about, oh, the honeymoon this and, you know, you're still growing and all of that's very valid, but it was like, okay. I tried and still felt like I was getting the the speech, the talk. You know?
Yeah. And then I wouldn't try and I would get the same talk. So what was the point of putting in all the effort?
You know? So so you get the talk without any tools to make any changes?
For sure. Right. For sure.
And and now and and in fairness, you're not sure if you would have used those tools if you had them, but you are certain you weren't given them?
At in the beginning, absolutely.
Okay.
Yeah. Okay. Absolutely.
Alright. And then I'm sorry. You said there was a certain time a few years ago where you started to change how you how you thought of it and, I guess, how you stepped up for yourself. So do you have any idea what started that? Or is it do you think it's an age thing?
Or do you think it was meeting a girl? Or I mean, what do you think it was?
I mean, I I think it was honestly a combination of all those things. I think that I had finally grown up enough, I guess, personally, that I was like, this is kinda getting out of hand. You know? And, obviously, I had met her, which funny enough, not to backtrack, but my current girlfriend was actually my girlfriend when I was diagnosed with diabetes in high school.
The right person, the wrong time29:29
She was your 15 year old girlfriend?
Yes. So we were in high school and we you know, 15, it's nothing
Yeah.
Overly serious, but, like, we were, you know, dating in high school and I was diagnosed while dating her. So fast forward, we reconnect years later and here we are back again.
How do you reconnect years later?
Honestly, I think this was a really good case of the right person with the wrong time. Okay. I I think in high school, we definitely were just kinda hotheads and just, you know, young kids full of hormones, and I think she was definitely a good person. She comes from a great family. Mhmm.
But I just definitely think that it wasn't the right time. So we ended up kinda staying distant friends, and then down the road, we had just kinda reconnected
and again. Oh, when do the hormones stop asking for a friend?
I'm not really sure. I just feel like you wake up one morning and they're just different, I guess. I don't really know.
I know. I know. I felt like there's there's a time where you, I for me personally, like, I've had a couple of different seasons where I've woken up and thought, I'm just not as mad anymore.
Right. Right. Exactly.
You know?
Like Or or
I I just don't feel as aggressive anymore. Or Right. You know, I I don't
have to prove myself every waking moment anymore.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I I'm not I I mean, to be candid, like, I'm not spending an enormous amount of time trying to figure out how to see a boob. Like like Right.
When that goes away, man, when that goes away, it's, like, it's such it's it's such a it's such a relief. Right.
You're like, wow. That was actually low key a little crazy.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or or I'm just like, I guess I don't care that much what she thinks about me. This is awesome.
Right. She's mad. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Got it. No. Yeah. You know, you you go through a ton. I mean, gosh.
I, it's funny because, you know, your kids always you know, like you said, there's always a pushback against authority against your parents, etcetera. Mhmm. And when it's happening on the parenting side, you're like, I don't understand why this is going on. Then then you look back and see yourself at that age, and you're like, oh, I was doing the exact same thing as that.
Right.
But what is when you're on the other side of it, man, it's like your context is way different, you're just like, this doesn't need to happen. Like, we don't really have to do this. Like, we could skip this part if you want. You know? And Right.
And that's not how it works. No. But okay. So you met each other. That's great.
How old were you when you got back together?
Jesus. I was four four years ago now.
24.
So 20.
24.
Okay. Yeah. Yep.
24. Well, that's that's nice. And I'm sorry. Before we started recording, you said something, and I don't know if it's not a thing you wanna talk about or not, but I I'd like to contextualize it if I can in this in this section of the conversation. But you have a child?
A seven-year-old son at home32:22
I do have a child. Yeah. He is, seven.
Oh, wow. Lives with you, lives with his mom?
So he lives with me. That's kind of a story in and of itself. He lives with me and my girlfriend full time.
Wow. Okay. Well, that's crazy. That's not crazy, but it's it's it's nice. Yeah.
Do you have any concerns about him, type one? Do you find yourself looking a little closer when he looks thirsty or something like that, or have you had him tested?
No. I have not had him tested, and that's not for any particular reason, honestly. I mean, I'm not for or against it per se. I really don't have any sort of kind of feeling about it. I've thought about it.
Yeah. I mean, I definitely look towards those things, you know, keep very being very vigilant if there's any, you know, signs or symptoms that he's displaying. But, hopefully hopefully, he, you know, comes out of it unscathed. But I I always think, you know, you're you're just gonna be super cognizant
Yeah.
Of it having it yourself for your kids. You know?
So it's a fine plan. You'll know what it looks like when it comes. That's for sure.
Yeah. For sure.
Do you think if he were to get it, you think it would make you feel any sort of way? Do you think you'd feel responsible? Or, like or do have you considered any of that?
A little bit. I mean, I don't know if responsible would be the way I would feel. I mean, obviously, there's a pretty good shot if he gets it, he's gonna get it from me. But I don't know if responsible's the way to feel. I mean, I would obviously feel bad because diabetes is hard enough for adults, let alone for kids to go through Yeah.
You know, especially as they grow and that kind of changes their life, you know
Certainly does. 10 years old. Yeah.
But I think the the good thing is though is that having lived it myself, I think it really gives a good perspective on what's acceptable and what's not in terms of care from doctors, even in terms of technology. But I think the technology, even since I was diagnosed thirteen years ago, has improved tenfold. It's gotten better, and we've gotten better pumps and better CGMs. And
No. I'm sorry, Nick. You're wrong. Listen to the Internet. All this stuff sucks.
Yeah. It's just horrible.
Yeah. Just doesn't work. Yeah. So, your technology that you began with back then, do you remember what you had when you were diagnosed?
Pumps, pens, and starting over34:53
When I was first diagnosed, I came out of the hospital with, you know, a a test kit, a blood glucose meter, and, insulin pens.
Mhmm.
And then I don't remember exactly how long after, but a little while later, I had started on a pump. My first one was the Medtronic. I think it was the Paradigm pump,
if I remember that correctly.
And then I had moved to, I think it was the six thirty g from Medtronic. So I'd moved through those. I didn't really they didn't really groove with me. I didn't really care for those. I especially did not care for the CGM with them.
So then after kind of falling by the wayside and, you know, not really taking perfect care of myself, kinda going back to pens again, kinda came back to it. I started on the tandem t slim, and then I even actually trialed the Omnipod
Mhmm.
For a while not long ago. I actually used your link. I got my free month trial.
Thank you.
I yeah. I then refilled the prescription. So I did it probably for about two months, but couldn't really get behind the algorithm. So I actually came back to the tandem and that's where I'm
at now. Oh, nice. I'm I'm glad you tried. Thanks. What about CGM?
What are you using for CGM?
I got the Dexcom g seven.
Seven. Okay. It's gonna go to the fifteen day, I think, soon soon enough. And then I I just listened to their investor call about the about the g eight. There's some ideas in there that are seem pretty attractive.
We'll see.
Yeah. I actually just listened to your episode that you'd put out about it the other day
Oh, thank you.
About it. Yeah. Yeah.
Appreciate it.
So So okay. It's definitely definitely cool. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. No. When you get to a point where you're saying to yourself, I've gotta do something here. What Mhmm.
Is it is it a one c? Is it how you feel? Is it like, what what's the thing that like, when you think something has to change, what is the thing you're thinking of that has to change?
A 9.4, and the decision to change37:04
Yeah. I mean, I think it was a combination of those things. My, you know, a one c's and before 2022 were definitely elevated. I had actually looked in, like, one of them was, like, a 9.4. And I'm like, yeah.
That that's not good. And I obviously didn't feel great because my sugars were elevated. And, you know, I had kinda just sat down between my girlfriend, Angelica, you know, talking with me about it and even reflecting myself. Like, I'm an adult. I finally got the job I want.
I have a child that I wanna be here for. I have a good relationship that I wanna be here for, and I feel like garbage. You know? Yeah. What are we gonna do to kinda fix those things?
So that's kinda when I really strapped in and
And then
really honed in.
What did you do? Because I finally get to ask this question because you already you already said that you've only been listening to the podcast for a a year, which is great because, seriously, like, a lot of times I ask this question, and I really do wanna know what people did. And then a lot of people say, well, I started listening to the podcast. But you're not gonna say that because you started listening a year ago, but you've made this change for yourself further back in time. So when you when you had this epiphany that you wanted to live and be and feel I wanna live, damn it.
When you when you when you when you had that epiphany from an eighties movie with, I imagine, Denzel Washington and a nice lady, When you have that epiphany, like, what do you what do you do? Like, how do you how do you identify the things you need to change? How do you get the tools together that you need? How do you make the decisions? Like, where do you start?
Sure. Well, I I just kinda told myself, like, enough of the bullshit. Like, it's time to be accountable for yourself. I went to my endo, and I actually had seen a new practitioner when I went back in 2022. So that kinda helped bridge the gap because I had had the same office, but I had had a new nurse practitioner in there.
So I was like, okay. New person. This is kind of a clean slate all over the board. Right?
Mhmm.
So when I just went in and said, I know. I've I've been in this situation before. You can berate me. You can say whatever you need to say, but I'm here. I wanna be accountable.
I really wanna dial in on my, you know, all my numbers. I wanna improve my a one c, my time in range. You know, I explained my job and and how that's gonna be even more important to me now. And, she had just kinda said, okay. So we'd really kinda honed in and and tuned in all my my numbers and then got me onto the the tandem not long after that.
And
Settings, a new pump, and different attitude.
Yeah. For sure. I mean, those are probably the big three things. I mean, I know people have their feelings about pumps versus MDI, but I definitely think no matter what it is you're doing, it's having the right settings. And lot of it's mindset, though.
You're never gonna be able to change something that you're not willing to change yourself.
I think it's I think it's settings, timing, and understanding the impact of the food. And, I mean, obviously, your desire to do it and, you know, that stuff. But I just mean, functionally, I think those three things are kind of the base of it. And you found a doc you found a doctor who did so you made a switch. Would you if you had this epiphany with the previous doctor, do you think it would have gone as well?
Well, I didn't necessarily switch practices. It was the same practice, but I had had a new practitioner
Oh, okay.
Inside that practice. Does that make sense?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So I don't necessarily know if it would or would have changed my outcome. I mean and depending on what I had brought home too, I might have even chewed on it and thought about it and said, hey. Maybe there's somebody in the office that I could connect with better if I was not having a good, relationship with that that specific person Sure. You know, who I was dealing with constantly. So I definitely think that could have been something, but I think it sort of worked in my favor.
And now her and I have a a really good relationship, you know, patient provider relationship, and we're really open with each other about things, and it really helps with management and making decisions.
I would imagine your follow through and success probably even emboldens her or him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I definitely think so. And, you know, there's been a lot of things in in having the the medical background because I am a paramedic, you know, I think that also helps because there's a lot of things that we can kind of talk about that aren't just scraping surface level anymore. We can kind of dive into some more, you know, probably more advanced topics than she can tell the the regular kind of layperson, you know, which is cool.
I would also imagine that, you know, when you do this all day long with people who maybe are not having success, you could probably easily get to start feeling like, you know, I can say this stuff, but it's not gonna matter. And Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. And then once you see it matter, you might it maybe gives you a little more energy to say it again.
You you know? So Right. Yeah. You might you might be helping more people than yourself by doing that is my point.
Right. Kinda breaking the the cycle per se.
Yeah. A 100%. Okay. So how old were you when you just I mean, it sounds like you wanted to be a fireman for a long time. But but what's the process of so did you start out volunteering?
From cadet to career firefighter42:30
Yeah. So when I was in high school, our local area had, like, you know, the the junior firefighter cadet programs or whatever just to get high school age kids interested in it. I had wanted to do it a lot longer than that, but that's kind of where I started. So I did volunteer, and then my volunteering kind of went by the wayside after high school only because I didn't go the college route. I started working full time.
But, obviously, that experience came back to benefit me in getting the actual career, you know, firefighter role.
So I I wanna ask a question, but I don't wanna put you in a bad position.
Well, you can ask it.
Go ahead. You seem like a really bright, thoughtful person. Did you you. You're welcome. Did did you was it hard sometimes?
My my experience was that I was around a lot of good guys and a lot of solid people, but Mhmm. There weren't a lot of conversations to be had sometimes.
Is that In the in the fire service?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that is that is that and now I've interviewed a number of firemen that have all always have been, like, really thoughtful guys. And so, like, was that your finding, or did you find a lot of people did you find a lot of similarity in personality where you I'm trying to figure out a nice way to say this.
Or or did you run into, like did you run into a problem of, like, not being able to I guess I should just say it this way. I had trouble meeting other like minded people such that it was it felt valuable to spend that much time in that scenario. Sure. Yeah.
I I can get what you're saying. I honestly, I think the biggest drawback from all that is, like, the politics side of it.
Oh, yeah.
I think that being there and having an interest in your community, I think that already kind of brings people together, I think, even different walks of life. I mean, you have a guy who works a desk job, you give an electrician, and you have a guy you know, you have all these different people in the volunteer service that bring different aspects of their lives, but you kinda come together and have this this common thing together at the firehouse.
You know? I agree.
But I think that in the volunteer side, because a lot of it's just different than in the career division and there's politics in the career side too, but I think the politicking in terms of who your friends are, who you hang out with is the group of people you're automatically associated with at the firehouse. You know? I think that's that's kind of the challenge there.
Then the running for positions and and
Right.
Chief and battalion and those sorts of things. And then suddenly, there's it it does get well, you're right. I actually I should have thought of it more like that. The politics was crazy.
Mhmm. And that's the thing. It was all about who you know or who you hang out with and not, you know, who's actually qualified and and willing and and able to perform these jobs versus when you come to the career side, you have to take a promotional exam. You have to interview. You have to have certain Mhmm.
Training classes to be able to hold, you know, leadership positions.
You know? So I would imagine as a volunteer, did you did you go to fire school? Did you or were you too young for that? Because I I think I went when I was 16.
So Yeah. So you can go when you're 16, but I didn't have a car yet. So getting to be able to go to fire school while I was in high school was kind of a challenge. So I had set up going just after, but then my parents were kinda like, listen. You didn't go to college and that's fine, but you're either gonna go college or you're gonna work full time.
Mhmm.
So I started working full time and that's kind of again where that had gone by the wayside.
I see.
But
But but my point is you had some training. Like, you had worn a pack, you'd crawl through smoke, you'd done things like that as a younger person.
Yeah. For sure. I mean, I definitely was not, you know, baptized by fire.
Guess. Right. So but you knew enough about it that when you said, like, I'm gonna become a professional firefighter, you you had context for what that meant.
Yeah. I mean, I had, you know, I had been around the the tools. I had I had worn the gear. I mean, I I had done, you know, in house trainings and stuff like that. I definitely had enough to say, like, this is something I still like.
This is something I wanna continue to do and do more of. You know?
Did you have hands on when you were volunteering, or or were you in the background?
I think I had some hands on, you know, obviously, because of my ages, at the time, I say hour because my and I had a bunch of friends with me too. But I I think being that age, you kind of do get put into the background a little bit just because you're kind of restricted as to what you can do legally. But, I mean, I tried to be as hands on as I as I could have been.
Yeah. I put out a couple of pretty cool fires when I was doing that. So, like, by my like, you know, sometimes, you know, when you're volunteering, sometimes nobody shows up. Yeah. You know, and once or twice, it's like a driver and me, and they look at you and they go, alright.
Well, let's go. And Right. Next thing you know, I'm battling a a full on car fire by myself in the middle of the highway. Right. Yeah.
Like, I was running the truck, and I'm like, I'm 18. This is insane. So but but, nevertheless, my my point is that you had some you had context for it. You decide you wanted to do it. You've got type one already.
Type 1 and the fire academy rules47:46
So when you when you say to yourself, I'm gonna do this professionally, like, what are the steps you have to take to even, like how do you even make sure that that's a thing that's okay? And then from there, you know, are there extra hoops to jump through as a type one?
Yeah. There's not a ton. I mean, every I'm sure every state and department probably has different standards. But, I mean, diabetes is not a condition that it completely excludes you from being a a professional firefighter, but there's obviously stipulations. I mean, they wanna see good, you know, glycemic control.
They wanna see that your numbers are stable. They obviously wanna make sure that you're not having frequent or super symptomatic or super severe hypoglycemic episodes.
Yeah.
And then every year to be an interior firefighter, volunteer, or career, you have to get a physical done. So they obviously recheck your a one c. And then usually, because you're diabetic, a lot of times they'll ask me to do, other tests. Like, they'll have my doctor maybe write a note that's saying, like, you know, in her standpoint, I'm cleared for duty, a stress test, like a cardiovascular stress test just to make sure that there's no underlying cardiovascular disease from the diabetes too. Mhmm.
So just kind of extra things like that, but, I mean, we're held to the same, you know, standards in terms of medical and physical standards that somebody without that condition would, would be, you know.
So when you started actually training, how long well, first of all, how long was the the the actual training?
Yeah. So where I'm from, New York State, we have a a fifteen week long fire academy. So you actually drive to the fire academy. You live there for your four days that you're training, and then you come home for a long weekend. Weekend.
Mhmm. So that's fifteen weeks that you're down there.
And what was the first thing that jumped out at you that your diabetes was gonna be in the way of or needed adjusting for, or did that never happen?
Probably not down there because, again, I'd gone to training in '22, and I was still kind of on that tail end of I was on MDI at that point, but I definitely was kind of managing it a little bit
Differently.
Less aggressively. Yeah. I mean, you know, definitely taking less insulin to account for physical activity, but not necessarily as calculated as I probably would be doing it today.
Okay. So back back then, was it better high than low?
Yeah. Oh, a 100. I mean, that was that was the mentality. A 100%, I'd rather have a high blood sugar and just not have to waste my mental space worrying about it at that point.
So were you Then you shooting for blood sugars when you were working in a certain range? Like, what was the range you cared about?
So I was kind of on and off with a CGM back then too. I mean, my range was probably, you know, one fifty, one eighty. I mean, I'm I'm sure that there was times that I was operating and exercising with blood sugars that were in excess of one eighty.
Sure. And and their their whatever their rigor was for your health, an a one c in the sevens was okay?
Yeah. So, I mean, the the fire academy went off of the department's personal physician's recommendation. So Once you got the they want you to I think the the standard is that they want you to have an a one c of under eight, if I remember correctly
Okay.
Which obviously is not, you know, necessarily the the end goal.
Yeah. But Optimal for you. But
Right. Okay for this.
Okay. Okay. Yeah. Alright. So so you managed it within the rules and and did your did your learning and got out.
Mhmm. How long does it take to get a job after that? And does anybody do you get any pushback from houses because you have type one?
Sure. So I actually the way it normally works, unless you put yourself through it, you're actually sent from your employer to the fire academy.
Oh.
So, you take your civil service exam, which is your written exam. And then depending on how high you score is wherever you fall on your list, you then have to take, you know, an oral interview with whatever hiring board that that specific department has. Then you've also have to take your physical agility test to make sure that you're physically able to perform job related duties. Once you pass all that and you get offered a job, they hire you. And then usually a couple weeks after that, once they get you kinda oriented, you are then sent down there and start your academy experience.
And then come back. Do you do you is there positions or are everyone just a firefighter? Like, I mean, you have trucks that are are, I would imagine, pumpers. Right? And you probably have a ladder.
Like, did does somebody assigned to the ladder, or can people bounce between trucks? Does it not matter?
Yeah. So I think every department kinda does it differently. I work for a department in a little bit of a smaller city. I mean, we're only, like, just under nine square miles. We have, like, 20,000 people in our city.
Everybody needs to do everything? Correct. We
a lot of bigger career departments will have specific jobs where you do the same job until you bid out of it. For us, every shift we go in, it actually rotates. Sometimes you work in the ambulance as a paramedic. Sometimes you're driving the fire engine. Sometimes you're in the back of the ladder truck.
So Mhmm. It's kind of fluid, but it's also nice because it kinda gives you the ability to do it all. You're not just stuck doing one thing. You kinda get to do all the aspects of the job.
Riding to the call — dosing for chaos53:30
Yeah. Tell people how invigorating it is to drive fast in a giant truck while the horns are blowing and a siren's going off. It really does get your adrenaline going.
It does. Yeah. Honestly, sometimes sometimes driving is is more of an adrenaline rush than getting ready in the back because
Yeah.
When you're going there, there's just there's some like, things are just moving quickly. It's loud. It's chaotic. People are screaming at each other. You know?
Yeah. It's it's definitely an adrenaline rush for sure.
It it it it is a thing that I don't know that you could explain to another person about, like, you're sort of in your gear already, but you're on your way to something and you're not really sure what's happening. And then suddenly, like, the word comes in, like, something's happening. And you're suddenly you're you're you're putting on breathers and you're, you know, you're pulling your hood on and you're like, oh, this is really happening. Like, we've gotta do this now. And you're doing it in this tight spot riding in this truck and, you know, there's giant engine just screaming.
Nobody can hear anybody. And and you know, like, at some point and often, by the way, times, you're riding backwards, so you can't see when you're there yet, which I always, like, contextually, like, I was like, are we there? Like, how much more time do I have? You know? And then you roll up, and then you hop off that thing.
And sometimes you look up, and something's on fire. And you're just like, okay. And then boom. It just turns into a dance. People just go do a thing, and it's pretty magical actually that that, you know, a bunch of a bunch of people who are who are willing to do this to begin with, pull it together, and, like, make something like that go so well afterwards.
So Right. I don't know how to another way to think of it. And when they're all volunteer too, man, it's not lost on you that a school teacher's driving the truck and some guy's grandfather is, you know, the chief on the scene and, like, these are not this is not their job. You know? Like, I we we used to have a guy like, there was an insurance salesman.
He was running most of it, and he was great at it. It was Yeah. Really something. And, you know but, obviously, different levels of professionals. But
Sure.
But but really I mean, it's in it's invigorating, man. You get there and you're at a 10. Now does your blood sugar jump when that happens?
Usually. Yeah. So, usually, it does a little bit, and then it kind of, you know, levels back out later because you got physical activity that you're doing. You know? So you're using your sensitivity for insulin goes up, and whatever glucose you got in your body is obviously getting used up.
So but definitely I mean, I've definitely looked at my graphs, like, after a fire. Mean, like, oh, yeah. That's exactly when we got sent to that. You know? If you're you're looking and it goes up and then it's coming down and you know?
Well, I mean, in a world where I can see on my daughter's graph when she's taking the test or she's arguing with a friend, like, you know what I mean? Like or something like that. Like, in a world where you can see that sometimes, I imagine this is something again, people, you have no idea that a truck is just it's a massive heavy thing, and it you are flying, and it is screaming, and people are talking. And it's it's all and you're putting on this stuff and, you know also, if you've never been inside of a burning building, it's something else. Like Yeah.
Yeah. There's it's this is another level of life you're not aware of if you've never done that before. It is intense.
Yeah. It's it's almost like sensory overload sometimes, you know, because you physically feel things, you hear things, you see things, then you're you're growing up on it, maybe you can smell it, and then you go inside and you lose half those senses. Mhmm. You know? And you come back out and you get them all back again.
So, like, even on a on a nine diabetic standpoint, just on a regular human body standpoint, like, having all of your senses come in and out at different times is is is kind of almost like a like a holy cow. Like, what did I just do?
Yeah. I had a lot of different impacts. And all of a sudden, you're climbing a ladder. You're hanging off I mean, you're half hanging off a roof, cutting holes and grooves, and, like, you're just like, what is like, man, this is this this got real, real fast.
Yep. For sure.
Or or then days can go by, I imagine, too. Like, so so how do you even balance your insulin for that? Because you don't know you're gonna get a job that day. And and Right. The rest of the day could be nothingness.
You could be riding from alarm system to alarm system all day long.
And Right. Exactly.
Right? So what do you do?
So I I mean, the best thing that I do is a lot of times I'll put my pump into exercise mode for my entire shift, just to kinda help cover the the demand. Because, again, like you said, it could be we sit around and have lunch and do some training and hang out
Mhmm.
Or we're busy taking call after call after call. Yeah. So kind of putting the pump in that that mindset of, hey. I wanna ride a little bit higher. I want you to be a little less aggressive with my basal insulin, you know Mhmm.
Is definitely, a big key contributor.
Do you ever do you ever eat and then get a call and think, oh god. I have a ton of insulin on board. Like, this is a bad time for this?
Yes and no. So that's kind of my one compromise at work is that I will still try my best to pre bolus because I know it's important, but I'll only pre bolus maybe a fraction or only take enough insulin where I, like, I know, okay. If I get a call right now, I can eat half this sandwich, let's say
Mhmm.
On my way downstairs to, you know, to go get my gear on and stuff. So I'll only take enough insulin to at least cover that so that at least I know, hey. I don't have a ton on board, and then I'll obviously finish my meal and take the rest afterwards.
Yeah.
Sometimes that works okay. Sometimes it's not as optimal as as being home and having a nice, you know, ten, fifteen, twenty minute pre bolus for food. Sure. But I would also rather be safe at work for myself and for the guys I'm working with.
Done yet.
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#1928 Bolus For: High-Sugar Drinks
Bolus For: High-Sugar Drinks
Scott and Jenny Smith take on the drinks people forget to bolus for: regular soda, milk and chocolate milk, juice, and the sugar hiding in powdered lemonade. A liquids-are-rocket-fuel edition.
Jump to a moment
- Liquids get overlooked — and they hit fast. Scott’s whole premise: people bolus for the meal and forget the drink. A can of regular soda runs mid-40s in carbs, all sugar, and Jenny’s guidance is to pre-bolus hard and consider a short walk after, because liquid sugar absorbs faster than a teaspoon of the solid kind.
- Fat and protein soften the curve. Whole milk (about 12g carb, 8g protein, 8g fat per 8 oz) rises more gently than skim, where there’s nothing to slow it. Higher fat means a flatter rise — but it still needs a pre-bolus, not none.
- The “healthy” chocolate milk can be worse than soda. A 14 oz Nesquik carries 41g carb and 39g sugar, roughly a soda’s sugar in a bigger package. By contrast, ultra-filtered Fairlife cuts the natural lactose sugar and boosts protein, which changes both the number and the strategy.
- Eat your fruit, don’t drink it. Grape juice lands near 59g carb for 12 oz — Jenny pegs a grape at roughly a gram of carb each, so a glass of juice is dozens of grapes with none of the fiber to slow it down.
- The hidden-sugar finale. Scott does the math on the powdered lemonade of his childhood: a gallon is around 277g of sugar, and it would take only about eight gallons to equal a five-pound bag. The lesson lands as comedy, but the point is real — the drinks around the food often carry more sugar than the food.
- Bolus For series — Scott and Jenny Smith work through how to bolus for specific tricky foods and drinks, one at a time.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — The management foundation behind the show — pre-bolusing, settings, fat and protein, and more, with Scott and Jenny.
- Small Sips — Listener-voted, bite-sized takeaways on insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:00
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the juice box podcast. I've been asking for a week and a half now. Have you gone and filled out the t one d exchange survey? Please do. 18 and over, US citizen, have type one diabetes.
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You'll find those links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now and at juiceboxpodcast.com. Today, we're just gonna pick a couple of difficult drinks and do them all at once.
The premise: liquids we overlook2:08
Oh.
I'm gonna and regular soda. I wanna do
That's good.
I wanna do milk and chocolate milk. I assume that will also encompass hot chocolate, but that's it, really. I just think that these are things people drink, and they need to know how to bowl this for them. And I'd like to talk them.
And chocolate milk.
Don't you think? Are they not different?
They are different.
That's why brought
them all. Yeah. No. It's it's great, but it's it's just an interesting simple thing.
It's very simple, but I don't think it is because well, because I think that we have a a propensity to overlook liquids and condiments when we're bolusing. And so True. I I really do think that. Not that not that, you know, soda isn't pretty obvious. Right?
But still, let's talk about it. So I'm gonna I'm gonna just do the thing. I'm gonna go to the thing, the machine. And I'm gonna ask you, what if what if I'm just gonna have a soda? That's it.
Blood sugar's good. I'm I'm I'm I'm walking around my house. I'm gonna open up a 12 ounce can of something and drink it. Is it going to, like, spike my blood sugar for sure? Like, put this person in a specific situation.
Let's make their blood sugar a 110. It's been nice and stable for a while. They're on an automated system and or they're even who cares what they're on, really? They've been nice and stable for a while. They're thirsty.
They're gonna grab a soda. Prebels
A regular soda. Regular soda. Clear.
Sugary sugaryific soda. Pick your favorite. Sure. Have you ever had a soda?
I have had soda. Mhmm. Yes. Of course, I've had soda.
Yeah. In '78? When was it exactly?
Pick a soda. Oh my goodness.
Favorites? Pepsi?
I would have picked I will tell you, I would have picked not a cola type.
Okay.
I would have picked what is it Sunkist?
Really?
Is the orange soda? So and there's, again, there's always a story to something. Right? But my short story is that my grandfather always had a refrigerator in his garage. He had a dairy farm.
And for all the help like, he always had a a cooler or a fridge that had was stocked with drinks. Sunkist was one of them. And my cousins and I and my younger brother, we would usually, we were supposed to ask to have the soda from the fridge. Right?
Special soda.
Right? Special soda. Mhmm. But we don't just, you know, sneak in the garage and, like, grab a can and then go out behind, like, the the chicken coop and, like, drink it.
Other kids are smoking cigarettes. Jenny is stealing a soda. Go ahead.
I'm stealing a soda, but it was sunkissed. Like, that was the favored one of of my three boy cousins and myself and my younger brother. Mhmm. And then when I found out I had diabetes, my grandpa clearly knew what we were doing, and what showed up was diet sunkissed.
Oh, your grandfather changed over the refrigerator for you?
Part right. He always made that as an available sneak. And he kept the other ones in there, but he always made sure to have a diet in there because he knew that I needed that.
Well, isn't that nice? Did you how old were you when that happened?
So, gosh, I mean, I was diagnosed as a, 13 year old.
Do you remember that feeling loving
to you? I do.
Yeah. Absolutely. Did he ever mention it?
Did he ever mention it? You know, I don't think that he did. I can't remember that as
a cry while we were trying to talk about ballet soup for soda. That's so nice.
But I you know, it's just it's the reason I would pick sunkissed is mainly because that's my memory of it, And that was my, like, flavor or grape soda. I like the fruity flavors for whatever reason.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you.
Not like the cola one.
Well, let's go with Sunkist.
There you go.
I have a 12 ounce can. That's such a nice story. We have a 12 ounce can of regular sunkissed orange soda. It is 41 carbs.
Yep.
Yep. 41 added sugar, grams as well. Sodium, sixty five milligrams. There's obviously no fat or protein in it, and there is caffeine, nineteen milligrams. But after talking to somebody who had a was telling me how much was in a Monster Energy drink, I now don't think that's very much caffeine at all.
No. It's it's not. It's actually less than most tea.
Yeah. It's a a small amount. Yeah.
Yeah. It's a small amount.
So okay. Blood sugar is a 110, nice and stable. It's hot outside. I want a soda. Do I just go 41 carbs and wait, or is it gonna get on top of me no matter what?
Soda is rocket fuel — pre-bolus hard7:12
It is. It's all sugar. You said 41 of carb, 41 of sugar. That means this product is literally like taking teaspoons of sugar and putting it in your mouth, only it's in liquid form. And liquid absolutely gets absorbed faster than a teaspoon of sugar does.
Okay. So it's just rocket fuel?
It's it it is. Absolutely. You will see a change in your blood sugar if you do not pre bolus the crap out of this. You are can I say that?
Sure. You can. One me just did, but sure.
Okay. You have got you have got to really pre bolus this, and you're starting at a nice number. One ten. You're nice and stable. You whoever whatever you did prior to this may add into, but you still need to pre bolus this.
And are you gonna 41 grams of carb is no joke.
That's a lot. Also, I'm That's a lot. As you're talking, I'm now mesmerized by this. This is the number. 41 for the Sunkist, 41 for Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 46, Barq's root beer, 44 to 45.
Like, this is the number. You want
mid It is.
Yeah. Mid forties for a can of soda. Can you believe the number one prescribed automated insulin delivery system is now even better? Omnipod five is now stronger than ever with algorithm updates, including a new lower one hundred milligram per deciliter target glucose option designed for more time and range and with fewer interruptions for more time in automated mode. That's right.
The number one prescribed automated insulin delivery system just got better. Request a thirty day Omnipod five trial today at omnipod.com/juicebox and experience the enhancements firsthand. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox.
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It also has a twelve hour grace period so you can swap your sensor when it's convenient for you. All that on top of being small, accurate, incredibly wearable, and light. These things, in my opinion, make the Dexcom g seven a no brainer. The Dexcom g seven comes with way more than just this. Actually, up to 10 people can follow you.
You can use it with type one, type two, or gestational diabetes. It's covered by all sorts of insurances, and this might be the best part. It has alerts and alarms that are customizable so that you can be alerted at the levels that make sense to you. Dexcom.com/juicebox. Links in the show notes.
Links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Dexcom Omnipod and all the sponsors. But you can remember it. Dexcom.com/juicebox. Check it out. Mhmm.
Okay.
Can you contain the spike?10:13
A 100%. And it's the hard thing is to acknowledge one that we are looking for any carb intake. It's gonna create a rise. With something like this, it's gonna create a pretty significant rise. And your question is, do we just bolus what our insulin to carb ratio would dictate we need?
Do we bolus more and wait even longer? Do what what do we do to mitigate the impact this is going to have?
Yeah.
It is an experiment for yourself unless you've had the experience before and you can draw from that. This one time instance is gonna be your best thing to do is pre bolus and drink the soda and see what happens and then possibly go outside for a walk.
We're not gonna see one of those, like, lollipop situations where you it pops up and pops back and comes back down again. This is soda's gonna take you up, and you're gonna stay there after that.
It's it's gonna come up. I mean, there's nothing really holding up when we have carbohydrate intake or sugar intake. The rise and fall is meant to be to mimic or go along with how our insulin action is. Mhmm. But this is very quick sugar, so the intake of it is gonna create the rise, which we're gonna try to contain because of the pre bolus strategy.
And then on the back end, it's not really going to linger if all the settings are correct Yeah. And our bolus ratio is correct. It should bring us back down despite us going up quick.
Okay. And I'm gonna ask you what I imagine to some people will be a controversial question. I don't mean it that way. Gun to your head, you have to drink a soda. Would you drink a regular soda with sugar, or would you drink forget your diabetes for a second, or would you drink a diet soda?
Regular vs diet: the ingredients debate12:11
Without diabetes in the picture?
Just I'm asking about, like because people argue about this all the time.
Yeah. I I mean, from a caloric standpoint as well as from a a sugar standpoint Mhmm. Even without diabetes, I'd probably drink the diet soda, but it's hard to forget what I know.
And you know what? There's a lot of chemicals in it?
There are a lot of chemicals in both of the products. Whether it's regular or diet, it it's all chemically made. There's nothing natural. You don't go in the field and pick a can of soda. Like, there's there's nothing natural.
Only, Jenny. Because then your grandfather wouldn't have even needed that that refrigerator. You could just pluck it off the off the vine.
There you go.
So wait. Okay. Let's take a second here. List all ingredients in a Pepsi and a Diet Pepsi. Because this is the argument online all the time.
People are like, you can't drink sugared soda. We have diabetes, blah blah blah. And somebody says, oh, it's better than all the chemicals and the other thing, and then they argue. It's like it's like a it's a gimme for the Internet. If I wanted to put a post up right now that reached 30,000 people, I would just make that argument.
It would pop off in two seconds. The algorithm would love it. Send it on its way. Regular Pepsi ingredients, carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color sugar, phosphoric acid, caffeine, citric acid, natural flavor. Okay?
Mhmm. Carbonated water, and this is diet, caramel, color, aspartame, phosphoric.
Is essentially NutraSweet.
It's it's
a sweetener.
Phosphoric acid, potassium, benzoate to preserve freshness, caffeine, citric acid, natural flavor. Oh, hold on a second. Asulfamane potassium?
Asulfamane potassium is another type of sweetener similar to aspartame or sucralose or what it's it's a chemical based non nutritive sweetener, and it's often used more in drinks like this. I can't remember exactly the chemical reason, but it it's sweetness supports the flavor a little bit better than other types of alternatives. Okay. Now you didn't ask me what kind of diet soda
I would choose. I went Pepsi diet host. You would pick something with, like like, doctor Brown something or other, or am I getting close?
Doctor Brown.
I don't know.
Do know that brand a 100%.
I know you.
I would actually pick Zevia. Zevia? Yes. Z e I a.
What's it got in it then?
So it's sweetened with stevia and monk fruit. Some of them. It may not many of them may not have monk fruit, but, it's stevia monk fruit. So it is alternative sweetener that is not chemically a 100% creative.
Am I gonna drink it and think that I just lick the the floor, or what is it? Is it good?
No. You're not. Okay. In fact I mean, when we have when we have soda, like, a root beer float for, like, a special something that I'll make, I absolutely get the Zevia root beer.
Mhmm.
And it is quite tasty. It's all clear, so there's no caramel color
Yeah.
Which you can see in regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi. Many of these ingredients are very much similar.
Mhmm.
Right? There's not a lot of difference, outside of the aspartame and the sulfate potassium.
Do you agree with, Chad GPT's breakdown of the question, does diet soda cause cancer? No good evidence says diet soda causes cancer in normal use. The best plain English answer is probably not, but don't drink endless amounts of it. The scary
always the answer.
The scare mostly comes from aspartame, which in many diet sodas in 2023, the, let's see. WHO cancer agency IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on limited evidence. But another WHO FAO safety group, the JECFA, reviewed the same issue and kept the acceptable daily intake at forty milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, who gave the example that a hundred and fifty four pound adult would generally have to drink around nine to 14 cans of diet soda per day depending on the aspartame content to exceed that limit.
Right.
Yeah. I think some people will drink that much soda every day.
They may. Yeah. But they also this is a it's a bigger consideration than just soda or diet soda. Right? The bigger consideration is that with diabetes, many sugar free products come into your or or could Mhmm.
Come into your day to day intake. So your soda intake is not all you're going to get with these artificial sweeteners in it. You may have candy products, you may have baked products, because now we have a whole host of low calorie or no sugar or even some of the keto types of products that are on the market, which they may be great blood sugar wise. But you did the equation, right, of this person who can get this much, can drink this many cans. Nobody's going to do that math.
No way.
You're not keeping track of the amount of, in this example, just aspartame daily that you're intaking and by 02:00 in the oh, I've had my limit. I can't have any nobody does that.
Soda's over now. No more soda today.
Right? So
Yeah. Now I'm gonna have water. No. So I've asked my next question that I see in this argument. Do artificial sweeteners make you hungry?
So it's what do you think
about it say? Well, I am curious because my consideration and what I typically have coached, and I I did do some weight management coaching years ago Mhmm. And still, you know, in somewhat in some of the stuff that I do. But when you are filling let's say your body is hungry and you don't want something caloric, but you wanna take away by putting in a film, like a fullness factor, something in your stomach. And liquid does a good job with that.
But when your body really does need something caloric, when you put in something that is false in calories, your body still craves the calories it was looking for. You may have a fullness factor for a bit from the liquid, but you end up still craving something that has true calories that your brain can acknowledge, Oh, I have been fed. I can turn this piece off. I mean, there are a whole bunch of hormones in the body that we've got that indicate fullness versus hunger, and they do get dysregulated in somebody with diabetes to begin with. And then you add in a lot of, like, sugar free beverages, which in whatever realm you're drinking them and whatever the sweetener is, whatever, they're great as a additive for hydration.
Mhmm.
But you really shouldn't be taking these in to replace calories that your body does need. Okay. And in that, absolutely, these types of products can make you more hungry because you're not putting in food when your body's really telling you, hey. I'm hungry.
Yeah. Your body wants or needs calories. You're tricking it to thinking other that it got some, and then it realizes no, and then it still asks you for more food.
And then by then, you might be more hungry, so you might put in more calories than you would had you just eaten an apple and, you know, a piece of string cheese, for example.
Yeah. Okay.
So I'm curious what, your friend chat GPT has said.
I he agrees with you or she. I've never I've never I've never asked her preference.
But That's why I said, dear friend.
Most people, artificial sweeteners do not seem to create major hunger effects by themselves. But a cleaner answer would be that compared with sugar, they may leave you less satisfied because you got a sweet taste without calories. Compared with water, they usually do not clearly make people eat more. A 2024 review of randomized trials found that non nutritive sweeteners when replacing sugar were linked with about a 175 fewer calories per day on average. But when compared with water, they are not associated with a significant change in total cal caloric intake.
So I I guess it's the feeling that it leaves you with, like an unsatisfied feeling
Right.
Which which is where the question that people say it makes me hungry.
Yeah.
Yeah. So it gets oversimplified into diet sodas make me hungry. Gotcha. Okay. The stevia soda, by the way, carbonated water, natural flavor, stevia extract, tartaric acid, caffeine, citric acid.
Mhmm. And they must have maybe they did. Maybe they took monk fruit out. I know it it was in there at some point. Maybe it's not in there any longer or maybe it's in some of the flavors.
Yeah. But
they're all pretty good. I've had I've tried many of the flavors.
I met a man a couple of years ago who was thinking of buying ads on the podcast to launch his, natural soda company. Oh. Yeah. I don't know whatever happened to him, But he was on it. Was doing it by himself.
Sent me some samples. Some of them were pretty good. A couple of them I didn't like. But it was it was interesting. I don't even remember the name of it to be able to check to see if it it actually took off or not.
Nevertheless. Okay. Let's jump to milk. They say it does the body good. I heard it in a in an ad when I was a kid.
On to milk — does the fat matter?22:15
Yes.
I think that was just an ad from people who sold milk.
But Probably. The dairy industry.
Yeah. They were like, hey. It's great for you. I swear to god. Is it good for you?
Is it would you drink milk? May I guess?
You may guess.
There's no way you drink cow's milk, but go ahead. I'm asking now.
I don't I don't drink cow's milk any longer. Yeah. I don't drink cow's
milk. Is there any connection to the fact that, like, inside when I was a kid, girls started developing it earlier, and they used to say it was from cow's milk, hormones in cow's milk.
Well, they yeah. And I don't know what studies have proven relative to that, but it is a reason that we now have the non hormone treated dairy types of products, and they're clearly labeled as, you know, dairy cows didn't have any hormonal whatever. Mhmm. In general, is milk it's a caloric, I guess, piece that does contain all the macronutrients.
Okay.
Especially regular whole milk and even 2% milk, and if 1% if you can find it. They have carbohydrates, They have protein. They have fat. They're a they're a pretty complete type of food product Mhmm. If you're looking at it just from the macronutrients.
Yeah.
I mean, there's also calcium in it. Right? So is there quality in milk? Sure. If you're just breaking it down to the nutrients, there's quality in the milk.
Are they adding stuff to the milk or to the cows or to the feed? How does it get to the milk?
Yeah. I mean, it's all based in general, our cows eons ago compared to the cows that we have now. If you take care of dairy cattle, you are you're taking care of them because they are your breadwinner.
Yeah.
Right? And so you depending on what you're using and what type of feed or whether they are grass fed instead of being grain fed, I mean, there's a whole bunch of different thoughts on the quality that you get from the milk and then even from, like, grass fed beef comparative to non. There is there's a difference when you look at the product that comes out.
How it gets out. When I
was a
I would, my dad would drive to a place a few blocks from where we lived, and you'd walk in, and they they were milking the cows right there and selling the milk. Like, just like that. That place, by the way, that farm is a seven Eleven now. But Oh. Yeah.
I'm so I'm so sorry to say. But that's how we used to get it back. Was it even pasteurized, I wonder? Or or were we it's interesting.
I would expect that they probably have
do that. Yeah. I wasn't drinking it
wrong though. With in the farm, I'm sure that they did. Yeah. I mean, I I loved my grandfather's dairy farm. It was it was so much fun to go to.
We had fresh milk all the time when we went there, so it's not like I've never had milk.
Yeah. I
grew up drinking milk.
Whole to skim, and why fat softens the rise25:39
Here it is. Whole milk, 12 carbs. Actually
Mhmm.
Whole milk, 2%, 1% skim milk, all have 12 carbs. Yep. I have it as an eight ounce glass. Protein, all eight. The only difference really is the fat.
Yeah. Whole, I have it 2% at 1% at two and a half, and skim milk, zero.
Right.
So that's it. They're just they're skimming the they're literally skimming oh, skim milk. They're literally skimming the fat out of the milk.
They are.
Never thought of that before. Never thought In my life, I didn't realize that's why skim milk was called.
That is so funny.
Look at us learning. Okay. Well, me, the rest of you are like, yeah, dummy. But, so are we does the fat in the milk change the bolus?
To some degree, if you consider the breakdown in whole milk, right, eight grams of fat and 12 grams of carb and about eight grams of protein, the protein and the carbs are the same. But when you add fat, as we've talked about so many times before, there is more of a stabilizing effect. And because the fat in this is almost as much carb,
Yeah.
You would have a lighter effect of whole milk. The same thing with whole milk yogurt and any of those types of dairy products.
Mhmm.
The higher the fat, if there is carb in it, the more stable you should see. Doesn't mean you don't need any pre bolus for it.
Yeah.
But it still will have lower effect than something like skim milk where there's no fat in it at all. There's nothing.
I'm trying to decide if my reference is so old that I shouldn't make it. But if you think about I'm gonna see how much of this you get if I just say it like this. If you think about Laverne de Fazio and her drinking and her drinking milk and Pepsi in a little television show called Laverne and Shirley in the seventies, She would take milk and Pepsi and mix it together. Is that the perfect low treatment drink for a type one? Oh.
Is it possible? No. Because that tastes good.
Well, because it would have bad imagine.
You can't imagine. Because it would have the zhuzh of the sugar, but not as much of it with the milk and the fat. I don't know. Please report back if anybody's drinking milk.
No. That is very interesting. I I would have never thought of that reference. I do know it, but I would have never.
Are there three people who know what I'm talking about? Probably not.
Oh, there have to be more people who know what you're talking about.
While you were talking, I I asked about my question, and it just goes to show how things can get out into the world and not be true. I asked, do hormones in cow's milk cause early breast development for young girls? And it says, probably no. Cow's milk has not been shown to cause earlier development, blah blah blah. Concern makes sense because milk naturally comes from out of hormones.
A large US prospective study, 5,500 girls, found that milk intake after age nine did not predict earlier first periods. In comparison, the drinks the girls drinking more than three glasses a day versus one point one point one to four glasses weekly, intake did not significantly predict age. Yeah. This this is just a thing somebody said out loud when I was at an age I heard it, and I thought it was true. The Internet.
It really does.
Wonder too if this reference is to more recent
milk. No. It was something I heard when I was younger. So it's just somebody going like, you know what I've noticed? And then, you know, it's probably this.
And then people said it, and we didn't have any way to check back then. So Yeah. People were like, you know what I heard? And then I said it thirty five years later. But I checked.
You checked, and you got a reference.
Yeah. So, anyway, that's not that. Alright.
I wanted to bring in from a milk perspective.
Go ahead.
Chocolate milk and the Nesquik trap29:43
So what about another kind of milk, chocolate milk?
Oh, I got I got the the Hershey's chocolate right here. Hold on a second. You're gonna know this off the top of your head probably. One tablespoon of Hershey's chocolate syrup, 45 calories, 11 carbs. Wow.
10 grams of sugar, no fat, no protein.
I'm even talking about, like, you buy the chocolate milk at the store. You're not making it with Hershey syrup at home.
Okay.
You're buying the chocolate milk at the store. Look at the carbohydrate difference. You just said, what, a is it a teaspoon or a tablespoon of
a Hershey's tablespoon. That seemed reasonable. You did tablespoon. Would do, like, two tablespoons. But
So if we do the tablespoon and we do the milk, right, we've got 20 some grams of carbohydrate in total. Right?
Well, you end up putting 22 of sugar into the 12 of the milk. Right? So one, two, three.
It's almost You did two tablespoons?
Yeah. I did. But, mean, what am I gonna drink? Like, a light I don't I want a nice dark chocolate if I'm gonna have one.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So It's pretty close, would think, because I I believe that a cup of regular chocolate milk is around 30 ish grams of carb.
Yeah. I I did Fairlife.
Oh, and the Fairlife's gonna be a lot less.
Is it? Oh, then I need another one. What what would another
one is something I was gonna bring up as well because there is there's a difference for Fairlife in bolus strategizing and everything.
Okay.
But regular chocolate milk is typically for a cup, like, 30 grams of carb. And in general, I think it's 2%, so it's probably got about five grams
Okay.
Of fat, but it should have the same amount of protein.
Fairlife: more protein, less sugar31:24
I just realized I should do like that Nesquik one. Oh. Because that's that comes in little bottles and the thing. Nesquik chocolate
Oh my god. I haven't thought about Nesquik and the bunny in a long time.
Yeah. The bunny. That's the only reason I remember it. Oh, goodness. Nesquik chocolate, this is low fat 14 ounce bottle, 250 calories.
Wow. Wow. That's twice as much as a soda. Total carbs, 41. Same carbs as soda, 39 sugar.
Added sugars, 18, protein, 14, fat, four, sodium, two forty. Wow. A Nesquik chocolate low fat milk, 14 ounces is
But 14, not eight.
Yeah. But So
this is more than a cup.
Yeah. But but still, like, it that's how it comes in the store. And that's far more, I would say, far less healthy than a regular soda.
Is it
Yeah. Am I wrong? They trick you with the milk and the bunny. They
it has more fat and protein in it, but it has a lot more sugar in it.
I'll tell you what else it has in it. Low fat milk, sugar cocoa processed with alkali, calcium
Alkali.
There you go. Calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, natural and artificial flavors, carrageenan. Carrageenan. Thank you. Salt, gallon gum, cellulose gum, vitamin a palmitate, and vitamin d three.
Why they bother with the vitamin? I guess it was already in it. There's they were just like, oh, we have to write down
vitamin d. So oh,
yeah. That's right. They took it out and put it back. Thanks, government. Wow.
That's interesting. So Yeah. Versus
Reading the label out loud33:12
a four now compare it to the Fairlife.
Yeah. I'm looking right now.
Even just the regular Fairlife versus
I have a 14 ounce here of the Fairlife. Okay. Two hundred two hundred and fifty calories, 22 carbs, 21 sugar, 10 added sugar, three protein, eight fat, 350. So it's a lot of sodium in this stuff.
But look at the protein difference.
Yeah. So yeah. 23 versus 14. Yeah. So because why?
How what is what is
Well, that is I Fairlife Faucus is an it is it's an ultra filtered type of milk. And that, to my knowledge, my understanding, it increases the protein content, and it takes the sugars down, the natural lactose based sugars in the milk down, not added sugars. And the processing, there's more calcium in it than, and I believe, if I'm not mistaken, Fairlife milk is also considered lactose free.
Okay. That would change that then?
Well, it would change for people who have lactose intolerance.
Okay. I'm now jumping around. Welch's 100% grape juice, eight ounces. 140 calories, 39 carbs, 36 total sugar. No added sugar.
Juice: eat your fruit, don’t drink it34:34
No need. Protein one, no fat, tiny bit of sodium because juice is like what do they always say? Like, eat your food, don't drink it? Is that the
Eat your fruit, don't drink it.
Eat your fruit, don't drink it. Yeah. Jeez. So how many grapes would I have to? Hold on
a second. Each grape is about a a gram of carb per grape is usually what I teach people, and that's for a grape that's, like, the size of a nickel.
I'm just gonna ask the machine. There's no need to think anymore, Jenny. We're just driving a conversation.
Prefer to think.
Yo. You keep thinking. I'm gonna I'll
do it
like this.
Not that I don't use AI. I I do because it is a helper. But
Eight ounces equals 39 grams of carbs. So the easy math is one ounce equals about five grams of carbs. And so 12 ounces of grape juice is 59 carbs count, you know, as the as the grapes. How many grapes are you saying? You'd have to you'd have to eat 15 how many grapes to get to 59?
It's a it's about it's approximately a gram of carb per grape.
59 grapes? Oh my god. Let's do orange juice. I could eat
juice juice should be less. If it's not if it's not, you know, sweetened orange juice, if it's a 100% real orange juice, it is definitely a lot less carb. I think it's in a cup is, like, 30 grams if I remember correctly.
Yeah. I have, eight ounces, one cup orange juice, 110 calories, 26 carbs, 21, 22 sugars, no fat, a little bit of protein. So so grapes are that's why you call them sugar bombs when you talk about them. I mean
They're they're yeah. They're just I mean and the Welch just didn't have added sugar, did it, right, that you were looking at? It was really just concentrated grape.
I don't think it needed it. Yeah. Because it had 39 carbs, 36 sugar, no added sugars. So yeah. Isn't that I just I know that juice is, like, such a thing.
You know what I mean?
Like It is.
A lot of people drink juice.
Yeah.
Wrapping up: condiments and beer carbs36:47
Alright. I think this was good. I like doing this.
This is a lot of fun. I like talking about beverages because as you said, I think early on was beverages, something that you wash the food that you know has calories down
Mhmm.
With. And we really do have to pay attention to what's in a beverage, especially if we're drinking lots of that particular beverage all day long. And if you've never considered if you're newer to this, you may not really consider the drink that you have having an impact on your blood sugar. And it's valuable because it could have a pretty quick impact depending on what the content of what you're drinking is.
Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna finish by making my point over from the beginning. I don't think that we think about drinks or condiments. A tablespoon of ketchup, regular Heinz style ketchup, has five carbs in it, four sugars. A tablespoon is not a lot of ketchup.
So you It is not. No. You Like
a soup spoon size.
You very possibly have twenty, thirty carbs just in ketchup sometimes or barbecue sauce, which would probably have more sugar than I think ketchup does. To make the point, I'm not promoting drinking, but a 12 ounce can of regular Budweiser is a 145 calories, 10.5 grams of carbs, 1.3 protein, and, alcohol by volume 5%. But there's far fewer carbs and in beer than there is in soda. So just saying. Just, you know
We're not advocating that you could drink beer and
replace your soda. But It's a it's so you can see the difference. I I do not have people on on the Internet saying, like, Scott told me to drink beer instead of soda. I didn't say that. I'm just trying to make the point that you if I asked you, are there more carbs than a Pepsi or a beer, I think people probably might have said beer.
So but or maybe not even realize that their alcoholic beverage
Has carbs in
at all. Carbs in it.
Yeah. What other alcohols have carbs in it that nobody would think of? Like like
I mean, hard alcohol doesn't. It's the fact that most often we mix our hard alcohols like vodka and whatever with something else. Right? Mhmm. Yeah.
Juices, regular sodas, whatever it might be.
Glamberry, that kind of thing. Right? Yeah. Alright, guys. Listen.
You can do you can be Jenny and sneak a sunkist once in a while. You know you had the diet sunkist after they were there. Right?
Oh, of course I do.
I know you did.
Don't worry. 100% because at that point in my life, was I reading the aspartame and all the stuff in it? No. Because that was what we also had.
Yeah. Oh, please. Right. I make that point all the time around not understanding the impacts of food. I'll say it here.
The Country Time lemonade reckoning39:41
My mom used to buy a I mean, it felt like a trash can size of, like, lemonade scoop powder or something like that, and we would just take a count.
Country time.
Yeah. Yeah. There. Actually, hold on a second.
Country time lemonade.
Lemonade powder. Let me see if I can this is how it'll end. Because I've said this so many times. I've never actually looked it up. I just used it as an example.
So we had a one gallon Rubbermaid pitcher.
Mhmm.
You know, the ones with the little white, like, things you spin.
That you twisted it?
And then eventually they get really dirty and, like, they're disgusting. You know what I mean?
I do.
So, you know, pitcher.
Never understood about those pitchers is that one side of the twist was a very large just open hole, and the other side opposite of the twist was a hole
Serrating. A
square with with right. I was like, what what like, I'm not straining anything. It never even as a kid, it never made any sense to me. And then my mom told me, she's like, but oftentimes people will put ice in these pitchers.
Stop the ice from coming
out. It stops the ice from coming out, and then it made sense to me.
There you go. Just like that. Jenny understood. Country time lemonade. So we'd have a giant I mean, a and we didn't even get the country time.
I was I was the kind of broke where we got the, like, the one in the white container next to it, where you're just like here and this. And so, I wish that wasn't true. I wish I was drinking like Hobo's Hobo's drinks. You understand? Like, not even, like like, there there were literally, like, people, you know, homeless that were buying the stuff better than mine.
So they were like, I don't do the white container, with no photo on it like you do. Poor person. But, nevertheless, two tablespoons of this powder is a 100 calories, 26 carbs, 24 sugar. So two tablespoons is that. And I asked, you know, but how do I make a gallon of it?
Regular country time lemonade, one gallon, takes about one and a third cups of powder or eight scoops. The package commonly lists eight scoops for a gallon or 1.13. So drinking it prepared, you're getting the same 26 grams of carbs per cup. But in that gallon oh my god, Jenny. Everything makes so much more sense now.
Oh, my life didn't have to be this way. A gallon of this is 277 carbs. It's all sugar.
Yeah. Yeah.
It is. My whole life.
And that's we yeah. But but and your whole life is not only yours. Think about how often we've seen the big gigantic orange container at cookouts, and you push the little button and out the spigot comes the drink, and you fill it six times during the entire six hour, you know, cookout. It's all sugar.
Oh, wait. Wait.
Like, just fill it with water.
How much how much sugar how how do I describe that I want the sugar in granules? Does that it does not equal, how much sugar
Oh my I
I guess granulated is this? Oh, I'm so afraid. I I I don't I know people can't see me. I'm genuinely disappointed. Like, this is just I mean, we it was always in the refrigerator.
And if it and if it was gone, you just took it over to the sink and not even, like, please, in case you're wondering, filtered water. That didn't exist. You just jam that in there, throw in a little ice, throw in another cup and a third. And by the way, do you think we were doing a cup and a third? Honestly, you've heard the stories.
You think somebody hit the third of the cup out? No. They were like cup and more. So oh my god.
Well, Kool Aid is not much different, I would expect. Right? The the difference in Kool Aid is that Kool Aid, when I grew up, was not premixed little containers like the country time. It was packets of powder that had no sugar.
Yeah.
And then you sugared it the way that you mixed it, right, with the water and the sugar and the powder, and you mixed it up. And then you couldn't wait until, like, all the sugar was completely dissolved at the bottom of the pitcher with your purple fluid that you're drinking.
The purple fluid? Yes.
Because that's what it was.
Eight gallons to a bag of sugar44:06
Okay. Here's how I decided to do this. One gallon of country time lemonade sorry, country time, is about 277 grams of sugar. Okay? Mhmm.
So I'd need eight gallons of country time lemonade to equal it's only eight gallons. A five pound bag of sugar. Oh my god. Oh, that's why I was fat. Never mind.
Alright. Asked and answered. I know what happened. Alright.
There you go. It was all your country time, non labeled.
Can I just say at end, I I'd like to thank the Eli Lilly Corporation for for making me fit? And I don't hold my mom accountable. She's passed on. Would be unfair. Oh my god.
She did what she could.
Well, I mean, she could have put some diet sunkist in there, but I guess that didn't occur to anybody. So Jesus. God. Alright, everyone. Godspeed.
Good luck. Don't drink your sugar. Bye bye.
Thanks.
Heck of an episode today, wouldn't you say? Let's thank Dexcom and the Omnipod five for sponsoring. That's right, my friends. We were sponsored today by the Dexcom g seven. Dexcom.com/juicebox.
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Could you just type small sips into the search? Oh, wow. That search works great. Look at that. And then you could go right to, like, all results for small SIPs.
Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ. You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq. Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website is I mean, have you, like, seen it?
You should you should go check out the website. The website rocks. It is a potpourri, a never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey. That's right. It really is.
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Yeah. I don't like that. Fix that. Oh, Claude. Oh, hell.
I forgot to say thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon. What is that noise? Stop it.
Stop. Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking. Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against the don't tell people I have reptiles.
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