#1901 Informative, Not Performative
Informative, Not Performative
Diagnosed with type 1 on college move-in day, a genuine, upbeat 19-year-old talks freshman year, running, body image, and — across a long, unedited conversation — social media, AI, and staying real.
Jump to a moment
- New-onset type 1 can be missed for months. Bella had classic symptoms all summer — vision changes, weight loss, fatigue, muscle cramps, and extreme thirst she first blamed on a UTI and iron pills — before a routine physical caught it on college move-in day. Her A1C was 13.5 with blood sugar over 700.
- The honeymoon phase can flatter your numbers. Nearly a year in, Bella runs a 5.8 A1C on very little insulin and rarely drops on runs — signs her pancreas still helps. Scott raised LADA and cautioned that insulin needs usually climb, so don’t be blindsided when the honeymoon fades. Repeatable dining-hall portions and a big walking campus kept things steady.
- Type 1 carries a heavy mental-health load, especially for young women — body-image distress, a disordered-eating history, and anxiety. Bella’s blunt line: few illnesses come with their “own branded eating disorder.” What helps her is therapy, faith, movement, and naming it instead of hiding it.
- Screen proactively. With thyroid disease in the family, watch TSH, iron/anemia, and vitamin D yearly, and advocate for treating Hashimoto’s symptoms even when labs read “in range.” Type 1 rarely travels alone.
- Informative beats performative. In an unusually long, unedited back half, Bella (a Gen-Z dietetics student) and Scott dig into how social media — and even AI — can genuinely help people with diabetes (turning bolus lessons into songs, helping a mom in Zimbabwe dial in settings live) rather than content made just to look good. Her coinage gives the episode its name.
- Bold Beginnings Series — for the newly diagnosed, with Jenny Smith (verify slug)
- Mental Wellness Series — anxiety, body image, and the emotional side of diabetes, with Erica Forsyth (verify slug)
- “Bolus For” Episodes — pick-a-food bolusing walkthroughs Bella listens to (find via the series menu)
- National Alliance for Eating Disorders — helpline and support for disordered eating (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook Group — community around type 1 (verify URL)
- Juicebox Podcast — all series and free resources
Every word of the conversation
Meet Bella0:00
Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Juice Box podcast. Today, I'm gonna do something that I don't think I've ever done before. I am taking a very long episode and playing it for you all the way through. I think it's really interesting.
I'm gonna bet you might too, and we're gonna find out together. Nothing you hear on the juice box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult consult always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. Go check out the private Facebook group, Juice Box Podcast type one diabetes. Follow me
on
Instagram at Juice Box Podcast. And please, if you are not subscribed or following in a podcast player like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, YouTube TV no. YouTube. What? YouTube, Amazon Music, Spotify.
I said Spotify. Audacity, do I think do I I don't mean Audacity. I mean, what's the other one? You know what I mean? With Amazon.
Amazon Music. No. With the books. Audible. That's the one.
Anyway, subscribe or follow. I think you'll enjoy it. And, I mean, if you don't enjoy it even, it would really help me out. So let's get going. Run some ads.
Start the show. Have a really great conversation with 19 year old Bella who has type one diabetes. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by the Omnipod five. And at my link, omnipod.com/juicebox, you can get yourself a free, what'd I just say, a free Omnipod five starter kit. Free?
Get out of here. Go click on that link. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Check it out. Terms and conditions apply.
Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com. US Med is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast, and we've been getting our diabetes supplies from US Med for years.
You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514. Use the link or the number, get your free benefits check, and get started today with US Med. Testing. Make sure we're being recorded.
I just did it for myself. Can you say testing?
Testing.
Awesome. You're good. So what happens now is I shut up, and then you introduce yourself the way you want to be known. I don't think you need your last name if you feel compelled to use it. You certainly can.
It does look like it was made up so that it could be like an awesome Instagram handle or something like that. So it's up to you if you wanna use it or not. I don't I don't think you need it though. Okay. Whenever you're ready, introduce yourself.
Hi. I'm Bella. I'm a 19 year old diabetic that is currently a college student.
College? Oh. What are you going to college for?
Dietetics.
Is that like a a what is that like a It's a major?
Or Nutrition.
Nutrition. Okay.
Yes. It's, it's like yeah. So I'm gonna go to be a dietitian.
Oh, very nice. Yeah. I just didn't understand the word. I didn't go to college. So I never looked at I never looked at the book that let said all the different things you could do.
Yeah. No. I mean, honestly, everyone that I've pretty much everyone that I've told about my major, like, they don't know what it is, which I feel like is really surprising. I feel like it's kinda, like, in the name.
Maybe it's just the well yeah. I maybe it's because we're making a podcast about diabetes that I got, like, waylaid by Dia. I was like, dietetics. What is that?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. No. That makes sense.
Now but now that you said it, I was like, oh, yeah. Now I feel like
an idiot. And, no. It's okay. It's okay.
But listen. There's no excuse for me not getting it. The other 19 year olds in your life, that we can understand.
So Actually, it's mostly adults Oh. Who don't know it.
Yeah. They probably drink a lot, you think? Something like that?
No. No? No. Yeah. They just don't know.
They don't know. Well, how old were you when you were diagnosed?
I was actually diagnosed last August.
Oh, that's not even a year ago.
Yeah. No. It was actually, the day I moved into college.
No. It wasn't.
Yeah. Yeah.
You're serious. You're humping up, like, all that while you're watching your parents carry all that stuff up and down, and you're, like and I I was stunned at how little Arden helped carry things. I was like No.
I mean, I did help, but, yeah, I was my yeah. You're just
you're just watching everybody carries that and you don't feel well, or what's going on? Take me through the day a little bit.
Diagnosed on Move-In Day5:01
Okay. Yeah. So now that I know diabetes, I think the earliest I had felt my symptoms was Memorial Day that year.
Okay.
And then, like, throughout the summer, I basically had every single symptom of undiagnosed diabetes to a t. Like, vision loss, muscle cramps, weight loss, constant fatigue, like, everything.
Yeah.
And I just go to a yearly physical, which thank god I do. And it just happened to be on the same day I moved into college. So I went, I got my physical. And, honestly, like, not, like, TMI or anything, but I thought I had, like, a UTI because I was peeing so much. Right.
Right. So, like, I was just like, okay. Whatever. I'm just gonna tell them. So I told the the nurse my sometimes poor girl is probably like, uh-huh.
This is this is at school?
And then it was, like, 7PM, and I just met my roommate. Literally just met her. Me and my roommate, my dad, my mom were all in our room, and my mom stepped out because someone was calling her. And she had come back in, and she's like, okay, Bella. Like, you need to sit down.
And I was like, oh my god. Here we go.
I knew my hoo hoo was busted. Here we go. Yeah.
Like, I'm gonna like, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get talked to. Well, I honestly thought, like, it was gonna be like, okay. Like, don't take drinks from strangers.
Oh, you thought you were gonna get that one? Yeah. Make keep your keep your hand over your drink, like, that kind of stuff. Oh my god.
So I was like, oh my god. Like, alright. And she's like
I'll respect myself, mom. I'm sorry. Is that what that's what you thought was about? No strangers
in the room. Like, I understand. Oh. And, yeah, she sat me down. She's like, yeah.
You have type one diabetes.
And I
was like, what?
Wait. I thought you're gonna tell me not to get roofied. What's happening?
No. Right?
Jesus. Wow. Is there any other type one in your family? Do you have context for those words at all?
No. Oh. I had none. I I knew what diabetes was, like, vaguely. I knew actually, prior to being diagnosed, I knew not a soul was type one.
Wow. And so I don't think I really understood what it meant. Actually, I know I didn't understand what it meant. And I but I remember, like, knowing, like, it was bad. Yeah.
So then we had to leave. We left, and we went to the hospital the next morning.
Wow.
And I was in the hospital for only, like, twenty four hours.
This is the worst move in story ever. Although
Yeah.
Although Arden could tell you on if you want. So maybe I can I get her to tell that story one day? She got a roommate and You already love Omnipod five, the tubeless, waterproof, automated insulin delivery system. Now it's even stronger. A stronger algorithm starts here with Omnipod five's latest algorithm enhancements.
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And she walks into the room. The girl's lying on her bed, in a skirt with no underwear on with their knees up. And Arden just walks in the room, like, right into that view. And she's like, I just walked by and thought, okay. And I don't know what to say.
And, you know, you and so we talked. We were like, oh, it's just, you know, a mistake. You know, maybe she you you know, like, we we gave her all the, like, be nice to people things. It's gonna be okay. Eight months later, that kid was being moved out by a parent who had to fly halfway around the world to get her because she was such an abject disaster.
So, anyway, sometimes, sometimes it's you gotta give people the a little grace, and sometimes they're just showing you a little bit about who they are. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.
Woah. Yeah. Right? So did you go to a hospital near school, or did you go home to go to the hospital?
No. I went home. I went to my, home hospital.
Okay. Yeah. And they had you in and out in twenty four hours. Why did they feel so was your mom pressing you, like, you had to get to school?
I was pressing them.
Okay. Okay.
I was very upset that I think, honestly, at the time, that was what I was mostly upset about. Mhmm. I was like, oh my god. I literally was so excited. Like, I had all these plans, and now I'm in the hospital.
And but I am also very I would like to say I'm very responsible. And, like, I was very into it. I was like, okay. Like, show me how to get myself insulin. Like, show me, like, all this stuff.
Like, I wanna know so I can leave.
Hey. I would like to say I'm very responsible. Does that mean you're very responsible, or you would like to say it, but it's not true?
No. I actually do think that I am very responsible.
Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. So I think part of that yeah.
You just you just kicked in. You're like, I am not letting this screw up the beginning of my college career.
Right. And also, like, you know, like, every I mean, I feel like every kid who is planning to go to college has this, like, ideal, like, day set up, you know, or ideal, like, welcome week in their head. And, like, I was just very upset that that I was not getting that.
Give me the high level overview of what you thought that week was gonna be for you.
I thought I was gonna move in, and I was gonna meet my roommate. I had a friend from high school who lived a floor above me Mhmm. In my dorm, which is shocking because I went to a very small high school. So the coincidence coincidence of that is, like, crazy. And I thought we were all gonna, like, hang out, you know, like, maybe go to, like, go to a frat.
I don't know.
I was gonna meet a cute boy that I was gonna marry and stay married to for ten years. We'd have a huge house and some kids. I divorced him right before he got fat. And then, like, I'm like, no. No.
You're, like, you're working at a home kid.
All these people. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like, I'm gonna go meet you know, and then I mean, and I ended up getting to experience that.
Like, my freshman year of college was great. Good. But it was just like yeah. And then I was in the hospital and by myself, and I was getting told I was being diagnosed with this chronic disease that I'm, like you know? And I'm gonna have to wear devices for the rest of my life and can, like, think about what I'm eating and stuff.
And I was like, what? What do you mean? We
A1C 13.5, and Powering Through13:30
so how did you will that into existence? If if, you know, you went, got your 24, came back, what, you know, what did they give you to start with? And how did you make I mean, how did you make the decision to fight through it? And what did you do to traverse that time?
Yeah. So they basically just gave me an insulin pens in a dream. I mean, I don't know. Like, I left the hospital. My sugar was still pretty high.
I would say it's probably it was probably from, like, 200 to 400. Mhmm. When I was when I was admitted, my a one c was 13 and a half, and my sugar was over 700. Yeah. So for it to come down that much was great.
And then I went to my endocrinologist's office, who, by the way, is literally amazing. I'm so grateful for him.
Nice.
They showed me the Dexcom, showed me how to put it in, use it, whatever. And then I literally went to the pharmacy and got all my stuff, and then I went back to college.
Wow.
But, yeah, I mean, I think at first and at the beginning, and I think still kind of now, I had a very not hard time, but I didn't really understand that it was gonna be, like, a lifelong disease. I don't I think it's very hard for someone to process that.
Yeah. It's not that you don't know intellectually, but, you mean, you it's not a thing that's kinda settled and baked into your brain at that point.
Right.
Okay.
So I think, like, part of me the reason I was able to handle it so well at the beginning was because I was like, oh my god. Like, you know, it's a couple weeks. It'll be fine. You know? But I gotta keep reminding myself, like, no.
That's not true. Like, this is something. Mhmm. But, also, I was so incredibly sick prior to diagnosis. Like, honestly, I I feel like I tell everyone this, but, like, I think if I had gone a month another month without being diagnosed, I think, like, I honestly could have died because I was so sick.
And you don't really know how sick you are until, like, you start to regulate your sugars yet.
You think you you think that this was happening for about four months before this?
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, with that a one c, obviously, it'd been going on for a while. And then Right. I mean, the blood sugar still only being 400 is maybe good news that your body was still fighting with it a little bit, but you're you're right.
You you know, it it was getting close. So you're telling me that just getting the insulin made you feel so much better that it might have made the rest of it a little easier.
Right. Yeah. I think so. And I also, I'm a Christian. I believe in God.
Mhmm.
And I think, like, the part of me that was, like, I genuinely could have died. And the fact that I wasn't, I was so incredibly grateful to be alive and to be feeling better. Not, like, directly after getting out of the hospital, but, like, as, like, time had gone on and I did start to feel so much better
Yeah.
I was very grateful. And I think, like, that that mindset of, like, gratitude really helped me.
Good. That's awesome. Yeah. Are you the youngest of a bunch of kids?
I'm the youngest. I have two older siblings. Yeah. Much, much older siblings. My brother is fourteen years older than me.
My sister is eighteen years older than I am.
Mhmm. And did you wanna know how I do that?
Oh. Oh, no.
You you you code as the youngest kid. Youngest daughter. Oh. Like, youngest girl. You just you you you you sound like you're 35 when you're talking.
I've already been confused while we're talking. Like, you have a way about you that makes you feel older, and and it it usually comes from a kid who's grown up with older parents who Yep. Who don't have younger siblings to look after and people who, and and don't have siblings to look after them, but clearly have siblings. You're you're not an only child.
Yes.
I can tell I can tell you're not an only child. I can tell that you're the youngest. I can tell that your parents are older than normal first year age. Right? What are your parents, like, 63?
Yeah. Something like that?
Both of them are, like, late fifties.
Okay. Yeah. And Yeah. Anyway, the whole you you code that, which is comforting to me, actually. I think you're you're a good version of a person.
So, I I like your I like your vibe. It comes off really well.
Thank you. Yeah. Wow. That's very nice.
Do you know that about yourself?
What? My vibe?
Yeah. Do you look at your other some of your other friends and go, like, I am clearly the most mature person in this group?
No. I actually am surrounded by really, really good people.
Oh, you've even you've even picked good people to surround yourself with.
Yes. I know.
What are you trying to have a successful life, fella? What's going on?
No. I
There's no way to get a neck tattoo. I'll tell you that much.
Don't worry. It wasn't in the plan.
Everyone with a neck tattoo right now is not in the long going. Yeah. No. He's right. So what, what do you think led you there?
Are you gonna tell me it's parenting, religion, just who you are?
Led me to finding good friends?
Yeah. And to being a solid 19 year old.
Oh,
Like, you didn't watch Love Island last night, did you?
No. I didn't.
Mhmm. Okay. Season premiere.
I think I oh, I know. I've been seeing it everywhere. I think part of it is I did grow up I went to a private school, like, my entire life.
Did they hate you? Is that what you're saying?
Private hit me or hate me?
Hit you. Did they hit you? Were you struck by the ruler?
No. No. No. No. No.
No.
No. But
I think, like, part of that was I was, like, surrounded by, like, minded people. Mhmm. But I do think that I was not no. I know that I was not surrounded by all mature people.
Of course. Yeah.
My gosh. My high school. I there's a ton of people there that I love. But
Out of their minds, you think?
Yeah. And I just think that people think differently, and that's fine. But I don't know. I think also I just have had such an anxious personality, like anxiety.
Oh, okay.
You know? And then I also okay. This is I was, like, 12 and 13 when COVID hit.
Mhmm.
And I think that has, like, a big thing to do with, like, how I'm I act now.
Were you anxious prior to COVID?
Oh, 100%. But, like, I think that, like, elevated it. Mhmm. And I also think that, like I don't know. When you that was, like, my you know, like, when I was gonna go through puberty or whatever, like
Yeah.
And I'm in isolation. Like, I don't know. I feel like that
Yeah. I don't think it was good. Is your mom is your mom uptight?
Both of them oh god. Both of my parents are educators. They're both principals.
Oh. So then yes?
So I would say, like, yes, but not really. Like, I don't know. My whole family is super fun. Like, we all know how to have fun and, like, let loose and stuff. Okay.
But, like, I think they both can be perceived as uptight.
But but I don't care about what you think, not about what how they're perceived.
Think that they are.
You don't think they are?
I I have a I'm very great relationship with my parents and my siblings. Honestly, my whole family. So, like, I kinda view my parents like, obviously, I respect them because they're, like, authority, but, like, I also treat them like my they're my friends too.
Okay.
Like, I feel like I have a really good friendship with my parents.
Okay. Well, that's awesome. Good. Mhmm. Look at that.
Did they mess up your older siblings? Are they a mess?
Like No. Actually, my honestly, both of my siblings are literally the best people ever.
My god. Like I've tried to shake you for fifteen minutes, and you just keep coming back. We're just gonna let you tell your story. Is there any I I just I'm I was looking for a chink in your armor here, but there's not one at all, Bella. You're rock solid.
You're a fantastic marriage candidate for somebody. Anybody's listening, Bella's gonna, she's gonna have a job in three years. Right? And Four. Four years.
She's gonna be earnest in the world trying to help people, and it sounds like she'll raise a good kid for you one day. This is awesome. Okay. No. These other brothers, your mom, your dad, anybody else in your family have other autoimmune issues?
I'm looking for celiac, Hashimoto's Yeah. That kind of thing.
My oh my gosh. Me and my sister talk about this all the time. She my sister has Hashimoto's and Graves. Mhmm. And then my mom has hyperthyroidism, but it was more because of pregnancies.
Like, she had a late pregnancy.
And then it it popped on after you?
Yeah. That's common. Yeah. That's like so I don't I really wouldn't I consider hers, like, autoimmune, but my sister definitely. She had issues before, and then she my sister has three kids, so I think it was heightened after her pregnancies.
So many kids. Yeah.
I know.
Are they all young?
Oh, I know.
Are they, like, in a group? Are they, like, eight Yeah.
10, 13? Oldest is seven, and the youngest is almost two.
Oh my god. What is she doing?
I don't
She'll be crazy in
another year. I know.
Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. I listen.
I don't wanna argue with you about your mom, but oto's is autoimmune one way or the other. So it doesn't matter Oh, yeah. Yeah. What what kicked it into gear. But, that that there.
How about your dad? Does he have anything?
He's like he was pre type two.
Mhmm.
Prediabetic, but now he's not.
Okay.
But that's like I don't know. What's the is it vertigo?
Vitilago.
Vitilago.
Yeah. He has vitilago?
The dizziness.
Oh, wait. No. Vert you vertigo. Okay. Not autoimmune.
I thought you were I thought you were reaching for Vitilago and said vertigo, but he has vertigo. No. No. No. That's not nice.
Yeah. Yeah. What do you guys like? European, pasty white?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Are. I gotcha. I know. Don't worry.
I can smell the whole thing right through the microphone. We're fine. Tell me a little bit about getting through that first year of college. How did you manage to keep your your head up and take care of your diabetes, or are you about to tell me that you just trudged on, went to parties, didn't take care of yourself? What what what was the first
Freshman Year, Still Honeymooning24:05
year like? I did. I really did take care of myself. Thank god, honestly. No.
I well, first of all, if my roommate's listening to this, I love you so much. She was literally the best ever. Like, she she signed up we knew each other, like, kind of prior to living together.
Mhmm.
And, you know, she signed up to live with me, not my diabetes. And she, like I think I had an amazing support system. I had it, like, with her, with my boyfriend, with my friends, obviously,
family.
So that really helped my faith. But prior to being diagnosed, I was a state qualifier. I was a high school, like, varsity athlete. I so I was very, like, I would say athletic, and, like, I lived a healthy lifestyle. Like, I've never I don't like fast food that much.
Like, I don't really like eating junk all the time. So I think that really helped because I didn't really have to change my lifestyle.
Yeah. Wasn't the food at
the to a really big
Wasn't the food at the school? Sorry. Wasn't don't be sorry. I talked over you. Wasn't this wasn't the food at the school really crappy?
Like, all hard on your blood sugar, or do you think maybe you've been honeymooning?
No. I think I was honeymooning. But the my the college that I go to wait. Am I allowed to disclose that?
I don't care. It's your life.
Oh, yeah. So I go to Michigan State.
Oh my god. Yeah. Yeah. That that's is that Spartans? Is that the one?
Yes. Yeah.
I know.
Yes. Uh-huh.
I've seen TV. Go ahead. Right.
They have a really, really good dining, like, meal plan.
Nice.
Like, fantastic. So, like, our the dining halls are really nice. Like, the one that I like, my, I guess, you can say, like, home, quote, unquote, dining hall had, like, a whole bar of just, like, you could get rice, chicken, and then, like, a whole salad bar. And then I don't know. I think it was really easy.
Actually, eating at the dining hall every day helped me so much because I ate pretty much the same portion of food, and they gave me the same portion of food. So, like, carb counting became so much easier because I was like, oh, yeah. Like, I'm gonna take 40 you know, I'm gonna bolus for 45 grams carbs
Gotcha.
Every time I go eat because that's usually what I eat.
Oh, okay. Yeah. Some people find that the food at schools can be kinda junky and maybe a lot of fat and sugar in it and stuff like that.
Yeah. But No. I mean, I think it obviously depends what you eat, but, like, did not find that issue, like, make yeah.
Yeah. That's good.
So that was really good. I don't know. I also oh, sorry.
No. So it was helpful that the the food was portioned for you. You were able to figure out how to bolus for it, and then it was repeatable, and you didn't have to worry about the portions. Also, you think maybe you were being helped a little bit by your pancreas.
Yeah. Okay. And I also think, like, MSU is a huge walking campus. Like, the trails and everything there are so nice. So, like, going there, I would eat and then I would go walk to class or, you know, like, stuff like that.
So that really helped me, like, regulate my sugars.
You were hustling all over the place walking a lot.
Yes. I was.
And that that kept and have you noticed since you've been home, have your blood sugars been more difficult?
Like, yes and no. I think when I first came home, they were oh my god. They were awful. Not awful. They were awful for me because I'm anxious, and I don't like when I'm out of range, which is not a good thing.
Like, I need to get used to that. But they were pretty bad. I mean, ranging higher than normal. And I think that was just from, like, the heat, the temperature change, the routine change of, like, my sleep
Mhmm.
Running, and the Honeymoon Math28:07
And then, like, food. But I'm training for oh gosh. I'm training for a half marathon right now.
Why are you doing that?
I'm running it August 9.
Oh my god. Why? Yeah. And won't it be hot?
I think so. Probably. Yeah. But, I was a runner in high school. Oh.
Like, I so it's nothing really new to me.
Did you miss it in college? Is that why you're doing this?
I running, I got a little bit I missed in college. I missed my team.
And wait. You jumped you dropped out there for a second. I'm sorry. You missed it a little bit in college, then what happened?
I missed my team in college.
Okay.
But I don't know. I don't think I missed, like, the actual, like, idea of, like, running. But last summer, I really wanted to run a half marathon. Like, I had planned I was gonna run one this summer. Mhmm.
And now that I have diabetes, like, I really wanna run one because I'm stubborn, and I wanna prove to myself that I can do it.
Oh, nice. Okay. It's a little personal challenge for you then.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. What do you think is gonna be the key to I mean, you've been training. Right? So what's been the key to you stretching out your distance?
Like, I don't know. I've been using, like, energy gels.
Okay.
So, like
Are you falling while you're running and then pumping it back up with with explain explain to me how you're what you're doing. Like, so you're you're out there working. Yeah.
Honestly, my sugar doesn't really drop a lot.
You're like, I don't have that kind of energy, Scott.
When I run. No. Like, I mean, I don't know. Like, I know everything affects everyone differently, but, like, running really doesn't drop my sugar until, like, I get to, like, mile probably mile four or five.
Okay.
But I usually eat before. I'll have, like, a yogurt and granola. Mhmm. And I'll only bolus for, like I usually eat bolus I mean, for 12 grams carbs, and then but I I don't know. Like, I do, like, half of that, so my sugar gets, like, a little bit higher.
Yeah. How high do you let it go?
To, like, one it gets to, like, one eighty.
Oh, and then it and then it falls slowly while you're running?
Yeah. So it it falls like, it'll go up to, like, one eighty, probably, like, my first mile that I'm running, and then it goes down to, like, one fifty, one forty. Mhmm. And then if I keep going, it'll go down to, like, one ten and then, you know, continue to go down. But, like, if it gets down to one ten, it's usually, like, double arrow down or one arrow down.
Okay. And so I'll, like, take half an energy gel or, like, a full energy gel, and I'll just, like, continue on.
And that does it for you. That's awesome. I'm glad for you that it's that it's it's been that I mean, I don't wanna say easy, but that it's not as challenging as other people have, have sometimes talked to about it. Do you think that'll change? Like, are you on a very low amount of insulin?
Like, is there a world where you're still honeymooning right now?
I could be still honeymooning. I haven't changed the amount of insulin that I've needed since being diagnosed.
About okay. And you're are you still injecting, or did you get a pump?
No. I got a pump.
Which one did you get?
Tandemobi.
Okay. And so you're around the algorithm, and it's helping you too. Yeah. That's awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. Do you know
what your total can I ask you what your total daily insulin is? Do you know? My basal rate? No. I'm gonna test you being 19 now.
No. I mean, the entire amount of insulin you use on average every day.
Oh god. Mhmm. Mhmm. Probably
Now who's an adult? Now who's an adult, Bella? Trust me. No one ever knows what
I ask.
They could.
No. Let me do let me do the math. I usually do about one to two units per meal.
Mhmm.
So probably, at most, six units for per meal. And I'm not gonna lie. Ice cream, my total weakness. Love ice cream.
Who doesn't love ice cream?
Right? So let's add that. So probably eight. And then I think my basil is, like, maybe, like, five or six. Oh.
So
Listen. Unless you weigh eighty four pounds, I'm gonna say you're honey moving still. Would you tell me how much you weighed?
Yeah. I weigh, like, one sixteen.
Okay. Hold on a second. I'm I'm just looking at a little estimator here. So
No. Now I actually need to, like, look at because now I'm curious.
You're having fun. That's okay. Yeah. We're we're being weird and geeky about diabetes. I know.
Yeah. Yeah. I have, point six an hour, fourteen units
of diabetes. Point three five an hour.
Yeah. Okay. You you have your settings are beyond highly sensitive. So I'm gonna guess still still in a honeymoon situation. And it's been a year.
Okay. You might have has anyone ever said Almost
a year.
Yeah. Has anyone said Lada to you?
Said lauded?
LADA, l a d a. Like, you might have latent god. Oh. What do you mean? Diabetes of the adult onset blah blah blah blah blah.
Like, nobody's mentioned that?
I know I know what you're talking about. No. No one's ever told me that. No.
Okay. So I'm saying it seems like it seems to me like you might be I don't wanna say it like this, but you might have your your training wheels might be on still.
Oh, good. I hope so.
Do you ever get low for reasons you cannot understand or find yourself in situations where the Moby is, like, crazy trying to stop a low and you can't figure out why it happened?
No.
No. Maybe this is just your sensitivity. Are you incredibly clean eater besides the ice cream?
Honestly, yes.
Oh, maybe that's it then. Good for you. Yeah. Look at you. Yeah.
Eating like a chipmunk over there. I got you. A little granola, couple of nuts when you're hungry, stuff like that.
I eat, like, okay, like, Drizzlelicious. Like, I eat, like, the healthier, quote, unquote, snacks.
The hell is Drizzlelicious? What are you trying to make me feel old, Bella? It's working. No.
Listen. Drizzlelicious is literally the best thing ever invented, especially for diabetics. They're, like, rice cakes.
Cinnamon swirl lights.
Mini wait. Are you looking it up?
I'm looking yeah. Of course, I got it already.
Okay. Good.
Do you like the cookies and cream, the salted caramel, the birthday cake? What do you like?
My favorite is the s'mores.
Mhmm.
The birthday cake is pretty good, and then they get, like, seasonal flavors too. Oh my god. Okay. Literally, the oh my gosh. It is literally
Are they low carb? What are they?
Yes. Well, they're not, like it's, like, 24 grams for, like I don't know. I think it's, like I'm trying to enough.
The website's a lot of pictures. It it guys, it would do with a little drizzleicious.com. Maybe a little more information of a couple few pictures. Oh, here we go. I got it.
Hold on.
Okay.
Allergen free. K. Gluten free, non GMO, vegan, kosher. I mean, that's all nice, but how many carbs? Can maybe I'll click on one.
Let's do lemon cake bites. Guys, you gotta put your nutritional information on your website, make it easier for people. I am not seeing it here. Hold on a second. And in fairness to me, Bella, I am fighting off a voice in my head who is singing Fergalicious right now.
So
Oh my gosh. Okay. Wait. I looked it up.
It was
it says it's sixteen to twenty one grams Per which is actually true. Like, the little ones that I have, like, you know, like, the snack bags
Mhmm.
You get you can get, like, a pack from Costco. It's, like, 16 grams
I per hate going to Costco.
Same.
I like what happens when I leave, but I don't like being there. Recipes, man, they they are not making it easy for me to find the
Wait. I think I just found a picture. Okay. Let's see here. For the cinnamon swirl bites
Go ahead.
It's oh, shoot. Okay. Of course, it's blurry.
Yeah. I'm telling you that they're not they're not trying hard here. Like Trust me. I make these episodes called bolus four where we, like, pick a food and bolus four.
Oh, I know. I listened to those.
Oh, thank you. And Yeah. I said thank you before you told me if you like them or not, but thank you. And
No. I do.
They're really hard to like, some websites make it incredibly difficult to find their nutritional information. And Drizzlelish by the way, if you guys sell a bunch of Drizzlelicious today, I expect you to buy ads, and give me a But alright. I'm gonna look somewhere else.
Okay. I got it.
You got it?
21 pieces. So the big bag, it's five servings per container for about 21 pieces. It's 16 grams carbs, five grams of sugar, one gram protein, and then zero grams of fiber.
You just use Google. Yeah. Yeah. I did too just now. I should've done that.
Yes. That's less than a carb for a bite. Right. And you don't find it hard on you? It doesn't hit you hard or spike you or stuff like that?
No. Alright. Well, I mean, if the world was a different place and you could just use music wherever you want, I'd play the Fertilicious song right now. But, you're not allowed to do that, so we'll move on. Awesome.
What else have you found that's been valuable?
I throughout the year at college, I was weightlifting.
Okay.
That helped me a lot.
Did you have the bolus for weightlifting?
No. No? No. I didn't.
Okay.
I would eat, like, a banana or something before, so I would, like, bolus for that. And then I would go lift. So, like, I already had insulin in me. Mhmm. So, like, I would get up probably to, like, one eighty lifting, and then it would, like I you know, I'd walk back to my dorm, get ready and stuff, and then I would go eat.
And by the time I was going to get ready to go eat, I would be like my sugar was, like, on the verge of being low.
Mhmm.
So
Okay.
I had it I had it down to a science.
Were you lifting and doing some cardio at the same time?
No. Because I it was, like, a ten minute walk from my dorm.
The walk. It's that dorm. Wait. Look at you. You figured out.
Like, just spread your ass out and make you walk around. You're okay.
Right. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. Look at you. Well, thank you, Michigan State.
I know.
If you went to a small private college, you would need more
insulin. Gosh. Honestly, I don't even not yet. It really helped. Like, the amount of like, I was walking.
I think, like, my first, like, two months at college, you know, when it's still nice how you wanna walk everywhere. Mhmm. I think I was, like, averaging, like, over 10 k steps a day.
Wow. What's gonna happen though in the wintertime when Canada rolls over top of Michigan? Ugh. What do you do then? Does snot You
take the bus.
Does snot freeze to your face? Does that ever happen? Have you ever had snot freeze to your face?
No. I mean, I it does. But I refuse to, like, go outside when it's not cold. Like, I just take the bus. This year was awful.
The winter was terrible.
No. I know. Yeah. Yeah. I have to go to Louisiana a couple of days, to New Orleans, and somebody's like, I heard it's gonna be really hot.
And I was like, I won't know. I'm not going outside. Mhmm. If it's gonna be hot, you wanna find me outside. I will be inside with air conditioning.
Yeah. I don't know I don't know how you guys live up there. It's it's too cold for me. What are you from? Like, are you from Wisconsin, or are you from Michigan, or where are from?
I'm from Michigan. You
are? Okay. You went oh, in state prices?
Yeah. Your
parents must love you. That's awesome. Get that. Did they make you stay in state, or did you want to?
I originally really wanted to go to Florida for college.
Where it's warm?
Where it's warm. Mhmm. I hate winter. Of course. But the tuition is just actually insane.
And once I, like, got a grasp on money and, like
You were, like,
so much, hey. Like,
I have
to be, like yeah. I was, okay. Yeah. No. Michigan State
is seems fine. I look good I look good in that drab green. It'll be great. Don't worry about it. I mean, who picks that color?
You know?
My whole both of my siblings went there. My mom went there. So
Okay.
Yeah. It's, like, in my blood, I guess.
Yeah. Listen. It's 10,000 for your education in in Florida, and the other 60,000 is because it's warm.
So Exactly. Yeah. So Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So, like, I'll freeze and pay $12. Thanks. This will be fine. Yep.
Yeah. Okay. Are you meeting boys? Is it your intention to meet boys?
The Boyfriend Who Reads Her Lows41:09
I have a boyfriend.
Did you have him before you We
dated in high school and then we took a break and then we started dating again in college.
Real quickly, you dated in high school then you told him to go away, and then you let him come back? No.
So he didn't go he does not go to college. He works in the trades. Mhmm. And he we dated, like, all of our senior year of high school. And then, like, in the springtime, we, I don't know.
Like, we both kinda just decided. Mainly him, but also me. Like, it was kinda Bella. I know. I, like, saw it coming.
Bella, you are such a nice bro. You let that boy get rid of you and come back and get you again? Why did you allow him to Okay. Do
Go. Let me explain.
I don't wanna hear it. Don't worry.
So yeah. We, like because whatever.
No. Not whatever. Whatever's where the story is, Bella. What happened?
Alright. So we I'm trying to think of, like, how to do it in a sense of where it's not, like, publicly airing Mhmm. Our business.
But he did something shitty.
No. No. No. Honestly. It
was you? Did you do something shitty?
Neither of us.
Well, then I don't need to know. It's personal. Don't worry about it.
Yeah. That's fine. We yeah. We just, like, broke up on good terms
Okay.
Which I think was why it was very easy to, like, start hanging out again
and holler. Miss him?
Like, honestly, I did not I thought that ship had sailed. Yeah. I did not think that, like, me and him would be getting back together at all.
Did he have a glow up? What happened? Was there a glow up?
No. No? I he was, like, my comfort person and, like, my best friend,
all of
and listen. I'm independent. I don't need a I believe you. Type that needs, like, a boyfriend or whatever. But it was hard for me to go through my diagnosis and my diabetes without him.
Okay.
And I reached out to him not in, like, with the intentions of, like, you know, getting back together or whatever, but, like, I did reach out and I was like, hey. Just so you know, like, this happened to me and, like, I don't know what to do.
Dodged the bullet, buddy. You almost were dating a girl with diabetes, but you got out of it. And and you put no fear. I mean And Yeah. I'm being stupid.
But you you needed you needed somebody who you knew knew you, who you could find some comfort and and some support with, and you went to him.
Yes.
And he they That's very I know. Don't worry. I I'm I'm, like Listen. I'm making fun in between, but I follow what's happening.
No. No. No. Know. Okay.
Alright. No. But, like, he knew me before.
Yeah.
He knew me pre you know, like, pre diagnosis. So I think I found a lot of comfort in that. And then we hung out for, like, a little bit. Like, I went home the next weekend. Mhmm.
And we, like, had hung out as, you know, like, with friend like, as friends. And we both kinda realized, like, wait. It's, the same. Like, there it wasn't like we had gone, you know, six, oh my gosh, six or seven months Mhmm. Without, like, you know
I like that you're mature enough that when you're telling your silly teenager story, you you're embarrassed by it a little bit. That's fantastic. Yeah. You shouldn't be embarrassed. That's nice.
Listen. Here, I'll tell you something embarrassing. My social media is what you might call apoplectic. So I see all kinds of things that a person my age probably doesn't normally see because of how I use social media for the podcast. And Mhmm.
One of the things that I find really endearing besides soldiers coming home and surprising people, which I think makes me cry every freaking time I see it. I love when young people sit down, I put a camera on themselves, and and they're only friends, and one of them kisses the other one to see what'll happen. Do you know those videos?
Yes.
Yeah. I know I should know them because I'm not 19. But I do know them, and I find them incredibly interesting and and often very endearing. And sometimes and sometimes the person who gets kissed is is really, like, what is happening? But sometimes you see this, like, disarming of, like, oh god.
I didn't think this was ever gonna happen feeling. Mhmm. Do know what I mean? And I'm wondering if you guys didn't have a moment like that where you got back together and realized, oh, we are really good together.
Yeah. I mean, I, for sure I I guess I really haven't talked to him about, like, it in that sense.
You don't need to talk to people when you're having a relationship. Yeah. That's don't worry about that.
I mean, I, for sure, for sure, had that
feeling of, like
yeah. I was like, wait. He's, like, my person.
Oh. Thank you for not making fun of me about knowing about those videos.
No. I mean, listen. Social media is crazy.
I find them sweet.
They are sweet. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know. Anyway, and sometimes they're sad because sometimes somebody's like, you can tell they're doing it and they're like, oh, like, she or he is gonna like, this is it. I know we're not just friends, and then it doesn't go that way, and they looked dejected. And that's Yeah. And I think how did that video get off your phone?
You know what I mean? Like, why not delete it?
Right. Like, why would you post that?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That part, I don't understand either. But, anyway, okay.
So you guys are back together, and Yep. School is, would you say, about an hour and a half from home? Mhmm. Okay. So is he coming to see you a lot?
To his credit, yes. He he did come to, MSU quite a lot, yeah, on the weekends.
Yeah. You drive to where the pretty girls are, Bella. It's not a big surprise how boys work. Okay? I used to have to drive to Delaware every weekend to see mine, and I did it.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That was from from another state. Although Delaware is not very big. You wouldn't know that. But no.
No. So he comes to see you guys are building a little bit of a relationship, and this is helping you get through things. Is he learning about the diabetes? Are you wanting to tell him about it, or is just being together enough for support?
Yeah. I mean, he's learning. He has learned that, like, by the way I react when I look at my sugars
Mhmm.
That I'm low. And so, like, I don't ever have to ask him to, like, get up and give me a juice box or give me a fruit snack. Like, he's already on it. Nice. Which is great.
And, I mean, he also knows. He's, like, learned, like, my mannerisms too, like, through being diabetic and, like, knows that, like, oh, okay. Like, we're gonna go get ice cream, or for example, like, I have to take my insulin and wait a little bit before we go in and actually get it. Yeah. But he his grandma has type one diabetes, which I
do not know. Maybe you got it from her. Maybe she gave it
to you. It's contagious.
You never know. You never know. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, so he has some background on it.
Yeah. He does. But I don't know. I get very confused with it because I talked to her, post diagnosis.
Mhmm.
And I was, like, asking her, you know, all the questions like, oh, do you take insulin? She doesn't take insulin when she eats.
How old is she? Is she, like, in her eighties?
Yeah.
Yeah. She probably doesn't eat very much. Those old people eat like birds.
So I was just like I'm like, oh my god. If I had to die, I would, like, die.
Do you see her eat? Does she hork it down, or is she having like, I my my buddy's grandmom lived the last ten years of her life on cigarettes and pound cake. No lie. And so, sometimes older people just don't eat very much. Maybe the basil she's Yeah.
They've got her on is doing the job.
Yeah. I don't think she does eat very much now that I think of it. I actually didn't even think of it that way.
Yeah. Or she's not eating
Yeah.
Do you know how long she's had it?
No. No. No. Okay.
Because then maybe she because listen. You're gonna have a long life with diabetes. It's gonna be interesting because it's gonna go through a lot of changes. You're gonna do this college thing, then you're gonna do the young adult thing, then you're gonna do the married thing, then you're I mean, I'm listening to your life. You're gonna have three kids.
Apparently, that's a prerequisite.
Oh gosh. Not three kids. Nope.
Well, your parents have three kids and your sister has three kids.
God. I can't.
Think that's too many. It's hard to think about it when you're 19, but when your hormones
That's true.
Your hormones are gonna hit you the right way one day, and you're gonna be like, I'm gonna make a thousand babies. And, like, it's just you get tired after the first one, but you'll tough it out for maybe two if you can. But but you're gonna have there's gonna be a part of your life with being pregnant with diabetes and then trying to raise those kids with diabetes, and then you're gonna start getting older. And then one day, you're gonna be 82, And it's gonna be it's a different game. I hear older people talking about their diabetes.
They're worried about, you know, going on Medicare or not being able to see the buttons on their stuff or not understanding the new technology. And sometimes you hear stories of people who are in assisted facilities, and they don't get as good a care as you're giving yourself right now with type one. And so Yeah. I think there is a thing that happens if you talk to a doctor, they'd probably tell you a little idea of diminishing returns. And when you have a person who's in the last handful of years of their life, you'd much rather them have a slightly higher blood sugar than get low, pass out, and die.
And so I think that management might turn into that as they get older sometimes. Yeah. You know? Which is Yeah.
That is
It's hard to think about for people with type one because it's not your goal. Like, your goal right now is what what's your a one c? Like, four and a half or something? Tell me.
Oh my god. Four
and half. No. I'm just kidding. But what is yours?
It is what was it last? 5.8?
Yeah. That was my point. That you're a person who's trying really hard. You're probably being motivated by crippling anxiety, but still you're you're getting it done. You're getting
it Crippling anxiety. Yes.
You're getting it done, and it would be hard for you at 19 to imagine a life where you didn't try that. But it could happen. You know? Long time in the future for you. Don't worry.
By the time, I'm guessing with GLP medications and other peptides, Oh, I just said peptides. People are gonna be like, but sorry. I'm not a I'm not a pro podcaster, but there's gonna be other you're gonna see people are gonna use other peptides, testosterone, things like this people use. You're gonna you're gonna stay healthier longer for longer. You'll probably live into your hundreds.
Oh, wow. Isn't that crazy to think about?
Mhmm.
Yeah. You probably you probably you probably easily live into your nineties with with modern technology.
I would love that. I know that was, like, one thing. I I feel like a lot there obviously is so much anxiety surrounding, like, an unknown surrounding, like, type one. But, like, a lot of them is, like, you know, like, how am I gonna, like, I don't I really don't wanna go through pregnancy with type one. Like, I really don't want to, but I really wanna have kids.
And then, like, I don't wanna give it to my kids. Or I don't know. Like, I don't wanna, you know, grow old, then I don't wanna get another autoimmune and, like, all of this stuff. And I feel like especially because I'm a baby diabetic, I guess you could say.
Yeah. Yeah.
And being diagnosed, like, at such a, I mean, like, a later like, such a weird time in my life.
Yeah. I mean, going into college is per listen.
Right?
I can tell you something. In twelve years, I've talked to probably a person who's been diagnosed at every age. Okay? And I'm I might mean up to, like, 99. And, there's no good time to be diagnosed with type one diabetes.
Oh, no. No.
So it's just gonna be what it's gonna be. Yeah. And you're gonna I mean, you're that five something a one c, you can keep that while you're pregnant. It won't be hard. I mean, if you know how to do it now, I'm sure you'll be able to do it then.
It's about, you know, matching insulin with food and being, you know, flexible with your settings and realizing when you need more, you need more, when you need less, you need less, and taking care of yourself. You know? It's, I'll tell you the hardest part from what I hear from women with type one is after the baby comes and your needs go back to normal, sometimes all that effort you put in during the pregnancy, you shift the effort over to handle it taking care of the baby, you don't take care of yourself as well. Yeah. That can happen.
That's I've heard that too. Yeah. Yeah.
But but the point is is that none of that has to happen to you. Like, you get to decide. I mean, look at you. You went to college on day listen. Let let me let me pump you up here, Bella, for a second.
Heading into college, I imagine you were 18 years old. You're there with your mom and your dad. You're about to meet your roommate. Tell him like, you're about to kick your parents out and tell your roommate, do you like vodka or gin? What do you prefer?
And, like, instead, you're at the hospital. Okay? And and then you come back, power through, you get through your first year. Your GPA is probably 39, I'm guessing. And, what is it?
Yeah.
Yeah. I got it exactly right.
38.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You're right. So you you kept your GPA up.
You are you embarrassed that I know you this much after fifty minutes? Is that what you're
I mean, oh, yeah. Like, this is yeah. Keep going, though. Yeah.
Gen you
know, stop.
Generalizing is is, is my forte. I mean, you do you think you're not gonna be able to do pregnancy? Please. You'll be fine with that. Let me tell you something that I, tell my kids all the time.
I said it the first time when my son got, graduated from college and he was heading out into the world for his first job. He's nervous. You know? And I said, I know you feel like you're trying to beat the whole world, but 90% of them aren't even trying. So just get out there.
Keep being yourself. You'll see it'll work. And I would give you the same advice. You you're you're well suited for this world. You'll be okay.
You know what I mean?
Thank you.
Yeah. It's obvious. It's don't let that boy drag you down, and you'll be fine. Don't let him get you pregnant. Do you understand?
Oh god. Oh my gosh.
Married and a place to live. Listen to me, everyone. Married and a place to live. Why married? Because then legally, he's gotta take care of it.
And why a place to live? Because I don't want your rent in your whole life. Okay? It's a lot of wasted money. I just my son's friend, $3 a month renting an apartment with his girlfriend.
You know you know what $3 times 12 is? You go to college. $36,000 a year. Dang. Rent gone.
Boom. Poof. Go away. Go on. Do that times 10.
$360,000 to rent an apartment for ten years. Mhmm. Buy the shittiest house you can, Bella. I don't care. Just own it and then sell it, make a little money, and get a better one.
The American dream is not dead. We've just given up on it, and the shit's really expensive. So you're gonna have to start with a really shitty house,
but that's not the point.
My god. It's gonna
Oh, I know. I It's gonna take longer. So grateful that my boyfriend's working right now because we talk about it all the time. Like, I don't I'm not gonna be afford be able to afford anything when I
gotta go. And it sounds like he's gonna know how to replace the toilet, so that's awesome.
He's handy. For sure.
Oh, don't say it like that. That'll make your mom uncomfortable.
Sorry.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Not like that.
Sure. Whatever. What am I not asking you about that I should? Why did you come on this podcast?
Body Image, and a Branded Eating Disorder56:42
I came on because I honestly thought my story was really unique. Like
I think it is.
I got diagnosed, and then I went straight to college. But, also, like, I feel, like, as a young woman or a teenage girl or a young girl, like, being diabetic, arguably arguably can be harder because of the social media standards for, like, body types.
Okay.
And I think, like, that was probably and is probably the hardest thing that I have gone through, like, being type one
Tell me.
Is that it's, like, drastically changed my body in, like, the best way possible. Like but it's just hard to see those changes to your body, if that makes sense.
Well, yeah, tell me what happened to you, though. What do you mean? How how did you change?
Right. Like, I well, okay. Before prediabetes, before I was even, you know, sick, I probably weighed, like, one zero nine still, which is, like, still very light, and I'm not saying that I'm, like, fat or anything. Mhmm. But, like, I was more I was more muscle, and I was more toned and stuff, partially because I was, like, a high school athlete.
But and then, you know, prediagnosis when I was sick, I was, like, sub one hundred pounds Yeah. Which is, like, not great.
Off of you, that's a lot of weight. Right? How tall are you?
Right. Five three.
Yeah. Okay. It's probably
Yes. Noticeable. Right. It was yeah. Not great.
And then, you know, you go to college. I gained all my weight back and more, obviously, as one dodge usually when they're diagnosed. And I don't know. I think it's just very hard because it's, like, to see and, like, look in the mirror and see someone that I like, or see a body that I don't really recognize.
Mhmm.
But, also, I feel eternally grateful for for keeping me alive and for allowing me to train for a half marathon and weight lift and still live my life even though I am chronically ill. But it is hard because it's like, you know, on none of my pants fit me anymore. Had to go buy new pants. Like Yeah. Stuff like that.
And I think, like, I don't know. As a girl, that's just, like, really hard.
Do you feel
like saying guys don't struggle with it. You know, too.
Listen. I I did something the other day. I don't normally do. I was I went out, and I was meeting a friend at a public event. And as I was walking from my car into the building, I had I was overwhelmed with this feeling that I should not have worn the shirt I was wearing, which is not really a thing I think about often.
It felt it was grabbing me oddly, and I was like, oh, I probably look fat in this. And, like, why did I do that? And and then I went to the bathroom to look. Like, I was so concerned. I thought, like, maybe I can, like, pull the shirt around a little bit and fix it.
And I went in the bathroom and looked and my first thought was, see, you're a mess. And then I looked harder and I thought, that's ridiculous. I look fine. Like, what is happening? You you like, so I stood there and talked to myself.
I took a picture of myself so I could look at it to, like, maybe, I I don't know, disconnect me from the mirror for a second to try to figure out, like, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? I realized I looked fine. And then I shared it online on my Instagram, and it got a lot of, like, people who were like, I feel like that all the time. Like, thanks for talking about this. So I think guys can feel that way too.
I you know?
Oh, yeah. A 100%.
Admittedly, I'm older, and so I I probably have more estrogen now than I did before. But, like, that's fine. Like, I still feel my feelings. And it's but what I wanna know from you is is that, like, when your weight goes down and you feel weak and then it goes back up and you feel like, oh, I don't belong at this weight, and you say you don't recognize yourself, does that make something click inside of you? Is it difficult in a way that you can describe?
Like, I think I well, as someone who had previously struggled with, like, disordered eating
You had that think like prior to diabetes, you Yeah. Bulimia, or what's what's going on?
Like, I honestly, I think it's just really bad body dysphoria.
Okay.
And it was right around the time of COVID. So I was, like, a lot younger, but, like, still it always kinda just sat on, like, the back of my mind. Like, I've always been, like, extra particular about my body image.
Okay.
I don't know. And I think, like, just I know that I'm healthy, and I know that my I'm at a healthy weight. But, like, it's you know, obviously, it's just hard to, like, not compare yourself. And, like, yeah, when you walk by, like, windows or mirrors and stuff and, like, you're like, oh my gosh. Why do I, you know, look like this?
But I think with diabetes, it adds, like, a whole extra, I guess, like, feeling to it because it's, like, for diabetics, it's harder to lose fat.
Mhmm.
And, like, I could be doing everything that I was doing prediabetes, but still look the exact same and not get the same kind of results. Yes. You know?
Not many illnesses come with their own branded eating disorder either.
Right. You know? And especially because you're, like, constantly having to, you know, like, count your carbs and, like, that has put into perspective for me, like, how much I carbs I'm eating. Mhmm. And, oh my gosh, if I didn't like, I'm glad I have the self control that I do because if I didn't, I would be, like, obsessing over
Over how much am I eating? How much am I supposed to be eating? I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing the wrong thing. Like, all those weird feelings.
Yeah. I mean, nothing's gonna give you a stranger relationship with food than type one diabetes. That's for sure.
Right. And it's just like, you know, already previously having, like, a faltered relationship with food and then being diagnosed with something that you constantly have to think about food. Yeah. Like, you know?
Therapy, Faith, and Anxiety1:02:52
What do you do what do you what does a person your age do for their mental health? Like, how do you manage all that?
I did start going to therapy because once, you know, I was diagnosed and I went to college, I was like, wait. I'm actually, like, not okay, and I should be seeing somebody. Mhmm. So that has helped me a lot. My faith, obviously, has really helped me, like, with my mental health.
And then working out, like, really like, my escape since I've been younger has always been, like, running or lifting. Mhmm. So that is, like, really helpful.
You know what they say about running? You're either running away from something or towards something. Right?
I'm usually running away from, like, anxiety, but, yeah.
I hear you. It's hard, but you're doing all the right things for yourself. Your parents supportive of your parents are supportive of that? Of The therapy? Oh,
yeah. I my mom my mom I think this is, like, a couple months after I was diagnosed. I was, like, crying to her because, like, I saw all, like, the statistics of, like, diabetics. Like, you're, like, more times likely to get depression, anxiety, and eating disorder. You know?
And I was, like, crying to my mom, and she's like she looked at me, and she's like, Bella, I think you need therapy.
Bella, I gotta tell you. I'm too old for this, and I don't care. I'm gonna put somebody else in charge of it. Okay? I already raised your other brother and sister, and I'm done.
And so
And she was like she's like I was like, no. I don't. I'm fine. I'm fine. Like, I and then, you know, I was at college and I had, like, a breakdown, and I was like, oh, I'm actually not fine.
Like Did you do the did you do the college breakdown?
Oh, many times. Oh, it I mean, when my when my roommate, like, left and, like, left me alone, like, in our dorm, like, for a weekend or something and, like, my boyfriend wasn't there Oh. Oh, it was a bad time.
You were gonna die in that dorm room by yourself?
I literally thought I was gonna die. Like, I mean, I don't know. I just when I'm alone with my thoughts and I continuously, like you know, I I see a TikTok, and it just starts to spiral of me. And then I just start crying, and I'm, like, sad. And then I'm sad about something.
And then, honestly, since being diagnosed, I can be sad about, like, 10 other things, but it always comes back to being sad about being diabetic.
Yeah. Can I can I give you a piece of, of, wisdom that you probably won't be able to apply?
Oh, okay.
Worry is a waste of imagination.
Oh, don't worry.
You know that already? I know. Okay.
Yes.
You are only imagining things that you think may happen. You have absolutely no idea if they actually will happen. Like, save save save that energy for when something actually goes wrong.
Yeah. Like, the overthinking and everything. Yeah.
Any medicine for this?
No. I my anxiety, as much as it can debilitate
Sure.
Me. I think that's the right word.
Be debilitating?
I yeah. Be debilitating. Mhmm. I think that I've lived with it long enough to, like, know how to especially now that I've I'm going to therapy to, like, work through it. But I don't wanna be I don't want my hormones to be controlled by medication.
Okay. And I'm not to say that I'm judging anyone who does, but me personally, like
Oh, what you're looking for? But you love that Doce you you love that Doce song when it came out though, didn't you? The anxiety song?
The Doce song.
Well, you said you're on
Oh my gosh.
You love the the anxiety. You know that one. You know that song?
I know what you're talking about. Yeah. I actually never listened to it outside of TikTok, though.
May I say, I didn't think I'd find myself being an advocate for Doce, but she got ripped off with that. She became so famous on TikTok. You should go check out that album. It's pretty good. Do you guys listen to albums anymore?
Does that not even happen?
No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do.
You do? Yeah.
Go check out the Doce album. It's awesome. Anxiety, Nissan Altima. There's some good songs on there. I'm a fan.
Just I wanna
say. Okay. I will check it out.
You're like, why am I taking music advice from a guy in his fifties about yeah. I'm not doing that. You should, though. I'm right about this. Trust me.
No. I I I believe you.
I'll take
your word for it.
Jessica's stage show too. I've seen a couple of clips. I mean, I wouldn't go, but it's only because people would look at me and go, dude, the feds are here. That's what they would think if they
saw me.
Oh my god. Be like, narc. But I'd like, no. I just like dochi.
Yeah. I mean, everybody likes what they like.
Thank you. Thank you for affirming me. You have been in therapy. Like, Scottie I'm fine. You're like, your feelings are valid, Scott.
I'm like, thank you. Oh my god. I am worried about the anxiety piece. So I I'm gonna guess a little farther. You guys are What's your background?
Your family? English, Irish?
Just white. We're, like, everything.
Just we're just white. You don't know your background?
Well, I I mean, we're okay. So, like, I
Where'd the boat come from? French uh-huh. That's the dad. That's the dad. Right?
Yeah.
Yeah. Then the mom?
We're German, Dutch, English. I don't even know. Probably, like, everything else.
Screen Everything: Thyroid, Iron, Vitamin D1:08:43
Let me just guess. Also, your vitamin d is probably low. Please have that checked. I'd like I'd like to see on top of that. There's no way your vitamin d is okay.
I'd also
Actually, no. It's gotta be because I'm in the sun all the time.
That's Michigan sun. I don't know if it counts. Please have it checked at your next appointment. Tell them you'd like your vitamin b done. You want an iron.
Are you ever tired?
Okay. You know what?
Go ahead.
This is so funny. Don't be funny. I, last okay. So when I was running, I started taking iron supplements. Mhmm.
And right around the time I started taking my iron supplements was when I was getting, like, chronically thirsty.
Mhmm.
And I looked it up because I was like, oh my god. Why am I going through, like Mhmm. A gallon of water a day? And I guess iron supplements make you thirsty. So I stopped taking my iron supplements, but then I was still chronically thirsty.
That's because you're about to get diabetes. But what I'm saying is that I want you looking out for anemia, vitamin b twelve, and d and d when you're getting your your testing done. Also, don't forget to get your thyroid tested once a year. Okay? Okay.
Alright. And if you have if you have hypothyroid or Hashimoto's symptoms, you want to press the doctor to medicate them if your TSH is over, like, 2.1. And you're gonna tell them it's because my mom has it, my sister has it, and just because you say I'm in range doesn't mean I'm not going through these things. I'm just getting you ready because you are a coin flip for Hashimoto's, Bella. Okay?
So don't wanna Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and then you're gonna wanna be looking out for anemia too and those things. How are you may I ask a question?
I have no biz you know, I started this episode. We were talking about, like, you thought you had a UTI, and then I somehow told that story about my daughter's first roommate in college. So, Ed, you've been hanging, so I think you're okay here. But how are the periods? Are they are they too long, too heavy, or are they Oh.
Pretty good?
No. They're the same that they were before.
Good. Good. Good. Keep an eye out on that too. Okay.
Oh, yeah. No. I will. I went through a phase in, like, middle school that I was, like, shoot, pescatarian.
Just just fish, Bella?
Yes. So I actually did develop anemia when I was doing that because I was not eating I was not getting enough iron. But I have not had that issue since.
You're just eating goldfish?
Or you No. I just, like I was just I don't know. And then I would, you know, it would come around to me, like, that time of month, I was getting, like, sick, like, a fever I hear you. And, like, super fatigued because, you know
The lady stuff's not fair. I'll tell you that much. No. No. It's not.
A friend of my daughter's vegetarian eating Goldfish the crackers one day, and she popped them in her mouth. And I looked at her. I said, what are you? A pescatarian now? It was so funny.
I mean, at the moment, it was just very, very funny. Anyway, that's not either here or there. I, I'm glad you're paying attention to everything. And it sounds like you're doing well. The anxiety piece, you know, the longer you listen to the podcast, the longer you're gonna hear people who have type one in their life talk about I I hear about anxiety a lot, and I do personally personally think it has something to do with, like, inflammation, autoimmune stuff.
I know it's not I know anxiety is not autoimmune, but what I'm saying is it all seems to run hand in hand a lot with people. So, like, if I asked you ready? Ballpark guess. Mhmm. Anybody in your family mentally ill, bipolar, extended family, aunt, uncle, cousin, pesky?
I would say probably not.
Probably not. Okay. That's fine. Not always. Yeah.
I just I hear it a lot from people. So
Interesting.
Yeah. So, anyway, the anxiety piece, pay attention. That's all. You don't want it to get away from you. It could get crippling, and you don't want that.
Like, right now, it's like
Oh, yeah.
It's use it sounds like it's useful for you now.
Yeah. Honestly, like, I don't know. Me and my roommate talk about this a lot because we both, like, have anxiety. And, you know, like, I think without my anxiety, I would get nothing done. Mhmm.
Because it's, like, what keeps me motivated to, like, actually get up and, like, go do stuff.
I worry sometimes that your whole generation just calls everything anxiety.
Maybe.
Yeah. Maybe that's just you trying not to die. You know what I mean? Like, like, let's go Yeah. Let's move forward, get something done.
Mhmm. You're gonna work this summer? What do you do in the off time?
I am a nanny, and I'm also working as a waitress at a golf course.
Oh, like, are you one of those roving waitresses or in the restaurant?
No. I'm in the restaurant.
Those guys probably tip well. Right? They're all full of themselves?
Oh, yeah. A 100%.
Because either they play They're
very sweet to me though.
Well, of course. You're young and they're old. So, so you know what's happening. Right?
Oh, yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Alright. I don't have to explain life to you, do I, Belle?
No. No.
Okay. No. So they're either in their high off their great golf game they're gonna spend or they feel terrible about themselves because they played poorly, and the one thing they have left is over tipping to make themselves feel better. You're in a it's a golden situation.
It is. Honestly, I make great money working there.
Oh, a 100%. I would like to do that. If I was pretty enough, I'd be a wagers at a golf course. It's a perfect idea. And then the nannying.
Boy, you did say a lot of white things. And the nannying, like, for a like, a local family or somebody you know, how old are their kids?
I nanny for three wait. One, two. Yeah. Three families.
Oh, wow.
I'm more of, like I don't know. I the kids are they range from four to 12.
Okay. You like that?
Out of the three. Yes. I do. I really, really like it.
Hey. Are you just super are you super comfortable right now, or has your blood sugar gotten low?
No. I'm good.
You're good? You just get you're more you're just comfortable now that we're talking for a while. Yeah. Yeah. You slowed down.
Have I? You slowed down a little bit.
Oh, my my talking?
Yeah. Oh. Do you feel more like, you feel like we're friends now? Is that what's going on? I mean,
yeah, I guess.
Yeah. Yeah. Or do you know what I mean? Like, do you feel more comfortable than you did when we started?
I I feel more comfortable. I think when we first started, I was trying very hard to not say the raw not say the wrong things, but, like, to be respectful of people that I might be mentioning.
Yeah. Screw them.
You know?
They'll be fine.
No. No. No. No.
I'm just teasing, Bella. You were very respectful. Stop it. Alright. Listen.
I feel like we're done. Do you feel like we're done?
Yeah. I mean
You did it. Back to school next year. Keep studying. What's the what's the class you're worried about next year?
Oh, Wait. Biochemical wait. Biochemical? Wait. Biochemistry?
Yeah.
I guess if you don't know what it is, you are gonna be worried about it. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm just not gonna come.
That's the one you think is gonna give you trouble?
Yeah.
Where do you 100%. Where do you fly? What what comes easy?
Math, writing, and then, obviously, nutrition. Any kind of nutrition class.
Okay.
Yeah.
Very cool. Well, you what do you expect to do with this degree then? You need go find a bunch of people who don't take care of themselves, teach them how to take care of themselves? No.
I well, okay. I originally went into it because it was my degree before I was diagnosed. I went into it because I wanted to do sports nutrition.
Okay.
But now, you know, that I'm I have diabetes, I really would like to work as at it, like, an endocrinologist office. Mhmm. I think that'd be very interesting. Or or with, like, pediatrics. I don't know.
There's so many different things I can do and so many different things I can, like, specialize in.
Yeah. It's early. You're not gonna know
for a while. Oh, yeah.
Are you gonna need an advanced degree, or is the undergrad gonna be enough?
Yeah. For, dietetics, you have to get your master's.
Okay. Oh, so Mhmm. You're gonna be are you paying for this, or are your parents helping you?
I have, like, a savings.
Money that a grandmother put away for you or something?
Yeah. I think I think, well, I grew up my mom's, mom and dad oh, had a farm, produce only. And literally for the first, like, decade of my life, we would every single weekend, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we'd go to the farm. We would pick the produce, wash the produce. Saturday, we would we would sell it.
And then Sunday, we would go back and, like, put everything away.
Child labor,
you say? Yes. And all the money that we made at the farmer's market went towards my college fund.
Oh, that's lovely. Yeah. Oh, so they were packing money away for you.
They were. And, obviously, you know, I'm five. I'm like, college fund. What is that?
Like You woke up one day and you're like, hey. There's $30 in here. Is that what happened?
Right.
Yeah. Yeah. Good
for you. Much.
Yeah. Mhmm. Well, that's, that's it. I don't know if, how many people listening are actual adults, but there's an amount of money you can give to your children every year that doesn't impact your taxes or theirs. So that is probably what was happening.
Yes. Looks like your grandparents might have been what they call on the ball. Maybe they were anxious too.
It runs in the family.
A little bit of anxiety keeps you keeps you from getting killed by a bear. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Actually, no. Then now that I think about it though, like, me and my sister are both anxious people, and we're both the ones who probably struggle the most with the autoimmune.
Yeah. You know, I I imagine. Listen. If it really starts to impact your life poorly, there's stuff you can do to help it. And you shouldn't
Oh, yeah.
Let me say this. Don't struggle. Okay? Like, I'm not a person who yells, go take a pill. People are like, you're on a GLP.
But I I'm I'm sorry. But, I'm I don't think everything needs a pill. But I also don't think you have to struggle in a modern society. You know what I mean? So if Yeah.
If it's holding you back or stopping you from enjoying your life or doing things or making you crazy and some doctor says to you, hey. This might help. I mean, way better than drinking. You know what I mean? Because that's what most of you pasty white people do when you get anxious.
So
Alright. Listen. I am not pasty.
You said pasty.
I just wanna put that out there.
Did I say pasty or did you did? I forget.
You said pasty. My heritage is very white, but trust me, I can get a good tan.
You can get a good tan.
I'm not pasty.
A San Diego Tan, and Why Sponsors Matter1:19:31
I oh, I, oh, I can say this now. Oh, I went out to San Diego and made a a guest appearance in an Omnipod ad for their new 100 target for the algorithm, which when you get off of here, you're gonna see all over your social media today because they just dropped it today. And it was outdoors, and I caught an awesome tan, and I still have it. I'm super happy about it.
There we go.
Look at us. See, you all think that that's a story about me being in a commercial. It's a story about how happy I was with my tan. It's like argued with them. I in fairness to the people at Omnipod that have to deal with me, they called me up, invited me to to be an Easter egg in an ad.
I can say this now because by the time this comes out, it'll it'll be out in the world. But I am, like, the surprise last five frames in an ad. And and so that's not the point. The point is I said no immediately. I was like, I'm not flying to San Diego to record, like, for five seconds for your thing.
Like, I'd like I can you do it closer to my house, please? I don't wanna get on a plane. But I eventually because they are really let me say this. Sorry. I hope this doesn't bore you for a second, though.
No. If this podcast has helped you, and I think it sounds like it has. Right? Right. When I first started it, it was just a guy making a podcast that nobody listened to.
And I couldn't afford to do it, but Omnipod bought ads from me back when nobody was listening. Like, Omnipod bought an Omnipod bought Omnipod bought a weekly ad on this podcast in 2015 when it did as many downloads in a year as it now does in, like, two days. And so they were very supportive. Excuse me. I'm very grateful for it because it let me really build it up and get it going.
And so they've been long time good partners. And so I finally said, fine. Like, I'll take a red eye home. And, like, I didn't I couldn't miss too much work. Right?
So and it sounds weird to people, but I this is work. And so I drug my ass to Newark. I got on a plane. I flew, whatever, six hours out of California. I got in some car.
I drove for another hour while this 60 year old guy told me about his roommates. And, then they dropped me off at this little place. I was exhausted. I had dinner with people. I smiled.
I made nice. I went to sleep. Then and I got up in the morning. I spent eight hold on. Let me count.
Nine, ten, eleven, twelve. One, two, three, four. Nine hours standing on that set before it was my turn to film. Mhmm. I filmed for ten minutes.
They took me out of the wardrobe, stuck me in a car, drove me right back to the airport. And two hours later, I was on a plane, I flew home. I was exhausted. And the entire time out there, I was complaining to anybody who would listen. And then the whole way home, I just thought I did a terrible job.
I think I looked fat. This was stupid. I shouldn't have done this. They're gonna hate it. I'm gonna get cut out of it.
Like a child I was. Okay? Then three days later, the lovely person at Omnipod who handles me was like, oh, we saw the dailies. You look terrific. We're really excited about this.
And I was like, oh, okay. Thanks. And then that was it. I never thought about it again until just now when you reminded me about how tan I am from that. So
Well, at least I reminded like a positive. You know?
Why is your generation so positive? I don't understand. Don't don't you make fun of people behind their backs or anything, you people? You do. Right?
I'm not disclosing this on the Internet.
Okay. You have, you have a private chat with three of your closest girlfriends where you should talk other people. Right?
Actually, no.
You don't?
I do have a I do have a chat that I talk with my three closest girlfriends. Mhmm. But we do not the main purpose of it is to not crap talk people.
You're being positive in there.
We just like, we talk about, like well, they're my college friends. So one lives in Maryland, one lives in Illinois, and, like, we always, like, oh my gosh. I miss you guys. I just listened to this song and I thought of you.
You're not sending, like, like, screenshots of, like, some others to Instagram and going, oh my god. Do you remember Patty from high school? She's pregnant. Are you looking at this? You don't do any of that?
I do that with my high school, like, my
Your high school
best friend.
I see. Okay.
But, like, we don't do it in a way of, like
No. Of course not.
It's just more of, like, shock. Like, oh my gosh. There this person's up to this or Mhmm. Do you know how they're doing or, like, stuff like that?
Yeah. Yeah. No. I hear you. Okay.
Alright. Yeah. Yeah. You're a decent person. I, I cosign you.
Whoever wants to date this girl, I think you're making a good decision. And are you you're gonna hold on to the boy for a while? You've been decided?
Yeah. I guess. He's kinda cool, I guess.
At least through the summer. Right? I mean, why? I mean Why is that now? Yeah.
I'm kidding. I I plan to. Yeah. I plan to hold on to
him for a while. Alright. I I Yeah. You you've this is really good. I, you've given me hope for humanity.
Oh, wow. Thank you. Seriously. That's just so sweet. Well That's a great compliment.
No. You're really upbeat. Listen. If you're not high right now or on mood altering drugs, you're a really nice person. So I'm I'm excited for what you might do in the world.
You're not high right now, No. Are you,
I'm not. Okay. Because that's, like, the best compliment ever that I've ever received. So thank you.
You're very welcome. If you're not if yeah. We should try and do a t shirt. If you're not high or on mood altering or other mood altering drugs, you're the nicest person I've ever met. That's yeah.
You really are. You're you're a sweet kid, and you're smart and thoughtful, and, you didn't trip up one time. I've talked to people your age before who sound like they have a head injury. So, like, you're you're really doing great. Great.
Get out in the world and kill it, Bella. Go for it. May I? One last thing.
Trust Yourself1:25:36
I will.
Trust yourself. Yeah. Trust yourself.
Okay.
Do that. Okay?
Don't Okay.
Don't second guess yourself. You are a smart, thoughtful person. Go with your gut.
Okay.
Alright? And when you're in the working world, believe in yourself, believe that you deserve more, work hard, do a good job, but when it's time to move up, don't find reasons why other people are more valuable than you. Highlight why you're valuable and push forward. Okay? Can give you other good dad girl dad information if you want, but you have a dad.
He'll probably tell you this stuff.
Yeah. No. That was great, though.
Oh, no worries.
Think it's more meaningful coming from someone that, you know, you Has
a podcast. I hear what saying. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Know. For sure. Someone that's been in, like, an Omnipod commercial. I feel
like you're Has a good tan. My dad's older. He's not tan at all. Why would I listen to him? Plus, you've seen your dad in your his underwear, and it's not impressive.
And so you don't take him as seriously. You know what I mean?
Yeah. No. Yeah. Mhmm. Yes.
No. But but seriously, I am I am married to a smart girl, and, I know what you can do. And I know what happens sometimes and boys can also there's this thing where boys can overvalue themselves and girls can undervalue themselves. So I think it's pretty well documented that a a a girl who is qualified may not step up in the same situation where an unqualified boy will still feel comfortable stepping up. And sometimes they fill they fill the space and then the and then there's the there's a vacuum and you can't get in.
So you have to you have to keep pushing forward. Okay? And and, seriously, don't doubt yourself. Please. Please.
Alright. I believe you're gonna listen to me, finally. No. My own kids don't listen to me, but I feel like you're going to.
No. I will.
If you have a very successful life and anything I've said is valuable, will you consider naming a baby after me one day?
Oh, I don't know. Skye?
Yeah. It's a shitty name. I know. Alright. It's alright.
It's too white for me. I'm sorry.
I don't know. It doesn't sound like it. Sounds like you're
As my name is Bella.
Bella? Like right. Is it not is it Isabella?
Yeah. It is.
It is. Right? Do you not like Isabella?
No. I love my name.
Okay.
I think it's just very white. Like, if you looked at me and then was, like, to guess my name, you would be like, yeah.
Yeah. No. I know. I said to some lady the other day oh oh, let me find this email. I I said it on the recording.
I said, I want you to know that you said more Caucasian things than I've ever heard in my life in one hour. Oh. And I think she was worried afterwards, but I got an email from her because I asked her to see if her kid wanted to come on. And Mhmm. She emails me and says, hi.
The blah blah this is blah blah blah, the very white lady that you interviewed from the other And I was like, yeah. I remember you.
Wait. So are you not? Like, what's your background?
I'm adopted, so I'm whatever I wanna be. Hold on a second. Hey, Scott. We spoke recently. Remember me, the anxious mom who only does white person sports.
Anyway, I think she played pickleball or something. I was like, what is happening?
Oh, yeah. I love pickleball. I'm not beating the stereotype.
You're not getting out of it with that statement. I I am adopted, Bella. I don't know what my background is. But I did do the 23 and me thing. And if you can believe that, I am mostly Italian.
You know what? Mhmm. That tracks.
Does it? Why? Tell me.
Well, just based on the picture that I've been looking at for the past hour and a half.
Do I look Italian?
I think you could. I listen. I live in an area with all Italians.
Are you staring at that picture the whole you're staring at my headshot? Don't do that. Put some plants
on the I'm not. I've been, like
Open a web open a website or something. I don't know. It's right there. Oh, look
at me. Don't know.
It's ridiculous. You know, it's funny when I was, my whole life, I I didn't know about this till this 23 and me thing. And mostly people thought I was Greek. And
Yeah. I can see that too.
Yeah. There was sort of that, and then that didn't end up being right. Most of my Jewish friends were very disappointed that I didn't have a background similar to theirs because they thought for sure with all the talking and opinions, I think that I was definitely gonna come from their part of the world, but I didn't. Mhmm. And then it turns out I'm just mostly Italian.
So if you saw my son, I think it tracks more. My son's got, like, a lot of dark hair, like, you know, grows like a nice thick beard, like that kind of stuff. I can't grow a beard to save my life.
No. I see I think for you, it's the nose. You have the Italian nose.
Really? And that's great. So I have no context for that because I didn't grow up in a world where I was on a team. Do know what I mean?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Because as said, I'm adopted, so I don't I've always known I'm adopted, and I don't have a lot of that you know how people like like you even did say, you're like, well, I have a religious background that I lean on. Like, that's a thing your family cultivated probably over generations. Like Right.
And and people do that with their ethnic background too a lot. And I I just don't have any of that. So I kind of got to write myself from a blank page. Interesting. It's one of the things I like most about yeah.
It's one of the things I like most about being adopted, actually. Yeah. You kinda get
That is yeah.
You get to decide who you are instead of somebody telling you this is what we do or this is how we feel or this is why we do the thing. This because this is what we do. You know I mean? Can I just tell you what I decided in the last ten minutes?
What?
I need to interview more younger people. You guys are way better on podcasts than old people are. So, definitely, more young I people reach
hope I am entertaining.
You are are you kidding me? I had a great time. You can't tell that I'm still 19 in my heart while we're talking?
You know what? My parents my mom always tells me that. She's like, mentally, I feel like I'm 23 still. Like, pack it in.
Yeah. You say, mom, your ass says 60, so just shut up. Okay? No. I know.
It's hard. It it's, you'll see one day you'll get there, but I don't feel I I I agree with your mom. I don't feel any different than I ever have as a younger person. Yeah. Sitting here right now and talking to you, I feel upbeat.
I feel like we had a great conversation. I feel like you and I related to each other. And then I'm gonna walk out of here, look in a mirror, realize I'm old. And it's gonna be it'll strike me for a second because I'm gonna suddenly look different than I feel. So it's not easy.
So but you know what the alternative is? Dying. Dying is the alternative to getting old. So you gotta you gotta get old. Yeah.
You wanna get old. You know what I mean? Like, it's it's it's of the two choices, the better choice.
Yeah.
Yeah. Alright.
Oh, yeah. You're right.
Oh, of course, I
am.
I'm a podcaster. I I'm right about everything. It's how I got the job, Bella. Bella, that's how you get the job.
No. You just got to be confident. Don't to tell think that you're right about everything.
People the secret. Okay? Keep it to yourself. Alright? Or then they're all gonna be confident, then I'm not gonna have a podcast anymore.
Yeah. Everybody's gonna be starting their own podcast after this.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, you partly think you're gonna become a trainer and get, like, an Instagram. Right?
No. I think I'm gonna work for, I think I'm gonna work for, like, a professional sports team, and I am gonna be, like, super successful in,
like Are there even professional sports teams in Michigan? What do you guys have? The Detroit Lions don't really count, do they?
Who said I'm staying in Michigan?
Oh, oh, yeah. You're going to Florida. I don't know what you look like. Are you, like, a little, like, like, a little blonde girl?
Yeah. I am. Wait. Do I act like I'm a little blonde girl?
Or Well, you wanna be in sports stuff.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. No. I am.
Yeah. I mean, we're generalizing. Like, I've I've been I've done an awesome job of generalizing so far today. You have. It's kinda scary.
It's one of my fucking superpowers, Bella. I'm gonna tell you right now. Oh, I shouldn't have cursed this late in the episode. Sorry, Rob. Rob's the editor.
So do I can I you're not in my Facebook group? What kind of bullshit is this, Bella? Alright. Well, then how am I gonna figure out what you look like?
Sorry. I'm I'm young. Followed me Instagram.
Fuck you. Okay? I'm young. Listen. I agree with you, but and I would tell you, absolutely stay off Facebook.
There's nothing valuable there except my Facebook group for people who have diabetes. If you have diabetes, that Facebook group is awesome. And Okay. Probably the only reason that I actually have Facebook Because now I realize some of the old people I'm attached to are still posting stuff on Facebook, and they're, like, mad at me for not seeing it. I'm like, I'm not on Facebook.
And then they're like, you're on Facebook all the time. I'm like, not as me. I'm like, as the podcast. Like, I like, me personally, I don't I don't go on Facebook for anything. You know what I mean?
So you're saying I followed you on Instagram?
Yeah. Wait. I thought you did. Maybe you
asked me. I did because you messaged me.
You did.
And I'm old. Yeah. So I don't know how it works. So I assumed I had to follow you back to, like, respond to you. Okay.
Hold on a second. Are you
gonna tell me if I look like what you were thinking?
Yeah. I mean, much. That's you. Yeah. Yeah.
I gotcha. Okay. Are you the one See, you girls alright. Hold on. Are you the one in the trees walking through the trees at the orchard in Maine?
Jesus, you are. So are you the one on the right in your group of four friends in the orchard picture?
Yeah. I'm on the very right.
How tall is that girl?
Emily? Oh, the blonde? Yeah.
She's, six feet tall. Right?
No. I think she's wearing heels on that. Oh, thank you. Is tall, though.
Okay. Alright. Well, yeah. I mean, you look like what I'm expecting. It's good.
Don't worry about it. I mean, not that you give a shit what I think, but, like, it's you know?
No. Yeah.
I see you with your sensor on. Okay. Cool. Look at you.
Yeah.
You're gonna be fine. You're making that boy pay, right, for breaking up with you? Every once in a while, you just hit him when he's not looking?
Oh, no. No. No. I like I'll, like, subtly bring it up because people will be like, oh, how did you guys meet? I'm like, oh, yeah.
How did how did we meet? No? Like, you wanna tell them his the story?
Know. You're you just took him back so you could torture him. Right? Be honest.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so that he can grab me my juice boxes, obviously.
Hey, boy. Grab me that juice. I'm gonna wait three years then break your heart, just so you know. It's I've I've got it all written out.
I've gotten to a point where it's like, he'll bring me a juice box, and I'll be like, I don't want that flavor.
I'm sorry. I saw my daughter say something really nice about her boyfriend helping her when she's low, recently, and it I was I I was really touched by it. Like, it made me feel good he helps her with that.
Yeah. No. He he is great, and he is very understanding. Like, there have been times where it's happened when we're out, like, with a group of his his friends. Mhmm.
And, like, he has totally been, like, okay. We can leave. You know? Like, even if he's having a great time, he's like, okay. Just let me know if you wanna go.
Like, all this stuff. Like, putting me before Yeah. And, like, I think that's, like, really
Cool. Well, I hope you guys are together forever. You're very happy. You make a bunch of babies, and you're super happy. But if you are to break up with him, could you please say the following thing to him?
Payback's a bitch, and so are you. Get out of my car. That's what I would like you to say. Because seriously, he he needs to be taught a lesson for what he did to you in high school.
Oh, he was. Don't worry.
Oh, you already got his lesson?
He got his lesson of not talking to me for
Oh. Oh, yeah. See, you have confidence. You know that that was a that was a loss to him. Right?
Oh, and he told me it was.
Oh. Oh, he he did say he was wrong?
Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Yeah.
So he's lucky you got diabetes because that softened you up to come back and talk to him. It's one way to think about it. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. I guess so.
Yeah. Because otherwise, you were you said ship sailed. You weren't going back.
Yeah. I mean, I don't know though because I think, like, a part of me, like, did wanna just reach out, but, like, the diabetes was, like, a good good excuse to do that.
Okay.
But me and him had talked about it. I was like, you know, if I never reached out, do you think we would ever start talking again? And he was like, yeah. Totally. Like, I would have reached out.
I was like, no. We weren't enough because it wasn't gonna be on my terms.
Oh, yeah. If he reached out to you, would have been like, this asshole. Do you believe this?
Yeah.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Like, like, what's going on?
Yeah. Not Belle's not down with this. I'm too Right. Cute I'm too cute for this. I'm not being treated this way.
I know how you would think.
Yeah. Like, I yep. I
like this about I like this about you. This is good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
No. I think also I would have made a great girl. Like, I really feel like I would have handled it well.
It's so funny.
Seriously, I really feel like I would have handled it well. And and growing up an ugly guy really does teach you what you would do if you weren't. You were like, you know, if I had a little bit of power in this situation, I think I would do it like this. Yeah. Okay.
No. I agree. Okay. You're doing everything right. Go live your life.
You'll be fine. Just don't get hit by a car and everything will be okay. Alright?
Oh, god. That's not something you say to someone with anxiety.
That anxiety is probably what's stopping you from getting hit by a car, don't you think?
No. No. You're right.
I know I am.
You're so right.
Yeah. You're one of those, like, wait. Wait. Wait. And you look one more time.
I'm, like, the one like, I'm the friend that, like, grabs the back of other people's t shirts.
Yeah. No. Bella, I'm Bella, I've been married to you for thirty years. Don't worry. I know what's going on.
Okay? I got my own girl, so I know what's happening.
Yep. Uh-huh. Yep.
Yeah. She's still torturing me, by the way. She hasn't given up yet. One day, I said to her, what is going on? All I've done is devote my entire life to you and love you.
Why am I being treated this way? And I think the answer is she likes it. I mean, I don't know. I can't really tell. Anyway
She likes to likes to torture?
I think I think she's teaching me a lesson for something I did wrong to her thirty years ago. I don't know exactly. I can't tell what's happening. But she's pretty, so what am I gonna do? She's smart, I like her.
And at this point, I don't wanna move all this stuff out of this house. There's a lot of shit in here. So, you know, I mean, like, just this it seems like the right play. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Your mom and dad are doing the same thing. Don't worry.
Oh, I yep. I bet.
Alright. I could talk to you forever, which I'm not sure what that says about me or you. So let's just say goodbye, and tell you congratulations. You have a two part episode. We've talked so long.
Oh, wow. Yay.
Yeah. I don't know what we're gonna call it though. Oh. Oh, there's no nothing came up in this. It was like, wait.
Hold on.
Do you any
What is it? Oh, Drizzlelicious. Yeah. 100%. Great.
And I'm gonna make Drizzlelicious. And I swear to god, if they if there's any uptick from this podcast for Drizzlelicious, I would like to hear from somebody. I'd like to see at least a nice 12 ad buy from them. Okay? And I and really and if this works out, I'll cut you in.
Okay, Bella?
No. Listen. I need any diabetic. Chiselicious is genuinely one of the best snacks ever.
Your generation
is awesome. You can you can eat a high quantity without, like, having to take a ton of, like, you know, like, you're only bolusing for, like, 16 grams carbs for, like, pieces. Like, come on. Same with goldfish, actually.
Bella, your generation is awesome. You are so ready to get a brand deal. It's unreal. You're like No. Oh, yeah.
Where's the microphone? Drizzleicious is fantastic. I
I'll be up in their DMs, like, after this. I'll be like, hey. So I just made this podcast with please give us a brand deal because I love your food.
Listen. I'm I'm old, but I know I know how to do it. Watch this. The Dexcom g seven lasts ten days. Go to dexcom.com/juicebox to learn more.
I can do it all day. Okay? So, it's not that I don't believe in Dexcom. I actually do. But, I know how the world works.
You know what I mean?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. You guys are all gonna have, like, patches sewn to your shirts. Oh. Like, you're gonna be, like, sports people when you're older. Or I guess social media is falling apart though.
Right? Oh, can I ask you one more thing?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Since you clearly have nowhere to go. Can
Oh, yeah.
I I'm getting my haircut in a couple of hours, so I'm still good for a while.
Yeah. Me too.
Are you really?
Yeah. I actually like, what do I have? I think the next thing I have is at, like, 02:30.
Me too. Are you getting your haircut?
No. I'm not a chiropractor.
Chiropractor. Oh my god. You are the whitest person I've met in a while. You're going to the chiropractor.
Have scoliosis. Okay. I can't do anything.
I could just I have scoliosis. I could just walk on your back. That's what I do for my daughter.
No. Listen. It doesn't work. Trust.
Bella, are we best are we best girlfriends now? I feel like we might be.
Yeah. No. We are. This is ridiculous.
So I wanna get your feeling. Try try to shift for a second. Be serious for a second.
Okay.
How Her Generation Uses Social Media1:43:40
Wanna I wanna understand no. You've been great the whole time. I wanna understand your feeling about social media. Like, how do you use it? What apps are valuable to you?
What apps are I have to do them, but I don't like them.
Mhmm. Okay. Snapchat, honestly, is probably the only Snapchat? I don't know. Do you categorize Pinterest as social media?
I mean, for white ladies who knit. Sure.
Okay. Because, like, well, my generation, I feel like many girls that are my age use Pinterest as well.
For to put it like a vision board together. Right?
Yeah. Like, stuff like that. Or I use it a lot for, like, recipes.
Uh-huh. Do you
cook? I don't know. Like or like
Wait.
Do you Can I cook?
Do you cook or are you just hopeful one day that you'll make something so you're saving a bunch of recipes?
No. No. No. I cook.
Okay. Because Arden bakes. Yeah. She's always online, like, finding like, she doesn't come off this way, but Arden's the one who, like, shows up at a house party with, like, 19 trays of baked goods that she made for, like, two days. Aw.
Yeah. She loves the
That's so sweet.
Yeah. Yeah. She loves
the Yeah. No. I I like baking too. I like both.
And drunk people are very grateful for baked goods. Mhmm. Mhmm. You understand. So Yeah.
Okay. So Pinterest, you use. What else?
Okay. So Pinterest and Snapchat. I feel like Snapchat is good because, like, it's kind of, like, our version of Facebook Messenger. Because, like, you know, you meet someone, but you're not comfortable with giving them your number because that seems, like, too personal. So you give them Snapchat, and you can, like, still talk.
Mhmm.
So I think Snapchat's really good for, like, communication. But Instagram and TikTok, I have because everybody else has. And there's been times where I've gone like, I've deleted both of them for, like, a couple weeks or, like, a month and just done, like, a quote, unquote detox. Yeah. But I don't know.
I think it depends on how you use them, obviously, and how, like, healthy your relationship is with yourself.
Mhmm.
If you're able to, like, use them without constantly comparing, oh, I don't have this. I wish my life was like this. I wish I looked like her. I wish I did this. I wish I was, you know, x y and z.
Do you feel pressured to be attractive in your photos? Like, you wouldn't put up a bad picture of yourself. Right?
No. No. No.
Okay. Right. Right. And and you know how to if you and I were taking a photo together right now, you'd put your leg in a certain way, you'd turn your hip, you'd put your hand somewhere. It would all happen automatically.
Right?
Right. Yeah. Like, subconsciously.
Yeah. Yeah. You know how to turn your head and where to hold your eyes and, like, the whole thing. Yeah. I see that constantly with people your age.
It's it's I I'm fascinated by it. Like, how you just, like, boom, hit a pose. I don't know.
Like, effortless.
Yeah. Oh, it's not even being thought about. It's like, bang. Look at me. This is exactly the best way you're seeing the best part of my hip, my bust, my face, my chin.
This is exactly how I look right. And I don't know how to do that because I've seen myself look. Like, I I I listen. I I end up in pictures and videos for companies a lot and stuff like that. I've seen myself Yeah.
Going like, oh my god. I look amazing. I see the next picture, I'm like, what in the hell happened? And I'm like, it's the same person on the same day. And I'm like, this is horrifying.
No one should see this.
Right.
And and so but you're aware of it, but I don't know how to do it. You know how to do it. Mhmm. And and so the next thing I'll tell you is that as an older person and I have a daughter. I'm happy to say that it shocks me for her as much as you.
You guys are shockingly comfortable with not wearing much clothing. Like, to my generation of like, when I was 20 years old.
Mhmm.
And and I again, I hope this doesn't sound weird because we have a forty year age difference. But, like, your your generation's, ability to go out without a bra on fascinates me. Oh. Right. It's happening everywhere.
Like like and I and I'm I'm not saying you should by the way, if you're a feminist, I don't think you need a bra. Like, whatever. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that there's times where I'm like, oh my god. Like, what's like, no one there's no, I I think this is maybe a good thing, but I can't tell.
No one's self conscious anymore, it seems like to me, in, like, your age group. Is that am I wrong about that?
Yeah. Very wrong.
So they're self conscious. They're just doing the they're they're just mimicking the pictures on Instagram. Is that what they're doing?
I I think it's subconsciousness that is disguised as confidence.
Okay.
But I also think that there are the people that you are describing to me that are, like, going out with, like, bras on and stuff, like, are truly the people that don't care.
You just don't care.
You know, like, don't seem to care.
Right. They're just don't care.
I think, like, many people like, I mean, at least for me, like, yeah, I follow the trends I dress because this is how everybody else is dressing, whatever. But there are people who dress uniquely and, you know, like, don't necessarily follow, like, the clean girl trend or, like, oh, like, the outfits and aren't buying, like, doing consumerism, basically.
Okay.
And I think those are the people who seem to be the most confident in themselves because they're not
They don't care what the trend is.
They're not yeah. They're not, like, characterizing themselves by what's the newest thing in store.
Okay.
You know, it's like buy what they like. And I'm not saying that people who follow trends, you know, like, obviously, me, like, I don't buy things just because it's a trend. Like, I buy it because I'm like, oh, wait. This actually does seem like something I would use or something I like.
Right. But and I also I don't mean this in, like, a I I hope people don't take it that way. I'm really trying to be thoughtful about the the world, but I don't mean this in, a creepy old guy way. Like, I mean, even, like, bathing suits are incredibly small now for girls. Oh, yeah.
And they they you guys are all like, I've like, my daughter's friends are all, this age. Do know what I mean? And, like, a lot of times, they'll they'll say, like, you know, you used to follow me. I'm like, I can't I'm not following you. And I was like, I'm not opening up my Instagram to see you on a beach.
Like, you're
like Yeah.
Like, I know we knew each other when you were 10, but, like, it's it's weird and I don't wanna see it. And, like, and, like but you guys are not Right. You're not covered up at all. And I don't know that you should be or you shouldn't be. Like, I'm not making a judgment.
I'm trying to understand because based on how I grew up, like, girls would wear one piece bathing suits at my age. Mhmm. They were one piece. It looked like you were swimming in the Olympics. You know what I mean?
Everyone went to the beach that way. And, now it's like and then it and then it boils over to, like, people are at concerts, they're in clubs, they're out to dinner. They're I mean, the graduation photos this year looked like an Oni fan shoot, some of them. Like, I'm not even kidding. Like, they're they're girls wearing, like, low plunging, like, necklines and, like, drop backs and pumps.
And I'm like, is this your college graduation? It looks like a photoshoot. And Right. And and my kids out there doing a photoshoot probably. Disappeared one day.
I'm like, where are you going? She had her cap and gown. She's like, we're doing our pictures. And I was like, who's what are you talking about? She's like, I got a friend.
They're doing a photo shoot. I'm meeting my boyfriend. I'm like, oh, okay. Like, anyway, like but is that for social media?
I think it is. Yeah. Like, you yeah. I think it is for social media. And I think a lot of people wouldn't be dressing a specific way if they didn't know that they weren't getting their pictures done and that it would possibly end up for, like, everyone to see.
Mhmm. You do you take a picture and you tune it before you put it up?
Me?
Yeah. You change, the No. You don't do that. Okay.
I mean, I don't change I never change the way that I look in a picture. Mhmm. Like, I'll never, like, face tune or whatever. But, like, I'll add, like, a maybe, like, a filter or something.
Okay.
But that's more just to, like, make the colors in the photo look better.
Mhmm. Okay.
But not, like yeah.
And so TikTok is a thing you do because it seems to be people do it, but you've done a cleanse from it. My son stopped using it years ago, and he said it was made a big difference for him to to delete the app, actually. He was pretty happy about it.
Yeah. It helped I mean, when I get rid of it, it helps me, like, with my attention. Yeah. More, like, because it's, like, I don't wanna lay around and scroll. Like, I if I'm on my phone, like, I'll be on TikTok or Instagram.
So, like, when I'm not on them or I don't have them on my phone, like, I'm on my phone less because I'm, I get bored. Right. TikTok, I like I think TikTok's very entertaining, but I think it is very dangerous because it's very, very easy to get addicted to.
What's entertaining? The video or the comments?
Oh my gosh.
The comments. Right? You're there for
the comments. Probably the comments.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Because you see a video and you're like, oh my gosh. What are other people saying?
Yeah. No. 100%.
Totally the comments.
It's the comments. It's some sort of weird socialization without actually being around people. What I'll tell you as a person who makes a podcast is that I am forced to be in a world where I also make social media for the podcast. I don't know that it's helpful or not helpful. There's part of me that thinks that if I shut down all my social media accounts, it wouldn't matter.
And there's part of me that thinks that, you know, if I catch five, ten new people a day, that's good for me. So that, you know, it doesn't have to be like, there is no more viral. Like, that doesn't you're not even old enough to really remember what viral used to mean. But I used to be able to
write yeah.
Oh, I used to write a blog post that could hit 50,000 people in a couple hours. And, like, that just doesn't happen anymore. Stuff doesn't work that way anymore. But when but when I look at reels, for example, an Instagram post, I don't TikTok, I actually think it's all noise. Like, I believe that if I sat you down right now and said, hey.
You were on TikTok yesterday. Right? That's great. Here's a piece of paper. Write down all the things you saw on TikTok yesterday.
I don't know that you'd I don't think you'd remember three of them.
Yeah. So There's always, like, things on there that are, like, do you remember what, like, was last like, your three scrolls up? And I was like
No. I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Like, there's I tell this story all the time, but I opened up TikTok one time. There's this girl, like, she's dancing, but she's got really curly bouncy hair. And I got, like, transfixed by her hair bouncing for a half a second. And and I must have looked at it, I'm not lying to you, for ten or twenty seconds. And then she just had really curly hair, and and it was like a bouncy song.
And I guess the song caught me for a second, but her hair was bouncing. I thought, oh my god. Her hair is really bouncy. And then I scrolled on. That goddamn app showed me a picture of that girl dancing every time I opened it for six months.
And and and it just it wouldn't and I was only there to put stuff up on my diabetes page. I still don't know how I ever saw. I promise you to I don't know how I ever saw it. But once I looked at it for twenty seconds, it was like, here she is, and here she is again and again and again. But here's my point about that.
I've seen that girl's hair bounce. I don't know how many times. I could not possibly tell you her name. I have no idea what her name is. So my point is is that if your insulin pump company or the CGM that you use or the cookies that you eat or my stupid podcast or anything else is putting all that content out into that ocean of noise.
What do they really expect? What do I really expect that anybody's getting out of it? Because I don't think they're getting anything out of it. If I can't remember bouncy girl's bouncy hair girl's name, then how are you remembering my podcast if you scroll past something very quickly?
I think I would beg to disagree.
You think Tell me why.
That there's I think that there's certain things, at least for me, that do peak my, like, interest. Mhmm. And I will stay and watch, and it'll be, like, informational things. Or, like, honestly, I have learned more about diabetes on social media than I have through doctors, nutritionists, endocrinologists, anything.
Oh, for sure. Yeah.
Like and I think that, like, certain brands putting stuff out there, it's all strategic. Right? Like, it's all by do you wanna do brand deals? Do you wanna do it through people that people actually do watch and, like, take their opinions from and stuff? Or do you wanna do it where you're targeting the specific audience and you know?
Because, like, I think that, like, I get ads for, like, Omnipod and Tandem and a bunch of, like, diabetic stuff, like, type one style.
Right.
And, like, that actually does peak my interest because it's like you know? I'm like, oh, wait. Yes. Like, I am gonna remember this.
But what about And
same with your
Even with mine podcast. But mine's my stuff's really long form, though. It still translates?
I think it still translates because it has to do with what I'm dealing with.
Okay.
Like, if that makes sense. Like, I think it's different for you because yours is, like, diabetes, and I feel like a lot of people who are diabetic, like, if they see something that has to do with diabetes, they're like, wait.
Mhmm.
Okay. Let me read on this. I would say most people, you know, who care about managing their diabetes.
Like, should I be trying to make thirty second content about stuff? Would that drag you back to a thirty minute podcast episode about how to bowl us for oatmeal, for example, or should I not be worried about that? Will you find it on your own if you want it?
I think the way that you're doing it is good.
I'm okay by way.
I think the what makes yours stand out is that it isn't like
All that.
Every other
because I see know? I see can I tell you a secret, Bella? I see other people doing that, and I think no one's looking at this. And then Mhmm. I could that's my vibe when I see it.
Like, I look at it I go, no one's looking at this. And then I scroll a little more to be sneak to to be nosy. And I look at the view count and I go, oh, no one's looking at this. And it's well produced in a lit room with backdrops. And I'm like, you did all that for 45 views?
Like, why not just open your window and scream out the window? Like, you might reach the same amount of people. Also, I have access to creator information. Here. I'll I'll give you an example here.
Hold on a second.
Okay. Here. I'll While you're doing that, I'm gonna open the door for my dogs to come in
our room. Yeah. Let them inside. Why not? Alright, guys.
Yes. I know we're there.
I am gonna share with you something that's probably something people don't talk about. So I have an Instagram reel here that I made. It has been shared 320 times, reshared 49 times. It has a thousand hearts and 24 comments. The view insights that I get to see say that it was, viewed 229,000 times.
Okay?
Wow.
That sounds pretty good. Right? Mhmm. Of that 229,000 views, it only reached 17,500 actual accounts. Hold on.
It got me 95 new follows, but the average watch time was eight seconds. Wow. And so and this is a really good piece of social media for me, not just for me, for anybody. Anybody out there listening, you can say what you want. You'd kill to have a reel that does this well.
Okay? And I'm talking about people in the diabetes space. You would kill for a reel to do this well. But what they're gonna tell you is, oh my god. My reel got 228,000 views.
What I'm gonna tell you is that's not really what happened. What I'm gonna tell you is that that means that when your reel gets 6,000 or 5,000 or 3,000, basically, no one saw it. And and it the amount of effort that goes into this stuff is it's it's it's insane. Like, the amount of effort I put and this is a really I'm sorry. It's got music on it.
I didn't realize. It says not all carbs are created equal. 10 grams of carbs doesn't always eat well, 10 grams of carbs. Here's why. It gives you a little breakdown.
Broccoli, mashed potatoes, white bread, basmati rice, lollipop, all with 10 carbs, but then it shows you one has a small rise. One has a delayed rise. One has a faster rise, a moderate rise, like this kind of thing. What changes the impact? Fat, protein, fiber.
It's a great listen. Obviously, it resonated with people. They shared it hundreds and hundreds of times. Right? And and Instagram decided to show it to more people.
That's how it got up into the hundreds of thousands of views. But I don't know like, it took a long time to do this. Like so my point is is, like, I I don't know if that's valuable or not. Like, I mean, should I
Like, is it worth it?
Yeah. Is it worth my time? I could've just made another episode. Like, a lot of people Yeah. To the podcast.
I could've just made another conversation and put it up. I would've reached a lot of people too. So it's it's it's and then I make something that I really like that I think, oh my god. This would be great for somebody, but then none of the platforms, the platforms don't don't support my idea. So Right.
This is gonna sound if this sounds I'm gonna run this past you because you're the exact right person to ask. Okay?
Okay.
I am old, but I grew up with computers. Yeah. So I know that's a weird thing for somebody who's 19 to hear, but, like, I bought my first computer when I was 12. It Okay. Worked so poorly that I returned it because it wasn't a valuable thing in the world yet.
A couple of years later, a company named Commodore made a computer. I bought that computer. That's where gaming started. But an actual PC that you could do something with, I had to go to a when I was nineteen twenty, I was, like, 20, 21 years old because Kelly was in college, and I had to go to a computer, like, fair to buy pieces to put a PC together. Okay?
Mhmm. My first computer cost, like, $3,500. It didn't do anything. The Internet was not really a thing yet. It was just email.
So I've had computers for a long time, and I've I've seen the promise of them. And the craziest thing has happened, they now work exactly the way I hoped they would when I was younger, and everybody thinks it's shitty now. And what do I mean by that?
The computers?
Technology. They go, oh, that's that's slop. Or that's, like, it what I can sit down on a prompt and type into a prompt, you know, a bit I mean, that thing I just read you, that's that's a small episode. I took a small sips episode from this app from this podcast. I fed it into into a large language model and I said, you know, there's a lot of good information here.
I wanna encapsulate it in one image. And it gave me a long prompt that I fed into another model that turned it into that picture. It's and then there are people who look at it and go, oh, you used AI. And I'm like, no. I used a computer to do an amazing thing.
Like, computers have been promising us they were gonna do for forty years, and now they finally do it, and now you're mad at it? And and now and so, anyway, this is my next thought. And this is either gonna sound hokey to you or it's not, and I'm I'm really looking for your honest feedback. You know the bolus four episodes I talked about earlier?
Informative, Not Performative2:03:04
Yes.
I took the I took the transcripts from a few bolus four episodes, turned them into song lyrics, and then had something turn it into a song that's catchy so that you'll remember how to bolus for something. But it's hokey now. But twenty years ago, it would have been amazing.
Right.
And so, like, now the technology finally caught up. Now don't get me wrong. I think it's still gonna work. I think there's a certain mom version of this that people are gonna like. I think kids might like it.
But an adult your age is not and I'm gonna play it for you so you can hear it. Alright?
Okay.
I'm gonna stick this right up to the microphone. I know it's like Yeah. But listen. A packet in the pantry with the maple little grin saying,
tear me at the top now let the warm day begin.
But the label's got a secret that the spoon may not show.
Sugar riding with the oats there.
Ready, set, go.
33 in the packet. 12 are
quick and sweet. That's a sleepy little breakfast with running shoes on its feet.
So don't let the steam make the whole plan fuzzy.
Morning moves fast when the oats get fuzzy. Roll this before the boat. Now I'm not gonna make you listen to the whole thing, but think about that. I took a conversation that Jenny and I had about bolusing for oatmeal. It turned it into song lyrics and then sang it and put music behind it.
And if you got it in your ears for a couple of minutes, you might be like, oh, yeah. Ebola's okay. I I probably should do that blah blah blah. But nothing about the way the Internet works now will serve that to anybody.
Mhmm.
And and I don't know, like and while, we're all busy trying to figure out how to use social media. The way we use it right now, you characterized as not very valuable and a waste of your time. The way that I think it might be helpful to people, they find hokey now because everyone's so jaded about how things work. And so my point my point is is that I I don't know what any of it's for at this point. Like, it all seems useless to me.
Yeah. Do I seem like please now talk. Go ahead. Whatever you think.
No. That is very it's a very interesting take because, obviously, as someone who didn't grow up without technology, like, I wouldn't know. Right. But, like, from what you have said, yeah. No.
That makes sense. Like, social media would have been so much more informative if we made it less performative. Wait. That's a great one.
Oh my god. Two T shirts from this episode. Keep going.
Right?
Mhmm.
So, like, because, like, a lot of people, you know, they do brand deals with certain brands that, like, look the best or, you know, like, a lot of people are like, you know, if if this influencer does this brand deal with this brand that everybody else is doing it with, Like, they have to be cool. Right? Mhmm. Like, that kinda thing. You know?
And yeah. No. Because I think those songs would be great. I think those songs would be great for this ten year old or this, you know, younger kid who has, like needs help with that. I think that's perfect.
Right. So do I But,
like yeah. Like you said, like, it won't get it it probably wouldn't be
No. It's gonna be for a niche of people who really like it. I'm gonna end up I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm genuinely probably going to build a jukebox on my website where people can go and click on them and listen if they want to. And people will, by the way.
My website gets crazy traffic. But, like, that's not the point. The point is is that it out in the world where it actually might reach a bunch of people and have an opportunity to help them, it won't do that. Because what I would need is to reach 228,000 people just for 17,000 of them to actually listen to it, just for a 100 of them to actually be motivated enough to follow along because that's how this all works.
I think that mindset makes sense because you do put a lot of effort into the things that you create for social media as many, know, people on social media do. But I wouldn't undermine those a 100 people that are taking valuable things from that.
Oh, I don't.
You know?
Oh, no. I've please don't take me wrong. Like, I I'm gonna say the hokeiest thing right now. If it reaches one person, I find it incredibly valuable. I also I I would also tell you that I spent the entirety of my Saturday and Sunday on that stuff.
Like, it's a it's a weekend of my life to do a thing that when I got done, I was like, this is really fantastic. Like, not only by the way, not only did it do that for those bolus four episodes, but I took some of the I'm not kidding you. I took some of the mental health episodes of the podcast Mhmm. Conversations with Erica and I about, like, shame and blah blah blah. And I I swear I'm not crazy.
It made some really good country songs about taking better care of yourself. I was like, this is ridiculous. And I think there's a a group of people who are gonna listen to a song that is literally about type one diabetes but still feels like a song, and they're gonna be like, oh my god. This is awesome. But there's also people who are gonna hear it and go, oh, that's AI.
That's not real. But but here's the thing. No one's gonna write you a song about your diabetes. That's not actually gonna happen. So if you want it, this is how it happens.
And I think the part that makes me disappointed is that if this technology existed thirty years ago, people would have been bowled over by it, and it would have been incredibly valuable. So by the time the technology can do the thing we needed to do, again, I'm gonna say, we become so jaded that we laugh at it. Because I don't care what you say, that's fucking amazing. Yeah. That song is amazing the way that that just happened.
And and for no money, for a $20, you know, a month thing for one thing and a $100 a year thing for another thing, it churned out that which I believe would be helpful to somebody. Now listen. Is it great music? It's not. I'm not trying to say it is.
Right? But, like, you know, you turn on a YouTube cartoon for a nine year old, it's better than that than what you hear there. And so and so, like but it's I don't know. It's just it's very disappointing to put. I don't know.
I don't really know how to explain to you. Like, you guys are getting the really the coolest stuff in the world and you're either using it wrong or disregarding it. And it's upsetting to
some of
who through it.
It's the latter because, like, we grew up with technology, and we don't understand what life is without it. Mhmm. And I think that's, like, a thing for diabetes too is, like, I always catch myself like, ugh, stupid Dexcom. Why is it not connecting? Mhmm.
Why is it telling me I'm 40 and low when I'm not? You know? And it's like, wait. I'm so lucky to even have this Dexcom. I'm so lucky to even have this pump and have this insulin and stuff that I can just, you know, pretty much be, like, I guess you could say, like, hands off.
You know?
Like, I'm
not So injecting myself. You know?
Yeah. But it's hard to remember that.
Pricking my finger.
Yeah. I'd also like to give you some grace back because it's also hard to remember that in the moment. But I you could still there's episodes of this podcast. You could listen to people who used to have to boil their needles to clean them or pee or pee on a test strip to see what their blood sugar was three hours ago, which wasn't helpful to them or using or by the way, I interviewed a woman yesterday yesterday from Zimbabwe whose son just got diagnosed two years ago, and they put him on NPH insulin. So, yeah, you're lucky.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. So you're you're lucky, but how do you you know, how do you know you're lucky when you're born in the middle of it? Like like, you're 19 at a time where we're catching rockets with giant metal scissors.
Is that even a is that I don't even know if that's a reference that gets to you. But, like No. Yeah. SpaceX is shooting rockets into the sky, bringing them back to the ground, and catching them with giant metal, like, scissors. I don't know another way to say it.
There's these two metal arms that come out while the rocket comes back down and lands back to where it started and is now reusable. That's insane. Your you you have to have a friend with a Tesla. Right? Have you been have you been in a self driving law has one.
Have you been in a self driving car yet?
No. Oh,
try it. It's amazing. Okay. Like like
I'm scared.
Oh oh, no. Don't be scared. It's amazing, I'm telling you. Okay? But when you grow up in a world where you can get a car in a parking lot and and literally hold down a button and go, here here's what you can do at this point now because I was just in one and saw it the other day.
So now they have AI built into them. You push a button. This little bot pops up. Call it whatever you want. Couldn't possibly care less.
And you say, hey. I think there's a Burger King a few miles from here. I've been to it before. I can't really remember. And it comes back and it goes, oh, yeah.
There's a Burger King at blah blah blah blah. And you go, cool. Can we go to that? I'd like to go to that. And it goes, sure.
And then it's in your nav. And then he pushed we didn't go to Burger King, but this is the point I'm making. Then he reached out, pushed a button on on on on an iPad in his car, basically. And then without touching the pedals or the steering wheel, it drove us there and parked the car at the at the place.
That was crazy.
That was it. Stoplights, left turns, right turns, everything you think that it doesn't do, it does. And and when you say it out loud, people go, I don't want my car to drive itself. Are you out of your mind? Like, this is the look what look what look what we have done.
And then and everybody acts like it's stupid. And listen. I know AI uses a bunch of electricity and it shouldn't and we gotta fix all that. And I'm not saying anything about all that. Yeah.
I I hear you. I'm with you. It's gonna put people out of work. I'm there. But I'm a I'm a single I'm a creator.
I make a thing completely by myself. I don't have a huge budget. I can sit down at a prompt, write something out, and get something back that looks like a goddamn photograph in thirty seconds. And and that wasn't true a year and a half ago.
That is true. AI is so new. It's crazy to think about.
Yeah. How fast it's moving or how you're gonna Mhmm. How about the lady yesterday from Zimbabwe? Again, lovely woman, by the way. Hope you check the episode out when it comes out.
Talking about let me find this for you. You you now have the longest two part episode ever, and we're getting to the point now where the editor is like, you gotta stop, Scott. But but, Rob, I'm having a good time. We're just gonna do it on this one. Okay, buddy?
I don't know the first thing about Zimbabwe. I just wanna be pretty clear about that. Okay? And she's talking about that they gave her kid Miles per hour and a fast acting insulin and nothing else. They didn't even tell her what to do with it.
Like, she had to figure the whole thing out by herself. That's how a lady from Zimbabwe finds the juice box podcast made in New Jersey. Okay? So she's talking about how some of the meals are difficult because nothing's packaged, so there's not a lot of, like, you know, not not a lot of carb counts to go off of and stuff like that. So while she's talking, I go to one of my I at this point, have Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude.
I like Claude for one thing. I like ChatGPT for another. I'm starting to not like Gemini much, if I'm being honest. And I, I said all I said was list five common meals in Zimbabwe. It gave me five.
I picked number one while she was talking and said to it, can you give me a nutritional breakdown for sazda or sazza? I need fat, protein, and carbs. So, anyway, it's off to the side, and she and I are chatting. And, eventually, we get back to it. I say, hey.
Do you do you eat the tadza? She goes, oh, I love tadza. We eat it all the time. I'm like, oh, cool. By the way, thick maize meal porridge usually eaten with meat, vegetables, beans, gravy, or sour milk.
Who knew? Okay. And then she started talking about, oh, how difficult it is the bolus for. And I said, well, how many carbs do you think's in it? She's like, I don't really know.
And I said, oh, well, the Internet says that a 100 grams cooked with 20 to 45 carbs has two to five grams of fat or protein in it and less than a gram of fat. So a medium serving would be about this many carbs. Then she thought about how, how much insulin she was giving her son for. But her son also has an a one c in, the eights or the nine. So she's probably not using enough insulin, but she doesn't know yet.
She's still figuring it out. Right? So then I said, well, what's your son's insulin to carb ratio? She doesn't know that. So then I opened up my website and I went to a settings page that I made with AI, by the way, and helped her figure out what her kid's settings work should be.
Mhmm. And then as we're talking, she goes, I use ChatGPT for everything. Why did I not think to use it for this? And I was like, I don't know, but you can. And she's and and by the time we got done, she was like, lift it up.
She was like, oh my god. This is amazing. I guarantee because the lady's putting a ton of effort in. I guarantee that kid gets an a one c in the sixes next time she checks. Like, because she just wasn't she just didn't know enough about the food to impact it.
That was it.
I think that's, like, a huge thing, though. Like, with chronic illnesses is that there's so much, like people are so misinformed.
No. Of course.
And even people who have it. You know? Mhmm. Like, me, example, like, I left the hospital, and I did not know how to carb count at all. They gave me, like, a pamphlet.
I didn't know I didn't know about fat or protein or fiber.
I didn't
know about any of that. I learned that through your podcast.
Right. No. I know. Like It's it I put up a review the other day, which by way, no one will read, but that's fine. Where where where the reviewer says, like, I mean, honestly, we're talking for some really, I do feel like we're girlfriends now.
I just wanna say that. I'm gonna tell my daughter about this later, and she's gonna be like, you are so embarrassing. Invaluable. I don't care how corny it sounds. Juicebox podcast literally saved my sanity and my son's health.
Our medical team provided no additional information besides basic brochures about type one. I had to take the initiative to join a Facebook group and started listening to this podcast. I have never listened to any podcast before, but thankfully learned about Juice Box podcast pretty early on. I can't say enough good things about all the information I have learned here. The bowl beginning series was the perfect starting point, blah blah blah blah blah.
And then I'm gonna put out content to try to get reach people with that. And the first comment underneath of it's gonna be like, stop using AI. And I wanna wanna come to your house and murder you because the lady in Zimbabwe needs help. So shut up. That's I I wanna I'm not upset, Bella.
I'm there is a little fat 12 year old who bought a computer that didn't work who is looking at all this and wants to tell you all, you do not realize how lucky you are. This all works as well. And and he just he's so disappointed in you for saying things like, oh, the picture had six fingers. Yeah. That was a week ago.
They fixed that. Wait till you see what happens next. You you you know what I mean? Wait till you like, listen. I don't have the expertise or the know how, but I guarantee you that one day someone will mind my podcast and turn it into a diabetes doctor.
And there are people who hear that and go, my god. It's so scary. Up. The cars drive themselves. Give yourself up to it.
It works. Okay? Like like, it's it's by the time a couple more generations of this thing roll around, I'm gonna guess 2027 is my guess. You're literally gonna be able to go to a prompt, ask the prompt anything about your diabetes, and it's gonna give you the right answer.
Yeah.
Yeah. So, it's up to you. You can you can be a Luddite or be scared or cry about the electricity or whatever it is you're gonna do or you can live healthy. It's the same thing with not the same, but very similar GLP medications, I think, are a great example. I was talking to somebody the other day who clearly needs it, and in the end, they said, well, I don't know.
I I feels like cheating. And I I I stopped and I was like, hey. Arden's body doesn't make insulin. And Arden was right there. And I said she was right.
And I said, Arden takes insulin constantly, all day long. Her pump's giving it to her all the time. She goes, yeah. I said, is Arden cheating? And she goes, I see what you're asking me.
And I went, okay. Is she? Because her body doesn't do something, and so she's taking a liquid that was made by a pharmaceutical company. Is she cheating? Should she just die?
And the person goes, no. Of course not. I said, then why is it you need to be forty pounds overweight and have PCOS and all these other problems you're having? Why not just take a little liquid and have that all go away? And there's a long pause, and I was like, cheating what?
Cheating what? What are you cheating? And she couldn't she couldn't answer it. And I was like, right. I said, so I don't understand what you're saying to me right now.
What is it you feel like you're cheating? And she goes, I don't know. And I went, good. Good answer. Stop worrying about it.
I was I was and I feel the same way about this technology and this stuff like this. Like Yeah. You know, it's things are moving forward really fast. There's things out there that can help you. You should let them help you.
Some as crazy as it sounds, I've been doing this a long time, someone's going to go online six months from now and tell me they can't stop singing the oatmeal song. And their kids bowl is sing for oatmeal now. And there'll be a lot of people out there that'll shit on me for it, and I'm gonna sit here very quietly happy knowing that that kid went to school with a 110 blood sugar and didn't spike up before lunch. And I don't care what you think. Yeah.
You know what I mean? So when I the thing that helped you, when I started doing it, people yelled at me about that too. Don't tell people how you manage your daughter's diabetes. It's dangerous. How do you think of what I said, Bella?
Are you happy about it?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't yeah.
Been pretty good for you, hasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I don't know what I'm saying anymore.
We're just really talking for a long time. So I'm gonna stop now. Go ahead. Anything you wanna say,
finish up? To say. No. Anything the one thing that I do have to say, and this is just my 2¢. I'm not as a dietetic student, as someone who is learning about this and stuff, I think the only the one thing that weight loss medication can do
Mhmm.
Or doesn't do for a person, which I don't know much about them. Honestly, I I have not done my research.
GLPs, the Food System, and 'Cheating Who?'2:22:16
Well, that shouldn't stop you from talking about it. Go ahead.
But I think that a lot of people who are extremely, like, you know, like, really need it, they take it and then they don't learn the healthy habits to, like, actually help your body. You know? Like, they'll do it, but, like, don't change their lifestyle. Like, I think it is very dangerous in a way because it like, you're relying on the medication, which is like, I understand, obviously, because I'm a type one diabetic, but, like, there are other ways to like, I don't know. You know?
Like,
I what know. You're saying. Can I can I answer back?
Yeah. Yeah.
There's two options here. Either you're right and it would work or you're right and they're not gonna do it. Or they're right and they'll do it and it doesn't work.
Right.
What does it matter?
Yeah.
If if let's say let's say that you're right, and I believe you are, that that there is a food system in place that is feeding all of us a lot of food that is not very good for us, that our bodies are shifting in scary ways. There's way more autoimmune issues, way more weight gain, a lot more type two diabetes, a lot more fatty liver disease, a lot more heart attacks. All this stuff is happening.
Mhmm.
The answer is go for a walk, go for a run, and don't eat like that. 100% right. But for reasons that we don't even have to talk about right now, obviously, large part of the population suffers with something in their life that stops them from doing that, whether it's lack of willpower, lack of money, lack of time, lack of something. It's not getting done. Yeah.
Right? Would you not rather live in a world where everybody shot something into their ass once a year or once a day or once a week or once a however long, but they were healthy and didn't have to worry about that? Or do you wanna live in a world where you tell people, well, if you just did the right thing, this might work out for you? Which sounds better than I know. Don't trust me.
I'm full of good points. But but this is the, this is the that's my you haven't been alive long enough. Like, you're you're not wrong. Okay? But when some bro podcaster says to you, just do the work.
Just remember that they make $5,000,000 a year and they work out all day long.
Okay. That is one thing. That is a topic that I'm very, very passionate about.
Tell me about it.
These, like, influencers, these, like which is great. Good for them. If I was getting paid all this money to just their job is to work out.
Mhmm.
It is so unrealistic for people who are moms, who work nine to five, who all of this. And not to say that there aren't influencers out there who are
I'm sure there are.
All of this and still you know? But, like, when you compare yourself to an influencer whose only job is to train for this marathon and train for this high rocks and do all this, And you're like, dang. Like, why don't I look like that? Or why aren't I as motivated as them? Because that's their job.
Mhmm. They're not going to a nine and five like you were coming home to three kids or, you know, like, going to the hospital to see their mom. You know? Like
Expand that out. Imagine a 35 year old woman with two kids who heard you just say what you said. You know what she thought? Oh, sure. She's 19.
Her ass looks fantastic, and she doesn't have to do anything. She know she doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about. Like, like so, like, it's it's different perspectives. Right? And and you're and I agree with you a 100.
Like, I I don't think it's wrong to say that if people ate better and took supplements and exercised correctly and blah I'm saying that's not happening. So we can either stand around and talk about how it should be or we can do something about how it actually is. Maybe here. I'll expand it out longer. What if I said this a couple of years ago on the podcast.
I stand by it. I said, I think they might maybe should spray this GLP out of a plane onto all of us. Because imagine if a generation of young parents were thinner, in better shape, ate better, ate less, taught their children to eat that way, and then another generation of people learned to do that. Isn't it not possible that by the time that those people's kids had kids that all of this would be fixed? Because right now
That's the thing though. Would they wanna fix it because it's such a
Well, they probably would.
Popular industry.
Well, I I don't I I would
It's money making.
Right? If people didn't sell that food for two generations, then most of this money wouldn't get made through food anymore. So the way we got here, which is slow see, you know what? You don't know. Here.
I'll I'll give it to you in one simple idea. Okay. In 1976, when I was five years old, in my refrigerator was always a one gallon Tupperware container, and it was always full of juice or lemonade. And that juice or lemonade was made by these powder that my mom would put eight scoops of into the thing, mix up with a little bit of hot water till it dissolved, then filled it up with some cold water through some ice in it, that's what we drank. And we drank gallons and gallons and gallons of that every week of sugar water.
My mom had no idea it wasn't good for us.
Mhmm.
Because on the front of it, it said made with real fruit juice. Right. And when I was hungry, my mom would take two pieces of Wonder Bread, slop two tablespoons of butter on it, throw in six pieces of Velveeta cheese, melt it in a pan, and give it to me, and tell me, here, it's lunch. Mom, can I have something with it? Sure.
Here's some potato chips. My mom didn't think anything of that. She didn't think she was making me fat. She was. Mhmm.
She didn't think she was teaching my body to crave carbs and sugar. She was. Like like so she didn't know what was happening because she came out of a generation where all food was good food. And then their lives got faster, so then all food got easier and more processed. But they didn't think of it as ease they didn't think of it as processed.
They thought of it as easier. Oh, our lives are my life is quicker than my mom's was. I work. My mom didn't work. I don't have time to cook.
I'll use this hungry man meal to feed everybody tonight. Right? It's got Salisbury steak in it. You ever had Salisbury steak? You should have one one time.
It's not very good. And, it has whipped potatoes in it. Does it? If you ever see a frozen dinner, you should look hard at it. We used to get them once a week.
We also used to get macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese and all this crappy food, and we would wash it down with sugar water. And that's a whole generation of my mom who, if you look back at her pictures when she was younger, was thin and in shape until she got older and the seventies came and the processed food came, and then she gained weight and then she made us fat and then I had kids. And I was on my way to making them fat before I stopped myself and said, oh my god. I don't know the first thing about food. I've talked about it on the podcast before.
I eventually, as a young person, as a young father, would just follow fit people around the grocery store to see what they were buying because I didn't even know how to buy food that wasn't gonna make me fat. Mhmm. Right? And so
Do you think that the the main issue is the lack of education?
Yeah. Of course. But it's not that easy to educate. Educating people doesn't make them change. Time makes them change.
Right. Yeah. Right.
Time and and But, like You learn the same way you get parented by it's modeling. You do what you see happen. You think you have free will. You are just doing the thing that your parents did in front of you. That's all.
I'm gonna guess your parents are decent people, and that's why you're a decent person. And you're just modeling what you see with them. And so, like, you yeah. You model the way they eat. You model the way they are, the way they act, blah blah blah.
You will probably do it slightly different than them because the world around you will change. And you will model that and you will have kids and they will copy you. And that's how eating works too. And so you can't so I so listen. Here's a great example using you.
If I walked up to you right now, let's say I had a I I got a I got I got a card in the mail from, the the the leader of the universe. Turns out there's no god, Bella. Okay? And I can prove it and I can prove it. I come to you and I go, Bella, hey.
I need to educate you. You said you're religious, but there's no god. Why don't you just stop thinking what you think right now? You won't do that. Mhmm.
Okay? And it's the same with the eating or with technology or whatever else. We are not as autonomous as you think we are. We are running we are programmed to do something, and we are doing it. And so I think that a problem this big, like food insecurity, processed food, lack of money to buy good food, lack of knowledge about how to cook it, lack of time of how to cook it, lack of desire to cook it in a world where somebody will bring you boba tea in their car if you pick up an app on your phone.
Right? And I know and I know you laugh because you've had some poor man bring you boba tea at your house. Okay? And, like and so, like, I know when that's the world you live in, just telling somebody to go for a run isn't gonna fix it. So maybe we've made it so bad now that these medications, these peptides are the only thing that's gonna fix it.
And my point is is that if you spread it on everybody, not that you can force it on people, but if if if you were made it available to the general public at at cost, I think you would lower health care costs. I think you would lower companies' abilities to make profits off of processed food. And I think in a couple of generations, it would be a different place. And I think that's what's going to happen. It's gonna happen because of capitalism.
Right? Because because the pharma companies are gonna wanna make their money off of this. They're going to. Right. I heard a a guy the other day.
I don't know if he's an economist or not. And he said, you're all excited about AI. You should be excited about GLP ones. He's like, that's what's gonna change the economy in the world. And and then he said, I think that the government should make them free to households that make under $60,000 a year who need it, and that'll fix the health care system.
And when he said that, I thought, I said that shit three years ago on my podcast. I was like, damn it. I wonder if anybody heard it when I said it. And so, and I feel like I was ahead of the curve on that. I also think this is a pretty reasonable well thought out person.
I don't and it's not gonna happen for good reasons. You don't understand because you're young about how the world works. It's gonna happen for money, you know, because people No.
I
that part, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So it'll happen. You eventually will know fewer people who aren't on a GLP and medication than who are.
Mhmm.
And I think that'll happen in the next five years. And then we're gonna see. We're gonna see if your kid grows up with a better idea of food or not. I'm not telling you I'm it's alright. I'm not saying this is how it all should've worked out.
I'm just telling you I think this is how it's going. So you know what I mean? Like, I'm not making a value judgment about it. I'm just saying this is it. Very often, nothing goes the way it's supposed to.
It's true.
Something starts
And I earlier, I did not come across as or I did not mean to come across as like
You didn't. Don't worry.
The fact that yeah. Yeah.
You didn't.
Because I I do understand, like, the I think it is very unfair that the lower or the cheaper food is the food that is what is making you
It's what the
hospital bills.
Right. Right. It's it's listen. It's not because every everybody would love a steak from 1950. I don't think one exists anymore.
And you know what I mean? And and Mhmm. But Jesus. And people with type one diabetes are even more disadvantaged because you don't have that thing anymore that tells you you're not hungry to the same degree. By the way, you're Oh my gosh.
Yeah. Your pancreas does other stuff besides make insulin. So Yeah. And so, like, you know, so there you are, and then you get low, eat some crappy sugar because that's what you need to save yourself. Then your body's like, oh, sugar.
Then you have a sugar crash. You want more. Your blood sugar's going up and down. You're eating when you don't wanna eat. Like, that's that's also happening to people who don't have type one diabetes now.
Right? They're and that's why you see so many people wearing CGMs who don't have diabetes to track their blood sugar because their blood sugars are spiking. And when your blood sugar spikes, your insulin dumps, and then you're hungry again. And insulin help you know, is part of the reason. That that's why I, don't have type one diabetes, lose weight on a GOP medication because it's slowing down my digestion.
It's slowing down my need for insulin, and I lose weight. That's Right. It, really. I eat less. My digestion's slower.
I use less insulin. Because of that, my body is able to process itself better and lose weight. I also think I have some sort of an issue, with inflammation that's helping with too. But not the point. Point being, it's I it I think it's magic.
And I think we're just in the beginning of it, and some people get it who have used it. The people who haven't used it say, you're cheating. And five years from now, I think everybody will be on board. And I'll I'll be the one running around saying, I was fucking telling you that, and you weren't listening to me. You made fun me because I took That's right.
That's right. Three years ago, I started talking about GLPs on here. I got a lot of crap online for it. But I was like, I saw what I saw, and I was like, this is trust me. This is gonna be something, like, for real.
It's gonna help people in ways you don't even understand yet, and now it's happening. Fatty liver disease, heart attacks going down. They're starting to use it for people with, like, obsessive issues and, gambling addiction.
Like, binge eating?
Binge eating. All kinds of stuff. Yeah. And and, again, cheating who? Who you who do you care?
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Alright. Bella, I wanna thank you because
You're welcome.
This is how I usually I've never made a podcast this long before, but this is how I would do it if editing wasn't expensive. I like having really long conversations like this. I think the really interesting stuff comes in the second hour. You know we've been talking for two and two and a half hours?
Yeah. I was actually looking at the time.
Like, that's crazy. Yeah. And it was easy because you're 19 and you're out of school right now, you don't have anywhere to be. So I Right. I which is also another reason I couldn't usually do it.
But if I had my way, the podcast would be long like this a lot more often. So what I'm gonna end up doing is when I'm gonna say goodbye to you and thank you. And I'm gonna leave a little voice note for the editor, and I'm gonna say to him, look, man. Sorry. I said the word a bunch of times.
I'm actually gonna run it through AI, find all the times I said it, give it to him so he doesn't have to listen through three hours to to edit it correctly. And I'm gonna tell him not to edit it for pacing. Let this conversation play just as it was recorded. Just go ahead and edit out those f bombs, throw in the ads, and we're all done. And I bet you this will be popular.
It's just not a thing. Yeah. That's what I'm gonna do. So Okay. Alright.
I I would love to make three hour podcasts.
Yeah. It was fun. I'm I'm a big chatter too.
So You're awesome.
You got the right person.
No. No. You're fantastic. I had such a good time. I I I and I also think if I can step back for a second, you just listen to a conversation between a guy who's about to be 55 and a girl who's 19.
And I think we related to each other just fine. Yeah. Right? Because we have something in common and it's I think I just think that there's an opportunity to talk to people all different, ages, you know, all different backgrounds, and some pretty interesting stuff can come out of it. You learn something, I learned something, I complained a little, you complained a little.
I think it's a good thing. So we'll see what happens. See if I'm right.
Yeah.
See what people say to me. Bella, you are fantastic. I'm gonna use your title. What did
you You're delicious?
No. Now I'm gonna use the other thing you used. Well, I'm gonna use that you you what did you say? What was your teacher?
Media would be social media would be more informative if it became less performative.
Informative, not performative. That's what this episode's called. And by the way, it's going out in one solid episode, two and a half hours long. Informative, not performative. US Med sponsored this episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Check them out at usmed.com/juicebox or by calling (888) 721-1514. Get your free benefits checked, and get started today with US Med. This episode of the Juice Box podcast is sponsored by Omnipod five. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that's been shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they've switched from daily injections. Learn more and get started today at omnipod.com/juicebox.
At my link, you can get a free starter kit right now. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Okay.
So if you've made it this far, I'm gonna think you enjoyed yourself. I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions. If you're in the private Facebook group, can you go make a post and answer them for me? If not, I understand. Unless you wanna send out an email.
Did you enjoy it being this long? Would you like to hear more content of this length, of a more free flowing conversational nature? Do you hate it? Like, you listen, but you hate it. I'd I'd wanna know that too.
Scott, never do that again. I hated it. Do you think we should have on more modern hip people, like the younger people, the generation of now, if you understand what I'm saying? And anything else you'd like to let me know about? Actually, it doesn't even have to be about this.
You could hop on to the private Facebook group, put up a post, say, hey. I would love to talk to you. Anyway, thank you so much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. I'd, maybe take a second here to thank you since we're here and, I mean, you clearly have nothing else to do.
Anyway, that's not a judgment. I just really appreciate listening to this. We just did some numbers. And by we, I mean me, recently about the podcast, and I was wondering if you'd be interested. The podcast has, at one time or another, been number one in 58 countries.
It's been, progress. It's been in production. I'm not editing that out in case you're wondering. It's been in production for twelve years. This is the twelfth season.
We've never taken a season off. There has been an episode every week since January 2015. You are listening, I think, to episode 19 let me take a look. Yeah. 1901.
That's pretty crazy. And the private community and the public community on Facebook has over 100,000 active participants. Podcast has been downloaded well over 21, almost 22,000,000 times. It has, let's see, been number six in The United States. That was its highest ranking in The United States.
Highest ever in Canada, four. United Kingdom, six. Ireland, two. France, five. Germany, seven.
Italy, four. Netherlands, four. Spain, six. Sweden, six. Australia, three.
New New Zealand, three. India, five. Japan, seven. Singapore, number one. Hong Kong, number two.
China, number 13. And it, of course, has charted in 58 other countries along the way. That's just going back into 2019. I actually can't track the data back past them. If you have had anything to do with the success of this podcast, I owe you a personal thank you.
I don't know how to find you, but if I if I could find you, I'd shake your hand. I'd probably give you a hug if you were okay with it, and I would say thank you. Twelve years, no time off. Here's a couple things you don't know about podcasts. Something fell in the room.
Don't even care. Most shows are a handful of episodes, and they go out into a feed, and the feed goes quiet. This one's been published without a break now for twelve years. 90% of podcasts never reach a fourth episode. One in 10 podcasts is even active right now.
This one has been, of course, every day for twelve years. That means for every 10 podcasts that have been created, only one of them persists and persists past its fourth episode. Having 1,900 episodes is roughly 60 times the output that an a show that is already in the top 1% for staying power in podcasting has. 60 times as prolific as other incredibly popular podcasts. You guys listen every day.
It means the world to me. Again, thank you so much. If you're if you listen this long and you're not subscribed, I mean, please hit the subscribe button. But, moreover, if you've been listening this long, please share the podcast with somebody else because we'd like to go for twelve more years if we could. And when I say we, I mean me and my assistant, Claude.
He and I are having a good time.
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