#1788 Born to Run - Part 1
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Endurance runner, pharmacist, and foster dad Zach shares his adult LADA diagnosis, mastering insulin, exercise, and mindset—learning confidence, vigilance, and control just nine months into type 1.
Key Takeaways
- Fostering and Love: Zach describes the unique bond with his foster child as an unconditional, "agape" type of love, driven by a deep desire to give to a child in need, recognizing that reunification with the biological family is often the primary goal of the foster system.
- The Morning Struggle: Scott shares his feelings of "resentment" towards diabetes, discussing the early mornings spent standing quietly in his house, unable to fully engage in tasks or leave for fear of an unexpected low blood sugar.
- Empathy Through Listening: The podcast has fostered profound empathy; Scott emphasizes how hearing the experiences of those living with diabetes, such as the anxiety surrounding pre-bolusing, has deeply informed his perspective and the content he creates.
- The Complexity of Weight Management: The discussion touches on the multifaceted nature of obesity and metabolic issues, acknowledging that environmental, cultural, and behavioral factors play significant roles alongside personal responsibility, with GLP medications offering a potential avenue for addressing these systemic challenges.
- Choosing the Right Pump: Zach emphasizes the importance of patients independently researching insulin pumps to find the system that best fits their lifestyle, which ultimately leads to better buy-in and satisfaction.
Resources Mentioned
- • Juice Cruise 2026: juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise
- • Eversense 365: eversensecgm.com/juicebox
- • Tandem Mobi: tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox
- • Touched by Type One: touchedbytype1.org
- • Wrong Way Recording: wrongwayrecording.com
Introduction
Scott BennerWelcome back, friends. You are listening to the Juice Box podcast.
ZachMy name is Zach. I'm 36 years old. Professionally, I'm a pharmacist, educator, and researcher at a university. And personally, I'm a husband, a dad, an endurance runner, and a foster parent. And as of about nine months ago, I joined the type one club after being diagnosed with LADA.
Scott BennerHow would you like to share a type one diabetes getaway like no other? Join me on Juice Cruise twenty twenty six. You may be asking, what is Juice Cruise? It's a week long cruise designed specifically for people and families living with type one diabetes. It's not just a vacation. It's a chance to relax, connect, and feel understood in a way that is hard to find elsewhere. We're gonna sail out of Miami, and the cruise includes stops in CocoCay, San Juan, Saint Kitts, Nevis aboard the stunning Celebrity Beyond. This ship is chosen for its comfort, accessibility, and exceptional amenities. You're gonna enjoy a welcoming environment surrounded by others who get life with type one diabetes. I'm gonna host diabetes focused conversations and meetups on the days at sea. There's thoughtfully designed spaces, incredible dining, and modern amenities all throughout the celebrity beyond. Your kids can be supervised, and there's teen programs so everyone gets time to recharge. Not just the the kids going on vacation, but maybe you get the kickback a little bit too. There's gonna be zero judgment, real connections, and a whole lot of sun and fun on Juice Cruise 2026. Please come with me. You're going to have a terrific time. You can learn more or set up your deposit at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. Get ahold of Suzanne at cruise planners. She will take care of everything. Link's in the show notes. Link's at juiceboxpodcast.com. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group. Juice box podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan. 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. Today's episode is also sponsored by Dexcom, the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears. You can learn more and get started today at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox.
ZachMy name is Zach. I'm 36 years old. Professionally, I'm a pharmacist, educator, and researcher at a university. And personally, I'm a husband, a dad, an endurance runner, and a foster parent. And as of about nine months ago, I joined the type one club after being diagnosed with LADA.
Scott BennerI'm gonna pat myself on the back to start off, Zach. Long time listeners are not a surprise to people who just started listening or wondering what's wrong with me, but that's okay. I looked at my calendar last night before I went to bed because I had to set my alarm. And I said to myself, I'm recording at 9AM tomorrow. 9AM? Nobody picks 9AM. Right? And then I thought swear to god, my next thought was, what's this gonna be? Some super healthy person or something?
ZachOh my gosh. Oh, man.
Scott BennerAnd then you pop up like, I'm an endurance runner. And, by the way, you're a go getter. Like, how many kids do you have?
ZachI have two biological kids, and we have a foster child.
Scott BennerThat's my point. And if that wasn't enough, you were like, hey. I'll take another one. Send it over. No problem. I was like, of course, you're up at 9AM working. You're a go get you are you are. Right, Zach?
ZachI am an early riser. I try to get up before everyone, because that's the only way I can get some stuff done by myself, and I get into the office early. It's true.
Scott BennerYeah. I just I'll tell you right now. I knew all that by the fact that we were recording at 9AM.
ZachHey. Had you had 7AM, I probably would have taken it.
Scott BennerWell, that's why it's not there. Okay. Even as I get older, surprised at how my family's vibe for not going to bed early has not changed. Like, I'm 12:30, 01:00 is about when I go to bed.
ZachNo. It's not.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much it. And if I have I have to get up early, just get up early.
ZachYeah. Wow.
Scott BennerLike, I had take my son to the airport yesterday.
ZachUh-huh.
Scott Benner05:00. He's like he's like, what did he say? We gotta leave by 05:30. I was like, we? Like, alright. And he's like, do you want me to have to pay for parking at the airport? I was like, well, no. Not really. So I'm like, oh my okay. So I I set my alarm at five, but then I don't know. I live my life. I do my stuff. Like, I make the podcast during the day, but I also cook in the house, and I'm also the did somebody call me recently? They'll laugh. I'm the grocery bitch. So, you know, if, like, if somebody runs out of something, I'm the one at the store. And then I come home, I work a little more, the the website and, you know, the Facebook stuff and everything. And then I don't have any time for myself, so my time for myself comes at, like, really late at night. Yeah. But I like getting
Zachthat late at night? Do you read? Do you do you veg out on Netflix? What do you do?
Scott BennerRead. Zach, listen. You're lovely. Okay? I read one book about Randall Cunningham about forty years ago and a couple of other books. My reading list is very strange. Like, I've read meditations. I've read I love a little book that's not really a book, called This Is Water. I read that a fair amount. I'm I'm not a reader.
ZachOkay.
Scott BennerI just thought it doesn't I don't it takes so damn long. It's I do walk any part of the day where I'm not speaking to a family member or making this podcast. I am listening to somebody explain something to me in my ears.
ZachOkay. Do you listen to it on normal speed or one what's your preferred speed rate?
Scott BennerNormal speed because I also enjoy it as entertainment.
ZachI love that. Yeah. That's, that's good advice.
Scott BennerI also, oddly enough, don't like books on tape.
ZachOkay. No audiobooks
Scott Bennerfor you. I don't want somebody reading to me.
ZachOkay.
Scott BennerDamn it. I can't read. I don't deserve it. You understand? But but nevertheless, later at night, it depends on what time of the year it
Zachis. Okay.
Scott BennerBecause if it's a certain time of year, then the I will put a baseball game on somewhere.
ZachYeah. But
Scott Bennerthen I'll sit with my laptop and make something for the podcast or the website or something like that too. My life is definitely going by too quickly. Something's wrong. But you're but I still feel like I'm cramming a lot into it. Like, I feel good about it. Like, I how about you? At the end of the day, do you feel like I'm exhausted, but in a good way, but I'm I'm sad to go to sleep? Do you have that feeling ever?
ZachI have had that feeling at moments in my life. In the current season, most of the time when I I hit the pillow at night, I am ready to hit the pillow at night, Scott.
Scott BennerHow old are those kids?
ZachSo eight, seven, and then our foster child is nine months old.
Scott BennerOh my goodness. Yeah. Is that like a helping a friend thing, or were you in the system and somebody called you?
ZachYou know, it it has been a kind of long time just desire for my wife and I. And about a year and a half ago, embarked on the the journey to become foster parents. And we had a couple of, families that we helped out for, like, a weekend and things like that, but, our current foster child is our first long term placement. So it's been a a relatively recent, endeavor.
Scott BennerI'm gonna enjoy this conversation, I think, for a number of reasons, but one, because you started interviewing me right away. I'm gonna I'm gonna figure out why that's your inclination. But first, how old were you now when you were diagnosed?
ZachSure. So, I was diagnosed actually just nine months ago. I was 30 when I first noted something was off, but, nine months ago was my diagnosis.
Scott BennerWow. Maybe that was your payback for fostering a baby.
ZachYeah. You know what's funny? I got diagnosed, then two weeks later, we got our foster child. So it it was a it was a very full 2025 for us.
Scott BennerNo kidding. And you hadn't had a baby in five years at least. Right? So that's
ZachSeven years. Yeah.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, what did you notice first? How did you figure out you had type one?
ZachYeah. So the first thing I noticed was actually just my lab work. I was 30. I was a hundred thirty five pounds running marathons, and my a one c went from five to 5.7. So I think most would look at and think, oh, you know, no big deal. But, technically, it's prediabetic, and I'm I'm in the health field and knew enough to be concerned. And so that was my first kind of cue ever since then. My wife and I have joked that I was on the fast track to diabetes, not knowing that it would actually come to to fruition. But what really kind of clued me in from a symptom standpoint was about a a few months prior to my diagnosis, I noticed myself getting up three, four times a night to use the bathroom, usually before midnight, constantly fatigued, which I attributed just to to children, but in hindsight, it certainly wasn't.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachAnd so kind of the classic symptoms, to be honest with you. I got kind of fed up with it after I did a I did a race locally, and I felt terrible during the the event. My heart rate shot up to over 200, and I just something wasn't right. The following weekend, I told my wife, I said, I'm gonna order a glucometer and test strips and see what my glucose is. And I enjoyed my favorite Thai meal that evening, which is chicken pad c u. And two hours later, checked my glucose, and it was four fifty nine. Jesus. So at that moment, I knew I had diabetes.
Scott BennerNo kidding. Hey. The week between the race and the bind the meter, was that your like like, were you getting your head right? What was that week for?
ZachYeah. It was it was me connecting all the dots and being like, no. Like, I need I'm something's not right. I can remember journaling just around that time that I was gonna stop eating snacks late at night. So I thought, oh, well, maybe that's what's causing my symptoms. And in hindsight, I'm like, that was so foolish. So in some ways, Scott, you're right. It was me kinda getting my head right and and just coming to the conclusion that something's not right. It's not just me, you know, eating too many sweets at night.
Scott BennerYou pull that meter out the first time and and the blood drop comes out. As you're reaching for your for the drop with the meter, you know it's gonna be high?
ZachYeah. I thought it would be around one fifty, one eighty because I just had, you know, this huge timing. And when I saw four fifty nine, I gasped. My kids were watching a movie. They thought I'd hurt myself. They didn't know what was going on.
Scott BennerReally? Audibly. Audibly, they get it shocked you. Yeah. Yeah. Which you go into the hospital, or did you wait to call the doctor the next day?
ZachNo. I didn't. So, actually, I had a couple colleagues who are also pharmacists and specialize in the diabetes space. And I talked with them about it. After I got off the phone with them, I decided I would check my ketones. So I I got some keto strips from Walmart and checked my ketones. They were negative. And so I felt comfortable just waiting it out so I could get to my primary care the next day.
Scott BennerYeah. Your vision was still okay, everything like that?
ZachYou know, Scott, that was one of the things that after my diagnosis, I looked back on was like, oh my goodness. That's why every afternoon after lunch, I could hardly see the screen. My vision was blurry. I was like, I don't know what's going on. I'm getting old here, Scott. And lo and behold, like, it was just I could trace it all back to the hypoglycemia.
Scott BennerOkay. Yeah. Well, no. It's not not, not unexpected. Out on a limb here, you eat pretty well, I imagine.
ZachI mean, I I think it's relative. I will say that my wife makes sure I eat well. She has a a a plant based diet, and so I'm the kind of indirect, beneficiary of her diet. She does most of the cooking in our house, and so whatever she makes, I eat, and it's usually pretty, pretty healthy.
Scott BennerVery amenable. That's nice.
ZachYeah.
Scott BennerYeah. You don't need to I
Zachwill say
Scott BennerDid you fight back at all when it started?
ZachNo. Oh, I did. I did absolutely fight back. Yes.
Scott BennerLike, that's just a carrot. I I I
ZachRight. Yeah. I I was definitely opposed at first, but over time, she's kind of, helping for me with some of the evidence, but also I can I can see the the benefits myself on this side of my diagnosis?
Scott BennerListen. I'm aware of some people who are, like, real, like, legit vegans who are super healthy and Mhmm. You know, save themselves from a a number of different ailments along the way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, okay. So you go to the primary, they set you all up. Now, I guess, the the way your mind works and, you know, I'm assuming you're a dedicated, structured, scheduled person. I mean, you're writing you're journaling. And so and you're you're a runner. So are you a runner because you love running or, you know, Zach, it's time to be honest. Are you out of your mind and you're trying to keep the voices down or what's the running about? You can manage diabetes confidently with the powerfully simple Dexcom g seven, dexcom.com/juicebox. The Dexcom g seven is the CGM that my daughter is wearing. The g seven is a simple CGM system that delivers real time glucose numbers to your smartphone or smartwatch. The g seven is made for all types of diabetes, type one and type two, but also people experiencing gestational diabetes. The Dexcom g seven can help you spend more time in range, is proven to lower a one c. The more time you spend in range, the better and healthier you feel. And with the Dexcom Clarity app, you can track your glucose trends, and the app will also provide you with a projected a one c in as little as two weeks. If you're looking for clarity around your diabetes, you're looking for Dexcom. Dexcom.com/juicebox. When you use my link, you're supporting the podcast. Dexcom.com/juicebox. Head over there now. Today's episode is brought to you by Omnipod. We talk a lot about ways to lower your a one c on this podcast. Did you know that the Omnipod five was shown to lower a one c? That's right. Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system, and it was shown to significantly improve a one c and time and range for people with type one diabetes when they switched from daily injections. My daughter is about to turn 21 years old, and she has been wearing an Omnipod every day since she was four. It has been a friend to our family, and I think it could be a friend to yours. If you're ready to try Omnipod five for yourself or your family, use my link now to get started. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Get that free Omnipod five starter kit today. Terms and conditions apply. Eligibility may vary. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Are you out of your mind and you're trying to keep the voices down, or what's the running about?
ZachYou know, I started running in high school. And if I'm being honest, when I started running, I realized I was kinda good at it in high school Mhmm. And ended up running in college at a a d one university. And ever since then, I've just kinda continued it as a way to kinda stay sane, have some time to myself, and stay healthy. I view it a little bit differently on this side of the diagnosis, but, for the longest time, it was just I I think it's good to do hard things. And for me, running was one of those hard things that helped me grow kind of mentally and gave me a space to, do something therapeutic for
Scott Bennermyself. That's awesome. Yeah. You you ran in college?
ZachI did. Yeah.
Scott BennerSo a friend of my son's was, like, a prototype. He looked like I don't know how to put this. He they look like they build him in a Russian lab for an eighties movie. Do know what I mean? And Yeah. Long but strong, gliding, you know, just so fast. He went off to college, you know, got picked up by a big school. He couldn't even make the team. And it was, like, tenths of seconds. It was it was it was insane. Like, you know, I still see him now. It's gotta be seven years since they left for college in their back end. He still as he runs through the town, I think he's just there to make people feel bad about themselves. You know? Seriously. I'm like, is he gonna go fight Rocky after this? It's it's really something. But you what kind of running did you do? Were you a sprinter? Did you distance?
ZachYeah. I was long distance runner. I don't know how familiar you are with, the steeplechase, but it's a a long distance hurdling event. People know it by, you know, you kinda YouTube steeplechase falls, and you'll see some pretty epic falls that, most people remember the race by.
Scott BennerZach, why did I think of a fake rabbit being chased by dogs when you said that?
ZachYou know, I'm really not sure, Scotch.
Scott BennerOkay. My brain put the wrong words together with pictures. I was like, that's not right. Okay. So we understand how you eat. We understand how you, like, kinda how you run your life and everything. Was diabetes, like, one of those things? Like, are you gonna be the story where you're like, I met the challenge, Scott. I figured it all out, and everything's fine, or did you struggle with it? Or how how's the last nine months gone?
ZachI would say the the last nine months have they've certainly been formative, Scott. I have embraced it. I you know, some people, I think, have a really hard time embracing the life change that comes with it. I think because I'm in the health care and because and I had some some prior knowledge about diabetes and diabetes management, I I kind of knew a lot of what to do. I just lacked the confidence of doing it. I have to give a little bit of credit to you in the Juice Box podcast because some of that confidence building came from hearing experiences, from you and and some of the people you have on the show. So a lot of it over the last nine months has just been confidence building, and, you know, so much of diabetes is trial and error, figuring out what works, how much insulin to do for what meals and when, those sorts of things.
Scott BennerK.
ZachAnd then relearning exercise. That's probably been the the single biggest change for me is relearning how I exercise and how I can do it safely. But, honestly, you know, when I look back on it, I feel like I'm in a pretty good spot now. My a one c is 5.4%, most recently, and I feel like I'm I'm kind of getting into the the groove of things.
Scott BennerOkay. Well, I wanna hear about the confidence in the exercise, but first, I'm gonna share this with you. I just went to click on your intake form so that I could just see what you wrote, you know, when you were signing up to be on. But I clicked on yesterday by mistake, and I didn't realize I clicked on yesterday by mistake. When I started reading, I wanna talk about the stress of coming out as a gay woman. And I thought, how is this gonna be Zach's story? This is insane. And for a half a second, I was super excited. I was like, oh my god. This thing's gonna take such a turn. It's soon And I was like
ZachI'm sorry, Scott.
Scott BennerDon't be sorry, Zach. And then I was like, no. Wait. That was yesterday.
ZachYou know, Scott, the number of listeners are gonna be way less with my story as
Scott BennerWell, I mean, listen. Imagine if you could tell a story about how you came out as a gay woman. That would really have, like, lit this on fire. But instead, let's talk about how you built your confidence up and then how you use that to I mean, relearn relearning exercise is a big thing. And if you think you figured it out in nine months, I wanna hear that story, like, front to back.
ZachOkay. Alright. Well, I'd say, biggest confidence builders for me were so bump and nudge, listen to some of your all's comments around kind of small movements, getting the, getting things moving in the right direction as opposed to larger just focusing on, you know, single boluses. So the bump and nudge concept really stuck with me. Prebolising. So, you know, as a health care provider, I know how to counsel my patients to prebolise, but as someone with diabetes taking insulin, it scared me. And so hearing, just stories about prebolising and the impact, that that has had and how to do it successfully was really, real important for building my my confidence. K. And then just hearing stories about people that were able to just attain really good glucose control and doing it safely. You know, we hear about the a one c goals of six and a half percent or 7%, and that's great. But it was also really good to hear stories of people achieving, an a one c of less than 6% and and being able to do so, responsibly and safely.
Scott BennerOkay. Yeah. So confidence comes from hearing other people accomplishing a thing that at the time is frightening to you because it seems very unknown?
ZachYeah. Absolutely. That's a really good way of putting it.
Scott BennerIt's funny. I'm listening to you and thinking about having made that that thing. Like, I don't know the first time listen. I if people listen for any length of time, this is not surprising to But, like, I didn't sit down and think, I have to come up with a phrase that allows people to understand that, like, small amounts of insulin make small movements. I just said I don't know. I just bump it around. Sometimes I nudge it. Like, you know what mean? Like, and it just I I really wish there was more to it than that. And but I have seen it help people exactly the way you've described. And I realized as you were talking about, I'm like, oh, it's like the rule of small numbers is what I'm talking about. But I had no idea that that's what I was talking about when it occurred to me originally, if that makes sense. Yeah. But I really do sometimes think that the benefit of me not having a classic education or a classic or or or an an an educated ability to reach for other words. I think that just proved that out just now in the last sentence because I was looking for vocabulary and it came out as 17 other words.
ZachYeah.
Scott BennerI think that because I didn't I don't have that, but I was having the experiences. Like, I had to force myself to explain them to myself. And then when I said them out loud to people, I had to explain them that way. And I think that's what dumbs them down. Like and I and that's not the right phrasing, but I think that's what makes it accessible for people.
ZachScott, it's so true. Yeah. One of the things that we as as health care providers, are kinda fall victim of is this notion of, I mean, an expert blind spot, meaning that as you learn something and as you kind of live that experience and you gain a knowledge in it, it becomes a kind of automated thought process for you. And you forget those intermediate steps that are needed to arrive at a similar conclusion. And what you're describing, Scott, is you don't have that background knowledge, so you're describing it step by step and in simple terms. And in so many ways, that is actually more effective in terms of of educating others. So thanks for what you do, and what you said is spot on.
Scott BennerNo. I appreciate it. I'm I'm basically, I'm captain exposition for diabetes. Like, don't know if people know that. I said that to I said that in in my in front of my family the other day. I was like, no one knows that phrase? And I'm like, it's the person on your television show who has no value in the story except to come on the screen and tell you all who are watching what's about to happen or why things are happening. They lay out the exposition because they don't have time to act it out. So Yeah. So I'm explaining that and I could watch Arden go, oh my god. I'm like, yeah. That's where that, like, not too handsome, but not ugly character who's pleasant enough comes on screen, looks in the camera, and goes, do you mean that happened because the car was red and they stole the money from the bank? And you go, that is why it happened. And, like, like, they're not actors. They're they're the guy off stage, you know, given the the screen direction. And so that you can hear it is that they I think that might be what I'm doing.
ZachThat's a great analogy.
Scott BennerIt just occurred to me just now. Was like, oh my god. Is that what I'm doing? I'll tell you what makes me pleased is that a person like yourself I mean, did you say you're a pharmacist?
ZachI am. Yeah.
Scott BennerA fair amount of education there and and a lot of science and that and that your brain and my brain probably, you know, don't work exactly alike. That you heard the thing I said and that it was valuable for you, that makes me happy because it's been my intention all along to not leave anyone behind across the spectrum with what I'm saying. I feel like I may I I feel pretty comfortable that I've accomplished that. It's a nice feeling.
ZachAwesome.
Scott BennerYou understand how to time your insulin. You understand about using the right amount and not just, like, blindly put in this much because the thing says so or whatever, you know, not to let things drift away. You can bounce them back, get them back again. But then you go out to run, I'm imagining, what do you low immediately?
ZachYeah. I remember shortly after my diagnosis, I had just started, basal insulin with meals, and I had a really small bowl of spaghetti, like, maybe 60 grams of carbs. And, normally, I would have way more. You can imagine as a runner, I I consume quite a matter of of carbs and calories. And so I was trying to figure things out, but I went with a small bowl of spaghetti. I bolus for it, and I ended up over 400, which I could not believe, and I was furious about it, Scott.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachAnd in my kind of anger in the moment, I told my wife, I'm like, I gotta go run off some glucose. And I went for a run expecting my glucose to drop from maybe 400 to 300. And, Scott, within twenty minutes of starting my run, I went from 400 to under 200. And by the time I finished my forty minute run, was I sitting at one forty. And that was kind of an moment for me. I realized that not it's not an additive effect of insulin and exercise. It's really a synergistic effect, almost like a multiplicative effect when you combine the two. So I realized it was a powerful tool, but I also, in that moment, realized, like, holy cow. This could get dangerous really quick if you're not careful.
Scott BennerYeah. And you can manipulate it. Like, you know, like, I'm assuming now you run with no active insulin?
ZachThat's exactly right. Yeah. I run only fasted in the morning.
Scott BennerYeah. Right. So you you saw what was happening, and you thought, like, okay. I see how this touches this and that touches that. What do I take out of this equation so that the other thing doesn't move? It was that simple. Right? Exactly. Yeah.
ZachYep. Yeah. I mean
Scott BennerTough to wrap your head around sometimes. But
ZachIt is. And there's so many moving kind of variables within the equation. You know, I do endurance running or aerobic longer, durations of running, but others might walk and do shorter durations or do high intensity training, and each of those influences it so much differently. And so while I feel like I have gotten it down for what I do, if you were to take me and put it in a a different scenario where I was doing, let's say, a high intensity interval workout Mhmm. Well, that would change the the dynamic of things pretty quickly.
Scott BennerYeah. Plenty of people bolus to lift.
ZachYeah.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. You start building muscle, and and people are needing insulin during that time.
ZachMhmm.
Scott BennerAnd yeah. And if that listen. And when you leave the hospital and the entirety of your direction is like, count these carbs to put in this insulin and eat, and you're gonna get high anyway because nobody told you you're pre bolus. Everything's already off kilter. You don't understand what it's very difficult to cause and affect things if you take out the all the inputs that the doctor gave you as things that are possible to be changed. Like, because I think that is what goes wrong is that, like, people get direction and they're like, okay. Well, those are the constants. That's the concrete right there. And they never quite think about, like, what if I change something about what was said to me? And Yeah. And then you're on you're only fighting you're only on the reactive side at that point then. Yep. The the insulin, the food, whatever, is doing what it's doing to you. And instead of trying to control that, stop that from happening, or manipulate how it happens so that it happens in the way that you'd like it to, you're just busy playing defense trying to keep everything from catching fire.
ZachYep. That's a great way of putting
Scott Bennerit. Yeah. I'm just saying, like, instead of running around the house with a garden hose, like, what if we just didn't light the house on fire?
ZachYeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Scott BennerLike, once it occurred to me, it just made so much sense all at once. Yeah. You know? But until it did, I was lost, like, really lost. Yeah.
ZachWell, Scott, let me ask you this. What you know, thinking about your experiences with Ardith, one of the things that I struggle with is, like, spontaneous exercise. Like, Thanksgiving, flag football game, we're gonna go out. I know I have a bunch of insulin on board for my Thanksgiving meal, and I know with almost a 100% certainty that I'm gonna drop low at some point. And I just kinda have to live with that and stop when I need to stop. Or if I wanna go out and shoot basketball with my son and I've eaten, I know I'm gonna have to, you know, probably stop after ten to fifteen minutes.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachHow did you handle that? How did Artis handle that? And the kind of spontaneous exercise piece. That's probably the biggest thing I'm still figuring out.
Scott BennerNo problem. First of let me tell you so it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable later, but Arden with an n.
ZachOh, I'm sorry.
Scott BennerArden. No. Don't apologize. And, it's a weird name. We've yanked it out of a book. Well, listen. I think part of that answer is not is is not gonna feel good, but I do think that's to some degree, that's a little bit of the game. Like, you know, like you know what I mean? Like, it's I don't know. It's like saying, like, I I don't like that girls are throwing themselves at me, but I'm a professional baseball player. Like, this is what happens. Like, I, you know, I I just you can't avoid that part. And so you're sitting around Thanksgiving dinner. You got a bunch of insulin going and everyone yells, we're running outside. Yeah. You maybe you're gonna get low. And Yeah. You know, can you can you get ahead of it? What a weird thing to say because, like, there's no way you wanna add food at that moment.
ZachRight.
Scott BennerRight? So you're just like, well, I hope for the best. And then I think it's more about vigilance, honestly. And I don't know that people wanna hear that, but, like, I think that you thought problems again by just never letting them occur as best as possible. So, you know, you don't run outside to play flag football going, I'm gonna throw this up to God, and hopefully, it's gonna be fine. But, you know, later when I get low, I'm gonna be pissed because I have diabetes. Like, just pay attention. You know? Like, look once in a while. Am I dropping quickly? Well, you know, alright. Great. It's 87. I'm looking at the graph. The graph's you know, looks like it's running downhill. Let me drink or eat something now to stop the load. Don't just sit there and wait to be low so that you I don't know why. Like, I I don't understand people's minds well enough because I watch it happen with my kid. I watch it happen with other people. I they know they're gonna get low and they just sit there like, it's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. It's like, I can't believe it happened. You know, like, it's I don't know. It's like driving at a wall, not putting your foot on the brake, and then being pissed at the wall when you run into it. So it's a really weird thing. Now having said that, a lot of these algorithms are gonna go a long way to trying to stop that. So I as soon as you asked that question, made me think, are you on an automated system? I don't think you are.
ZachI am, actually. I started about, three weeks after my diagnosis. I started on one. Actually, I do pump trainings now.
Scott BennerOh.
ZachAnd so I am on one, and it does help. But if I have I if I have active insulin from a bolus, that's where I always run into trouble.
Scott BennerYeah. Well, no. For sure, you're going to. I don't see a ton of way around it, to be perfectly honest. Yeah.
ZachI love your word though, vigilance. And I I think that is that's a great, a great way to think about it.
Scott BennerAnd listen. I we we could, you know, start talking about the psychological side. If it's unfair, it sucks, I could see where you would burn out from it. Like, there's a lot about that answer that's not that doesn't take the entire picture into account. You you know? But in that moment running around outside, I don't I mean, that's it. Manly, you have diabetes. You've got active man made insulin and you've just randomly decided to go outside and start running around. You're gonna have to pay attention if you want this not to be a problem later. And I think that's where you probably see the parents. It's probably where you see the parents and the adults when they're together in a community. Like, that's a that's an interesting spot because an adult is gonna very rightfully so say, I don't wanna have to pay attention to that. I've had this thing for twenty years. I just wanna go outside and throw that football. This isn't fair. It's not right. People around me don't understand. It can be embarrassing. I don't want people seeing me looking at my phone. I I listen. I've I'm almost up to 2,000 episodes. I know what you guys are thinking. Like, as best as I can, I agree with it all? And then sometimes they see a parent and they're like, oh, look. You just it they're helicoptering, which is thankfully a term that doesn't get used much more because it was irritating. But, you know, like, they're paying too close of attention. Like, those kids are never gonna have a life. They're never gonna have fun. You're ruining it. Like, that and that parent's thinking, I'm just trying to stop the kid from getting dizzy while they're throwing the football around.
ZachYeah.
Scott BennerIt's interesting to see that sometimes the two sides understand each other, but but often until they have some conversation and spend some time together, they don't right away. I'm trying to tell everybody there's a ton that you can both learn from each other. Like, as a as an adult, like, you do have to be vigilant about not just your diabetes and that blood sugar and that number, but about your mental health and the longevity of the time you're gonna spend doing this. A parent could learn from that and they should that, you know I think the problem is it gets said wrong. Like, go, oh, like, you know, what will doctors tell you? Like, you're gonna make yourself crazy, chase imperfection. That's not really what's happening. I'm trying to stop my kid from having a low blood sugar. I'm trying to stop my kid's blood sugar from bouncing around so that they can have a reasonable, experience as a human being. I'm not trying to be perfect. I'm in the game I'm in, and I'm doing my best to play. By the way, you guys didn't even tell me where the pieces and the cards go. I'm trying to figure out monopoly without instructions right now. And you're telling me, oh gosh, you're putting so much effort into it. You're making you're trying to be perfect. And then on the flip side, an adult who's been through a lifetime of this horse shit and who knows that, you know you know what? Honestly, my a one c went from five five to six two and I'm still okay. Or you know what? One year it was six two and the next year it was six seven, then I got it back down to six three and like, you know what? I'm alright. They have that context. And I would like it if parents knew that part, but the problem can be for some people like, for some knowing that's gonna be a relief. Right? And it's gonna be a lessening and but some people are gonna take it as I don't know. They're gonna take it as a pass to stop thinking about it. And then they're gonna their kids' situation is gonna tumble away. And that happens to pick sometimes to adults too where they say, look, I can't be in my face constantly, Scott. I just wanna go run around and throw that football. But once you give it away a little, for some people, it runs off a cliff. And then the next thing they know, wake up and their a one c is nine and a half and it's ten and they go, it's fine. And then, you know, ten years later, they go, why do my feet tingle? If you're me in the middle, what's the right way to talk about it so that you don't so that as few people as possible have terrible medical outcomes or terrible psychological outcomes? And I think that should be the goal of doctors too. I I'm gonna jump out a window. Like like, I you know, like like, I you know, I don't know how it's gonna go for you. You know what I mean?
ZachWell, I I think, you know, at the heart of of some of what you're talking about is acceptance, like accepting that, okay. This is part of life. And I feel like I'm there. I've accepted that. And I I know others, you know, that can be more of a journey, in some ways. But I I've accepted it and am okay with it. But I'm still kind of figuring tips, tricks, techniques to kind of manage the the the moments where I get low or or can't exercise in the way I want to. But as you said, that's just that's part of living with it.
Scott BennerYeah. I'm sorry to come back to it, but, like, this is it.
ZachYeah. Yeah.
Scott BennerThe rest of it's going to be your wiring at how you respond and what level of this you're willing to deal with. Yeah.
ZachYep.
Scott BennerAnd it take took me a long time to hear enough stories to realize that some people don't wanna hear that. You know? They wanna know, just tell me where to put this number so my kid's okay. And that's not always the your kid might be Zach and your kid might be somebody else, and you're not gonna know. All those little babies are not gonna be what we used to say president of The United States. That's not really a great way to go anymore. But, like, but, like, you know, all those and and so I've pivoted to saying, like, some of those little beautiful babies you're holding, they they grow up to be addicted to meth. Mhmm. And you don't know who's who or what path people are gonna get put into. And, you know, it's not gonna be just as easy as like I put that number in a spot and it's definitely gonna be okay. There's still a lot more to to think about and be aware of and, you know, some people have the bandwidth for it and some people don't. Some people just don't have the motivation for it. Like, it and Yeah. I don't judge anybody. Like, it's just it's who you are, you know? And you got this unfair thing. So I don't know, man. It's a bummer. Why'd you why did you why did you get a foster kid? Is this a religious thing? What's going on?
ZachIt's a religious thing. So, certainly, my my wife and I, you know, we do have faith and and are spiritual. But, honestly, a lot of it has to do with just in when I was growing up, particularly in high school, I had some really influential people in my life that took me in, during some hard times, and those are coaches, mentors, people in our church
Scott BennerNice.
ZachAnd in our community. And I just I saw the impact of really taking someone in under your under your wing, or in your house and and helping them. And so for whatever reason, you know, my wife and I have been married for fifteen years. And ever since we got married, we we've said that we wanted to adopt our foster. And so, yeah, it's just been a long standing desire.
Scott BennerI think it's lovely. Also, I'm gonna tell you, I think most people have that conversation. Very few people follow through. Mhmm. So what gets you past like, it gets easy to talk about. You know what we're gonna do? You know what would be great? What gets you to actually like, how do you I don't know. I'm trying to figure out how you get from the part that everybody talks about to the part that very few people do. Like, what's the process to follow through?
ZachYeah. That's that's a really insightful question, Scott. I think, you know, for us, we had we were leaning towards adoption, but we felt just financially that it was a bit prohibitive. And then when we looked at the foster system and just saw how broken it was and how much need there was for foster parents
Scott BennerMhmm.
ZachWe just we felt like that was a place we can make a good, meaningful impact.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachI I think the deciding factor for us was our our biological kids had reached an age where they were more self sufficient. Right? So, I mean, they're they're still they still need a lot of care, but it's not like they're newborns. And and so we reached a place where we knew we weren't gonna have any more biological children, and we felt like, we were ready to take the next step in foster care. And, honestly, it's something that really aligns with our values, Scott.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachAnd so when we make these kind of big life decisions, so much of it, I think, should hinge on how much does it align with our values. Sure. We could do a lot of other things with our time, and with our energy. But in this phase of life, we're okay with, more than okay with giving that to a foster child because it's something that we really value. And so yeah.
Scott BennerMy parents fostered a boy before they adopted me. Really? And by the way, I don't think I've ever said that before. What's up, Russell, if you're out there? But and I didn't really know him, obviously, because he was a little older, and he wasn't around for, you know, forever. But, yeah, my my mom couldn't get pregnant. That's what they told her. And so I think they were, you know, trying to adopt. That wasn't going well. They fostered Russell for a while, and then I think I came along. And then suddenly, whatever happened to you know, my mom suddenly could have kids. And now, you know, I spent the last I I spent last night ninety minutes talking to my brother on the phone. Was awesome.
ZachBut Nice.
Scott BennerBut I I've always even looked back on that as, like, this is a real kindness. Like, that's a formed like, you have a babe that you know, your foster is a baby. But you bring an older person, that's somebody who's already been you know, they've been forged by somebody already and and you bring them into your life and and do your best to to it's a it's just a it's a really kind thing to do. Like, I don't know why you didn't just get a chameleon, but, like, I mean, this
ZachWell, Scott, I mean, you know, I appreciate you saying that, but, you know, my wife and I were pretty clear up front with what our kind of boundaries are and what we were and weren't comfortable with. And, you know, you gave a really good example. Like, there's such a need for people to take in foster children that are older. Mhmm. But that was not something that my wife and I were willing to do mostly because we have, you know, a seven and eight year old. And so we have to be mindful of how that kind of shapes and molds them too.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachBut it's so important just to be really, really deliberate about what those boundaries are when you go into foster care. So it can and it will burn you out if you're not careful, thoughtful, and intentional about it.
Scott BennerWhat's the expectation? Is that the baby will be there until it's placed with an adoption or that it could be with you long term?
ZachYou know, Scott, foster care is all about trying to to reunite with, you know, biological mom and dad if it's safe, to do so. And so, usually, in the first year when you take in a foster child, that is the ultimate goal that they're shooting for. And, obviously, that's contingent on biological mom and dad, doing what's needed. And so, once we reach a point to where we kind of reach a fork on the road, like, yes, we're on the right trajectory or we're not, That's where they start to make decisions about, alternative placement plans, whether it's adoption or guardianship, etcetera. And so we're kind of in the phase of we're just we're gonna love on our foster child for as long as we can. And if we're presented with an opportunity to to to keep them long term, then we'll cross that bridge when it gets here. Mhmm. Or we're just taking it one day at a time.
Scott BennerIt's a process then, and you're just kinda along for the ride.
ZachYes. Yeah. Yeah. You definitely have to relinquish control in many ways.
Scott BennerIf if, you know and let's hope. Right? A few months from now, you get the note, hey. The parents have got a place to live. They got it all together. Baby's going back. That's gonna be heartbreaking, imagine. But after a period of time, do you think you'd say, okay. Send another one over, or do you think is that gonna hinge on how painful it was for the baby to leave, do you think?
ZachI think there is no question that if our foster child left, it would be very, very hard, not just for, you know, my wife and I, but also for our two older kids. However, you know, humans are resilient, and we we know if there are other opportunities that we would probably that we would probably pursue those after a time of kind of healing and working through the grieving process.
Scott BennerYeah.
ZachI know many foster parents who have had placements for, you know, one, two, or more years, and then the child leaves, And then they they say, you know what? I'm gonna take a six month or a year break. I'm not gonna take any foster children during that time, and then we could come back to it with kind of a fresh mind.
Scott BennerTwo questions. First of all, we do that sweet, sweet cash the steak gives you. I'm just joking. It's probably not enough to pay for a diaper, but, like, what's the do you think the the cost to you is a month for fostering the baby? This episode was too good to cut anything out of, but too long to make just one episode. So this is part one. Make sure you go find part two right now. It's gonna be the next episode in your feed. 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. Dexcom sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast. Learn more about the Dexcom g seven at my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribe in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, TikTok. Oh, gosh. Here's one. Make sure you're following the podcast in the private Facebook group as well as the public Facebook page. You don't wanna miss please, do you not know about the private group? You have to join the private group. As of this recording, it has 74,000 members. They're active talking about diabetes. Whatever you need to know, there's a conversation happening in there right now. And I'm there all the time. Tag me. I'll say hi. If you've ever heard a diabetes term and thought, okay. But what does that actually mean? You need the defining diabetes series from the Juice Box podcast. Defining diabetes takes all those phrases and terms that you don't understand and makes them clear. Quick and easy episodes. Find out what bolus means, basal, insulin sensitivity, and all of the rest. There has to be over 60 episodes of defining diabetes. Check it out now in your audio player or go to juiceboxpodcast.com and go up into the menu. Hey. Do you need support? I have some stuff for you. It's all free. Juiceboxpodcast.com. Click on support in the menu. Let's see what you get there. A one c and blood glucose calculator. People love that. That's actually, I think, the most popular page on the website some months. A list of great endocrinologists from listeners. That's from all over the country. There's a link to the private Facebook group, to the Circle community, and, we have a a fantastic thing there, American Sign Language. There's a great sign language interpreter who did the entire bold beginning series in ASL. So if you know anybody who would benefit from that, please send them that way. Just go to juiceboxpodcast.com and click on support. While you're there, check out the guides like the pre bolusing guide, fat and protein insulin calculator, oh gosh, thyroid, GLP, caregiver burnout. You should go to the website. Click around a little bit on those menus. It really there's a lot more there than you think. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, and stuff like that. And it just I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, why do I sound smarter? And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.
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#1787 Cured? Patient 9 Speaks
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Katie Beth Hand shares her journey as Patient Nine in the Eledon clinical trial, receiving donor islet cells and a targeted immunotherapy that may functionally cure her type 1 diabetes.
Key Takeaways
- Functional Cure Breakthrough: Katie Beth Hand shares her journey as "Patient Nine" in the Eledon clinical trial, exploring a functional cure for Type 1 diabetes using donor-derived islet cell transplants into the liver.
- The Tegoprubart Advantage: This trial utilizes Tegoprubart (Tego), a targeted anti-CD40 ligand that protects transplanted cells without the systemic toxicity or kidney damage associated with traditional drugs like Tacrolimus.
- Rapid Results: Only one week post-transplant, Katie was taken off basal insulin entirely and maintains stable glucose levels without injections.
- Natural Low Prevention: By transplanting both beta and alpha cells, Katie's body now handles blood sugar regulation automatically, effectively ending exercise-induced and nighttime hypoglycemia.
- Scalable Maintenance: While currently an hour-long IV infusion every 21 days, researchers are working toward a subcutaneous version for easier at-home use.
Resources Mentioned
- • Omnipod 5: Request a Free Starter Kit
- • US Med: Get a Free Benefits Check or call (888) 721-1514
- • Research Center: University of Chicago Medical Center (Dr. Piotr Witkowski)
- • The Trial: Eledon Clinical Trial (Tegoprubart)
- • Juice Cruise 2026: Details and Booking
- • Community: Join the Facebook Group
Here we are back together again, friends, for another episode of the Juice Box podcast.
Katie Beth HandMy name is Katie Beth Hand, and I am patient nine in the Eladon trial to cure type one diabetes. It is a functional cure using donor derived islet cells and a new investigational drug called tegaprobar.
Scott BennerI created the diabetes variable series because I know that in type one diabetes management, the little things aren't that little and they really add up. In this series, we'll break down everyday factors like stress, sleep, exercise, and those other variables that impact your day more than you might think. Jenny Smith and I are gonna get straight to the point with practical advice that you can trust. So check out the diabetes variable series in your podcast player or at juiceboxpodcast.com.
Scott BennerIf you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the juice box podcast private Facebook group, juice box podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan.
Scott BennerA huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. Go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. 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.
Meet Patient Nine: Katie Beth Hand
Katie Beth HandMy name is Katie Beth Hand, and I am patient nine in the Eladon trial to cure type one diabetes. It is a functional cure using donor derived islet cells and a new investigational drug called tegaprobar. I am married. I live in Arkansas. I have four beautiful children at home, and I absolutely love to talk about my experience as a type one diabetic of thirteen years and now as a person going through this trial. And I'm so excited to be with you today.
Scott BennerWow. You've said that before, I imagine. That was awesome. Was, number nine not a movie? Like, an animated movie about a sandbag?
Scott BennerHold on a second. I know this is probably your—I didn't know this was gonna go this way. But yeah. If it was, I haven't seen it. 2,009 animated film called Nine.
Katie Beth HandI'll have to add that to my watch list.
Scott BennerI remember watching this with my kids in a theater. Alright. Alright, number 9. Let's get going.
Katie Beth HandThat's right. You can call me number 9 from here on out. Katie, don't trust me. Don't put me in that position because I might. So let's go back to the the beginning.
Katie Beth HandOkay.
Scott BennerI'm gonna start really, really beginning beginning. You, have parents, I imagine, because you're here and you're alive. Do you have siblings?
Katie Beth HandI do. I have so I have parents. They actually live like I said, I'm I am from Central Arkansas from Little Rock, and my parents actually live three doors down from us. And then I have one sibling, a brother. He is six years older than I am, and he lives in the house next door. So we created our own little family compound, and my kids—we have four kids—and they bebopped back and forth between my brother's house and my parents' house, and it's it's a great life.
Scott BennerTried to get my wife to move to Tennessee this summer, and she just ignored me. I had similar ideas. Okay. Anybody in your extended family have autoimmune issues besides you?
Katie Beth HandSo interestingly, no. Everybody always wants to be special. And in my case, this is not the type of special special you want to be, but no one in my family has any history of type one diabetes, of other autoimmune diseases, no Graves' disease, no celiac disease, none of these other things that typically go hand in hand. I am the one strange outlier with type one.
Scott BennerHow old were you when you were diagnosed?
Katie Beth HandI was 26 years old.
Scott BennerOh, okay. And now I'm sorry. You are?
Katie Beth HandAnd now I'm about to turn 40. So it's been about thirteen years since diagnosis.
The Diagnosis Story: From "Flu" to DKA
Scott BennerOkay. So just very quickly, what do you remember about your diagnosis? Let's think
Katie Beth HandDiagnosis was really, really traumatic. I went to my PCP's office because I thought I had the flu. I'm like a lifelong athlete, and I had just been so tired, too tired to work out. I remember sitting on my couch before I got diagnosed one night thinking, like, I can feel myself having to make the effort to breathe. That's how just physically exhausted I was. And I had all of the typical symptoms of t one. I just had not put them together yet.
I was exhausted. I went to the bathroom 15 times a day and was so so thirsty and hungry all the time. So I went to my doctor. It was actually March 13th. That was the day that I got my diagnosis. He actually came back in, and they had run my blood sugar. He was like, "So actually, plot twist, it's diabetes." We do have a couple of people in my family that have type two diabetes. And so that can be very genetic. And then I was older. I was 26. So even though, you know, I wasn't overweight, I didn't have some of those other things, he was like, "I'll put you on metformin. We'll take care of this thing."
So I got this tentative type two diabetes diagnosis and left the doctor's office. A couple of hours later I got the most frantic phone call from a nervous nurse. She was like, "Hey. And what do you what what are you doing? How are you feeling?" And I was like, "Well, you know, depressed, but but fine." And she was like, "Cool. So, actually, we think that you are in DKA. You need to drop everything that you're doing right now. Do not do anything else. Get your car keys. Have someone drive you to the ER. We have already called ahead there waiting for you right there."
Scott BennerKatie, she was like—she was so thrilled. You said just depressed. She was like, oh, she probably turned over her shoulder and looked at everybody in the room like, she's just depressed. It's gonna be fine. She's still alive. We didn't kill her.
Katie Beth HandShe genuinely liked the sigh of relief when I answered the phone. So I, ended up my parents drove me to the ER and was in DKA, got checked in, and, you know, it's the same story for everybody. Put me on IVs. I was so severely dehydrated. Blood sugar's through the roof. My a one c was 13.9. Ended up spending several days in the hospital, and that was really a dark time. It was a a time of grief. With type one, they just say, "Here's insulin pens. Here is a glucose meter. You'll need to use these every few hours, every single day, and all night for the entire rest of your life until you die." Alright. Hope you feel better.
Scott BennerOn your way.
Katie Beth HandSo that was our diagnosis day, and those few days after were really, really dark. A very, very hopeless time for me.
Scott BennerDid you fall back on your parents for help, or at 26, were you like, I'll do this on my own? Were you married, dating? Like, what was your structure at home like?
Katie Beth HandSo I wasn't married. I was still single. I had been—I was, like, a free spirit. I was actually working for a travel company, so I had been, like, taking tour groups overseas. I love to bike and hike and be outdoors. And so my support system was my parents. My parents were my support in, like, the emotional support getting through all of this. But really from day one of diagnosis, like, my diabetes has always been me. They've not you know, they don't help with insulin and insulin to carb ratios, and none of that was on them. That learning curve is one I took on and did myself.
Scott BennerThen what was that like? I mean, what would you tell me that from that moment until—well, maybe you'll tell me you never had it together. But, like, is there a moment where you're like, I know what I'm doing. This is going better? And how long did it take to get to that?
Katie Beth HandThere was eventually a point where I felt like I did have it as much as you can have it together with type one. Mhmm. I don't believe anybody really ever has it all together with type one. But at the beginning, I tell people getting a t one diagnosis—those first few months—the learning curve is so steep, and there's so much information. It feels like being sprayed in the face with a fire hose. After several years, I really did hit that point where it was just another part managing diabetes was just another part of my day. It wasn't all consuming. It didn't depress me. I learned how to make it as smaller part of my life as possible and keep moving. But that was multiple years before I feel like I really got to that point.
Weight Gain and the "Michael Phelps" Diet
Scott BennerTell me about your life in those multiple years. How would you describe your level of happiness? Were you active like you wanted to be? Did it hold you back in other ways?
Katie Beth HandThe impact was really severe, especially at the beginning. When I first started taking insulin, I'd been athletic, and then I'd gotten really skinny because of the diabetes. When I started taking insulin, I had been eating like Michael Phelps—probably three or 4,000 calories a day before I got diagnosed because I was hungry all the time. And it wasn't you know, I'd drink a milkshake before bed and wake up a pound lighter.
One of the things that happened that was really difficult for me as a 26 year old woman was I went through, like, a dark time physically after diagnosis because in getting my blood sugars under control, it was that constant yo yo of I would take my insulin and my blood sugar would go too low, so I'd have to eat and it'd go too high. That we had a lot of yo yoing. So I put on a lot of weight very quickly, like 30 pounds. And then on top of that, because of the weeks I had gone without really getting any nutrition, a whole bunch of my hair fell out. Not bald, but enough that for a woman, it was very significant. So I was, like, fat and bald, which was a real bummer. Fat and bald with a chronic illness. I wear these devices all day. I was scared to exercise because it kept sending me low. I felt for that first entire year for sure, like my body was not even my own. It felt so foreign and so out of control. And then eventually, I got better at it, got my first CGM, and rebuilt myself with this diagnosis in mind.
Scott BennerGot it. Hey. The weight gain was from a lot of lows, so you were eating a lot to stop lows. Was that the idea?
Katie Beth HandSo it was two—it was two factors. One was I had been eating a ton because I stayed hungry. Yeah. It didn't matter before. Right. I got it. It didn't matter before. It didn't stick. And then the other one was—so that was in combination with, I had gotten my body used to just eating all day long, eating and drinking all day long. And then on top of that, then, of course, was when I would go low, then I would have to eat something. Yeah. And I really hadn't figured out, like, a little bit of juice or glucose gummies or whatever. So those two things in combination made me put on weight very quickly those first few months after diagnosis.
Scott BennerHas that hunger stuck with you since then?
Katie Beth HandThe hunger from eating 4,000 calories a day has not. But, you know, t ones don't have the same hormones, proteins that make us feel satiated like other people do because we don't have those islet cells. Am I hungrier than other people? I don't really know how to answer that. Yeah. It's something that I watch, and it's not something that I obsess over. Once I really got back to a place where I felt confident, like, exercising, and then on top of that, figured out, like, what can I eat, making healthier choices overall, it kind of eased into a pattern.
The Eledon Clinical Trial: Functional Cure Mechanics
Scott BennerOkay. Alright. That's I appreciate you giving me that background. I'm gonna fast forward you a little bit. I'm gonna jump ahead to you telling me about the study. What is going on right now?
Scott BennerI have always disliked ordering diabetes supplies. I'm guessing you have as well. It hasn't been a problem for us for the last few years, though, because we began using US Med. You can too. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514 to get your free benefits check. US Med has served over one million people living with diabetes since 1996. They carry everything you need from CGMs to insulin pumps and diabetes testing supplies. Libre three, Dexcom g seven, and pumps like Omnipod five, Omnipod Dash, Tandem, and most recently, the Islet pump from Beta Bionics. Go to usmed.com/juicebox to get started now. Today's episode is also sponsored by Omnipod. Request your free starter kit today at omnipod.com/juicebox.
Katie Beth HandSo it's a clinical trial. I had had a really hard diabetes day, a lot of highs and lows, and ended up finding a clinical trial online and applied for it. And it was the Eladon clinical trial, which is the trial that I'm in. It runs through the University of Chicago Medical Center in Chicago. Mhmm. And it is a trial that is testing taking cadaver, dead donor islet cells, and transfer them into actually the liver, not the pancreas, and then use the trial drug tegaprobar instead of the traditional drug tacrolimus. Tegaprobar is an anti c d forty ligand. So it protects those islet cells in a very, very targeted way versus suppressing your entire immune system. The Tego is what really makes this study very unique and very exciting.
Scott BennerWhy are we more excited about how this is being done than how it's been done previously?
Katie Beth HandTacrolimus has been around for about thirty years. It is a full immunosuppressant used in all sorts of transplants. But the side effects are neurotoxicity, and it's really hard on your kidneys. Ironically, it can actually be toxic to islet cells. And so long term, it is harder to do an islet cell transplant and make that last because that toxicity builds up and actually damages the very islet cells we're trying to protect. That's why islet cell transplants with tacrolimus aren't like the standard of care for diabetes. The difference between the tacrolimus and the tegaprobar is tegaprobar, while it is an immunosuppressant kind of, it is a very targeted immunosuppressant. And the other thing that makes it absolutely beautiful, not only does it not suppress my entire immune system, it also has zero side effects. I don't feel bad. I don't have headaches. I don't have any of those side effects that separates the tegaprubart Tego from the traditional drugs.
Scott BennerIs the Tego it's an IV infusion?
Katie Beth HandIt is. Getting to trade MDI for an hour-long IV infusion every twenty one days. It's a complete radical lifestyle change from the day in, day out management. They are also working on a subcutaneous version. I was one out of the first 10 patients—number nine. Eventually, will that look like a subcutaneous injection that you pull out of your fridge once a week and take? I don't know the timeline, but that's where we are. The drug itself has been proven to be effective, so now they're working on making it more lifestyle friendly.
Scott BennerHow long would it take if you missed that infusion for the new liver beta cells to drop over dead?
Katie Beth HandThey actually think there's a much longer window than the every twenty one days—probably closer to two or three months. Twenty one days is what we're doing as part of this trial, but they don't think the data is showing that it actually has to be that often. Because I Asked what happens if I can't get here? And they were like, well, just get here as soon as you can. It's not like the clock runs out at twenty one days and one minute and then your islet cells die off. But I won't volunteer to be part of figuring that out.
Scott BennerHow aware are you of the other nine?
Katie Beth HandThe TikTok algorithm is really, really good at connecting people. When I started posting and announced that I was part of this trial, it actually ended up putting me in the same algorithm with a couple of the other people that were in this exact same trial. I know probably three or four people that are in my trial. I actually had the procedure, my islet cell transplant, on January twelfth of this year. We're recording this February 17th. For the first three weeks, every Tuesday, I flew up to Chicago, did my one hour infusion, and then flew home. A week after the transplant, when I went to check out of the hospital, they went ahead and took me off basal insulin completely. It takes about three months for those islet cells to really take root in your liver and become fully functioning. Every time I go, we're weaning me down off of my insulin till I reach the point where I just won't take any at all.
Scott BennerHas that been exciting?
Katie Beth HandYes. Yeah. To come home and take my basal insulin and just, like, toss that whole pen in the trash was a very cool moment. So yes. So I'm recovering. Because the little islet cells—we're trying to let them rest. Now if I went out and ate, like, a big cheeseburger and fries, my islet cells would absolutely kick in and I would spike and then they'd come correct to that. But what we're trying to do in these early months is I'm using kind of like a protective dose of insulin so we don't stress those islet cells. I'll take it, wait till my blood sugar starts dropping, and then eat. The reason is because we're trying to keep those cells from stressing and working quite so hard. Typically, three months is like the time until they're fully mature. I just did a mixed meal tolerance test exactly one month post transplant. You eat a certain number of carbs, and then they do a blood draw every fifteen minutes for four hours. It was really cool to watch my blood sugar go up to 170 ish, then leveled off, and my islet cells pulled that back down to 81 and just sat there. I cried.
Eligibility Criteria and Testing
Scott BennerDo you have any other autoimmune issues?
Katie Beth HandNope. I do not.
Scott BennerI was wondering if this TEGO works on other stuff. I was wondering if you had eczema or anything that was inflammatory.
Katie Beth HandI think that it does. They are talking about using it for kidney patients, kids, and maybe turn off the CD40 pathway for things like RA. I don't have any other autoimmune issues or seasonal allergies. As for finding out if I was a good candidate, with every clinical trial, there are very specific criteria that you have to meet. I filled out all of this information online and then ended up doing a long, detailed phone interview. They ask all of these medical questions—how much insulin do you take? I flew up to Chicago last May and spent five straight days in the hospital. They scanned every organ of my body—EKGs, stress tests, X-rays—creating a baseline. You can't have diabetic retinopathy and do this because the radical correction of blood sugar can make it worse. You can't take over a certain amount of insulin every day. There were very specific criteria that you had to meet before I got chosen.
Scott BennerHow long was that process?
Katie Beth HandIt was about a two year process for me. I went back up this past October. Before you can go on the transplant list, you have to have a medication called thymoglobulin. It is by far the worst part of this whole process. Not horrific, just not fun. Three or four twelve hour IV drips of thymoglobulin. It's super tough on your veins and a real immunosuppressant. I went on the transplant list the week of Thanksgiving in November 2025, and then I got the call in early January. Dr. Piotr Witkowski truly is a genius. He has my Dexcom on his phone and monitors my blood sugars. He's working all the time.
Scott BennerI just make a podcast about diabetes, and there are days when I look up and go, "did I eat today?" How has it changed your life? Is there a lot of anxiety that it's just gonna stop working?
Katie Beth HandI don't have anxiety that it's going to necessarily stop working. The first patient who went through the trial has been completely off insulin for eighteen months and her numbers are still great. The Tego does a really, really good job of protecting those islets. One of the craziest, most unexpected part that I had not thought through was not having lows anymore. In an islet cell transplant, you're getting beta cells and alpha cells. A nondiabetic body is constantly doing that checks and balances. For thirteen years, I was the one doing that. When Dr. Rakowski cleared me to start exercising, he said, "If it looks like you're going low, don't do anything. Don't drink juice. Your body will fix that." For years, you see those double arrows down and you panic. But he has been right—I worked out for an hour this morning and never went low. Not going low at night has been by far the best part of the trial for me so far.
Scott BennerIs there anything about having type one diabetes that you miss?
Katie Beth HandNothing specific I would miss. They said I could stop wearing my Dexcom once I'm fully off insulin, but I told them you can have my CGM when you pry it off my cold dead body. It gives me a sense of control. Diabetes turns you into a control freak. That will be interesting to try to unwind. These are cadaver donor islet cells. I was on the national donor registry waiting for a match. They mine the islet cells out in the lab at UChicago. We use islet cells from a known source for this trial because Tego is our one variable. I think I'll finally process "I don't have diabetes anymore" once they fully take me off insulin and I leave the house without insulin pens and a glucometer in my purse.
Community Response and Cynicism
Scott BennerAlso, please don't let anything happen to you, because I—I don't want it to be like one of those bad movies where, like, a truck is coming at you through an intersection, and you're like, oh, come on. I just got rid of my diabetes.
Katie Beth HandYes. Yes. So it's funny, you know, being on social media, there—you know, I will say this. The—the type one diabetic community, we're, like, the most, like, suspicious, cynical community on the planet. I respect the cynicism because we’ve been promised a cure for years and nothing happens. I have people messaging me saying big pharma is not going to like what you're talking about. I hope I don't go missing suspiciously because we will have two million diabetics calling the FBI.
Technically speaking, they didn't cure me—they shut off the immune system and jammed some new cells inside. This is what’s called a functional cure. I am trading diabetes for taking this Tegaprubart for the rest of my life. People say, "But you have to take a medication for the rest of your life." I’m like—right, I have diabetes, so I am already going to take a medication or two for the rest of my life. I would go outside and beat up an old lady to give this to my daughter. Just the targeted immune suppressant side of it is incredibly exciting.
Scott BennerI believe that GLP medication changes things. Watch it work in people with my daughter—it turns her sensitivity from one unit moving her 40 to one unit moving her 95. Her carb ratio goes from one to 4.5 to one to 10. Basal goes from 1.1 down to point six five.
Katie Beth HandI'm a huge fan of GLPs. I think it should be standard of care for all type ones. When I was on it, the results were phenomenal. The big issue was getting insurance coverage because I wasn't type two. Everyone gets scared first—they don't want to break a rule. Then nobody dies and everyone goes, "Oh, okay." I think there will be a time when you take the Tego less frequently, or move into the subcutaneous injection. You're looking at the beginning of something that normally you don't know about till it becomes public. I look at other trials as collaborators. Maybe the eventual functional cure is that people get islet cell transplants on a massive scale because one company perfects lab grown cells and we protect them with the Tego. Diabetics live without a sense of hope. If you had asked me three years ago, I've said no. And then here I sit post islet cell transplant feeling the best I've felt in a decade and a half.
Katie Beth HandWhen you have major surgery like this, you go on myfortic, which is a lower risk immunosuppressant. I'm on an antifungal, an antibiotic, and an antiviral for about three months. Because I am taking someone else's islet cells, piece of their organ, and transplanted that into my body. I do a pill in the morning, a pill at night, and my infusion every twenty one days. I take vitamin d every day. If your body doesn't have all the supplementation it needs and we can find a way to add it pharmaceutically, who cares? My life is completely different and all for the better. We are road-mapping out what works. Dr. Witkowski is amazing. Eventually, you're all good on your way again.
The "Cure Season" and Monologue Breakdown
Scott BennerLet me be a wet blanket, for a moment for everybody because I, abhor something that I call the diabetes cure season, which is when all of the doctors and the, you know, the researchers put out their articles and get interviewed so they can point a light on what they're doing, so they can raise more money to keep doing it. And then a lot of people who have diabetes get mad like, "oh, it's almost over." And then I—I get very afraid that people aren't gonna take good care of themselves because—Mhmm. Why take care of myself? You know, this is almost—next week.
Katie Beth HandRight.
Scott BennerRight. It's not gonna be next week. Right. I'm gonna tell you all that I interviewed a researcher—I interviewed a—a scientist so long ago. I didn't have a podcast. It was from my blog. And he was talking about encapsulation. A packet, a packet, a packet, a packet, a packet full of cells that they would slip under your—
Katie Beth HandWas CERNOVA?
Scott BennerI forget which one it was. Veritex, maybe. Here's the thing. Doesn't matter because he explained the—whole—
Katie Beth Handgo anywhere?
Scott BennerYeah. Well, are you using it right now? Because it was, like, fifteen years ago. Right? So, like, maybe some ideas from it have transferred to something else, and God bless. I—everybody should be trying as hard as they can. But my point is is that he explained how it worked. They were just trying to get it into testing. It got into testing eventually. I think one of the companies went out of business. Like, oh, I don't even know. Right? But what I'm—my point is is that he told me on that day, if we had it all worked out today, if it was FDA approved, if we knew exactly how to do it, it would still take us ten years to do it en masse. Don't get too excited right now. Like, you know who should be excited? Katie. Katie and her family, they are excited that you got into a time machine and you went into the future.
Katie Beth HandRight.
Scott BennerYou know what I mean?
Katie Beth HandRight.
Scott BennerAnd but for the rest of you, you're not getting tego next week. Calm down. Keep pre bolus in your meals.
Scott BennerOkay? Change your settings. Make sure you're okay.
Katie Beth HandGo ahead and reorder your insulin pumps from the pharmacy.
Scott BennerPut your glucagon in your bag when you leave. I don't want you having a problem while you're out. You don't have something to do. Keep telling your friends how to help you if you get low. Like, you—you're gonna have diabetes for a while, but this is the most complete idea I've heard so far. And that—that's exciting.
Katie Beth HandAnyone that's been tested, Scott, in more than, like, one or—
Scott Bennertwo people. Per people. Yeah. Like, I once had a lady on who did the, the implantable pouch.
Katie Beth HandMhmm.
Scott BennerShe didn't even know if she actually had the cells or if they just—if she was, like, a placebo, which, by the way, bummer because they still cut her open and stuck the pouch inside her.
Katie Beth HandYeah. I would—that that would make me absolutely furious. Like, if you're doing a major surgery like that, so help me. You better give me the cure, man.
Scott BennerWell, not only that, but she was getting benefit from it, and then they were—she only was allowed to keep it for a certain time, then they were gonna take it away from her. Oh gosh. I can't—I can't imagine that.
Scott BennerI told her I'd get on a plane, I'd leave the country.
Katie Beth HandA 100%.
Scott BennerBut yeah. But not the point. The point is is that I've heard a lot of these things over the years, and there's pieces of them that always sound like, "oh, that part makes sense." Or, you know, like, the idea of, like, "what we can encapsulate the cells that the—the"—and I was like, I don't know if that—I—I—okay. But I don't love it. You know? But now, suddenly, this is a—the—I mean, I'm—I'm gonna make a t shirt that says, "Tego, let's go." Cause I think—I think maybe that really is the key to this whole thing as far as it sounds from your story.
The "Eyeball" Islet Trial and Closing Thoughts
Katie Beth HandYeah. Yeah. For sure. And it's been interesting because since I've—I've been talking about this, there are people that are doing other really cool trials that message me. And there—so there was a lady that I met. She's in the trial. I don't know what company's doing it. She's in a trial where they're taking islet cells and implanting them into her eyeball because, you know, your eyeball runs on a different immune system from the rest of your body.
Scott BennerGet out of here.
Katie Beth HandPlanting islets into her eyeball, and then she will take immunosuppressant drops just in that one eyeball. And it's in, like, the early phases of testing. And I was like, you can pretty much count me out on any study that's gonna play with my eyeballs, but good for you. Thanks for doing it. And if that ends up being a cure for everyone, you know, you're my hero.
Scott BennerKatie, you have my email address. Please give it to her.
Katie Beth HandLet me know how that pans out. Yeah. Yeah. Pulling—I'm pulling for you. I talked to a lady who did the porcine islet cells. She did that. It's taking, like, typically six to ten months before there's any sign of, like, glucose change. It's definitely not in the cure phase yet, but there's a lot of really cool stuff out there. The Tego, obviously, is the—you know, I've researched all of these. The Tego is the one that I think is—is closest to the forefront of actually really being a widely available functional cure for everyone. But, you know, I'm happily wrong. If somebody invents a pill tomorrow, I will cry like a baby. Yeah.
Scott BennerIt's just wonderful story to hear, and I appreciate you sharing it with me. I mean, absolutely worth an hour of time to sit and chat about this. This is the Eldon study out of the University of Chicago.
Scott BennerOkay. And say Peter's name in case I say it wrong.
Katie Beth HandK. Piotr Wachowski.
Scott BennerAgain, I don't even know his first name. I am gladly and happily here hearing your story. Sorry for all of you who know more about it than I do and think I didn't answer the right questions. You can all go start your own podcast and make it popular. Good luck. I just—I did my best here. You've piqued my curiosity. I would like you to use the link I sent you and reschedule to come back on in six months if you're interested.
Katie Beth HandOkay.
Scott BennerI'd like to hear a follow-up about how you're doing. And if you know Patient Ten, please send them my way. Wanna hear from the eyeball lady. I am happy to have all these conversations. Would—I would love to hear more. The eyeball lady, especially, just because, wow. Let me hear about that. Yeah. I think what you just said about her makes such a good point that you don't know how this is gonna end up working the day it actually works. Right? Because, again, fifteen years ago, was we're gonna make a pouch, and we're gonna put it under your skin, and it's gonna be great. And you're doing what you're doing, and she's, you know, stem cells in my eyeballs. You have no idea what's gonna happen.
Scott BennerBut as these ideas are coming together, like, if you're not paying attention to peptides like GLPs, if you're not paying attention to new immunosuppressants like Tego—I'm assuming that these researchers are now using AI to crunch their data, and it's happening much quicker than it has in the past. Wait till they start talking to each other. You don't know where this is gonna end. But it's moving in the right direction, and it's moving a lot faster than it used to.
Katie Beth HandAbsolutely. For the first time ever, I really do look at this young generation of kids, and I—I do not believe that they are a generation that will have type one diabetes their whole lives.
Scott BennerCould happen for them. You—know?
Katie Beth HandLike, yeah. I think it's gonna—and I feel—I feel very confident about that. Can I tell you exactly what that looks like or when that will be or how much that will cost? No. I can't. But these young kids getting diagnosed, you know, kids like your daughter, they will not—I—I truly don believe they'll have diabetes their entire lives.
Scott BennerHeed what Katie told you. Keep your stuff together now because if you had any number of different issues—Right. They wouldn't have done this with you. Right. Yeah. So, you know, be careful. Take good care of yourself. Do your best. You know? I think the psychological part of diabetes is still ignored. We try really hard to talk about it here, but, you know, you gotta support your mental health as well along the way. Katie said there's a lot of—a lot of stuff that she used to have to do that she's not doing anymore.
Katie Beth HandRight.
Scott BennerWait till you see—like, I imagine you're gonna have a real catharsis at some point, like a moment of when you realize the depth of effort that is not being paid anymore to diabetes. Like, I—I wonder—yeah. I think it's gonna hit you pretty deeply, and I—I can't wait to find out how—exactly. I hope it doesn't crush you, like, because it could.
Katie Beth HandYeah. It's—it's interesting to unwind things that I have done and believed and become, like, part of the core of who I am. Walking through this process and unwinding some of those has been a very interesting and unexpected—the mental piece is a very unexpected piece of this process.
Scott Benner100%. I can't—I can't imagine that we're even a tiny percentage in understanding all the impacts this is gonna have on you. For sure. Okay. Katie, thank you very, very much. I can't—I can't thank you enough for doing this. I really do appreciate your time.
Katie Beth HandAbsolutely. Thanks so much, Scott. It was a pleasure.
Scott BennerThank you. Hold on one second for me. Okay? A huge thanks to my longest sponsor, Omnipod. Check out the Omnipod five now with my link, omnipod.com/juicebox. You may be eligible for a free starter kit, a free Omnipod five starter kit at my link. Go check it out. Omnipod.com/juicebox. Terms and conditions apply. Full terms and conditions can be found at omnipod.com/juicebox. Arden has been getting her diabetes supplies from US Med for three years. You can as well. Usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.
My thanks to US for sponsoring this episode and for being longtime sponsors of the Juice Box Podcast. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to US Med and all of the sponsors. Okay. Well, here we are at the end of the episode. You're still with me? Thank you. I really do appreciate that. What else could you do for me? Why don't you tell a friend about the show or leave a five star review? Maybe you could make sure you're following or subscribed in your podcast app, go to YouTube and follow me, or Instagram, TikTok.
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Sale with Scott and the Juice Box community on a week long voyage built for people and families living with type one diabetes. Enjoy tropical, luxury, practical education, and judgment free atmosphere. Perfect day at Coco Bay, Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, five interactive workshops with me and surprise guests on type one hacks and tech, mental health, mindfulness, nutrition, exercise, personal growth, and professional development. Support groups and wellness discussions tailored for life with type one, and celebrities world class amenities, dining, entertainment. This is open from every age, you know, newborn to 99. I don't care how old you are. Come out. Check us out. You can view staterooms and prices at juiceboxpodcast.com/juicecruise. The last juice cruise just happened a couple weeks ago. A 100 of you came. It was awesome. We're looking to make it even bigger this year. I hope you can check it out. If you have a podcast and you need a fantastic editor, you want Rob from Wrong Way Recording. Listen. Truth be told, I'm, like, 20% smarter when Rob edits me. He takes out all the, like, gaps of time and when I go, "and" and stuff like that. And it just—I don't know, man. Like, I listen back and I'm like, "why do I sound smarter?" And then I remember because I did one smart thing. I hired Rob at wrongwayrecording.com.
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#1786 Best of Juicebox: Five Ways to Boost Insulin Sensitivity
You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Music - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio - Radio Public, Amazon Alexa or wherever they get audio.
Jordan Wagner shares five practical strategies—stress management, movement, sleep, nutrition, sunshine—to sharpen insulin sensitivity in diabetes.
Key Takeaways
- The Impact of Stress: Chronic stress elevates hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which promote glucose release and desensitize cells to insulin, essentially acting like "rust on a lock."
- Consistent Activity: Even simple exercises can significantly improve insulin sensitivity by helping muscles utilize glucose without requiring excess insulin, an effect that can last for up to 72 hours.
- Prioritizing Sleep: Poor sleep disrupts hormones, increasing ghrelin (hunger) while decreasing leptin (satiety), which compounds insulin resistance and drives cravings for junk food.
- Nutrition Choices: Avoiding ultra-processed foods and refined seed oils is crucial, as they often contain trans fats and unbalanced omega ratios known to cause insulin resistance.
- Sunlight Exposure: Getting outside helps the body produce Vitamin D—which is linked to better insulin sensitivity—and provides full-spectrum light to balance your circadian rhythm for improved sleep.
Resources Mentioned
- • Eversense 365: eversensecgm.com/juicebox
- • Omnipod 5: omnipod.com/juicebox
- • Touched by Type One: touchedbytype1.org
- • Wrong Way Recording: wrongwayrecording.com
- • Jordan Wagner on Instagram: The Diabetic Nurse
Welcome back, friends. You are listening to the Juice Box podcast. Jordan Wagner is back. He is, of course, a nurse, a certified diabetes educator, and a person living with type one diabetes. And today, Jordan's gonna go over his top five tips for improving your insulin sensitivity. If you're looking for community around type one diabetes, check out the Juice Box Podcast private Facebook group. Juice Box Podcast, type one diabetes. But everybody is welcome. Type one, type two, gestational, loved ones, it doesn't matter to me. If you're impacted by diabetes and you're looking for support, comfort, or community, check out Juice Box podcast, type one diabetes on Facebook. Please don't forget that nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. The show you're about to listen to is sponsored by the Eversense three sixty five. The Eversense three sixty five has exceptional accuracy over one year and is the most accurate CGM in the low range that you can get. Eversensecgm.com/juicebox. 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. The episode you're about to listen to was sponsored by Touched by Type One. Go check them out right now on Facebook, Instagram, and, of course, at touchedbytype1.org. Check out that programs tab when you get to the website to see all the great things that they're doing for people living with type one diabetes. Touchedbytype1.org.
Jordan WagnerHey, Scott. Good to be back with you here. So I'm excited for this, you know, third episode here. But in case you guys missed the the first two episodes, you wanna go check those out. In the first episode, we had a pretty detailed discussion on diabetes management in the hospital setting, so more of the inpatient setting, what to do, what not to do, how to be successful with that. And then we, looked at pump training success and CGM success. So you've been diagnosed with diabetes, and you wanna get an insulin pump. There's definitely some things you should know before you get the pump so that when you do get to that training, you're prepared and ready to go with all that. Mhmm. And I'm really excited about this third episode here. This is a topic that probably doesn't get as much attention as it should with, especially the type one diabetes community, and that is insulin sensitivity. And I think part of that is because, you know, we're all insulin dependent with type one. So thinking about insulin sensitivity is not necessarily something we often do. It's just I I have to get the insulin. It doesn't matter. I have to have it. But there are there are certainly things that will improve your insulin sensitivity with all types of diabetes. But even with type one diabetes, improving that insulin sensitivity could mean that you're using less insulin, which overall could be a good thing for you perhaps. So I wanna go ahead and dive into that here today.
Scott BennerTell people before you start, why might it be a good thing to use less insulin?
Jordan WagnerYeah. So that's a good question. So there's there's a multiple multitude of reasons here, but one of them could just be that I often see a lot of people scared of low blood sugars.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jordan WagnerAnd so naturally, if you're using less insulin, there's going to be a lower risk of hypoglycemia, so low blood sugars there. Two would be, insulin in and of itself doesn't make you gain weight. But if you have a bunch of insulin floating around in your system and you have excess calories in your system, that will make you gain weight. You know, using less insulin, having a little lower calorie intake, that could also help with, weight loss goals, not, you know, having a lot of excess of, weight gain, things like that. Mhmm. You know, I have heard from some people that there's a stigma behind it as well too. So let's let's say that you're taking a shot. Right? Maybe you're able to reduce your needs down to, let's say, 10 at this meal, right, versus, like, 20. You know? Maybe you're out with friends and people look at the syringe and go, oh, wow. Look how much you're taking. And so I've heard that from some people even in the hospital setting that by getting a little bit more sensitive to insulin, they could take less, and they felt less, stigma about taking insulin.
Scott BennerInteresting. Yeah.
Jordan WagnerSo there's there's different different things that could pop up for for different people. I mean, not everyone's gonna share the same sentiment, but it's, something that No. It should be considered.
Scott BennerYeah. It's funny because I as you're going over those things, I I'm I'm almost playing devil's advocate in my head on some things. Like, I spend a fair amount of time telling people you need the amount of insulin you need.
Jordan WagnerCorrect. Yeah.
Scott BennerAnd I don't want people running around with high blood sugars because they think, oh, that's a big number, or I'm definitely gonna gain weight if I do that. Because there's there's a cascading effect that comes off of all of that. Right? Like, you know, if you can't figure out a way to use less insulin and you don't want the big number, it it could be an eating disorder at some point. You could stop eating correctly or you could stop bolusing correctly. Some people do that. Some people under bolus for their food because they think the bolus, like, sounds better at a number or or, you know, somehow impacts the thing you're talking about. Right. And I don't want that. And No.
Jordan WagnerAnd I don't want that either. I mean,
Scott Bennerthat's Right.
Jordan WagnerHear me when I say I'm not I'm not telling you to take less insulin so that your sugars run higher. Like, what I want good control blood sugars for everybody, but the the point, I'm making is, like, you can get to a spot where your body is more sensitive to insulin and doesn't require the same amount.
Scott BennerExactly. So let's talk about the five things you have listed here that can Right. Can do that.
Jordan WagnerSo I'll go
Scott Bennerahead and just
Jordan WagnerYeah. List off what we have, and then we can go ahead and dive in.
Scott BennerJump in.
Jordan WagnerOne of the biggest things I see that kills insulin sensitivity is stress. Stress is gonna just the stress hormones, there's a lot that goes into that there. I see also that people are not active enough. Doesn't mean you need to be out running a marathon or doing crazy workouts, but just having activity in your life. Improving your sleep quality. So sleep is a huge time where where we repair and build back up. And if you're not sleeping well, that's gonna definitely impact your sensitivity. Your nutrition, that's a huge thing that's gonna impact sensitivity. Depending on what types of foods you're eating, you could definitely be hurting your insulin sensitivity. In today's world, a lot of us have, you know, maybe a corporate job or a desk job, and we're not getting outside. Getting natural sunlight on your skin is really beneficial, and it does help with your insulin sensitivity. There's many studies to back that. So those are the five topics just to kinda dive into there.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. No. So everybody gets super excited. Jordan's your mom now. She's like, get outside. Move around a little bit. Yeah. But there's a reason people have been saying stuff like that forever and ever. But let's talk about how it actually impacts your insulin sensitivity. So we'll we'll just start at the top. Like, you the first thing you mentioned was stress. Right? So Right. Hey, everybody. Be less stressed. There. Next thing. No. Exactly. Yeah. Explain to them how the stress is actually impacting them.
Jordan WagnerFor sure. The first thing I like to tell people is when it comes to stress, it's stress hormones. Those are the big things we talk about. So cortisol, epinephrine, that's adrenaline, norepinephrine, things like that. Leukagon can play a role in that as well. But those same hormones will be high in your blood if you are getting chased by a bear in the woods or if you're chronically stressed out driving home from work. Those are two different situations, but your body's gonna respond in a similar response with stress hormones. Mhmm. Why do we want those stress hormones? Well, we do want some stress hormones because it's promoting glycogen breakdown and gluconeogenesis, which basically means creating glucose from a non glucose source. That is important in times that you need energy. So, again, with that bear example, if you're in the woods trying to run away, you need extra energy to either run away or to fight that thing off. That's that fight or flight response. Right. But if you have type one diabetes or you have type two diabetes or some form of diabetes where there's some sort of dysregulation going on through your insulin, you're not gonna be able to to respond to that those excess stress hormones and increase the glucose there.
Scott BennerYou won't actually use the glucose either. Right? Like, in the You won't. No. Exactly. The bear, you're gonna burn it off really quickly running away from the bear.
Jordan WagnerBut Correct.
Scott BennerYeah. Sitting around worrying about something, it raises all this up, but then your body doesn't use it.
Jordan WagnerCorrect. And then you have a high blood sugar. Okay. Right. And so, you know, insulin's like the key. It's the key that unlocks the cells, gets the glucose inside, lets you use it for energy. But if you're, you know, chronically chronically having these high stress hormones here, it, like, desensitizes the cells, the insulin. Oh. So if you if you take example of someone with, like, type two diabetes, that's primarily insulin resistance. The response to that situation of that chronic stress is that the pancreas is going to make more insulin. So oftentimes with type two diabetes, we see people have very high insulin levels, very high C peptide levels because it's trying everything it can to get those glucose levels to come down. But, again, over time, your cells just keep getting more and more desensitized.
Scott BennerYeah. In all of these things, like, in each of these five examples, the problems build on themselves.
Jordan WagnerBig time.
Scott BennerLike yeah. Like, you start off, like, healthy, and then you have, like, one moment where you're in the car and you're like, uh-uh, everything sucks. And then all the things that are happening behind the scenes are happening. It's not like you then eventually it's gonna happen again tomorrow and the next day. So your body doesn't even have time to go backwards and, like, repair what's happened. And then it becomes incrementally more concerning. And then I'm guessing here too it also like, if you're stressed, maybe you're also not sleeping well. So you start getting compounding. Right?
Jordan WagnerIt compounds. Right. So, like, if you, just take a look at improving your sleep quality there, it's interesting because oftentimes we don't sleep well at night. And what do we all do in the morning? We go and get a big cup of coffee or an energy drink or something like that. Mhmm. But it's interesting because caffeine will bind to those adenosine receptors in your brain. And adenosine basically is building up during the daytime. And by nighttime, it it's almost aiding you to feel tired and helping you fall asleep. And so, like, I'm guilty of a big time, but, you drink coffee too late in the day because you're not sleeping well or you're stressed and you feel like it helps, well, then you get to bedtime and you're not super tired or you're tossing and turning. And so just improving the sleep quality, that's the time where your body's healing itself. It's repairing itself. Naturally, you're gonna see cortisol levels decrease during sleep and getting good rest.
Scott BennerOkay.
Jordan WagnerYou know, there's there's other hormones like ghrelin and leptin. Right? So ghrelin is gonna be one of the the hunger signaling hormones. You often see, say say you, are up late at night, right, and you get really hungry all of a sudden. What's that's ghrelin right there. That's telling you go get a snack. Right? Leptin's that satiety or I'm full hormone. Now if you're getting poor sleep quality, ghrelin tends to increase because you're so tired your body needs energy. So it's it's prompting you to want food, prompting you to want perhaps even junk food because that's a quick energy source. It's gonna decrease that leptin level, the I'm full hormone. And so you can see how, you know, the stress and the poor sleep quality, it starts to dysregulate your hormones. And as we know, like, with type one diabetes, right, it's a big thing with insulin and, glucagon. Right? Those are two big things there. But our bodies aren't it's not just that. Right? Our our bodies it's got so many mechanisms happening all the time in the background. When all of your hormones start getting dysregulated, that's when we start seeing this cascade effect of problems showing up.
Scott BennerYeah. Okay. Alright. I'm sorry. I think I cut you off before you were done with stress though. Did I?
Jordan WagnerOh, yeah. We can definitely talk about a few things there, but,
Scott BennerI wanted to lay into people's minds that this stuff's gonna start stacking up and that these things impact each other as well. You know, you might be more stressed out because, yeah, you can flip it around. You could be stressed out because you're not sleeping.
Jordan WagnerBig time. Yeah. Absolutely.
Scott BennerYeah. And you could be not sleeping because you're stressed out and etcetera and so on. And maybe you're not dealing with stress as well because your nutrition is wonky or, you know, you're not exhausted at the end of the night and sleeping when you should because you're not getting enough activity and getting your body moving. Like, this all stuff this all fits together, honestly.
Jordan WagnerIt does. Everything here is, compounding, like you said, there. And there's there's so many angles to to look at and talk about, you know. So, like, I'll I'll I'll try to stay focused right now on
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Jordan WagnerFor sure. For sure. Really, so one thing to think about with stress here's the deal. Picture your body as a bucket. Okay? Inside that bucket is gonna be water. Water is like the mineral balance inside your body. Every time you're stressed out, it's like poking a small hole in that bucket. So if you're chronically stressed, you've got a bunch of little holes. And as you can imagine, that water starts to pour out the sides of the bucket there. Well, as your mineral balance gets out of whack, your insulin sensitivity also majorly gets out of whack. So not only do we have hormones raising your glucose levels, the minerals in your body that would naturally be there to kind of help with that insulin sensitivity, making those cells receptive to insulin are now out of whack. So now these cells are not as receptive. So think of that almost like rust building up on a lock. And if insulin's that key, that key is gonna have a harder time fitting in a rusty lock compared to a lock that's completely cleaned and and nice looking. Right?
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah.
Jordan WagnerSo there's there's big things there that that stress can really impact.
Scott BennerYou know, in your professional life, when you talk to somebody about this, do you find that explaining it to them like, because saying to somebody be less stressed is
Jordan WagnerYeah.
Scott BennerYou know, I'm married. That's not a thing I would say out loud. The reason is because it's not a feeling of, like, oh, you're you're right. I'll just be less stressed. Thanks. Do you get to talk to people about ways to do that, or do you find that your idea is, like, let me just give them this idea, hopefully, they'll go back into the world and figure out how to accomplish this on their own?
Jordan WagnerYeah. So it depends on the consult and depends on the patient I'm talking with. And the reality of being working on the inpatient side of medicine, you're often seeing someone and you have thirty minutes to an hour. Basically, unload as much information as you can without overwhelming them and hoping that they take some of what you have as they as they're leaving the hospital, essentially.
Scott BennerYeah.
Jordan WagnerSome people are open. Right? They'll they'll talk about things in their life like stress. And for example, maybe they have no community. Right? So then I'll say, okay. Maybe you need to find a church community. Maybe you need to go out to a place to where you can go dancing and make some friends. Right? Get some community in your life. You know, maybe it's they're struggling with their bills. Right? And maybe we can talk briefly about, like, hey. This is how a financial planner could help you with your bills and, in turn, start lowering your stress. So there are definitely times where, like, I'm able to dive into it a little bit, but this is definitely something that needs to be ongoing. And so I think if your only conversation you're having is with me in the hospital, it's gonna be unlikely that you actually start lowering your stress levels.
Scott BennerYeah. It's funny. I find that people like you and Jenny and Erica who like coming on the podcast, I feel like it's because you always you guys always feel like it's just so difficult to get your message out, and you're just always looking for a way to reach other people, which I love. I think it's awesome.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Without a doubt. I mean, because I I tell people all the time, like, I probably get sixty, seventy percent of my consults of people who actually don't wanna talk to me. Yeah. They don't they don't care.
Scott BennerYou're like, come on, man. Like, just this guy need the insulin.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Or like, hey. I've had diabetes for forty years. I I'm not gonna learn anything from you. Just give me your spiels. I can get out of here.
Scott BennerJordan told me to go dancing. Yeah. But what you're really saying is identify your stressors and ways to try to alleviate them.
Jordan WagnerAnd Without a doubt.
Scott BennerYeah. Because this has look, the truth is these five things have impacts on people who don't have diabetes.
Jordan WagnerWithout a doubt. Yeah. I mean and that that's it. Like, we get so fixated on a number. Right? Whether it's an insulin dose or our glucose level. But I've always said my whole life, like, I am more than a number. And that goes for everyone else with that with diabetes. You are more than a number. Right? Your health is not just a glucose number. You have to look at it holistically and look at everything else going on in your life if you wanna have a a healthy long life.
Scott BennerI try really hard to think about it this way. I wish my daughter didn't have diabetes.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerBut as long as she does and I'm being made aware of things, things that maybe I would not otherwise be made aware of because the the aging process you know, in a healthy person, you know, a person who doesn't have a chronic illness or, like, you know, other things going on, you age slowly and you'd you know, you deteriorate slowly and you don't see it coming. It's that idea of, like I think the jumping in part is I've always said this. Like, type one diabetes, it's because you can get, like, in trouble so quickly. It forces you to pay attention to it.
Jordan WagnerIt does.
Scott BennerAnd maybe that's valuable for the rest of your life. There's nobody else sitting around talking about like, you know, parents, like, go to sleep. You know? Like, calm down. Like, you you should get out and move around, but they're not talking about the why. Right. And they're not gonna see the impacts of it if they're lucky for so long that they'll think, oh, I just got older.
Jordan WagnerFor sure. And, like, there's a benefit too, like, to even my family and friends knowing that I have diabetes because it's taught me to care for my body, and I'm very open about that. And right? So then they start thinking about their own lives of, wow. I need to look at this, or maybe I do need to get a little more exercise. Mhmm. And so you can have this compounding effect of impacting a lot of different people as you take care of yourself.
Scott BennerYeah. No. A 100%. Okay. Activity. Good. Talk people into being more active. I I dare you.
Jordan WagnerFor sure. For sure. So activity is huge. Not only is that gonna make you feel better in the long term, I know, like, if I go out and take a jog, sometimes it doesn't feel the most fun during the jog, but you finish and you go, wow. I I feel great. You got that that rush of endorphins there. But, ultimately, what what's going on is, when you are using glucose for energy with exercise, some of that is able to happen with limited insulin use. Like, your muscles are able to use it without a lot of insulin.
Scott BennerOkay.
Jordan WagnerAnd so you're naturally going to lower your blood sugars without having to take a lot of insulin. Right? So let's say your blood sugar is 200, and you might be a little afraid of taking a dose to bring that down. Well, it's completely reasonable to say, why don't I go take a little walk? You know? Walk around the block. Right? I guarantee you that if you're doing that, you will likely see that blood sugar starts to drop a little bit. Of course, like, if you just ate a candy bar or something and it's 200, that's different. But, that exercise there, that little activity is gonna help there. But one of the ways I like to think about it is through analogies. Right? And I already have shared a few analogies, but there are these things called GLUT. Right? So g l u t. Those are all capital letters and stands for glucose transporters. And there's a bunch of different type of ones there. Think of those as, like, a taxi cab or like a bus, and they're dropping people off the building. The the people in the bus is the glucose. Right? Mhmm. And as you're moving around, you're getting more of those glute proteins bringing glucose to the muscles. It's dropping more off there. Right? And the different types of glute proteins get to the other destinations. You have the insulin as the key opening the door. So the point being here is that the exercise is making your body work the way it should, and we are supposed to work. Right? That is using the glucose the way it should, and it's making you more sensitive to your natural insulin without having to take excess of amount more. Now there are studies out there that will show that the effects of exercise can last for up to seventy two plus hours. So let's say you did do some exercise today, you could be benefiting this for for days. You might have been benefiting this for days.
Scott BennerI have to tell you that I've been exercising more recently. And in this past few days, I've I've been on a medication. I've been a little sick, I guess, for the past couple of days. And because I had not yet I don't know how to put this. I I had not yet built up a a real habit of doing the exercise, but I was doing Like, I I was a month strong every day doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. And then I I got up when I slept in a little bit because I didn't feel good. And then I got up and I actually think I thought to myself, I should go do that. And I was like, oh, but the day got messed up and I was like, I'll do it tomorrow. But then I woke up the next day and I didn't feel well. And four or five days later, end of the day, 09:00 at night, I'm standing in my kitchen. I'm like, why am I so tired? Yeah. No lie that during the, like, the month of intent you know, intensively making sure that I was doing the exercise every day, not even that it was intensive exercise because it really wasn't. I would get at the end of the day, and I my thought was like, have so much energy. Like, I hope I can go to sleep. Like, it it it turned on in a week. Like, it it just felt different. And I don't think that's even a thing I would have believed had I not experienced it, I guess.
Jordan WagnerFor sure. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, another huge benefit of consistent exercise, and I I like that you brought it up, the the consistency part there. If you're consistently exercising, having increased activity in your life, it will start to get rid of some of that visceral fat around your organs. Mhmm. That is basically the fat that just lines the organs in the body. And when when you can start getting rid rid of some of that fat there, your insulin sensitivity is going to go up. A way to perhaps think of that and this is not a perfect analogy, but it it kinda paints a picture here a little bit. Picture, a snowstorm blowing through, like, the Midwest or something like that, and you're trying to get into your house. Now before you can even get to your door to unlock it with a key, you're gonna have to get rid of that snow. And so if you're shoveling that snow away, you get to the door, you can unlock it. That's that's an analogy to kinda picture that that visceral fat there. Mhmm. Right? So the it the insulin's gonna have to work harder to get to that lock to unlock it there. There's just so many benefits to exercise. You're gonna feel better. You'll have a better outlook on life. Your glucose levels will be better controlled. It's just a win win truly to exercise. Other parts of your health are gonna thank you for that as well.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. I can't agree more. And I also can absolutely throw in with all the people who hear that and say, like, I don't like exercising. I don't have time for it. Or whatever you're gonna say. I said it all. I've thought it all. I've believed it all. And now, like, it's on me, you know, talking about, like, ways to, like, reduce your stress. It's on me to find a way to actually bring this to bear every day for the rest of my life. Yeah. Because this is the part where, like, it's easy to say I'm stressed. There's nothing I can do about it. Or I would like to exercise, but I don't have time. Or whatever it is you're gonna tell yourself, like, at some point, you know, you just either you have to do it or you have to live with it. You do.
Jordan WagnerAnd with a lot of these things, you do have to take some self responsibility. I understand, like, it is not ideal that any of us have diabetes, but the reality is we have diabetes.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jordan WagnerAnd so you either come to terms with that and do what you can, or you're gonna be constantly blaming people and and not doing well. And so when it comes to exercise, you have to take some self responsibility. I firmly believe that anyone can get increased activity into in their life in a pretty easy way. Yeah. I mean, that might even just simply be, you know, every hour, you sit down and stand up ten, fifteen times in your office. Right? That's something you could do right there. Maybe it's when you're watching TV at night, you grab some exercise bands and just stretch them back and forth a bit. Use those muscles. You know, I was listening to a podcast with Andrew Huberman a while back, and he mentioned that just taking, like, thirty seconds to just run up and down the stairs at your office building, like, once or twice a day
Scott BennerWould be a big deal.
Jordan WagnerMakes a huge deal for, like, your cardiovascular health in the long term. It's not just, like, you feel good then. It's making long term impact.
Scott BennerYeah. How about when you're sitting at your desk for a while and you feel tired and just getting up and walking around is valuable?
Jordan WagnerWithout a doubt. Yeah. Right. Or even sitting at your desk. I mean, there's honestly, like, you can't make an excuse because they're you could literally be doing those. They're called soleus push ups, where you basically just sit with your legs at a 90 degree angle and raise, your ankles up and down. That soleus muscle, which is right there by the calf muscle in the back, it's like a sponge for glucose. So you
Scott BennerI I gotta tell you. You're you're gonna make me admit to something I don't wanna say out loud. Alright. Go ahead. Hold on a second. How many times am I gonna say this? But, like, don't have a podcast if you don't wanna say stuff like this. Hey. Listen. It's not the healthiest thing in the world. I'm not gonna lie to you one way or the other. But throughout the winter this year, Arden and I have been, like, once a month going to, like, a tanning salon. Like, just to, like I don't well, there's reasons why she wanted to do it that are not frivolous, but never nevertheless, she wanted to do it to try something. She wanted to see if it would help her acne. Okay? And I was like she felt weird about doing it. Was like, I'll go with you. We're signing up, and the woman's like, are you gonna do it to it? I'm like, okay. I'm in. Like, I mean, I'm already getting my eyebrows threaded with art, and I might as well do this as well. Right? So I'm using a stand my god. I'm using a stand up tanning thing.
Jordan WagnerOkay.
Scott BennerAnd now keep in mind you're in there, and you're not very dressed. But I'm, like, standing there for six minutes, and I'm like, what am I doing? I'm like, I'm just standing here. So I instead, I do body weight squats while I'm
Jordan Wagnerdoing Nice. Yes. Exactly. Yes.
Scott BennerYeah. Okay. Sorry. I didn't wanna say that. I really didn't wanna say that.
Jordan WagnerNo. I'm telling you, Scott. Like, you you can do whatever you can in life. Like, I've I've told patients. They're like, I don't have time to do this. I'm like, well, do you do you cook dinner for people in your house? They're like, well, yeah. I'm like, well, then dance while you're cooking dinner. You know, do some squats. Turn some music on. Turn it into a little time. Like, I I've done it with my boys before. It's like, we're cooking dinner, but we're having a blast. We're listening to music. We're moving around. It's it's just
Scott BennerWell, you're gonna have to. Jordan, mean, it's easy to say, well, this is the world the way the world works now. There's no time for that. But this is the way the world works now. It's not gonna work differently. You have to find a way to incorporate the things that a human body wants while you're living in the modern world. Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't wanna be like a you know, I'm not an alarmist or anything like that. But at the rate AI is picking up, y'all might be on universal income soon anyway. You'll be like, oh, I got I got much better this and much better that. Have nothing to do. No. Seriously, Jordan. Are you not worried about that? Like, what would Of course. Yeah. When you when you hear somebody say jobs might be eliminated. We might have to start paying people. Right? Like and I don't know that that's crazy that that could end up happening one day. And in your mind, like, I don't know about you, but for me, I think, oh, it's wonderful to give people an opportunity to express themselves or paint or do do the things they've always wanted to do. But I'm afraid that for some people, they're gonna what they're gonna do is nothing. And then and then this is gonna get worse. You you know what mean? Like, for for some people.
Jordan WagnerI mean, you'll maybe this is an extreme example, but, you know that movie Wall E?
Scott BennerYeah. No.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Exactly. I mean, riding around in chairs and robots do everything for you.
Scott BennerYeah. And then that and that little robot goes, Wall E. It's awesome. Yeah. And you're like, oh, I love this movie. Yeah. I just I'm saying is my real point is that, you know, technology is changing quickly. Life is changing quickly. We are not running from bears, most of us, anymore. True. But you're still gonna get this stress, and you have to find a way to manage it in the world that we actually live in, and you have to find a way to get activity in the world we actually live in. Now if you're out there listening to this right now and, you know, you're you're cutting a sewer pipe, well, then you're probably okay.
Jordan WagnerYes.
Scott BennerYeah. Absolutely. Right. So Yeah. Also, that's another thing. I guess you could you could try to get more work that does things for you that I don't know. Like, it's I I'm saying there's a lot of ways to to to
Jordan Wagnerimpact this. There's a lot of ways. It it doesn't have to be something it's that's impossible. I
Scott Bennermean Right.
Jordan WagnerAccountability is really big. Like, you know, like, you had mentioned, earlier, like, oh, I wanna exercise, but I'm gonna I'm not gonna do it right now. Like, having accountability is really important too. So, like, in the past, I've done, like, through social media, like, you know, challenges. Right? I did one where it's like a push up challenge, and it was like, okay. I'm gonna do x amount of push ups every day, and then at the end of the month, I gotta post my calendar Mhmm. So everyone can see that I did or did not do it. Right? And so there's almost like a little bit of a motivation when you have some accountability or people like, hey. Are you doing this? Are you not?
Scott BennerA lot of the things that happen on this podcast happen because I'll say them out loud so that I have to do them. Mhmm. That happens to that a lot. Like, a lot of the series you that you might love, that that's me going online going, here's what we're gonna do. Because if I don't say it, then I might not do it. Right. Jenny and I just recorded earlier today the last episode of a short nutrition series that we did together.
Jordan WagnerAwesome.
Scott BennerAnd at the very yeah. And she's so passionate about it because it's it's her background, it's just something she's actually really passionate about. She related a story at the end, where she just said, like, look, my father died in his mid sixties. Yeah. And, you know, like, basically, what she was saying was, like, I'm taking care of myself because I don't want my kids to grow up as adults without I miss my dad. I don't want my kids to miss me.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerLike, you know, like, whatever you can find to get yourself going, like, find something that means enough to you that you're willing to put forth the effort and and be consistent with it.
Jordan WagnerAbsolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Alright. Where are
Scott Bennerwe at on this? I'm sorry.
Jordan WagnerNo. We'll we'll jump into some of the the sleep again here. So I know I before, I mentioned a little bit about, like, the the ghrelin and the leptin and things like that there, but, just let's touch on how to promote sleep before going to bed. Mhmm. Because that, again, is gonna the insulin sensitivity. Right? But I would say one of the biggest things is a routine. Right? If you're going to bed at all different times, like, maybe at Monday night, it's 10:00. Tuesday, it's midnight. Wednesday, it's 08:00. Thursday, you're at 1AM. If you're doing stuff like that, you're naturally gonna have dysregulated sleep patterns. So you gotta have a a routine. Try to go to bed as much as you possible at the same time and wake up at similar times every day. I know that's not always possible.
Scott BennerMhmm.
Jordan WagnerBut if that is becoming a habit in your life, that will, I think, make some impact eventually there. I'm about to say something that's not gonna be feasible for everybody, but if you're able to, getting, like, a biosensing ring or, like, a watch can really help with the sleep. Right? I I myself personally wear an aura ring.
Scott BennerK.
Jordan WagnerAnd it it tracks your sleep very well. It tells you when you're hitting all the points of your sleep, if you're aligned with your your your sleep type.
Scott BennerWhat do you do with that information once you have it?
Jordan WagnerSo right now, not a whole lot because I'm up with a newborn and a two year old almost every night. So you can't really do a whole lot with that. But in the past, if I could see, like, I'm having these issues here, I would try things like not drinking the caffeine closer to bedtime. I would say, like, okay. I clearly am having an hard time unwinding at night, so maybe I read a book instead of watching TV. Mhmm. I drink some chamomile tea before bed, something like that to to relax me.
Scott BennerJordan, you have four kids. I think I know how you relax before you go to bed.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Yeah. There I just honestly hit the sheets sometimes, I'm like, holy cow. Yeah.
Scott BennerBut I meant two things there. You laughed about one of them.
Jordan WagnerYeah. I I know what you mean.
Scott BennerLook how lovely you are. You tried to pivot to, like, yeah. I'm very busy chasing those four kids around. I was like, hey. You're very busy making those four kids. That's what I'm saying.
Jordan WagnerOh, that's funny.
Scott BennerNo. No. Listen. I don't wanna put it on you, but if you listen to, you know, some of the data that's floating around now as a society, apparently, we have sex less now. Yeah. And I don't know. Nothing puts me to sleep better than that. So but I think we're in a situation where the speed of life, I think it just sped up before we could adapt to it. Yeah. Does that make sense? Like, I don't think we're adapting as well as we used to because things are changing so quickly.
Jordan WagnerAnd so Yeah. And then we're I think everyone's I mean, not to touch on these things too too much, but, like, I believe in, like, gender roles. Right? And so, like, I think we're getting away from that kind of stuff a lot. Right? And so everyone's chasing the bigger, better, next thing. Right? So it's a it's a hookup culture. And, I think that's promoting people not having good marriages, and there there's a cascade effect like we talked about from the very beginning. Right? And so, like, my wife and I have tried really hard to have have a good marriage, you know, have a a a good intimate life and things like that, and that's pay dividends to the way our family is and even things like improving sleep quality.
Scott BennerYeah. And so you found a way to make a cohesive life together, and it's impacting other things in positive ways. Stuff that you didn't plan at the time. Like, you prob listen. You probably just started off, like, with some, you know, like, either, like, cultural, religious, or family values Yeah. And said to you, like, this is how we're gonna shape our family. Right? And you didn't do that and say, hey. We're gonna get married, and then, you know, we'll have some kids. You'll stay with the kids. I'll go work, and that'll definitely make it so that we sleep better one day. You weren't thinking Right.
Jordan WagnerAbsolutely not.
Scott BennerIt just in the same way, I believe that someone's not sitting at home thinking like, you know, I work really long and I I still wanna play Call of Duty, so I'm gonna do it at 11:30. Like, they're not thinking, and then I'll ruin my sleep with that, and then my visceral fat will go up, and my insulin sensitivity will get worse. Like, no one's thinking.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerYeah. They're just like, I just wanna play this game, or I just wanna do this. Right? Yeah.
Jordan WagnerPeople, people most of the time are just trying to find a way to unwind at night, get ready for bed. And so Right. You know, even with that example there of Call of Duty or, like, watching a TV show, there are certainly things you can do to make sure you're not destroying your sleep. Right? Have some maturity. Right? Maybe you play Call of Duty and you you, you know, you Stop yourself. You play it for an hour or so, and then you're like, that's it. I'm done for tonight. I know when I was gaming back in, like, high school and stuff, I had zero self control. Be like, yeah, I'm, like, gonna play a couple games, and then it's like, oh my gosh. It's 4AM.
Scott BennerYeah. Yeah. And if I just win five more of these games of Madden, I'll be able to draft better next year. And then I'll be like, yeah. Like, no. You listen. It it's another, like you know, look. I I I'm not gonna, like, beat a drum, but, you know, there are a lot of things in your life that are driving up that dopamine for you.
Jordan WagnerExactly. In a in a modern digital world.
Scott BennerAnd I feel very strongly about good sleep. Like, I I so important. I harp on it in my family. It's a losing battle. I'm not gonna tell you otherwise. You know? I'm not gonna tell you that last night, I didn't wake up in the middle of the night and see a light on. And I thought, like, oh, let me go shut this light off. But it was Arden. She was still awake. And she was talking to her you know, they're in a spring break at college, talking to her boyfriend, and I'm like I'm like I walked in. Was like, everyone, go to sleep. I was like, talk during the talk when the sun is up. Right. Right. I tried hard to, like, just follow that simple idea of, like, follow the sun. Like, get up with the sun, try to start shutting down when the sun goes down. I'm not
Jordan WagnerAll the way. Yeah. I'm not I'm
Scott Bennernot Amish. Like, I don't go to sleep when the sun goes down. Like, you know Yeah. But, like, I'm not trying to, like, stay up super late anymore like I used to when I was young and then, like, I was forced to before algorithms existed, and my kid had diabetes. Like, I value sleep. And at the same time, I'll say this, like, because I just shared this with my wife recently. We got in bed, and I was like, I'm so tired. Like, I I want you know, I'm excited to go to sleep. But at the same time, I said to her, like, I'm starting as I get older to get mad at having to sleep. Like and and and she's like, what what are
Jordan Wagneryou talk first of all,
Scott Bennershe doesn't wanna talk to me when she's tired. Like but she's like, oh, good. Now he's gonna have, like, some existential conversation with me? He just said he was tired. I'm tired. Blah blah blah. I said, like, I don't know. I just I feel like my life is winding down, there are things I wanna do. And that some days, it pisses me off I have to go to sleep. Mhmm. You know? And I I wonder if that's, like, a real feeling I'm having or if it's a feeling I'm getting from, like, some unnatural acceleration that I feel from the work No. I think you're
Jordan Wagneralone in that. Like Yeah. My my wife's grandfather, and, he he ended up passing away a few years ago, but he always said to my wife, if he could have a superpower, it would be that he didn't have to sleep.
Scott BennerIs there so much he wants to do?
Jordan WagnerIf you I like dreaming and stuff like that. (40:00) Right? So if you could sleep, but you didn't have to, that would be kinda cool.
Scott BennerYeah. No. I hear you. I really do. But my point is this, is that if you sleep well when the sun's down, then you can pack more into your life while the sun is up, and you're gonna improve your overall health and everything else. Let let's move on to nutrition because I I'm gonna start sounding like a hippie in a second. Don't I don't like that vibe.
Jordan WagnerWell, Scott, I I am a bit of a hippie, so it's okay. Yeah.
Scott BennerOh, no. I imagine you living in a yurt, just in case you're wondering.
Jordan WagnerThat that's exactly right. No. I'm just kidding. But yeah. Anyways, yeah, nutrition. And, I'll preface this to saying, like, I'm not, like, a nutrition expert, but these are things that I have seen that, have have impacted patients. I'm sure Jenny might be able to speak, better to some of these things here. But the idea that I wanna get across is that somebody can eat literally terribly and still have good blood sugars, but that doesn't mean that, like, you're in a good spot with your health. And that that gets back to what we touched on earlier of you could look at just the blood sugars and think you're doing great. But health is a lot more than just your blood glucose there. So we'll we'll just start with that there. But I think one of the big things to to think about with nutrition and insulin sensitivity is as much as possible avoiding ultra processed foods. Right? So that that's gonna be things like fast food, or that's gonna be things like frozen meals at the grocery store or, like, a lot of packaged goods, things like that. The reason you wanna avoid a lot of those, aside from the fact that a lot of them are really, really high in carbohydrate, there's there's trans fats in a lot of those. Mhmm. And those are those are known to cause insulin resistance.
Scott BennerYeah. I always tell people if you're looking for a reason not to have some of those oils that are available in so much of our food Yeah. One of them was developed as a a lubricant.
Jordan WagnerAnd Exactly right.
Scott BennerYeah. And then they realized, like, yo. You could eat this. And they changed it a little bit, and they took machine grease and turned it into food, and now you make cake with it. So Correct.
Jordan WagnerCorrect. And then that those are some of the seed oils that you're referencing there. And that this is a hot topic, so we don't need to dive in this one too too extensively. But the idea just think about this. Okay? If you were to eat, let's say, a peanut, you chew it in your mouth and a little bit of oil comes out of it because you're naturally just chewing it. That is so much different than having, like, a refined peanut oil coming in out out of a plastic bottle. Mhmm. Right? So, like, for example, those oils there, a lot of them are called PUFAs, polyunsaturated fatty acids. They're often touted as the healthier oil choice, which, again, without getting too too much into it, I think there's some problems there. But what you often see is that the the omega six to omega three ratio is, like, completely unbalanced. It should be somewhere along the lines of, like, four to one of omega six to omega three, and these unrefined ones I'm sorry. These refined ones are closer to, like, 20 to one. Yeah. Additionally, they're they're also, like, stripping these things not, like, intentionally, but you go through this processing. It's getting stripped of all that's natural vitamin e. Mhmm. And vitamin e is it's a really powerful antioxidant. And so that's why I think it's healthier to just eat, the nut or the seed, right, compared to having some of these oils. So not to sound like a hippie again, but, like, my wife and I will sometimes carry around little vitamin e capsules. And so if we go eat, like, at In N Out Burger or something like that, you you pop a few vitamin E's before you eat it just to help with the the antioxidant and, all that stuff.
Scott BennerI'm gonna tell you something. Like, if you I I say this all the time. If you guys knew me, like, thirty five years ago, you'd be like, I can't believe that's the guy that's talking to me right now. But I went through a whole renaissance of understanding oils a few years ago. And Jenny and I by the way, Jenny and I like, I mentioned, we made a series on nutrition. It's out now. It's called Smart Bites. I think it's maybe six episodes long. You'll you'll find it. But Jenny is a nutritionist, like, yeah, by trade, like, by by her education, who is also a a CDE. And she's incredibly passionate about this. I told her years ago, I was like, I think I'm gonna stop eating, like, oil. Like, I ate, like, canola oil, which I grew up being told was, like, a healthier oil. But, like, now I think of it as, like, healthier, a healthier oil is, like, saying, like, let me find a better way to punch myself in the face. I'm still not doing a good thing for myself. Like, is it as bad as had I hit myself with two hands? No. But it's still not something I'm looking for. We cut all those out. The only oil that's in the house right now is coconut, and we only use it to make popcorn.
Jordan WagnerOkay.
Scott BennerAnd other than that, there's a olive oil, but it's used really sparingly and only cold pressed olive oil because, like Good. Yeah. Because the way Jordan's talked about it, the way they process it sometimes either strips it of the only nutrients you were gonna get out of it or, believe it or not, heating up olive oil to process it is actually making it processed food. And processing it cold without heat takes longer, so you have to pay more money for
Jordan Wagnerit. Correct. Yeah. And not to mention even with with olive oil, it has a lower smoke point. Right? So using olive oil as a primary cooking oil, you could actually make that olive oil go rancid from overcooking it. Mhmm. And so yeah. It's a it's I I love what you said, the cold press. That's a very that's a very important thing with, you know, with oils, but especially with olive oil.
Scott BennerI have to tell you, cold pressed olive oil might be the only reason I have a Costco card.
Jordan WagnerSo That's hilarious.
Scott BennerYeah. Because they make really great cold pressed olive oil.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Yeah.
Scott BennerSo that kind of stuff, like, you know, taking vitamins, like, this is the thing I've added to my life. Like, they're right here. Like, I'm not lying. Like, they're on my desk so that I don't forget to take them every day.
Jordan WagnerYep. Yep.
Scott BennerI found that if I put them in the kitchen or somewhere near food, eventually somebody puts them away and takes it out of my mind. And so instead, it's just it's in front of me on my desk. And every day, I'd and by the way, it's not one of them. You have to read the label. You're supposed to take more than that of of the one I have. Like, so I make sure to take more. You know?
Jordan WagnerRight. Right. Ugh. Yeah. That's funny.
Scott BennerIf you really want somebody who understands nutrition, who isn't gonna talk down to you, but is going to be honest with you, I say go check out the Smart Bites series with Jenny.
Jordan WagnerThat's awesome.
Scott BennerShe did such a great job of putting together these different modules to speak about, and we just literally just literally finished recording it today.
Jordan WagnerSo That's so cool. And, like, I I truly believe that if people wanna eat Twinkies and hot dogs and hamburgers all day long, they should be able to. But they should also have the information to kinda know what potential consequences could be coming their way.
Scott BennerWell, that's where I'm at, Jordan. Let me let me I'll finish nutrition, and we can move on to getting outside and and get out of here. But, like, everything's a process. Right? Like, everything starts one place with one idea, and and if you get to keep it going long enough, you watch it grow and it morph. When I started making this podcast, I was in a place where I said, I know how to use insulin, which was revolutionary to me at that time because I spent so many years with my daughter not understanding how to use it.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerRight? I said to my wife, I'm gonna start a podcast and tell people about how we do things because I think they might find it valuable. And that's come to pass. Like, the Pro Tip series and the Bull Beginnings and and those things are I think they're seminal in this space. And people know about them far and wide, and they've helped a lot of people understand how to use their insulin. So when I start talking about that, I am immediately met with the idea that some people are are going to eat really poorly, and I can can't stop them from doing that.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerAnd if I say, here's the ideas I have about how to use insulin. By the way, eat right. And, like and start scolding them because that's how it's gonna feel to them. This information is not gonna get anywhere. So I started with a very basic idea of you need as much insulin as you need, and you need it where you need it, and you should use it.
Jordan WagnerYep.
Scott BennerAnd it took a a long time and a lot of years to build up a following that can be disseminated, and people share it. And to the point where, like, you know, I mean, you see the a Facebook group is huge.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerAnd people come in, and most of what they say is my doctor told me about this.
Jordan WagnerYep. Exactly.
Scott BennerMostly how people get into the group. So now, like, we've, you know, we've got this reach. We've taught people how to use their insulin, and there's a a resource there for new people to learn how to use it. And I'm saying in all of it, bolus what you need. But at some point, I'm not saying go live unhealthily.
Jordan WagnerRight.
Scott BennerMy concern was if people don't use the amount of insulin they're supposed to use, it's either going to, like I said earlier, lead to some sort of an eating disorder, or it's gonna lead to elevated blood sugars.
Jordan WagnerExactly.
Scott BennerI thought, let's eliminate those two things first. Right? Teach them how to use insulin so that they feel free to eat, so that they don't get involved in an eating disorder. Teach them how to use insulin so they're not running around with nine and ten and eleven a one c's and eight a one c's and seven. That they can put their a one c where they want it to be, that they can have a variability that they choose. Right? Like, let's give them those tools.
Jordan WagnerExactly.
Scott BennerBut the next thing to say after that has to be, this would all be easier if you didn't eat some of these things or if you limited the amount of times you ate those things. But if I start with that, then I'm just everybody else online telling you what to do, and you're not gonna listen. And then you never know how to use your insulin, and you run around with a 10 a one c. And it it seemed to me to do it in this order was
Jordan WagnerYeah. And I agree. That that is the appropriate order to do it. Mhmm. And that's that's how I approach it too. Like, I have some of these conversations, a little bit deeper with some of the patients, but a lot of the patients that I am doing this with, they had to come back to the hospital for another reason. So we've already established rapport in in the past Yes. Of how to get them going. And now it's like, alright. You know how to use insulin for the most part. Let's start adding on top of that.
Scott BennerYep. Yes. It's just super duper important. And it's not me it's not a bait and switch for me. I still think, like, I would rather you be in a world where you have two choices about your health, your blood sugars and your variability and your nutrition. I would rather one of them be good than neither of them be good.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Without a doubt.
Scott BennerAt least let's give you that. Like, if you're gonna eat a ding dong, then by the way, that sounds so wrong. I'm gonna pick something else. If you're gonna eat a ho ho, then eat a ho ho and don't have a blood sugar spike from it. But for the other people who eat differently, you know how to use your insulin for an avocado and toast
Jordan Wagnerthing. Exactly.
Scott BennerGreat. Like, it works for everybody.
Jordan WagnerIt does.
Scott BennerAnyway, I'm and I'm not talking down to anybody. I am totally gonna have a Dorito this weekend. I just want everyone to know And Dorito is the food I use in the nutrition episode where I'm telling people, like, you know what sucks for you? Doritos. But if if I see one, I just wanna be clear, Jordan. I'm gonna eat it.
Jordan WagnerWithout a doubt. I mean, like, and that's the thing too. There's there's a balance in in all of this, like, we've been talking about the whole time. Like, I think, personally, my quality of life would be a little lower if I was like, yeah. I'm never gonna eat pizza again. I eat pizza every Friday night. Yeah. You know? And I've learned how to dose for it. I know that eating that pizza and the quantity that I eat is probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but I enjoy eating it. I enjoy spending time with my family and doing that. And so to me, that's worth it. Right? So there's there's that balance there.
Scott BennerAnd in fairness, the next series that Jenny and I do is gonna be called what am I calling it? BOLUS four. Probably the number four. I don't know why the number. We're gonna go out to the community and say, tell us all the food you can't bowl us for. And Jenny and I are gonna do short episodes where we talk through making a bolus for each one of those items. And I guarantee you most of them are gonna be Lucky Charms and stuff like that. Yeah. You know? And fair enough. No one's perfect. Life's not perfect. We can all sit here and say, don't eat the seed oil or don't do this or don't do that. But we also just said it's hard to sleep because of technology and the way life is. It's also hard to eat because of, you know, how populated the planet is and the way that we have to make food so that everybody can eat. Like, it's not a set you it's not just you're out there making a bad decision. You're out there trying to live in the you know, you're swimming in the pool somebody threw you in, basically.
Jordan WagnerSo Yeah. It it's I mean, just and and here's the thing I learned in nursing school, and you see it if you just look around, is especially in The United States, it's, like, one of the the few countries in the world where a lot of, like, lower income people have access to food, but it's, like, very low quality food. Yeah. Whereas, like, the rest of the world, they might not have access to any food at all.
Scott BennerRight. No. There's a lot of problems in the world. Like, they're really I mean, I'm not trying to say they don't exist. Also, my income is not challenged, but I grew up that way and so did my wife. Yeah. And we fight the things that were, like, bred into us as far as the way to eat. Like, my I I know my wife wouldn't like me to say this, but the my my wife will eat like a garbage person sometime. I'm like, you know, we have money. I'm like, we're not poor anymore. Like, we're not, like you know what I mean? Like, I'm I can't have a cook come in Sure. Slaughter the cow in front of me or anything like that. But, like, but we can afford it a reasonable meal, but she just grew up a different way. And, like and the things that occur to her, like, I watch her have to, like, say to herself, like and my wife's she eats well, and she no. But her first thought is always the thing from when she was a kid. Mhmm. You know? And then in she stops herself most of the times, but there's also times she doesn't. You know? So holidays are a great example. Like, my wife equates holidays and certain, like, candy, or she almost can't stop herself from going to a movie and not buying popcorn.
Jordan WagnerYes. It's at that tradition, that built in tradition almost. Yeah.
Scott BennerBut then once she buys it, I see her take a couple bites of it, and she's like, I don't want this. Like, I actually said to her at the last movie we saw, I I it was Thunderbolts, case you're all wondering. Like, she took two handfuls of popcorn, and she's like, I don't want this. And I said, hey. Next time. I was really like, I I think it was very sweet. I said, next time, let's buy a smaller one because you don't want this. And she goes, no. You're right. And I was like, okay. So, like, let's see what happens. Like, when I go see, hopefully, Mission Impossible part two, which I'm very excited to see.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Those are great movies.
Scott BennerOh my god. The last one was awesome. Like, hopefully, she'll say, like, give me a small popcorn because, like, to, you know, help the little girl and her feel like she's at the movies and, you know, cover for the fact that the adult doesn't want this popcorn at all. It's it's super interesting. Anyway, I'm sorry. And by the way, go outside. Tell them about the sun.
Jordan WagnerYes. Well, yeah, just just get outside. I mean, if you're getting outside consistently, there's a high likelihood you're also increasing your activity. So that's a huge part of it there. But one of the big things is, you know, vitamin D. Right? So vitamin D in low levels has been associated with insulin resistance, and there's even, some some theories, of diabetes diagnosis for type ones that point to the fact that vitamin D is low in a lot of type one diabetics. Mhmm. Getting outside, the sun hitting your skin helps our body to be able to make its own vitamin D. And so you don't need to go outside all day long, but, like, again, speaking to the person who, you know, works in the office, maybe you take your your lunch break and you go outside. And I I know that's not always possible, but to the best of your ability, it's just getting outside at some point during the day is gonna be it's gonna be really helpful for you.
Scott BennerRight.
Jordan WagnerThe other thing tying it all into sleep here is that when you're getting that full spectrum light coming from the sun, that helps balance your circadian rhythm, so your natural sleeping patterns. Things like blue lights, so that's gonna be lights coming from screens or, like, the the overhead lights in the office or perhaps at home. Those things can actually really mess up your, your circadian rhythm there. And the sun is a natural way to be able to balance that there. Just just as a side note, like, they do have those blue blocking glasses, that you that you can wear and block out some of the lights. You know, there's different colors. Yellow is gonna be approximately 50% or so. The the orange is gonna block out closer to a 100%. So depending on what when you're wanting to do it, those are good options too if you're stuck inside. But it is just truly best just to get outside, get get a little sun. If you're not in a sunny state, that's okay. But, like, just getting outside, you're still gonna get the benefits to an extent. It might not be as much as, like, where I'm at in Arizona. You're gonna get some benefit for sure. So
Scott BennerYou're probably avoiding the sun and still getting it.
Jordan WagnerYeah. I mean, I am in the sun all the time. If you'd ever drove past my house, you'd be like, oh, there's Jordan. He's not wearing a shirt again because I I just I always have my shirt off doing yard work and things like that.
Scott BennerYeah. Awesome. Well, Jordan, I can't I can't thank you enough for for coming on and and putting together these few episodes for me. If you have more you wanna talk about, you let me know. You could always come back.
Jordan WagnerAbsolutely. Sounds good, Scott.
Scott BennerAwesome. Thank you.
Jordan WagnerYeah. Of course.
Scott BennerThanks so much to Jordan for spending his time with us. If you're enjoying Jordan on the podcast and you'd like him to come back, go find him on Instagram, the diabetic merce, and let him know how much you enjoyed him on the show. This episode was sponsored by Touched by Type one. I want you to go find them on Facebook, Instagram, and give them a follow, and then head to touchedbytype1.org where you're gonna learn all about their programs and resources for people with type one diabetes. Are you tired of getting a rash from your CGM adhesive? Give the Eversense three sixty five a try. Eversense cgm.com/juicebox. Beautiful silicone that they use. It changes every day. Keeps it fresh. Not only that, you only have to change the sensor once a year. So, I mean, that's better. 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. Hey. Thanks for listening all the way to the end. I really appreciate your loyalty and listenership. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the Juice Box podcast. When I created the defining diabetes series, I pictured a dictionary in my mind to help you understand key terms that shape type one diabetes management, Along with Jenny Smith, who, of course, is an experienced diabetes educator, we break down concepts like basal, time and range, insulin on board, and much more. This series must have 70 short episodes in it. We have to take the jargon out of the jargon so that you can focus on what really matters, living confidently and staying healthy. You can't do these things if you don't know what they mean. Go get your diabetes defined. Juiceboxpodcast.com. Go up in the menu and click on series. Hey. What's up, everybody? If you've noticed that the podcast sounds better and you're thinking, like, how does that happen? What you're hearing is Rob at Wrong Way Recording doing his magic to these files. So if you want him to do his magic to you, wrongwayrecording.com. You got a podcast? You want somebody to edit it? You want Rob.
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