#1955 Lotus Flower
Lotus Flower
Scott has spent a week stewing on something and asks Jenny Smith to let him record it: what the attention economy is doing to people trying to learn how to manage their diabetes.
Jump to a moment
- Scott brought a grievance and asked Jenny to let him record it. After their rules-series planning call, she said they should have recorded the conversation that came before it. This is that conversation: a week of rumination about the attention economy, framed by Scott as a circuitous route to a point about taking control of your own outcomes.
- His core claim: social media stopped being a place you go and became a thing that feeds you. Jenny lands the distinction plainly — mention socks once and you get fed socks. Scott's version is that a culture of “here's a thing if you want it” became a culture of making you afraid, scared, or excited so someone can take fifteen or twenty dollars from you.
- He names the mechanics on air. Curiosity gaps, opening loops that cut before the payoff, FOMO countdowns, outrage bait, false personalization. His worry is that this produces the equivalent of empty calories for your attention — and that in diabetes specifically it means people get their attention taken using their own condition, get told it's hopeless, and never go find better.
- Jenny's counterpoint is the useful part. She pushes back when Scott says nothing he's done in a decade works, pointing at the survey results. Her framing of the actual problem: she can teach anyone the information, but they have to apply it and keep applying it. And she explains why she gives it away free — she cannot replicate herself or reach thousands of people one at a time.
- Two images that stick. Scott's cigarette story, told to his brother forty years ago: if you're fine knowing twelve people at a boardroom table are laughing that you bought those, go ahead — but they're trading your life for two dollars. And the lotus flower from the Odyssey, keeping people happy and numb on a beach while their time drains away. His ask is simple: go help yourself with something.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 with Jenny Smith — the thing Scott keeps pointing at instead of a six-second video.
- Listener survey results — The data Jenny cites when she pushes back on Scott.
- Jenny Smith — Integrated Diabetes — Jenny is a dietitian and diabetes educator who has lived with type 1 for over 35 years.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:04
Friends, we're all back together for another episode of the juice box podcast. Hey. 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. Two quick ways you can help and support the show.
First of all, if you're looking for a sugar pixel, go to customtype1.com/juicebox when you buy through that link. It supports me. And if you want to go to t1dexchange.org/juicebox and take their survey, that's also a great way to support the podcast. Of course, taking the survey will also support other people living with type one diabetes, including research, t1dexchange.org/juicebox, and customtype1.com/juicebox. Alright.
Let's get you into the program. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by MiniMed and the Kontoor Nextgen blood glucose meter. MiniMed, of course, the innovators behind the MiniMed flex system, a small, sleek, and discreet insulin automated delivery system controlled from an app. Nothing comes close to freedom you can feel. To learn more, visit minimed.com/juicebox.
There is one blood glucose meter in this house, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter. That meter is on my daughter's person right now and at all times. It is incredibly accurate and waiting for you at Kontoor Next dot com slash juice box. Alright. I'm hitting record right now.
The conversation they didn’t record1:38
So Great. Jenny's back. It must by now be clear to people who listen that you and I chat for a couple of minutes before we start recording usually.
And I would would think so. Sometimes more than a couple minutes depending on what's going on.
Right? There are times you don't get episodes with Jenny because she and I just talk for an hour and never record. So, at the end of our little chat last week before we went into the rules that people break about diabetes, which is gonna be a new series that you and I are gonna do soon, you said, oh, we should have recorded that conversation. And I thought the same thing. And and I
I don't even remember now what we had been talking about. Right? There were a host of things I as I remember.
I don't believe that the topic is important, but I've been, I've spent a lot of my week ruminating on it on something, and I was wondering if, like, you wouldn't mind recording this conversation that we have about it. So Sure. Okay. Jenny has no idea what I'm gonna say yet, just so you all know.
I don't. I usually don't.
I'm I I usually don't either, Jenny. So so I I hope people can stick for a minute because what this conversation is gonna be really about is just taking some sort of control of your self and your outcomes and the things that end up happening for your health, but I'm gonna take a sort of circuitous route to the message if if people don't mind. So if you like the podcast and you like Jenny, hold on for a second because I think this conversation will get you somewhere.
Not if they like you, just if they like me.
Well, what did we learn? I'm just kidding. What did no. What did we learn this week in the I I've been making, my bad reviews.
Little musical things?
My I've been turning my bad reviews into musicals. So there's this one that's just so glowing. It's just like the content's great and but I'll put it right here so people can hear it. And then at the end, they're just like, and the host sucks. I was like, it's okay.
Podcast is my idea, but whatever. Like It's okay. I'm
so sorry.
It's okay. So, anyway, why did I end up I guess it's as good a place to jump in. It's any like, why am I turning my bad reviews into musicals? One, I'm enjoying Do It. I'm having fun.
When social media stopped being a place you went4:02
But two, I am stuck in a a situation that we're all stuck in. And and and I'd like I'd like for us not to be stuck in it, but as I stood and thought about it today for what seems like the fifth day in a row, I thought, oh gosh. This isn't a thing anyone's gonna fix. And do I just give up and lean into it? So I guess what I mean by that is I don't wanna be boring for people, but there was a time where, like, social media meant a place where people put things and you went and got them if you were interested in knowing more about it.
And Sure. And now social media is a thing that you turn on and it force feeds you something. Right? And it's it's obviously tuned and learned to force feed you whatever your your base desires are or fears or or what have you. That's true.
And and the people will
And feed you. I think that's a really important distinction to make here. It's it feeds you. Right? Like, if I say socks and I don't mention a brand here, I will probably now find feeds about particular types of socks, athletic socks, socks for yoga.
It feeds you.
It's gonna happen to you so quickly. And and but that's still a basic conversation around this. Like, what I'm what I'm telling you is that as a person who uses Apple podcasts or Facebook or Instagram to try to get me all I'm trying to do is remind you that I have a podcast. Right? That's really what it is.
Right.
Now my podcast doesn't charge you money. Most other things are asking money from you. And and we've gone from a culture of, hey. I have this thing. Here it is if you'd like to know about it, to I'm gonna make you afraid or scared or excited or happy and then try to take $15 from you or try to take $20 from you or 99 just $99.
Your TikTok shop has this thing here. I actually saw a guy the other day selling a pond, fountain. I don't know how many people own ponds, but I guess more than I think. And, and and I was like, what what in the hell is this? And so what you don't realize if you're just a person out there living your life is that there is an entire, like, parasite culture of people trying to figure out how to get your money from you constantly.
Right? And that took over social media. And so now that's how social media works. Anybody you're watching on your feed is trying to build up enough of a following to charge somebody money for something, Either you or a company that will use them to get you to look at their thing. Now listen.
I sell ads on a podcast, and there's an argument to be made that I'm doing the very same thing. But you can skip those ads. And I don't spend the entire time in the content beating you over the head with it. I don't start my content with literal psychological mechanisms to get you to be scared or whatever. Like, we just start talking, and hopefully, you find something in it.
And people have been learning through storytelling for the history of man. And and now suddenly, the shift has happened. And I I'm so I don't wanna sound pompous, but I'm very afraid that there's an entire generation of people, not just young, by the way, but old, who are now just being fed, I think, what might be the equivalent of, like, empty calories for your attention. Like, peep True. Yeah.
People and and when we focus it specifically on the diabetes stuff, it it it makes me sad, because I'm not trying to take your money. I do need you to click on the links to keep the whole thing going, but but that's neither here nor there. It'll probably keep going whether you do that or not. I really just and I think if you've heard Jenny long enough, you know, like, we really just would like you to have an easier, healthier, happier life and not struggle so
much. Correct.
But we've gone from a position of I can put that stuff out in the world and you will go find it to I can't get it to you because I'm unwilling to use these mechanisms.
Because you're being blocked, essentially.
I don't wanna listen. Here they are. Like, the Kontoor Next Gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of the Juice Box podcast, and it is entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you are paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link, contournext.com/juicebox, you're gonna find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Meijer.
You could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips and meter than you would pay through my link for the Contour Next Gen and Contour Next Test strips in cash. What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you are paying right now even with your insurance. And I don't know which meter you have on you right now. I can't say that.
But what I can say for sure is that the Kontoor Next Gen meter is accurate. It is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years. Kontoornext.com/juicebox. And if you already have a contour meter and you're buying test strips, doing so through my link will help support the podcast. Let's be honest.
Most of us would love to spend less time thinking about diabetes. That's exactly what MiniMed had in mind with the new MiniMed Flex system. It's small and sleek, you can control it from an app, and it uses the trusted smart guard technology that automatically adjusts insulin every five minutes. Less juggling, less micromanaging, more freedom. That's the MiniMed Flex system available now at minimed.com/juicebox.
There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Contour, MiniMed, and to all the sponsors. When you click on my links, you're supporting the podcast and helping to keep it free and plentiful. Curiosity gap. You withhold key information. You won't believe what happened next.
The mechanics: hooks, loops, and outrage10:39
Number seven will shock you. Opening loops, starting a story, and cutting it off before the payoff. Oh my god. I was up the other day and and then the video starts. FOMO urgency before it's deleted.
This is the last chance countdown timers. Outrage bait, framing anything from a scandal, betrayal, destroying owning something, false personalization. This is why you are tired all the time. Like, that kind of stuff. All Jenny's not on social media.
Jenny, the the way some people are. And maybe you're listening and you're not either. This I could literally end up talking we might just be talking to other like minded people. Mhmm. Like, right, they might just be like, oh my god.
I'm seeing this too. But if you're trapped in that, you're I'm never gonna get the thing to you. And now I'm seeing people in the diabetes community, they're try they're using they're using these social media, like, tricks to try to get you to look at them. But Sure. You can't explain you can't explain foot on the floor in in four seconds.
And and so, I mean, I don't know what to tell you. Like, we started off with two minute videos, then it went down to one minute videos. Now it's thirty seconds. And if you look at the average rate that people watch an Instagram reel, Jenny, it's three seconds. Six seconds is a long watch on a reel.
Mhmm. And the only ones that people sit on are whatever the thing is that lights your brain up. People beating each other up in the parking lot, car chases, arguing, you know, pitting people against each other. Whatever your whatever your, I guess, kink is online. Like, those are the only things where people watch for more than three to six seconds.
And so can't I can't help you in six seconds. You you know what I mean? I don't know how.
Just I can't either. I can't boil it down to a two second snippet because there's there's more to it. I mean, this isn't six seconds of throw these things in a bowl and microwave it for 90 seconds, and here's your recipe. That that's that's not what this is.
Yeah. I and I'm not go I I'm not going to. I'm not willing to. I'm not able to do something visual to trick you into watching while we're talking over top of it, and it's not going to work anyway. Like like in the end, the algorithm, it I know this sounds, I've heard people say this before, and it sounds paranoid.
Like, you know, I I back in the day, like, in the last five or six years, you'd hear, like, YouTube creators talk about being shadow banned by the platform. Like, I said a word and now I can't get my video out somewhere or something like that. It's a 100% true. Mhmm. My stuff I mean, guys, I I've I've put through really hard work 86,000 active people in a in a private Facebook group.
Mhmm. They're and if you listen to people about it, they they think it's wonderful. I actually did a I've I've I'm in the middle of making a survey now that now 200 people responded to it. And if you could see the the responses back from the survey, they're absolutely heartwarming. And people talk about that Facebook group is how valuable it is.
But if I, the guy who owns and runs the Facebook group, post something in it, I can't reach anybody. Like, no at this point, me if I got to a thousand of you, that would be really astonishing.
So Can you be a pretend person?
I'm sure I could,
but you think Not not that you pretend. But do you know what I mean? It's like, do you have to almost have your wife post the stuff that you want people to see in order for it to get seen? Like, that's sad.
Isn't that insane?
Really, really sad that you can't be you.
Do you know what I do? Do sometimes I I I have AI make a photo of a very handsome dark haired man in his thirties with a beard holding a pretty cat
And no shirt on.
And no shirt on. And then I post diabetes content underneath of it. And that actually works to some degree. And it it what it does is it attracts it it attracts people yelling about me using AI. Right?
It attracts it attracts I I'm sorry to say sometimes women who don't realize it's not a real photo who are like, hey. More of this, please. And I'm like Right. It's a computer drawing, but I'm
gonna tell you to check your feet, but, hey. Look at the picture of me too.
Could you please put your insulin in fifteen minutes before you eat? Like, okay.
Here's a handsome picture of a cute cat with me.
And so so, anyway, there's you know, that still only will draw maybe seven to 15,000 views of 86,000 people
Right.
Of whom which 40,000 a day are active. Like, it's an astonishing act. But my point is that what Facebook doesn't want, and this is where I'll end up sounding paranoid, but please trust me. I've been doing this for a long time. It's true.
Is that if I it used to be if I left a link, I could be like, hey. I wrote a blog or this this episode will be helpful for you. Here's a link or hey. You're newly diagnosed. Go check out the Bold Beginnings series at bold you know, this, that would be fine.
And you could see that link driving clicks. Then Facebook decided that they're not really a community. Facebook is an AI company that sells ads, and they use the veil of that community to keep people there that they are you are their customers and they are selling you advertisers, but they don't Mhmm. The advertisements. They don't sell them to you.
They give them to you. They sell the give to the advertiser. And so you they do not want you to leave Facebook. Unless you're leaving to buy something, you are not leaving Facebook. So if I leave them a link to something, it will it kills the post.
It won't let it be seen by anybody. So then people started to learn, well, I'll just put the link in the comments. Facebook figured that out and now it squelches that. So then people are like, okay. Well, I won't put the link in.
I'll just creatively write to you about what it is and you'll have to read it and infer and then go find the thing. But now the algorithm's so good, it sniffs out that you're trying to get them to leave, and it squelches anything you write that would indicate that you're asking a person to leave that platform. Now if you want, you're completely able to pay Facebook so that they'll show your post to people. So as soon as I post something as a creator, it says to me, would you like to boost this post? Then you can click on a button and pay them.
Pay them.
And then they'll show it to people, but they won't show it to the people in the Facebook group. They'll show it to people similar to like, you can't put up you can't pay to boost a post inside of a group only on a page. And it's Jenny
Notice that I'm, like, not Staring at I'm Yeah. Yeah. I'm sort of, like, dumbfounded by by all of this. It's manipulation.
Everyone you're all being manipulated. And if I tell you that, it's it's not gonna matter. I've watched bigger people with bigger followings try to tell you this over the last five or six years. People people it it becomes common very quickly. You don't realize how fast this is just what you accept now, and so there's no fighting against it.
I I I'm gonna tell you that this is gonna sound ridiculous for a second, but I saw, The Odyssey the other night.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. It was good. I liked it a lot.
Was it good?
I I really did enjoy it. Yeah. Now I wanna be clear. I've never read. Is it a poem?
Is it a store? I've never read The Odyssey. Okay?
So Oh, really?
No. I'm sure I should, but I haven't. So I don't know how much, like, poetic license is in the movie about, like, themes or or outcomes or desires. But what I took away from The Odyssey was we had this golden city that worked where people just followed a basic rule and everyone was happy and cared for, and then slowly people got away from that. And then you look up a couple generations later and everybody is just mired in whatever is easy and and no one knows that's what's happening anymore.
And and I was like, okay. I I get it. And and so, you know, Odysseus is the one who comes up with the idea of putting the people in the horse. But then he realizes that that he shouldn't have done that. He that he that he tricked those people.
He told them they were safe, and then he murdered them when they weren't looking. And and he's devastated that he fell into this thing too, but as he was doing it, he thought he he thought it was righteous. He thought he was doing it for the right reasons. Always and what the hell does this have to do with diabetes? I don't have a pathway to you all anymore.
Six seconds versus the real answer20:11
Well, I think what you're getting at is that there's no way to sneak in.
I can't get
to There there's no sneaking. Nope. Right? And and you have you have a much better reason for wanting to sneak than he clearly did. Like, you wanna kill people.
You actually wanna try to keep them alive. But this is a sad thing that there's no way around what online has done in this type of group.
I'm holding this free thing that I'd like for you to have if you want it. I am looking here at hundreds of responses from people that I won't bug you and and read with you, but I am gonna when this episode comes out, it'll be online at juiceboxpodcast.com/surveyresults. And you'll be able to go see the impact that the podcast has had on people living with diabetes. Right? You can go see it in their own words.
They answer their own questions. It's a very fair, like, even survey. You'll see how overwhelmingly valuable it is. And the and the podcast is free. It's not a coaching service.
I'm not gonna ask you to pay at some point. But it used to be I just just go to Facebook and say, hey. Here's the bold beginnings. It helps people. And now I'm down to I've gotta go to Ohio next week to
eighties. Do too.
Yeah. Well, the the nice part about you and I'll get to have dinner with Jenny. That'll be the nice part. The rest of it's gonna be me trying to explain to other clinicians how valuable the bowl beginning series would be for them to share with people. Right.
It's I'm already so melancholy about this trip because it's it's not gonna work, Jenny. I've been doing this for twelve years. None of this works. The only thing that works is bouncing your hair or bouncing your ass or watching somebody beat the hell out of somebody in a Kroger. Like, that's the only way you can don't laugh.
That's the only way social media works now. It's click.
Yeah. It's clickable by visual excitement despite that excitement not being appropriate most of the time. Yeah. It's exciting to watch.
Not just appropriate, but I did something to prep for this conversation earlier today. I purposefully I know I never prep. Okay? I purposefully sat for twenty minutes and scrolled TikTok and Instagram Reels so that I could tell you with honesty, I have absolutely no idea what I saw during those twenty minutes. I have no recollection of it.
Like, if you knew what I saw and started to ask, I could not answer one question.
Well, I I think as a bigger translation, what fits is how we have to reach people in the context of a time frame that our brains have now adapted truly to less attention span. Right? We have we have more people with what is called attention deficit. We've got more issues there, and a lot of it does I mean, if you've looked at any of the information about devices
Mhmm.
And attention span and the problems that have come since truly since the advent of carrying your little small computer around in your pocket and calling it a phone. Right? Because it's it's not a phone. Yeah. It really isn't.
You have your laptop in your pocket all the time. Mhmm. And in that, it even boils down to now attention span on tests that kids get into college and higher institutions of learning with. They have had to change tests and the way that kids answer the questions on the tests because no longer can an 18 or younger going into college take the big exam and read two pages worth of information and then answer 10 to 15 questions. Oh, no.
Because their attention can't keep together all that information. They now have to break that paragraph down into small little segments with maybe one question about each segment, or the attention is gone Mhmm. And they fail. Yeah. That is sad.
You don't have the attention because someone sold it to somebody. And and then I'm I'm it's there's there's I if there's a thing called the attention economy. Like, there are people that their entire job is trying to buy your your seconds from you. Like, find a way to get you to look at a thing for a second. By the way, it most of you be like, oh, that doesn't work on me.
I don't buy that stuff. It's probably true. Most of those ads probably run by you, and you don't and you don't go buy a a new pair of headphones or, you know, a swimming Sure. Or something. But the point is is that you looked.
And because you looked, the person who sold your eyes to the advertiser can charge the advertiser. And the advertiser will learn eventually that this didn't work for them either, but they'll still spend all their money trying to get involved. It's it's I there is such an incredible vat vat of nothingness going on in this circle. It's it's I make a thing. I'm trying to get to you.
I don't have a path to you, so I go find a guy who's willing to say something stupid on TikTok, and then he'll be my path to you. You still won't buy my thing, but it was my only option. So that didn't work, so I'll get 50 people to do something stupid. And then I'll do a it used to just be you buy an ad on something that everybody watched, and then that was a fair chance for you to tell people about your thing. That that doesn't work now either.
What gets rewarded in the diabetes feed26:06
But it was also because the ad really like, who doesn't remember the I'm sorry. This is probably dating me. But the Band Aid jingle. Right? Or Bayer aspirin or the Kool Aid man.
Correct? Yeah. They stuck because they were they were lengthy.
They were too
and you spent time with it. And that's what when I you know, as I'm talking about, like, even exams, it translates into the whole context of just diabetes education and the fact that we have. I mean, what? We boiled things down into the small sips to try to be able to provide tiny little snippets that were condensed to the very major points that people should be using in today's life with diabetes.
And they're still good, and they work. But they're
too they're too long. You and you but you have you can't boil this down any further. Right. You can't. And you have to also then translate that into you have to you have to apply what you have learned by listening.
And the application then is very difficult because the concepts are not rocket science, but in today's world of learning something and then translating it to use Right. Means you like, you have to grab it and understand it. And today's world of scrolling, it's a quick snippet of entertainment. It's not that you're going to learn how to put a bow tie on your cute little dog. I mean, it was a cute little video, but, like, you're not learning anything from that.
Mhmm. So it's a your brain filters it through and and has lost the ability to file the right information in the right place to pull it out and use it later.
To your point earlier, I'm I'm spitballing here, but a TV show called Cheers, I think, came on in the early eighties, which would have been when I was in my single digits still. Like Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I was 10. Okay?
Uh-huh. And I think it ran for a decade. I didn't particularly like the show. It wasn't for me. It was in the background.
My parents watched it. Right? I have not seen it since then. I'm not looking at it now. Ready?
Taking a break from all your. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you wanna go. I know the goddamn theme song to that TV show. Right?
I can sing the Almond Joy song because of the Charlie Brown Almond Joy's got Yeah. Mounds don't.
Mounds don't.
Right. Right. And I don't eat candy with nuts in it. But it was on the Charlie Brown Halloween thing, which, by the way, you could only watch for one half an hour once a year Yes. On CBS.
I even know that it was on CBS.
Yes. Okay. It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Come on.
Yes. Okay. So there's an argument to be made that my brain is full of that, but at least I still know it. I don't know one thing I scrolled a half an hour ago. I just interviewed a really big TikToker who I like about type one diabetes, and she says during the interview, I wish I had better attention span.
But this is how this thing works.
And Mhmm.
If I want to have a thing, then I have to do it this way. And what I'm telling you is is that when it's wrapped around your diabetes, I get it. I get that the companies are leaning into it because they've lost the pathway to you as well, they think. Okay? Or they're trying everything.
I get that the creators are trying to make the content to attract the guy, to give them the ad, and I understand what everyone's doing. I don't have a problem with people trying to live. What I'm telling you is is that all you take away from it is the hard stuff. The the the Right. Right?
Sorry. I was just attacked by a
Oh, no. I just I heard I don't usually hear that, and I heard that too.
She just launched herself across. I'm sorry. I have a yellow tree monitor in a cage. She just launched herself across the neck. Anyway, so she she really did.
So so they're busy making the only stuff that works. I already went over with you. The only stuff that works is, like, rage and everything. So it's like it's either, like, hey. The cure is coming.
So you all get real excited about the Elodon trial and get whipped up into a fervor, which, by the way, I think is awesome and will not be curing any of you soon. Okay?
Soon. Right. Right.
Okay. And so or it's they'll just take the opposite side of it. Like, everybody's talking about a cure. This is ridiculous. Right?
We're not gonna get cured and then just make you mad about that. You know why we're not gonna get cured, Jenny? It's because of big pharma. They're hiding all your blah blah blah. Alright.
Like so then they'll go that way. Or it's, oh my god. This device fell off again. Oh, thank god you had your phone to film the one time your device fell off this week so that you can go on TikTok and make a big goddamn deal about it. Alright?
Like Mhmm. Or, you know, I hate this pump. It doesn't work. Yes. It does.
You don't know how to use it. Okay. Like, great. And I Jenny, I would be happy to tell you how, but we can't do it in six goddamn seconds. And it's making me fucking crazy, Jenny.
“You have to apply it”31:10
Can you see that? Oh my god. I'm out
of my mind. We've had these very similar off off recording kind of conversations, the frustration of I can teach you all the information. I really can, but you have to apply it. You have to apply what we've done as the basics of getting started. Whether you're MDI or on a pump, you have to apply it, and then you have to remember what we talked about and keep applying it.
And, yes, situations are going to change, but the basics don't change.
And the basics are pretty basic. Like, sit to sit down and listen for like, I I try to make this point all the time. Like, that pro tip series, I can listen. From people's feedback, listen to it, half ass understand it, a one c in the sixes. Okay?
Like, it's just it's you know, you talk to people one on one. It's the same idea. But when I get a bad review about it, the review is like, oh my god. It's so long. I can't listen to all that.
Oh, well, then just live your whole goddamn life with a nine a one c then, I guess. And and then and complain to me that I didn't make the thing short enough for you. Like That
it wasn't good enough for yeah.
It it's not how it works. And then if I say something like that, they go, oh, he's so obnoxious. He's pompous. He said elitist. He said, no.
You're an idiot. Like like, just listen for goddamn it. Life's not that goddamn hard, Jenny. I'm going crazy this week. I'm out there making stupid songs about which I do find enjoyable and and but it's just to try to drag one person.
And by the way, it won't work either. Nothing I've done for a decade works because I'm not willing to lean into this.
It does. I wouldn't say that. It's not true.
Listen. I
know. Have been considerably helped. Obviously, your survey proves that. Right? But So you can't.
Why Jenny gives it away free33:04
I understand. I understand. It's not enough people. It's not enough. And that's what I wanted to say is that you're not you're not really noting this to the people that clearly have given much positive feedback about it.
It's really the fact that both I agree. And part of the reason I've told you so many times that I really have been happy to be able to provide this in a way that's free for everybody is because I cannot replicate myself, and I can't reach the thousands upon thousands of people around the world. There's not enough of my time. I just I can't talk to everybody. So this is a way to be able to provide that to to donate it, right Yeah.
In a way that is digestible. And I think that it quite honestly is. I mean, even my boys have as I've been reviewing some of the ones that I listen to, they listen, and they understand. It's not I mean, I don't have, like, 25 year old children who are, like, college educated. Right?
I mean, they're smart kids, but they're still, like, kid. Right?
Mhmm.
So it's understandable information, and where you're coming from is you really just want to get the information to the people that you feel like it's missing.
Yeah. Well
That's the frustrating part.
It it and and to then watch that attention economy steal your attention using your diabetes and then tell you how dire and hopeless it is, and then you agree to that and then go on your way and never find better is really it's just it's unnecessary. Right? You know?
Or that it feeds you more information about yet another device or another thing when truly it boils down to learning to use the tools that you actually have.
Mhmm.
Not being fed information about, oh, this trial, and did you see that this person did this, and this person, you know, had this happened? Like, it keeps it feeds you down a tunnel of more and more and more that leads you away from the basic thing that you really wanted to know was, like, how do I pre bolus? Well, you got, like, six tunnels that it's gonna, like, translate you to watching something else
Yeah.
Potentially relative to that. But eventually, you're gonna be watching cats play on the floor.
Yeah. And I don't dislike that. Also, I enjoy watching somebody beat somebody up in a Target once in a while. I'm not saying otherwise. Listen, Jenny.
Between you and I, I don't think there's anything better than watching a criminal be tased. I think it's fantastic. I Like Four
of them should be tased.
Actually doing something wrong and then the taser hits them and they stiffen up and fall over. I go, that's hilarious. Okay. So I've been
Mine is usually good for them.
I'm I'm I'm with you. I'm with everybody on that. Okay? But, like, it's it's I I don't know. I really don't know what to say.
Friends for Life was overwhelmed by diabetes influencers this year. Like, people just making, like, banging You mentioned that. Video content up to come out and to, like, yell and scream into a phone, and it's all cool. Like, it's nice even. And and I heard people say, oh, I love that person.
I'm like, that's great. I I think that's fantastic. But the person that told me they love that person is also looking at me going, I don't understand why my kid's low all the time. Right.
And I do. I do.
I understand why they're low all the time. Mhmm. We could tell you, or you could watch that more, I guess. I don't know what to say. You know?
But it's a it's a point to reference that there are quality places to get your information from, and this is by no means downgrading any influencer at all. No. I I really like them
all. Yeah.
I don't really look at them, so I I don't even know their names.
I enjoy my time with them. So, you know They
could pass me on the street, and I have I would have no idea who the people are truly. But the difference is that as an influencer, you should be, and I think you told several of them that you talked to, you should be trying to make a difference, not just look pretty on camera or not just put another device in a new location that, oh goodness. It's not approved, but gosh. It works really well here. That okay.
It might help somebody, but in the end, the goal should be that as an influencer, you are teaching.
Yeah. But you
You are not just looking pretty.
And on those two platforms, though, you are not gonna get the kind of clicks that are gonna get somebody to give you money for an ad. That's not how it works. It's just it's listen. I I have research here that because I I took your point. I am I am upset, but at the same time, hey, guys.
This is Scott. I'm just jumping in for a second to say that if you've made it this far into this episode and you're looking for help, the pro tip series, bold beginnings, Omnipod five pro tip, all the other stuff that's available through the Juice Box podcast, you can go through easily at juiceboxpodcast.com. Go into the menu. It's a couple little, like, dashes in the top right of your screen. Go to series.
Everything's free. It's complete. It's not a hidden coaching service or anything like that. Everything there is what you need top to bottom. It's absolutely free.
I would love for you to have it. Enjoy it. Do whatever you need to do with it. Let me get you back to the conversation. About sixty five thousand new people are diagnosed a year.
Okay. So you can give the number. There's two million people with type one diabetes in The US or somewhere near that. And most of those people this is part of my point. Most of those people have found their their level.
They're either they're either running around with a five or a six or a seven or an eight or a nine or a 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14, they're probably not gonna shift. Most people aren't gonna shift from where they are. They have a chance to, but there's a lot of confounding things that get in the way. Right? So your best chance to help people is when they're newly diagnosed.
Yes. Okay. Hundred percent.
A million percent. And about sixty five thousand people a year are newly diagnosed is the is the rough number right now. My data tells me that I reach between eight and twelve percent of those people, which is really astonishing and It is. It's impressive. But I don't know how everyone else's brain works because I show that to people privately who are, like, behind the scenes.
They go, Scott, no one's doing that. You're the only one doing that. And I go, yeah. But did you are you not reading that we didn't reach eighty eight percent of the newly diagnosed people? Like, is that not how you see it?
Because it's how it feels to me. You know? And if ten percent of them are on TikTok right now getting super excited that a cure is coming, well, then that's ten percent of people who might not take great care of themselves because they think, ah, it doesn't matter. Like, I'm gonna go to Chicago one day and they'll shoot me up with this thing and it'll be fine. Or or or, you know, I or how is it possible that I'm seeing somebody today, an influencer just yesterday?
Because now I'm paying attention to it trying to figure out what it is telling me like, oh my god. I just learned this amazing thing. I'm microdosing my GLP. We've been talking about that for four years, and she's talking about it as if it's just a thing that
Reviews, and the ones that sting40:12
happened today.
She just figured it out. And it's nice because she's now sharing it with people, and I hope she does. Like but when I looked at the page and I looked at what was going on, yes, she's sharing it, and, hopefully, that will help people. But I have a critical eye for this. What she's trying to do is build up enough of a following that one of these companies is gonna come to
her Click in.
And make her an influence her. Like, that's and and, again, that's how this works now. It's fine, but you alluded to it. When I met people in person at this event, and a lot of them came up to me and asked, like, what do you think I should do? Because I'm oddly enough, like, I I don't know what it is I am and that's guess I'm an old guy who's been doing it a long time.
And I was like, please just try to help people. Like, I gave them the most honest advice I could give them. I said, you are really young and you're adorable and I see why these videos work, but another young adorable person will come along and take this from you inside of six to nine months. And they'll then think they're going to make a bunch of money doing this. You think you're going to, and you've made a couple of bucks now, so you're getting excited about it.
But then the next person will come in, they'll get popular. The algorithm will push them up. The companies will see them as a cheaper buy than you, and you will be gone like that. And the people who have been watching you, and I hate to break this to you, have overwhelmingly no idea who you are.
Right.
Like, there's because they don't look at you long enough. You know what I mean?
Right. Yeah. The most I mean, most people doing this, whether it's on whatever platform they're using, are not going to be mister beast.
No. It's not happening.
Like, you're going to get to that type of plate. Maybe I don't even know percent. Like, what percent might? I can't say that nobody will.
No. Somebody's going to.
Yeah. It changes enough, and this isn't just you could do everything that you can possibly do, but diabetes isn't really, like
It's not fun. It yeah. It doesn't lend it doesn't lend itself to this. I've been for years going, like, why are you trying to adapt TikTok trends to diabetes? This is freaking ridiculous.
Like, what Right. It'll get you eyes, but it won't I I don't know.
Like Right.
You guys don't really like, this might sound like complaining. Trust me. I'm doing fine. I'm not like, I'll keep making this podcast as long as I want to. I'll have advertisers the whole time.
I'll have a lot of people listening. This is not the thing I'm talking about. I'm not I'm not a person who's, like, you know, withering away and and complaining that the world changed from under me. No. I got it.
I'm I'm good. But, like, but for ever but for those other 88 of those people, like, I've just I've interviewed you ten years from now, and you're gonna say, I can't believe nobody told me this. I lost ten years of my life. I'm getting injections in my eyes now. I can't feel my foot.
Like, you're gonna tell me those goddamn stories, and all it's gonna make me think was I had the answer for you, and it was free, and it would have taken you about fifteen to twenty hours to figure out. And it's fucking upsetting, Jenny.
Well Yeah. And I I think I don't know. This was probably in with one of the discussions we had after you went to
One of the most?
It it what I think it was the scientific sessions.
Oh, ADA too. That pissed me off to no end. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.
But we had a discussion, and I brought up what I've seen for years and years. And I don't I don't tend to go to the to the conferences terribly often
Mhmm.
Because what I end up seeing is a lot of smart talking people bringing up and discussing research or their studies and the endpoints of the studies proving very valuable Mhmm. But it not getting translated, and it goes into what you're talking about missing that, like, 88% of people. Right? Yeah. We got this information.
This research proved this. This study proved that we could improve outcomes considerably in this avenue with people with diabetes. Great. But why have I never heard of that? And I consider myself fairly Like, okay.
Yeah. Yeah. In the diabetes realm. Right? I mean, don't know everything.
I don't I don't say that, but I know a lot. And why have I never heard of this? And you did this study three years ago, and now you're presenting the information on it. So my frustration with outside of networking and getting to know some really super cool people and what they're doing and how they're applying it and their outcomes definitely being translated into practice. The grand majority of the information that's shared and is my frustration is that it it looks pretty on paper, and it looks awesome to talk about.
But it in the grand majority of education systems for diabetes educators and endocrine practices, it never ever gets there. So then people come, you know, to your Facebook group or whatever and start listening. They send you a message. It's like, why in thirty years has nobody told me this? It's because the information was there.
Yeah.
But it never got moved into the clinical realm to say, hey. This these are the new practice pearls. It has to be applied. So we have to start like, it's an institutional change.
Right.
In my opinion, it truly is the whole entire way that we educate has to change so that we have more educators like the small group that I have a chance to work with. I love my colleagues. They're phenomenal, and I wish there were more of the way that we do what we do. Yeah. Because we do make a difference.
But, again, we make a a such a small percentage of the people that I really want to help.
Right. I I don't think I've ever sat with a person personally who I haven't been able to help them get to a better situation.
Right.
But I can't to your point, I can't sit with them either, which is where my frustration comes because I found a way to reach a lot of them, but not enough of them. Your point is so, so the way I use I'm usually more flippant. I usually say nothing makes me more upset than to watch a bunch of smart people congratulating each other on LinkedIn about a bunch of stuff that's never actually gonna reach anybody. Yeah. We have a study that says this.
Yeah. Can you put it into practice? Well, I mean, that's harder. Yeah. Nice.
Awesome. That's great. Yeah. So I have I have a survey that has now gotten 200 people back. I showed it to a person in the industry who's a real helper, who's invented something really valuable for people and is and knows that side of, like, the business side of diabetes, looked at this and said, I brought something to market with fewer than 200 people in a survey.
Taking control of your own outcomes47:16
Like, he's like he's like, 200 people's a lot of people. I said, it's only been a week. I'll probably end up with a thousand eventually. And he goes, if you get a thousand people to answer this survey, that would be astonishing. No one does that.
I'm like I'm like, are you serious? Like, yeah. Most of the data is not drawn from even that many people. I'm like, wait a minute. That doesn't make any sense.
And in these 200 people, Jenny, so far, what I've learned is the median a one c change from listening to the podcast is 1.2 points.
I was gonna guess one and a
half. But In of the 190 people who have answered the survey so far, a 122 of them have answered enough of the survey to give me this number. So it this is only based on a 122 of them. Those 122 people combined have had a reduction of 235 a one c points. It's 76 lot.
Yeah. Yeah. 79%, their time and range went up. 69% decrease in severe lows. And that's the kind of data that if I showed that to those smart people, they'd go, oh, that's a podcast.
No. I'm the guy that figured out how to get to them. Smart, pompous. And I'm then they call me pompous and mother and I get called obnoxious. It's not obnoxious to sit around pontificating about all the things we figured out that we can't figure out how to get to anybody, but I figured out how to do it, and I'm obnoxious for talking to them.
I'm like, I can't so there's two different worlds there. And if you if you don't see that the trickle down is never gonna trickle down, that's it. It's it's it's it's not gonna be told to you by somebody who's looking cute on TikTok and telling you to be scared or excited. That's not gonna work. You have to have these conversations, and it has to be with somebody who knows how to communicate and explain it to you in a way that will make sense quickly.
For good or bad, it's me. Okay? And Jenny and people that come on this podcast. This is how it works. My point of starting this whole conversation is is, like, if you're struggling right now, just go listen to those damn series.
They'll help you. But stop telling me you talk too much. I don't like the way you do this. I wish it was like this. I I don't care what you wish.
It works. Look at the results of the survey. Go listen. Feel better. Go on your way.
Like, I'm not even asking them to hang around and keep listening. Just feel better and leave. It's fine with me. No.
Well, that's why I like some you know, you've had other you've had discussions with other clinical minded people. Right? You've had other guests who are endocrinologists. You've had other CDCES on right? You've had nurses.
You've had other dietitians. You've talked to many other who do what I wish could be more of a true practice to, like, to put it into practice a 100% as a rule of thumb.
Yeah. There are a lot of people doing it.
It's that they they have the information. They get to talk to people. But in most brick and mortar, it's a time frame constraint. Yeah. And so what should happen is they should be able to say, okay.
We've started with this concept of pre bolus. If you want more in your own time here, go and listen. Here's a small sips. Here's a a pro tip. Here is this.
It should be a rip off page. Mhmm. If I was doing something, it'll be a rip off page in office that says, this will be your follow-up to the beginning of the discussion that we had today, and this will back it up. And next time we meet, we'll talk more about it, or goodness, you might end up listening to more of these episodes, and maybe you've gotten farther by the next time we have the ability to have an insurance covered
Yeah.
Like, visit. Right? But, I mean, if I could, that's the practice that I would change in terms of whenever somebody ends up being a diabetes educator
Mhmm.
They get a sheet that says, you know what you know, and for additional assistance for your patients that you wanna see good outcomes for, here. Yeah. Give them this. This is the supporting information in a really easy to understand way. Right?
But is that gonna happen? Not unless something big happens within the accreditation system.
Right. Yeah. And it's it's listen. The academic side of it is never going to, like, see this part of it. Like, it's it's people talk about how things should be.
Mhmm. I talk about how they are. Right? Like, you and and I listen. I would make thirty second content for you if I thought it could work, but it's not going to.
Like, I could I could maybe make thirty second content for you that would drive you back to other content, but is a person who's watching something three, six, ten seconds at a time actually gonna go listen to something that's ten minutes long? I don't think so. I mean, I've done it six ways from Sunday. There's a twenty one day mindfulness series that walks you through it. Would you like to try that?
Plenty of coaching services will sell you that for $3,000. Mine's free. Juiceboxpodcast.com/hub. Go ahead. If that's how you learn, do it that way.
Do do you wanna read it? Juiceboxpodcast.com/library. Go read all the transcripts. I don't care. I've done everything I can do short of I I I recently watched somebody who I have been from afar watching for at least five to seven years try earnestly to put good content out, and it never catches for them.
And recently, I watched them fall into the I'm just gonna yell and scream about the about the cure, and it's working. They're they're they're getting more views.
And I'm sure.
And I'm just like I'm so I feel sad for that person. I I because I knew I could see what they were trying to do, and it was a good thing. And they just gave up and just it feels like they went to the dark side almost. And I'm sure they don't feel that way about it, or maybe they do. I have no idea.
But every time I think about doing it, it makes me nauseous. Like, listen. This is my latest review for the podcast. Refreshing and unique. I've been living with t one d for almost fifty years, and I thought I knew everything that I needed to know.
I was wrong. My wife pointed me to this podcast about three years ago about after hearing about it from a friend of hers that she worked with at an elementary school. I started out slow. It was hit or miss with episodes here and there, but quickly became hooked, and I've learned so much more about how to make educated decisions about changing my pump settings. The tools on the website are invaluable.
I can't wait for the next episode to come out. Scott understands this disease like no nondiabetic I've ever met. The Facebook group is awesome. This is something that the diabetes community has needed for decades. It's been around for decades.
I'm glad that this person found it, but I've been doing this already. You scroll down through these reviews. It will not take you long to get to I can't get past the obnoxious host. Let's say I am obnoxious. Let's just give it away for a second.
The person thinks I'm obnoxious. Let's just say they're right. Shut up and listen to the thing and feel better. Like, what do you do? Like, it's like telling me, like it's like your doctor's Or yeah.
I would actually say to those people, read the transcript.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure I'm not obnoxious in reading.
Read the read the transcript if you can't get around the way that somebody breathes or sneezes during or drinks their water during or whatever it is. Just read the transcript because the information you need is there. And if you know how to summarize or skim, you're gonna pull the information the way that you need it, and you never have to listen to the annoying obnoxious person.
You don't have to listen to how the the horror that is me. It's okay. By the way, I read that to my wife. She's like, she has a point. That is funny.
But but my my point isn't that I'm great or that people think that I'm obnoxious or wrong. My point is if your doctor tells you you need more protein, don't tell me you're not hungry for chicken. Just shut up and eat it. Okay? Like like, you you you can't keep telling me all the things that are wrong and the reasons why I can't help myself.
Like, it's it just oh, I can't. I'm too busy. I I got lost scrolling. I was doing this. I'd like to, but I I'm not the one I love is that I'm not a podcast person.
Aren't you? You how can you send me a note and say, hey. My a one c is nine. I really need help. And I say, listen to this.
And you respond back and go, I'm not a podcast person. Well, I'm a podcaster. This is all I've got to offer you. You came to me for god's sakes. What a bizarre reply.
What about a review that says he talks it's a fucking podcast, Jenny. What am I supposed to do? Not talk. What would that be? Here's what a podcast is where nobody talks.
You having fun? Just I I know. I know, Jenny. I'm sorry. I'm not mad.
I'm not even not even mad. I'm just it's been a long week. And I
It's it's more than anything. It's I think it's frustration. I am completely frustrated. No. It's frustration with, I think, a platform that doesn't support what you're trying to put out to begin with.
And then, I mean, I think that there are podcasts that I have listened to that I don't particularly love the hosts, but I do like the information enough to be able to get past it and say, okay. I I really needed this snippet or I needed that snippet. I may not listen to the whole thing, but I grab what I need out of it because I came to it because of the topic I was interested in.
Yeah.
Right? So don't as you mean, to truly say kind of what you're saying, it's like the person says, well, my a one c is here. How can you help me? Well, listen to this episode. Well, I don't like podcasts.
Nineteen hundred five stars, forty-seven ones57:19
Well, I don't know what to do for you then because you're the one that came to me. Yeah. Like, I don't know.
Listen. And in fairness of I think I have about 2,000 ratings and reviews. You know, I'm looking here. It's 1,900 of them are five stars. I think there's forty seven one star reviews.
I I I understand that it feels like it feels like I'm complaining about nothing, but it's not I'm not complaining. I'm trying to say to you all, you're being hijacked by your social media and it is stopping you from doing better, not just with this, but probably with a lot of things. And I'm you're if I say it, I'm obnoxious or I'm pompous or I'm like, oh, you're not ready to hear it. So you know? But please stop.
Like, go help yourself with something. You know?
But what you're telling is the truth, and sometimes the truth is really hard to swallow. Whereas a TikTok or whatever the platform is, it's pretty, and it makes you feel a little happy.
Yeah.
Right? About, oh, well, let me let me put this device here, and let me wear a green shirt at the same time and, you know, whatever it is. But your job and my job, it's not it's not to make it pretty because it's not. It's it's not pretty.
We do and by the way, we I think we make it interesting, and we make it understandable. And it's not, like, it's not boring. I trust me. There are plenty of people putting this content out. It is so mind numbingly boring.
Boring.
But it's right. But who? Just you drop your head through a wall. I I listen. If you Yes.
I I'll tell you the same thing I told my my little brother when I caught him smoking forty years ago. I said Mhmm. If you are okay with knowing that there are 12 guys at a boardroom table right now laughing that you bought those cigarettes
And making money off
of and making money off of you, then god bless you. Go get them. But they're stealing your life in trade for $2. Back then, was $2. I don't know what a pack of cigarettes cost anymore.
The people who wrote the algorithms59:21
And and social media is the same thing. There there are no shortage of documentaries where the people who wrote these algorithms are apologizing into the camera to society. They're like, I am so sorry. The person who figured out that when you get to the bottom of the page, if you push up one more time, it loads more, I've seen that person no more than three times apologize to society. I am so sorry I came up with doom scrolling, because that's what he came up with.
Like, it used to be you scrolled to the bottom and you were done at some point. Now it just reloads and reloads and you can't find the end of it. It's a slot machine. Like
Was that an was that an article recently in the Wall Street Journal? I feel like I read that.
He has that person has tried very hard to tell the world I shouldn't have done this. Like right? And so we're go find the one where every person who runs these platforms, their children don't have phones. Their children are not allowed on social media. Like, they they know you're being hijacked.
Right? Like Yes. They won't let their kids do it.
The iPad developer, no devices in his home for his children. None. What does that tell you?
I mean, it should tell you something pretty simple. It should tell you that, like and and even the way that so I went over how Facebook basically is really just an ad generating thing that keeps you trapped. You you're basically I don't know if you've seen Percy Jackson. I guess I'm on a Yes.
A home run. I my my boys read the books, and then we watched the movie.
I think I'm on an odyssey thing right now because they get into that bar, and they're eating the
the Oh, the lotus flower.
Lotus flower that keeps them there forever, and they don't know. Mhmm. That's what's happening to you. And but isn't that funny? Because as I watched the Odyssey, which is a writing just very old, it it's it was used then.
Right? She keeps him on that beach by eating a lotus flower, and and that's what social media is doing to you. It is keeping you a little numb and a little happy where your time just goes by and waste and waste and waste. And it used to be people would say, no one's gonna die on their deathbed happy about how much they worked. You know, I've met a lot of people who really take a lot of value out of their work.
It's actually doesn't seem to be true. You're definitely not gonna die on your deathbed excited that you saw 75 different people street fighting in the last forty five days or that somebody was able to trick you by yelling one of these lines out into a camera. Or I just interviewed Addie Taylor the other day who makes really like, she's a she's a type one TikToker. I like her a lot.
The lotus flower1:01:55
I know her
personally. She's lovely. She's like she said there's a thing now where if you pretend to put your phone down as the recording starts, it hijacks the person's brain for a second. So when you when it looks like, oh, somebody just thought, oh, I'm gonna make a video. Let me just put my phone down here.
That's a trick to get you to watch because the motion of the camera being set down makes your brain go, oh, what's happening? It's it's there's so many of those tricks that they're using to hijack you because they only have three seconds to keep you. And if they keep you long enough to get a view and they get enough views, then they're gonna have a company call them and say, hey. We'd like to give you $500 to make a video. Sure.
Life is being stolen so that person can make $500 to feed you an ad. I'm at least trying to keep you entertained or informed. Okay?
With no with with with no
I don't we don't do the, you know, I don't yell about, like, crazy things or do rage, like, baiting stuff. Or I I look at I never do rage baiting stuff. I look out there when it's happening. There were people arguing in the diabetes community recently about something. Every person making content paid attention to it and said something about it, trying to just desperately get you to look.
I did I didn't do that. I was like, I'm not I don't care about that. I'm not paying attention to this. This is ridiculous.
Nor do you probably have time to actually
Who could possibly care less? Not me for certain. And I know that the people that I reach with, you know, refreshing and unique. I'm so glad I stumbled across this. It's informative and applicable to everyday life with diabetes.
It's a lifeline for my family and everyone else's. Even this person who indicates a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. This thing's fun. It's funny, and you still learn. Like, I know that that's how it catches those people, but those people are hard to find.
And so there may so there's a group of people on on socials who are not getting the help, and there's a group of people who are not on socials who you can't find. And there's it's just everyone's hidden behind some sort of a wall. And the one thing that used to work overwhelmingly was Facebook to podcasting. But Apple changed their algorithm, and Facebook changed their algorithm. And they don't it's it's like it's it's like if it's not Dax Shepard or if it's not call her daddy or, you know, or it I I don't know.
If it's not, like, famous people making a podcast, the either
not matter.
It doesn't matter. There's nothing you can do about it. Like so my whole thing and look. I I screwed myself again. I did the same thing I always do.
I tried to help you instead of helping myself. I was on here to tell you, open up your podcast app and restart your downloads because they changed the algorithm, and you probably think I'm not producing content right now. It's because of the way the algorithm works right now. You have to turn your automatic downloads back on. That's it it got shut off in a in an iOS update on purpose.
And and I used to be able to just say, hey. Look. I made an episode about this. This is what it's about. Put it on Facebook.
Twenty, forty, 50,000 people would see it, and they could go decide if they want to listen to it or not.
That's Sure.
None of that works now. So now I'm gonna go ask clinicians if they wanna tell people about it, and they're gonna say no. And then I'm gonna come back here and just churn out this podcast until my head explodes, and then I'm gonna retire. Okay? Because and I don't I hate this is the thing.
This is a joy
Well, I think for clarification too, it's not that you're you're churning it out, I think, is more
I don't mean that. Negative.
It's it's It's really more like you're you've got a drive to give people the information that's needed. Yeah. And that's important. The frustration behind it is reaching people who are never gonna see it for one reason or another. Right?
Because unless you are like, what happens I guess my question, because I don't know. What happens when you do just a Google, for example, search for podcasts about diabetes?
You're gonna get me. If you ask You come up. If you ask AI or you ask Google, you're get you're getting you're getting juice box, like,
for sure. So then at least you're gonna get directed to where the podcast is. Right? But it's not technically through social media.
I'll tell you that. I'm gonna tell you something in a second. But first, let me you were right to, like I don't churn out the podcast. I work really hard on it. I really it's a joyous job that
I have. Enjoy it.
Yeah. I real it it really is. Everything around it is set up to make me insane. Imagine if your job was baking cookies, and you loved baking cookies. And then as soon as you took the cookies out of the oven, a giant came over you and smacked you in the head and knocked the cookies on the floor.
That's me. Okay? I'm the cookie maker on the floor watching the giant step on my cookies. I I go, oh, that's a beautiful cookie. Someone will really ow.
Fuck. Cookies are smashed. That's it. Every day of my life except
pretty angry about that.
Except for except for the one thing that still works, word-of-mouth. Yeah. Word-of-mouth is how the podcast gets spread around. It's by clinicians. It's by people who listen to it.
It's by school nurses that I have data on who share you'd be stunned by the number of ways that the podcast is shared. That's the only thing that works. Okay? And it's it's it and I need you to download the show. Like, there's it's a two pronged idea.
You gotta download the show so you can hear it, and you gotta download the show so people will buy ads on it so I can make it again so you can hear it. It's very simple. Okay? That's how it works. And at the moment, maybe I'm never gonna grow it.
Like, maybe I'll never go find those other people because to your point about, like, somebody's gonna Google it. My daughter's friend FaceTimed me from the store the other day, and she said, I've decided I'm gonna recock my bathtub. And I was like, good for you. And she's like, I don't know what I'm doing, and I need you to help me, like, you know, pick stuff
up. Find the product.
Like, I need a dad for a second. I'm So helping her walk through. I'm like, don't buy that. I have that. I can give you that.
I can lend you that. Like like, just get that right there. And I said, how'd you even get the nerve to, like, wanna do this? Like, where'd you learn about this? And she said, I TikTok ed it.
And I thought, shit.
So she was probably, what, watching reels or whatever they're called and
then No. She searched TikTok for how to recaulk her tub.
Oh, she did. Okay. Because I was I was wondering if maybe something came up, And she was like, oh, yeah. My bathroom looks pretty nasty. I probably should do that.
Like, I wondered if it queued her into doing something that in the back of her mind, she had been noticing.
Yeah.
And then because the information came up, she was like, I got time. Let's do that.
She uses TikTok like a search engine.
So I would never
Of course, you would.
I I
No. I I know. If you understand the that the the the app works on your base, like, desires and things that make you and they make you feel enraged, then if you use TikTok for a diabetes search engine, you're just gonna get either people with diabetes acting joyously, which is nice, but isn't gonna help you bolus. But you're gonna get people complaining that the the man's hold them down or that the cure is they're gonna celebrate that it's almost over. They're gonna do whatever it is that that algorithm makes that draws eyeballs with.
And the algorithm's not gonna dry draw eyeballs with, hey. I don't know if you know this or not, but there's a thing called the Smoji effect. And or, like, you know, when you get up in the morning, did you know that did you know coffee needs to be bolus for? There's one maybe you'd get on TikTok. Like but then what do you what do you do with that after you hear that?
What they’d rather you do1:10:08
You go, oh, yeah. It happens to me too.
Because there's more information about how how to do something.
Because there's no time. It's even possible that the creator has the information. I don't know how they're gonna put the time up because when you talk to them, they don't wanna put time into the video because it's wasted. If you watch the if you look at the graphs for, I don't know, 20,000 people saw my video, 3% of them stay five seconds, then it drops off a cliff, and you'll be lucky to maintain 10 or 15% of them till the end. So you have to get I mean, I don't know.
What's 10% of a 100 like, yeah. So to get a thousand people, you need to and nobody's getting hundreds of thousands of views. Right. So you're getting 10,000 views on a video, say, to hold a 100 of them to the end. And anybody who understands marketing or how the human brain works is like, that's not that's not gonna work.
That that's those people are never gonna make it to the next thing. And that we already know that if you put two clicks between discovery and the answer, you lose people. They'll they'll literally stop clicking. They'll go, I don't it's okay. You could literally promise someone the history the the the just the I don't know.
The pot of gold, I know where it's at. Here's the map, and I gotta click three times. On the second click, they go, I don't wanna be rich that bad. It's and that's just how the brain works. So I don't I'm sorry.
I I I apologize. I don't know. I'm really upset, Jenny. I am very I
am You're frustrated.
Also, I'm gonna go live my life. I want you all to realize that those of are right about me. As soon as I get done recording, I am I'm not gonna think about this again. I'm gonna go keep making the podcast and do the thing I know that's valuable for the people who find it. I just wish that it didn't feel like even after I picked up the cookies and put them back together and wandered outside that a giant bird didn't come down and steal them from me because it's either Facebook or it's Apple or it's Meta or it's Instagram it's TikTok or it's somebody.
There's so many implements set up in front of you, and every time one of them stops you, it tells you the same thing. For just for just $10, we'll show this to 50,000 people. If you put $25 on this, we could almost guarantee that it'll reach 10,000 people. Would you like to but you don't know that because you're not a creator. You don't know that the only stuff that you're Right.
That you're seeing is something that somebody is likely paying you to see, and nobody will will admit that they're paying. Sure. Yeah. And did you see and have you noticed how everybody's turned off their counters? Like like, you don't let they on Instagram, nobody will let you see how many views their thing has.
Oh, hi. Yeah. Because they don't
have Instagram.
Don't want you to know that nobody's looking at it. They just wanna Oh, I see. Like they're doing the thing, and they're a good place for you to put your ad dollar. Because I make content all the time and blah blah blah, and you should put it behind me. And then you talk about, well, I reach all these in fairness, the people I work with understand the value of the podcast.
I'm not complaining about them.
Of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I just hi, Jenny. I gotta stop. I'm gonna have a stroke. I'm gonna have No. No.
No. I'm gonna go get an egg. I'm gonna have a nice egg. I'm gonna poach two eggs.
Oh, that sounds good.
I love a poached egg. I might put it with a half a piece of rye toast, and and I'm gonna
Do you know do you wanna hear something about funny about a poached egg?
Are we still recording? Go ahead. Tell me.
So when I when I was in the hospital at diagnosis, my first breakfast that next morning, I had options, and I was like, I don't know what a poached egg is. I like eggs. Let's try a poached egg. So I had a that was my very first poached egg. I really like poached eggs, by the way.
Do you know the secret to keeping them together in one little bit when you What's the secret vinegar? Yeah. A little bit of vinegar in the water keeps them together. That's a nice tip from me to you. Something you won't hear on TikTok.
There you go. You and eat your eggs. They're good for you.
Somebody's thinking right now is, like, I had to listen to an hour and ten minutes of this to find out to put a tablespoon of vinegar in a pot of water when I'm making a poached egg, a thing I would never do in my entire life.
Swirly. Swirly. Swirly.
Anyway, I don't know how that technically works, but the vinegar holds. So when you put the egg in the water, it spreads out and it gets, like, finger like, it almost ends up looking like an octopus. But and then it's hard to keep altogether, and you get the Right. You get the a lot of the white that's not edible. But if you put a little vinegar, a little white vinegar in the water, it holds it together.
You put it in before, it's, like, really, like, good hot water, or do you put
it in Oh, can the water's not your
what's your method? Yeah.
So I don't like I don't I don't like to I don't like to waste time. So I I heat the water up quickly, but if it's too hot it's too hot, it'll cook the egg too quickly. And I don't wanna I don't want a hard yolk in my in my poach. Right. So I get it up to a boil, and then I cut the the fire down.
Then I use the vinegar that helps to cool the water faster. And then I get it right where I needed it a little simmer, and then I throw my eggs in. That's it. I learned that in a cooking class that Kelly got me from
Do have a a swirl technique that
you use? I I have a little, basket that I
Oh, you have a little basket?
Yeah. You don't have a basket.
I have a basket.
Alright. I'm gonna listen, guys. If you're still listening, make sure your automatic downloads, especially in Apple podcasts, are on. Listen to an episode once in a while even if you don't care. I said, I don't even care.
Turn it on and let it run-in the background if you're not even listening. I let it run overnight while you're sleeping. I couldn't possibly care less. Just, you know, tell the algorithm that you care about it. It will show it to more people that way.
And to one last note about how, as you just said, you get the most people, it's word-of-mouth. Mhmm. So please share
Thank you.
Where you've found, right, whether it's with a new endocrine practice or the educator who's new to you or, just share where you're getting your information because that leads to more people getting more information even if you don't like Scott.
Yes. And and check out my website. There's a really a ton of valuable stuff on there for you. It's all always free. Like, don't make listen.
Don't force me into a coaching model. Don't make because I Jenny, you know how easy it would be for me to get a 100 people every three months to be on a Zoom call with me? Right? Charge them a couple grand, ride off in the sunset with all your money. I'm not doing that.
Okay? I'm just trying to give you the podcast for free. Just take the damn Jesus. I can't I'm I wish Mark Zuckerberg was here. I'd slap him open handed across the face.
I think many people would.
With a glove. Like, it was the I'd be like, sir, I challenge you to a duel. I would you were Poodles?
Did you use poodle noodles?
You were you've ruined social media. Facebook used to be an almost nearly perfect, like like, structure in the way it worked. Mhmm. It just and now you have to fight with it every day just to get it to do something. It's really it's and if you if you spent eight minutes looking through that Facebook group to see how it's helping people, how valuable it is, it you would know how, like, despicable it is to block people from seeing the information in there that they that they need to see in in lieu of whatever else you're showing them.
And and just and I'll just from a personal note for a second, and I know no one's listening to this that that could do this thing, but, like, be ashamed of yourself, you know, that you did this to the world. Like, be be really ashamed. Whoever set these platforms up like this to just be attention, like, whoring Grabbers. Minds. Like, just you should really you should just really be ashamed.
So, anyway, there's literally a lot of people, not just me, trying to help people and not just in diabetes, and you couldn't possibly be making it any harder. So and then you force people into these money schemes.
Right.
Yeah. I mean, you know, Jenny, there's there's a there's a culture on YouTube of people telling you how to be rich by being a YouTuber, but their job is to tell you that they are a successful YouTuber. So you want to be a successful YouTuber. So you think that you just don't know the secrets to doing it, But the secret is the only way to be a successful YouTuber is to YouTube about telling people how to be successful. But at what?
And then you go try to put their things into practice to sell your
And it doesn't work.
It doesn't work because the only people who are on YouTube are people who are desperate to figure out how to use YouTube. It's it's insidious, like, really, really horrifying. Like, you really gotta sip smoke look. It's hard to talk about because it's so layered. Go smoke a little weed and try to think about it for a second.
Okay? Or whatever it is you do to calm down, try to think about it a second. There are people selling attention to people looking for ways to learn how to get attention, to get your attention.
Sure.
It's it's horrifying, and you should and I'm too close to it. I'm realizing I need a vacation. I'm going to go to Ohio and have dinner with Jenny to relax. That's that's my big that's my big vacation. Yay.
Thank you.
Of course. Bye.
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Order today, minimed.com/juicebox. Having an easy to use and accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away. Contournext.com/juicebox. That's right. Today's episode was sponsored by the Contour next gen blood glucose meter.
It's the meter my daughter uses. She has it on her right now, and you're one click away from having it too. And don't forget using juice box podcast links helps support the show. Friends, my diabetes pro tip series is about cutting through the clutter of diabetes management to give you the straightforward practical insights that truly make a difference. This series is all about mastering the fundamentals, whether it's the basics of insulin, dosing adjustments, or everyday management strategies that will empower you to take control.
I am joined by Jenny Smith who is a diabetes educator with over thirty five years of personal experience, and we break down the complex concepts into simple actionable tips. The diabetes pro tip series runs between episode one thousand and one thousand twenty five in your podcast player, where you can listen to it at juiceboxpodcast.com by going up in the menu. If this is your first time listening to the juice box podcast and you'd like to hear more, download Apple podcast or Spotify, really any audio app at all. Look for the Juice Box Podcast and follow or subscribe. We put out new content every day that you'll enjoy.
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I'll be here tomorrow with another episode. I hope to see you again.
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© 2007–2026 Juicebox Podcast. All rights reserved.
#1953 Autism and Type One
Autism and Type One
Sam's son Lucas is autistic and has had type 1 for five years. She talks about sensory limits and food, what the pump does and doesn't do for them, and heading into middle school.
Jump to a moment
- Lucas is autistic and has had type 1 for five years. Sam noticed something around age two — essentially no speech, sounds but no communication, an infant who couldn't be consoled and didn't sleep through the night until four or five. Speech and occupational therapy followed. Her wry observation is that years of three-hour nights meant adjusting to type 1 sleep was not the hard part.
- Sensory issues shaped what he could eat. For a long time his menu was genuinely limited by sensory tolerance, which is a very different carb-counting problem than picky eating. Notably, the diabetes gear itself has not been the sensory battle she feared — hard at first, but with consistent Omnipod and Dexcom use since about six months post-diagnosis, he tolerates it.
- Her husband didn't want a CGM at first. She describes talking through that early resistance after diagnosis, and where they landed. They now run Omnipod 5 with Dexcom, and Lucas's most recent A1c was 6.2.
- She doesn't let the algorithm drive. Sam is candid that Omnipod 5's automation has never quite hit him correctly, so she stays hands-on rather than relying on it. Scott's suggestion is to put the focus into pre-bolus timing and accurately assessing how much he's actually eating. Settings and targets belong with a care team — none of this is medical advice.
- Middle school is the thing keeping her up. She's using the transition as a reason to reassess everything, and she's frank about a school nurse she doesn't have confidence in. The tension she names is real and common: she knows what to do and is at the school constantly, but she doesn't want Lucas to be the kid whose alarms disrupt the class — especially with phones being restricted.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — settings, pre-bolusing, and food impact, the areas discussed here.
- 504 plan builder — Build a school plan, a substitute-teacher sheet, and responses for the meeting.
- Bold Beginnings series — Scott and Jenny Smith for families early in the process.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:06
Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Juice Box podcast. On today's episode of the podcast, there will be nothing that you should take as advice, medical or otherwise. So please, please consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan or becoming bold with insulin. Is there anything better than helping the t one d exchange at t1dexchange.org/juicebox? I've been talking about this all month, my friends.
Have you been doing it? T1dexchange.org/juicebox. Fill out the survey. That's all I'm asking you to do. It should not take very long.
It is a genuine help to people living with type one diabetes, families and friends, and people with type one alike. You are one of those people. I've got two OG sponsors for you today, Omnipod five and Dexcom. That's right. The episode that you're about to enjoy was brought to you today by Dexcom and the Dexcom g seven, the same CGM that my daughter wears.
You can learn more and get started today with my link, dexcom.com/juicebox. And this little slice of podcasting perfection is also brought to you today by the Omnipod five. The Omnipod five is a tube free automated insulin delivery system that has 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. You can learn more and get started today at my link omnipod.com/juicebox. At that link, you can get yourself a free starter kit right now.
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You'll find those links in the show notes of the podcast player you're listening in right now and at juiceboxpodcast.com.
Meet Sam and Lucas2:02
My name is Samantha. I go by Sam mostly. My son is Lucas Dawson. He is a type one diabetic. He's been type one for five years now, and we live in Central Pennsylvania.
Oh, near where my son went to college. Oh. I love your intake form. What are some themes or you hope to cover in this episode? I don't have a specific theme.
Oh, I didn't necessarily have a specific theme either. I guess just going over what I've been doing over the past five years that's worked for us and our family. But if you have any questions for me, go for
it. I I hope to have listen. I don't If I don't have questions for you, this is gonna get boring really quickly. So Yeah. Let's go back five years.
Why did you pick five years? Is when your son was diagnosed?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So he was diagnosed in August of, whatever five years ago was. Jeez. What year is
it now?
Yeah. Yeah. '21. Mhmm. It goes by so quick.
I can't keep up. Yeah. That's when he was diagnosed, and that's August is always our you know, I think about it around this time, so we're getting up on it soon.
Yeah. Actually, August in just a couple of days. Does it make Yeah. Make you feel any certain way at the, you know, at the anniversary?
You know, it just it brings me back to the time when we were diagnosed, which was a really scary time and all those feelings that came up, when it happened. Now we're great, but, you know, back then, it does it does bring that feeling of, like, dread up and how I felt in the hospital. And
How did you feel?
Oh, I was scared to death. I knew nothing. I'm not type one. There's we don't have any type ones in my family. I did, thankfully, grow up with a best friend whose brother was type one, so I kind of knew the signs and symptoms before we got diagnosed.
And so is that how you figured it out, or how did you
Yeah. My son had actually been on a trip with his grandparents to the Washington Zoo at the time, and they were, you know, telling me, he keeps going to the bathroom. And before that, he had kinda started, like, going to the bathroom more frequently. But because he is also on the autism spectrum, I thought maybe it was, like, a sensory thing because he loves to visit bathrooms. So I didn't really think much of it at first when it started happening.
Hey. Quick sidebar, Sam. You you said Sam, people like Sam. Right?
Yes.
What does he like about the bathrooms?
I'm not sure. I think it's just, like, every bathroom's a little different. Everywhere we go, he has to go into the bathroom, see the facilities, wash his hands a dozen times. We just let him do it at this point.
I wasn't sure if it was something about the porcelain or the mirrors.
You know, I I I have no idea. Sometimes he comes up very excited from the bathroom. There would be a mitt in there or something. He has to tell us about it. It was a fancy bathroom.
There's a man in there with towelettes.
And Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's told us words on the walls. What's this mean?
I'm like, dude. Okay. Enough with the bathroom.
Not for nothing. He's gonna love a bathroom at a strip club.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. We've been to the city, and some of those bathrooms, I hear all about them. Can't wait till the strip club days.
They've got the rollers to get the glitter off you. This is all just
from
memory. I don't really I have not been to a strip club in, like, thirty years. I just wanna say, and and the guy will have, towels. He gives his, like, different, like, aftershaves and colognes.
Tell him. I'm like, don't talk to them. They'll want money. And I
Can you imagine he comes out? He's like, I need $40. I bought a couple things in the bathroom. Bathroom.
He would. Luke Luke would figure it out. Like, yeah. That's a situation we would be putting.
The early signs5:43
How old was he when you realized he was on the spectrum?
It was pretty early. Around two years old is when it really was apparent to me that something was a little off. We would we were on through speech therapy and occupational therapy and all that during that time between two and when he started preschool, which was probably around four.
Okay. What what are some early signs of that?
Our early signs, for autism were just complete, like, lack of speech. There was nothing. There was sounds, but he really didn't communicate with us. And as an infant, put him down. He wasn't happy.
Pick him up. He wasn't happy. I had a very inconsolable infant. He didn't sleep through the night until he was about four or five years old. Oh, that must have
been magic.
Every yeah. Every three hours, we were up. So getting used to type one wasn't very hard for me as far as the sleep.
An inconsolable infant, and no sleep6:42
Is he your only child, or are there more?
He is my second. I have an older daughter who's 16.
Okay. Can I ask second marriage?
No. No? First marriage, no.
Just got bored for a long time and then Well,
I have PCOS, so we had a hard time conceding with him. We always wanted a second, but it just didn't come naturally. I've always had PCOS. And into my twenties, it got progressively worse. And I couldn't lose weight.
Weight wasn't coming off. They wanted to put me on metformin, and I decided to have gastric surgery instead, which led me to being able to conceive Luke.
Wow. Yes. Symptoms of PCOS?
Oh, my symptoms were just complete lack of menstrual cycle at some point in my life, but I didn't have a menstrual for two years, weight gain, hair growth on the face. And after my daughter, I had been told through my doctor that I had multiple cysts on my ovaries. So that's the original way we kind of figured that out.
Did you remove the cysts?
No. There was nothing as far as that goes. They were the general thing is just go on birth control, and it will work itself out sort of thing as far as symptoms.
It'll work itself out. You'll stop coming in here and complain to us, then you'll
die. Exactly. Yeah. Not this yeah. It doesn't get worked out, obviously.
Yeah. Just go leave us. Yeah. We're not helping.
Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. So other autoimmune stuff in your family, let me let me guess. Somebody's gotta have hypothyroidism. Right?
You would think. We've never I mean, my sister was diagnosed with it, but I
I'm counting your sister as your family.
Okay. Yeah. Sorry. Because she's, like, my half sister. She's she's my mom.
So it's like, yeah, she's my sister, but she's the only one that I knew that was ever diagnosed with it. Her daughter has it currently Mhmm. Was diagnosed, isn't taking medication for it, and is pregnant at the moment. Pretty not happy with that.
Sam, I didn't know you were gonna get judgy in the middle of this. That's awesome.
Thank you. No. I the little judgy for family.
I saw that meme recently about three women standing around, and it says, I'm currently deciding if I'm going to, smile or start some So okay. Wait. So now we have two hypothyroidism in the family. Any Yes. Any celiac?
No. Luke also has he has Hashimoto's on top of his diabetes.
And when I said, does anybody have Hashimoto's, how come you didn't go, yeah, three people?
Sorry. I thought you meant, like, outside of, like, our general, like No. No. Nobody in the family outside of Luke. Okay.
I've been tested over and over again. I've got nothing. But yeah.
Okay. How about psoriasis? No. Nobody's got psoriasis. Anybody's fingers get cold?
Get blue?
Mine do. I'm actually going through something right now medically where we're we're trying to get some tests done. I have no blue hands, but I'm just constantly cold. The hands hurt sort of situation.
What's your TSH at when they test it and tell you you don't have hypothyroidism?
Oh, I'm not really sure off the top of my head. I know it's on my chart, and I could look at it, but I'd have to put you on speaker.
I swear I would be happy to wait.
Okay. Give me one second here.
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From the time you put on the Dexcom g seven until the time you're getting readings, thirty minutes. That's pretty great. It also has a twelve hour grace period so you can swap your sensor when it's convenient for you. All that on top of being small, accurate, incredibly wearable, and light. These things, in my opinion, make the Dexcom g seven a no brainer.
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Dexcom.com/juicebox. Links in the show notes. Links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Dexcom Omnipod and all the sponsors. But you can remember it. Dexcom.com/juicebox.
Five years ago, in August12:06
Check it out.
I know. They just did it. Mhmm. I just got all these tests done.
And they said, nope. It's all good.
Yeah. And that's you know, you hear that, you're like, oh, there's other tests, and they can look deeper, and you might actually have an issue. I've been having issues, but, yeah, they do the test, and they're like, you're fine.
What are your other issues that are hypothyroidism related? Hair falling out, tired all the time, dry skin, weight gain?
I mean, I've had all that my whole life. That's the thing. And currently, I'm on a GLP one, so all that's kind of Getting better. Yeah.
I can't wait to find out if your TSH is over two. I'm ex what
is it? Not. The TSH was 1.01.
Wow. Okay. Alright then. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
So, like, that was good, and I was like, okay.
So then
And you know other stuff.
Shift to the shift to the other stuff. Are you anemic?
No. Oh, I was. Well, because leading back to the weight loss surgery, I'm now dealing with some iron deficiencies and so on and so forth.
Did they zhuzh you up with the infusion?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I got that last year, and now I'm on b twelve shots for the rest of my life.
How great is the iron infusion? Like, breakthrough?
I thought I would feel way better than I did, honestly.
How much did give you? They gotta give you all the good juice. You can't just get a little
They they sent me there for three hours. It was it was a three hour ordeal.
So Wait. Wait. What? Mine goes in at forty minutes last time I did it.
Oh, no. No. This was a full blown, like, I basically had zero.
Wow. How many times did you go back?
None. None. So far, none.
Yeah. Wait. Wait. They only they infused you one time. You remember if it was called Venifer?
I don't remember what it was called. I know it was last year. They sat me there for, like, three hours, and I I felt so horrible because I mixed in with all the people that were doing, like, chemotherapy.
It is a sad it is a sad room.
Yeah. I was just like, oh, boy. And I'm just here because I was fat and had weight loss surgery. Now I'm off.
No. I'm sure that's not why you were there. Wait. Wait. Hold on a second.
Say do you know what your ferritin level was back then?
Let me see here.
I love that you have labs.
Oh, yeah. I have tons. Oh, let's see. This was oh, it was only two years ago. Wow.
I'm almost up. 10. I don't know how they do this.
Like, what's the brain? Your was 10?
Yeah. It's like Oh, you must value 10. Yeah. I had, like, nothing.
You must have been passing out.
No. I wasn't. Like, the only symptom was I kept shaking my leg all the time.
Your leg was bouncing?
Yeah. They were like, well, that can be a sign of low iron. I was like, alright. They'll let me say it hasn't really went away since they've done things. So
So so they gave you one iron infusion for a 10 ferritin.
Yeah.
I am gonna tell you that was not enough. May I may I suggest
tell you my ferritin now is much higher.
What what is it now?
One forty seven.
Okay. I mean, it's not terrible.
It's it's not as bad?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. One forty seven is actually, it's fine.
I mean, 70 under 70, we'll call low. One forties I mean, listen. It's not terrible. I would see hematologist, like, six months from now and check it again.
Well, I definitely have to go back in six months because now I have high cholesterol after losing a 130 pounds. Don't ask me how. I don't know.
Your cholesterol went up?
Oh, yeah. Significantly. You lost a 130
pounds on GLP?
I did in eighteen months.
Good. Which one did you take?
Zepbound, and then they changed me to Wagobi because of insurance, and now I'm back. I was on Mounjaro. They changed to Mounjaro, and now I'm on Zepbound again.
Hello, insurance. Yeah. I take the Zepbound. Just took it last night. How much do you take?
What's your injection?
I've been on five consistently for eighteen weeks.
Wow. You lost a 130 pounds on five milligrams.
I did.
Look at you. That's awesome.
But, you know, you also have to factor in the weight loss surgery aspect and all that.
I'll factor in whatever I want. It's my podcast.
And so eleven years ago, so it's not all all all. You know?
Well, let's be clear. You had weight loss bariatric surgery how many years Eleven. And did you lose any weight?
I lost a 100 pounds.
Okay. Did you put it back on?
Over time. Yes.
Okay. So
you Basically, pandemic, I had a lot of stuff happen and yeah.
Yeah. You lost a 100 pounds, put a 100 pounds a 100 pounds back on.
To be fair okay. I lost a 100 pounds in a year, and then a year to the day, I found out I was pregnant with Luke.
Okay. Go ahead. You I mean, you do gain weight when you're so alright. I need I need context. Ready?
How tall are you?
Five three.
Okay. And at your highest weight, you were?
Two sixty.
And now today?
One thirty one. How about that? So about thirty pounds. It's bit shifted. You know?
Better living through chemistry.
Yes.
How about that? Well, how do you talk about what you think the GLP has done for you, if anything.
Oh, goodness. Clarity for one. You can I just my mind is completely different? I feel altered as far as that goes. Because I I will say I have an addictive personality.
Mhmm. There's addiction in my family, but my my addiction was never drugs. It was food.
K.
So that has completely like, the the addictive personality part, food isn't necessarily anything I really think about much other than when I'm hungry and obviously need it, but that that thought process is gone. Inflammation, my body, things don't hurt nearly as much as they used to.
Can I
ask I
Was that was that because people will say, no matter what you say about GLPs, people are gonna go, that's because you lost a bunch of weight? But were did you did the pain go away before the weight went away?
The pain did go away before the weight went away. And, you know, you just feel it's funny because you can feel the inflammation leave your body almost after taking these things. And when I've taken time off of it as well. Like, I'll take a couple weeks off, and you could just feel your body tense back up and that inflammation come back. It's the craziest thing.
Yeah. Why do you take time off?
Sometimes I take time off. I had to take time off because I had surgery recently and just decided I just I didn't wanna, you know, limit myself when I wasn't feeling well off me after surgery, so I took a good three weeks off just so my body could heal properly.
Yeah. I don't know if that's real or not. I I I swear to you, I've had a couple of procedures, and I will time it so that I don't have to skip a dose.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I I I've done it a couple of times. They're like, well, we don't want you on that GLP, and I go, why? Then they don't quite know why other than the package insert tells them to tell me that. And and then I go, okay. I said, well, if the procedure's on Friday, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna shoot my GLP on Saturday.
And then on when Friday comes around, I won't have had it for six, almost seven days. They go they go, okay. That's fine. And then I come home, and I go, where's my GLP pen? And then I hit myself with it immediately.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I I'd like to talk about the clarity a little more because I have experienced the clarity piece. Oh, yeah.
Million percent. Like, the
I mean, there's no doubt about it. I I also had spent six years on an SRI, which was new to me. I'd never been on one before and gained a bunch of weight on it, obviously, as well. That wasn't helping. But after I started taking my GLP, like, things just changed.
I've now been off of my SSRI for, like, eighteen months and haven't thought twice about going back to it.
Why were you on it?
Just general depression, anxiety. Like I said, during the pandemic, there was a lot of things happening in my life, and all of it was just kind of a weight that I couldn't bear on my own at that time.
Yeah. And it's gone now.
That Yeah. Yeah. I I've also gotten off of my birth control, which I had been taking that since I was 13 years old.
For the PCOS?
Yeah. For PCOS and PMDD.
What is PMDD?
Gosh. Don't don't oh, okay. I got a thing. Hold on.
Take your time. Yeah. Also, are you from this way? Are you from East and moved to Central PA, or are you from Central PA?
So I am originally from Maryland. We then moved to New Jersey and then to Pennsylvania, but born in Delaware. So all the East Coast here, just a little pocket.
I heard the whom earlier.
Yeah. Yeah. So PMDD stands for, premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I just always tell people during that time of the month, you got people that have PMS, and that kinda comes and goes. But with PMDD, I basically will have one good week out of every month where I feel normal, not
Wait. Wait. What was that one?
Yeah. It's suicidal. But, yeah, it'll give you suicidal tendencies with it sometimes because it it's just one of those things. It's a mental thing that happens during that time of the month that can be way heavier than just PMS.
But none of this is happening now?
No. I've had no. It's just, like, gone. It's the craziest thing, and I have dealt with it my whole life. My daughter currently deals with it.
How come we're not treating her with the with the juice?
Well, because she's 16 and she's not overweight. We we bay we literally weigh the same amount right now.
Here's what I would say some people might tell you to do, certainly not me
Right.
Is to have your doctor put up your dose and then split it and give her some of it. That's not a thing I would do personally.
Look. Just wanna say. At 16 years old, there's a lot of things I would love to do. Because let me tell you, some days I look at her and it's that time of the month, and I go, here's half a gummy. You know, if you just took this, you might feel okay for But I'm not gonna do that.
Why don't you
get high and calm down?
Severe A little bit.
Severe irritability, anger, or conflict with others. Depression, hopelessness, tearfulness, or feeling worthless, anxiety, tension, panic, or feeling on edge, sudden intense mood swings, feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope, trouble concentrating or brain fog, loss of interest of normal activities, fatigue or very low energy, sleeping too much, insomnia, disrupted sleep, food cravings, overeating, appetite change, breast tenderness, bloating, headaches, muscle or joint, and temporary weight gain. That is how PMDD is described. Does that sound
Yeah. Now it's a fun time.
And you're telling me the GLP affects that?
Yeah. I mean, I feel completely
possible because I was online, Sam, and it told me, obviously, you're just fat and you can't control it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry.
I'm sorry.
The Internet disagreement. I've been fat my whole life. A lot of people on these GLP ones, you know, they don't they don't know what that's like. They haven't been heavy, a lot of them, for their whole lives. So I don't know.
I take whatever anybody says to me over GLP ones with a grain of salt nowadays. I'm living proof to myself. You know?
Oh, me too. I will tell you that I was overweight my whole life, and I I I believe I'm being honest when I tell you that I don't eat any differently now than I did then.
No. Nope.
Yeah.
Nope. I I put in the same amount of effort. I've had a gym membership my whole adult life. I've went to the gym. I've done all the things that I'm doing now.
I've done the calorie count, and I've done the phetermine. I've done the weight watchers, and nothing has ever gotten me anywhere further than maybe fifteen, twenty pounds.
Yeah. I I try to re remind myself all the time that I had done so many different things to try to lose weight, and some of them were, like, fasting ideas. Mhmm. So I once did the baked potato diet
Mhmm.
As I learned it from Penn from Penn and Teller,
who Yes. Yeah.
But was it you're like, I used to be fat, Scott. I know about the baked potato diet and Pennanteller. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. Because you're out there desperately looking for something. Right? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
So I do I did that one time, dry baked potatoes for as long as you can do it for, and I made it ten days one time. Oh my gosh. It was horrifying. And I did not lose as much weight as I lost on seven days of my very first GLP shot that, of course, back then was only the the introductory dose, which they they tell you they call it not, it's not even
It's not the therapeutic
dose. Therapeutic dose. Thank you. I couldn't come up with the phrase.
Yes.
It's not a therapeutic dose, and yet I lost 14 pounds on it in seven days.
Yeah. I mean, there's no denying how great the GLP ones are. I I can't even with weight loss surgery, I was not as successful. And I I keep telling people this. I wouldn't have had the surgery had GLP ones been offered to me back then.
Yep. It just wouldn't
have been a thing.
Yeah. Now you you learned a lesson that I learned for sure. For sure. So one thirty five three now. You must not even feel like you're how long did it take you to feel like yourself?
I still don't feel like myself. I think I'm still evolving. We've just gotten to the point where we're we're weightlifting. So
Good
for There's constant change still happening.
The husband doing it too?
No. No. My husband is also on a GLP one. He is type two diabetic. Mhmm.
Does he does he describe any of these things, or is this something specific to your experience?
No. He doesn't. And I you know, he is kinda stuck in his old ways in the way he lives, and, you know, I just kind of move on with myself. He he lost weight with it. He's been on multiple different GOPs.
I think we started with Trulicity. I'm back
with you.
Yeah. Trulicity, but we couldn't get it. It was hard to get, so they moved into Mounjaro. And I think he was also on McGovy for a short period of time.
So he has lost weight on it. Has he kept that weight off?
He's so far. Yeah. He's still he's on he's kinda dosed out almost on the Mounjaro, though. I think he's at twelve.
I do 12 and a half.
Do you? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Love twelve.
But he's been on I mean, he's been on it for probably five years now.
I'd drink it if they needed to. I I advocated for it to be spread out of airplanes. I don't I don't I don't think you should have a choice into whether or not you take it. I'm I'm just kidding. It's it's just been so helpful.
It has. It has. Absolutely.
And And I'd like to point out that it's very likely that the issue that you and I have is not the same issue that your husband has, which is No. Which is which is even more amazing because it's helped him in a completely different way.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No doubt.
Yeah. We are so close to something. Like, you and I, how old are you?
I'm 36.
Oh my god, Sam. You, for sure, me maybe, are gonna live long enough to see you get a few blood tests, and then they give you, like, a little peptide. I I I I sound like RFK now, but I trust me.
It's not like Oh my gosh. Don't need me.
It's not what I'm talking about. But, like
I go in there.
You're gonna get you're gonna get, like, a you're gonna get, like, a little blend of, like, peptides that are, like, made to fix offset the whatever's going wrong in your body thing.
I would love that. I I literally just asked my doctor. I'm like, is there a vitamin shot I can just take? Just give me the shot for everything.
I'm with you. I I swear to god, I I walked through my living room the other day. I was like, oh, I forgot my shot. Walked out in the kitchen. I went to the refrigerator.
I said to my wife, do you need your pen? And she goes, yes, please. I took two pens out. I like to let them warm to room temperature before I jam them in. Don't even know why.
Just do it. I let mine sit out. And then I think I was pouring a drink for myself, paused, shot that stuff, tossed that thing in the trash, finished pouring my drink, and kept going. And I didn't feel any different than I feel when I am taking my vitamins.
It's true. And, you know, when you describe it like that, it sounds a bit dystopian. But
I know, but it's only because it's not how you think about it. You know, it's funny. Yeah. Isn't it funny to say that that sounds dystopian? But you know what sounded normal?
You unable to get pregnant, significant overweight, pain, trouble concentrating, brain fog, feeling overwhelmed, sudden anxiety, tension, depression, hopelessness. All that, we thought that was normal. But Yeah.
And it's totally not.
But but but because it's getting injected, it seems weird to people. And and because if you could take this thing in a pill, no one would act funny about it. I really I really believe that. I think it's the I think it's the the way it's introduced into your body is the thing that freaks people out. I I this is gonna seem apropos of nothing for a second, but I learned this past week that many people have an aversion to seeing people on T shirt images.
On T shirt images?
Yes. They don't like to see people on T shirts.
Okay.
Okay? It's a thing. And so if that's true, I I say to you, imagine how many other, I don't know, experiences you're having with the exterior world that really, when you stop and talk about them, make no sense. And one of one of one of them is if you take a pill, that's a vitamin. If you inject it, it's you know what I mean?
Surgery or, like, like, something whatever, like, more drastic it is.
Oh, yeah. I mean, even with diabetes, the you think, like, you need it. Oh, yeah. People will stare. You know?
What about yeah. What about all the people who are like, well, I didn't wanna get a CGM. I didn't want something on my body. You'd prefer instead out of whack blood sugars that
We we had that argument, actually. My husband and I, he, at first, did not want to put a CGM on our child after diagnosis.
The CGM her husband didn’t want30:45
Because he didn't want him to be healthy? What was his reason?
I don't know. He just thought it was, like, this weird thing or, you know, it would maybe hurt him. And I'm not sure what the the thought process there was because he never you know, he was the first one to inject him with insulin Mhmm. In the hospital where I couldn't do it.
Yeah.
But it was me going, oh, no. He needs like, I want the CGM on him.
Yeah. Well, if I mean, look. If weird means different than what I'm used to, not completely natural, then okay. Like, I get what he's saying, but you you have to reslot your situation. You can't just Yeah.
You're gonna
do different things him. Like, Luke is maybe a little bit different than most kids that we are around, and he just thought that it would make him even more different. Yeah. Yeah. Cast out sort of thing.
Right. And did that end up being a situation at all?
No. No. Not at all, obviously. Yeah. But, you know, it's something I think sometimes people worry about with their kids.
Is Luke's weight an issue?
Luke's weight has been a bit of an issue. He is a bigger kid. He comes from bigger parents. We try our best as far as weight goes and eating and all that jazz. But, for a long time, because of his sensory issues, we were limited to what we he ate.
Sensory issues and a narrow menu32:04
No. Of course. Also, I'd love to point something out. I hope this Sure. Lands well with you.
We just spent twenty minutes talking about how something is clearly not tuned well in your body. And yet when I asked you about Luke, you said, well, he comes from bigger parents. You didn't you didn't mention that he very well might have a similar issue to what you have.
He may. Yeah.
Why do you think that is?
I'm not sure because I I don't I don't I don't know. I'm not sure.
I'm just I I listen. I'm not I didn't think you'd have the answer. I well, I'm asking you to point out to the people listening. Sam, you are just an avatar so the people listening can hear my thoughts. I don't know if you understand how the podcast works.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. But Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I listen. I know what's going on. Okay.
I just I I think that's incredibly informative. Like, you know how powerful the the replacement of something has been for you. You were angry that someone you love won't take their thyroid medication.
Yeah.
But when I asked you about your son, instead of saying he might have some of these issues, we probably should look into that. You said, well, he's from bigger parents.
Yeah.
As if that's the reason. That's not the reason.
That's not the reason. Yeah. No. You're right.
Because when you're tuned well, you're not a bigger person.
True. True. Mhmm. I guess I've thought more of myself not being tuned right. And when I was his age and in that younger self, I go, well, I'm from a bigger family.
Oh, Sam. Until we learned about the GLPs, it's how I felt.
Oh, yeah.
Like, my dad's heavy. My brother's heavy. That makes
sense. Just what it is anymore. You know?
This is
how we are.
Yeah. I'm just telling you, like, I hope there's a big shift in the way people are thinking.
Oh, yeah. Look. If g o p well, if my parents had offered me g o p one when I was Luke's age, I would have been flabbergasted to take it. And But the world would've known.
Yeah. But the world's different now. Now I know Luke probably has sensory issues, but he also takes an injection for his blood sugar.
Injections, and what he tolerates34:14
Yes. So do you
think he do you think he could handle the
I have thought about it. It is definitely been a thought in my mind again. There is my husband who also has a thought about it, and his is absolutely not in a 100 years.
Cared about your husband's thoughts, Sam, honestly. You know what I mean? Like, I know my wife doesn't care about what I think. So you you don't have to pretend that he gets an equal vote. That's not how this works, Sam.
You're cute and ladylike, and he does what you tell him. This is how the world works. I don't understand why you girls aren't in better charge of things.
It's true. It's true. All we have to do is lift our shirts, and you
guys are not Sam, I don't wanna say it. But if I had breasts, I'd be running the world. I just wanna say. Okay?
It does. You know? People don't think about it. But
I think about it. I was actually
I'm there, but, like, I don't say it.
I actually was looking into there's a a really popular OnlyFans person who has type one diabetes, and I am thinking about inviting her on the podcast.
You've that would actually be a really good story. I mean, we don't you don't have any podcasts like that.
Not yet. I do have one. There was a girl actually, there's a girl on who was, like, exotic dancing. I think I'm supposed to, like, say that, but, like, she was a stripper. And, her story was really interesting, but she was more newly diagnosed.
Anyway, this is not the point. My point is this. Your husband, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And, I make a podcast. You should probably listening to me.
I would tell you I'm gonna try I don't think I can get this person to come on the show. So I will just tell you that I am, like, aware of these people, right, who Right. Husband type two, overweight, whole life, wife overweight, some mental health stuff. Both of the kids, I I call them, like, significantly overweight even through their teens. Right?
Right.
Husband goes on the GLP for the type two, has an amazing experience. A one c lower weight. Looks like a completely different person. Describes a lot of the things you're talking about, not the stuff we're talking about. Not the, like, oh, I have more clarity.
I have like that. So it was for him more about blood sugar regulation. Right?
Right.
The wife says to me, I really think I should try to do this. And she was she was big. You know? Like, she was bursting at the seams, like, big. And not a tall person, you know, all having all kinds of issues, but we can't afford the the GLP.
And I said, I bet that if you have to pay $600 a month for the GLP, I bet you will get most, if not all, of that money back on your food bill.
Oh, yeah. Right. Food is not as important as it once was.
Million percent. And so that person later came back to me a year or so later with a photograph of themselves looking like a completely different human being and a little note that said, thank you for bullying me into taking GLP medication. Aw. So because I did. I was very pushy, but this is in my private life.
And what she ended up doing was increasing, increasing, increasing her her dose, but then splitting it between her kids.
Oh, wow.
And if you could see how wonderful her children look and feel now, it would make you cry.
Now that is the other thing that has held me back from talking to his doctor about it is the fact that I think it's just Wegovy that is now being covered for children. Is that correct? Is any
She tried to get it covered. The didn't want to prescribe it for one of the children. She started giving it to her on her own. Then Right. Then they did the ballsy thing of going to the doctor and saying, alright.
Here she is six weeks into Wow. These injections. She's already lost fifteen, twenty pounds. You need to give her the prescript there was some fighting. Like, it wasn't the doctor did not like being circumvented.
Right? Imagine. Yeah. It didn't it didn't go great at first, but they worked their way through it. And and now the the not only does the girl look better, not only does she feel better, but she's like she's like, that whole personality that I knew she had that never came out, it was hiding below it was hiding behind how she felt about herself.
Right. And 100%. Think one of the things is, like, people forget that mental aspect of trying to lose weight and then not losing weight, and then the difference between that fight and going on a GLP and actually seeing the progress. Yeah. That's addictive.
Yeah. Well, the the son who was the the the holdout who was like, I'm not doing that. I'm gonna work out. I'm gonna like, you know, that that angle, like, I'll overcome it.
That
thing gave into it nine months ago. Looks fantastic.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's really it's I think it's beautiful. Like, I I
If they told me that I could put him on Mounjaro or Zepbound tomorrow, I would. But I had a negative experience with Ozempic and Wegovy, which is why I'm just kinda waiting on it to see if things change.
I mean, you're taking five and doing great. Yeah. Imagine if you were taking seven and a half.
But Oh, I don't know if I'd be able to stomach the seven and
a half. No. No. No. No.
But you don't use two and a half of it.
That yeah. I get what you're saying
for him. Right? You hear on
the podcast. Hold on one
second, Sam. Sam, Sam, one second. Nothing you hear on the Juice Box podcast should be considered advice. No. Always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan.
I'm saying that five a seven and a half probably does him and you.
Yeah. I I'm not even sure, like, how I would do that because it's the auto injector pen.
Like Inject them into a into a
A vial. Right? Like, what do buy it Amazon,
and then you draw it out with insulin needles, and you're on your
Well, I thought about this. Okay.
I know you have. Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. Tell but tell people why you've thought about it.
Because because I know his struggle. I've been there. I was the kid. I've been a hundred and eighty pounds since I was 10 years old. Luke's currently 10 years old, and he is a hundred and forty pounds.
He has just reached his point where he has not gained any weight for the first time we've been going to the endo in five years. They've seen just a consistent flat line in his weight, and that's mostly because he's gotten taller, I think. But
If you laid out all that happened to you
Oh, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't want my son to go through all that. Yeah.
Right. Do and are there overlaps? Like, do you think that there's some inflammation that could be reduced for him? Does he have joint pain? Is there any those things happening for him?
You can't find that information out from Luke.
Oh, okay.
He he has a hard time with pain. Like, he doesn't he can't really tell if he's in pain, which is hard for lows and highs. We are still struggling to, you know, decipher
Mhmm.
What he's feeling like most days.
I'm sorry.
Oh, no. It's fine. We're getting there. He's getting there. It's it's just some days are better than others with the telling us how he's feeling.
I laughed at the, oh, it's fine. Because how many people have I spoken to who have diabetes or are the parents of someone with type one? And you say, like, something horrible happens to you. I'm so sorry. Oh, fine.
It's okay. I I got small potatoes now.
Real big deal. Don't worry. Jeez. Well, anyway, I I'd like to jump over to how you manage his diabetes. So, was does any of the sensory stuff get in in the way?
What sensory stuff does and doesn’t affect42:17
Like, you're you know, he obviously, the CGM worked for him well. Does he use a pump? Do does he do injections?
He uses it all. We are just getting to the point in our care where he is starting to become more interested in his own self care, taking care of himself a little bit more. He, you know, he doesn't deal with the sensory thing that much with the diabetes. He's kinda gotten used to it over the past five years. At first, it was really hard for him, but, you know, consistently, we've we've had a we've had the Omnipod, and we've had the Dexcom now.
I think he was probably six months in to diagnose us when we got both of them. So
Yeah. What what do you mean he's looking to take on more responsibility? How is that happening?
Middle school is coming43:00
Well, we're going to middle school this year. He has gotten to the point where he knows how to put on his devices by himself now, to camp, which has helped him with that.
Nice.
He goes to that every summer for a week.
And Which camp does he go to?
He goes to a very small camp. It's called Keystone Diabetic Kids Camp in Pennsylvania. And it's very small, and that's probably perfect for him, but he really loves it.
And he's learning things there.
Yeah. Yeah. The last couple this year, they said he was very good with keeping on his diet and watching what he ate, which is impressive for him.
Does he because he doesn't understand consequentially or doesn't have an ability to stop?
A little bit of both. He is getting better at the consequences of things. Like, he sees, okay. Well, I can't eat cereal only because I don't shoot my blood sugar out, but he's also become a little bit of a narc. He comes to the doctors and tells them all about the donuts dad buys.
And
he's he's he's he's giving
you guys up. He's become a narc.
Well, that's good. He means he understands it.
He does. He does. Yeah. He's definitely getting there, and he'll go, well, I don't want to have the bread because I know it's gonna shoot me up, so I'll just take the meat. And I'm like, okay.
It's nice. I I had an opportunity at a donut the other day, and I took a bite. And I thought, oh, this is good. And then I took a second bite, and I thought, oh, I'm done.
Yeah. Yeah. That's the yeah. You're able to stop now.
Yeah. I got the thing. Thank you. This was nice. I don't need to eat the entire thing.
No. It's not half as good as we we build it up to be sometimes.
No. Of yeah. Addiction stuff. So Yeah. Talk I I'm I'm banging around a little bit.
But, you you said there's addiction in your family, but yours yours is around food. Mhmm. Your did do you have what they call the food noise, or was it just
I do.
You do? What what I do. Can you describe it to people?
It's like a pool. Like, the doughnut you're describing. Like, I just I wouldn't have been able to pull myself away before. Mhmm. My mind would have been stuck on that doughnut and not have been able to get off of it.
I would have thought about it, obsessed about it until I got it. And if I didn't get it well, I would have gotten it eventually.
I would have get I would have found a way to the doughnut.
Yeah. I would have found a way. And that's yeah. No. I was the kid sneaking food.
You know? Grown.
And you don't feel like that any longer?
No. No.
That's something. And are you hungry at all?
I have to think like, I do think about I that's the thing. You're not hungry. I literally have to set times for myself throughout the day to eat.
Yeah. I just explained I think I've been on it for, like, over three years now.
Okay.
I just was telling somebody the other day. They were asking me about it, and they said about the hungry thing. And I said, here's the best story I can give you to understand how it shut off hunger. I said I once was sitting at a traffic light, and my stomach started to hurt. And I thought, oh god.
I'm getting sick. Like, I actually thought, like, am I gonna vomit? And and and then I start maybe I got a stomach virus. Like, I was like, I fell down a rabbit hole. Oh my god.
I'm sick. And inside of two minutes, I realized I forgot to take the GLP three days before.
Oh,
no. And I was hungry and didn't know what it felt like because I hadn't been hungry in a couple of years. I'm not even I'm not even kidding.
Yeah. No. I get like that sometimes. I'm like, what is this?
And I hear people who are like, oh, that's horrible. I'm like, it's not it's not horrible at all.
It's not. It's like one of those things, like, with diabetes, you just kind of it's you live with it, and it's just something that's there. It Yeah. You don't think twice about it.
We still went out, to dinner for Arden's, birthday the other night. We had a great dinner. I was excited when I got there. Was like, oh, I know what I'm gonna get. It's gonna be good.
It was awesome. All that. I'm just not like I don't know. Like, I'm not I I the way I usually say this, I have not felt hungry in my stomach or in my head in three years.
Yeah. No. That's true. Yeah. I mean, I take a lot home now.
You just have dinner and you have second dinner later.
Yeah. Your second dinner, third dinner Yeah. Where we had to throw it out. I couldn't eat it all. Right.
Yeah. We it took us a while in the beginning to learn. Like, we we we started by ordering things or making things the way we used to, and they're like, well, this is way too much food. Like like, we and then before you know it, you don't have as much around. It doesn't matter.
Things aren't going bad the same way. Like, it's all just like it's freeing. I know people
think the learning curve though too, especially when you have kids in the house. It's like, you can't not have food even though it's it doesn't bother you.
I well, yeah. They're you're you're a 100% to call it a learning curve, I think, is exactly right because there were there were a stretch of time where the kids were like, are you guys gonna make dinner? And I'm like,
I don't think so.
Yeah. I mean, if you're hungry, you can make something for yourself, but I'm not involved. Now
Right. Going on husband will be downstairs playing games. I'm doing my thing working or whatever. It's been, like, six hours, and the kids are just like, are we gonna eat? I'm like, I don't know.
Why don't you shut up and take some of that GLP? Okay? Yeah.
Take some GLP. Leave me alone. Just go jump on the trampoline. You'll be fine.
So you said about clarity earlier, and I wondered if you meant the same thing that I experienced. I feel differently now in that from the time I open my eyes until the time I have to force myself to go to sleep because I don't wanna go to sleep because there's things I want to do. And and and and I I have what it feels like boundless mental energy now.
Yeah. Is that Yeah. That that's that's pretty much what I go through. Boundless mental energy and just energy in general.
No kidding. Right?
Like, I could stay up all day and do everything. I like I said, I bake from home. So there are days that I wake up at seven, and I'm not stopping until 11:00
at night. And and you'll and you're enjoying it too.
Yes. And then I go around 09:00. I go, shit. Haven't eaten anything all day. Well,
I so listen. I don't wanna tell I don't want people to, like, imagine me, like, strung out in the middle of the night, like, continue. I go to I go to bed. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I I'm an adult.
I go, it doesn't matter if I'm tired or not. It's time to go to bed.
But they do have that. They say that you can become, like you know, you can't sleep well on a GLP one. Do you have that?
No. I sleep like a baby.
You do? Good for you.
Yeah. Fantastic. All that, I had the GERD, that's gone. I had my feet hurt. That's gone.
My back hurt. That's gone.
Yeah. All the ailments are gone.
Yeah. My neck's still stiff, but I think that's
That's age.
Yeah. I think that might be because I'm old and stressed out. But even stress is, I don't really feel stressed that way.
Do know? You know
what I mean? It's fantastic. I don't wanna say it fixes everything, but it might.
And The only thing that I've been deal like, I've become a pretty much I'm not an insomniac, but I have a hard time sleeping. So right now, we're trying to figure out is that perimenopause? Is it your GOP, or is it PCOS? Or, like, something's going on. It shouldn't
be perimenopause in your thirties, should
it? Oh, no. That's when perimenopause starts. Oh, you got a lot to learn. Stop.
Yeah. You girls are
you girls are not set up for
a long haul. Yeah. Yeah. But yes.
I you know what I think I think about when I, because people who listen will know there's, like, a couple of like, I have a few reptiles that I keep. And people talk about you don't just breed them over and over again because you burn them out. It shortens their life. Mhmm. And I really sometimes think nature did not make women to live a long time.
No. It it it made you to, like, make babies and get out of the way Yep. Is almost how it feels, which is Yeah. You know, obviously, not what we're gonna let happen, but, like, I love the fight against fixing that.
Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm ready. Like, bring on the shots, the test shot. Whatever you wanna give me, I'll take it. Sam's doctor was asking.
She's like, well, do you want to go the natural route? Or I'm like, you know what? I I don't wanna go the route where I have to feel anything happening, so let's do that.
What about, like will will you start to look into, like, those different patches to
balance Yeah. No. Give it all to me. I'm give me all the stuff.
Since my wife started doing these things so my wife was kinda thrust into them because of perimenopause. Mhmm. And then she started doing the things. I have to tell you, like, she's a I don't wanna say this out loud. She's a nicer person.
I can't wait.
She really is. She's she's been really lovely
the last couple years. Yeah. I'm not there yet.
You know,
I there
yet? You I mean, not don't get me wrong. Like, you know what mean? Like but, like, some of that stuff you talked about about, like, inconsistencies or feeling a certain way when you don't wanna feel that way. Like, doesn't seem to struggle with that stuff the same way anymore.
I I'm jealous.
Get yourself that hat.
Gripping onto the couch. I got the THC. I got the caffeine. I'm just waiting Yeah. Like for the blood work to come back.
Why won't I calm down? Yeah. Have you have you considered I mean, when you said they put you on an SSRI all those years ago, what was it?
Zoloft.
Yeah. There's there's more mild stuff now that at lower doses seems to help people with, like, anxiety and stuff like that. Have you asked again? Yeah. Or you're not interested?
I'm just not interested. I didn't like the way that any of it really made me feel in the end.
Yeah. No.
That's So I just I'm trying to stay away from it. And the fun thing was now they they've diagnosed me with fibromyalgia, and they go, oh, what's the cure for that? Or, like, what are we gonna do? And they're like, oh, well, an SSRI. And I'm like, well, you know, I guess I'll just keep with the THC.
Her own diagnoses53:07
Is it does that help?
With the pain that I've been feeling. Yeah.
Okay.
It helps.
Yeah. There's yeah. I I can't think of the one. There's one that's basically an SSRI, but they give it in such a low dose that it acts as, like, more of an antianxiety thing. I hear
Yeah. It was probably whatever she was trying to pan off on me. I think it was Lyrica, and I'm not sure if that's what it was. But yeah. Yeah.
That's what the suggestion to me was.
Listen. Whatever works. That's all.
Yeah. Whatever works. We're just gonna we're just gonna, you know, do it. Rough it. Rough life.
You know?
Just bang.
Rough it out.
I'm just gonna bang through it till I'm dead. Alright.
That's it. I mean, I've I've made it this far.
Yeah. I give it up now. Luke count his own carbs? Does he do his own dosing? How do you manage all that stuff?
We we are we're in the process of trying like, he can totally read carbs on the back of the the paper, and he but adding them up in his head, he hasn't quite gotten there yet.
Mhmm. Do you think he will?
Yeah. Maybe eventually. He he doesn't check himself. That's the thing. He constantly needs a reminder.
He's a constant reminder kid. Like, it's in one ear out the other sort of thing. So he's not doing it necessarily on his own yet. I'm like, okay. Well, let's set a timer for an hour, and it'll go off and you check your number.
Does he do it when the timer goes off?
Yeah. He'll do it when the timer goes off because he's being reminded of it. Okay. But like me, I sit here all day looking at numbers. So
A 6.2, and how they got there54:40
Well, what's his, what's his a one c currently?
I believe his a one c last time was at a 6.2.
Oh, you're doing so well. But are you doing well because you're staring?
Probably. I'm a constant bumper. We bump a lot.
Well, what and you're on Omnipod five?
Yeah. So the thing with me is I'm not good with numbers. I'm I I also have learning disabilities growing up numbers, and you don't get along. So we don't rely necessarily on the Omnipod to do it, like, its thing because it never it never has hit him correctly. Like, oh, it's got insulin going into him, but he'll be high.
So I feel like I'm constantly just, you know, multi doing it myself. I don't add the carbs into the little calculator. I just go, oh, he's you know, we're gonna give him six units of insulin.
What's the target set at in the Omnipod five?
Yeah. I don't know.
But you gotta set the target low. So
It was no. It's at a 120. That's what it is.
Alright. So the new pods are are gonna get to you soon with a target of a 100.
Yeah. I'm I mean, I'm hopeful that maybe it'll do its thing, and I don't know. I feel like it changes every day for us. Like, he can, you know, eat the same lunch every day, and somehow it hits him differently.
Well, there's a lot of variables, obviously.
There are. Yeah. There's a lot.
Yeah. And it's not easy to remember what they all are on every day, but I think the big ones, you know, are activity level, what's he eating, and, you know, is this the first or third day of the infusion set?
It seems to be that messes us up the most is, like, okay. We're on day two, and it's starting to, you know, crap out on us. Also, the placement. Sometimes certain places don't hit as well as other places on his body. So that's kinda what we fight with the most.
Yeah. It's just keeping it like, oh, I gotta change it now. Let me just change it before. And, you know, sometimes life happens, and you'll have 35 units, and you're like, well, it's clearly not gonna hit him as well. So it's 35, but it's probably more like 10 units in this reservoir.
Yeah. So listen. You're doing a great job, but we don't want you burning yourself out either.
I know. I have not found the balance yet. And with middle school coming up, I'm not sure what our balance is gonna look like right now, which is really stressing me out.
Pre-bolusing and reassessing57:12
Well, can I suggest, first of all, like, get you to the 100 target pumps as quickly as you can? Yeah. And then put a lot of your focus into pre bolus and making sure you're accurately assessing the amount of food he's taking in. I said Yeah. I think those
things do. I try to do that. Like, I I'll measure. I'm a measure. I'll measure out the food, and we'll count all the carbs correctly.
Mhmm.
And then I just don't use the calculator thing up top, which my endo is always like, why aren't you doing that? I don't know.
So you won't tell the system how much he's eating?
Yeah. I just I mean, I just give him the units most of the time.
But why not why not let it know what's going on? So because you're saying it's not adjusting, but it doesn't know what's going on again.
I think we just lived like this for so long that it's what's normal.
Okay. We'll live like this now. Change.
I know. I will. I have to because I don't think it's gonna, you know, do us any good in middle school.
And, Sam, it's you're so are you having trouble letting go of the control?
I think so. Probably. I I, I'm the mom that's always over at the school. If something goes wrong, I'm there.
Are you worried that it won't work out well, or are you sad that it might not need you?
I'm worried it won't work out well. I mean, there's been we did used to do that. Like, we were adding it all in, doing this and that. And then there would be days where it wasn't hitting him, and I was like, you know, okay. Well, let's give him five units, whatever.
And then it just kind of snowballed into we're not doing that anymore Mhmm. Because it came easier. Became easier to go, oh, well, sometimes Luke, he'll eat a meal and you bolus him for the 60, you know, grams of carb, but then he'll want something right after that.
Yeah.
So in my head, I go, well, I'm just gonna give him, like, seven or eight units to make up for whatever he's having after his lunch.
Why don't you just put in more carbs?
I don't know because it it just seemed easier.
Sam, why are you fighting with me? I'm on your husband's side now. What do you think of that?
No. No. Hey. He doesn't do any of
it. Yeah. So Screw him. That's not
he's not about him.
Mm-mm. Is he, is your husband a little, on the spectrum y?
No. He's not. I think it came from I know they say it comes from the dads, but I I don't tend to believe that on our sit or case.
In our wait. What is it you don't wanna say about your husband right now? Do you not wanna say
about He he's good. He's good. I'm talking about myself. I don't think his autism came from his dad.
But are you saying your husband's, like, too chill? What is it you're saying?
I don't know if he's too chill. It's just he you know, I'm the main person at home all the time. He works outside of the house, and I'm the one that is doing all the stuff. Not to say he doesn't when he's here, but I'm the main provider.
Do you feel overwhelmed?
I used to. Now that we're getting into this older age, it's not as hard. For a long time, yeah, their resentment, all that. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. You were like, I'm doing all this, and you're out there
Mhmm. With your
friends, doing your dumb job.
To date, I think he's only been to one or two endo appointments in five years. So
And and how does that make you feel?
Oh, I mean, you know, main provide you know, you feel isolated sometimes in it by yourself. Of course.
Yeah.
And you want your partner there to know what's going on because he's better with the numbers. So, literally, our endo writes down everything if she changes anything so that I can give it to him later, and he changes it in the pump.
So could you go to your husband and say, hey. I think that we can let this automation do a little more work, and it's gonna be a lot easier on me and better for Luke. Could you help me make some adjustments
here for seven? And I have. We've we've done that. It's just like I said, it's the summer, and I think I just got lazy with it.
Yeah.
But it's school's coming up. It's not going anywhere, and I really have to buckle down and get this going before we get there.
Well, yeah, you're in Pennsylvania. So you where do you guys start? Like, first week of September?
No. August 25.
Really? Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. We get out a little early in June. I think they were done by the June 5. So
Okay. Okay. Well, I think you'll do it. I think I think this is a I mean, because you're using it seems to me you're using the middle school adjustment as, like, a reason to, like, reassess everything.
There's a lot of reassessment right now for him just a lot of things are changing. We we our endo is gone that we loved and relied on. She left us this past month.
Did she break up with you or die, or what happened?
She I don't know what she she's not working in the office anymore. She's just doing the emergency emergency room, room, and I I don't know why.
Oh, like, it's somebody
just left. Life went on, I guess.
Somebody prioritizing their own happiness over yours. Unbelievable.
That's fine. That's fine. But I am gonna miss her. And right now, we have a just a nurse practitioner that we've seen at the endo, and I'm like, this isn't the same kind of care that we were getting with our actual endo. Mhmm.
So Yeah. That's kind of a bummer. That's changed. And then we go into middle school. That's changing.
The nurse, the phone, and the plan1:02:45
The nurse isn't someone I particularly enjoy that works at the middle school. She's
not somebody I particularly enjoy.
No. She came in well, maybe I just got the wrong reading, but I've heard stories. But she did come into an IEP meeting smelling like cigarettes and wearing booty shorts.
So Wait. Booty shorts and cigarettes?
Yeah.
Well, that's can we call your episode booty shorts and cigarettes?
Go for it. I love that.
Alright. That's what we're doing for sure. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, listen.
You gotta decide. Is it about is it about being right? Is it about being winning, or is it about getting what you need?
Yeah. And that's that's kinda where I'm at because for a while, I go, well, you know, we're not gonna utilize the school nurse. I'm just gonna try to text him back and forth and do it that way. And we do do that at home. Like, that's if I'm out of the house, I text him.
You know, we go back and forth. But at school, it's a different setting, and I don't wanna be I don't want him to be the distracting kid in class.
Oh, listen. It's how Arden and I simplified her care by texting it.
I know. Yeah. And now y'all always schools wanna get rid of the phones. And
Well, that know, I just way, they should probably do that, but not for my kid. My kid's gotta Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I do wonder, though, if it's going to make kids with their phones be more outcasted from their peers.
What if it just if it just set you up like a king? You were like, I have mine, you don't have yours.
Hey. That too. Because then you get the popular kids that go, give me your son. I wanna call my mom.
Yeah. Nobody wants to call their mom, by the way. Everybody's
just I don't know. Mine calls me.
They what do they call you and talk about?
Oh, my daughter. She calls me. She's like, come pick me up. Wanna go get lunch? I'm like, girl, go back to school.
She's trying to get out of school. She's
not calling you.
You made it sound like she was calling you. She was calling for a ride.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. They just use and abuse me. That's parenthood.
Right?
I mean, so far.
Yeah.
That's that's what I've noticed so far. I used to my neighbor had two sets of twins when I was younger, and they were older than us. And there were days that I swear that it just felt like cars went in and out and in and out of her driveway. It's fascinating. You know, just absolutely fascinating.
So I was like I was like, where are you going, Joey? I don't know. We're taking them to something and picking them up for something and taking them back to something, and there's four of them. And I was like, oh, you're in trouble.
Yeah. It's it's funny because sometimes the 16 year old, she needs me more than the diabetic does. I'm back and forth to the school all year long. We got chorus and theater and band and I'm just like, okay.
Yep. Well, Sam, I appreciate you coming on here and doing this. I hope that you get these things figured out. I'm thrilled for you that you're feeling better and that you're living better through science. I mean,
that's fantastic. Absolutely. You do.
Thank you. I'm a 100% calling this one cigarettes and booty shorts.
Please do.
Because people the entire time will be like, what's going on? Why is it that?
Get to the booty shorts.
I'm writing it down so I don't forget. But, seriously, I think that I think it's a tough call, right, with the the school nurse and you, you know, you know what you know what to do. And at the same time, you don't wanna be too involved, and I understand all that part. But you just gotta, in the end, do what is best and what Yeah. And what what you find to be easiest, most reliable with the best returns.
And
don't forget to do that and see how it goes and figure it out. I
wish you a ton of luck. Congratulations on all the improvements you've been able to make for you and your family.
Thank you.
You're very welcome, and I appreciate you taking the time to come on here and talk about all this.
Thank you.
Yeah. Absolutely. Can you hold on one second for me?
Yep.
Heck of an episode today, wouldn't you say? Let's thank Dexcom and the Omnipod five for sponsoring. That's right, my friends. We were sponsored today by the Dexcom g seven. Dexcom.com/juicebox.
Head over there right now. Look into that fifteen day Dexcom g seven. Fifteen days a long time. It's like half a month. Don't check my math but I'm pretty sure I'm right.
And let's also thank the Omnipod five. My goodness gracious. Omnipod five tubeless. That beautiful algorithm is updated now with that new 100 target. Get in there, find out more about it.
Omnipod.com/juicebox. You want some tubeless insulin pumping? Yeah. You do. By any chance, have you tried the small sip series?
It's curated takeaways from the juice box podcast voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes. These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows Making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine. Take a deep dive, take a sip, and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com and then go oh, actually we changed the website. Let me see.
Go to juiceboxpodcast.com and from there, there's these two little lines on the right side top, that's the menu, then click that, then click series, then there's pro there's small sips right there, pro tips at the top, all beginnings, bolus four, asks there's a lot of them there. There's actually a little search there too. Could you just type small sips into the search? Oh, wow. That search works great.
Look at that. And then you could go right to, like, all results for small sips. Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ. You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq.
Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website is I mean, have you, like, seen it? You should you should go check out the website. The website rocks. It is a potpourri, a never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey.
That's right. It really is. What else we got over here? Oh, I don't like the way that works. I'm gonna fix that.
Note to self. Change the change the masthead on the frequently asked questions page. Yeah. I don't like that. Fix that.
Oh, Claude. Oh, hell. I forgot to say thank you. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon.
What is that noise? Stop it. Stop. Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking.
Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against the don't tell people I have reptiles. They'll think I'm weird. Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast.
Look at me. Get all deep in there with another episode of the juice box podcast. You can hear it. What was that? Oh, I'm getting alarms and alerts on my phone.
I was gonna get real deep and tell you about the juice box podcast.
Read the full disclaimer
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#1952 Addy Taylor Has Nothing to Teach You - Part 2
Addy Tayler Has Nothing to Teach You (Part 2)
Part two with Addy Tayler: what the algorithm actually rewards, why reach keeps shrinking, and whether any of it adds up to helping somebody — all fit around a full-time job and a toddler.
Jump to a moment
- Neither of them can crack the algorithm, and Addy suspects nobody can. Her working theory is that someone out there knows how it works and won't say. Scott's is that it keeps changing on purpose — and that Facebook in particular went from a community to an ad machine that quietly suppresses anything trying to send people off the platform.
- He watched his own reach collapse. Scott describes an era when a blog post shared to Facebook could pull fifteen or twenty thousand real readers off-platform. That does not happen anymore, and he is candid that saying so out loud makes you sound like a lunatic — while being fairly certain it's true.
- The work is unglamorous and squeezed into a full life. Addy works forty hours a week, has a toddler at home with her and her husband while they work, doesn't own a ring light, and can't film half the day because there's no light. She's honest that she puts minimal effort into production and would try harder if it were her job.
- “The stone and the match.” Scott's image for a decade of daily publishing: the show is a stone he keeps warm by holding a match to it. Take the match away and it goes cold fast, and it's very hard to reheat. He describes watching a once-dominant blogger stop and try to return to a community that no longer knew who they were — which is why he doesn't stop.
- The question underneath the whole conversation. Addy worries about running out of things to say and about aging out of a space full of teenagers making videos. Scott's counter is that diabetes touches everything so the material is unlimited, and that the durable version of this work is helping people rather than chasing the view — because a view you bought with a three-second hook isn't worth anything to anyone.
- Addy Tayler on TikTok — @addytayler — Where Addy posts about life with type 1 — 85,000+ followers.
- Addy on Instagram — @addytayler_t1d — Her type 1 account on Instagram. Note the _t1d — her plain handle there is a separate personal account.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — the educational spine of the show.
- Listener survey — How the podcast has affected listeners; results at juiceboxpodcast.com/surveyresults.
- Juicebox Podcast Facebook group — The private community, free to join.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:07
Welcome back, my friends, to the diabetes show that never ends. Remember this, 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. What's up kids? You should check Addy out on TikTok or Instagram or anywhere you can find her.
Go take a look when you're done here, and don't forget to go to t1dexchange.org/juicebox if you're over 18, a US resident, have type one diabetes, you want to help, fill out the t1dexchange registry right now, and you will be helping. T1dexchange.org/juicebox. Today's podcast is sponsored by US Med and Tandem Diabetes Care. What a pair. I'm a poet and didn't even know it.
This episode of the podcast is sponsored by the Tandem MOBI system, which is powered by Tandem's newest algorithm, Control IQ Plus technology. Tandem MOBI has a predictive algorithm that helps prevent highs and lows and is now available for ages two and up. Learn more and get started today at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. You can get your diabetes supplies from the same place that we do, and I'm talking about all your favorites, Dexcom, Libre, Omnipod, Tandem, Ilet, much, much more. Go to usmed.com/juicebox or call (888) 721-1514.
Get your supplies the same way we do from US Med.
“Somebody knows how this algorithm works”1:53
I am convinced that there's somebody out there who knows how this algorithm works, and they just won't spill the secret.
Don't you think they changed it? So I've been so okay. So I'll I'll share some stuff with you. I've been doing this a long time. Okay?
There was a time where I just wrote a blog, but Facebook existed.
Mhmm.
I could write something, put it on Facebook, and watch it leave my my ecosystem and see clicks on my counter go to, like, ten, fifteen, 20,000 views. So that's Mhmm. Those are people who are actually reading it once they get there. Right? Right.
When Facebook stopped sending people out2:29
It was it was huge. And then one day, I feel like what happened was that Facebook went from a community online to an AI powered ad machine. So I don't I don't think that Facebook actually cares what you see as long as you stay in Facebook. So if you leave a link for an episode or if you leave a link to to read something or something that's actually gonna be valuable, it's gonna I I don't like to use the word shadow ban because I don't mean it that way, but you are you are literally your stuff's not being served to people. They don't want you getting anyone to leave Facebook.
And when you say that out loud, you sound like a lunatic, but I'm sure that that's true. And so that's how Facebook operates. Also, oddly enough, for as much as Meta loves reels, they don't promote video on Facebook well. Like, so video Right. Video doesn't do well on Facebook even though it literally, like, cross posts from
Right.
Anyway, for me, at the very least.
Yeah. No. Same.
What each platform actually rewards3:32
Okay. TikTok, I don't I my expects I'm just gonna ask you a straight out question. Do your videos where some of your skin shows do better than when you're fully dressed?
Of course.
Okay. Well, then what am I gonna do?
Of course.
If I pull my shirt up right now, you're gonna disconnect and call the police. So I can't do that. And you'll be horrified. And you probably never have another baby on purpose because you'll be like, I don't know. I saw some stuff.
I'm out. It's just my wife. So but, seriously, like, there's no way around this. Right? I'm gonna make this great content.
No one's gonna see it. Just tell me now.
I don't think that's true. I think they will. I think you will reach the audience who wants to see it and who needs to see it.
What about what you and I have done here today? Is there a world where you feel like this should have been on video? Like, our two dumb heads sitting in this little, like, square not that your heads you know what I mean. Like, we're not doing anything.
You're calling me dumb?
No. You know what I'm saying. And so yeah. Yeah. So, like, this like, no one would sit and watch this for an hour.
Right? You're right. No. I wouldn't.
Right. I mean, I'm going off of my own. My attention span's terrible. I think even if I see a video that's if it's a similar video to mine and it's, like, a pump change and it's over a minute long, I'm like, no one's gonna watch that. Mhmm.
Absolutely not. Like, just have to be, like, so fast paced to keep people's attention, and I try and like, if I know that when I'm editing a video and I can bear like, I can barely bear to sit through my own video, I'm like, nobody's gonna watch this. I can't even watch it. I'm so boring.
So So I know no one's gonna watch this.
Need to, like, hula dance while you're talking or something.
Oh my god. So even if I okay. So two things. I only said that for the old peds out there who are ripping me off, who think that their video is working, and I know you think you're getting 700 views on your Instagram reel. No one's watching that.
Just stop. You're wasting a lot of your time and money. I'm just trying to be helpful. People are gonna say I'm obnoxious, which is a common term thrown around for me. So I, I took one of my I was telling you before we started.
I took a bad review of mine, and I set it to music. I, by the way, I don't dislike watch see, here, I'm making my point now. I have to put on glasses to show you the thing. Okay? Alright.
Don't don't laugh right at me. Okay. So I think this is hilarious, but I also use still images that rotate on it because I don't so I think you're gonna tell me that I'm supposed to, like, put a static image behind me and then react facially to the to this. Not just right. Because here, listen to it for a second.
I think it's
A lot of information. However, there is a lot of repetition, and the host is obnoxious. He is busy talking about himself versus the information needed. It would also be helpful if the titles told the user what the podcast subject is so that they can listen to podcasts about a needed subject. So very obnoxious.
Okay. So, anyway I
love that.
I find that hilarious. But what you're but it's not gonna do well. It'll do okay with certain I mean, if I'm being honest with certain women of a certain age, like, they'll like it. Like, I know how this all works at this point. No one else is gonna care.
It'll do 5,000 real views, and it'll stop. Right? It's literally for me. Like, I just I did it for me. But do you but if I play that exact same song and I'm reacting in it, then people care.
Right? Like, if I sit on is that how this all works?
I wish I could tell you. I really do. I wish I knew the secret, but I I genuinely feel like I am not special. The only reason I have a following is because I post once or twice every day for years.
You really think it's just you're being rewarded for repetition?
Yes. I think just being consistent, that's what they want. They want people on their platforms, and they need content and which, I mean, there's lots of people who have, you know, started theirs later than me and have grown way faster than me.
But Can I
I do feel like the followers that I have that I appreciate so much, like, are good followers? Like, they're real people.
Oh, sure. But why does the algorithm like like, listen. I'm a we don't know each other well enough for me to say this to you. I'm just gonna go out on a limb that you're gonna take me the right way. Okay?
You're pretty, but you're not supermodel pretty.
Right.
Yes. You're you're super pretty for regular people. Do you know that about do you know that about yourself?
Oh, that's nice of you.
But but do you like, seriously, nice skin, bright eyes, dark hair against alabaster, good teeth, lips are full.
Thanks.
Yeah. Cheeks. If you get They're fake. The teeth?
The lips.
Oh, the The
teeth are real.
I would a million percent get my teeth replaced if I didn't think it was hard for I have, like, pointy like, that's also slows me down from making video, by the way. Like, I all all I see is my incisors when I'm on video.
That makes me sad. Does it? I grew up even noticed them.
I grew up a fat kid, so, it's not good. It's it's bad. Without the GLP, I you and I, I would have turned the camera off an hour ago. And so, but but point being is that, like, you have like, I think you are I think you fit a really important mold. You're in shape, but you're not crazy muscular.
You don't make me feel bad about myself. You're pretty, but you're not so pretty that I'm scared of you. Right? Like, do do seriously. Like, you have dark hair in a world where nobody has dark hair and gets on camera.
Like, it's really like, you're you're you're attractive, and you're pleasant to look at. So the algorithm must see that at first. Right? Like, it must come on. Have you not thought about this at all?
You have a lot of success on TikTok. You have not considered why it's working?
I feel like the only ones that work are just clickbaity ones. The ones that are gonna reach the nondiabetic community are the ones that blow up.
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Posting into a void10:17
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Tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. The Tandem Mobi system is available for people ages two and up who want an automated delivery system to help them sleep better, wake up in range, and address high blood sugars with auto bolus. And if I don't wanna do that, then it's not gonna work. And then I have to be then I have to count on my my listeners or my viewers to actually be in the app and try to find the content, which they're not gonna do. Right?
I don't know. I really wish I knew.
I'm trying so hard. I could
make this my full time job, but I don't know.
I am trying so hard for you to talk me out of making those videos. That's what I'm working towards. I was like
I think you should. Alright. Mean Fine. You'll get in a groove. It it takes some time to, like, figure out how to edit, but you'll get fast Okay.
Or you'll hire somebody to do it.
Not hiring anybody to do that. There's no
way you do I'm Just make your daughter do it. Your daughter's pretty. She could she would be the great face of it.
And she'll go, I'm not doing that. Leave me alone. And that'll be the end of that. So, I think she's coming to touch by type one with me to help to help me with something in September. And trust me, that is not a thing that I ever thought she would do.
So
Well, she did great in the Omnipod commercial. Oh. So did you.
Thank you. I just looked at the camera and thought, why are they they should not be having me do this. And I kept thinking she because I you can watch the monitor. I was like, she looks fantastic. I'm like a monster standing next door is how it felt.
No. You're again, you're being nice. So, do you feel comfortable? Like, you said you didn't wanna do this and you were nervous. Do you feel comfortable?
Yeah. I mean, you're pretty easy to easy to talk to, but I'm just hoping I didn't say anything that someone's gonna get me canceled over. I'm just doing my best. I'm just a girl with diabetes.
Is that a thing you worry about?
All the time.
I don't think about that ever.
Oh, I mean, that's a big problem on social media. Like, I feel like there's things that I have to steer clear of, and people still get upset. You know? Even something dumb like, I need five units for this. They're like, oh my gosh.
Like, well, I would need 50 units. Like, that's it's just the small things that people get so incredibly upset about, and I I don't wanna be con like, controversial. Like, that's not why I'm here. I feel like there's enough people in our lives as diabetics that are, you know, gonna be mean and say you're doing a bad job or, like, try and make you feel bad. And I'm like, that is never my intention.
What she will and won’t film14:04
Like, share my experience just in hopes that, like, somebody has had a similar experience, and they can feel like, oh, I'm not alone. You know? But it No.
It's great.
Like, I've I've had people tell me they're like, oh, well, like, you're posting they just are trying to make me feel bad, you know, like, for how you manage versus how I manage. And I'm like, it's not a secret how I manage. I very much I don't like to use the word restrictive. I don't feel like it's restrictive. I feel like it's just strategic to be structured in how I eat, when I eat, how I bolus, and it works really, really well for me.
And it makes some people upset, and I just I just want people to know that's not my intention is never to make somebody feel bad.
Like I'm gonna give you I'm gonna give you a few of my secrets. I think that is lovely. I don't care what anybody else thinks. That that's that's one thing. Secondly, I think of sharing what's working for you as aspirational.
It is it is the world does people's psyche does not work by being surrounded by other people not doing well and them rising out of it. You need to see someone up ahead of you who's been through this already, knows the pitfalls, and can say to you, hey. Step three to the left here or you're gonna fall in a hole. Right? Like and now come forward.
Come forward. Come forward. Jump over that thing. Do this. Do that.
Hey. You're up here with me in the light now. Like, it's Yeah. It's gotta be aspirational. I am not in charge of how other people feel.
Yeah. I can say whatever I want.
That's good on you to feel that way. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not to that point.
If it makes you feel a certain way, ask a therapist why. Don't yell at me. Okay? And if you yell at me but, also, I have years and years of content. I have a lot of trust within the community.
And the truth is is that, like, if I I'm sure I say something every day that is problematic. Okay. Great. But I really don't care. And and and because I don't first of all, I don't mean it that way.
And secondly, like, when you're talking as much as I do, you often say things that later you go, I wouldn't have said it like that again if I had time to think about it. Right? Like, you're really rolling.
Mhmm.
And I would say this to you. Although it's probably impossible to ignore on TikTok, those people are the minority even though they feel like the majority. Yeah. That's just true. The person who called me a clown yesterday, I'm I'm I'm making light of it because I'm trying to have fun.
But, and it's the summertime. I'm looking for fun things to do. I'm also trying to teach myself how to edit and do other things with their stuff, so I'm practicing. But but that but I know I don't know how well you can track it, Addy, but I have 86,000 active members in my Facebook group. It does a 150 posts every day, like 8,000 likes and comments every day in that group.
I watch people get helped all day long. I watch other people help other people using things I've said out loud. And I know I'm doing a good job for those people. And I assume I'm doing a good job for the other people who I am unaware of. Right?
I I'm I'm very proud of this. I just learned this recently. I've probably said it too many times in the podcast, but fewer than 200 people in the world have made a podcast for as long as I have or have made as many episodes as I have. Right? Like, that go.
That's really awesome. Right? But my point my point is is that if someone comes up and goes, you're an idiot, or I got hit I got hit on TikTok recently, someone said I gave them an eating disorder. Oh. I was like, I don't know how I did that.
I must be a magic person. Okay?
Yeah.
But talking about diabetes, the way I talk about it made them feel a certain way, says them.
Yeah.
I would tell you, go talk to a therapist because other people can make you feel that way. Yeah. And so you're talking about stuff like that. Like, you just don't and, by the way, I don't see myself as controversial at all. Do you?
Do you think no? I don't feel
like you're any of the podcasts I've heard are controversial. They're just educational.
I'm I am talking to you like a a social media godfather because I think you've got legs. I think I think this is I think you're gonna stick. Like, you are sticking, but I think you're gonna stick stick because let's be honest. There's a lot of influencers that we see today that we won't see six months from now. We won't see a year from now.
There were a ton we saw last year. We don't know who they are anymore, but there's something about you that's lovely.
Oh, thank you.
Whether it lasts18:34
And I think you're gonna find a way to expand it and grow it and do that thing you mean to do where you're being and and I'm I'm just I I think it's gonna work. Like and I don't not that it's not I'm not being reductive. It is working now. I think it's gonna work long term. Yeah.
Is that a thing you would want, or are you gonna make so many babies you're not gonna have time for this?
I don't know. I don't know. I think about it sometimes. It's like, at what point is it, like, people are like, who's this old lady? You know?
I think going to Friends for Life, I saw all these, like, teenagers making videos, and I'm like, I'm an old hag. Like, these girls these girls are young and fresh and, like, have all these good ideas. And sometimes it's like, well, posting once or twice a day, you know, it's like, I'm gonna run out of stuff. But I'm like, well, diabetes is always there impacting everything. Like, the
big Yeah.
Technically, the content is unlimited. It's just more of, like, do I wanna take the time to film? And like you said, I don't even own a ring light, and it probably would be really helpful because half the day, I'm like, I can't film. There's no sun. It's dark.
“These girls are young and fresh”19:39
I, I mentioned him for the first time last weekend in a recording. I've never mentioned this guy before. This man named Tony used to have something called a diabetes blog talk radio show. Oh. And to to contextualize that for you, you would call from your home phone to a phone number and so would the other person, and then your conversation would get recorded in very terrible audio quality, then they would put that on the Internet for people to listen to.
And I did his show one time. Tony had type has type one diabetes, and I don't know him anymore. But as I was deciding to make a podcast, I went to him, and I said, hey. He wasn't doing it anymore. I said I said, any advice?
Like, you know, that kind of thing. And he said he said, well, just you know, it's it's gonna be like a live fast, die young thing. He's like, because you're gonna run out of stuff to say. And I got off, and I thought, oh, he doesn't know me that well. I don't think I'm gonna I don't think I'm gonna run
out stuff. Forever.
Like, you could let's just throw three words together, and I could make up a story about them. So, like, I was like I'm like, I think I'll be okay. That was never a concern of mine, but I do get what he's saying. If you're just gonna talk about diabetes, like, very specifically, you are going to have said everything in pretty short order. Right?
And I find that one of the things that I think I'm good at is modernizing but restating in a in a new way, which Yeah. Because once you know the thing helps somebody, what the way I think of the podcast is, like, I think of it as a stone that I'm keeping warm with a match. Yeah. And as long as I hold the match on it, the stone stays hot. And then the minute the match comes off, it goes it goes cold, and then it's very difficult to get it warm again.
Like, I watched a really popular blogger stop blogging back in the day and then tried to come back and start it up again. And not only did it not work, but the community had no idea who this person was.
Oh.
And it must and and it must have been crushing to them because there was nothing bigger than them at one point. Oh. And I thought, like, oh, wow. Like, you can't stop doing this because if you stop, you're done. Like, that's that's it.
The stone and the match21:52
You know? So don't stop. I'm gonna get you a ring light. How much are they?
I have no idea. I did just buy a new camera, so I'm like, maybe I'll film on a camera, but I'm so lazy. I put I put so minimal effort into it. I'm sure if it was my full time job, I would try harder, but I'm like I don't know if, like, people know, like, I work full time. I work forty hours a week.
I have a toddler. My toddler stays home with my husband and I while we work. We don't have daycare.
Yeah.
So it's like
It's a
busy gal.
It's a lot. Well, okay. So then tell me let's go back a second. If you went to Friends for Life and were like, I'm an old would you say an old dried up hag? Is that what you say?
27. And, so then I turned 55 last week. What did I look like there? I looked like somebody's grandfather then.
A dinosaur.
I did. Right? You were like, oh, that old man is it's so nice he can stand on his feet so long. He must be excite must be exciting for me. His his his arches don't hurt.
I did see you sitting quite a bit.
Got well. I was tired.
You said it.
But but, listen. I think there's a it's good to have a blend of people. What would it and and I like that I like that people are there of all ages, like, like but what would I what would you tell what would you say if I told you that a number of older diabetics came up to me and said that they found it off putting that there were so many content creators that are making videos?
I I think that's totally understandable. My husband and I were actually having this conversation the other day. We, like, think it's, like, super tacky when content creators get together and, like, film a bunch of content together. Like, I think it's just super strange. I don't even really like to say I'm a content creator.
Not that I'm embarrassed about having diabetes, but I think about, like, the girls that I went to high school with that had diabetes, and then I got diagnosed as an adult and start making content about it, and they're probably like, this girl is freaking weird. Like, this is all new to her. Who does she think she is? Like, she must think diabetes is, like, her entire personality. I do think people probably think that that diabetes is, like, my entire personality because that is that is what I post.
I have a separate social media for my personal stuff. Mhmm. It's on private, and I have my diabetes pages. And I keep my diabetes pages strictly diabetes, and I do that on purpose because I don't want to share other things of my life. You know?
It's, like, it's a lot of work to film content. I'm not gonna, you know, go out of my way to make other stuff. But, anyways, I'm I'm rambling.
No. You're No. You're not.
I would I would agree, though, which it's it's fun. Like, I don't look at us and see, like, oh, we're a bunch of content creators. You know? Like, we're better than everybody else. Absolutely not.
Like, everybody who came up and said hi and followed me, like, I was just, like, bursting inside. Inside. Like, they're they're just so kind, and, like, I just felt, like, embarrassed that they, like, even know who I am, you know, because I'm like, I'm just a person like you.
I read that on you, by the way. And I don't know if you could tell because I am, as you heard in the song obnoxious, but I feel exactly the same way. Like, when people come up, I'm like, oh, hi. Like, I I just got done talking about an episode recently where I'm like, I have to stop acting like I'm surprised that you're aware of the podcast, but I'm not acting. I'm actually surprised you're aware of the podcast, but I it Right.
It's been pointed out to me that it comes off as as, like, like, false modesty because people are like, well, of course, people know. And I'm like, you don't you're not me. Like, I'm still surprised by it. Like you know?
Yeah. Yeah. Every time, I'm just like it's, like, just so humbling and sweet and, like, I love it. And it's, like, embarrassing, but also, like, this is the coolest thing ever, and I wanna give you a hug. And I appreciate you so much for, like Yeah.
Watching just, you know, my life with diabetes. But, anyways, I feel like I don't know if every other content creator feels the same way. The ones that I feel like I know well, I feel like they agree. Like, they don't feel like they're any better than anybody else. It's just, like, it's part of our life.
Working full time, and a toddler26:01
We just like, it's fun for us to share, and that's kind of like the reunion, where, like, we get to see each other because we all live all across the world or The United States, you know, at least. So it's, we typically get to come together because a lot of us were sponsored to be there. Mhmm. And it's fun. Like, it's the only time we get to see each other.
Yeah. That does make me sad that people are like, oh. I got a lot of comments about that. When I posted a video of a recap, people were like, well, is this, like, only for influencers? And I'm like, I'm super embarrassed that that even came across as, like, a thing.
Because there were so many there were so many
people there. I'm like, it is open to absolutely anybody. Like, anybody can go. Like, I paid to go last year. I wasn't sponsored to be there.
I wanted to go.
And so the one of the people who said it to me, I know that it just felt to them like it was passing them by, and I think that was sad. Like, I think it felt like, oh, there's a generation here that it's not this is not for me. I will never see that thing that they're they're videoing.
And Yeah.
And this thing isn't the thing that because there are a lot of adults there. It's not just kids. There's and or families. There's a lot of adults here that have type one.
I thought it was, like, forty percent adults last year.
Yeah. So, I found that interesting. I Yeah. I appreciate that you're so candid about it. Listen.
I was in a meeting with somebody the other day, and they called me an influencer and apologized for calling me an influencer as they were saying it. And I was like, oh god. I don't think I am that. And they're like, yes, you are. And I'm like Yeah.
Okay. But I don't that's not how I feel. It's not my intention, like, anything.
Right. Yeah. Same.
And it and it also like, hypocrisy of what I'm about to say is not lost on me. Okay? But because I I make a living making the podcast. Yep. But it is weird to see so many people who appear to be just trying to make business relationships.
And Yeah. And I'm like, that that's it's out in the open now. And that's Yeah. That was not lost on other people looking. Like like, it felt like an audition for some people.
Yep. You know what I mean? And then then then somebody will come up wearing a pump, and then you'll see them in a video three weeks later wearing a different pump. And then a month later, like, they're and I'm like, okay. You you you know, like and people notice that stuff.
So
Yeah. It's a hard balance for sure.
No. It really is.
Because, like, I just I just wanna know, like, I want people to know that it's, like, it's so genuine what I put out there. Like, there's no benefit for me. Like, I've never been accused of this, but I've seen other people be accused of, like, working for big pharma.
Mhmm.
And I'm like, I don't even know how that would be a thing. Like, not that I would do it, but, like, dang, I would like a paycheck. It's like, that would be that would be a nice bonus.
About a year ago, someone said someone said, he is clearly being paid by a GLP company to talk like this. And I heard that, and I was like, oh god. I wish they would pay me to talk. First of all, I'm talking about it anyway. I would I'd be happy to take a check over it.
But Right. But I'm like, oh, wow. That's the idea out there is that I'm slipping in GLP conversation because somebody's paying me to. And I was like, that's not happening. Like, I'm completely candid about what my but by the way, think what I do is almost a public service.
And it's a full time job, and I pay for it with the money that come in from the ads. Like, that's Right. Like, the reason I'm not, like, in a position where I'm like, well, maybe I should be, like, charging people for this is, like, because I don't have to. Like, you're not you said it earlier. It's hard to make this content.
You're not getting it if there's not either the either someone's not really enjoying doing it or someone's compensating them in a way that they can such they can pay their bills and keep the lights on and everything like that.
I don't
you know? And I think people younger people understand that don't care about it. But over a certain age, it seems to hit people a little differently.
I agree with that. Yeah. It's like now, like, if I see somebody post an ad, I'm like, oh, I get it. You know? They got bills to pay even if it's a stupid ad or for a dumb product.
It doesn't even relate to what they post about, but I'm like, they have bills to pay. I I don't like to do that. I actually, like, despise making branded content. Like, is that how you actually make money? Yes.
Will I maybe do it occasionally? Maybe. I'm now I'm trying to pay for a baby. You know? But
This kid looks hungry. Yeah. But
I I don't know. I just, like, pride myself on, like what I post is very genuine. Like, I am, like, the worst liar in the world. I can't even put, like I have to put a screenshot of my whole blood sugar chart because if I just put the number, I'm like, someone's gonna think I'm being sketchy and, like, lying about my blood sugar. So I'll have to put the whole thing, and I'm like literally or, like, I'll be on a run and I'll, like, film two miles, like, back to back.
I ran all the miles, but, like, I filmed them on the same spot because I was on, like, a busy road. And I'm like, someone's gonna notice that the background is the same.
They're gonna call out. Running up and down.
Advice she’s been given31:01
That's how fearful I am that someone's gonna be like, content is ingenuine. I'm like, I swear it's not.
If I if I ever have to put a graph up to make a point about something, I make sure to make it at least twelve hours of the graph so that somebody doesn't look at it and go, yeah. You picked the five minutes where this thing looks okay. You you Literally. Yeah. Yeah.
And so I I I hear you. Well, look. I I'll tell you I'll tell you this. I think, again, what you're doing is really cool. I think it's so funny that you feel old while you're doing it.
And I and I think that it's not going away. And I and I really do take your point about your attention span and that you're aware that it's a problem. And I would guarantee that everybody else your age and younger thinks I'm sure Arden thinks it's a problem too. My son deleted TikTok two years ago, and he was like, this is the best thing I've ever done in my life. Yeah.
And but it's not going away, and the and the the onus to do it's not going away. So excuse me. So my message to everybody who's gonna hear this through you who would never have heard this otherwise is this old man thinks, please just get up in the morning and try to help people. I and and we could force the algorithm and to to, you know, to push up content that would really help people because, like, you're doing it, and you're and you're speaking of it pejoratively. You're like, it's gotta be clickbaity.
So Yeah. If you know that, then everyone else knows that. And now everybody's making clickbaity stuff hoping to get an audience big enough so that what? So you can give them more clickbaity stuff? Like Right.
You know what I mean? Like Yeah. I don't know. Like, I feel like if every there's no way this is gonna happen. But if everybody just banded together, like, maybe the people lit like, sure the platform's not gonna change, but maybe the people looking for the content would be driven towards something that was more valuable for them.
I don't know. I feel like I'm I feel like I'm a child talking about, like, I hope Santa comes.
Right. Me too. I wish I knew, and I wish I knew what, like, what more do people want. Like, I feel like I've asked before, like, is valuable to you guys? Like, what can I post that, like, feels like it's actually helpful?
You know? And feel like, oh, just whatever. And I'm like, no. I'm someone who likes, like, one answer. Like, give it to me straight.
Like, tell me what I eat in a day. That's what I wanna see more of. And I'm like, you got it. You know?
Mhmm. You want
me that. Even if it's gonna get no views, it's like, if it's gonna reach five people and it's gonna help those five people, let's do it.
We make a series called bolus four where we we took a list of I think people send in, like, hundreds of different foods, and they wanna hear it talk through bolus thing. And those things are really popular.
That's incredibly helpful.
Yeah.
I need find that one.
Yeah. So, that's it's funny because once you listen to five of them, what you realize is the food's not important. It's fat, protein, carbs. Yeah. Right?
But but then so we tried to stop making them by saying to people like, look. We made 10 of them for you. Just apply it to the thing you're eating now, and people are like, no. I wanna hear about this now. What about the churros?
And what I'm like, okay. So we just we just
That's what's so helpful, though. Like, I posted on my story, like, I ate some pizza, and they were like, okay. Well, like, how many slices did you eat? And where was it from? You know?
And I'm like
Well,
I'm real? But then I'm also like, no. For real. Like, that's actually helpful information to know.
Yeah. So I'm gonna answer one of your questions. I'm a let you go because I think you have to go, like, count numbers or take care of a baby or something like that. But I'm gonna give you something that a 100% a younger person is gonna go, okay, boomer, when I answer. Okay?
When when you wonder what people want, I think you should wonder what they need. If they knew what they wanted, they'd go find it themselves. You have to give them what they need, not ask them what they need because they don't know. That's what that's why they're looking. So I I that's been I mean, I'm I'm sure I've said it out loud before, but I am I am trying to put content out in the world that I think that you need based on what I'm seeing the Internet talking about and what I hear when I'm talking to people.
I think if I ran around doing what you guys were asking for, all you would get is more stuff that wouldn't help you.
Yeah. Well, I need the how to bowl is for. So here's me telling you I need that. So get that out there.
Send in your send in your send in your foods that you want, or just go to the website and type in bolus, the number four, and a ton of stuff will come up.
Perfect.
Yeah. We've made a bunch of them. I can't thank you enough for doing this. I know you didn't want to. I feel like I forced you.
When did you give in? What was the moment where you're like, oh, I'm gonna go make this dumb podcast?
When you called me out in real life. Shoot. Were escape him. We're in line together. I can't leave.
Oh my god. Yeah. We were standing we were were we I was in the wrong registration line at Friends Forever.
Too, and then I had to follow you all the way across the conference center to the other one.
I just heard a voice bot so this is a meta thing, especially for an old person. I hear a voice behind me say something like, you're the guy from the podcast. And I or something like that. And I turn around, and I'm like, oh my god. That's Addie.
Making something that helps36:09
I was like, that girl hates me. I've been messaging her for years, and she will not answer me. Now life like, this is gonna be awkward. She's being polite because she thinks we're gonna see each other. She knows she doesn't and so I immediately chastise you for not coming on the podcast.
And then, I got to watch you over the weekend. I thought you were really delightful. And
Oh, thank you. Yeah. As you hopefully, you saw my video whereas I'm, like, standing behind you, and I'm like, oh my gosh. It's the Juice Box podcast guy. I'm fangirling.
Well, that's
thinking the opposite.
That's hates me. That's where the meta part comes in because then later, somebody tags me in a repost of your thing, and I was like, oh, I was standing there when that happened. I'm so old. I was, like, amazed by that. I was like, oh, a thing that happened to me in real life is on video somewhere.
You saw it.
I saw it. Alright. Listen. Good luck, with everything. Hopefully, you'll have a good experience with this, and we'll come back and do it again.
But I really enjoyed it. I thought it was fantastic, and and I I appreciate too. I appreciate you taking the time. Seriously. Thank you so much.
I'm glad you glad you encouraged me to do it.
Okay. Can you stay with me for two more minutes? Sure. Okay. Teach me how that was the end of the podcast.
Maybe what happens now might be a bonus. I don't know. Teach me how to make a video. So there's gotta be a formula to it. Right?
What if
Do you have, like, an editing app? How do you I don't know how you edit your podcast. I just use CapCut. I take my videos, put them in CapCut, snip out every point one of a second where I'm pausing between words because you'll lose people that quickly.
Okay. So constantly moving.
Always moving.
Right.
I mean, there's definitely, like, hooks that you can use. I try not to use them because I think they're annoying. Like, there's a really common one now you have to pay attention where people start where, like, they start by, like, videoing and they, like, set their phone down so you're, like, moving the first couple seconds of the clip.
Because it grabs your eye. Yes.
I think since I know that it's, like, a click baity thing, I just don't like it. If I see somebody do that, I immediately skip the video.
Mhmm. Oh, you're you're you're mad at them for knowing how to get your attention.
Yes. I'm just like, that's annoying. Like
You're very close to rehab for social media, I think.
For real.
So the motion in the beginning is, like or, like, I'm about to tell you the top five things or that, like, promise deliver promise deliver cadence. Right? There's that whole social, like, psychology part to it.
Or, like, screen on the text so people stay to read whatever it says or, like
Yeah. Or make it hard to read so people, like, get like, oh, what does that say?
Yeah. Even if and read it.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like I wish I knew. Like, if I knew the answer, all my videos would do well. You know? I was like, it's totally hit or miss.
So produce me for a second. I'm gonna come on and take so here's what I'll do. I've taken each episode of that pro tip series that you listened to, which, by the way, helped you, and it's okay, young people, if you listen to something that's an hour long. Okay? It'll save you hundreds of hours later in your life.
Sure. And I've taken those and already distilled them down into ten or fifteen minute clips. Right? So now I need to go to those ten minute clips and pull out forty seconds a minute of it that's most valuable. And so it's gotta so what is it?
It's a promise, a delivery. Do I even need to tell them where they can hear the rest of it, or they're never gonna look? Right?
They probably won't look.
Right. So so they I
mean, it's in your name. Like, it's the Juice Box podcast. They'll know. They'll know to look. You know?
They'll click on your profile maybe, and it's in your bio probably.
Yeah. Who knows? And so so they have to leave that with an actual piece of advice inside of sixty seconds. No. You
No. I mean, you probably want them to, like, be wanting more. You know? Like, well, what happens next? I mean, I don't really watch listen to podcasts, but there is I've seen a few on TikTok where they just take, like, clips from the podcast.
You know? And it's like, you only get to see this much of it. So then you're like, wait. What happens next? Then you go to their page, and sometimes they'll have posted other parts of the same one.
Sometimes you gotta go to the actual app.
So I gotta do the same thing that my wife did to me to get me to marry her. Is that what you're saying? I show a look. Yeah. You show a little bit, and you wait a little bit.
And then and then before you know it, my name's on the house, and it's too late, I'm screwed. Like that. Like, that's what you're saying to me.
Yep.
It seems horrible. So what alright. What about, like, functional stuff? Is there an angle where I don't look like a monster? Is it over my head, below my head to the left?
Is there a place you hold your phone that you think this is where I look best?
Most often, I put my phone on top of my water bottle
Seriously?
Just like this.
See, this is why your thing is working because you are not thinking this out at all. By the way, never
so lazy. Nothing's planned ahead of time. Like
So okay. Well, then that's the better point is that you're not planning ahead. That's how I make the podcast. If I sit here and decide to plan ahead to make a video, it's gonna just look overproduced like I'm trying too hard, and people are gonna click off to begin with. So I have In my opinion.
What she’d tell someone starting41:14
Oh my god. So I'm you're giving me the advice that I give people when they're making they ask me about making a podcast, which is you go make it. And if people like it, they'll watch it. And if they don't, you'll know and you'll quit.
Yep. You'll know what they like. You'll know what they don't like, what does well. I mean
There's no secret you're telling me.
Sit in front of a window. Get the good light.
Hope you're likable to enough people.
Yeah. Which, I mean, I feel like I just the only reason I feel like people even care what I have to say is I feel like it's mostly parents because they see, like, this girl has it. She still has a family. She has, like, a functioning life, you know, and they want that for their kid. And so, like, I wanna show them, like, yeah.
It is possible. You know? It's different because they've had diabetes since their kid was, you know, five, whereas I didn't get it till I was an adult. But
So you are aspirational to a section of society because
I feel like there's a lot of the diabetes community that I don't resonate with. I feel like other adults who've had diabetes for a long time, like
They don't
like had some, like, they do not like me. Yeah. They think I'm super annoying. They like, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm new to this.
How could I possibly give any advice? Because I'm only, you know, three years in, which I get it. I'm like, I'm not discrediting your experience. Like, every year with diabetes is hard. And I think everybody who's had it for a long time, like, power to you.
Like, I can't imagine. And that's the thing where, like, you could have never done it, you know, years ago before a CGM and before a pump. And I'm like, well, I would have done it like everybody else. You just do it. Yeah.
It that's the only option. You
know? Mhmm.
But I I I have a group of haters. I do. They're there.
I do too. Think they I think they formed a, like, a little club. Mhmm. I know you're too old to know about the Super Friends, but I feel like they have a Justice League online somewhere, but it's, like, the alternate of that, and that they all sit around a marble table and talk about how much they hate me.
You got a subreddit thread, I'm sure,
of your haters. I don't wanna know about that.
I probably do, and I don't wanna know either.
Yeah. Listen. I get a lot of, a lot of people come to me through Reddit. Like, I heard about this on Reddit. So I always say thank you I always say thank you to Reddit because I don't want Reddit mad at me.
I love Reddit.
Yeah. So yeah. Daddy's like, I love everybody on Reddit. But But, no, there's there's a small group of people. You know what?
I'll tell you the same thing that I actually think. Their downloads count just the same. It's fine with me. Right. So alright.
So I agree. Alright. So you're telling me go do the thing the way it occurs to me. It's either gonna work or it's not. Yeah.
That's it.
Give it a shot.
I'm gonna try. Why not? Oh, well, why not? Because I'm busy. I got kids too.
Well, all it's gonna do is drive more attention to your podcast.
He thinks I I do really think there's four people on TikTok that would listen to an hour long conversation with somebody.
That's why you need to just make the clips. But you can make money off TikTok too.
I don't wanna make money off. Oh, god. I don't wanna I got I'm fine. I make enough money. I don't need to make I don't wanna be involved in another thing where I gotta put my I already YouTube, said to me, like, I make, I don't know.
I don't wanna brag, but I I make upwards of a $100 on YouTube every six months. And Woah. Stop.
Big baller.
No. No. No. It's it's I'm crushing it over there.
And I was excited. I thought you're gonna, like, give me some hope for YouTube.
Sure. Sure. And right now, they owe me a $110, and I have to fill a thing out. I'm like, I'm not doing I just I don't I don't wanna do that. I was like, leave me.
I Tell your daughter and she'll tell her she can have half, and she'd do it, I bet.
I maybe. That's a good idea. Listen. I'll say this right now. I'm sure the people at Omnipod are gonna be thrilled.
I did some work for Omnipod while I was at Friends for Life. And Yeah. So they paid my hotel and my my air. Yeah. Right?
I didn't charge them. I shouldn't say this out loud, but I didn't charge I just I just wanted to have my travel covered. And there's some receipts I have that I could turn in. And I gotta be honest with you, that seems like such a hassle. So, hey, Omnipod, you're gonna get to keep that money because I just I don't have the f I don't have it in me to send you a receipt for a sandwich.
Wrapping up45:18
I just don't. So keep it. It's on me. Alright.
That's fair.
Addy, thank you very much. Hold on one second. It seems that the podcast you just enjoyed was sponsored by Tandem Diabetes Care. Learn more about Tandem's newest automated insulin delivery system, Tandem Mobi with Control IQ plus technology at tandemdiabetes.com/juicebox. There are links in the show notes and links at juiceboxpodcast.com to Tandem and US Med, who also sponsored this episode of the juice box podcast.
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