They check my blood sugar and I was like I think like in the 700 or something ridiculous like that , and I was in complete denial because they're like , oh , we think you have diabetes . And I was like I don't have time for cancer , like I didn't know what it was . And it was so funny because I was like they're going , you're like you're going to the hospital , like no , I'm going to my basketball game , like sorry , we could deal with this later and I had a very tight community through sports and just other things like that . But it wasn't .
Speaker 1I know , when I was diagnosed I was not like my whole everyone in my village got diabetes . So it was one of those things like I couldn't hide it because everybody knew and I had great parents that told every other parent here's how you take care of the other things that happened . I remember in basketball , like I had time out and someone was pricking my finger , don't know who it could be . My mom could be a teammate , could be a trainer , but it was . Everyone was monitoring just to make sure that I was OK .
Speaker 2Welcome back . This is episode number 147 of the Healthy Diabetic Podcast . As always , before we get started , please remember that nothing that you hear on this podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise . Please always consult your medical team before making any changes to your diabetes management . Ok , jumping into right into it right now . Right into it today . First , before I jump in , I want to apologize . I know there was no episode last Friday . There's going to be some really cool bonus episodes that are going to be coming out very shortly .
Speaker 2I had the amazing opportunity if you don't know , if you haven't been looking at my Instagram , which I really haven't posted much actually on my Instagram page in the past , really up to the past month , and I'll have some stuff coming out about that as well . But I had the pleasure last week of going to diabetes camp and being a mentor , slash counselor , slash leader to a bunch of young teens at camp . Think about , you know , your regular day camp or your regular . Really was it over in a five day overnight camp ? But everyone has diabetes and if you have been following the show for a long time , especially when the show previously was the two type ones podcast , with my good friend Graham , we did some episodes with Camp Hamway and I said I told them last year , when me and Graham went and visited , that I was going to be a counselor this year , and that's exactly what I did . I had such a blast last week and that's why there wasn't an episode up last week . So my apologies , but we're back .
Speaker 2We got another episode this week . This week I got to sit down with Danica Collins amazing , amazing type one that's doing some incredible stuff . I don't want to get too much into it . I'm going to let you let her explain exactly what she's doing right now . She's got a huge following on social media and she's just doing so many great things . So let's get with her and talk to her about all the amazing things that she's doing her diagnosis story and so on and so on . So this is another really good episode that I'm really excited to bring to you guys . So , without further ado , let's get with Danica Collins .
Speaker 1I'm Danica Collins . Some people know me as Danica the diabetic because that's my social media handles and I have been a type one diabetic for 17 and a half years and it has been a journey because , I will say , until I was in my early 20s , diabetes was not my focus . I did the minimum to stay alive and keep my parents off my back . But until I kind of moved away after college , I didn't really have a community . I didn't really have anyone I knew with diabetes . So I met someone and she invited me out to a couple diabetes meetups and my life has changed ever since .
Speaker 2Wow , that's awesome . That's awesome , like I just . I . Every time I interview someone there , how they got connected to the community is always interesting and unique , and the fact that people get connected to the community and everything changes it's great to hear . It's amazing and great to hear .
Speaker 1Yes , and ever since that light bulb has kind of switched for me , I have made my whole mission really around the community and embracing having a village .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that . So you know what you're doing right now , like , how are you diving into the community and being an advocate ? I see what you're doing and you're doing great things on social media . I'm curious if you're doing anything else outside of social media .
I am so in 2020 , my pretty much vision for building something cool for the community , where it can be really as non-biased as it can be and putting resources not just hey , it's a social club , hey , it's this . I started my startup . I still call it a startup , but it's called Dialog , the Insulin for your soul , because how I manage my diabetes is so much more than like insulin and blood sugars .
Speaker 1It's everything else . So I want to empower people to live their best and healthiest life as a diabetic and that's why I started Dialog and it started off as just more a conversation around diabetes , but now it's . I have a published journal , I have a membership , I have clothing . I tried to just think of holistic health and bringing that end to diabetes and fast forward to today . I built an app and now I'm rebuilding that app because I want it to be the best thing for the community and I'm like this is missing something . This is this because I'm a scientist by trade , I'm very analytical and I feel like diabetes is the most analytical disease and people don't know how to simplify that into day to day pieces , so I'm not just containing the conversation to build the village .
Speaker 1It's like no , I want to fuel the community with whatever they need . That you're not getting at your doctor's office when you have that 20 minute conversation .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , sometimes even less than that . Yeah , yeah , for sure , that's awesome . What's your vision for that Like ? What is the like the five year plan for that ?
Speaker 1The five year plan is really using new tech to embrace the data we're making , because diabetes is a very numbers driven disease . By how to help people make proactive choices from a holistic perspective is really what I want to do , and that comes from everything that impacts your health , and a big thing that I think people don't realize is that their environment and community , like their social piece of it , the social piece of living , is a big impact to your life and your health , so really focusing in on that . So in the next five years , I see my robust app coming out , but I'm hoping to have meetups and more education , like went to school to be a health coach recently to get actually , like clinically board certified , because I want to make sure whatever I'm doing , I'm qualified and that I'm learning as much as I can to better impact our community .
Speaker 2I love that . I love that . That's . It's an interesting thought process when we when we think about , like , what our vision is and being able to put that vision towards which is that's amazing . That's awesome . Okay , let's take a pivot here , cause we kinda you started kinda talking about like your story at the beginning . Give me your diagnosis story . It was 17 years ago . What was going on at that time in your life ?
Speaker 1My story , my parents story , are very different , cause , okay , I was 14 , almost 15 , living my life , I was all about basketball that was all I really cared about . That and my friends and I unfortunately had sprained my ankle and I had to sit out of basketball for a week and we had a big tournament coming up . So I went to the doctor . They put me on crutches . I went to get cleared and they were like you're cleared , but there's something else going on , because I apparently had dropped 12 pounds in a week and they were , and I was like , yeah , I was thirsty , or maybe go in the bathroom more , but like I don't know , it wasn't anything too abnormal for me , but at that time I didn't have those 12 pounds to lose . And they checked my blood sugar and I was like , I think like in the 700 or something ridiculous like that , and I was in complete denial , cause I they're like , oh , we think you have diabetes . And I was like I don't have time for cancer , like I didn't know what it was .
Speaker 2Good , I don't have time for that . Like yeah , no , I don't have that .
Speaker 1And it was so funny because I was like you're like you're going to the hospital . I was like no , I'm going to my basketball game . Like sorry , we could deal with this later .
Speaker 2That's how it is .
Speaker 1It was kind of that mindset for a little while . My family likes to laugh Like I have the biggest sweet tooth , and the night before there was this restaurant called Benegans and I had had their dessert called death by chocolate , and if anyone could have probably killed her bankry , as it would have been me , so I think that was my fate .
Speaker 2Wow , that's , that's so funny , just like the . That's so funny . So you're , you , you're playing basketball and you , just you , straight up , just said to yourself yeah , I got time for this , we're going to go do this other thing instead , like I don't believe this , I don't have time for this .
Speaker 1Yup .
Speaker 2That's , that's . I mean that's like you know , that's ballsy , that's ballsy at that age . They like I'm good , nope , thank you .
Speaker 1Yup , that's where I was . I was like , eh , it's all right .
Speaker 2Wow . So what happened after that ? So you got the . Did you go to the hospital then , or did you go to the basketball game ?
Speaker 1I was forced to go to the hospital .
Speaker 2Oh man , that would have been even better , story girl I know , I know I wanted to , so bad .
Speaker 1But next thing I know I'm in the hospital and I was like in a smaller town and I swear everyone worked at the hospital , so all of my family friends were there . I was there maybe like four days , I don't know it was . It seemed like forever . I don't remember everything in detail , I just remember the IV . When you like , get there .
Speaker 1Whoever put mine in kept like missing my vein , so I was stuck three times and to this day , like I could not do an IV in that arm because it was just so like traumatic . But I did the hospital thing . I was in the children's wing because I was 14 and that wasn't funny there , cause I was like I'm not going to go play with you , saying cause , but I did paint a tile at the time that they like put on the ceiling and it was . I mean , I'm not artistic , so it was literally awful , but of course it was like basketball , it says my name . But one of my friends works at the hospital today and they were like hey , I was just looked up and I saw your tile . Yeah , that's awesome .
Speaker 1It's kind of crazy to think back that it's like , okay , like almost two decades ago I did something that's still there and maybe , who knows Like some kid that's sitting there going through something , is probably like oh , there was some cool girl that drew a really bad looking basketball and diabetic on it .
Speaker 2That's awesome . Was there any other diabetics in your school or in your community , like in your town or community ?
Speaker 1I two people , two people and I wasn't really close with either of them . One was maybe two years younger and one was in my grade , but I went to a huge school so there was , I think , in my graduating class . It was over like a thousand kids .
Speaker 2Oh my gosh , wow yeah .
Speaker 1So it was very different and I wasn't at that point of my life or like I wanted to be different , and even if I probably could have met other people , there was no way that I was going to do that on my own terms . But I am still friends with those two girls today and we keep up with each other . It wasn't necessarily community at that point , it was just , hey , like we're kind of going through some of the same stuff , but like let's not talk about it .
Speaker 2Yeah , I just , and I feel like that's hard and a lot of kids first diagnosed , or even adults first diagnosed , go through that process of not necessarily always trying to hide it but not wanting to like really , really talk about it . And we know like the more we can , the more people we get in our inner circle that we can talk to and lean on and ask questions to , and trust and feel confident with the better outcome that we have with the condition .
Speaker 1Yeah , and I had a very tight community through sports and just other things like that , but it wasn't . I know when I was diagnosed I was not like my whole everyone in my village got diabetes , so it was one of those things like I couldn't hide it because everybody knew and I had great parents that told every other parent here's how you take care of the other guys when they happened . I remember in basketball , like maybe a time out , and someone was pricking my finger , don't know who it could be my mom , it could be a teammate , it could be a trainer , but it was . Everyone was monitoring just to make sure that I was okay , which is great . But it was a very interesting time .
Speaker 2Huh , interesting . I mean that is very interesting because you hear so many stories about kids and even in the athletic realm and they're really by themselves because a lot of the athletic trainers don't 100% know what's going on and like really how to treat it and like really what's . You know what happens and you know we end up . Coaches don't really know either and that's really cool that you had that much support within the confines of the school .
Speaker 1Yeah , it is . And today I still have some of those people like hey , like how's your diabetes doing ? Or they're around me , they still carry like a juice box or some gummies or something , because they just knew that I had to have something around .
Speaker 2Yeah , now was there a time , like at the beginning , that you felt like you really started like figuring things out , or was that ? Was that like kind of later in life , like when was that time for you ?
Speaker 1I think immediately I figured out how to take care of myself . I figured out the insulin part , the checking your blood sugar part . I was like this is dumb , like I'm not going to prick my finger , like I didn't have time for that , and that was my attitude and it was pretty much my attitude until I got a CGM . I would do it . I would do it enough to be aware , but not nearly as much for , like , proactive health risk or anything like that . It was like okay , like I want to be able to enjoy life , so I'm going to make sure I'm doing the basics so that I can do that and not have problems when I am with my friends or doing something else that I enjoy .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's interesting too , because I remember when I was first diagnosed in 2007 , cgms were just coming around the market and it was just another thing . It was another thing . They tried to get you on these insulin pumps that were coming out . And now these CGMs are coming out Like they're trying to get you on all these things , and when you're first diagnosed , you don't want to deal with that stuff .
Speaker 1No , I was against it . I remember my Indo , who I was not a fan of mainly because she was telling me to take care of my diabetes . She tried to get me on the DEXCOM , I think G4 , when it came out and I was like I'm not going to wear anything else . It sounds like you don't know , this just sounds like another burden . And until I met that friend when I was living in Chicago , until I met other people living with it and like they had a cool pump , they were using a CGM and I was like , oh , this is easy .
Speaker 1And then , having that it was normal and like having seen someone like me with it is why I just switched . I started asking questions .
Speaker 2You know you're deep in the community right now . Anyway , do you feel like that is the result of what a lot of people go through ? You know , because I feel like I run into that a lot it's like once you are in front of that person , once this young person or adult , this newly diagnosed person is in front of those one , two , three , four people that are wearing a CGM , having really good success with it , whether they're also on MD or WC , Whether they're also on pump or doing MDI , I feel like it takes those one or two , maybe even three interactions before the light bulbs start coming , you know , going off .
Speaker 1Yes , I think it is a struggle because when you're first diagnosed , or even if you've been in your diagnosis for ever , the tech keeps changing , the management keeps changing and it's improving , it's evolving . But if you are having any like I like to say , like social determinants of health or health equity , or if you're not able to advocate and say , hey , is there new tech or is there something else I should know , like your , our appointments are too small . So I think this word of mouth , piece of it is what makes our community thrive and probably answer some of those questions that people might might be afraid to ask .
Speaker 2Yeah , I like that . I like that a lot .
What you brought up . You brought up management . I love that you brought this up , because this is something that I harp on all the time and I'm curious what you've kind of developed as your own personal management style , because we're all unique . We have different management styles . Obviously , it works for one person , doesn't work for the next . So I'm really curious about that . Like , you know what ? What is your management style ? There's specific thing that you follow or you've been able to kind of figure out . What does that look like ?
Speaker 1My management style is flexible and it's taken me a while to get to that point . But I have a very unique lifestyle . I travel for a living and some days my body is like Nope , no pump , we're not going to absorb , or X , y and Z . So I give myself a lot of grace , like I am far from perfect and I will never be a perfect diabetic . I have accepted that and I don't want to be because I don't . It doesn't exist . So for my management style , I'm like Okay , what do I need today ? What do I need in this moment ? Like being present is the best way I've been able to conquer managing my diabetes and that's if you're present .
Speaker 1You're going to be wondering what your blood sugar is . You're going to be making these proactive choices . You're going to be giving yourself insulin . That was one of the hardest things is like hey , stopping and bolusing . But I often I'll be on my tandem pump or I'll be on a Fresno or both of them combined and it depends on really am I home this week ? Am I going to be in the water a ton ? Am I going to be doing X , y and Z , and that's what I do . Like if I'm going to be at a hospital for 12 hours , I'm not going to stop and take my insulin . So having this closed loop thing is fantastic , because I'm probably not stopping and eating but it's saving me from the what ifs in some senses . But if I'm home I know my skin needs to break . Let me not do it . Let me go . Mdi .
Speaker 2I love that because it is , it is . It is an interesting thing because I talk to a lot of people on the show that have nor like , not normal , but have routine lives . Right , it's the same week by week , day by day , and I love the fact that I was able to connect with you because you , your lifestyle , is so home , not home , traveling all the time all over the country , like all over the place , and that does call for a different type of strategy in terms of your management style . So that's , that's awesome .
Speaker 1Yes , and it's one of those things people don't get it , but it was like , hey , that's the beauty , we have options . There were times when we didn't have this many options . So whatever new tech is out , whatever new devices , I tried them all . I will try it and was like this is going to work for me . Maybe maybe not , or maybe it works in these one scenarios , but I like that it's . I was able to build some flexibility , and how I manage into my life and keeping up with what's new is a big piece of that as well .
Speaker 2Is there something new that you're working through right now in terms of experimenting with ?
Speaker 1Actually , there is something I am working with , you know , like the glucagon pins , I've never actually had to use one . But , I hate carrying it and I was like this is so kind of old school to you know , like if someone , if there was emergency , if it was me and someone else having it like , how am I going to mix up some powder and whatever ?
Speaker 1it seems like it's a crisis mode . So there's different solutions out there right now . So I'm trying them to really understand what is working and what's going to be better . But there's something it's called like G-Voc or whatever . I'm really experimenting with that because there's times when I am extremely low and I don't have that 20 , 30 minutes to bring it up , and sometimes after that 20 or 30 minutes I could still be a 45 . You know , something weird could happen .
Speaker 1Yeah sitting here I'm like should is drinking a juice and certain elements the best thing for me ? And it's like , should I be using these things ? So that's what I'm really kind of self experimenting on and seeing like , hey , is this going to work or not ? Because some of these are seen as emergency . But having a critical low is an emergency and normalizing that and using the tools that we have is what I'm experimenting with .
Speaker 2That's awesome . That's awesome Because you also brought up a Fresa and I just I find that so fascinating Because in my head I'm just like how do people I don't understand , like I don't understand ? It's like small , medium , large , like do you go low all the time ? Like how do you know , how are you using with your , with your basil ? It's very interesting .
Speaker 1It is fascinating . It is the fastest insulin on the market . I've tried them all and it's so kind of more human . It's more like a human mimics human body . But I think this is what people don't understand . With this , like inhalable insulin , there's no stacking principles like there is with drip insulin , so it peaks within 30 minutes . You could really start seeing the effects within 15 . And let's say , like your 300 , you take a four unit and like pretty much like their four is kind of like a two of drip insulin . You take that . You'll see results and let's say , if you need more correction , just take another one . Even if you have to correct two or three times , it's still faster than your drip insulin and it's great . Like I love actually my basil on my pump and we're using a fresa as my meal time Best thing , best combo that works for my body .
Speaker 1There are times where I will just do like a tricea and an a fresa . I just did that for about three months Just straight . But it depends , but it's . It's such a nice tool . I really encourage everyone to give it a try . It's totally different , it's a different concept , but I eat pizza without the consequences and to me that's important .
Speaker 2Yeah absolutely .
Speaker 1I didn't eat pizza for years because it would just send me a rocket high . And now I can bring something back that I used to enjoy Not every day , but if I'm at an event and there's pizza , I'm going to eat it now . Or if I've been 300 , I've changed all my stuff . I can't do it . I have a tool that can help me reach into a range Like it can work really quickly . So you have to figure out what measurements to use for yourself . But I always say keep it simple , Go the smaller , because you can always take more .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , it's interesting and I always thought about . Two is like the insurance of that . You know , like that , if you're , if you're as a scenario , you kind of put together as , like you know , 300 pumps not working , you change sites , you've maybe even changed insulin and it just something is not working the way it should . You know , does this ? Does the inhalable , a fresa insulin , get away from that mechanism of being super insulin resistant , because you're not trying to give yourself insulin into a site that could be very insulin resistant ?
Speaker 1Yes , it is coming in and it's through the lungs , then it gets into your bloodstream faster . That's how it really really works . It's quick in , quick out . That's where the no stacking piece works . It has a backdoor approach to getting in . When I say it mimics human insulin in the way the natural body does it , this mimics probably as closely as a human body . It's not as an issue and you're not working through any resistance through your skin .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that .
Speaker 1It's just great because I have absorption issues .
Speaker 2Yeah , a lot of us have been on the ride for a long time . Have absorption issues ? Yes , yeah , a lot of us do . That's an interesting piece too , because we are constantly taught and we constantly hear about changing your site locations , coming up with different strategies to not have to use the same sites all the time . I feel like I have a good strategy in place , but still it's like I still run into those times like , oh , can't use that spot . Oh , can't use that spot . Oh , can't use that spot .
Speaker 1Yeah , you only have so much body . I don't know . We have years . It's the best thing . This is a death sentence type of disease in this state and you need to reserve your scan . You need to do things but , yes , it's saving your life today , but you're going to have these issues . Having another option on the market is great .
Speaker 2Yeah , what are some other ? Because you mentioned holistic , you really try to take a holistic viewpoint to your management . I love that . What are some other things holistically that you do ? Are you doing supplements ? Are you exercising regularly ? What are some other things that you're doing right now ?
Speaker 1Exercise any form of movement , even if it's just a walk . That is so important to me . Walking is my favorite thing . It's a mental strategy for me , but it's so good for my diabetes management , but also good for just overall health .
Speaker 1I incorporate walking for life , for living , but I don't always count that as exercise . I just count it as here I'm taking time out for myself , it's part of my self-care routine , which is very , very important , and I know if I keep up with this in a certain time my body feels better . I hate not feeling good and I figured out . Here's how much movement I need every day for me to feel good that day . Anything above I'm going to be great , but through movement and yes , I take supplements , it depends . Sometimes I forget it's another added thing to a diabetic .
Speaker 1But those are helpful and it comes down like I think iron is a very thing . A lot of women struggle with iron issues , so it's like I pump iron , I pump vitamin C . I hate any type of sex , so vitamin C , along with those and just your everyday multi-vitamin , is helpful . But also when I'm a big thing that I don't think people understand impacts .
Speaker 1Your health is your sleep and having that deep sleep , non-interrupted sleep , because as a diabetic , you can be interrupted . It's like am I working hard enough so that I'm having my full seven , eight hours of sleep without an eruption , so that I'm resetting ? I'm doing that because your body needs that time and if you're in this constant state of stress , which I think diabetes is literally if I had a word for diabetes outside diabetes , it would be stress and your body doesn't respond to stress well , if you're not able to reset every day and have that full night of unerrupted sleep , as much as you can , I think you're giving yourself a disservice .
Speaker 2Yeah , agree 100% . You couldn't have said it . I couldn't have said it any better . Stress is one of the main killers of human beings really , and not being able to recover , and I think that it's . I think one of the most interesting things about that is we're finally seeing some real , real research on sleep and recovery , and not just muscle recovery from a crazy hard workout , but getting enough recovery from sleep . We're seeing some really good research coming out about that .
Speaker 1Yes , and I think people are always like oh , I need to catch back up on sleep . You can't catch back up , Like , sleep it's still time , you can't catch time . So it's just changing your mindset and being really just mindful of your entire body and everything that could impact your diabetes because everything can impact your diabetes and just understanding and taking time to like oh yeah , I'm impacted , but am I doing anything with that impact ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I love that you said that . You said that you can't catch up , because I think that is a big myth , a big stigma that people have with sleep . It's like , oh you know , I'm gonna work my butt off and stay up late and or get up early for the next four days and I'll be able to catch up this weekend . It's like , no , that's not how the body works . Now it works .
Speaker 1Trust me , I tried , I've tried . I'm never gonna catch up .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I love that
. What are some things that you because you talked a lot about your , the beginning parts of your diagnosis what are some things that you kind of ran into that you wish , if you wish you knew then that you knew now .
Speaker 1Honestly , nutrition understanding , like nutrition , isn't counting carbs . It's a part of it , but it's not counting carbs .
Speaker 2I love that .
Speaker 1When you're looking at nutrition , calories matter . No one told me about calories until I went and dug a little bit . But when I was diagnosed , I had a hospital nutritionist who came in and just gave me everything I couldn't do and couldn't have and I was like , who is this lady who invited her ? Like it was already a bad situation . But that was the only real interaction I had and it wasn't teaching me how to be healthier , it was teaching me everything not to do and that's not nutrition , that's not wellness , that's none of it .
Speaker 1So , really understanding how food and anything you put in your mouth is impacting your diabetes and seeing how you're fueling your body and really reacting to other things of that because even down nutrition , it's like people like , oh , pop a skittle , do that . And like my body acts differently when I bring artificial sugar into it compared to natural sugars . So if I'm low , I've been doing this for maybe five , 10 years . I don't do artificial unless something I don't have anything else . But whatever natural I can bring into my body , I bring my blood sugar up faster and I don't have that over the hump like , oh , I'm shooting super high where I feel like crap .
Speaker 2Yeah , I call it to a plan A and plan B . Plan A of like okay , I'm not in , I'm not in distress , where I'm going to die , you know . So I'm going to , I'm going to take the holistic approach here , I'm going to take the natural approach and I'm going to eat a banana or I'm going to eat some grapes or whatever it is , to bring my blood sugar up and not pop or candy or you know something that's high in sugar or whatever . And then you know plan B is oh shit , this is , this is could get pretty serious here in a second . I got to bring this up in any way I can with whatever is around me and I like I really live by that and because I have both of those strategies in place , I hardly ever have to go to B , hardly ever .
Speaker 1I love that , I love it yeah , yeah . It's so different , but it's like even seeing them being prepared like I think no one really explained like hey , outside of my mother . When she understood she was like here's how you prepare for everything . And I'm so glad I learned those lessons and had I was diagnosed at a point where I was under the care of my parents , but no one teaches you . They're just like , hey , take your medicine , go to your doctor . Okay , they're like stay alive . It's so much more than stay alive .
Speaker 1You are meant to live and you can live and have a thriving life with this diagnosis , but it takes really the motivation and willpower from yourself to want to understand what works for you .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that . I love that you brought up being prepared , because I agree with you that that's something that we don't talk a lot about . It's not talked about . It really is like take your insulin and stay alive , and the preparation part is going to make taking your insulin living your life the way you want to live that much easier , just by simply being prepared for the day . And the other interesting piece I think about with that , with being prepared , is not just thinking about like , okay , well , all these situations or scenarios could happen , but we can't plan for every single scenario . But what you can do is you can plan for what potentially happens throughout your day . Every single day , there's probably five or 10 things that has the potential to mess up your day , and we're planning for those things and not worrying about anything else . And if something else comes into the mix and messes up our day that we're not prepared for , well , damn it . I'm going to be prepared for that next time .
Speaker 1Yeah , and it's especially with my lifestyle . It's like I had to prepare a lot more than I used to , and it's good , it's taught me a lot about myself . But even when you aren't prepared , I'm more prepared than I probably would have been , because I mean , I've been in situations where it's like , oh , I don't have this with me or I don't have that , but I still have my things in check where I could go and easily figure something out . So it's just using that critical thinking skill in the moment and not just panicking , because any additional stress to our disease just leads to more problems .
Speaker 2Yeah , agreed . What are one to three things , that pieces of advice that you could give someone that's listening , whether they're newly diagnosed , been diagnosed for a long time . What are kind of one to three things that you could say to that person that could help them maybe change their management style or add something to their management style that maybe they're not doing now ?
Speaker 1Absolutely . I think one thing every time I meet any diabetic , wherever you are in this journey , is to care . The more you care about you , the better off you're going to be , and caring looks different for other people , but find your way to care about living and having a healthy life , because this is not the end . All be all .
Speaker 2I love that Thanks .
Speaker 1And I would also say join in on the community . The community is broad , it is growing and there's little niches within our niche little community . So if you see something that sparks an interest , or if you have questions on or you see something you want to join , just ask . This has been one of the most inviting communities that I've been able to find and every week I learned something new . Or there's a new opportunity or someone's talking about something I hadn't even thought of , so just join in . You don't have to be the most extroverted person to do this , but if you have interests , just try it . Try it until you don't want to try or you find what works .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that one too , and it's really that one really hits home for me as well , because I know when I first started I didn't know what that meant or how to even do it , how I even got into the community to even ask questions for the things that I had questions about , and I didn't feel confident enough that I could do those things . And I love that you brought that up because it's if we can get to a point where we're not scared about being judged , we're not scared about not understanding or knowing something or a specific topic , we have the confidence to be able to put ourselves out there and even ask questions . So many other things will just line up and we will get to . What I always preach about is figuring out what works for us .
Speaker 1Yep , and just adding on to that is diabetes isn't perfect , and I feel like social media can be a very powerful tool , but it could also be a very harmful tool .
And just realizing if it's on the internet , it's not always true . Always double check your facts . Double check something if you don't think it's right , but also don't want to intimidate you . There isn't a perfect diabetic . Even if someone looks perfect on social media , I guarantee you they're not perfect . I love to show the good , bad and the ugly because , yeah , I see that every day .
Speaker 2I am far from perfect . Yeah , that's being human , that's being a person . That's being a diabetic is like we're not . No one is perfect , yeah .
Speaker 1Yep , and just because someone has a large following or doesn't , it doesn't mean their value to the community is any different and it doesn't mean it really anything . It's just like it's a connection , and just don't try for perfect perfection . Everyone wants this perfect day one C or X1Z . I don't think I've ever had a perfect day one C . I think it's a number , I think it's kind of older terms for management , but I don't focus on that bigger goal and that sense . I'm like what am I doing today ? What did I do this week to impact my diabetes ? What can I do better ? It doesn't have to be always so futuristic . You need to be in the present .
Speaker 2I like that . You brought up something that I want to ask you a question about . You brought up this idea of perfect day one C what does ? Because I think I feel like I have a specific definition for myself and what I coach people and talk to people about , and I'm curious what your thoughts are on that , Because we know that there is no perfect day one C , but then we're still pushed to get a perfect day one C even though we're not explained to what that even means . So I'm curious what your thoughts about our thought that .
Speaker 1I think in medical training there's a scale . So if you're at this number , you're pre-diabetic , if you're at this number , you're diabetic . And that scale doesn't really differentiate between type one and type two . But your type of diabetes is diagnosed once you hit a certain threshold . But there's a range and I see a lot of people that have A1Cs that are in the range of a normal person , which I think is great .
Speaker 1But I think what really should be preached is hey , are you managing your diabetes ? Do you feel OK ? Are you having these constant things let's drill into why , or what's going on this day , like did you not sleep or did you not eat the right amount of meals ? Did you not cover your insulin ? Well , like , just that number is guiding , it isn't definitive and pushing people , I think , to one singular number that you get from a blood test every three months . If you're lucky , sometimes it's once a year .
Speaker 1I don't think it's realistic , I don't think it is really living in the now and keeping up with the medicine and your management . Like , if we can see if you're using a CGM or if you're pricking your finger , you get instant results . What do you want to do with that instant result ? Do you want more . Hey , I'm feeling great and I'm having a good number when I check it , feeling or hey , yeah , three months ago I was in this range and I'm told to do better in that range . If you're doing great and taking account of what's going on in those every blood sugars , your A1C will be a result of that work . But striving for this . I'm not going to say imaginary number , but a touch point number . That's really an average . I don't think it's really motivating and I don't think it's really showing because your A1C you could be at a six and you could have had , you could have been sitting in the 300s but also sitting in the 40s .
Speaker 1And those are both extreme things it's going to even out when you look at it that way .
Speaker 2Yep , I totally agree . I think that we I don't like the way we are pushed towards a specific number , especially at diagnosis . It's so much emotional turmoil that's coming , just coming to us , and then the fact that we're being told like , oh well , here's the range you should be . You know you're in , your A1C is at nine , but you should really be under a seven . That's a big freaking jump . That's a big freaking jump and I do like that . A lot of doctors are starting to have the good conversations of people of gradually coming down to where they want that individual to be . But I think the other thing that we're missing here is okay , well , you're , you're A1C is at nine . Where do you want to be ? Where do you want to be ? Not where I want you to be . This is where my goal is for you . What is your goal ? All your goals to get down to 8.5 . Okay , that's perfect , let's start there .
Speaker 1Exactly .
Speaker 2And then because that goal is constantly going to evolve . When I first started I thought yeah . When I first started , I thought seven was great . Now I don't even want to touch that . I want to be in the sixes . I want to be low . Six high fives that's my personal goal . That's where I feel amazing and I think that is the conversation that we have to continue to be having with people .
Speaker 1Absolutely . If it's not coming from you , it's not going to get there . That's how the human mind works . And someone else , like the only person who can meet your expectations , is yourself . So a doctor saying I want you here , or any type of provider , any scale really doesn't matter if you don't want to get there and you don't want to make changes and you don't see the need to . So having the pressure of a number that someone else just put out there because of a scale , how does that relate to you ?
Speaker 1And if it's something that's like hey , this isn't a focus for me right now . I want to try to do X , y and Z . Figure out your why , Figure out why you want to change , why this is important to you and why you're caring about it , and I think that will push you to whatever number or area you want to do . But for me , I don't focus on a number , I focus on proactive prevention and feeling good .
Speaker 2Yeah , I like that Awesome . This has just been great , girl , I have this conversation with you and finally connect and talk to you in a deep way about this . This has been amazing . As we start moving to close , where can people connect with you ? I know you're on Instagram . Are you on any other platforms ?
Speaker 1I am on every platform . I will say Instagram is one of my favorites . I'm loving their new platform threads as well , just because it's really a place to just talk and have these conversations . But in that realm I also have a broadcast channel . If you want to have more intimate conversations . I throw out prompts , I throw out whatever's there , whatever is really hitting me that day , which on other platforms . I don't have that level of intimacy that I can get with our community . But I'm on Facebook , I'm on Twitter , I'm on TikTok . He won't find me dancing on TikTok , though .
Speaker 2Why not ? No , I'm the same way . I am the same way . It's funny because my Instagram and my TikTok almost mirror each other in a sense of podcasts to coaching stuff , to some personal stuff . It's very interesting .
Speaker 1Yeah , I just think it's there . It's like I'm here to be a part of the community and advocate as much as I can , because I really want people to take charge of their lives in whatever way possible . In whichever way I can do that , and if it's me sharing on social media , I will . I do have . I'm revamping my podcast because I really just did not like any of the episodes I did .
Speaker 2Okay .
Speaker 1But it's one of those things I want to have these real conversations and continue them and make sure that I'm hitting these other pieces of our community that feel like their voice might not be represented .
Speaker 2Yeah , what is the new ? What is the new vamp ? Are you rebranding the podcast or what's going on ?
Speaker 1I rebranded . I've really taken down every episode from before . I didn't have a ton , but it was just . I think I get so passionate about this community , but I've also been very intentional on making sure that whatever I'm doing , I'm fully in it and that I put the best work that I can out there . It's rebranded to my name is Highs and Helloes . It's really talking about holistic life , holistic everything around diabetes .
Speaker 2That's awesome .
Speaker 1It's something I'm really excited about just to bring back . I know I'm on YouTube and stuff as well , but it's really coming down to the conversation . Part of the reason I started Dialog was for these daily dialogues , but I want to make sure I'm hitting it for people like me . I like to get myself 30 minutes a day on social media . I have really strict boundaries with it , just because time is very important to me . Yeah , they are , but it's like I'll flip open a podcast or I'll schedule these things and it's just . Our community comes in many different forms and I want to make sure that we're able to reach people in whichever variable they like .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love that girl . I can't . That's awesome . I can't wait to start listening and absorbing some of that content . Oh , I remember that . Do you have new episodes out right now ?
Speaker 1No , I am launching it again in August . Okay .
Speaker 2This week is oh , we're coming up on the wire . Yes , yes .
Speaker 1I'm excited I had to get through my board exam for coaching so that I could really make sure that I was focusing on this . I was excited to see where things go and who else in the community we meet on this journey .
Speaker 2Yeah , podcasting is so fun . I've been doing it for two years now . It's just so fun to be able to connect with so many different people . I would never be able to connect on the level that I connect with people on the podcast if I didn't end the podcast .
Speaker 1Exactly . Everyone has stories and everyone has things , but it's like I want to tackle those things no one's talking about , because they impact us .
Speaker 2Yeah , for sure , that's awesome . Well , thank you so much Again . This was
great . I'm so glad that we got connected . Please make sure that , if you're listening to this , please make sure that you connect with my girl here . She is doing some really cool stuff . If you go to her Instagram page , I love everything she's talking about . It's the same things that we're constantly , always trying to advocate and educate people on . I love what she's doing on social . Make sure you connect with her , ask her some questions and connect with her . Thanks everybody . This was great . We'll see you guys next time .