Why Type 1 Diabetes Feels So Unpredictable (And How I Fixed It)

 Life with Type 1 diabetes isn’t always predictable—but your blood sugars can be more manageable, even when life gets chaotic.

Matt shares how becoming a dad for the second time tested his blood sugar management, and why mastering both the proactive and reactive sides of T1D can help you live with more freedom. 

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Welcome to the Pardon My Pancreas podcast!! This show is all about REAL life with type 1 diabetes, understanding fluctuations, and how to stabilize your blood sugar for good. Your host is Matt Vande Vegte is a certified personal trainer, nutritionist, and type 1 diabetic whose biggest goal in life is to help people with diabetes around the world live their lives fearlessly. Looking for an online health coaching program to help you live your best life? Go to https://www.ftfwarrior.com to learn more about his program for diabetics only that is focused on helping you reach your goals while living a happier and healthier life. Join the Tribe today!

This podcast is sponsored by FTF Warrior - An online health and fitness coaching company for type 1 diabetics dedicated to helping them master their blood sugars through any activity, exercise, or meal!


https://www.ftfwarrior.com

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Disclaimer: While we share our experiences with diabetes, nothing we discuss should be taken as medical advice. Please consult your doctor or medical professional for your health and diabetes management. 

Transcript

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If you've ever felt like your blood sugars as a type one diabetic are unpredictable, boy, I've got a story for you. Now, we had our second kid not too long ago, and it was unexpected. And the reason is that she came two weeks early. Now, a lot of times when I talk to type ones like myself, it comes down to blood sugars feeling unpredictable, like you can't control when they do what. And that's exactly what happened with our second daughter. She came two weeks early and we were not prepared at all. Uh, my wife's water broke, which the first time we had a kid, that didn't happen. So we're like, oh shoot, wait, is that what's happening? Oh shoot, okay, we got to go. And so was like, grab the go bag. Oh, right, we didn't pack one yet. Uh, okay, when we get back, we got to make sure all the stuff's set up. Oh, right, we didn't even set up the bassinet yet. So we were wildly underprepared, which for our second kid, you'd think we'd be a little bit more ahead of it, but we thought we had time, right? And a lot of times with blood sugars, you think they're gonna work out and then they don't. So if you've ever felt like blood sugars feel unpredictable, I've got not only a way for you to fix the blood sugars so that they are predictable, because there is a way to calculate it, but also what to do when life is unpredictable and how to navigate blood sugars throughout. And if you stick around to the end, I will tell you exactly how far my time and range fell the week after my daughter was born. So let's get into it. Keep going and keep up the fight. If we haven't met yet, my name is Matt Vandevecht. I'm a type one diabetic myself, but I'm also a certified master fitness trainer and nutritionist living with type one diabetes. And uh, I have two daughters now. And it's wonderful and chaotic, and it's an adventure. It really is. My other daughter's four and a half, and everything is uh it's a new stage every year, you know. But beyond that, especially if you're not a parent, you're not resonating with that, I want you to understand the blood sugar journey and what really stood out to me as we were going through this uh this unpredictable, I mean, like a predictable, unpredictable event. It's like you go out for pasta dinner and you're like, I think it's gonna spike, and then it spikes, and you're like, I didn't expect it to spike that far. And you're like, you know, you kind of knew, but you didn't. So what I discovered as I was kind of navigating this with my blood sugars, obviously, is that heading into this entire experience, my blood sugar report showed 97% time and range as averaged over a week. And that's pretty average for me. And you know, this obviously puts me into a position where I can teach on this stuff because I practice what I preach. But also, what I want you to know is that life was more predictable. And when life is predictable, you can predict blood sugar. So blood sugars actually can be predicted, they can be controlled, they can be manipulated. And this is largely what we teach our private clients. So I work privately, we have a team of experts in a number of different areas, and we all work together with food and exercise and insulin levels, blood sugar formulas to get our clients to a position where they can literally predict where blood sugars are gonna end. Hey, I'm gonna go for this 10-mile bike ride, and my blood sugars are gonna end at 100, you know, whatever. And it's possible and it's very exciting when that happens. Now, the challenge for a lot of people is that life is not always predictable. So, yes, you can calculate blood sugars, but you have to know the inputs. So, if you were to tell me, uh, Matt, you're gonna go run a marathon. I want you to stay 100% time in range. Got it. I can do that, right? Uh, and if you are unfamiliar with my journey, I've proven this. I'm actually a globally ranked Ironman athlete. And through all of my Iron Man races, spent 90 plus percent time in range. So the goal at first is to identify the inputs, to be able to calculate blood sugars, and it's based on an understanding of your body. So your metabolic rate, uh the types of foods that you consume, the type of exercise you're doing, and a number of lifestyle factors like sleep, stress, hydration, and the like. So when you have predictable inputs, you get predictable outputs. This is the core of what we call the 80-20 blood sugar formula. And I'll put a training in the description for you if that sounds interesting to be able to calculate. And I mean, literally, I can tell you, you'll hit 90% time and range within days following that kind of stuff, right? Because it really is a math equation. It's that simple. Now, that doesn't mean that it's your end-all be-all for type 1 diabetes. And this is what the stress test was for me, having an unpredictable life event. And so when I went into um, I was gonna say when I went into the hospital, I joined for the adventure. My wife led the uh the charge into the hospital, obviously. She gets the credit for that. But tagging along, losing sleep, having stress, all these things affect blood sugars as well. And in a situation where it's a bit more spontaneous and a bit more chaotic and unplanned, I don't know what kind of food I'm gonna get. I'm outside of my routine with my workouts, I'm not sleeping because I'm actually a giant. I know it doesn't come across the screen necessarily, but I'm very tall and I do not fit on hospital beds or couches or chairs, which is oftentimes what the dad gets uh gets kind of left with. You get a little chair in the corner. And it's unfortunate, but it is what it is. So my sleep was lacking, my routines off, my workouts missing, my meals completely different. How did I maintain the same time and range at 97% for the following week after my second daughter was born? Well, it's entirely based off of what's called your glucose type. Now, your glucose type, we're actually teaching this at an in-person event in San Diego in November. So check the link for the description, or you can just go to t1dmasteryve.com. So t1dmasterylive.com. You can go grab your tickets there. It's our first ever in-person event. We've been teaching them pieces of this glucose type for the last decade. Uh, but this is the first time we will ever be fully teaching it to anyone. Never actually explored this with our private clients to the fullest degree yet. And I'm very excited about it. Uh, so grab your tickets, would love to meet you and actually teach you how to do this stuff. But what the core concept is is that with type 1 diabetes, there's two ways that you have to master your blood sugars if you expect to get through life with healthy blood sugars and a happy quality of life, right? Because it's pretty easy. You can sacrifice happiness and live the same groundhog day forever, eating the same boring foods at the same time, never go travel, never have fun, and you will have more consistent blood sugars, or you can sacrifice your blood sugars to have the spontaneity, the fun, the travel, the food, and the exercise. A lot of people think it's a dichotomy. You have to choose between one or the other. That's not true. You can have both happy and healthy, but it requires that you master two different sides of type 1 diabetes management. Those two sides are proactive and reactive. Okay, so with proactive management, this is what we teach our private clients first. So the 80-20 blood sugar formula, how can I predict where my blood sugars are going to go? And a big part of that is understanding your body's response to different things. What happens when I have five carbs? How many points do my blood sugars go up? What happens when I go for a 30-minute walk? How many points do my blood sugars go down? What is the equilibrium between the two? How can I identify specifics between insulin to carb ratios, insulin to protein ratios, insulin to fat resistance ratios, and the like? How do I put these pieces together so that I understand the inner mechanics of type 1 diabetes as it relates to my body so that when I say, I want to go for a run today, it's not only not a threat, but you can execute it perfectly and maintain, like myself, above 90% time and range for the last seven years straight while becoming an Iron Man, while raising a family, while running a business. So step number one is proactive and predictive. So if I know what's going to happen, if I know what the plan is, I can execute it with near perfection. Right? Like that's how my blood sugars stays so perfect all the time because I understand what my actions are gonna lead to. So I understand if I want it to go for uh a 20-mile bike ride, I know exactly how many carbs to have so that it stays perfectly level between 90 and 120 the whole time. Or I can tell you how much my insulin needs to be reduced by and at which time frames in order to do the same thing, right? If I want to go for a run, if I want to play, if I want to have a hundred plus carbs in one sitting, I can do that because I can master the proactive side. And I have, right? So first thing we keep to our clients is the proactive side of things. Now the second side is reactive, and that is what was required for the spontaneous, the chaos, the just the whatever you call the first couple of weeks with an infant, because it's just it's a mess. Uh, but understanding the reactive side, and this is how you live spontaneously with freedom and flexibility and actually enjoy your life. And that is what we're teaching in November in San Diego. It's called your glucose type. And it's critical to understand this because it's not just the predictive side of like, if I have this many carbs, I take this much insulin, and if I exercise with that insulin on board, I'm gonna go low. That's really helpful to know to be able to anticipate where blood sugars are gonna end up. Super helpful. Great for your peace of mind, knowing with certainty what the blood sugars are gonna do. Right. And for me, many, many years ago, I had a near-death experience with type one, urgent low in Europe, traveling by myself was terrifying. I truly thought it was gonna be my end. And it redirected the entire trajectory of my life. But I understood that my fear that developed from that around low blood sugars, around insulin, was not a fear of low blood sugars, it was a fear of uncertainty. And then when I solved for certainty, I got my peace of mind back. So if you're struggling with anxiety or fear around low blood sugars, high blood sugars, the mysterious blood sugars, the missing piece often that we notice with our private clients is certainty. And that's where the predictive formulas come into play. Okay, so first step, predictive formulas, just get your footing, you know, and like understand where blood sugars are going to go so that you don't have to worry about the what ifs as much. But when life gets crazy, because it will, I can guarantee you that, uh, you can plant as much as you want. Life will throw you curveballs. When that happens, you have to know your glucose type in order to build a reactive formula. So the difference is proactive, I know what's going to happen, or I know what I want to do. So let's make a plan for it. And you stick to the plan, trust your formulas because they work. But the other side of it is I don't have a plan. Here's the situation, here's what's currently happening, right? So, example would be um I'll give you a recent one, actually. Big lunch, lots of insulin on board. Immediately after, family was like, hey, let's all go for a walk around the bay. Like, I wasn't ready for that. Don't you guys know that right after having a bunch of insulin, that a bunch of activity is gonna be really hard to handle? Hard, not impossible, first of all, but understanding how to pivot, right? And that's exactly what the glucose type is is your ability to pivot based on your body, but also your psychology, the actions that you take. And honestly, that's gonna be one of my most favorite sessions that I will be teaching at the San Diego event is understanding human psychology as it relates to the decisions that we make based out of fear, oftentimes, or anxiety that affect our blood sugars. As an example, and I'll do an episode on this in the future, probably. When I had that near-death experience in Paris, France, almost died for an urgent low, that imprinted on my mind as trauma. I was terrified of low blood sugars so much so that I swung all the way in the opposite direction, kept my blood sugars above 300 so long that my endo actually had to yell at me. And she was like, What are you doing with your life? Get that blood sugar down. And I was like, it can't be that bad. And she was like, It's that bad. You're gonna kill yourself. Um, so for me, I knew I needed to take more insulin to get my blood sugar to a healthier spot, but I was unwilling to do so because of psychology, fear around low blood sugars. So there are already subconscious drivers that we're gonna get into at the event that I've been working on this stuff for six years, and I am so pumped I finally get to share it. But that's the piece of your glucose type that a lot of people are missing is the subconscious drivers that affect how we make decisions. Why do you eat low carb? Have you ever asked yourself that? Why do you limit travel? Why do you exercise caution when there's spontaneity involved? Why do you blank, like fill in that gap? A lot of times, if we get really honest with ourselves, the answer is because diabetes. That's one of the things that this event is going to solve is to cross out that phrase. It should never be because diabetes. It should be because I want to, or because somebody else needs me, or because whatever else is on the menu that day. But diabetes should not be the reason that you change how you live your life. So when we explore proactive versus reactive, proactive is I have a plan or there is a plan, and I'm going to create a strategy based on that because I know how to manipulate blood sugars intentionally to make them work, right? So, like, I want to have a California burrito, which everybody at the event, you should get one. They're in San Diego, like best Mexican food ever. Um, there's so much good food now that I think about it. Got In N Out, we got Rubios, all sorts of stuff. Fun fact I used to live in New York and I used to eat Chipotle every day. And I thought that Chipotle originated in San Diego. And I told all my New Yorker friends, oh man, they got Chipotle out here. Did you guys know it was founded in San Diego? It was not. So, bonus points. If you can comment where Chipotle was founded, it was not San Diego. So don't embarrass me further by spreading that misinformation. But I honestly forgot where I was going with that. The point is, with proactive and reactive, if you know the plan, you can have a California burrito, there it is, and navigate that well based on digestion speeds, right? So carbs, fats, proteins, understanding how they all work together. It's not just carbs that you're dosing for. The fats and the proteins slow carbs down, which means you might not need all of your insulin up front, and they're going to affect blood sugars later. So you might need extra insulin later. That's the predictive side, the proactive. Here's the plan. Here's how I am adjusting my insulin strategy to make that work. Then there's the reactive side. Here's the situation. Here's how I'm adapting to make that work. When my daughter was born, turns out babies don't sleep. Well, babies do sleep a lot, but not when you want them to. All right. That's the big catch. It's very ironic. You're like, wow, it sleeps all day. No, it doesn't sleep at night. Uh so yeah, it's super fun. But it's it's a question of what is the current situation demanding of me to keep my blood sugars in check? Because if you don't change when the situation changes, you're not gonna have a matched strategy. So what I tell my clients often is when the situation changes, so must the strategy. Your blood sugars are dropping super fast. Well, maybe don't pre-bolish the same amount that you typically do because you're gonna crash into an urgent low, right? Um, yeah, I think that's the best example I can give you, actually. So identifying the context, the situation to be reactive, because we were not getting much sleep. My blood sugars every day would be a different ball game. As I got further and further away from her being born, I had less workouts. So I was less insulin sensitive. As we got deeper into days and then weeks after she was born, I'm also getting less sleep, which is more insulin resistance. So when you exercise, you build insulin sensitivity. When you stop exercising, you lose that insulin sensitivity because your muscles are no longer soaking up glucose, right? It's this really cool process uh via your GLUT4 transporters where your muscles will soak up glucose independently of insulin, meaning blood sugars are more responsive to insulin and glucose and you can get away with a lot more. So when you stop working out, you don't have the assist. So I no longer had the assist. So my blood sugars are coasting a little bit higher. So noticing I'm giving extra corrections throughout the day. This is interesting. I don't really love this. And then I stopped sleeping consistently. So when you don't sleep very well, you're in a sleep debt, your insulin resistance goes up as a direct result of cortisol increasing in circulation. So lack of sleep equals higher cortisol in circulation. Higher cortisol in circulation equals higher insulin resistance. Combine those two, less exercise and less sleep. I am less insulin sensitive and more insulin resistant, which both yield higher, more stubborn blood sugars. Now, because I can play off my glucose type, because I had been creating this for you guys for six years, uh and I'm pretty good at it now. I was able to identify that on day one, right? So on day one, I pivoted, recalculated. Here's the new insulin rates that I need. I need more insulin for breakfast because in the mornings, most of us are more insulin resistant, and we get less insulin resistant as the day goes on. And I had to recalculate my lack of exercise. Okay, I'm not as insulin sensitive. I have to be a bit more cautious around carbs because I don't have glucose disposal into my muscle tissue, right? So being able to pivot to adapt, that is the core of the first piece of your glucose type. Now, I'm gonna put a link in the description for you guys to check out the event itself because the event page also talks more about glucose type, how to discover your own glucose type, and of course a bit more about the event itself and how we're gonna be pulling back the layers on both the reactive side of diabetes, how to pivot in more of the spontaneous side of life and or the chaotic side of life, but also the proactive side. So we have reactive, how to handle real life, glucose type, and proactive, how to handle planned life, your 80-20 blood sugar formula. When you combine these two, you can handle whatever the heck life throws at you. And that's the point. Because when you get to that point, you can maintain above 90% time and range, which gives you the health while living your best life because you're not worried about the what-ifs as much, and you can handle whatever curveball life throws at you, meaning you've got the happy. So, as a direct result of mapping out your proactive formulas and your reactive formulas, i.e., 80-20 formulas, and your glucose type, which is what we're covering at the event, you get happy and healthy. This is the path to mastery with type 1 diabetes. Hence the title of the event, T1D Mastery Live. We're not just talking about how much insulin do you take for a sandwich. We're talking about real-life scenarios. We're talking about CGM analytics, my favorite topic, getting into the math behind the blood sugars and understanding them. But we're also getting into my new favorite topic, psychology behind type 1 diabetes. What's actually influencing our decisions? Even though we know what we need to do, why are we unwilling to do that thing and breaking in those false beliefs, breaking patterns that may be decades old in some cases, and getting to a place of true transformation? Oh, I am so pumped for this. I don't know if you can tell if it's it's coming through the screen, but I could shout from the mountaintops about this event. And I have been, actually, I have been posting a lot about it. So if that intrigues you, and or if you've ever wanted a vacation in San Diego in November, because it's always beautiful here, go check it out. T1dmasteryLive.com. And we've got some special stuff. Once you've got your tickets, we've got a couple of surprises for you on the following page and the website as well. So we'll put that in the description for you. But big picture for today, understanding there are two core areas that you need to put your focus with type one diabetes if you want freedom. So if you just care about blood sugars, if you just want healthy and don't care about happy, here's the tip: consistency, consistency, consistency. If you live the same day, eat the same foods at the same time, do the same exercises, don't do anything fun or different or dangerous or whatever, uh, you know, don't make memories. Diabetes loves consistency and consistency will yield consistency. So, what I mean by that is if you do the same thing every day, you will find patterns easier and your blood sugars will be more stable, right? And it's a lot easier to pivot too. It's like, oh, I spike every day after breakfast. Okay, I'll just take more insulin at breakfast. It simplifies the whole equation. And that can be helpful short term, but I would highly recommend, as someone who's done this, to allow for freedom, allow for flexibility. For years I lived in restriction where I was like, oh, if I just don't have any fun, my blood sugars cooperate. But you get to a point where you're like, wow, this is not worth it. I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize that I've missed the whole point of life. I missed out on memories, which I have. I missed out on experiences, which I have. I missed out on the point of life, which for a couple of years I did. And I don't want you to experience that same regret. So while you can use restriction as a strategy at first, I do not recommend leaving that as your only strategy. Build a proactive approach. Approach. Build a reactive approach. And then you can handle whatever life throws at you while making your own decisions. Instead of saying, uh, I want to do what's best for my diabetes, you do what's best for you and you make your diabetes work. You allow it to come along for the ride. Instead of letting diabetes drive the car, it's a passenger in the car. It's helping you navigate, but you are the one holding the steering wheel. A phrase that we give our clients, and I'll leave you with this, is to live with type 1 diabetes, not for type 1 diabetes. And I see a lot of people living for type 1 diabetes and not even realizing it. One, because they sacrifice the choices that they wish they could make. Oh, I guess I'll get a salad for dinner. Oh, I guess I'll avoid signing up for that rec soccer league or having fun. They avoid and they restrict. That's number one. They don't know. Number two is they let it consume their life. They are controlled, but it's because they're hyper-focused on it and they sacrifice everything else. And it just becomes this all-encompassing thing. It consumes you. Don't let that become your standard. Raise your standards. We call ourselves the Renegades or Renegade Warriors in our community. Got over a thousand people in our private community. And it's amazing to see what happens when you challenge false beliefs, when you challenge existing status quo, right? Where doctors are telling us 70% time and range is a okay. And just get your A1C to a seven and you'll be fine. I agree, you'll be fine, but that's no way to live your life. If you want to thrive with type 1 diabetes, you will find a way to get to this event in San Diego. You're gonna have 100 people in the room, all of whom are gonna have type 1 diabetes, which is great for connection, but even more so, it's important to be surrounded by people who are on the same growth trajectory, people who also care enough about their type 1 diabetes that they reject the current standards, which are subpar, by the way, and expect more, expect greater things. So, with that said, yes, you can navigate life. I went from 97% time in range pre-birth to 97% time in range after birth. And the following week was 95% time in range. Told you I'd tell you the numbers. I lost 2% time in range because of two weeks compounded low workouts, no sleep, added stress, and uh actually planning this event. I've been to probably 10 different venues trying to find the perfect one. And good news, we finally found it. Oh, I'm so pumped. We we got a really good spot and we've got some fun surprises for everybody who gets there in person as well. So, how can you handle blood sugars when life gets crazy? You have both plans proactive to handle anything and everything planned, so that when you desire to, you can lock in and the blood sugars will cooperate because your body is not a symbol of chaos, right? Your body makes sense. The only thing missing is a pancreas, and you can fill that role with math and science. It is predictable. You can do that, and I am living proof of that. So are the thousands of people who I've helped get above 90% time and range. So, number one, proactive. Number two, reactive. Life will get crazy. It's gonna throw you off. You're gonna have a moment like I did where you've dosed for a large meal, and then the baby wakes up and starts crying, and you have to figure out how to not go low while also rocking a baby back to sleep. Life gets crazy. It's going to. That's kind of part of the deal, though. And it's it's honestly what makes it fun. Because life is unpredictable, it allows us to experience new things and to overcome obstacles and challenges and to grow. So I don't want you to have to fall back because of type 1 diabetes. So build out your reactive and your proactive. Reactive is based on your glucose type, which I will get more in depth into at the event. Uh, it's we've we're barely scratching the surface. I don't have time for a full uh it's gonna be three days, right? Covering glucose type. So uh you'll see. And number two, your proactive 80-20 blood sugar formula. I'll put two links in the description, maybe three. Um, 80-20, it's a good one to have. Obviously, the event, just get your tickets now. Do not wait because that room will fill up. Uh, we've run this, we've run similar events virtually and they all fill up. And now, because it's in person, we have an actual cap. We actually can't fit more people in that room. So when the tickets sell out, which they will, I I won't have anything else to give to you in terms of uh options to get into that event. So if this is important to you, grab your tickets now. I'll see you there. Thanks for hanging out. We'll see you at the event, t1dmasteryve.com. And keep up the fight.