Bravest Podcast

If you're not familiar with Maddie Maloney, she is a, now former, division 1 tennis star who has lived with type 1 diabetes since she was 13 years old. Maddie has functioned at such a high level of performance for much of her life, and today she shares her story, as well as taking a deep dive into the topic of mindset.

Maddie and I talk about the pressures of playing competitive tennis. We talk about injuries and the frustration of being hurt. We talk about how type 1 has made her more focused on proving that she has no limitations, and also how it has also made her more empathetic to other people's situations. We also discuss the concepts of accountability, self-care, when its OK to relax, and her love of, none other than, Taylor Swift.

Amberly Lago is a Texas girl who found herself in Los Angeles pursuing her childhood dreams of being a dancer. Ultimately, she landed jobs as a fitness model, she was a Nike endorsed athlete, she was frequently seen on the Body By Jake fitness infomercials, and she had a super successful personal training business. Life looked amazing for Amberly, until, on one picture perfect Southern California day, she was struck by a pickup truck when riding her Harley Davidson. That accident left Amberly lying on the pavement fighting for her life. As she describes in our conversation, her leg was crushed, her femoral artery was severed, and her world was forever changed. Thirty-four surgeries and a lifetime of pain later, Amberly was able to save her leg and now she tells her story on today's show and in her new book, which is called: 'True Grit and Grace: Turning Tragedy Into Triumph'. That book is set for release this week. This is a conversation about gratitude, resilience and one person's fight to not only survive, but truly thrive, despite life's insane circumstances.

This is the first is a series of interviews with Jenn Fleischer. If you're not familiar with Jenn, she has a laundry list of credentials in the world of nutrition, food science, and wellness coaching. She is also a certified diabetes educator. Jenn definitely has the credentials to make our conversation on today's show truly meaningful. What are we going to focus on with Jenn? The purpose of this episode if to provide some perspective on her story and to set the stage for the upcoming episodes that she'll be featured on. Today, we talk about our relationship with food. Food is a complicated topic, whether it's the basic nutrition questions we all have, what diet is best for us, the psychology associated with food, and the issues go on and on. What Jenn is hoping to do today is raise our internal awareness of these issues, and ultimately understand how we can make peace with our own food issues while fueling ourselves for our lifestyles. We talk disordered eating, restriction, food addiction, being honest with ourselves, finding peace with food, and mindful eating. As you'll hear in our conversation, Jenn pulled back the curtains on some issues that I am having with food. I know there's a ton of take-homes in our conversation for you to question your own potential issues with food and nutrition.

Coming straight off her first MMA fight, and her first win, BJ Garceau has had a long road to the octagon. When you listen to BJ, by the sound of her voice, you would never expect her to be a fighter. But the more you learn about her, the more you realize, being a fighter presents itself in many forms.

Diagnosed with spinal meningitis at 4 months old, BJ was left with complete hearing loss in one ear as a result. Growing up she was always known as the 'sick kid'. At 4 years old she was diagnosed with asthma, then at 11 she was hit with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. But even at a young age, nothing slowed her down.

This conversation is a masterclass on the path to becoming a warrior, regardless who you are. BJ and I talk about how experiencing significant adversity early on in life, likely sets us up to have a fighter mindset. And we also discuss shaping our mentality with every experience to not look for the excuses or the easy path.

BJ and I also talk about growing up in the 1980s, binge watching Stranger Things. We also cover BJ's love of music, our common bond of playing bass guitar and her love of none other than Jean Claude Van Dam.

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One of the biggest sports on the planet, soccer (or football) has played a central role in the life of our guest on today's show. Chris Bright was raised in a town just outside of Birmingham in the UK. A kid who never sat still, Chris spent much of his childhood kicking around a ball. A shy kid, Chris developed a bit of a chip on his shoulder after being diagnosed with T1D at the age of 8. We talk about a defining moment with a pediatric nurse at the time of his diagnosis, and the importance of having a person in our lives who pulls down any potential for barriers at the start of a challenging journey. We discuss the support of his family, we discuss the challenges associated with figuring out his body to enable him to perform at the highest levels on the field of play, and we talk about the importance of the continued focus on the quality of perseverance in any aspect of life. Chris also shares some details about the next stage of his journey including the formation of The Diabetes Football Community, and the first all type 1 futsal team. If you're an athlete, or if you're simply looking for inspiration and guidance to help you on your path in athletics, this is a 'must listen to' episode of the podcast. www.thebravestlife.com/036 www.imgreaterthan.com www.thediabetesfootballcommunity.com

What does it take to jump in a small boat and row across the Atlantic Ocean? For our guest today, it was a lifetime of preparation, but it was something he attacked without much hesitation.

A bit of an adventure seeker, Hugo Thompson has spent most of his recent life traveling the world, looking for his next big challenge. Ironically, he wasn't an adventurous kid. Its was a void he felt in his life during young adulthood that made him jumpstart a life of exploration.

In our conversation, Hugo and I talk about his diagnosis with type 1 diabetes just 6 months before he agreed to take on the Talisker Atlantic Challenge; which is a 3,000 mile trek across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Antigua. The journey, which took Hugo and his three boat mates, 2.5 years to prepare for and just over 55 days to complete, tested their resolve as they encountered storms and rough waters which eliminated a number of their fellow competitors.

This is a conversation of determination, exploring the limits if our mental and physical capabilities, and a call to all of us to live life to it's fullest every day despite the rough waters we may encounter along our journey.

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The conversation you're about to hear is with someone I have known for about 40 years. US Army Colonel Michael Sullivan and I became friends in pre-school. While life took us on different paths, I knew when I launched the podcast last year, he was a person I had to have on as a guest.

In our conversation, Colonel Sullivan (who prefers to be called 'Sully') shares his early childhood fascination with the US Military Academy at West Point, which ultimately solidified his path to service. We talk about internal vs. external motivation and we discuss the importance of lacrosse early in is life which led to him to play Division I lacrosse for West Point. He also talks about the most important lessons he learned during his time as a Cadet.

We discuss his military service which has had him deployed to some of the most challenging places on the planet. Sully shares insights he has gained by leading huge groups of soldiers, as well as the work he does to continuously improve himself.

If that's not enough, Sully recently completed his PhD at Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

In our conversation we cover the topics of adversity, discomfort, leadership, stoicism, and the importance of hitting rock bottom.

(NOTE: I refer to Colonel Sullivan throughout this conversation as 'Lt Colonel'. As you'll hear in the interview, despite his achievements, he is super humble, and does not correct me. But I just need to go on record, Sully is in fact a Colonel, so I apologize to Colonel Sullivan for my error during the show.)

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On today's show we have Chef Tommy Fields. Chef Tommy literally grew up in the kitchen. His story started in the challenging world of Detroit, Michigan, and we talk about the significant effort his mom and grandmother took to share the important lessons of hard work and good food to keep him on a straight and narrow path.

Ultimately Tommy took those lessons and became a Navy chef cooking for thousands of people and teaching young recruits how to prepare for the rigors of feeding the Navy.

This is a conversation about Chef Tommy's unique journey, but we also spend a significant amount of time talking about his philosophy of changing our mindset as is relates to food, and he shares his tips on eating simple, accessible foods, without being restrictive. All of this in an effort for each of us to create healthy daily patterns.

Chef Tommy really operates at that transition point between unhealthy eating choices and those first steps to getting on the path to better food choices. He doesn't promote a specific diet necessarily, he just provides real talk on real food.

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One person truly has the ability to change the mindset of world.

Not too long ago, Elliot Gatt launched his company Good Glucos with the mission to provide affordable, basic diabetes management to everyone, regardless of their economic situation. In this conversation, we talk about the early experiences in Elliot's life that served as the catalyst for his work with Good Glucos, as well as the challenges and triumphs of running a start-up in a very competitive space.

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On the show today we have a guy who has been a central figure in the world of type 1 diabetes for quite some time. Craig Stubing has injected his creativity into the T1 community through a number of projects including his very popular, Beta Cell Podcast. As I mention to Craig in our conversation, it was actually his podcast that served as one of the inspirations for me to pick up the mic and share my voice through this very show.

In today's episode, we discuss the most important lesson Craig learned early on in his life with diabetes. We also talk about lessons we can all learn from the parents of T1D kids, and how, if we take a moment to tap into it, creativity can serve us when it comes to optimizing our own care.

Craig also shares the story and purpose behind the non-profit running organization he started with James Mansfield, called Type One Run. Craig shares his belief that taking that first step, while it might be the hardest for many people, it's the most impressive and most important for our ultimate success in health, wellness and life. And he also explains how he is inspired by everyday people simply living their lives each day with type 1.

This is a special conversation with the intent to inspire and motivate anyone out there questioning their own ability to get out and create a better life with diabetes. What we learn in this interview with Craig, is that often, it's simply just putting one foot in front of the other.

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