The Healthy Diabetic

In today's episode, I asked Graham one question at the start of this episode — what are the two most important things that keep your blood sugar stable?

Two Type 1 diabetics. Fifty years of combined experience. Two answers that might completely change how you think about what actually keeps your blood sugar stable.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Why organizing your diabetes supplies isn't just practical — it removes panic from an unpredictable condition
• What it actually feels like to be down to your last vial of insulin — and what that teaches you
• Graham's two most impactful lessons after 30 years of living with Type 1 diabetes
• Why trial and error is the only real path to genuine self-trust in diabetes management
• How failing, learning, and adjusting builds what Graham calls a coat of armor over time
• Why small daily wins compound into real confidence faster than big milestone moments
• The difference between celebrating highlights and celebrating the little decisions that shape everything
• Why the bad moments in diabetes management matter just as much as the good ones

You can't get to a place of fully trusting your diabetes decisions without experimenting, failing, and learning. The small wins you forget to celebrate are the ones that are quietly building your confidence every single day. Start noticing them.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

In today's episode, I sat down with Matt Schreiber — diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in March of 2025 with a blood sugar of 480 and an A1C of 13.1 — and walked away from this conversation genuinely inspired.

Matt spent months feeling exhausted, losing weight, constantly thirsty, and running out of steam ten minutes into a workout. It took his girlfriend finally saying enough is enough and dragging him to urgent care for everything to come to a head. He walked out of the ER with a Type 1 diagnosis, a crash course in insulin, and a choice to make about how he was going to live with this condition.

Eighteen months later, his A1C is 5.9. He's playing ice hockey. He completed his first 10K. And he's managing Type 1 with MDI and a CGM while continuing to train the way he always has — without letting diabetes set the boundaries for what he can and can't do.

We get into what his diagnosis actually looked like, why urgent care initially gave him metformin instead of insulin, how he navigated exercise and blood sugar management as a competitive athlete, what his experience with a GLP-1 medication was like, and the three pieces of advice he'd give every person with Type 1 diabetes right now — whether they were diagnosed last week or twenty years ago.

This episode is proof that you are bigger than Type 1 diabetes.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• What Matt's symptoms looked like before diagnosis — and why he kept pushing it off
• Why urgent care gave him metformin instead of insulin at first
• How he went from an A1C of 13.1 to 5.9 in eighteen months
• What managing blood sugar during ice hockey and weightlifting actually looks like
• Why his experience with a GLP-1 medication didn't work for him — and what he learned from it
• How he trained for and completed his first 10K with Type 1 diabetes
• The three pieces of advice Matt would give every diabetic right now
• Why celebrating small wins might be the most underrated tool in diabetes management
• Why over 60% of new Type 1 diagnoses are now happening in adults over 23

Don't let this disease limit you. You are bigger than Type 1 diabetes. It might take longer to get where you want to go — but you can still get there. Keep pushing.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

If there is ever a cure are we really CURING Type 1 Diabetes?

Not in the sense of whether the technology exists yet. But in a deeper sense - if stem cells, a pancreatic transplant, or some other breakthrough meant you never had to take insulin again, have we actually cured the autoimmune condition that caused Type 1 in the first place? Or have we just found a way to work around it?

Our perspectives will shock you...

From there the conversation goes wide — into worldview, personal responsibility, doing your own research, and what it means to take control of your own existence when the systems around you can't always be trusted to have your best interests at heart.

I hope you like it when we debate and bicker — because this one is a doozy.

This is one of the most thought-provoking episodes we've ever recorded.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Whether eliminating the need for insulin would truly constitute a cure for Type 1 diabetes
• Graham's honest belief after 32 years - and why he doesn't think he or Ken will ever be cured
• Why false hope can be just as damaging as no hope at all
• Why I believes hope is growing faster than at any point in the history of Type 1 diabetes
• How to hold onto hope without letting it stop you from living fully right now
• Why doing your own research matters more than ever when it comes to your health decisions
• Why trusting yourself - even when decisions don't go perfectly - changes everything for how you manage diabetes

You can have enormous hope for what's coming and still choose to live fully right now. Waiting for a cure that may or may not arrive in your lifetime is not a diabetes strategy — it's a recipe for burnout. The goal is to thrive today while believing in what's possible tomorrow.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

Graham's been on Ozempic for seven weeks. He came into this episode with three words.

"There is no taking care of your blood sugar anymore."

That's a bold statement. And as his co-host and someone who coaches people through diabetes every day, I naturally had questions. A lot of them. 

From there the conversation goes wide. We debate what exercise actually is and isn't — and why walking the dog around the block doesn't count the same way a hill sprint does. We revisit the CGM debate and what it means to manage diabetes without continuous data. 

So much to unpack in this episode...

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Graham's full seven-week Ozempic update - what's changed, what hasn't, and what surprised him most
• Why Ozempic results are highly individual - and why Graham's experience won't look the same for everyone
• How splitting basal doses combined with Ozempic is changing Graham's insulin needs dramatically
• Why going low without a bolus is happening - and what Ken thinks is actually behind it
• What Ken considers real exercise versus general movement - and why the distinction matters for your blood sugar
• Why managing diabetes without CGM data makes troubleshooting harder for both you and your doctor

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

I saw a clip on Instagram a couple of weeks ago and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. Some of the brands I've trusted for years - brands that promised clean ingredients - may lying to all of us. 

I've been talking about nutrition for the last few episodes - why food quality matters, why ingredient lists tell you more than nutrition labels, and why clean eating is one of the most powerful tools a diabetic has. So when a viral study started circulating that called out some of my favorite brands, I haven't been able to let it go.

I walk through what the study found, why seed oils and inflammatory ingredients matter so much for people managing diabetes, and what this means for how we shop and what we actually believe when we read a label. What are we to do when our trusted brands aren't as honest as we thought?

🔑 Key Takeaways

• What the avocado oil authenticity study found — and why the results are infuriating
• Why seed oils are inflammatory and why that matters specifically for insulin resistance
• Which brands failed the authenticity test — and which ones passed
• Why reading an ingredient label doesn't guarantee the product contains what it claims
• What the least-processed food sources are and why fewer hands means better nutrition
• Why chronic inflammation from processed foods drives insulin resistance over time
• Why coaching might be the thing that can help you THRIVE with diabetes

Additional Resources

• The full Report on the Avocado Oil Study
• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

Welcome to Diabetes Confessions — a brand new series where we get honest about the decisions we've made in diabetes that we're not proud of.

For years, I've coached people through the daily complexities of Type 1 diabetes. I've talked about trust, dosing strategy, pre-bolusing, exercise, nutrition strategies, and building habits that stick. What I haven't talked about - until now - is how many of those same things I've got completely wrong myself.

Episode one starts with something that hits close to home for almost every person who has ever taken insulin. Not taking enough of it. Not because I forgot. Not because I miscalculated. But because I was afraid. Afraid of going low. Afraid of the crash. Afraid of what happens when the insulin works too well.

For a long stretch of my diabetes life, I chronically under-dosed my meals and spent the next two to three hours chasing high blood sugars and riding a rollercoaster that never had to be that bad. I walk through exactly what was happening, why fear and lack of confidence kept me stuck, and the mindset shift that finally changed my life.

This one isn't clinical. It isn't a framework. It's just me being real and it might be exactly what you need to hear.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Why fear of going low is one of the most common and least talked about barriers in Type 1 diabetes
• How chronic underdosing creates the blood sugar rollercoaster most people think is just "part of diabetes"
• Why confidence and self-trust matter more than perfect carb counting
• The difference between a healthy self-correction and a spiral of negative self-talk after a bad decision
• How to reflect on your lows to figure out whether fear or a dosing problem is actually driving them
• Why trust — not insulin — is the most powerful tool in diabetes management
• How tools like Glucose Sense can help remove the guesswork and reduce fear around dosing
• What it feels like when you finally trust your decisions enough to dose and walk away

Trust is the foundation of everything in diabetes management. When you trust your decisions, you dose and walk away. When you don't, diabetes lives in your head twenty four hours a day. Getting to that place of trust - even when decisions don't go perfectly - is the difference between managing diabetes and being managed by it.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

Graham asked Ken one question that stopped him in his tracks - is there a right or wrong way to manage Type 1 diabetes? 

The wrong way to manage Type 1 diabetes has nothing to do with your numbers. Nothing to do with your A1C, your TIR, pre-bolusing, carb counting, or CGM numbers. For Ken, the one non-negotiable your mental health. Because if your mental health isn't in alignment with your diabetes, none of the other stuff works the way it should. Fear, resentment, burnout, avoidance - will run your decisions and move you towards distrust in yourself. 

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Why Ken believes the only wrong way to manage Type 1 diabetes is mental health misalignment
• How fear, resentment, and burnout quietly destroy your diabetes management from the inside out
• Why great numbers mean nothing if you can't stand living with this condition
• The importance of staying connected to your endocrinologist — and what happens when people don't
• How grounding and barefoot training support nervous system health for diabetics
• What diabetic socks actually do — and why most people don't use them until it's too late
• Why inflammation is the root cause of most physical complications in Type 1 diabetes
• Why constipation and digestive issues have a direct impact on blood sugar and insulin sensitivity

Great numbers without feeling strong in your identity with diabetes isn't success - it's a ticking clock. The moment your relationship with this condition breaks down, everything else follows. Get the mindset right first. Everything else has a way of falling into place.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

No time to cook - this is the clean eating solution every busy diabetic has been waiting for. 

In today's episode Ken sits down with Kat Brown, the founder and CEO of luxe + lemons, a Columbus-based prepared meal company making healthy eating easier for busy women and families. Since founding the company in 2018, Kat has grown luxe + lemons from a small local startup into a multimillion-dollar business serving thousands of fresh, chef-crafted meals each week.

Driven by the belief that people should not have to choose between taking care of themselves and keeping up with the demands of everyday life, Kat has built luxe + lemons around real food, meaningful convenience, and an exceptional customer experience. She is passionate about entrepreneurship, brand building, leadership, and creating a company that positively impacts both its customers and its team.

As an added bonus, use this exclusive Healthy Diabetic Podcast discount code TAKE20 at checkout and save $20 of your first order. 

Columbus Ohio residents as Lux & Lemon's shipping is centrally located to Columbus for the short term.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Why food quality matters more than macros for people managing diabetes
• How meal prep services can remove one of the biggest daily stressors for busy diabetics
• Why clean sauces are the foundation of Lux & Lemons — and the hardest thing to find in a grocery store
• The real cost comparison of meal prepping yourself versus ordering from a quality service
• Why being excited about what's on your plate is the key to sticking to a healthy lifestyle
• How Lux & Lemons customizes options for low carb, gluten-free, and dairy-free needs
• What makes Lux & Lemons different from HelloFresh, Factor, and other meal delivery services

You cannot pour from an empty cup — and you cannot manage diabetes well on food that doesn't fuel you. If eating well has felt impossible because life is too busy, that's not a willpower problem. That's a systems problem. And there's a solution for it.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Share this episode with someone who's ever wondered whether intermittent fasting is worth trying with Type 1 diabetes.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

Ken just returned from diabetes camp and Graham had questions. Lots of them.

What started as a catch-up conversation turned into one of the most relatable episodes Ken and Graham have recorded — because at the heart of it is something every person with Type 1 diabetes knows intimately: the moment your normal routine disappears, diabetes gets unpredictable fast.

Ken breaks down what it actually looked like to manage his blood sugar during camp — the increased physical activity, the completely different food environment, and why he went the first two days without taking any basal insulin at all. It's a real-world example of something Ken coaches his clients through constantly — that diabetes management isn't a fixed system. It's a living, breathing process that has to flex with your life.

From there the conversation shifts into nutrition — and this is where Ken gets personal. He's currently trying to identify which foods are inflaming his digestive system, why bloating and inflammation are directly connected to insulin resistance, and why reading the ingredient list matters far more than reading the nutrition label. Graham shares his own grocery habits, the Fairlife protein shakes he swears by, and — in a moment of perfect irony — admits they might be the very thing making him feel bloated every night.

This one is warm, honest, and exactly the kind of conversation you'd have with two friends who happen to know more about diabetes than almost anyone else you'll ever meet.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• What diabetes camp actually looks like — and why Ken recommends it for every young diabetic
• Why Ken skipped basal insulin for the first two days of camp and what that tells us about activity and blood sugar
• How to adjust your insulin ratios when your daily routine changes significantly
• Why inflammation is one of the most underrated factors in insulin resistance
• The difference between reading nutrition labels and reading ingredient lists — and why one matters far more
• How dairy, processed protein shakes, and convenience foods can quietly inflame your system
• Why what works nutritionally for one diabetic may be causing problems for another
• Where to find diabetes camps across the US and Canada — and why Ken wants to start one

Your diabetes management is only as good as its ability to adapt. When your routine changes — whether it's camp, travel, or just a different week — your insulin needs change too. The goal isn't a perfect plan. It's a plan that can adapt.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Share this episode with someone who's ever wondered whether intermittent fasting is worth trying with Type 1 diabetes.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show

It started with a deceptively simple question — do you burn more calories when it's hot outside?

The real truth is that sweating has nothing to do with calorie burn. Heart rate has everything to do with it. Graham and Ken discuss their thoughts about how aerobic and anaerobic exercise can help your blood sugar stability and insulin sensitivity. Which is better for your diabetes?

From there the episode goes wide. Ken walks through the five heart rate zones, explains why zone two aerobic training (cardio) is where fat burning actually happens, and makes the case for why building your aerobic capacity is the foundation of long-term physical health — especially with Type 1 diabetes. Graham challenges, questions, and pushes back in all the right ways, and the conversation gets more interesting with every exchange.

Then things get real. Moving from alcohol, addiction, and what it truly takes to change one's behavior. The conversation then moves into worldviews, personal responsibility, instant gratification, and why knowing what you should do and actually taking action are two entirely different things.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Why sweating has nothing to do with calorie burn — and what actually does
• How heat affects your heart rate and why it makes exercise harder than it looks
• The five heart rate zones and what each one means for your blood sugar
• Why zone two cardio is where fat burning happens and why it matters for diabetics
• What your aerobic and anaerobic thresholds are and why they change everything about how you train
• How alcohol hijacks your liver's ability to regulate blood sugar — and what to do about it
• Why high intensity exercise drops blood sugar fast and how to manage it
• Why knowing what you should do and actually doing it are two completely different challenges

Exercise is one of the most powerful tools a Type 1 diabetic has — but only if you understand what it's actually doing to your blood sugar. Knowing your heart rate zones isn't just fitness knowledge. For a diabetic, it's diabetes management.

Additional Resources

• Watch our LIVE episodes Mondays & Wednesdays @2pm EST — Tune in Here
• 🎯 5 Lessons You Can't Learn From Your Doctor — Free 5-Day Experience
• 🌐 Website: SimplifyingDiabetes.com
• 📚 The Diabetes Nutrition Master Course: Start Learning
• 💪 Work with me: More Than A1C — 1on1 Coaching
• 📞 Simplify Your Diabetes — Free Call: Book Now
• 🎙 Donate to the Podcast: Contribute Here

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review — it helps more people living with diabetes discover the podcast.

Share this episode with someone who's ever wondered whether intermittent fasting is worth trying with Type 1 diabetes.

Podcast Disclaimer: Nothing that you hear on The Healthy Diabetic Podcast should be considered medical advice or otherwise; please always consult your medical TEAM before making any changes to your Diabetes management.

Hey Diabuddy thank you for listening to show, send me some positive vibes with your favorite part of this episode.

Support the show