Diabetics Doing Happy Tummys and Travel with Whitney Lewis

[00:00:00] Rob Howe: Whoa! New intro, who dis? Welcome back to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast, where we're telling the amazing, untold, wacky, weird, and inspiring stories of type 1 diabetics from across the world. I'm your host, Rob Howe, and I wanted to let you know that we now have over 500 years of living with T1D on the podcast, and we're on track to be over 1,000 by the end of the summer, which is pretty exciting. I also wanted to chat about my new email series, Friday T1D Feels, where I send you a personal note, no fancy graphics or anything like that, about what I've been thinking about in the world of type 1 diabetes during that week. If you're into that, just go to diabeticsdoingthings.com and sign up. I'd also like to take a minute to talk about hashtag coverage to control. JDRF is raising awareness around the fact that most of us don't get to pick the insulin pumps we have, just the ones our insurance will cover. Just imagine if your cell phone was like that. Except this isn't a phone, it's what keeps us alive. So let your voice be heard and tell your insurance company that T1Ds and their doctors should decide what kind of pumps they use, not the company's. I'm looking at you, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield. Let's get this right. Okay, enough chatter. Let's get back to the episode. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We're telling the amazing stories of T1Ds all over the world. And I'm very, very, very excited to introduce today's guest. Calling me from California today is Whitney Lewis. How are you, Whitney? Welcome to the show. I'm good. How are you? I'm fantastic. And for those who don't know Whitney by name, you might recognize her as the Happy Pancreas from Instagram. Yes, that is me. That's you, your alter ego, your alternate persona. Do people stop you on the street and say, hey, you're the happy pancreas. Not yet. Maybe one day. We all can dream. I'm still waiting to be noticed as the guy with the diabetes podcast, I guess. So Whitney, I know we're going to talk a lot about travel today. We're going to talk a lot about enjoying and softening the edge of how we approach our type 1 when we're on vacation and traveling around. But let's get to know you a little bit first. How is it that you became a target for a diabetes podcast? Tell us a little bit about your diagnosis story. Well, and it's funny you're

[00:02:28] Whitney Lewis: asking about my diagnosis story because before, you know, semi preparing for this, I was like, oh, I'm coming up to my three year anniversary. But now four years, I will have had type 1. I don't even know where that extra year went, but in my mind, I'm like, oh, January is three years. No, this January will be my fourth year of type 1, and I was diagnosed when I was 26. I'm 29 now, so this coming January will be four years.

[00:02:59] Rob Howe: And so 26, I mean, you lived obviously a good chunk of your life without type 1. What was that like for you?

[00:03:08] Whitney Lewis: um traumatic i guess to say it uh simply and semi-lightly um i was definitely in denial uh for the first i mean definitely a few days weeks even in into months um uh i guess a little bit of a background on leading up to my diagnosis i was i was really sick um i I was being treated for bronchitis. I was going to my OBGYN for things that were off balance. I was going to my PCP for, you know, just being treated for, I mean, my immune system was obviously shot. So my body was just like breaking down in every area. I had lost like 15 pounds, I guess. And as a girl, losing weight isn't necessarily always a bad thing. I had no idea why I was like losing weight. But I was like, okay, like maybe I'm becoming extra healthy. I don't really know. But obviously it was the opposite of what was occurring. My body was just really stressed. But yeah, what was happening? I guess I was really sick, you know, getting – I pretty much got everything done except for blood work, which was a little frustrating. You know, going in and out of the doctors and, you know, kind of getting on different medicines to kind of treat, treat the symptoms of everything really,

[00:04:33] Rob Howe: but controlling my blood sugar. So. Yeah. And I think, you know, when you're, you know, when you're that age, right, you obviously have had a little bit more time when you're with your body, you know, like, like you said, you know, you're, are you just, am I just suddenly becoming more healthy, all of this healthy choices are suddenly paying off in dividends. And then, you know, you're going to your different doctors. And, you know, as I've gotten older, one thing I've learned, I think the most is that if I'm sick or something's hurting, like there's a doctor for that. So, you know, and I think also another thing that I normally hear from type ones who were diagnosed a little bit later is a little bit of misdiagnosis. Did you experience any of that, you know, kind of as you were going through your different physicians,

[00:05:19] Whitney Lewis: trying to identify what was going on? Well, yeah, I mean, like I said, I was being treated for a few different things, but my, um, my blood was never taken. Uh, so I was being treated for UTI, bronchitis. Um, and when my doctor finally did want to take my blood, I showed up at the blood test. I didn't realize it had to be fasting. So they skipped the, the, the blood sugar test that day. And they didn't even like, they're like, well, we'll wait till tomorrow. Or I kind of, I've, it's kind of vague. I don't really remember like when, but they had skipped that. So then I had to go back again to get it redone. And then leading up to like, you know, those days where I found out or before the days that I found out a super random symptom. And I don't know if anyone else had experienced this, but my pulse was excessively high. My pulse would be like I would check it like with my phone or at work. I was working at an oncologist's office at the time. So it was really easy to check my pulse and, um, it'd be like 200 and 230 and I'd have to just sit down and like, why, why am I just so exhausted? And I would just feel like I was going to pass out. And then again, being in an oncology office where everyone's getting like their chemo, they, they were giving me fluids just because I was just, I felt like so dehydrated and excessively thirsty. Um, uh, I'm sorry. What was the question again?

[00:06:43] Rob Howe: No, I just talking about misdiagnosis or, you know, different things. And it's so funny, like how luck and just sort of like serendipity almost, because like if you're working at an oncologist's office, you have access to fluids. So, hey, yeah, we'll just give you some fluids if you're dehydrated. And but like 200 plus pulse, that's like almost max heart rate.

[00:07:06] Whitney Lewis: I know. Obviously, my body was just, you know, not happy. Um, but finally when my, uh, my labs came back, I woke up in the morning, it was like an off day at work. Um, so I, I woke up, looked at my phone, generally keep my phone on silent. And I had like five missed calls and all these voicemails of, you know, and upon checking them, uh, stated that I needed to go to the emergency room, that my blood sugars were extremely elevated. So in the back of my head, I'm like, again, having no, uh, history with diabetics didn't, I didn't know really I mean obviously I knew what that meant but not really um but so them telling me to go to the hospital for this I'm like okay what's going on with my body I guess guess I need to go to the hospital so that's what I did I drove myself to the hospital I texted my husband I'm like uh the doctor told me you need to go to the hospital so that's what I'm gonna do even though I felt like even though I was still in this like sick state I felt like okay like I was still functioning. So I checked in and finally when I got in the back, like nurses were like, where's your, have you taken your, have you checked your blood sugar today? Like, why is it so elevated? Have you taken your insulin? And again, like all foreign questions. I was like, I don't know what you're asking me. Like as of now, I was completely unaware of, of this was occurring to my body. So they checked me in. I was, you know, staying, I stayed in the ER for, I guess it was a day or two, and everyone was really kind and helpful, but they did send me home with type 2 diabetes information. So that was my first experience in the hospital, was being sent home with type 2 info. So that was kind of interesting.

[00:08:52] Rob Howe: So they did diagnose you with type 1, but gave you the wrong take-home stuff?

[00:08:57] Whitney Lewis: Well, technically, I wasn't diagnosed in the hospital. My blood sugars were elevated, obviously, so I was given fluids and being taken care of to lower my blood sugars, but no one had told me I had type 1. It was just, your blood sugars are elevated, do you eat bad, all these generalized questions. Then they sent me home with type 2 diabetic info. um and thankfully uh my mom was like let's just wait you know on this like because they subscribe metformin as well right um so she was like and she's very intuitive thankfully she's like let's wait on this she got me a endocrinologist appointment the first thing uh the next morning and then that's where um after meeting with her they told me or she had told me that i had type 1, which is very different than type 2, and that it's autoimmune, and that I'd be pricking my fingers. And she, you know, took out the pricker and like, showed me how to do it and showed me my insulin. And it was just very overwhelming, to say the least, I went out to the car crying. And just, like I said, I was in denial for for quite some time thinking it would

[00:10:13] Rob Howe: go away. So focusing on that, because I want to focus on a couple things, because it's so weird. and I say this, I guess it's sort of strange. The position that I've put myself in is that I talk to a lot of diabetics. Like that's obvious, right? It seems obvious, but because of that, I talk to a lot of diabetics. So I hear a lot of diabetics diagnosis stories. It's so shocking to me. And I think this is just the function of me being aware of it is that almost everyone I've talked to, and this is probably nine out of 10 people who have been diagnosed past the age of like 23, have all had some sort of type 2, initial type 2 diagnosis and prescribed metformin. And then some amount of time goes by, either a day or two in your case, or sometimes years in a couple of other cases that I've talked to, before they go see an endocrinologist or the metformin isn't working and their diagnosis is fully realized as type 1. And sometimes people have to switch doctors because their doctor just flat out doesn't believe them. So I think there's like a serious issue in terms of type 1 awareness later, you know, past the age of 16, which is when I was diagnosed. And even then they were saying that I was quote-unquote older, but we know now that like almost half the diagnosis every year in the United States are people over the age of 18. So anyway, that was a little bit of a tangent. But back to the denial piece because I think that's also an important part of it. um type 1 diabetes as they I'm sure they told you is is obviously for life so how how did that

[00:11:53] Whitney Lewis: denial manifest itself um I spent a lot of time on google uh I was googling my symptoms uh well when I was first diagnosed like being at the endocrinologist like it was like the one time in my life I'm like maybe I'm pregnant this is pregnancy like this can't be a disease my body's just responding in a very strange way and you know it's stressed and off balance and everything will come back around you know um and then I'm just naturally a researcher at heart so you know if you tell me like even if I you know go see my naturopathic doctor any doctor if there's some level that's off or if there's some symptom that has been given to me or if I'm feeling a certain way uh you know I researched the heck out of it and that's what I did and obviously I found lots of things. Some of them, um, well, most of them were untrue. You know, I've looked into like Ayurvedic treatment, going to this retreat, this like thousands of dollars retreat. That's going to like, you know, inspire my blood sugars to normalize themselves. Like my body is just stressed. I'm just stressed. Like I'll heal myself. Um, so a lot of that. Um, and I just, I just, I'm naturally like a very like free spirit and it is something that, um, you know, type 1 doesn't necessarily allow for in the midst of day to day, 24 seven management. I'm just used to snacking. I'm used to just randomly, you know, adventuring and, you know, just having that constant, um, stressor, um, in the back of your head was just, was just something I just didn't want to accept that I had to carry pretty much for the rest of my life. And, you know, unless we, we somehow are blessed with the cure. So. It's so weird, right? Like we're in 2017

[00:13:42] Rob Howe: quick fix life hack culture. And like, so to get handed a diagnosis that is A, incurable, B requires like day to day attention and is different every day is sort of like super like jarring almost, right? It's like, I can't, as a young person or like a person who loves the internet and loves like, you know, reading about different people's approaches to things, like it's hard to believe, right? That there's something out there that's so life altering. And yet at the same time, you're able to manage it. And so it's like, oh, yeah, there's got to be a better way to do this. And there really just isn't.

[00:14:24] Whitney Lewis: Yeah, there isn't. I've searched high and low.

[00:14:28] Rob Howe: yeah google can be like your best friend and worst enemy sometimes right yes exactly even at work

[00:14:33] Whitney Lewis: like i you know i go back to work again i was in the medical field so a lot of the doctors that i worked for worked with were like you know very caring and you know asking me how i was and that you know i got this and you'll be great and i'm like i know but this you know it's not forever you know i'm like telling them like even though i know in the back of their heads they're like okay Whitney, like, just give her her time and give her her space. And, and that's just really what I needed. And I mean, even like I said, almost four years into it, it's, it still is a lot. And there's no way I don't think anybody can, you know, say that managing your blood sugars are is ever easy. I just think it's just this one, it's just an opportunity just to learn your body. And that's just, I guess, one amazing thing that it's just helped me do just to be really in tune with my body, really in tune with what foods do what to my body and just serve my myself better, whether that's like working out more or just, you know, pouring back into myself so my body and mindset can be at the healthiest possible.

[00:15:39] Rob Howe: And I want to focus on that for a minute because I'm a huge believer in listening to your body. I think my first coach that ever stressed that with me was when I was 18. So I'd only had diabetes for a couple of years, but, um, I had never really had a serious personal trainer and I was, um, preparing for the jump from like high school basketball to college basketball and I wanted to prepare. So I like showed up one day and I was like, man, like coach, I'm like beat down. I'm tired. He's like, man, listen to your body. Like, we'll just do something different today. And that like changed the way even through like, even today where like I wake up with either some pain, it's like listening to that and being in tune with that is so big. but also like I think having diabetes tunes you in even more because there's this extra layer of stuff that you can listen to and these extra signals that you can be in tune with so let's start with food like you talked about you know making sure that you make choices in your food that make you feel good or make your diabetes good like what is what does that consist of maybe for

[00:16:36] Whitney Lewis: you um well before having type 1 I was definitely I'd say I was still like a generally clean eater um my mom and well my parents both generally ate like pretty well so you know being diagnosed and having to be more um I guess aware of what I was putting into my body wasn't this huge life altering change where I feel like some people do have to um kind of like struggle through that where it's like wow I was eating a b and c before and now I can't even really think about eating that now um so that's like one thing I'm thankful for because it wasn't too big of a an adjustment for me. But with type 1, I'm definitely more mindful of just feeding my or like, yeah, fueling my body with just healthier foods. I mean, our body, especially having an autoimmune disease, we're just in this constant, our bodies are in this constant stress state. I mean, it's in our bodies attacked itself. And a lot of type ones I've learned with reading and hearing people's stories and people that I follow, they generally have more than one autoimmune disease. And And I just have this, I guess, goal and passion to make sure that I do not experience any other type of disease in my life. And even though sometimes there's, you know, there's things that are out of our control and there's only so much we can do. We can't put too much stress on ourselves. But just, again, going back to just eating really clean, getting rid of things that are refined. I do, I try to do like one cheat day a week where I'm just like a free bird and I just, if I want a cookie, I'll eat a cookie. If I want to eat a large acai bowl with tons of sugar, I'm going to eat that. And if I encounter a lower or high, I'll just, even though it's naturally going to be a little stressful, just be content that, you know, six days I work my butt off to eat really good. So that's generally like my go-to routine as a type 1.

[00:18:32] Rob Howe: And I can already tell you and I have a lot of the same views on things. And I think specifically with like A, mindfulness and B, like gentleness. Like those are two things like especially towards yourself. that I want to make sure that we talk about a lot today. And also acai bowls. I know you live in Southern California just from your Instagram, but I was in San Diego last weekend and I had to have an acai bowl because when in Rome.

[00:18:56] Whitney Lewis: Yeah, that's what you do. When you're in San Diego, you get an acai bowl. If you come back, I will take you to my favorite acai place.

[00:19:04] Rob Howe: Perfect. I'll definitely take you up on that because that's a cheat day, like mandatory for me now when I'm in California.

[00:19:10] Whitney Lewis: can't can't miss it. Yes, only like 80 grams of sugar in one bowl. So right, you know, so just

[00:19:16] Rob Howe: like an entire day's worth, right? No, no worries. Yes, exactly. So let's talk back about like, the gentleness piece. So I think it's great giving yourself a day to kind of reset like a cheat day. And then also, you know, making sure that on your days where you are, you know, focusing more on on what you're putting into your body that you still have that like soft focus and that like gentle edge. How do you manage that for yourself? What, you know, what's your self-talk or what's your process like? How do you, how do you make sure that you're taking care of Whitney while you're also, you know, looking out for your type 1 and making sure you monitor what you put in your body?

[00:19:59] Whitney Lewis: I guess I've gotten a little bit more like, I guess, I guess extra like caring towards my body and what I've been putting into it over the past three months as I've been seeing a naturopathic doctor because I've had my antibodies. Technically, I have Hashimoto's, which is another autoimmune disease, but I'm in the process of lowering the attack that's been occurring in my body because, again, because of stress. And side note, a lot of thyroid imbalances start in the gut. And what is the gut? The gut is based on what we're putting into it 24-7. So I've been essentially forced and I guess empowered to really eat as clean as possible. Generally, I try to stick with something called AIP, which is autoimmune paleo, which is kind of like paleo, but really strict. But just being aware and listening to how my body responds to certain foods, you'd be very surprised. And I feel like, again, so many people just in the midst of busyness, they don't really take the time or the investment just to kind of purge your body of certain foods that you have no idea are triggering this inflammatory state within your gut, which ultimately is like this growing grounds of increased risk to more disease. So things like eggs. I used to eat eggs like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I mean, they're protein, they're fat, they're good. You throw vegetables in it, you throw protein in it, whatever, I'll put an egg in it. Burgers, you put an egg on it. I don't know about you, but I love eggs, but it isn't something that I eat anymore. It's just one small thing that I've learned that my body just doesn't like and just kind of learning what foods trigger stress and just getting rid of those so I can make sure my body is at its happiest.

[00:21:53] Rob Howe: I also love eggs. So I kind of get how difficult that may have been for you. So props for, you know, taking the, you know, maybe the not as much fun decision for your better, for the better of your body. Some people know I'm sort of like the de facto like Whole30 diabetic because I had Melissa Hartwig on the podcast early on. And, you know, she's been a very big supporter of what we do here. So I'm continually surprised at I just finished my sixth Whole30. And like, even though I eat probably 80, 20, like a Whole30, like a very fairly strict, but I still have, you know, when I want to have chips and salsa, I'll have chips and salsa, like in my normal life. But I was surprised at like what a drastic change that had on my body, like over the course of a month, like the inflammation that it reduced, the digestion pieces, the energy, like the ability to think and focus. And I try to I try to divide in and I've and I've only recently started to do this like in my everyday life, divide my foods into three categories into like foods that make me feel good, foods that don't have an effect on me one way or the other and foods that make me feel bad. and just like let that be my decision as I'm like looking for what I'm going to eat. And sometimes like simplifying it like that can just, you know, make a huge difference on like what you're putting in your body.

[00:23:17] Whitney Lewis: For sure. I think it's really important. I've done Whole30 a few times myself. And I think that's probably what kind of sparked my ability to probably even go a little deeper and a little bit more strict. I think going, you know, to one extreme to another where a lot of people fall off the bandwagon of doing Whole30 is because they're eating just so poorly, you know, just leading up to that, you know, so baby steps, I think is really important. And ultimately, the idea of increasing our sensitivity to our insulin is just so important, because when our body is stressed, and we are when we are like filling it with refined foods, when we're, you know, eating sugar all day, when we're snacking all day, it's just, you know, we're not, we're not able to utilize this, um, the insulin that we're putting in our bodies all day.

[00:24:05] Rob Howe: Right. And I think because we all go through this on our own, um, through type 1, um, it's important for us to know that not everybody's like ratios are the same and everyone's insulin resistant insulin resistance is, is a little bit different. So sometimes, especially when I see people share like dosage, uh, or like bolus, uh, ratios or like posts on Instagram, I'm always reminded like, um, what a big difference the diet makes. Cause I had forgotten before I started really monitoring what types of foods I put in my body, you know, what my insulin ratios were. And they were, they were much higher, like, you know, like almost 30, 40% higher. And now just because of my body's used to what I, what I put in it, uh, I'm able to get better results. And so those things are like, you can't just go around saying my way is the best way because I can get this, but you remember is like incremental progress and, you know, all, all of life's great treasures come from compound interest. So just like doing a little bit good, a little bit of good every day for a long time. And you look back and you're like, wow, I really have covered a lot of ground. Yes, for sure. You are right. So, um, I want to shift gears a little bit. Um, even though this is like, I could talk about like putting good food in your body all day long. So, you know, we'll do a separate podcast for that. Perfect. I, yeah, I really do. I'm going to start doing and I have a list of group interview like panel style podcasts that I want to do with people so I'll definitely include you on like the the food and like diet one I suppose so yeah we will have that one for another time but this one I get a lot of questions and a lot I see a lot of posts and a lot of narrative online about type 1 diabetics who are traveling and people who want to travel for an extended period of time. I think now, especially like gap years after high school between college are like very trendy and like people travel the whole world. And a local, one of my JDRF outreach, community outreach, I guess we're technically not co-volunteers, I suppose. Her daughter is type 1 and she's been traveling the world on her gap year. And it's just been causing a lot of stress and anxiety for her mom. But I think it's so important for type ones. I've been very fortunate to travel a lot. As a type 1, I know you recently went on a trip to France, which is kind of I think how I got introduced to your to your Instagram. And it was just an amazing story. And I love the sort of frame of reference that you provided. So let's talk a little bit about international travel and going from somewhere from like California to Paris. So literally like on the other side of the world and what that was like.

[00:26:46] Whitney Lewis: Yes, it was a pretty long flight. Leading up to it, truthfully, and I guess, again, it's just like my style of living. I'm definitely not a perfect diabetic. And, you know, even though it has taught me a lot of discipline, because you must have that to essentially survive, I'm not the best planner when it comes to planning too far for our head. But I knew that I needed the essentials, which were my insulin, making sure I had extra needles, making sure I had extra test strips, making sure I had extra insulin. So I made sure I had all that. I did some reading. I've been reading, I think, like a pancreas. I'm sure you've seen that on my Instagram. I've created a little cheat guide, making it a little easy, because that book is on another level, at least for me. So I figured, why not help some people with that? But, you know, it was really important considering that you're on a flight for a really long time to be mindful of your dosing. Because, you know, if you are being sedentary when you're used to moving around like myself, whether it's like working all day, walking all day, doing your normal workout in the morning, you know, I was going to be on a flight for over 13 hours. So I did take a few steps, one being increasing my basal. I increased it by, I think, just two units. I didn't want to be too excessive, but I knew I was going to be sitting for a while and I didn't want to, you know, range on the higher end. And just kept my snacking kind of at minimal. Just, you know, the go-tos, I guess, like fats, like nuts and protein when we, you know, had layover and stuff. But trying to be very minimal in what I ate. So I didn't, I wasn't like experiencing these highs and lows in the midst of flying, which kind of, uh, the idea of that was more stressful than, than eating, you know, full meals while I was traveling. So that was helpful.

[00:28:42] Rob Howe: And that's such a trap too, right? Cause like on the flight, especially international ones, uh, you know, they're, they're feeding you wine and, and drinks and the food is like high carb, like, you know, lots of preservatives. So it's like difficult to ingest and digest. and then you're sitting there watching movies all day, you're napping off and on. I mean, it can be a blood sugar roller coaster.

[00:29:06] Whitney Lewis: Yes, for sure. Thankfully, on my flight, I did pretty well. From what I can remember, again, I just kind of kept my meals as simple as possible, just like greens, proteins, nuts. And I think that's the key. Obviously, if you really want to be whimsical, sure, eat the food that they're serving you on the plane. But like you said, it's full of preservatives. You haven't ate that meal probably ever in your life, so you have no idea how your blood sugars are going to respond. So ideally, just pack light, but also pack some yummy things like mixed nuts or something like that I feel like was just a good treat to have.

[00:29:46] Rob Howe: Yeah, and I think, again, planning ahead, almost like every type 1 interaction, like whether you're leaving the house to go to work or you're flying 13 hours overseas. Um, taking that extra minute to just kind of plot that out. Um, so once you were in Paris, um, first of all, like, you know, uh, obviously for the, for people who haven't been to Europe, like you walk a whole lot more, um, because it's just easier. And like, you know, sometimes in older parts of different cities, like you can't drive. So, um, spending a lot of time on your feet. So again, probably adjusted your basil there, I imagine. And also in France, like the food is amazing and it's not 100 percent, you know, autoimmune paleo. Right. So 30 either. Right. Exactly. So first of all, how did you prepare for that? What did you what did you tell yourself as you're going into and set that intention?

[00:30:41] Whitney Lewis: And then how was it? Well, my trip was amazing. Paris definitely exceeded my expectations. So anyone that hasn't been to Paris, I suggest that you plan a trip and enjoy it because it was not only beautiful, but the food was amazing. But leading up to my trip, I generally, like I shared with you, my day-to-day diet is pretty – I hate using the word strict. I just eat clean. I mean, I eat foods that still make me happy. I just try to get rid of anything refined and processed and full of sugar. But leading up to my trip, I told myself when I was there, I love croissants. I love anything with bread. And that is definitely something that I don't remember the last time I had a croissant. But going to Paris, I told myself I was going to eat as many croissants as I wanted. And if I wanted to eat gelato or anything that I encountered, I just really wanted to fully embrace my time there and not let type 1 kind of steal away or rob that from me. And that is exactly what I did when we were there. Um, we did a lot of walking, like you said, and that I think saved me essentially just because in the midst of, you know, eating a croissant for breakfast and eating a bagel for, you know, for brunch, you know, with, with tons of carbs that I traditionally don't eat for breakfast, um, my blood sugars generally stayed pretty stable. I did have some, some highs, uh, randomly, you know, and we can discuss that later, but generally if we were walking and if we ate and walked and ate and walked, my blood sugars stayed great. And they're just as in control as they were when I'm being super strict with what I normally eat. So that

[00:32:24] Rob Howe: was really cool. It's like, it's great when a plan comes together, right? Like you, you know, your operation eat the croissants was a huge success. Yeah. Eat the croissants and walk. That

[00:32:37] Whitney Lewis: was like the, the remedy. You can pretty much eat whatever you want. If you're, you're walking like eight miles a day or more. Yeah, I had a similar experience. I went to Tokyo at the end of 2015, and I walked like nine miles a day. And one day I walked 15 miles. I don't know, I think I got lost. It was just but it was it was wild. And I was like popping into like little bakeries and like getting nice little treats. And I was like, you know what, I need this because my blood sugar is like, kind of like teetering off the edge here if I don't have little snacks in between because

[00:33:06] Rob Howe: walking is like, is amazing. Yes, for sure. It's like, it's something so simple, yet so powerful. It's like in the back of your mind, it's like, oh, I don't want to walk there. But wait, my blood sugars will be happier if I just walk there. So just do it. Yeah. And like, it doesn't even have to be excessive. You know, you have to go walk a mile after you eat. But it's just like, I don't know, your body responds so well to movement. And I think, you know, we're not going to get into talking about exercise on this, on this episode, maybe on our, uh, our followup on our diet and wellness one. But, um, yeah, like your body likes to move. So, you know, give it what it wants. Yes, exactly. I would say one

[00:33:44] Whitney Lewis: thing. Um, uh, I don't want to go ahead of what you're planning to ask, but my, my, I guess, negative experience with, with eating a little too whimsically was, um, one night we had, um, pizza, which was amazing. And then after the pizza, we had this, it was like this calzone type thing filled with Nutella. And like, I don't even know what the heck it was. It was just, it was Nutella filled bread essentially. And it was massive and I ate tons of it. And that was towards the end of the night. And I went to sleep literally, obviously like an hour after eating it. And I woke up generally, if I knew I, if I, if I eat something higher carb at night, my body just kind of will wake me up in the middle of the night. So I'm like, let me check my blood sugars. Let's see what my number is. And I was so high. I think it was like 360, I don't know, 360 something. And obviously by the time you wake up from that and you do corrective doses, you're just exhausted from that. So that was one thing I like live and learn experience that from the rest of the trip after that, I'm like, I'm not eating anything excessively sugary or carby after like 8 PM, because at that point it's just so difficult to, you know, get a control over that, that late night

[00:35:00] Rob Howe: spike. Yeah. And I mean, and it like robs you of the joy of actually having it too. Right. Yes, exactly. It's funny you mentioned pizza, like also Chinese, pizza, Chinese food and Mexican food are like, man, sometimes it's a trap because it just lasts like that, that glycemic index is so high and it lasts such a long time. It's like, you know, if you, one plus the other, you know, one plus one sometimes is three, right. Or whatever. It's just, you know, your body just continues to react. But I want to talk a little bit about like your, your mindset on like why you, you know, how you were rewarding yourself and like what a difference that made for you while you were in France. And I think looking at that soft edge of, you know, hey, first of all, I think there is no such thing as like a perfect diabetic, right? But you're like, you know what, I'm on vacation. I am setting my intention to enjoy as many croissants as possible and preparing for that. What was that self-talk like? And, you know, how did you feel by doing that versus like making

[00:36:09] Whitney Lewis: you know making yourself feel bad for it yeah um I guess just leading up to my trip I was just really looking forward to it um and just I don't know just I think again we can probably all find ourselves in this mindset of just feeling just so limited and just kind of stuck in this like I fully can't really I really I fully can't live because of this disease I can't eat a because of the increased risk of, you know, B and, you know, the increased risk of D later down the road. So I think for me, that's generally my mindset with my choices. And obviously we have to be overall mindful and do the best that we can. But I think sometimes putting so much limitations on ourselves as type ones and just trying so hard can just send this negative momentum and our mindset, which ultimately can just rob us from just really fully embracing and experiencing and adventuring and exploring and really just taking in so many opportunities. So I just, again, I just told myself it was going to be a happy, free time. And I was going to have my insulin with me. I was going to check my blood sugars consistently a little bit more often. And it was freeing. It really allowed me just to be present and take it in a lot more than if I went into the situation with this, you know, I'm going to eat this way. I'm not eating this, you know, because I know there are some people out there that just limit themselves like 99% of carbs because carbs increase your blood sugar. And ultimately, I just think there's extremes with everything. And you just have to be careful of that. Because I don't think that even though we have this disease, it doesn't need to rob us from, you know, those little simple things, which ultimately become big things that, you know, lead to feeling happy or feeling kind of trapped.

[00:38:15] Rob Howe: Yeah. And I think, you know, that's just part of that self-love, too. You know, like doing what you want within a reason. you know, and setting that intention. And I think that's super important.

[00:38:25] Whitney Lewis: Yes, exactly.

[00:38:28] Rob Howe: I've been, I want to shift gears again here because I've been challenging myself to, to ask questions that maybe get different responses as we've done kind of a lot of episodes now, and we're starting to, you know, get similar answers to some of these same questions. when you think of somebody who inspires you on a day-to-day basis as a type 1 since you've been diagnosed whether they're a type 1 or not who is that for you in your life

[00:39:00] Whitney Lewis: wow such a such a deep question not prepared for this one I guess I'd have to say my husband and that's because he really is the opposite of me. I'm a very, I mean, as most women are, I'm a very emotional, you know, feelings driven person. If something's stressing me out, whether it's my blood sugar, you know, or just, you know, really wanting to eat an entire watermelon and not being able to eat an entire watermelon, I'll allow it to sometimes like really affect me emotionally and let it kind of just like rob like joy from, you know, that moment or from that day. I'll let it just kind of carry in to some of, you know, whether it's work or hangout time. For him, he's very logical, which, you know, has its pros and cons. But his logic and passion for life, I think it's important because at the end of the day, you know, we are, I think, applying it to managing my type 1. And he's just always inspiring me not to stay stuck in these excessive thoughts, whether it's like this negative thought of like, one day I'm, what if, you know, this type 1 leads to other diseases? Or, you know, what if I'm, you know, doing this exercise and, you know, I have extremely low blood sugar? I don't know, just a lot of this overthinking I tend to kind of, I'm definitely guilty of. And for him, he's just very like, live in the moment. And he's just very thankful. and just comes across just this constant peace that he has, because ultimately we can just focus on now, we can focus on today, and we can be thankful. And I think just practicing that gratitude and having that perspective is just so important, especially in the midst of, again, managing this disease. So, again, I guess he would be my go-to inspiration of just having that mindset, because ultimately that mindset is really what sets the pace for our day-to-day

[00:41:05] Rob Howe: and in our future really. And, and when he, when he says those things and like really focuses in on like the gratitude and, um, sort of that acceptance and being present, uh, what are the things that you think of when you, uh, things that you want to be grateful for, uh, you know, especially when you're having those moments where, you know, uh, your husband's able to

[00:41:26] Whitney Lewis: kind of center you a little bit. Um, well, I'm grateful for, for him, of course, just for that, for that reminder. But I guess like more specifically, I, I'm just thankful for the opportunity of having this disease. I mean, sometimes I think like, if someone were to, you know, come up to me and say, if I, you know, use my magical wand and cure, cure your disease, like, will you let me like sometimes it's, it's, it sounds crazy, but I don't know if I would, because like being given or I don't know what word you want to use for that, whether it's given or cursed with this, this disease, um, to manage, it has like empowered me to, um, really, I mean, naturally I love to help people and I love to, um, serve and just pour into people, whether that's with like support or education or anything, that's kind of the purpose and drive behind happy pancreas is just to kind of add some happy in the midst of sadness, in the midst of stress, in the midst of the day-to-day. And I think this disease has kind of helped me create that niche for myself where I'm like pouring my energy and what I've kind of created to do is just like help people. And like, if I didn't have this, I wouldn't have those opportunities or I wouldn't have connected with so many people or wouldn't have been able to help the people that I have so far.

[00:42:56] Rob Howe: So, yeah, I, I, I understand that, I think, because for two reasons. First of all, like a cure sounds great. Am I holding my breath for it? No, for a couple of different reasons. But like, number one, like, I can't control it. I know people are working really hard. There's a lot of amazing organizations raising money. And, you know, ultimately, those things don't just happen. Like, you know, they happen over time. And there's plenty of, even the way that I treat, I have an older Medtronic pump. I'm up for a new one soon. So I'm excited for that. But like, this is a good time as any, the best time to have type 1 diabetes is right now. There's a lot of technology. Also, if you had to draw a name of a chronic disease out of a hat, type 1 diabetes is pretty manageable. Certainly there are days where I really wish I didn't have it. But I'm happy to, you know, continue to strive to be to be better and be normal. And also, like, I feel pretty good. And the third reason is kind of like selfish, but it's like it's a little bit of what makes me interesting. Like I have a podcast about it. Right. It's a little bit of, you know, it's it's part of who I am. And these are type 1 diabetics are my people. So certainly I would love to shift that group into a bunch of people who used to have type 1 diabetes. But, you know, we'll wait for that when that when that time comes.

[00:44:21] Whitney Lewis: Yes. So, yeah, I totally agree. I mean, there are many people that I follow with other, you know, chronic illnesses. And at the end of the day, like you said, that key word is it's manageable, you know, more manageable for others, or, you know, more manageable for some than others. But ultimately, you know, we do have so many tools, whether it's like the CGM or the pump been these injections and being able to check our blood sugar just so quickly. Ultimately, you know, it is, it's a lot, but we do, we have been given the tools and it is something that's, like you said, completely manageable.

[00:45:05] Rob Howe: In that same vein, are there things that you're hopeful for from a type 1 diabetic perspective? Like as, as we look into like this kind of cool technology, golden age of like things that are available and things that are coming here in the next decade or so. What do you think, when you think about the future of type 1, what things are you excited about?

[00:45:28] Whitney Lewis: I would be excited about the official launch of something that, and I briefly have seen it, but I don't know the science behind it or even what it's called. But checking your blood sugar, we shouldn't have to prick our fingers. Like it should be more simple, just like a little thing that, you know, is, well, obviously people have CGMs is probably what I'm like explaining, but not, not something as I guess large as a CGM, just like something smaller, more simple. Like you can just like scan it or something. I don't know. I haven't really jumped into the, into the leap of CGM or pump. Um, maybe cause I am just newer, newly diagnosed and just, um, my shots can be very painful and I get like excessive bruising and everything. So sometimes having something in me 24 seven just seems a little, uh, truthfully just scary. And I just, it's the unknown of how my body is going to respond to that. But I guess just the more simplicity and just easier, easier access to knowing what our blood sugars are. And yeah, easier access to knowing what our blood sugars are.

[00:46:35] Rob Howe: Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat. I don't have a CGM for different reasons. But I think, you know, and I have an older pump. I'm really and, you know, the biggest thing for me is like, hey, this works for me. And so I think that also speaks to every type 1 is different. and we all like you know you're on multiple daily injections some people still use Lantus and multiple daily injections or pens um just because we all have different lives and you know we have to adapt our lives to um to whatever we however we live uh i got my pump when i was 19 or 19 or 20 and i was like i resisted it for years because i thought it wasn't cute i thought it wasn't sexy i was like yeah this is this isn't this isn't great but actually i like it a lot it hasn't it hasn't made me any, any more self-conscious. So, um, it's made you less cuter. Yeah. People tell me all the time. They're like, God, this, if only you didn't have that pump. Um, I also asked this question to almost all of my guests. Like, um, if you came across somebody and I'm sure you interact, like you said, with a lot of not only type ones, but other people with chronic illnesses. Um, so I'll, I'll broaden that question for you not to not just diabetes, but like anybody with a chronic illness, you, you've got, you're about to get on a plane, you run into them, you've got like a minute to tell them, um, one thing. What is it that you would tell them as somebody, you know, from your unique experience?

[00:48:03] Whitney Lewis: Um, I don't know. That's, that's a hard question too. I guess just to, um, educating yourself, I feel like is crucial just because, you know, I feel, and maybe this is going a little bit off of a tangent, but I just feel like doctors in general are kind of limited with sometimes the knowledge and, um, background that they give you, um, just like listening to your body, um, just reading up on whatever you're suffering through, just to like, just to research the heck out of it, just to make sure that you're, um, again, going back to fueling and feeding your body with, um, the best foods and supplements possible. Um, and just to, to use it as an opportunity, um, to, to connect with others and the same position, like reach out, find somebody else that, you know, has that disease. Um, just because community is so crucial, I think in the midst of managing anything difficult in our lives. Um, so just again, that connectivity, um, researching, educating ourselves, um, as a type 1, I feel like that's literally what has saved me so many times, whether it's getting rid of something as simple as eggs or increasing my protein in my diet. There's just little things that we have so much material at the tip of our fingertips and just spending that time investing into learning about the disease just to educate yourself so you can just take care of yourself.

[00:49:40] Rob Howe: I think your cat agrees there's been multiple cats appear on this podcast mine included so yeah do not even feel weird about that he's just trying to he's just trying to have his moment in the spotlight sorry no but I couldn't agree more and I think like the more there's so many resources out there that are available I mean even you mentioned like from minute one you're on Google searching furiously yeah you know getting connected has never been easier, but also it still takes that step to be like, hey, I want to get connected. I want to find this information. I want to make myself my journey with type 1 different or improve it or work on something. So I totally echo that sentiment. I think it's super important. For you specifically, what have been places that you've found where you're like, you know what, this resource is really useful. Anything that you could recommend to people who are looking to get started on a similar journey to yours?

[00:50:35] Whitney Lewis: Um, well, I mean, with type 1 in general, I think, um, again, just going, I think not overwhelming yourself. I mean, naturally, again, I'm, I'm a researcher, so I can just spend hours on like specific so not to like, I don't want to overwhelm anybody with like two specific suggestions. But, um, you mentioned whole 30. I think whole 30 is just a good, I think it's like, it's doable. Um, there's so many resources for that. And I think ultimately with managing your blood sugars, eating healthy, clean foods is really important. And I think Whole30 is a good, is an amazing place to start just because it's going to really help eliminate a lot of those foods that cause those rollercoaster blood sugars that everybody's, you know, trying to ultimately avoid. So I think reiterating what you shared earlier about the Whole30, I think anybody jumping onto that would reap many benefits from it. and it's a good place to start.

[00:51:35] Rob Howe: Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, there's a lot of, you mentioned the resources, like there's so many questions and they do such a great job over at Whole30 answering the questions that are, that not only type ones have, but also other chronic illnesses and, you know, just regular people wondering, you know, what do I eat? How do I plan? And they do a fantastic job. So totally echo that sentiment. I'll include in the show notes, a link to my Whole30 success story on Whole30's blog, as well as some of the other diabetes resources that they have posted. So you can count on that, everybody. As we're kind of finishing up, I want to make sure that all of our listeners know where they can follow you and contact you online. So this is your chance. Plug Happy Pancreas. Where do we find you?

[00:52:27] Whitney Lewis: yeah so you can follow me at happy pancreas on instagram or you can go to happy pancreas.com my current focus is doing that cheat guide for think like a pancreas it's such a great book again you mentioned resources resources i think i think like a pancreas by Gary Scheiner is a great a great read gives you amazing tools and amazing background on how to fine-tune your your dosing and fine tune your foods and what foods do what. It can be a little overwhelming as with some, you know, diabetic reading, which is why I have the cheat guide. And you can click the link in my bio if you want to join in under the weekly cheat guide for that. So, yeah, if you're looking for encouragement, support, recipes, that's all on my Instagram where you can always message me directly.

[00:53:19] Rob Howe: Perfect. We all definitely need more recipes in our life. That is for sure. so I'll definitely try to jump in on that too I think Think Like a Pancreas is an amazing book yeah my only caveat I ever tell people is that yeah it can be a little bit overwhelming like most diabetic literature can be fantastic well Whitney before we close the interview any parting thoughts? anything that we didn't cover?

[00:53:44] Whitney Lewis: I don't think so I guess just a friendly reminder to everybody just not be too hard on yourselves you know, not, not to overstress, um, reach out for support. I'm here, Rob's here. There's a team of, you know, type ones online that are more than willing to answer questions or help you problem solve, um, any things that are, you know, pain points in your life for, for managing this disease. But, um, I'm thankful for being a part of this podcast and, um, just thankful for the community

[00:54:15] Rob Howe: and just the resources that we have. Well, uh, I'm thankful you were able to make the time to come on and I really appreciate it. And, uh, your insights were fantastic. And, uh, yeah, I echo that sentiment. We're all here to, we're literally making ourselves available because, uh, you know, we, we've been in those situations and we want to be able to help other people. So, uh, please reach out, which, uh, reach out to the cats too, cause they need, uh, they need that extra attention. Yes. Uh, well, Whitney, thanks so much for your time. And, uh, I'll include all your links to Happy Pancreas in the show notes, and we'll keep an eye on everything that you're doing until then. Thanks for listening to Diabetics Doing Things. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly emails and behind-the-scenes content. And if you or someone you know has an amazing story to share, send an email to rob at diabeticsdoingthings.com.