Diabetics Doing Ayurvedic Medicine with Andrea Arledge

[00:00:07] Rob Howe: Welcome to the Diabetics Doing Things podcast. We've been telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics all across the world since 2015, and we have over a thousand years of living with T1D on the podcast. The interviews range from incredible feats to everyday victories, and we celebrate them all just the same. Thanks for listening, and if you want to get involved even further, just send me an email at rob at diabeticsdoingthings.com. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Diabetics Doing Things. We are telling the amazing stories of type 1 diabetics all across the world. My very special guest today is Andrea Arledge. Andrea, welcome to the show, and thanks so much for coming on.

[00:01:04] Andrea Arledge: Thank you so much, Rob. I appreciate you having me.

[00:01:06] Rob Howe: Well, I'm always glad to meet new type 1 diabetics, and I'm especially excited to hear your point of view on a few things. You are an RN, so obviously from a medical perspective, you've got a little bit more experience and detail than most other type 1s. And then also you are a holistic nutritionist and specialize in autoimmune diseases and stress. So really excited to dig in on a lot of fun topics.

[00:01:34] Andrea Arledge: Yes, that's my passion, sir. Happy to talk about it.

[00:01:38] Rob Howe: Well, interviewing and meeting other type ones is my passion. So look at us. We're just aligning in all sorts of ways.

[00:01:44] Andrea Arledge: I know. I love it.

[00:01:46] Rob Howe: So before we dig into sort of the different topics that we'll dive in on, tell us a little bit about yourself and your diagnosis story and kind of how you came to join the type 1 family.

[00:01:59] Andrea Arledge: Okay. So I was 15 and my grandmother was a type 1 diabetic. So when I started getting symptoms, because, you know, they come on really quickly at that age. And so I already knew, you know, what it was. And I remember going to the doctor and thinking, I mean, literally, I like stopped at Hardee's and ate a jelly biscuit because I knew it would be the last time. Anyway, so I go to the doctor and my blood sugar was like 300, which, you know, really, with all things considered, isn't that bad.

[00:02:39] Rob Howe: I was going to say following a jelly biscuit from Hardee's. I know, right?

[00:02:43] Andrea Arledge: So I was still in my honeymoon phase when that happened. And actually a year before that, I had just had a glucose tolerance test that just was like, oh, well, you're hypoglycemic and you're fine. And so anyway, I get diagnosed and go to my endocrinologist. endocrinologist and this is where I really feel like things really changed because she um the endocrinologist that I was seeing just put the fear of I mean I just I feel like I left there with a death sentence of course because I remember and this was I'm 41 okay so I put that out there not ashamed of my age but um you know things were a little different back then and she told me basically that you won't have children or you shouldn't have children. And if you do, then you should have them young. And mind you, I'm 15. And hearing this, I'm like, okay. And you're not going to live a long life. And you're not going to do things that other quote-unquote normal people will do. And I remember leaving and just thinking, oh, my life is over. Because when you're 15, you've already established these eating habits. And, you know, I mean, that's a touchy time, you know, for such a diagnosis. So, yeah, I feel like I lived in fear for many, many years. I actually, you know, in all of that rebellion, ended up pregnant at 18 and was a single mom for years. and that really, you know, and all of these, I guess you could say horrible things, but they actually have turned out to be my biggest blessing and all of the lessons that, you know, I've learned through all of that. So, yeah, that was my diagnosis story. And then, but I just feel like I've, you know, really overcome a lot of fear and had plenty of years to do that. But, yeah.

[00:04:54] Rob Howe: Well, before we get in on that, because I think that's a super important part of not only living with diabetes, but just living in general is overcoming fear. But something that I didn't even know, and this has become one of the reasons why I live for this podcast and live for doing interactions with other type ones, is because those first few moments after diagnosis are so vital. And I didn't know that going through. I was diagnosed at Children's Medical Center. I've said this before. I didn't know that I was getting like the 1% of diabetes diagnosis experience. I had like the peak. I might as well have been at the Ritz. You know, I had multiple diabetes educators, a positive outlook. They reassured me that everything was going to be okay if I took care of myself. And I didn't know that so many other of my diabetes brothers and sisters don't get that.

[00:05:48] Andrea Arledge: Oh, yeah. And I'm so happy to hear that for you because it's taken years of like shedding these fears. Yeah. Around this. But it's been a lot of inner work. And, you know, I've really come a long way. And yeah, I have some amazing stories of how I have conquered fear. And, you know, her telling me, oh, you won't you won't do this and you won't do that. and you know if I could go back Rob and see her I would probably well say uh yes I can

[00:06:23] Rob Howe: maybe not no I would be nice well I'm gonna be nice but I think too like there's no way that she could have known the impact that that would have on you long term um exactly and I think that's the you know I think there's a tendency to uh for type type 1 diabetics especially ones on like Instagram or social media, whether that's like meme, you know, perpetuating memes or like, you know, drawing a line in the sand and saying, you know, I can do anything. And we sort of take offense to it. We have these like harsh edges to those things. But it's important to, you know, to say, hey, you know, as long as you take care of yourself, like anything is possible. And I think that was what was told to me. And I think, you know, now if there's one thing that I could, you know, anything that that comes out of spreading this awareness message is those moments for people are so important. And, you know, the way that we talk about our and are honest about our struggles, about our limitations, about the things that we do and don't do for different reasons. And just say, you know, and the decisions that we make, because if we're not, you know, gentle with ourselves in those moments, we can fall down into traps really easily.

[00:07:37] Andrea Arledge: Oh, yes. I have to go back and look at those years because I really did a lot of self-harm. I remember being so angry, just so angry at the world. The life that I live now, of course, is completely different. I've totally reframed all of that. That's why I'm so passionate about everything that I do. I mean, I left my nursing career for all of what I do now. So I'm not an active practicing nurse, but, you know, I did that for 17 years and just took a leap of faith to, because I was like, we do have this one life and I want to live it to its fullest.

[00:08:23] Rob Howe: Well, I don't want to focus too much on the past then, because I think where you're at now and the things that you're working on now are, you know, obviously the main focal point. But before we kind of move on to those things, given what you know now, for young girls diagnosed with type 1 diabetes who may not have had the peak or a proper even diagnosis experience or just the rhetoric around their life with type 1, what's one thing you would tell them, one piece of encouragement before we kind of move on to the next part of the podcast?

[00:08:56] Andrea Arledge: just the same exact thing that you said was that if you take care of yourself, the sky is the limit. You can do whatever you want to do. And I think too, that the psychosocial, psychospiritual part of, you know, talking to somebody, just I had nobody to talk to. So I think that that is huge, whether it be a parent, sometimes we, as a teenager, we can't always talk or feel like we can't talk to our parents. So I think that finding somebody who can really help you navigate those waters to you. I mean, hopefully, you know, it would be a parent, but even a parent, I think about that too. Like if one of my children were diagnosed, like how would I handle that? And of course I would be a different kind of person to handle that, I guess. But yeah, to reach out and to talk and move. And breathe.

[00:09:53] Rob Howe: Yeah. And I think that's a good transition into our next piece because I think now a big thing, and I was just talking about this earlier today. And so I think it's very apropos for this conversation is moving and breathing. This year I discovered one of my good friends put me on Headspace. Oh, yeah. Guided meditation for the first time. I'm a person who talks a lot, thinks a lot, found it very difficult to find 10 minutes to sit down and quiet his mind in the past. So the guided meditation really helped me doing that. So that's been my sort of biggest favorite discovery of 2017.

[00:10:34] Andrea Arledge: Isn't it amazing when you discover that? You're like, oh, yeah. And you're really engaging your – here I come with my nurse talk. Your parasympathetic nervous system. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[00:10:49] Rob Howe: No, no, no. It's so interesting because I do want to dive into the science of it because it seems, you know, just recognizing things about yourself. Like I didn't know this about myself, but when I get stressed out, I stop breathing.

[00:11:02] Andrea Arledge: Yeah.

[00:11:03] Rob Howe: And so, and now I noticed that and I'm like, oh, I can just breathe. And suddenly things get easier. It's, it's, it's very, it's very interesting. So I really want to dive into that. So let's talk. How did, how did you, how did you come into, you know, as you, first of all, outline sort of the journey? that, that how, what got you here and how did you get into that? Uh, and you know, what has, what has it led you to, you know, both from your diabetes perspective as well as just overall health

[00:11:29] Andrea Arledge: and wellness? Okay. So, um, you know, after all, you know, doing a lot of the mindfulness stuff, um, that was really introduced to me about six years ago when I started, uh, practicing yoga and in Reiki, honestly, energy. It's like a Japanese technique for healing or actually just relaxing. But the yoga really introduced the mindfulness into, you know, like, and I was like, just like you, I didn't breathe. And as a nurse in my nursing career, you know, running around, giving people pain medication. And, you know, I've always had my shoulders up and not breathing. And as soon as that awareness came into my, you know, literally like this visceral feeling of I'm breathing, you know, and then I could relax and just focus. So six years ago, really, is when that all started. And I'd always known from that experience with that endocrinologist that I wanted to do health care differently. like there was a way to do healthcare differently um so i um practicing yeah the yoga and the the because in yoga teacher training too because i ended up doing yoga teacher training we had to meditate every day for um five minutes at least so headspace definitely was a good one and breathe. And so we introduced a breathing practice and we had to do a sauna or movement for at least 30 minutes and journal about this for, for nine months straight, like five out of seven days. So that really forced me to be aware of my body and to, I don't know, I don't know if that's the journey. I'm struggling to find words here because I'm going back to my beginner's mind around all of this. And it's like, wow, because I've really come a long way. But yeah, starting off with the breathing and there's lots of, you know, that's what I teach is a lot of tools to be able to quiet your mind. And an easy way to get there is through breathing to get you alkaline to be able to focus. So I always knew that a more holistic approach was where I was supposed to be. So I prayed about this for like six months before I left my nursing job. You know, that's fast forward six years. But I had, you know, during that six years, I guess I should back up and talk about me. When I was like 35, rock climbing lower Yosemite Falls, I remember being like, you know, I was told I wouldn't do this. And I'm still alive. I climbed and I'm still alive. I didn't die. And backpacking all over like Montana and Wyoming for weeks at a time, knowing, you know, at such a young age, I was told I would never do that. So I think I just really started to live. and not think about this. And I, of course, took care of myself. And the technology now is phenomenal. It makes it easier for you to take care of yourself and monitor your blood sugar and things like that.

[00:15:17] Rob Howe: Well, and I think I say this almost, I feel like a broken record sometimes, that I think today is the best time, if there is such a thing, to live with type 1 diabetes because of the technology, because of the medicine, because of the science and the care that we have available, at least in the U.S. I think that there obviously are a lot of our type 1 brothers and sisters overseas who are dealing with a whole nother set of problems. Yeah. Yeah. Which I agree with that. Yeah. So and I think there's a part of that is like a little bit of a gratitude practice. Right. So talk about back to the mindfulness piece and just be grateful that even though we have this disease And it is this, this big thing in our lives that there is the ability to treat it and, you know, live with it relatively comfortably. Right. On the other side of that, there, there's those traps we talked about earlier, right? So as you were making those, that transition, what was your self-talk like? How did you maybe soften your edges about talking to yourself while you were going through these big changes?

[00:16:19] Andrea Arledge: Oh, I was, um, so my internal landscape or my internal dialogue, you know, it took, so it took some training to undo all of that fear. Um, and, and that it's, I'm not going to say that it's not still there. I mean, you know, what I'm doing right now is, um, almost like triggering because it's more fear, you know? So fear is a big thing, I guess, with diabetics. You're right. And during that transition, I would say that it was just another practice in mindfulness that I would catch myself going down this dark hole or not wanting to get out of bed. Just like, oh, I have to face another day. And being exhausted even from my career. it's like one day too I just woke up and I knew after I'd prayed for a long time that you know I couldn't keep not taking care of myself so that was when I made the leap from health care like in the hospital to what I'm doing now but it took a lot of and I mean there was a lot of internal struggle and just like I'm a lot of fear that was my main thing was just fear and um I don't know just I did a lot of journaling a lot of journaling and I would actually to you and I still do this um whenever something comes up like negative in my mind I will write it down and literally burn the piece of paper to let it go because you can feel it in your body when you do that. You know, it's a real, you can put your hand to that or your eye to that, um, very physical thing. Like I'm letting that go, you know, and I, and I, I know I may sound like a broken record. I keep coming back to this breathing thing, but it's, it's huge for me. Huge. Uh, when did you

[00:18:23] Rob Howe: discover and how did you, you know, through that practice, what was the, was there a moment that

[00:18:28] Andrea Arledge: clicked or was it just, you know, the repetition? It was the, you know, when I decided to do yoga teacher training about two years ago that um things really clicked with the breathing thing because of course I was forced to do it and to journal about it and because I'm so type a I didn't realize the other maybe I shouldn't say this like people don't take it as seriously as you know some other people as myself and so I did everything by the book you know I um journaled everything and did my breathing and my meditation and my yoga every day for, you know, five out of seven days for nine months. And that really, especially there's one breathing technique that just totally took me there. And it was in part of our like required reading for yoga teacher training so yeah that one definitely it was yoga teacher training but i but i think you know to

[00:19:32] Rob Howe: your point you know i want to focus on being type a um okay yeah i think um a type type 1 turns a lot of people into type a um yeah because all of a sudden there's something concrete that they can measure themselves to, which is both good and bad, right? Absolutely. Yeah, you're right. What challenges do you, you know, do type, and just talk through a few of them, especially in this like very present, very mindful practice. What challenges do people who are type 1 have with, with the, or yeah, type 1 and type A, excuse me, type 1 and type A have with those type of exercises? Because, you know, it's, it's not, it's hard to, just like you

[00:20:17] Andrea Arledge: said how you discovered this meditation it is so hard when you're type a to stop your mind that mental chatter is um i mean that just takes practice to stop that mental chatter but again i mean i think it's worth doing the inner work the self-work if you really want to conquer I mean the word for me obviously as you know by now is fear and um you know just having the courage to move through that and until you get and this this is really so important to me is the whole alkaline you know being alkaline in your thoughts and um in your body to be able to do that so um type 1 definitely presents its challenges I mean even think about uh the yoga um you know you got to make sure your, your blood sugar's stable. Even teaching yoga, um, can be a little rattling for me because I think, Oh, what if I get up there and my blood sugar drops? Or I teach lots of, of workshops and I'm always like, you know, just bear with me. And people are so much more forgiving than we think, you know? Um, Oh my gosh. Let's talk about that for a second.

[00:21:33] Rob Howe: Let's dive into that. Because I think fear, you talk yourself out of things before there's even

[00:21:38] Andrea Arledge: a problem you invent you invent problems right yes yes we do um so well and it's something that

[00:21:47] Rob Howe: i typically talk about when i i don't speak in front of people too too often but when i do or like a couple talks in particular i go to like high schools and talk on like a career day or something awesome and you you talk to these kids and you try to you know say okay if i'm a high school kid i'm only going to pay attention for a few minutes i'm hoping that it's a good presentation and I'm going to try to give them something that they can maybe take away with. And something that was really, you know, jumped out to me, especially as I'm an entrepreneur, I have this podcast, I have this, you know, community, but I couldn't have done any of it if I hadn't had the help of others. But even one step further than that, I had to ask. But not one single person has said, no, I'm not going to help you.

[00:22:36] Andrea Arledge: Yeah, that's been my experience too. And, and I'm really thankful for my mom. If it weren't for my mom, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be here. I mean, I wouldn't have done all that I've done. And speaking of speaking, I actually, this is a thing. Like I will be in Nice next May speaking at a women's conference about eating for your spirit and keeping your spirit clean. And, you know, I'm already like thinking about like, oh, how am I going to like keep my blood sugar up and manage my energy being around all of these other people and nobody else's type 1 diabetes? I mean, so this is the thing, you know. and um i think that i would be lying you know if i didn't acknowledge that so i'm you know i mean we got to get real with ourselves so um yeah but i don't want to like talk it up in my mind that i'm so like oh you can't do this because i can absolutely do this you know and so the whole public speaking thing is um yeah i mean you just got to make sure that your blood sugar's stable. Do some self-care. Do some breathing before you get up there. And it's totally doable. And thank God for my CGM for Dexcom. Because, you know, that's what I use. And I even use it when I'm teaching yoga.

[00:24:02] Rob Howe: And how cool is that that you can just flip open your phone and look at it?

[00:24:05] Andrea Arledge: I know. Now, one thing I will say about that is I feel like my nose is always in my phone. Like I'm one of those zombies walking around. I'm like with my head to my phone all the time and I'm like, but it's so awesome. And I'll tell people like, you know, this is, this is my glucometer and to check, you know, I use that to check my blood sugar and they're like, what? It's on your phone, you know? And I'm like, isn't that awesome? So they're actually, people want to hear more about it. They're like, what is that pump? How does that work? And, you know, so people are just way more receptive and open and forgiving if, you know,

[00:24:42] Rob Howe: if you mess up it yeah i mean it's all good yeah and i think you know the thing that i like about the phone aspect or even the apple watch is that it's a little bit more consumer friendly so for people who don't understand diabetes or don't you know want to get involved with needles or pumps or look at things that look like medicine it doesn't look like medicine you know that is so true yeah and it doesn't feel like medicine either so i feel like people are more empowered like oh look at this cool thing I can do. Um, that there was an Apple ad, um, about, about the Apple watch last week, I guess. And in the, in the ad, all these people were writing a letter to Apple and one of them was a, was a parent of a type 1 diabetic. And it was just a cool, like, Oh yeah. Like people with type 1 diabetes are out there. They're in the, like it's, and it's not just a conversation

[00:25:37] Andrea Arledge: that's negative it's like oh look at this cool thing yeah oh yeah it's amazing i mean i wish i'd had this dexcom when i was um in the middle of wyoming out in nowhere you know or like in yosemite climbing and didn't have to have my glucometer you know i could have just looked at my phone but anyway it still worked with my glucometer so it's still doable without that technology but um you know you just have to be more aware when you're in the woods for like two weeks to make sure you're that you're doing it uh you know sterile there you go uh something

[00:26:18] Rob Howe: that you talked about earlier you mentioned like psychosomatic um response to uh you know to breathing and i think just being um and you've mentioned alkaline a few times um talk a little bit about that. Like, uh, and, oh, I think, yeah, part of it too, was, uh, talking to people about things, um, and being open about, uh, about diabetes specifically for me, I'll give you, I'll give you a short example before you answer. Uh, my, I mean, just, just as a personal anecdote and I'm not attributing it all to this, but before I had my last checkup, before I started this podcast at the end of 2015, my A1C was 7.3. So not super high, but you know, room for improvement. Right. A year later or so, my after doing this for for a year, my A1C was 6.1. That is amazing. And and the I was very excited about it after my checkup. And I put it on my Facebook. And one of my friends who I am around the comedy community with comedy is like, hey, well, what was the big difference? So what would you say was the biggest change? And I couldn't think of a lifestyle change that I made that was that different from a diet perspective or exercise, except for talking about it with other people.

[00:27:38] Andrea Arledge: Yes. Yes. I realized that part. And I wish that my mom, I mean, she was a single mom. My parents were going through a divorce when all of this happened, when I was diagnosed. And, you know, I always think about too, because I do a lot of trauma work with, you know, my clients have experienced trauma. So we talk about eating for trauma and do some yoga for trauma and things like that. But I wish that she had the tools because I know that's what she would have done for me had she had the tools to send me to a therapist. But, you know, that just wasn't we didn't have the money to do that. So I think that having somebody to talk to about it would have been huge for me because my mom lived in fear. Think about this because my grandmother had it and we knew her struggles. She worked in a cotton mill all of her life and never took care of herself. I know that my mom had that image in her head, like, oh, my daughter was diagnosed. Anyway, she ended up in the ER with me at the same time. That's what we did way back then. We went to the ER to learn how to give ourselves shots on an orange. She actually passed out because she had to give me my shot before we went. And so we were there together in the ER, you know, I was doing my diabetes education and, and she was making sure that her heart was okay. So, um, so yeah, um, just talking about it. Um, but two, you know, sometimes we can hit a wall with talk therapy. So that's where this whole like alkaline eating and plant-based diet and things like that come into play. and I'll put on my nurse brain or my nurse hat here too for a moment if if you go back to breathing and you go back to like that's one of the quickest ways to get alkaline and when you're alkaline like there's no disease that can actually exist really and or be created in a alkaline state so it certainly helps being alkaline it's helped my blood sugars like immensely being alkaline following a more plant-based diet. Of course, I deal with Hashimoto's thyroiditis too, so I have to eat for that. So I don't think one diet works for everybody. That's not what I'm trying to preach here. But I think positivity, breathing, talking, alkalinity, I will say that, are all ways to help you cope. I mean, as a coping mechanism.

[00:30:20] Rob Howe: mechanism. Tools in your tool belt. There you go. And for somebody who is looking to try to get started into one or all of those things, how would you approach that? How would you have those

[00:30:37] Andrea Arledge: conversations or start those conversations? Well, absolutely. I would always in my treatment plans for my clients is starting an alkaline diet and making sure that you're getting the nutrients that you need in therapeutic range. And this is a whole nother topic because like the recommended daily allowance is not, it hasn't been updated since like 1941. So a holistic nutritionist, definitely to help you or, you know, just go into yoga. I remember I was so fearful though I made a private um appointment uh with my yoga teacher because I was kind of scared that I would get low blood sugar you know this was years ago and I just wanted to make sure you know like I'd never done yoga in a studio I was doing it by YouTube in the living room um for months and uh made that appointment with her and that changed everything it just like all my fear melted away and um so that was definitely a time you know that i started integrating the the more alkaline and i could because i got more alkaline in my thoughts with the breathing and the even then you know the way that i was eating so i think that a good place to start is i mean you can like Google an alkaline diet and, um, green, think green, you know? Um, I, I, I try not to harp too much on the whole diet thing because I honestly don't think that there's one diet for everybody, but yeah, the, um, but yeah, to incorporate mindfulness, I mean, yeah, there's YouTube that you can find anything on YouTube and a good breathing technique, I guess that I would offer up is like alternate nostril breathing. Even like breathing, this was one way, you know how you said that your mind, like you couldn't quiet your mind and even like sit down to meditate. Starting like with your breath, like starting at 50, like on an inhale and then exhaling 49, inhaling to 48. So counting down from 50. until you get to like zero, um, takes practice. But that was the, really the, the breathing technique that I was talking about in the whole beginning of this talk that, that took me there, you know, to that place that I was like, ah, because with that alkalinity, you can just create

[00:33:16] Rob Howe: space to be more aware in your body. I want to ask one question about, because you said alternate nostril breathing. Okay. Explain that. I have an idea of what it is, but I want to make sure for everybody listening.

[00:33:34] Andrea Arledge: Yeah. So alternate nostril breathing. I don't know, Rob. The only way I know to do it is to walk you through it. If you take, I always say make a hang-loose sign with your hand, like your right hand. I'm right-handed. So, um, and then you take your thumb to your right nostril and inhale through your left and then close your left nostril with your pinky and exhale out your right nostril. And then you inhale through your right, closing that nostril off, exhale left. And one more round. We'll inhale through the left nostril. Close that left nostril off and exhale right.

[00:34:23] Rob Howe: If anyone could see me, just look how silly I looked just trying to figure this out.

[00:34:28] Andrea Arledge: That's why I said YouTube. Yeah. The first time I was doing it.

[00:34:34] Rob Howe: So benefits of alternate nostril breathing.

[00:34:39] Andrea Arledge: Focus. Actually, it balances the left and right side of your brain. um it introduces alkalinity which means you have more oxygen in all of your cells and when you have that oxygen in your cells and have that alkalinity you're just in this complete homeostatic state um where all of your think about your endocrine system all every bodily function honestly uh just works better they works better together

[00:35:15] Rob Howe: it's a great weight well and it's really interesting too because i think when you apply this type of thinking to something like diabetes which is something that you carry with you uh there's no cure for currently obviously we hope for one day um looking at it holistically like the whole life versus the quick fix you know we're in 2017 quick fix culture uh you know for a lot of these problems that many of us face not just as type ones but just in general it's something that there is no quick fix for it's just a lot of repetition and being present and continuing to work at it and learn things about ourselves and leaving us open for that uh leaving us open to that beginner's mind, like you talked about earlier, what, maybe there's two or three of these, what are the most important things to you for, you know, someone with type 1 diabetes to incorporate into their lifestyle or to, uh, you know, to, to achieve a long-term balance in terms of whether that's health, wellness, mindfulness, uh, the, all are all of the above. What, what are What are the big things?

[00:36:22] Andrea Arledge: Absolutely. I would say it's all of the above. I mean, if you haven't noticed by now, I love to breathe because I didn't for so many years. So now I cannot express the importance of breathing. If you think about it, too, like whenever you see somebody in the hospital, they're wearing oxygen, you know, and that's getting them alkaline. So bringing oxygen into your body, whether that's with your breath or whether that's with food, is huge. And that paves the way, really, to mindfulness. Does that make sense?

[00:36:59] Rob Howe: Yep.

[00:37:00] Andrea Arledge: Okay. Yeah. And then with that, because you want to look at everything, mind, body, and your spirit. And even acknowledging, you know, that our spirit is, you know, I think something, well, it was definitely left out for me in my whole experience of being diagnosed anyway. So, you know, bringing that in, I don't know. I think that, I don't know. I feel like I've been just divinely led through this whole journey with type 1 diabetes. I really do. And even in the back, you know, when I was being the rebellious, harmful, you know, harming myself, I really think that everything happens for a reason. And things, you know, are here. I mean, they're all lessons. if you take the lessons and learn from the lessons. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question because it's a large question.

[00:38:09] Rob Howe: Well, and, I mean, that's the hard thing about hard things, right? Yeah. And you kind of just have to accept that there isn't a one answer. And I really like what you said earlier about, you know, there's not one diet because I think that way of thinking applies to a lot of things. Yeah. And just, like, absolutes culture, I guess. you know like this is absolutely the way or this there is no other way like yeah i know it totally depends on on your lifestyle exactly and what you want and what makes you happy it's just it's and

[00:38:39] Andrea Arledge: if you have like other things going on in your body i mean so it's really eating for disease processes and one thing that i not a lot of my um practice is uh surrounding like i use traditional Chinese medicine to find imbalances in your organs or elements. So it's very interesting how it all works out. Like our body is so well designed. I know that our pancreases do not work, but our bodies are amazing. I mean, they really are. And I'm not giving up that there's going to be a cure, you know, in our lifetime.

[00:39:22] Rob Howe: Yeah. And, you know, I, I have a lot of really cool, I don't know, I, I, I dig into the science of food and like, you know, how the evolution of preservatives and things like this have gotten, have taken us to a place where most of us are not very healthy in terms of what we fuel our bodies with. and you know I have some a couple friends who were telling me about these retreats or like ashrams in India where you know you go and they cleanse your body like you eat nothing but ghee for like two weeks and then and and then they you know build you back up based on some of the ailments you were having with food and and yeah feeds you the things that you need which is very interesting to me uh just for a lot of reasons but um you know it's it's interesting i think and i think again it comes down to awareness i think i was having a conversation with um another type 1 who is also an rn um and he's a traveling nurse and his episode hasn't aired yet but when it does i'm really excited to put it out because he specifically goes to rural areas because people in rural areas don't necessarily think the way you and I are currently. Right, right, yeah. Mainly just the core belief is different. They're not focused on health. They don't believe it's important. Yes. And so it's, you know.

[00:40:48] Andrea Arledge: I mean, it's lack of knowledge. Right. They don't know what they don't know. Yeah.

[00:40:53] Rob Howe: What do you think the biggest, is that, I don't know, what's the one thing you would do? because that's a that's an entire another podcast probably because i tell you when i when i

[00:41:03] Andrea Arledge: when i went to nursing school my thing was i'm gonna be a diabetes educator and i'm going to be on a native american um you know i wanted to be on a um oh my god my my brain just i just completely forgot the word i hate when i do that so i was i wanted to work with the native american community because I really felt like they're, um, yes, this is a whole nother podcast. Oh my gosh. Um, they don't know. And, and it's so sad. Like the, uh, Rob, that is another podcast. Like I don't even like, uh, I have a lot of family in Western North Carolina and they They don't have access just because of where they are located and not near any kind of medical facility. So that really, that really bothers me about that. And I just don't quite know what to do about that.

[00:42:08] Rob Howe: Yeah. And I think it's, you know, it might be another, I'm sure there's another podcast out there dedicated to hundreds of episodes where they can dissect that. But I just I think about those people because I know I know I know that there are type 1 diabetics in among them that just don't have the information that they need. And I'm not I'm not taking them, you know, because there still is some personal accountability. You have to be willing to seek and maybe not find what you're looking for for a little while. I think a lot of the journey is in the trying to find it. Yeah. You know, I'm a big, you know, Zen. master Phil Jackson type quote person when it comes to, you know, it's, it's not always about what you get. It's about, you know, what you learn in the process. And so, you know, you, you have to change a few things about yourself for that. And I'm, so I'm not totally absolving them of any blame, uh, if blame is the right word, but you know, I do, I do feel for those people because they're, their lives, their lives are being cut short. Right. And, and that's, um,

[00:43:14] Andrea Arledge: And that's the part, the empathy part. And I think that that's been one of my greatest gifts from all of this. And in this whole journey, you know, being a nurse, being everything that I do, empathy, it's taught me to be empathetic. And I would say that that is the greatest gift is to be empathetic towards somebody. um put you know being truly able to put yourself into somebody else's shoes and be like i get it you know even if it's not top one diabetes um that's the greatest lesson i guess that i've

[00:43:51] Rob Howe: learned through all of this empathy yeah and you know what what an ongoing lesson that is

[00:43:59] Andrea Arledge: oh my gosh yes yeah because i mean you're right sometimes you're like well you're just not you're not trying what are you doing are you doing your part you know and um but yeah i think that there is a certain um you know we have to take onus of our help but yeah that that's hard when you don't even know you don't know what you don't know so i feel for those people too oh that's a

[00:44:28] Rob Howe: whole yeah well you know i i really first of all um this has been an awesome conversation and i think it's always cool when you kind of meet somebody and align with them in a lot of the ways that you think um but also a very enlightening thing about uh you know an enlightening conversation in terms of you know what other things and what were trigger points and kind of taking you down this path and the things that you've discovered along the way. As you kind of look forward to, you know, the next, you know, the next step for you, I mean, you said you've already, you're going to Nice next year, you're doing a lot more, a lot of things. What are you most hopeful for? And, you know, is that even related to diabetes? Or is it, you know, anything else?

[00:45:15] Andrea Arledge: you know I no I mean I try not to definitely live in fear again you know and of course it's sharing my story and in overcoming you know all of these things that were put in my head so um you know I'm just looking forward to probably doing more speaking engagements um empowering women like one of my, I'll share with you a quick story. One of my clients, I just taught her how to make her own medicine. So, and it's, it was with a reishi tincture. So I've really been experimenting with plant medicine and the spirit of plants. And so I taught her a wild harvested, this reishi mushroom, like the king of mushrooms for, it's great for autoimmunity. And when I taught her to make her own medicine because I remember the first time I made, I bawled like a baby the first time I ever made my own medicine. And, um, I named it, I love you, mean it because we can seriously like not love ourselves when we, um, you know, when we have a chronic illness, it's like, oh, you know, so, um, empowering women to be courageous, you know, to leave fear behind and reclaim their power. I love working with people women or men around this empowerment and courageous acts that we can do to fight our fears

[00:46:50] Rob Howe: I love that the more we have of that the better off we're going to be

[00:46:55] Andrea Arledge: absolutely and it's practice and it's surrounding yourself with the people who are like you said like minded who want your highest good, what's in your highest good for you. And I think that's so important is who you surround yourself with. So yeah, to protect your physical and your spiritual energy and all of these different things that I could go on about forever. But I definitely want to teach more of that.

[00:47:32] Rob Howe: Well, in the spirit of that, But if our listeners want to find you online, what's the best way to reach out to you?

[00:47:42] Andrea Arledge: Well, my website, which, oh my God, I'm going to have a website, shame. It's not live yet. I don't know when this is going to air, but it's going live October the 9th. And the name of my business is Elements Integrative Wellness. So that's my website. You can contact me there. And then my email address, which I get emails all the time, is Andrea Arledge, A-R-L-E-D-G-E, at gmail.com.

[00:48:11] Rob Howe: Yeah. Great. Well, I'll definitely include links to those in the show notes. And I believe that your episode will air after October 9th. So it lets you get all your kinks worked out of your website. And then we will do that sort of probably later in the month, maybe into November.

[00:48:27] Andrea Arledge: Cool. Cool. Maybe you can give me a heads up. I definitely will.

[00:48:30] Rob Howe: Definitely will.

[00:48:31] Andrea Arledge: Thank you. All right. That sounds awesome. Thank you.

[00:48:34] Rob Howe: Thank you so much, Andrea. I really appreciate you coming on and kind of blessing us with some wisdom and some really great perspective.

[00:48:42] Andrea Arledge: Oh, well, thank you. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.