Now what does 90% look like? Well, if there's, let's say 21 meals and seven snacks in a week, well, that's 28 times to eat in a week. Well, getting it right 90% of the time means that 25 out of those 28 times you got it right. Hi, and welcome to the solving type two diabetes podcast. I'm Tom. And I'll be your host as I share what I'm doing in my daily life to solve my type two diabetes. Listen in, as I share the food, movement, and tools that I'm using each day. This podcast is intended for entertainment purposes only. For a full transcript or to follow the solving type two diabetes podcast on social media. Please head over to SolvingType2Diabetes.com for all those links and more now onto the show. My Week in Review --- I hope you have had an absolutely fabulous week. I have had a very good week, but very busy packed with traveling, and that's what we're gonna be talking about later on in this episode is traveling with type two diabetes. let's look at my week in review. last weekend, we took two days to drive from Florida. We were in, Walt Disney World in Orlando, and we took two days driving home to Pennsylvania. We like to split it up. That gives us about eight hours of driving each day so we don't have to leave too early outta the resort from Walt Disney World, and we get home at a decent. in the afternoon of the second day. So for us, taking a stop somewhere in the North Carolina, South Carolina range, is, good for us. And that's exactly what we. It and we made it home. And, we were home for a grand total of 36 hours. as you can imagine, having been away for 12 days and then being out here now in California for a week, we, had to get a lot done in those 36 hours, so that was a busy time at home. Took care of some family things and got repack and off to the airport and we had a great flight from Philadelphia out to San Diego. We were able to go nonstop, which is to me always nice. and it was a relaxing flight. pretty darn enjoy. . And then now we're out here in the San Diego area for a wedding, a family wedding. a niece is getting married and we're here at an Airbnb and we have eight of us here. And all siblings and spouses, of my wife's family. . we're all out here together in this Airbnb. So as you can imagine, it can get pretty hectic, at times. And I had to, stay home right now, to record this. They're all out doing some tourist, type thing, which I was okay, skipping and gives me a little break. honestly, I'm not one for big crowds, even if it's family, I. I like some solitude time. So that's what I'm getting right here with you. And, I hope, you're having a good time listening to this and later on after I'm done recording, I'm gonna hike over to, There's a state park that's in the foothills of what I'm told are the el capita mountains. near, El Cajon. And, I'll be hiking out there for the better part of this afternoon. And then I'm told we're having barbecue for dinner. So I'm looking forward to that. a whole lot. That's pretty much my week so far, and the big wedding event is still, two days away. And then on Tuesday we'll be heading home. So it's, currently Friday morning and, we, so we have a few more days here, so that's my week. My Numbers --- Let's take a look at my numbers. this has been a very light week as far as closing my rings and working out. I only closed my rings twice in the past seven days, which I think is about the lightest week. I've had. I only had two official workouts. they were very nice long walks. and I got in walking other days, but just not enough to close my ring. So I'm gonna work on that a little bit more this afternoon. I'm really looking forward to this. it'll be an honest to goodness mountain hike, so I'm looking forward to that. This a. As far as my glucose goes, that actually has been, really great this week. my average over the course of the seven days has been 1 0 9, and it equates to an A1C of 5.3. and, A1C is typically a 90 day measurement, but this is a seven day, 24 hour measurement of 1 0 9. So if that were equated to an a1c, that would be 5.3, which is below the pre-diabetes range. if you remember last episode, I was talking about how, I was into the pre-diabetes range at. last week and it's, my choices. I can't blame it on the mouse. but this week it's back, down below pre-diabetes level again, which, I'm so thankful for in combination of eating movement and the medications are all working really well together. I did have, while I was home for 36 hours, I did have a, an appointment at the doctor's office, to draw. And so I'll be hearing next week when we're home from my doctor about how, the official A1C test went. And of course, I'll share that with you. That'll be a 90 day. My body fat percentage when I was home, I stepped on the scale and it is down to 26.4. as far as body fat percentage, the prior couple weeks it had been 27.2, so being down to 26.4 is great. That equates to about a pound and a half of fat loss, which I'm excited for. And if you listen to last week's episode, you'll know why I do not care about losing weight. And what I mean by that is I track body fat percentage, not overall weight. And if you listen to last week's episode, you know the reasons behind that. So take a listen if you haven't listened to that yet. With regards to my macros, my protein has been a little bit low this week. And again, a week of traveling. It's one of the things you might, not be perfect on, but we'll talk about traveling with type two diabetes here in a little. Challenge & Win --- So my challenge for the week, is the large family gatherings and with, my wife's family, when they have a large family gathering that means one thing, tons of desserts, they will always have tons of desserts, I think literally with every meal. And, so that's been a challenge. And I did have some last. we visited this town of Julian, California and they're very famous for their apple pies, and it was really good. I did have some, last night and it was very yummy. And I think it's something about having, not every meal contain a dessert. so that when you do have a dessert, it seems to taste extra good to me. I think maybe if I were having desserts all the time, not only would that negatively impact my blood sugar, of course, but that would, make 'em not as special, I guess is what I wanna say. So having this apple pie last night, was absolutely fabulous. And it wasn't just Apple, they had other berries, in there as. So that was really yummy. So if you ever get to Julian, California, I have a feeling that the reason you're going there, cuz it's a very, very small place up in the hills, you're probably going there for the pie. So if you had it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You might wanna look up and see if the Julian Pie Company ships, I don't know if they ship or not, but it's probably some of the best apple pie I've had in a long. So that was really enjoyable. if that's a challenge of yours always being around these large family gatherings and they always have food that maybe is not, your cup of tea. Maybe keep the desserts to, just once in a while. And, that way when you do have it, it's not excessive yet. You still get to enjoy it with everyone else. So that's a little tip. Hopefully you can turn that challenge if you have it into a. News --- Okay, let's take a look at the news. I have three articles here for you that I'm hoping you're gonna find interesting, links to these article. Are all in the show notes, and you could find those over at the website SolvingType2Diabetes.com and also for each podcast, there's a full text transcript that's available as well. So this first article is called How Type two Diabetes Affects Your Daily Life. And basically, if you don't have Type two diabetes, let me tell you that it is something that can be overwhelming and hopeful. You find this podcast helpful. , but it talks about hearing this article, how, like living with a chronic disease like type two diabetes, comes with a wide range of emotions, that's for sure, and can interfere with many aspects of your daily life. And a lot of people with type two diabetes experience, anxiety, depression, hopelessness, frustration, and burnout. so there are things that you can do here in this article that they talk about to help with those feelings and those various emotions and moods that you might, be experiencing. And the first one they point out is physical activity. And I believe strongly in this. It's one of the reasons I like getting out and walking and hiking because it does seem to really help with my, emotional wellbeing. they talk about how not only is it critical to lowering and managing. Your blood sugar levels, but it's also the fact that it can actually give you energy and boost your mood and things like that. So I can fully understand that also says that, sometimes folks with type two diabetes, they can feel like maybe have a lower self-confidence and find it challenging to take the initiative, that they need sometimes to manage their, diagnosis. But they say that getting, realistic goals and doing some planning can help with that self doubt, so they recommend that, as well. They also say that having friendships and, relationships is something that is very helpful. For everyone, but sometimes that you feel like your diagnosis of type two diabetes can keep you out of that, it tends to isolate you. So it's important to find people that can support you. family if you have it. Friends, a few good friends. can really go a long way. You don't maybe need tons, but, a few good friends who can understand your situation, like a support group, something like that. We actually have on Facebook, this podcast, the Solving Type two Diabetes podcast actually has a private, community on Facebook. that is a safe place to discuss, some of these issues. And you might find that, very. Again, links for all that can be found over on our website SolvingType2Diabetes.com in summary, they say that while type two diabetes certainly can be challenging, there are things that you can do and it's things we talk about on this podcast that will help you in, dealing with your situation. So that's a nice article to take a look at. Check it out. So the next article here is called Diabetes Makes Your Dementia Risk Soar by 73%, and here's what you can do about it. So this article talks about studies that have been done that saying that, People with, type two diabetes have a 73% increased chance of experiencing, dementia. And they say that over 37 million Americans currently have, diabetes. And that's about, one third. Of, US adults have prediabetes. So that's a tremendous, number of people. The 37 million plus, about a hundred million with prediabetes that is quite frankly close to half of the US adult population. So they say to try and manage this and, reduce your chance of, getting dementia simply by reducing the effect that your diabetes has on you. It, again, goes back to some of the common. advice here. Diet, proper eating. By what I mean by diet is proper eating, healthy eating. for us with type two diabetes, that often means reducing the carbohydrate intake, getting in, healthy omega-3 rich, fats, wall nuts, seed chi seat. Great places to have that. Antioxidants like Berri. Broccoli or, artichokes. I don't know that I'm a big fan of artichokes. I guess I gotta try those a little bit more, but they're saying that by, making these changes, reducing the impact of the type two diabetes, you can, even if you've been diagnosed, reduce your chance of getting dementia. So it's not a foregone conclusion that you will have it as long as you can work hard to manage your diagnosis and, reduce the negative impact, of your type two. . The third article here is it's a study. Now this is what I call very sciencey. you might need, translation or a scientific background to understand this article. It says, study uncovers key cause of type two diabetes. And I'll just look at the summary here, but it says, Glucose metabolites. Those are chemicals produced. When glucose is broken down in your cells rather than glucose itself has been discovered to be the key to the progression of type two diabetes. It says in diabetes, the pancreatic beta cells do not release enough of the hormone insulin, which lowers the blood glucose levels we know, and this is because a glucose metabolite damages pancreatic beta cell function. So it says across the globe, about 415 million people have a diagnosis of diabetes. And, this study, was done by, looks like in the uk and it's saying that it's these. Metabolites that can actually damage, your cells. And, again, this is a very long in depth article. It goes on to talk about the actual study itself, and it has links to the, study itself, that was published in Nature Communications. But there's a link to it here, So to get more out of that, article, I'm gonna suggest that you really read it, in depth. And, it's again, has a very strong sciency, tilt to it. So it's not, easy reading, but I thought it was important to, let you know about it because, anything they can do, I think to. Find out what the actual cause of, getting this diagnosis is, and, maybe they can find better medications, maybe they can, try other things. I just watched a video this week. this is a, an aside here, but I just watched a video this week. How they're trying to develop artificial pancreas using a stem cell for folks with type one diabetes. And evidently they're having some, pretty good success, with that. and they use stem cells and they actually. make them into pancreatic beta cells and they implant these little pods, I'm gonna call them just under someone's skin. And in many of the patients, they took hold and they grew into, Pancreatic beta cells and they were actually able to produce insulin as if it was a brand new, pancreas. that's exciting. Now, that's for type one diabetics and not type two, like myself. But still, any progress they can make in this area I think is a good thing. So check out those three articles. head over, look at the show notes in your podcast listening app, or head over to the solving type two diabetes website. And, you'll find links to all the articles right there. Traveling with Type 2 Diabetes --- All right, so our main topic for today is traveling with type two diabetes, and as you can tell, we do quite a bit of traveling, which we really enjoy. Now that we're both retired, we can, go various places and thankfully are not held down to a tight schedule. But when you're traveling with type two diabetes, What I find is planning is the biggest help there is. I, I think that giving it a little bit of forethought, to where you're gonna be, what you're gonna be doing, what types of foods are gonna be available, and I think that planning ahead of time is what usually helps me the most and one of the big areas. I like to plan is oftentimes I'll actually travel with backup food. for example, even though we flew out here, to California, I actually packed in my suitcase a few protein shakes. Now I double bag them in, Ziploc bags. I don't want any accidents in my luggage, but I packed. Protein shakes. I packed some really good mixed nuts. I get the kind without peanuts, cause I don't think those are technically nuts anyway. But, really good mixed nuts. I bring that, this trip I brought some of my, sp Splenda packets. I like that for my coffee. you might not like, artificial sweeteners, but I. Use them. And, so I packed a box of those just things, oh, I packed my, water flavoring. I call it spritz, but the little chemical, water flavoring orange or grape or fruit punch or whatever. I like that. So I bring some of that, not that I can't shop wherever I'm going. I often. , but I like to have something day one, so that I have choices, have optional things with me in case I can't get the food I want. At least I have something. So that's part of my, planning. Oftentimes I'll check out menus if I can. I'll check out the menus ahead of time. we go so far as to like when we drove to Florida or we drive to Hilton Head or other places. We pack, some significant groceries with us. We also bring things like a crock pot. we had the crock Pot with us when we were at Walt Disney World. And of course our, the place we stayed had a nice big kitchen, but we still brought the crock pot. Made, I think three different recipes, across the , course of 10 days we were there. Obviously we did not eat in the room all the time. we ate out as well. But we knew for a fact that on the nights when we were cooking, and we would, put it in the crock pot in the morning, and then we get back later afternoon and it was just about ready and it was very convenient. We knew we were getting the foods that we wanted to eat and that were helpful. that's part of planning is, can you bring, I don't know, maybe it's a coffee, French press maker that you happen to, like, or, thinking about, Hey, can I bring some of the things that I like? That'll help. The other thing is even with fantastic planning, you might need to have the ability to adjust on the. maybe the group you're with changes, their place. They want to go have lunch or dinner, and it's not a menu you had the ability to look at ahead of time and, you have to adjust. Maybe, you thought you would be able to go grocery shopping and you're, for some reason not able to go grocery shopping, or you thought you were gonna be just eating a quiet, simple lunch back at your. Hotel or the place you're staying. like I say, we're in an Airbnb, this week and maybe the group decides, no, we're all going out. So have the ability to adjust and, don't overdo it. early in the day, assuming you're gonna have, just meat and veg for your dinner, that might not happen. So just be able to make these adjustments along the way. So that you don't get highly disappointed and then upset and then just go eat the things that are not helpful to you. just be able to go with the flow a little bit. Somebody said be the water and not the rock. water has the ability to flow and to make adjustments and it eventually will wear away the rock. So don't be concerned. If you can't plan everything, if you can't adjust around everything, get it. 90%, right? Most folks aren't traveling all the time, so it's not the majority of their month that they're traveling. sometimes for us it is, I understand that for most folks, traveling is a more rare event and not a constant event. So if you get it 90% right. That's still fabulous. Like last night I had apple pie and this morning my blood sugar was up. obviously, that makes sense, but like I reported earlier for the week, my blood sugar's absolutely fabulous. So get it right 90% of the time and that will often, carry you through. Now what does 90% look like? Well If there's, let's say 21 meals and seven snacks in a week, that's 28 times to eat in a week. getting it right 90% of the time means that 25 out of those 28 times you got it right. So 90% is not half, 90% is not. one day I'm right. The next day I'm not. The next day after that, I'm not right. Again, that's not gonna help yourself. That's not gonna get your eating. Get it, especially when you're traveling 90% right, which is still nine outta 10 times eating what is helpful to you. And if you do that's sometimes better than a hundred percent because you're not as stressed. And then finally, as I reported earlier, my movement has been off this week, but still get in movement wherever you. Even if your walk is not gonna close your rings, if you track that, still get out and walk when you can. And I did that and I got very close on my movement. most of the days that I did not fully close the rings, it was still up there pretty good. So get in the movement when you can, make it a priority, like I'm doing today. I could have sat in the car and done the touristy things today, but I didn't. I'm gonna go hike a mountain. This a. And, sure that means I'm gonna have to pay for an Uber a couple times, but still it's the right thing for me. So I'm getting in my movement when I can. Some days you can't. two days this week I was in a car, for nine hours a day, maybe a little bit more. And one day I was, by the time we left for the airport until we got here to the Airbnb, that was another 12 hour day of. seven, six and a half or seven hours of it sitting in an airplane seat. So some days it's difficult to get in your movement and I know that, but when you can, get it in. So those are the thoughts I have about traveling with type two diabetes. It comes down to planning, being able to adjust us getting it right. The vast majority of the. And then get your movement in whenever you possibly can, even if it's in small, movement snacks. it doesn't have to be all at once. Questions --- All right, so your questions of the week. we had a question last week, so I guess I can't be greedy. so I'm not too upset. We don't have a question this week, but if you would like to send in a questions, give me some feedback. The best way to do it. . Well, there's two really good ways to do it. The first is just simply send me an email directly tom@solvingtype2diabetes.com and that's my email address, and you can send me your question or your feedback directly, or if you don't remember that email address, you can go over to the SolvingType2Diabetes.com website and click on feed. And there, you can type in your question, you can type in, actual feedback on the podcast. I'm happy to receive it all. And if you do send in a question, and if you don't mind, I will read it here on the next podcast episode and we will discuss it. So feel free to do that. I really would like to hear from you and to let me know what you think. What's Next? --- All right. So the main topic for next week will. Eating at parties and I figure since the holiday season is coming up fast, Thanksgiving is, in about a week. And then of course we have Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanza and all those other year end holidays, new Year's, we have all that coming up. So I figured eating at parties might be a good topic, to discuss. So we will talk about that next week. Thanks! --- Well, that wraps up another episode of the solving type two diabetes podcast. I hope you found it valuable. Please follow and leave a five star review, as it helps other people find the podcast. By subscribing you ensure you won't miss the next episode. You can always get a full transcript of the episode at SolvingType2Diabetes.com there you also find the links to leave feedback and links to follow on social media. I'm very interested in hearing from you with comments and suggestions. Thanks very much for listening. Please remember that everything I share is just from my own personal experience and should not be taken as medical or health advice. Please consult your own medical professionals. This podcast is intended for entertainment purposes only.