Introduction --- Now some of the stuff we eat is not food. Some of the stuff we eat are processed, edible. Substances, but not really food in my book. But you'll rarely, if ever hear me talk about foods being good or bad because that ties an emotional, stigma, if you will, to eating. And I think we already have plenty of that, in our society today. 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. I hope you have had an absolutely fabulous week. I know I've had a very good week. My Week in Review --- This week. I was on the Enchantment of the Seas, so last week's episode I actually recorded while on board, and that was last Saturday and now I've been home for a couple days. But, the majority of this week, was spent, Cru. Onboard the Enchantment of the Seas, one of Royal Caribbean ships, and we went down to The Bahamas. We visited Nassau along the way. We stopped in Charleston, South Carolina, and also, port Canaveral. they call it Orlando, but it's actually well over an hour away from Orlando. The, ship of course, doesn't go inland. It stays on the water. So we stop at Port. Can. It was, a really nice cruise. Had some fun, great entertainment. the entertainment is really back in full swing now. No more staffing shortages from what I can see. In fact, I asked a couple of crew members if they had everybody on board that they were supposed to, and they said, yes, we're fully staffed now, which is great, because certainly they are fully booked. So it was a full cruise and the bartending staff was great. I enjoyed my Titos and Sprite. Zero. That is my, current favorite. zero carbs. and I guess, it's about 75 calories, per drink. coming from the Titos. Nothing comes from the Sprite. Zero, but to me it's tasty. I like it with some lime. And, it really, it really makes those evenings, great on board and, spend a little bit of time in the casino, just a couple of hours, and, Walked away with a little bit less than what I came in with, but not too bad at all. My game of choice is roulette and because it takes no. It is pure chance. I can't feel bad about losing or shouldn't really congratulate myself on winning because it really is pure chance, unlike poker or, blackjack even, which takes some skill. I don't have any skill, so I just stick with a roulette anyway. Came back home and this, cruise left outta Baltimore. So came back home and, really enjoyed getting back out on my favorite local rail trail for my long walks. the Lebanon Valley rails to trails, and, that's only about a 10 minute drive from my house. So that's very convenient. I like it. It's, hunting season now, so of course I have to get out there with my safety orange. I got my orange jacket. I got my, reflective vest. I have an orange hat. in fact, when we moved back to here to Pennsylvania a couple years ago, I got all kinds of orange hats. I've got baseball cap. I've got a knit beanie. I've got, what we call here in the family, a wolf man hat. it is, the fur lined, or in this case it's fake, but it's polyester, but it looks like fur lined, red hat. So I've got all those for hunting season. The other thing I did this week when I got home was I started. A new medication and I've talked about it a lot and I think, we're gonna talk about it more in detail later, but I started using Mounjaro and that is a brand new, drug. It's only been approved for, type two diabetes since May of this year. I thought, Hey, you know what? I've talked about this a lot. I've read about this a lot. I've listened to podcasts on it, and if you don't listen to this podcast, it's called uh, docs Who Lift. And one of my daughters, shared that with me and it's very interesting. But their two physicians, and They talk about, the various types of medications you can use, for type two diabetes. One is an endocrinologist, so he does specialize in things like type two diabetes or type one diabetes. The other is a general, family practice, physician who does specialize in weight loss. So they have a really interesting podcast. It's called Docs Who Lift. Anyway, I'm gonna talk about the. Mounjaro later on in the episode. My Numbers --- So let's look at my numbers for this week. My rings, my Apple watch rings. I think, you know, there's three rings. One for standing, one for movement, and one for exercise. And when you complete your goals, then you close your ring. So there's three rings. This past week, I closed my rings six of the seven days, which is great. I don't usually go for perfection. Sometimes I accidentally hit it and will close all seven days, but to me, five or six out of the seven days is great. I go for consistency, not perfection. The one day I did not close it, was the last full day of the cruise, and we were coming up north and left all that nice weather behind, so the ship was rocking. They had the outer decks closed due to some very intense wind. And, so my choices were doing the treadmill or the gym, while the ship was rocking or walk the hallways. And honestly, I did walk the hallways. I did a mile or so, in the hallways, but that was not enough to close my, rings. So six outta seven. with regards to the workouts, while I was on the cruise ship, I did a lot of stairs. I would. up and down the corridors, going to various places, but I always try to incorporate stairs. So one day I think it recorded me doing 15 flights of stairs. that was part of my workout this week. don't need to buy a StairMaster when you have, 10 flights of stairs right outside your room. And of course, I got in some good. . Now, one of the things I'm looking for this week, and now that I'm gonna say it here, I'm gonna have to do it, is, I wanna get some stretching and yoga and that type of, mobility workout in, along with my walks. I'm having problems with my right IT band. And that is, The, I don't know what it is, it's a tendon or something, but it goes from your hip to your knee. It's on the exterior. I guess they would say lateral part of the leg and, mine has been extremely tight. I've had that issue before when I was doing a lot of running and now that I'm getting in some really nice long walks, I tend to be having that. issue again. So I'm gonna get some yoga in there and I know what helps me, believe it or not, when I'm in the car, like with my Uber, I will, get a lacrosse ball and I'll put that lacrosse ball, between the, side of the bucket seat and, my hip. And I'll move it a little different places every couple of minutes. And eventually after 10, 15 minutes of that. And, it. helps. It takes away that pain, for a while. All right, so for my glucose, my seven day average 24 7 glucose reading, was 1 0 6, and that equates to an A1C in the low five range. I didn't look that up honestly before I started recording here, but it's in the low fives, which is fabulous. I like that. And, the way I did that this week on the cruise ship especially, was no. , no snacks, no desserts. So with my meals, I would tell them not to bring a basket of bread. I told them that in the beginning and then I had no issues the rest of the week. No bread in the table. you don't eat it then if you don't have it. And then also I. Did myself a favor of not eating between meals. I ate breakfast and dinner every day. Some days I had lunch, some days I wasn't hungry for it, to tell you the truth. but I had no snacks in between my two or three meals each day. And then when I did have a meal, I skipped the desserts. I just see no purpose in it. I've had cruise ship desserts before, and frankly to me, the desserts are not the best part of what they prepare on the cruise ships. So I just skipped it and I was rewarded with an average, a, blood glucose level of 106. Fabulous. . So my body fat percentage, I stepped on the scale when I got home the morning after, and my body fat percentage was 26.0, 26.0. Now if you remember the last time I stepped on the scale, I think it was maybe a couple of weeks ago, my reading was 26.5. So that body fat percentage of 0.5 difference is just a little bit more than one pound of fat. That I actually lost at a seven day cruise. So you hear people saying all the time about, oh, you're going a cruise, you're gonna gain 15, 20 pounds. you don't have to eating every single day. Everything I wanted, never going hungry. I actually lost a pound of fat on a seven day cruise, so it can be done. . Looking at my macros, they were actually spot on. my carbohydrate intake for the week was at 15%, and that is my goal. The protein was at 25%, and that is my goal. that equated to about, 130, 140 protein grams a day, and with carbs, they stayed well below 80 grams a day. So just great numbers. . Mounjaro Update --- So let me give you this Mounjaro update. I think we're gonna include this now as part of the podcast, and I'm gonna give you this Mounjaro update. every week here. I'm also producing some reels and some shorts. the reels are on Instagram and Facebook, and the shorts are on YouTube, so you can follow me there if you want. Not every day, but every few days I'm gonna give a. 62nd update there as well. Anyway, I decided to test this medication. Now it is, prescribed for folks with type two diabetes, so I certainly qualify and I've been reading about it so much. I have been researching, I've been looking at the studies, some of which we've discussed here, and I said, you know what, I'm gonna try it. things are going fairly well for me. I am working on losing body fat and I do want to keep my, blood sugar numbers in the very healthy range, and this medication is being called a game changer. This medication, they say has a tremendous side benefit of allowing you to more easily. body fat. Now, how do they do that? what they say is that this medication, reduces your appetite. So in addition to directly impacting your, blood sugar levels by signaling the liver to produce less blood sugar, it also, reduces or delays your, emptying of your. stomach as you eat. So this delay in emptying of your stomach, and when I say emptying, food passes from your stomach into your small intestines, so it slows it down. And what they say, what this does is to keep you feeling more full, longer, and that you are less likely to want to eat again immediately after you've just eaten something to begin with. okay, I'm gonna try this out. That sounds like it might, . So I used, this place, believe it or not, that I found on Instagram, called Join Sequence. Now, the medical director of this program is also the physician who's on the, doctors Who Lift podcast. And I've, listened to him for the past several months on this podcast. And so I get a feel for what they're going for here. And this program is staffed by real doctors and dieticians who work with you. , it does cost money. This program just to be part of the program. And with that, you get your medical consultations, you get your, discussions with your dieticians. That costs $99 a month. Now it's possible that I could have gone, made an appointment with my regular doctor and tried to speak with her about, adding, this Mounjaro, directly from her. Just like with my continuous glucose monitor, I found it easier just to go out and do it myself. So that's what I did. Now when I have my next appointment, which is not until May with my doctor, I will tell her and let her know that I've been taking this Mounjaro and, I don't wanna keep any secrets. I want her to be fully aware of all the medications I'm taking. But this is not one that I got prescribed through my normal doctor. This is one that I got prescribed through the doctors at joint sequence. . What it is a weekly injection. You get these little pens and under the cap they have a little needle and you press a button and you just inject this and the needle. Which stays in for about 10 seconds to deliver. The medication is no larger than the needle that I use for my continuous glucose monitor. Now with a cgm, the needle just is used to place, the filament. The filament is what stays in, with your continuous glucose monitor. But this needle goes in, stays in for a few seconds, and then comes back. And I honestly did not feel a thing. It was, very easy, simple, cleaned the piece of skin with, the alcohol prep and injected it and then, threw it away. So I have not felt any. Side effects, no adverse side effects. it's only been two days and these first doses are very low. It's only two and a half milligrams of the actual medication delivered, through this injection. So this is just supposed to get your body slowly used to having this medication in the. It takes a while to work. So the first full month, the first four injections are just this small two and a half milligram dose. But then with the fifth week you upgrade to five milligrams and then, if it's needed, you can upgrade to seven and a half or 10 or even 15 milligrams. So right now at two and a half milligrams, I don't really expect much. I'm glad there's no side effects and I will keep you posted on how this works. And we'll talk about it in future podcasts as well. Challenge --- So my challenge for this week, and I talked about this last week, to tell you the truth, my challenge was, as I mentioned, getting in movement before I Uber. Now, my favorite time to get out for one of my long walks is mid-afternoon, especially in the winter, because mid-afternoon is usually the warmest part of the day, and y. I had decided that I was going to Uber in the afternoon, so I actually got out and got my long walk in. It was over four miles and I got it in the morning. I watched my news shows and then I went out and got in my long walk in the morning and yeah, it was a little brisk. It was about, I don't know, 35, but I dressed warmly and I got out there and did it, and then I felt great, honestly, being in the Uber that afternoon because it allowed me to close my rings that day. So I'm gonna call that a win. I've proven to myself, and I usually like things to be perfect before I get my movement in, but I have proven to myself that I can, in fact, even at my old age, be a little flexible. And, so now I have it in my head that I will, do that, movement and close my move ring before I Uber. News --- Well, let's take a look at the news this week. This first article is called What To Know About Managing Weight to Prevent Type two Diabetes. Now they start off in this article giving us a good reminder that 37 million people in the US have diabetes And they say here that this is no great surprise given the current obesity epidemic that we have in the US because obesity they say is a major risk factor for type two diabetes. In fact, some people say that type two diabetes is merely a symptom of having obesity. So they have five key recommendations here, and this is from. American Diabetes Prevention Guide. Five key recommendations. The first is to know the goal for your lifestyle changes. What they're saying is that you should attempt to achieve at least a 5% weight loss. They said, of course, additional weight loss can result in further improvements, but that 5% is significant for actually, producing noticeable improvements. They say that you should consider counseling, so either group counseling, one-on-one counseling, but they're saying. People that have counseling combined with their own weight loss attempts have a much higher success rate. They say you should get help as needed from pharmacology, in other words, from medications. And they're saying that again, the people that have a BMI of 27 with type two diabetes, they're generally approved for several medications now. And we just talked about the one, that I've started The man. So they also say that there's other, medications out there, of course, but don't discount, medication help if you're trying to lose weight with your type two diabetes. They finally say here that if all else fails, Surgery. It's a very highly demonstrated fact that those people who had type two diabetes and obesity are often able to completely put both into remission after metabolic surgery. Now, a lot of people do find that after a period of years, they actually gained some of that weight. but that's typical with almost any, diet or any tool that you use to lower your weight. because the fact of the matter is if you stop doing. What it was that helped you lose the, excess fat, then you're likely to go back to your old habits. And the basic thing here is that it's your habits that can contribute dramatically to obesity. So, . As long as you keep those in a healthy manner, you're more likely to keep the weight off. So that's the first article here that I thought was a very, uh, great interest here. The second one, low carb diet may be better than counting calories for diabetes. So they've done, of course, more studies and there's a link to, this study in the article. And what they're saying is that those people who. did not restrict their calories, but simply restricted the amount of carbohydrate. And I'm not talking about carbs from veggies, I'm talking about carbs from bread, cookies, crackers, cakes, pies, that type of thing. but when they say is that by restricting those, they had a much greater success rate than those people that, just simply. Calories. And in fact, with the low carb group, they did not have any calorie restriction, whatsoever. And, they say it also helps with, your cholesterol and things like that. So if you're interested in low carb, and I am, that's how I do it. this article might be good for you. This third article here is. Pretty standard. It's one of the types of articles that we cover quite often here. It's called How to Manage Type two Diabetes with Hyperglycemia. Now what's hyperglycemia? hyperglycemia is high blood sugar. So we all understand that, that is the definition of type two diabetes. And what they say here is that the main problem, and I think we probably might now understand that, is insulin resistance. They have a very good definition here, and it says, insulin resistance is a condition in which the body makes insulin, but the cells don't respond normally to it. Higher and higher levels of insulin are required for glucose to enter the cells, and over time, blood sugar builds up in the blood. Some risk factors for insulin resistance or obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and of course family. . So this is a very good article here. Talks about, symptoms of, hyperglycemia, the risk factors, complications, treatment, and the treatment is things we talk about all the time. it's the movement, the helpful eating and medications, that can help with the type two diabetes. They also say, of course, lifestyle and like I just mentioned, diet and medication. So this is a very good, article. It gives the basics. Type two diabetes management. If you want to share that with someone, this would be a very good, article to share with. finally. And I'm into CrossFit a little bit and I really am a great proponent of CrossFit. I think it's a fabulous, type of movement, but it goes on here to say, it talks about a woman, and her name is Jodi Reed says, Jodi Reed credit's CrossFit and Diet for reversing her diabetes diagnosis after several failed attempts. So here's just a success. that shows that someone with lifestyle changes. Were able to, completely put their type two diabetes into remission. she said that, originally she was 40 to 50 pounds overweight. she got diagnosed with, type two diabetes, and she was told that lifestyle changes could help her. And then what she did, Was got hooked up through a friend, into a CrossFit gym and in this CrossFit gym they taught her, about nutrition as well as movement. And she completely, got herself into remission. She lost the excess fat and her blood sugar levels are. Back to normal, which is a fabulous success story. So those are the articles that are in the news this week. as always, these links to these news articles will be in the show notes as well as, over on the website SolvingType2Diabetes.com Are Carbs Good or Bad? --- all right, let's talk about our main topic today. So this is a bit of a teaser. Are carbs, good or bad? So I have to tell you, I don't think any food is good or bad. In fact, I don't even like using the terms good or bad. when talking about food. Now some of the stuff we eat is not food. Some of the stuff we eat are processed, edible. Substances, but not really food in my book. But you'll rarely, if ever hear me talk about foods being good or bad because that ties an emotional, stigma, if you will, to eating. And I think we already have plenty of that, in our society today. So I think food is food. I often say just eat real food. if it had a mother or it was grown on a farm or in the woods or on a ranch, eat it. If it was made by a factory and could, survive a year or so on your shelf, it's probably not real food. Skip it. But let's talk about carbohydrates. So carbohydrates. Aren't all the same. It's been my experience and I should preface this, I am not a nutritionist. I keep saying this, I'm not a physician. I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not a dietician. I'm simply relating what I've experienced in my own life here. But I found for me, carbs aren't all the. when I eat carbs and I eat carbs every single day, when I eat carbs, I find that naturally occurring carbs that, that comes in its original format. vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans. I don't get any type of blood sugar Spike. At all. I can eat a big bowl of chili, which is mostly beans. The way we make it. It has some meat in there, some good meat, and my wife makes it really well. But I can eat a big bowl of chili and I get no blood sugar spike at all. Versus I eat one piece of white bread, one single slice of white bread. and I see within 30 minutes, maybe an hour, I see a definitive blood sugar spike and it can spike 50, 60, 70, 80 points from a single slice of bread. The same thing if I eat one cookie, if I eat a few crackers, or have cereal. When I have highly processed carbs, I see a very high blood sugar spike, and sometimes it's high enough to throw off my average blood sugar reading for the entire day. But when I have a bowl of mixed, now, when I say a bowl, it's, 2, 3, 4 ounces of mixed nuts. Or I have a fruit, so let's say, a cup of strawberries or something like that, or I have a half a plate full of, vegetables of broccoli, asparagus, whatever. I see no spike in that. At all. And I believe, from what I understand, it's because when it's bundled with fiber as in vegetables, or fat as in the nuts, or both as in the beans, that really, reduces the effect, the, maybe the speed at which it hits your bloodstream, but I don't see a spike at all. but again, with the naked carbs, so to speak, heaven forbid if I drank a Coke or, , once in a while I have a piece of cake or a piece of pie, but I'll notice then how that affects my blood sugar. So again, food isn't good or bad. Food is food. Now what I say is this food helpful in reaching my goals? Is this particular food that I'm considering helpful? And sometimes I know darn well it's not helpful, but you know, Hey, I want a piece of that cake. So once in a while I'm gonna have that piece of cake. Not every day, not every week even. But I say, is it helpful in reaching my goals? Yes, I go right for it. No, I have to seriously consider if that is something I want to eat, and if that is more important than reaching my. Questions --- All right, let's take a look at your questions now. It's been a lean week, with regards to podcast questions or feedback or input. I haven't received any. What's funny is I'm getting a lot of, feedback over on YouTube and I've gotten several good comments there. No real questions, just comments of encouragement and to keep things going, which I appreciate. But feel free to send in your questions or feedback for this podcast if you'd like. Two ways to. . The first is to send me an email at tom@SolvingType2Diabetes.com I'll get an email if you'd like. I'll read it on the podcast. Be happy to do that. Maybe send you some links. The other thing you can do is go to the website SolvingType2Diabetes.com and click on feedback. And there you just type in your name, your email address, and, uh, type in your feedback or your question or whatever. And it also just sends me an email. So either way, I will, be able to get in contact with you and get your, questions answered. What's Next? --- So what is next for next week? I thought since I started this medication, I. talk about this new medication, Mounjaro in depth. I want to talk about the studies and I want to talk about the, potential side effects, the benefits, those types of things, how you might go about, getting in contact with people who, offer this, medication. And just keep in mind that, nothing I say about Mounjaro is medical. Or medical expertise. I'm just gonna share what I have learned and what I've read about it. And I'm sure I'll be sending some links out with next week's show notes, to share what it is that I've read. 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.