Introduction --- One thing I do know for sure is my hunger is way down. I texted one of my daughters today, gave her a picture of my lunch today, which happened to be a hamburger, and I said to her, , in the text, as sort of trying to be funny, I said, dear God, please let me finish at least this Hamburger. Hi, and welcome to the Solving Type 2 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 2 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 --- Well, I hope you're having a fabulous week this week. I know. I'm having a really fun week. I am still on board Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas. So this is a 12 night cruise, and I think we just finished seven nights. We have five nights to go. So we're about just passed halfway on this cruise. We've been making a whole lot of stops in the Southern c. , which is great. The weather has been about 82, 84 each of the last several days, and we have one more stop tomorrow. Tomorrow is St. Kits. Today was Barbados. Bridgetown Barbados. I was out for a walk and I like to get out on these ports and go through the town and not really do an excursion, so to speak, just walk off the ship and see where things go. I've been averaging maybe four miles in each of these stops, but today, today was a six. hike, if you will, no mountains or anything, but I was lost , and usually I head in one direction and then keep in mind where the ships are. And then I can find my way back to port with no problem. But today, when I went to turn around, I thought, well, I'm not just gonna go back the same road I've been walking along. I mean, it was along the beach and everything. It was very nice. And, evidently today's a holiday, so most of the little shops and everything were closed. But still, I was having a good time. And so after about two miles I said, well, let's not turn around exactly, but let's just turn left for a while and, then I'll go back up another street. Well, the first couple of streets that I thought I could turn left on to basically make a u-turn they didn't go that way. They were either blocked or had gates or some stuff. So I ended up making this big circum navigation through the bridge town the city we're docked at, and it ended up being six miles before I got back to the ship. Now, a couple times I got into some little neighborhoods that I don't know that I was , particularly supposed to be in, but no harm, no foul. And eventually after about four miles, I realized, hey, I think the MAPS app still works even if I don't have cellular or wifi. Now, if things got desperate, I would've turned on my cellular service and I have the the Verizon plan that would've cost me like 15 bucks to turn that on in a foreign country. But whatever. I could have done that. But I did use the maps I did get. But that just struck me as something through this effort we're making here to solve our type two diabetes or whatever your goals happen to be. Don't forget to use a map when you need it. Don't forget to reach out for help or maybe get a coach or follow a specific plan. And I know that that has helped me often in the past. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit here later on when we talk about accountability. But that's been my week. Good walks in each port day and while I'm on board the ship and we're at sea, I use the stairs all day long. Day, I think I recorded 42 flights of stairs. Climbed some of it, intentional, some of it just getting through the. My food has been great. I'm trying to get in more protein. As we look at my macros here in a little bit, you'll see that I'm really not getting in the kind of protein that I think I need to here on the ship. Now I could, I'm not that hungry. I could get in more protein, I guess, but I could only eat so much meat. We'll talk about that a little bit in my Mounjaro update. But anyway, good week, fun week cruising. Five more days of cruising, and then I get to go home. So that's my week. My Numbers --- Let's look at my numbers. I have closed my ring seven out of seven days. It is a little easy for me on a cruise ship to close my rings. That's, I would say my number one activity each day is closing my ring. I do that. I listen to live entertainment. I watch the shows, listen to some good music and sample the buffets. So that's not a problem. While I'm on this cruise ship is to close my rings. Like I mentioned, the workouts have been stairs when we're at sea and walks in port when we're docked. So that's been good. Each day, my seven day glucose reading, wow, my seven day glucose reading for this. The average has been 67. That's an A1C of 4.1. That is about as low as you can get and still be conscious. For average at night. It goes down to maybe the. Mid fifties, but during the day, it honestly has not been going above 100. I looked here at my chart and that I have with my app and I really have only broken 101 time this whole week. So that has got to be the Mounjaro. I have no other explanation. I'm eating, I'm not eating a lot, I will admit, because, you know, I'm not that hungry. Anyway, that's what it is. Seven day average glucose reading is 67. now for my body fat percentage, I don't have a scale here on board, so I don't have a body fat percentage to report for this week. I imagine it's about the same as when I weighed in last week. , looking at my macros, I have. Average 64 grams of carbohydrates each day, which you know, is fine. , it's not as low as keto, but it's certainly low carb, which I find really works for me. Maybe the fact of the matter is I don't have to be as low carb as I have been. I mean, an A1C for the week of 4.1. That's almost ridiculous, low. But anyway, so that's what it is. I've been eating 64 grams on average of carbohydrates a day. Now the problem though is I've only been eating 80 grams of protein a day. Now for you, 80 grams might be fine. It's sort of based on your body size and also based on your goals. My goal is to retain muscle, which at 80 grams of protein a day, I don't think I'm able to maintain muscle. I think I would have a slow loss of protein over time, if that would continue. I honestly think I should be at least 120, maybe even up to. Maybe 150 if I really would like to put on a little bit of muscle. But it's been 80 for the week, so I think for my next cruise, which is next month, ironically, right back here on Enchantment of the Seas, doing the same 12 night itinerary. I think one of the islands is different, but otherwise, basically it's the same cruise. , I'll be with my wife, which is happy for me. I like those cruises that she, , chooses to come on. , she doesn't cruise as often as I do, but she does like it. So next time will be in a junior suite. And, because when I'm by myself, of course, I cruise in the smallest interior room that they have. , but with my wife, , we stay in a junior. It gives us a little bit more room, , room to sit around because we do spend a lot of time in the cabin, , when we cruise. , it's comfortable and we, and we like doing that anyway, , next cruise I think I will bring protein shakes with me. I think I'm gonna use those, , to supplement my protein. On a cruise ship because I certainly use them at home one a day or so, and it may be two a day once in a while, but I think I'm gonna use that as a supplement here while I'm cruising and we'll see how that goes. Mounjaro Update --- With regards to my Mounjaro update, just , yesterday I did take the second five milligram, dose, Now, this is my sixth week overall, so I took four of the two and a half milligram doses, and now I've taken the second of the five milligram dose. So six weeks overall, and no negative side effects, like no nausea or. GI issues or anything like that. And certainly it's easy to take. I don't even feel the little needle going in. It just pops in and pops out. One thing I do know for sure is my hunger is way down. I texted one of my daughters today, gave her a picture of my lunch today, which happened to be a hamburger, and I said to her, , in the text, as sort of trying to be funny, I said, dear God, please let me finish at least this Hamburger but honestly I had to struggle a little bit for the last two or three bites, so I can certainly see how people can lose. With the assistance of this medication. Now again, I'm taking it for my type two diabetes and it certainly is working for that, but I think I am losing some weight. I think during the first four weeks I might have lost three or four pounds, and I think right before I got in the ship, I think I might have been, I don't know, down five pounds. But, , the pants I noticed. Even from the start of this cruise a week ago, I think my pants, , are looser and I don't have a scale. So I won't know for sure until next week this time. But when I record next week's episode, , check me on this. But I have a feeling my weight's gonna be down again. I. My Challenge & Win --- For my challenge and win this week. Well, I've been talking about it, I've been spending the last 10 minutes talking about it, to tell you the truth. But let me be specific. Eating enough protein while I'm on this cruise ship, , has been difficult and I, and I'm concerned about that because I do wanna avoid losing muscle. . And exercising and eating sufficient quantities of protein are things that help avoid losing muscle. So why is it different? This cruise, and I've been thinking about this and I believe it's because I'm actually eating less. So when I'm eating less overall, well that means I'm eating less protein as well. So I do need to supplement, I think, on upcoming cruises. So I'm gonna do that now at home. Like I said, I supplement with a protein shake. It's the cheap Walmart, , equate brand. I don't know if you have a Walmart near you, but these work out. If I buy a case, it works out to be, I don't know, a buck and a half a piece. So 30 grams of protein in , 12. What tastes like chocolate milk? It's easy. So I do it, and I know I say just eat real food, but I find for me right now, I do need to supplement my meat and other forms of protein with a protein shake each day. So I'm gonna actually look forward to getting back to that when I get home. News --- All right, let's take a look at the news today. Now, this first. Is from an actual medical, , the AMAs, , magazine, and this is called Three Ways Medicine Can Partner with Public Health to Prevent Diabetes. So this is great. This is talking about prevent. and I know a lot of people say, in fact, I heard this , term earlier today. We don't have a healthcare system in the us. We have a sick care system. So I was excited when I came across this article and it talks about the medical establishment using prac practical solutions. To ward off, and I don't know. It, it makes sense if, if you can nip some of these chronic diseases like type two diabetes, , in the bud, then I think you're gonna go a long way into improving, overall health. Health and it simply could be the doctors starting out, , by talking more, spending more time, , with their patients, like the first time someone's diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Well, we all know that, that in most cases will lead to full type two diabetes. It's just, the early stages. Let's face it, pre-diabetes means your sugar is higher than it. It just doesn't meet the official definition yet. But if we took action, then I think we would, prevent a lot of people from actually getting type two diabetes. So anyway, it's a good article. It talks about, improving things in our public health here in the us, which I think is exciting. So check that out. This second article here is called What Eating Fast Food Can Do to Your Liver, according to New. . Well, fatty liver is a situation that a lot of people, , deal with when they also are obese or have, , type two diabetes or both. Because the liver fat is, is, is what they're saying here can be most dangerous because, this is fat that it's in and around your liver, which can cause, , problems in your liver. Your liver is such an important, I call it a factory of all the things that your body needs, , hormones, and it produces sugar and it produces all, all kinds of different things at different times that. Body needs. And it says here that if fast food makes up at least 20% of your daily diet, it can lead to severe fat buildup in the liver, which is gonna disease your liver, which is gonna cause it to function, , less well, poorly. So this is something you , definitely want to avoid. They're saying that fast food is a problem because it's made so palat. It contributes to binge eating, which can cause a spike in the blood sugar, increased blood sugar, , blood pressure, and all these things, and, and it's just, it's just a , very bad slope. So, eating fast food a whole lot, often, certainly not good for your liver. Now what is good for your liver? Ha. This next article, put the kettle on. It says Drinking coffee may improve , liver health in people with type two diabetes. So good. I love coffee. , perhaps you like coffee too, but evidently in coffee. There is something called polyphenols. It's a micronutrient. And what they say is this can reduce the severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. So in the last article we were talking about fast food can increase the chance of getting fatty liver disease. Well now they're saying that coffee can help reduce now drinking coffee with your french fries and McDonald's cheeseburger. Is not going to put it back on track. This drinking coffee business. Let's face it, this is gonna be a small improvement. something's better than nothing, but it is at least a positive thing. So, according to this article, feel free to have your coffee and enjoy it. Now, don't put a bunch of sugar in it, but the coffee itself is just fine. So finally, Here's something we'd like to talk about. Here is something that I hope I am doing right now. The article says, can you reverse type two diabetes? And I think my answer is yes. This article also tends to agree. It's saying that lifestyle changes can actually cause reversal or remission. Now, It says it's not a cure. You can't actually cure because if you fail to stick with these lifestyle changes, as we know, you're going to have an increase in blood sugar once again. So reversing type two diabetes, it says the most effective thing for reversing type two diabetes is weight loss. Now, I tend to think that weight loss. By way of reducing your sugar intake. Is probably what makes the blood sugar levels go down. But it says here that weight loss is certainly correlated, especially a 10% loss in your overall weight is highly correlated with improved sugar levels. Now that comes through dietary changes, that comes through exercise, and we know this, and also medication. If these lifestyle changes. , often are , very difficult, especially in today's society where every food is yummy and food is available literally everywhere. I dare you to walk two blocks downtown without running into a store or a restaurant or fast food or something where you don't find something that's ultra processed and ready for you to overeat. So if you need help with that, , use the medication, use the, I don't know if things are severe, use the bariatric surgery, although I think maybe bariatric surgery might be, I don't know, going out of style because quite frankly, you can get what's called bariatric surgery in an injection with some of these new, , GLP one, , type medications like this Mounjaro that I'm using. So, Read this article. It's very promising and it's saying in fact that type two diabetes is no longer a death sentence. It no longer has to lead to amputations and kidney disease and blindness and all these other things that you can in fact reverse. Your type two diabetes simply, or not easily, but I'm gonna say simply through lifestyle changes. I'm not trying to say that those lifestyle changes. Will be easy. Okay, enough on the news for today. Using Accountability in Solving Type 2 Diabetes --- Let's look at our main topic. Our main topic today, and I'm a little excited about this. Our main topic today is how to use accountability in solving type two diabetes. Now, this is why I'm doing this podcast. This is why I'm speaking to you right now. Yes, I'm hoping you find it enjoyable and. . I'm not an expert on any of this. I'm just relating my experiences, but wouldn't it be cool if you got something out of it? Yeah, that's one reason I gotta be honest. The main reason I'm doing this podcast is for my own accountability. So, I mean, what? What is accountability? Accountability. I looked it up. It says, subject to the obligation to report, explain or justify something being responsible or answerable. So who? Accountable too. Well, I'm accountable to you each week. In fact, each day I share my glucose monitor readings. I share my macros. I share my activities. I share all that on Instagram, and then each week I summarize it here on the podcast. At the chat a while. So this is helping with my accountability and I can look back on my, , weight, my body fat percentage, my glucose readings, all of that, and I can see where I am definitely improving in solving my type two diabetes. Since I started this podcast now, I clearly was doing work on these things before I started the podcast, but I was never have been as. In doing what I'm doing as I am now since I've been doing this podcast. So I know for me for a fact that being accountable to someone sharing this with someone else, in this case, you, I can be much more effective in reaching my goals. This may or may not be true for you. I think everyone is a little different, but perhaps. You could be more successful if you actually had, , what some people call an accountability partner. Now this could be anyone, almost someone has to care about you, be concerned for you, I think to be an effective accountability partner. And I happen to know that some family members and some friends, , listen to this podcast and I think it's cuz you know, they just wanna be supportive. They're not necessarily. , dealing with type two diabetes, but I appreciate it. I certainly appreciate it a whole lot. So they are, in fact my accountability partners because if I were to, , report something bogus, they would know because they know me. They, know me personally. And also if I were to stop, they would question me. Or if I would stop posting my daily stats, they might question me on that. So for you to find someone who you can be accountable to, I think they have to care about you. It can't be just a random stranger. But I have a feeling now and and I appreciate the fact that you listened to this podcast. You might have listened to several now, so hopefully we're starting to, I don't know, bond a little bit. So I appreciate you being there for. . So how do you find an accountability partner? Well, again, find a trusted friend or maybe a relative, , someone that, , would keep you, , honest, so to speak. Now there are people who do this professionally. , there are coaches out there who will coach you through your, , journey to your goals. And it could be a medical profess. , it could be someone who has taken some, , coaching instruction and knows the right way to deal with folks who are trying to make self-improvement goals. , they have many coaches out there. I know one, , for example, , her name's Christie Campbell. She runs the, , fit me community, , fit me nutrition, and she is a coach. She also has a team of other coaches and, , you can find her on Facebook, Instagram, just look up Christie Campbell or Fit Me Nutrition. And in fact, in Feme, , community, they have a free community on Facebook also there. Apps. There are apps, believe it or not, that you pay money and you set your goal. Now, I've never used one of these, but I've heard a lot about them. You set a goal and you have to have someone who will, verify your reports to this app, a trusted friend or whatever. , but I believe you pay, a little bit of money to use this app. But then you set up a say, I don't know, I'm just making this up here cuz I haven't used it. But let's say you say, I, I, , commit $100 to losing, I don't know, 10 pounds or 4% body fat over the next three months or whatever your goal is, and then you register with this. But here's the thing, the money goes to a charity, and what's fun is the money goes to a charity that you don't like. So let's say, , you love animals, right? Who doesn't love pets? So, in theory here, you would commit to, , like anti pita charity if there's such a thing, , or a, a negative charity that you just, you completely, let's say it. A another political party or something. And if you don't make your goal, you will automatically, with no choice on your part, donate that a hundred dollars to that charity that you can't stand their mission. , so anyway, that's, that seems like it would be, a good accountability measure. , what else? Social media. I'm doing this podcast. Maybe you start a, , I don't know, TikTok, , or whatever, or, or an Instagram, or heck do a podcast. They're fun. Well, they're sort of fun . It's some work too. , but my point is that it could be that accountability might be the thing if you're struggling, that's missing from your mix. I don't know, talk to your sister or brother or, or someone like that and say, Hey, look, this is my goal. I'm gonna take a snapshot of, , me on the scale every week and I'm gonna send it to you. And my goal here is to, on average, lose a half a pound a week. And then they talk to you a little bit about it or. you share it with them. And I find for me, again, I can't tell you what to do for you, but I do find for me that having accountability as I'm trying to reach my goals is a great, great success factor. So take that for what you will. Maybe you can get something out of it for you. Let me know. Let me know. , there are two ways to contact the show. You can send me an email directly. tom@solvingtype2diabetes.com or head over to the website SolvingType2Diabetes.com and click on feedback. But I'd like to know, do you use accountability in what you're doing and let me know and I'll share it with others next week. Questions --- Now, we don't have any questions this week, so I'm gonna take a minute to talk to you about our Facebook c. So what I did, and I'm gonna put a link to this in the show notes, right alongside of the links for the news articles, but there's a community page over in Facebook. , it is a free, safe, and private place for you to post. The purpose of this Facebook community is for us to share with each other, to ask questions of each other. It's not really a place for me to, just post my social media. The Facebook community solving type two diabetes community is for you. , so I'm gonna put a link to it. I don't think a whole lot of people know about that community. It's different from the Facebook page. The Facebook page is where I tend to post a lot of my social media type things, updates. Links to the podcast, things like that. But this community I built for you. So if you're interested, hop on over to there and, , take a look. You do have to request to join, but I'll instantly approve you to join and, , I'll put a link to it in the show notes. And hope you, , you find it helpful. What's Next? --- So what's next? Next week I'm gonna talk to you about why I stopped taking Metformin. Yeah. For about 10, 11 days now, I have not taken any metformin. Now, Metformin is the medication that I was on first for my type two diabetes. It's a medication that I've been on for years. And I haven't been taking it in the last 10 days. I would like to talk to you about why. So, , that'll be 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.