Hey, I like a dinner roll or, a sandwich or heck, a cookie just as much as the next person. I know though that I have to limit that my, doctor from years and years ago, she used to say that staying below a hundred grams of carbohydrates a day is usually required for folks with type two diabetes. 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 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 this week. I know that for me, I've had a very good week and, I wanna talk about that in a minute. But before I get too far into the podcast, I would like to ask you a favor. , would you please share this podcast with someone else who you think might benefit from it? You can either share the website SolvingType2Diabetes.com or in your podcast player. Perhaps you could send them a link and maybe share an episode, and. know, you could tell them what you get out of it. I'd appreciate that very much. So thank you for that. My Week in Review --- So for this week, I did finish the 12 night cruises on Royal Caribbeans Enchantment of the Seas. That ship's getting a little old. But it still serves its purpose. I think that ship was built sometime around 1997, so it's about 25 years old and for a modern cruise ship 25 years is getting up there. I think they try and retire them after about 30 years. So this one might have a few more years, but that was my last cruise, most likely on that ship. That ship is moving now to Europe next month, and then after that, after the summer, it's gonna go down to Tampa. So it probably won't be back to the Baltimore area. at least not for the next two years. So I might not get a chance to sail on that one again, but I have had three days at. and got in walks, in my local neighborhood here, on my favorite rail trail as well, the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail, and just today with one of my daughters. I was walking out on the Northern Central Railroad Trail in Maryland, and it's officially known as the Tory C Brown Trail. It's very nice, very well maintained. It's an old railroad and that has been converted to, a biking and walking trail, and it runs right next to the, gunpowder River and it goes, to Gunpowder Falls, does all that. It's about 20 miles long in Maryland itself. It starts in Hunt Valley where we were, and goes all the way up to the Pennsylvania. And then once it hits Pennsylvania, it turns into the York Heritage Trail, and then it goes another 20 miles up into the city of York, Pennsylvania. So you can easily, if you're out on a bike, you can get in a, an 80 mile round trip if you want, 40 miles in each direction. And it's, it's about 10 feet wide, has a nice stone dust covering, and it's right next to the river. So we had the river, right next to us, the whole walk, and it was a little misty out today. But not too bad. The rain had stopped. We pushed off the. Hike for a few hours. We were gonna first walk on the trail and then get lunch, but we decided to get lunch first and then go walk on the trail. And by that time the rain had mostly stopped. So that was a lot of fun. We had been along that, gunpowder before, we went tubing there several years ago as a family, so it was nice to get back there. And this was my first time on this particular section of that trail. And, we really enjoyed it. My Numbers --- Let's take a look at my numbers and for my numbers, I have closed my rings seven out of the seven previous days, and if I do them tomorrow, that'll be a second perfect week in a row. . But, after that I'm not gonna be closing my rings. I'm actually having a little outpatient procedure on Tuesday, and, I'm having a lipoma removed and it's just a minor procedure in the dermatologist's office, but I really won't be able to work out or even take long walks just for a few days. So my rings won't be closed, every day for next week. that's for sure. My seven day glucose reading on my new Freestyle Libre three continuous glucose monitor. It gives me a G M I A glucose management indicator, and that's the calculated version of an a1c. It takes the readings from the continuous glucose monitor and it creates something called a G M I and my GMI was 5.4, still well below the pre-diabetes range, up a hair from this previous week because if you remember correctly, I was upping my carbs and upping my protein to slow my weight loss. So my body fat percentage was 22.0, which is the same as it was, right before the. So I did not lose weight in the last week, but I maintained, that weight, which is fine with me, my macros for the week, I hit 87 grams of carbs and 157 grams of protein. And last week I did mention that I was setting my goal higher. I had put the goal at 80 grams of carbs and 150 grams of protein. So for both of those, I hit just a hair. , certainly not, calorically, much difference. It's, let's see here, 14 times 4 56 calories above my goal. So certainly that's not, anything to think about. Mounjaro Update --- For my Mounjaro update this week, I am still at the 7.5 milligram dose, and I took this most recent dose this past Wednesday, and that was after 10 days. And, The other dose that I had taken before that was 10 days. so far, dose number five and six at 7.5 milligrams, was at 10 days. And I am seriously thinking when this box is out to ask my doctor to go back down to the five milligram dose. I think that after 10 days getting a jolt, so to speak at the 7.5 milligram. was a little harsh. I really did feel some upset stomach, and it seemed to hit me a little stronger than it had previously. And I have a feeling that because I waited 10 days, the medication was lowering and lowering in my bloodstream, and then to give it 7.5 milligrams, that was too big of a jump. So I'm think. And again, I'm just thinking right now, but if I was going back down to five milligrams and then taking it every seven days, that would be a more consistent blood level. It wouldn't get too low, and by taking only five milligrams, I wouldn't bump it up too high. And I think therefore I would, have fewer side effects than what I did this past time. Challenge and Win --- For my challenge and win, this week. I gotta tell you, this past week or so, I've really been on autopilot. no issues with my eating, no issues with my movement. My blood sugar readings were fine. autopilot's not a bad place to be. I really don't have a challenge this week. I've been consistent and I'm gonna talk about that later. But consistency is really a big key when you're trying to, get a handle on proper nutrition, proper movement, things like that. So I'm gonna call that a win. The fact that I really, truly did not have a challenge, at least not one that I can recognize. for this past week or so, I'm gonna call that in itself a. News --- All right, if we take a look at the news this week, this first article has to do with money. The cost of diabetes treatment, and the article's entitled Diabetes Treatment can be incredibly costly. , but the biggest cost is surprisingly not insulin, and I can attest to that myself, even though I do not take insulin. If I did, insulin would be covered at, about $35 a month. copay. And with my insurance and my, glucose monitors are $75. So even though I have type two diabetes, and this article is mostly referring to type one, it's the cost of the. Glucose monitors, the finger strips, the lancets, and the continuous glucose monitors, if they're needed, the insulin pumps, all those things are actually much more expensive than just the cost of insulin. So it was in the news, it was a big thing about how the fact that, oh, drug makers are reducing the cost of insulin, which is. As long as they can still research and make good medications and they can charge less, hey, I'm all for that. But what really the health people maybe should be looking at are. The costs of all the gear and gadgets and equipment that people use to either manage their insulin intake with a pump or monitor their blood glucose levels with, either finger sticks or, continuous glucose monitors, all that type of thing. That's really where a lot of the money, is spent . And they say here, on average, a person typically spends. $4,800 a year on managing their type two diabetes. Of that 4,000 is spent on supplies, and this is, by the person, not their insurance company, but the person has to bear the largest brunt of the, supplies. So even though they cut the cost of insulin, which again is great. They still, I think, have a long way to go to be able to ensure that folks who are struggling financially, can manage their disease, properly. So check that one out. This next one again has to do with money. Money's important, when you're trying to manage, diseases. It says here, Americans are buying cheaper ozempic from Canada and Mexico. Now, I know Ozempic is in the news for weight loss, but it is, let's not forget a type two diabetes. Medication. So what they're saying here is that because ozempic can be so much, and I think it can be upwards of a thousand dollars a month if you have to pay out of pocket, they're finding that, by getting it from pharmacies in Canada or Mexico, they can get it for as low. $300 for a 60 day supply, which is 150 bucks a month compared to a thousand dollars a month. And, there's this website here, they say it's called Can ship meds.com, and it ships that drug from Canada. It also ships other drugs like Mounjaro and things like that. But it is, still through a reputable pharmacy. It's, medically directed by, physicians and, hey, if it works for them, it's unfortunate we have to go to a different country to get medication that's, affordable. But, this evidently is what a lot of people are currently doing. The third article is entitle. These are the best ways to use exercise to manage. Now this article is covering something we have talked quite a bit about, but two things here in this article that they recommend are high intensity interval training. H I I T. Some people call that just hit and that is making things very intense and then backing off and then very intense and then backing off doing intervals. Of aerobic or strength training, but they also hear, say that it's important to combine, and I know this is where I'm lacking, but to combine strength trading with aerobic training, with yoga, those type of things to mix it up, so to speak. Wow. I should, not only read this article, but follow it. They're saying that, this is great for anyone, but especially for those people trying to, manage their type two diabetes. The final article here is called Tips and Tricks for Cooking with Type two Diabetes. Now, . What they're saying here is in addition to eating real food and eating out less and cooking at home more, they're saying that you should be aware of what levels of carbohydrates are working for you. you and your doctor, you and your dietician. Work that out. And typically the goal is to keep your, blood sugar level under 180 2 hours after you start eating. So the goal is to only eat enough carbohydrates so that you don't exceed that level. Now, I'm not giving you that advice again, I'm just reading this. They're saying a good method is to use the plate method, and that is where you fill one half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables, a quarter of your plate with lean proteins, and then a quarter of your plate with certain starchy foods. But you gotta watch the, portion size to make sure that your carbon intake is not higher than what your goal. So a good article. So those are four articles. Now you can find links to all those articles, in the show notes. Now most podcast players will show you the show notes right inside the player, and there's usually the clickable links right in there. I know the popular players do that. There's many podcast players nowadays though. So if you can't find the links to articles and things that I talk about, Podcast on your podcast player. Feel free to hop on over to SolvingType2Diabetes.com. You'll see all the episodes there along with all of their associated show notes. Medication Decisions and Avoiding Temptation --- All right, for today's main topic, and if you remember a couple weeks ago I had posted on Instagram asking folks to give me suggested topics, things they would like to talk about in the future. And I told you last week that Katie had written. And her comment on Instagram was my favorite segment is the news. Also, I want to hear more about why you chose your meds, spacing out, Mounjaro, et cetera. And then as a second question, which I'll touch on briefly, how do you deal with mental pressure around high temptation foods? . thanks Katie. So this topic's for you, and I hope a lot of other people, like yourself, also find benefit. So let me do the second question first. How do you deal with mental pressure around high temptation foods? before Mounjaro, when I was tempted by food, I would often find, movement to be a good alternative. . if the food was in the house and I just sat there thinking about it and thinking about it and thinking about it, I would usually, go get some. And then if it was highly processed, highly palatable, I would usually go get quite a bit. To avoid that, I had two strategies. First of all was not bring it into the house, which I think is the most solid sound way that worked for. Might not work for you, but it worked for me. I would not take the effort of going out to a restaurant to get, french fries or nuggets or whatever. I would, if it wasn't the house, I would eat it. I'd eat something else, That was hopefully more helpful and helpful to me. . But then if it was in the house, because I'm not the only one who buys things for the household, if it was in the house, I would try and if I could get outside and walk off the temptation, so to speak, getting outside 20, 30 minute walk, and by the time I got back A, I would usually feel much better, and B, that temptation usually would've passed. Now, for other people I hear they say, oh, drink some. have a salad, do other things like that. But for me, I tried not to have it in the house to begin with, but if it was in the house, then I would try and literally escape it by movement. And that was the way I dealt with it. Now, if I'm out on, at a restaurant and I saw something in a menu I wanted, I would get it because I knew that portion was controlled. Now, if it was too much, then. Try and limit the portion, but I knew that wasn't just a huge box or a bag or a container of something sitting in the house. it wasn't a whole, stack of boxes of Girl Scout cookies that I could just completely devour. It was usually, a dessert, a dish like that. And, once in a while, because we don't go out to eat that often, then I would just. . So I hope that's helpful. if other people have suggestions on dealing with, mental pressure around high temptation foods, please let me hear about it. send in a comment, send in feedback. You can do that, right on the website SolvingType2Diabetes.com. You can just click on feedback and send in your ideas on that. All right. The other question was, you want to hear about the medications and is a very popular. medications for a lot of people are a very powerful tool in solving their type two diabetes. So how did you choose your meds? She asks, and how do you figure out things like spacing, Mounjaro, et cetera? , I chose the meds. The original medication I was on that I'm no longer taking was Metformin, and that one's one that my doctor chose. And then, quite frankly, the Metformin wasn't cutting it. My diabetes was still in the lower end of the type two range, and I figured what's the purpose of struggling? eating almost no carbohydrates whatsoever, which I found very d. and still having blood sugar readings that were too high with this Metformin. So I did a little research, and quite frankly, I think I probably saw a commercial on the six o'clock news. They, we seem to have a lot of medical commercials on lately, and I heard about this Fara and I looked it up and looked up what an SGLT two, inhibitor was and found out, oh, that works in the kidneys. the Metformin doesn't work in the kidneys. Metformin works in the liver mostly. and also tries to make your, cells more sensitive to insulin in your bloodstream. This was a completely different mechanism, so I thought, if this works differently, if it looks at the sugar that's already in the bloodstream and helps it to simply pass out, through the kidneys and the bladder, and then get rid of it. What could it hurt? So I looked up the class of medications, SGLT two inhibitors, looked at the various options, looked at the side effects, looked at the studies, did a lot of research. I don't know, I could have easily spent 20, 30 hours. that's one nice thing about being retired, but, my health's important. So I invested a lot of time, and then I went to my doctor and I actually suggested that we add the, farce. , I suggested that particular brand and, she agreed. I gotta tell you, I'm curious as why she never suggested something like that herself. But anyway, I suggested it to her. She agreed, and almost immediately when I started taking that, it dropped my blood sugar readings down into the pre-diabetes levels, borderline type two diabetes, pre-diabetes. So that's how I started taking that one. And then of course I heard about Mounjaro and I heard about Mounjaro, new people who were using it, getting great results. Started listening to podcasts regarding it. I honestly started listening to, and this was A suggestion for me was to listen to the Docs Who Lift podcast. Podcast is called Docs Who Lift, and it's run by two brothers who are both physicians and one's an endocrinologist, and the other is a obesity specialist. and I listened to podcast, episodes regarding Mounjaro and how effective it was and how it was more effective than Ozempic and Wego V. And it, the results were just astonishing. The results they were getting in these studies were equal. or better than the results from bariatric surgery, which is amazing. No other medication has ever come to those levels of, being able to solve these chronic diseases like this Mounjaro has. So I had just seen my doctor and this was last, when was that? It. Probably November, December, I had just, yeah, it was the beginning of December. I had just seen my doctor and my next appointment wasn't for six months. So I thought, why don't I just go online? Because when I was looking at it, I found these places online that, did telemedicine and physicians online prescribed it and just. So I did this, I filled out their questionnaires that we had a telehealth visit. they took some medical history and they prescribed Mounjaro. And even at the lowest levels, my A1C dropped below pre-diabetes range. And ever since I've been taking Mounjaro, it's stayed. I could quickly, realize and did a little self experiment that I could stop taking the Metformin because this was so powerful. It was completely eliminating the effect of the Metformin. I could see no difference in my A1C or my readings, with or without Thefor. So if the drug wasn't doing me any good that I could see, I felt comfortable stopping it. Now, after about six or eight weeks into the Manja, . I tried to do the same thing with Fara, and again, FARA works in a completely different pathway than either the Metformin or the Mounjaro does. So after about three or four days having stopped the Fara, I saw my blood sugar reading start to go back up and go back up into the high pre-diabetes range. The combination of the Fara and the me Mounjaro seems to be a perfect fit. And again, I feel comfortable, I think going down in a dose of Mounjaro cuz I wanna see how it works. And if, if it doesn't control the blood sugar enough, then I'll go back up. But I'm in favor of taking as little medication as I. . I'm on the smallest dose of Fara and I'm right now on a moderate dose of Mounjaro. And I think I'm gonna go back down to a smaller dose. So how did I figure this out? How did I choose the medications? honestly, it was research and then a little bit of suggesting to my doctor. And then during the course of the medications, doing a little bit of self experimentation. Now I would. Ever recommend to anyone to do self experimentation and only change medications in direct consultation with your doctor? I'm a little foolish, a little reckless. Call it what you will. It worked for me, but I cannot say that experimenting with an N equal one will necessarily work for anyone else. The other question she asked here was, what about the spacing out of man? Again, I'm in favor of taking as little medication as possible. I don't like to just have medication for the sake of medication. I think every medication has side effects and, human beings developed and prescribe these medications and no human being is perfect. Therefore, there could be things going on that they don't yet know about. And unfortunately, once in a while there could be things they're hiding. Now, I don't think that's the case here, there could be things you don't know about. So I wanna be cautious and only take what I need to. So I figured, hey, if as I'm getting ready to take the next injection of Mounjaro, if my A1C is still perfectly controlled and I'm having no adverse side effects, why not delay that Mounjaro? Now, I did not. Forever. I chose to say, okay, 10. So what did I find out by spacing it out to 10 days? I only did it twice, but what I found out is that each time, while my A1C was still seemingly under control at the end of the 10 days, I did when I had that next injection, have a strong reaction. Now, throughout this whole episode with Mounjaro, I really haven't had nausea or anything like that, except when I waited 10 days and then had the 7.5 I. So I've learned now that combination, I think of being at the 7.5 milligram level and then waiting 10 days isn't the best for me. I think that what, that's what I found out. Now, if I wait a few months, I might get used to it, but I don't know that I wanna do that. It seems logical to me that going back down to five milligrams and then taking it every seven days, I'll have a more consistent, more leveled out, experience and hopefully can avoid that nausea that I've had with these last two injections. We'll see. We'll see what the doctor has to say. I see her in about six weeks and. I will keep you posted on that. So Katie, thank you for the topic idea. If anybody else wants to suggest topics for me to talk about in the future, please do not hesitate. Please send in some feedback and I'd be happy to, use one of your topics that you suggest. Questions --- Okay, let's look at your questions for the week. I did get in two questions this week, so thank you very much for that. And if you have not yet sent in a question, feel free to do that, or if you already have, heck send in another one. I don't mind at all. Let's get to this first one. It's from Kathy. Kathy. Hi, Tom. I hope you're enjoying the cruise. I did very much. Thank you, Bravo, for getting all the exercise in. Ah, thanks. How do you determine how many carbs you plan to shoot for in a particular week or timeframe? From time to time on the show, you mentioned that you are going to adjust the number of carbs that you are currently consuming to a higher or lower number. I wonder. What events trigger you to know that your carbon intake should or can be adjusted? And two, what data or information do you use to determine how many carbs you think should be. Should be consumed. I'm enjoying the show. And look forward to Mondays. That's the day the podcast comes out, Kathy. thank you Kathy. I appreciate you writing in very much. So let me, answer these two questions. What events trigger you to know that your carbon intake should or can be adjusted? just like. Only like to take the absolute amount of medicine that I have to, I only wanna restrict my carbohydrate intake as much as I have to. Hey, I like a dinner roll or, a sandwich or heck, a cookie just as much as the next person. I know though that I have to limit that my, doctor from years and years ago, she used to say that staying below a hundred grams of carbohydrates a day is usually required for folks with type two diabetes. Again. She said that to me and it's not a blanket statement. She was talking to me. So that was always my upper limit. And honestly, with lifestyle. and eating things that I find palatable. I find it very difficult to day in and day out, go below 50 grams of carbohydrates. there's some people out there who call themselves carnivores or some folks on the keto way of eating, they go into ketosis and they burn ketones in their body. I've done that from time to time. , but I find that very hard to sustain, for more than just a couple weeks, two or three weeks. And sure enough, I just get a, you a hankering for a good old fashioned, sandwich. And, your typical bread, I don't know, is that 20, 30 grams of carbs right there just in itself. So what triggers, or what do I know? if my blood sugar is under very good. and with this Mounjaro, if my weight is dropping off, then I try to up the carbs a little bit. That does two things. Number one, if it's just a small adjustment, maybe 20 grams a day, 30 grams a day, I can then see, Hey, what is this doing to my blood sugar readings? If my blood sugar readings stay below pre-diabetes level, then great. No harm, no foul. If they don't. then I'll bump 'em back down a little bit. So the trigger is using my continuous glucose monitor to track my blood sugar readings, and I can literally see about an hour after I eat something, I can see what it does to my blood sugar and I can see how quickly I recover. Used to be before the Fara and before the Mounjaro, especially my blood sugar, if it would raise up, would stay. sometimes for a full day before I would cycle that glucose out of my bloodstream because I was so insensitive to the effective insulin. Now it's much, much faster. Now I get a spike up, not a high spike. in fact, I have not gone above, let's say, 1 55. I don't know, in the past month, six weeks, it's been a while. So when I say spike, I say maybe going from 95 or a hundred up to one 40 or one 50, but then within an hour or so, I'm coming right back down. So I am becoming more and more sensitive to the effects of insulin, and the Mounjaro helps with that a lot. So I use that as a. If my weight is where I want it, because eating more and more carbohydrates, if nothing else, it stores more and more water, in your muscle cuz it takes water to store the carbohydrate in your muscle so that, show makes the scale go up a little bit. But if those things are not adversely effective, then I feel comfortable bumping up the carbs a little bit. I doubt I'll ever routinely go above a hundred grams, but I think I said for this past week, my carbohydrates averaged 87, so that's the upper end of my limit. My goal was 80. I actually average 87, and my blood sugar is still just. . so that's what I use. And then secondly, you ask, what data or information do you use to determine how many, I answered that as well. How many carbs? again, I think, based on what that physician told me years ago, 100 grams, net carbohydrates a day is probably gonna be my upper limit. Now, Mounjaro did not exist when she said that Farka was not at all even popular when she said that. With these medications, it actually does allow you to eat a few more carbs. So will I always be below 100 grams? I don't know. Will I always be on these medications? I don't know. my crystal ball's currently at the shop, but, that's, that's what I do. So thanks very much, Kathy. I hope that, was answer, an okay answer, to the question. This next one comes in from George. George writes in, he goes, number one. , he has a little outline here of questions. I really like that. he's a methodical thinker like I am. I think number one. Do you have any other health issues that you must keep into consideration when tailoring what works for you? Recently I was diagnosed with additional health concerns that make my developing program daunting. let me answer this. Number one, yes. I think I mentioned before that I do take medication for high blood pressure, hypertension. it's well controlled. I take a, losartan, it's a low dose of losartan and, that's controlling my blood pressure. Without it, my blood pressure was running, 1 50, 1 60 over 96. Which is two darn high in my opinion. And with it, it's like 1 26, 78, so perfectly fine for a man my age. so yes, I have that. And I don't see that as, a complicating factor for my. type two diabetes control. It is certainly something that complicates for my health, because both hypertension and type two diabetes and obesity, which, I was able to pass by that. But still, type two diabetes and hypertension, if not controlled, both can contribute to, heart disease number. number two from George. Do you experience type two diabetes maintenance burnout? If so, how do you manage the burnout and depression that type two diabetes can bring to the table? Darn. Good question, George. So look, I think we talked previously, I don't know what episode it was on, but we talked about how, mental stress of dealing with type two diabetes is a big. , I think it's a big issue for any chronic disease. It is a daily effort. there's no way around that If you're dealing with type two diabetes, especially if you're dealing with, whether you're successful or not, it is a daily effort. If you're not successful, then when that's a worry. If you are being successful in your maintenance of type two diabetes, then you know, that's work. That's a lot of effort. what am I going to eat? How am I get my movement in today? What if I'm, can't do something? What if I'm forced to eat with someone else when they prepared something else? What do I eat? So you have all these questions, or darn it, I just want a cookie. Let me have a cookie. Gimme a cookie. you have these. So that is no joke. that is something that can easily bring on depression. as George mentions here, it can bring on burnout. So for me, I try and focus on my successes. I try and I use my numbers. I really rely on my numbers. I like closing my rings. That gives me something to shoot for. I like getting my macros in line. I like, seeing my blood sugar readings and I use those as successes and that keeps me, interested, that keeps me determined to keep being successful with my type two diabetes management. for me that works. Having those targets, having those. and then, checking 'em off every morning. I know I have to post all of those numbers to my Instagram and Facebook stories. And if you don't follow me on social, you should, because you can see each and every day, what my blood sugar readings were for the full 24 hours, what my macro intake was, what my movement was. you can even, sometimes if I'm outside doing movement, you'll see for today's walk that I actually post a map. Of where I did that walk. yeah, follow me on social media and get that. And maybe that can be a motivation for you and maybe you can do something similar and, find, that, that helps with burnout or depression. And I don't think about what I had to go through yesterday, at least I try not to. I take each day separately as it comes. That's another tactic that might be helpful to. Each day I wake up, with a challenge of getting those numbers right, getting what I eat right, getting in my movement, monitoring my, blood sugar, and, eating those things and reacting to things if the blood sugar doesn't go in the right direction, what do I need to change? What I need to figure out. I also like researching and reading about it. this is how I find these news articles, that I share with you on this podcast. So I stay engaged. Continue to build on successes and, when I need to make a change, I do. I don't just sit back and worry or fret. I try and be proactive and try and be in control of what I'm doing, in solving my type two diabetes. I hope that's helpful. It's no joke, this is reason, people, Go to therapy and talk to someone, talk to professional counselors, and I don't know of a better reason than having to deal with type two diabetes or other chronic diseases to really benefit from talking to someone about it. It doesn't always have to be a physician. It can be, a counselor or a therapist, because the mental issues to me are just as strong as the physical issues are. Okay, so the last question here from George Number. How did you learn so much about diet and setting goals for your food intake? George, I don't know much of anything. I don't want people to rely on what I say. The best I can do is share what seems to have worked or not worked for me. For most people, I think in working with a dietician, working with a nutritionist, I think that's the way to. . Now, how did I avoid that? I spent a ton of time, a lifetime of reading and researching. before I was diagnosed with type two diabetes. I was extremely overweight, my entire adult life. and much of my kid life as a kid I was overweight as well, but certainly as an adult, ever since I left, air Force basic training in 1983, I've been overweight weight and for many of the decades I've been obese, morbidly obese. I've been reading about this, learning about this, studying this. reading medical studies, watching, lectures, all this type of stuff to become educated now. For many years, I didn't take that education to heart. I did not, do what I was supposed to do. But I did try many things until I stumbled upon what works for me and for me. it's really lowering the carbohydrates, making sure I'm getting enough protein. But as far as the goals and levels that you or anyone else should use, I would really suggest working with a registered dietician, at least a nutritionist or a nutritional coach. Find someone that you can work with and you feel comfortable with. And, that's the way I would suggest going. What's Next? --- All right, what is next? Now, I alluded to this a little earlier, but next week I wanna talk about consistency. Consistency is such a key way of being successful. You don't have to be flashy. You don't have to be glamorous. You just have to be. At least for myself, I've found I just have to be consistent. So I wanna talk about that next week in depth, what it means to be consistent, some tips, techniques, ways we can be consistent with our type two diabetes management. And I hope you find that. Interesting. Please remember, as I asked before, share this podcast with someone who you think will benefit. Take a second, go ahead and hit the share and send it to someone that you care about. Thanks a lot. 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.